I Love This Mock

I was invited to Fantasy411’s industry slow mock to open the mocking season. Now, what feels like a month later, only two picks remain. Because I love my team, I thought I’d brag about it.

The mock has some serious competitors involved. Jason Collette, Paul Sporer, Derek VanRiper, Will Carroll, Joe Sheehan, Todd Zola, Steve Gardner, Ray Flowers, Cory Schwartz, Lawr Michaels, Zach Steinhorn and Jeff Erickson were the 12 other managers, listed from last to first pick. A good gaggle of go-getters.

I had the last pick of the first round — which was fine with me. I love this team. Here are the overall results so far, but after the jump I’ll take you through my picks round by round. It’s mocking season!

C Wilson Ramos (R15 P13, #195)
C Ryan Hanigan (R24 P1, #346)
1B Michael Morse (R7 P13, #91)
2B Dustin Pedroia (R2 P1, #14)
SS Hanley Ramirez (R1 P13, #13)
3B Brett Lawrie (R3 P13, #39)
CI Freddie Freeman (R11 P13, #143)
MI Zack Cozart (R17 P13, #221)
OF Hunter Pence (R4 P1, #40)
OF Logan Morrison (R10 P1, #118)
OF Lucas Duda (R12 P1, #143, 1B, CI)
OF Josh Willingham (R14 P1, #170)
OF Ben Revere (R18 P1, #222)
Util Mitch Moreland (R22 P1, #274, OF, 1B, CI)

BN Chase Headley (R23 P13, #299, 3B)
BN J.D. Martinez (R25 P13, #325, OF)
BN Tyler Flowers (R28 P1, #352, C)

P Jon Lester (R5 P13, #65)
P Dan Haren (R6 P1, #66)
P Joel Hanrahan (R8 P1, #92)
P Adam Wainwright (R9 P13, #117)
P Tommy Hanson (R13 P13, #169)
P Frank Francisco (R16 P1, #196)
P Addison Reed (R19 P13, #247)
P Tim Hudson (R20 P1, #248)
P Chris Sale (R21 P13, #260)

BN Juan Nicasio (R26 P1, #326)
BN Robbie Erlin (R27 P13, #351)

In full fairness and transparency, there are two picks left, and I’m thinking one would be a reliever (Vinnie Pestano, David Hernandez or Rex Brothers in some order) and the other would be a middle infielder (Brian Roberts, Johnny Giavotella or Omar Infante most likely) — but those won’t change the complexion of the team much, and I might even consider another starter (Homer Bailey, Danny Hultzen and Felipe Paulino are on my queue).

Of course, RotoGraphs readers might see something familiar in my Hanley/Pedroia pairing at the top. We’ve talked about this and some of you think Hanley is a sleeper, a long-shot candidate and not a surefire first-rounder, and some of you do. We’ll just have to agree to disagree. I see just as many questions with Jose Reyes, think Curtis Granderson is due for some regression, wouldn’t take a pitcher that early, and find shortstop to be a more important position to fill than first base. After all, I think my first base / corner infield / utility slots are manned by respectable first basemen, especially if you consider Duda/Moreland a strict handedness-based platoon at utility, as I pretty much did in my head.

I wasn’t going to let Lawrie drop any further after he was the wobble that killed a mock for me, so he was an easy pick around the turn at three/four. Hunter Pence was the best outfielder available — I don’t buy into the idea that he’s a 30-homer guy in his new park, since his old park was pretty nice, too, but I do think he’s a valuable player at .280, 25, 10. He hits those numbers most years and isn’t 30 yet.

When James Shields went to Collette at R5 P12, I figured it was time to get some pitchers. Using one of my favorite techniques at the turn, I picked two pitchers in a row to try and decimate the end of the first tier. Lester and Haren are both fantasy aces for me, and I liked them better than the pitchers that went after them, didn’t want a closer or a catcher that early, and was already really happy that I didn’t have to pick a middle infielder (Dan Uggla, Asdrubal Cabrera, Erick Aybar (!) and Chase Utley went in the next two rounds). Not getting Paul Konerko was too bad, but dude is old and you never know. This started a run of getting great pitching despite an early emphasis on offense.

The turn at seven/eight was one of needs. I wanted a first-tier reliever, and I didn’t want to let first base slide too far. When Lance Berkman went at R7 P11 to Sporer, I knew what I had to do. It was John Axford or Joel Hanrahan with Morse, and I went with the reliever that hasn’t seen a walk rate over five in the last three years. At this point, I had my infield locked up, an outfielder, two aces and an ace reliever. I didn’t have to draft for needs for a while, with a general focus on outfielders and pitchers going forward.

So it makes sense that my next two picks were Wainwright and Morrison, which might have been my favorite duo of the draft. That’s a possible third ace, and a .280/25 guy in the outfield, and we were already well into the 100s. Jason Kipnis (R10 P10) eluded me, and Jemile Weeks (R10 P12) would have both made good MIs for my team, but neither would have played OF or been a lock to best either of the bench marks above. Duda and Freeman at the next turn are guys that I could see hitting the .280/25 benchmarks, though, and they populated important positions for me. (Jesus Montero (R11 P8 to Sheehan) would have been nice, though.)

I know Hanson has the shoulder thing, and Willingham could revert to his oft-injured, less-power past, but I needed another .280/25 guy and getting a possible third ace with the 169th pick of the draft seems just fine.

First catcher with my fifteenth pick. Meh, not too upset. Got kudos for the Frankie Frank pick, too. If Ryan Doumit (R17 P5, Flowers) had fallen to me with my next pick, I would have taken him over Ben Revere, but Cozart here seemed fine to me.

Addison Reed turn Tim Hudson into a decent pitcher, did you know that? Together you could easily project them for 260 innings and 220 strikeouts… That’s a 7.6 K/9.

Before you get too mad about Mitch Moreland, look at his home and versus righty splits. I could find some good playing time for him.

Devin Mesoraco is exciting and young. Dusty Baker is his manager. Ryan Hanigan will play.

I read this by Carson Cistulli and immediately liked Juan Nicasio this year.

Then I re-read this by Mike Newman and immediately like Robbie Erlin this year.

In general, I think my strategy of waiting for pitchers and outfielders worked out. Waiting on catchers might have hurt me, but if a good number of my pitchers hit their marks, I’d have some trade pieces to help in that regard. Most of my speed came with power, and if Martinez is any good and my guys steal enough bases, maybe I could keep my one and only speed-only guy (Revere) out of the lineup. Which would be good.

What do you guys think? Obviously, I love this mock.