My First Taste of Draft Season

The Screw Cancer league drafted last night. It’s an ottoneu FGpts format put together by former FanGraphs kingpin Dave Cameron. He – and some others – were forced to leave the league due to new commitments. It’s my first season in Screw Cancer, and it was my first draft of the season.

Since joining the league, we’ve raised $1,283 for cancer-related charities. If you’d like to participate, please contact me directly.

Pre-Draft State

I took over the roster previously run by Joe Douglas. He left me with some elite prospects and serious building blocks. Much better than when I’ve joined other existing leagues. After offseason trading, this is roster with which I entered the draft.

That’s a pretty healthy group. Obviously, I needed catchers, a utility slugger, and more non-infield depth.

Another good start. The rotation is talented but shallow. The bullpen is missing a few guys. Relievers and general depth were obvious needs.

Thanks Joe! These are some of the best ottoneu prospects in all of baseballdom. They took a lot of pressure off my draft since I should have no issue converting these guys into my needs.

Draft Plan

Overall, I spent $358 of my $400 budget to keep 24 players. That left me with $42 for 16 players and in-season moves. I planned to spend about $15 on one guy – either an underpriced sluggy outfielder or a reliever. The other 15 players were supposed to come from the $1 bin. Since I had premium prospect currency, I wasn’t too concerned with solving all of my needs. Catcher was the exception. I had a couple cheap targets I thought would combine for quality production.

Draft Execution

I tend to win a lot of players by accident. See if you can guess which of these guys weren’t meant to finish on my roster. Hint: there are four of them.

Early in the draft, I nominated the much ballyhooed Ruiz, assuming others would drop $5 on him. I always get stuck with somebody in this fashion. Fortunately – and this is by design – a $1 Ruiz could very well blossom into a premium trade asset this summer. The same happened with Mateo. I was much more pleased with winning that one. Kieboom, if you’re wondering, was intentional.

A couple outfielders – Bradley Jr. and Fowler – nearly cost only $7 and $2 respectively. I thought keeping the bidding going would spur a few more dollars for players I figured should cost $10 and $5 respectively. Again, I’m not mad to have won them.

I’m quite pleased with my acquisitions for catcher and reliever. If we were to repeat 2017, I’ve cobbled together a top three catcher for a mere $5. Of regular catchers, only Gary Sanchez and Buster Posey outperformed Suzuki on a per-game basis. Chirinos was sixth best by that measure, sandwiched between Chris Iannetta and J.T. Realmuto. Of the pair, Chirinos is more likely to retain most of his numbers. The 34-year-old consistently walks and hits for power. Suzuki joined the air ball revolution last season, making his seemingly fluky performance smell repeatable.

Glover is nursing a sore shoulder at the moment. If he’s ever healthy, he throws the most devastating cutter I’ve ever seen – Mariano Rivera and Kenley Jansen included. Even with a bad ERA last season, he was one of the top ottoneu relievers on a per inning basis. Strop is consistently good-not-great. For $2, that’s a good-not-great investment. Ditto Cishek. Ramos was a monster in the second half, posting over 10 points per inning. His poor early season performance makes him a volatile asset. Alexander is Zach Britton pre-strikeout surge. I’ll take a 70 percent ground ball rate, especially with the Dodgers coaching around to unlock more ability.

I failed in three areas. I needed a utility slugger. What I got was Mauer and Renfroe. The former is an old OBP guy whose skills lead to high floor, low ceiling production in FGpts. He’s a $3 player. I got him for $1. Who cares. I needed $20 upside in that spot. Perhaps Renfroe can provide. Despite a disastrous season, Renfroe supplied league average points per game. A non-disaster could easily mimic Gallo’s output.

I’m not a huge JBJ fan, but there is something to be said for defense-first outfielders who will absolutely play every day they’re healthy. I would have preferred to win $7 Gregory Polanco. Better outfield depth would have helped solve the utility slot and ensured proper depth in the infield.

The two starting pitchers I added are… not ideal. That aspect of my roster is good enough for now, but it’s highly susceptible to collapse.

Now What?

Well, I have all these premium prospects, and I famously hate prospects. The obvious answer is to trade a few minor leaguers for a big bopper, outfield depth, and a couple talented starting pitchers. We’ll see if my leaguemates cooperate.