Scoresheet – Draft Wrap

Regular RotoGraphs readers may recall a couple weeks ago when I posted my then-in-progress Scoresheet team for all to belittle and besmirch.

Well, my roster has since filled out, and I’m now ready for further humiliation and shame. Let’s take a peek, with breakdowns where I feel are pertinent:

C- Salvador Perez
C- Kelly Shoppach

Yikes. Injuries obviously never come at a good time, but Perez’ came at an especially bad time for me in the drafting process. By the time the extent of the injury was known, I was in ‘bullpen-build’ mode in drafting and wasn’t ready to just grab any old Miguel Olivo that was there. A few guys I considered were John Jaso and Chris Snyder, and in retrospect I maybe would have grabbed Snyder, but at that time the Astros hadn’t yet dealt Quintero.

So I’ll roll with Shoppach and the esteemed ‘AAA catcher’ which Scoresheet uses to fill in any gaps — like it will with Bradley Woodrum’s almost entirely empty bullpen, I guess? (Note: When my picks ran out his pen was completely empty. I laughed. Sorry, BW2)

1B- Carlos Pena
1B- Adam Dunn
1B- Chris Parmelee

Now that’s more like it. I sort of like Pena and Dunn to both bounce back, and I’m definitely going to use Dunn at DH. Parmelee isn’t nearly as good as he was last season with the Twins, but he’s really climbing the ranks and may well be the first baseman of the future in the Twin Cities. I foresee him maybe becoming an .800-type OPS first baseman who could hit 6th for the Twins for many years, and that’s just fine. He’s still under rookie eligibility as well, so if he doesn’t resurface in Minnesota this year — which I think is likely — I can keep him at the back of my 2013 draft.

2B- Jose Altuve
2B- Daniel Descalso
2B- Steve Lombardozzi

I grabbed Altuve early because I really like the direction in which he’s heading, but recent news on Descalso and Lombardozzi possibly playing larger roles in St. Louis and D.C. respectively have me pretty excited. Ideally, Descalso might get off to a hot start playing second over Tyler Greene, and maybe afford me the opportunity to deal him for an interim catcher. We shall see, but I think my depth will suit me here a heck of a lot better than it did last season (Orlando Hudson, Skip Schumaker, and a whole lot of nothin’).

3B- Danny Valencia
3B- Josh Bell (BAL)
3B- Casey McGehee
3B- Josh Vitters
3B- Anthony Rendon

So…I don’t need any more third sackers. Valencia can be equal parts impressive and depressive; I’ve seen him in batting practice and he puts on an incredible show, but sometimes hit bat just disappears for long periods of time. He’s nothing special with the glove, but third base was really shallow once the draft got underway. I’m willing to take a chance on the Bell of the BAL or McGehee to show a pulse, but I really love Rendon and still think Vitters could be OK. All in all, this might be second only to OF as my deepest unit. Keep in mind, I’m still learning!

SS- Alexei Ramirez
SS- Jamey Carroll
SS- Xander Bogaerts

This is a group I really like. I took Ramirez among my top three or four picks, and considering how shallow short can be both IRL and in fantasy life, I’m really happy to have nabbed him. Carroll is the kind of guy that has more real-life value than fantasy value, but I think Scoresheet is going to appreciate his value, and I should be able to use him as a quasi-utility guy. Bogaerts is one I’m really excited about, as he’s one of Mike Newman’s very favorite prospects from what I’ve gathered, and he appears on a ton of top-prospect lists.

OF- Coco Crisp
OF- Yoenis Cespedes
OF- Trayvon Robinson
OF- Jason Heyward
OF- Jon Jay
OF- Joe Benson
OF- Michael Choice

I think I mixed potential, versatility, and value relatively well here. Crisp should do wonders for my team defense, and I’m still sort of hoping he’ll hit like 2010. I think overall this group is solid, and I’m still a pretty big believer in Robinson as well. Benson, at least in my view, is going to be a very good big league outfielder, perhaps as soon as next season, and I like Jay as sort of an unassuming type who will be useful but won’t likely stand out.

SP- Carl Pavano
SP- Felipe Paulino
SP- Yu Darvish
SP- Deck McGuire
SP- Jordan Lyles
SP- Drew Pomeranz
SP- Matt Purke
If I could go back, I’d probably find a way to draft another durable, Pavano-type starter. I’m not enamored with Pavano at all, but I also couldn’t go into the season with all wildcards either. I like the potential that Paulino, Lyles, and Pomeranz all bring, but at the same time, they could all be a bad handful of starts away from the minors or at least in the case of Paulino, back on the waiver wire. Purke is completely a wildcard after his draft stock slipped coming out of TCU, and McGuire is just a prospect in a world that’s increasingly believing TINSTAAPP. This could be my weakest link, or it could dazzle, but I don’t think there’s an in-between.

RP- Chris Sale
RP- Jesse Crain
RP- Jordan Walden
RP- Jake McGee
RP- Ernesto Frieri
RP- Kerry Wood

One key note is that Sale is still listed as a reliever; I’ll safely assume that he’ll be moved to the starting rotation early in the season, and I’m still not quite sure what I think about that. As for the others, I resisted the urge to draft relievers early. For one, I trust my instinct and just tried to find guys with dazzling stuff, good K rates, or in the case of Wood, a pretty good track record. So, while other teams drafted relievers relatively early, almost all of my relievers came among my lat 10 picks. I think that’s a pretty good bullpen.

So that’s pretty much it. If I had to guess, this could maybe be an 85-win team. It’s hard to build through the draft, but I pretty much had no choice after a rough season in 2011. I’m hoping I can be one of the owners with 10 keepers next year, and I think there’s a much better chance of that than there was this year. What do you think?





In addition to Rotographs, Warne writes about the Minnesota Twins for The Athletic and is a sportswriter for Sportradar U.S. in downtown Minneapolis. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Warne, or feel free to email him to do podcasts or for any old reason at brandon.r.warne@gmail-dot-com

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soamx
12 years ago

I’m not familiar with scoresheet so that’s likely the problem but that team is the worst fantasy team i’ve ever seen in my life

Brandon Warne
12 years ago
Reply to  soamx

Think of crafting an entire major league roster rather than fantasy.

In that respect, I did OK.