LEEG Draft Recap

On March 4, I participated in a Fantasy Baseball Experts League draft – the League of Extraordinary Expert GMs (LEEG) – hosted by Ron Vackar of FantasyAssembly.com. The Fantasy Fix will be represented by the team of Scott Barzilla and myself.

Each week we will provide a recap of the LEEG Waiver Wire activity. Waivers run once per week on Sunday night at 8pm Eastern and are governed by a budget of 1000 FAAB dollars. There are no zero dollar bids – the minimum bid is $1.

League Setup

This is a standard 5×5 roto league with 15 teams and a 30 man roster. A full roster is:

2 Catchers
1 First Base
1 Second Base
1 Third Base
1 Shortstop
1 Middle Infielder
1 Corner Infielder
5 Outfield
1 Utility Player
9 Pitchers
7 Bench (Reserves)

Draft Order

We had the fifth pick in this reverse snake order draft. The rest the participants and the draft order are below:

Pick 1: Ron Vackar of FantasyAssembly.com and @VicariousSports
Pick 2: Chris McBrien of DMFantasyBaseballPodcast.com and @cmcbrien
Pick 3: Kyle Soppe of RotoExperts.com and @unSOPable23
Pick 4: Jon Williams of AdvancedFantasyBaseball.com and @bigjonwilliams
Pick 5: Chris Garosi/Scott Barzilla of TheFantasyFix.com and @chrisgarosi/@SBarzilla
Pick 6: Kyle Braver of RotoBaller.com and @kbraver
Pick 7: Greg Jewett of TodaysKnuckleball.com and @gjewett9
Pick 8: Doug Anderson of FantasySportsNetwork.com and @rotodaddy
Pick 9: Robert Burghardt of TGFantasyBaseball.com and @RBurghardt
Pick 10: Tommy Landseadel of FantasyAssembly.com and @tlandseadel
Pick 11: Robert Langevin of Razzball.com and @Smokey_Loogy
Pick 12: Ray Kuhn of RotoProfessor.com and @Ray_Kuhn_28
Pick 13: Timothy Kolar Previously of RotoBanter.com and @Thelastpoint2
Pick 14: Tim Finnegan of FakeTeams.com and @TimFinn521
Pick 15: Devin Jordan of DavidGonos.com and @devinjjordan

Strategy

Scott and I discussed our strategy for a couple of weeks on and off. I used his VORP series during preparation for the draft as well as during the draft to uncover those players who had performed well over the last three years. Then, I compared those values with ADP values by position to uncover some of the players I could wait on and still get significant value.

As we talked right before the draft, I realized that our first pick would drive our draft strategy. Our hope was that Paul Goldschmidt would make his way to use at pick five. If that happened, we would likely see a pretty balanced draft strategy mixing in hitting and pitching.

However, if Mike Trout, Goldschmidt, Andrew McCutchen and Giancarlo Stanton went in the first four picks, we would have a decision to make. Would we take pitching (Clayton Kershaw) in the first round? Or would we reach outside of the consensus top 5 to take someone else we believed in? We’ve seen other experts snag Anthony Rizzo or Jose Abreu or Anthony Rendon early so that was certainly an option.

And if we went with Kershaw, that meant we would focus on offense for the rest of the early portion of the draft. Kershaw is an anchor. We would have invested significantly in pitching in round one, so we’d need to build up an offense likely targeting outfielders (as we have to roster 5 and the total league will have 75 OFs rostered). Free agent pitchers come into almost any league (no matter how deep), but hitting (and especially power) is tough to come by in deeper leagues.

I generally punt catchers and saves and I assume I’ll follow that strategy here as well. Perhaps punt is the wrong word – I generally wait as I won’t chase catchers in the middle rounds where there is almost no difference between the 10th and 20th catchers drafted.

Let’s see what happened.

The Fantasy Fix Roster

HITTERS

SLOT PLAYER, TEAM POS

C Josh Phegley, Oak C
C Rene Rivera, TB C
1B Victor Martinez, Det DH, 1B
2B Dustin Pedroia, Bos 2B
3B Pablo Sandoval, Bos 3B
SS Ben Zobrist, Oak 2B, SS, OF
2B/SS Rougned Odor, Tex 2B
1B/3B Brandon Belt, SF 1B
OF Starling Marte, Pit OF
OF Kole Calhoun, LAA OF
OF Gregory Polanco, Pit OF
OF Joc Pederson, LAD OF
OF Anthony Gose, Det OF
UTIL Chris Carter, Hou DH
Bench Hunter Pence, SF OF
Bench Jose Ramirez, Cle SS
Bench Carlos Correa, Hou SS

PITCHERS

SLOT PLAYER, TEAM POS
P Clayton Kershaw, LAD SP
P Chris Archer, TB SP
P Neftali Feliz, Tex RP
P Drew Hutchison, Tor SP
P Wily Peralta, Mil SP
P Nathan Eovaldi, NYY SP
P Shane Greene, Det SP
P Kyle Lohse, Mil SP
P Brandon Maurer, SD RP, SP
Bench Drew Smyly, TB SP
Bench James Paxton, Sea SP
Bench Jorge De La Rosa, Col SP
Bench Adam Ottavino, Col RP

Draft Recap – The Fantasy Fix

Here is how we acquired our roster (the overall pick number is in parenthesis)

Round Overall pick and Player
Round: 1 (5) Clayton Kershaw SP
Round: 2 (26) Victor Martinez DH
Round: 3 (35) Starling Marte LF
Round: 4 (56) Hunter Pence RF
Round: 5 (65) Kole Calhoun RF
Round: 6 (86) Chris Carter DH
Round: 7 (95) Dustin Pedroia 2B
Round: 8 (116) Pablo Sandoval 3B
Round: 9 (125) Gregory Polanco RF
Round: 10 (146) Drew Smyly SP
Round: 11 (155) Ben Zobrist 2B
Round: 12 (176) Chris Archer SP
Round: 13 (185) Brandon Belt 1B
Round: 14 (206) Joc Pederson LF
Round: 15 (215) Rougned Odor 2B
Round: 16 (236) Neftali Feliz RP
Round: 17 (245) Drew Hutchison SP
Round: 18 (266) Wily Peralta SP
Round: 19 (275) Nathan Eovaldi SP
Round: 20 (296) James Paxton SP
Round: 21 (305) Shane Greene SP
Round: 22 (326) Kyle Lohse SP
Round: 23 (335) Jorge De La Rosa SP
Round: 24 (356) Brandon Maurer RP
Round: 25 (365) Josh Phegley C
Round: 26 (386) Adam Ottavino RP
Round: 27 (395) Jose Ramirez SS
Round: 28 (416) Anthony Gose CF
Round: 29 (425) Rene Rivera C
Round: 30 (446) Carlos Correa SS

Waiver Wire Wrap

Now, let’s take a look at some of the waiver wire activity since the draft. We will try to bring this to you each week to help you identify some targets in your leagues.

Week ending Sunday 8 March 2015

1. Fantasy Assembly – Landseadel – Add Daniel Norris, Tor RP – Dropped Jesse Chavez, Oak SP

Landseadel makes a great addition with the first move of the league. Norris was not ticketed for a major league spot, but the injury to Marcus Stroman puts him front and center in the rotation. Chavez is waiver wire fodder even in a deep league like this one.

Week ending Sunday 15 March 2015

1. Fantasy Assembly Landseadel – Add Micah Johnson, CWS 2B $13 – Dropped Patrick Corbin, Ari SP
2. Roto Professor – Add Michael Taylor, Wsh OF $3 – Dropped Brett Oberholtzer, Hou SP
3. Team Jewett- Add Jaime Garcia, StL SP $1 – Dropped Marcus Stroman, Tor SP
4. The Fantasy Fix Add Kyle Gibson, Min SP $1 – Dropped Carlos Correa, Hou SS

Landseadel plants his flag in the White Sox second base race by snagging the speedy Johnson. The jury is still out on the victor in this battle, but Johnson possesses more fantasy upside than compatriot Carlos Sanchez. Corbin is another waiver wire pitcher in this league. He’ll be added/dropped based on matchups all year long.

Roto Professor snags the Nats starting CF for Opening Day and beyond in Taylor. It’s not clear how long Denard Span will be out, but it could be a while. Taylor struggles with contact issues, but his mix of speed and power is attractive. Oberholtzer isn’t a huge loss.

Team Jewett snags the never-healthy, but currently healthy Jaime Garcia. He’s looked great in spring and the upside is real. I hope for Garcia’s sake he’s healthy because he’s fun to watch. Stroman is of course out for the year with a torn ACL.

The Fantasy Fix picked up another spring training story in Kyle Gibson. The reports are his velocity is up a tick or two and he’s striking out guys in spring training. We’ll take the flier that Gibson has improved and drop our unicorn, Carlos Correa, who had almost not shot of breaking camp with the Astros.

Week ending Sunday 22 March 2015

1. Team Jewett Add Evan Marshall, Ari RP $5 Dropped Chris Hatcher, LAD RP
2.Roto Professor – Add Devon Travis, Tor 2B $3 Dropped Joel Peralta, LAD RP
3.Team Jewett – Add Brandon Morrow, SD RP $1 Dropped Pedro Strop, ChC RP
4. Team Jewett – Add Sergio Santos, LAD RP $1 Dropped Josmil Pinto, Min C

A lot of Dodger relievers changed hands as Chris Hatcher and Joel Peralta were dropped and Sergio Santos was added. It’s clear the Dodgers bullpen is in a bit of disarray until Kenley Jansen returns.

Team Jewett grabs one potential closer and drops another. Evan Marshall probably has the best stuff in the D’backs’ pen, but might be third in the pecking order behind “proven closers” Addison Reed and Brad Ziegler. Marshall has more long term value than Chris Hatcher who might get a save here or there while Jansen is out.

Roto Professor picks up the current starting 2B for the Blue Jays in Devon Travis. He’s the most fantasy relevant of all of the participants, but he’ll have to hit and play passable defense to keep the gig. Joel Peralta has battled some injuries in spring and it’s not clear where the saves will go in LA.

Team Jewett added Brandon Morrow who looks like he might be in the rotation in San Diego. Again, health is an issue with Morrow so at the first sign of an issue, he’ll likely end up back on the waiver wire. Strop is the handcuff to Hector Rondon in Chicago, but there isn’t a need to carry him now.

Team Jewett also dove back into the Dodgers’ bullpen pool to snag Sergio Santos. I really liked Santos last year, but he couldn’t find the plate with any of his pitches. He takes Josmil Pinto’s roster spot. Pinto has great offensive upside, but the plate appearances probably won’t be there in Minnesota without an injury.

Week ending Sunday 29 March 2015
1. Fantasy Assembly Ron – Add Jace Peterson, Atl SS $13 Dropped Andrew Heaney, LAA SP
2. The Fantasy Fix – Edward Mujica, Bos RP $8 Dropped Jorge De La Rosa, Col SP
3. FantasyAssembly Landseadel – Add Gregor Blanco, SF OF $1 Dropped Jon Singleton, Hou 1B
4. FantasyAssembly Landseadel – Add Jordan Schafer, Min OF $1 Dropped Domonic Brown, Phi

We finally had a little competition for players this week. Fantasy Assembly Ron led off by bidding $13 for Jace Peterson. He looks to be the starting 2B for the Braves heading into the season. He qualifies at SS on ESPN so he’ll add dual eligibility early in the season. His speed is the reason you target Peterson as he’ll likely not contribute meaningfully anywhere else. Fantasy Assembly Landseadel bid $5 on Peterson but was denied the acquisition by his site’s other squad.

The Fantasy Fix (that’s us!) picked up the current Red Sox closer Edward Mujica. With Koji Uehara heading to the DL to open the season, Mujica is the next man up. We’ll likely be chasing saves all year with only Neftali Feliz on the squad currently. It’s not clear how long Uehara will be out, but we’ll take the saves where we can get them. Dear Mr. Fantasy bid $3 on Mujica and finished second in the bidding.

Finally, FantasyAssembly Landseadel picked up two speedy outfielders for $1 each in Gregor Blanco and Jordan Schaefer. Blanco will take Hunter Pence‘s spot in the Giants’ outfield. Schaefer “won” the Twins’ CF when Aaron Hicks was demoted this weekend. Both Blanco and Schaefer have a shot to steal 20 bases in a full time role.