Monday, November 05, 2012

First Pitch AZ Auction Draft Results

I have just returned home from a great weekend talking fantasy baseball with a bunch of other players and the experts that attend the Symposium that Baseball HQ holds every year during the Arizona Fall League schedule.  As part of that process, we draft teams in November that will compete over the next season, and this year was the first ever auction draft.  In an 11 team/23 roster spot setup, with a $260 budget, I selected the following team:

Position
Player
Price
C
Molina, Y.
10
C
Martinez, V.
9
1B
Dunn, A.
9
3B
Cabrera, M.
65
CI
Sandoval, P.
11
2B
Hill, A.
10
SS
Jeter, D.
8
MI
Uggla, D.
8
OF
Granderson, C.
25
OF
Upton, BJ
22
OF
Willingham, J.
8
OF
Hunter, T.
5
OF
Cuddyer, M.
5
U
Frazier, T.
7
P
Medlen, K.
10
P
Zimmerman, J.
11
P
Garza, M.
9
P
Vogelsong, R.
7
P
Lynn, L.
5
P
Hammel, J.
5
P
Miley, W.
5
P
Motte, J.
5
P
Nathan, J.
5


This wasn't a complete auction, in that if you ran out of cash, you had to wait to fill your roster in an ensuing snake draft.  I was the last to spend his budget, and had only one snake pick, that being Wade Miley.  In looking at my team, I see loads of power, but I am sorely lacking in speed except for BossMan Junior, Cuddyer and possibly Grandy, Torii and...well, nobody of note.  I do like my pitching, at least prior to spring training.  Do not recall if we can trade, or only make occasional free agent pickups during the season, so I may have hamstrung myself in looking for power hitters.  Time will tell, I guess.  Any comments would be welcome.
By the way, if you are fanatical about fantasy baseball, I urge you to attend the First Pitch event next year.  It's great to watch baseball, albeit minor league baseball, in November, on a sunny afternoon or a warm evening in the desert.  The parks are not crowded, and you can get close to the action, plus you are watching the cream of the crop of minor league players.  Last year we saw Bryce Harper and Mike Trout before they made their MLB debuts, and seeing Billy Hamilton (who I have in a competitive head to head league) tear around the bases was great fun.  Plus, the seminars are chock full of useful information about not only prospects, but what to expect from those players who will populate our rosters in 2013.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

What I've been doing lately

I see that I've been neglecting my blog.  The reason is that I am busy writing for 2 fantasy sports sites now.  In fact, here's the latest article I posted on Fantasy Alarm:
Pitch & Ditch Starting Pitching Options for Week 6
Take a moment and read it if you play fantasy baseball.  I will be posting links here for any of you interested readers.