1st Mock Draft

[Frank Rizzo]

OK, this is the very 1st mock I've done for baseball ever, so be kind.

10 team, 5 x 5

R1 P8 OF Ryan Braun, MIL
R2 P3 1B Ryan Howard, PHI
R3 P8 2B Brandon Phillips, CIN
R4 P3 OF Carlos Quentin, CHW
R5 P8 3B Chipper Jones, ATL
R6 P3 C Brian McCann, ATL
R7 P8 SP Josh Beckett, BOS
R8 P3 SP Chad Billingsley, LA
R9 P8 OF Raul Ibanez, PHI
R10 P3 SS Stephen Drew, ARI
R11 P8 OF Jay Bruce, CIN
R12 P3 RP Jonathan Broxton, LA
R13 P8 SP Adam Wainwright, STL
R14 P3 SP Chris Young, SD
R15 P8 SP Erik Bedard, SEA
R16 P3 SS Mike Aviles, KC [2B]
R17 P8 3B Alex Gordon, KC
R18 P3 SP Matt Garza, TB
R19 P8 SP Johnny Cueto, CIN
R20 P3 RP Brandon Lyon, DET
R21 P8 OF Elijah Dukes, WAS
R22 P3 DH Travis Hafner, CLE
R23 P8 C Brandon Inge, DET [3B]

I know I picked a catcher waaaaaaaay to early. And I don't have enough speed. Otherwise, it's not terrible.....is it?

[Steve]

Certainly not too much to be ashamed of here.

You're right - you can wait a loooong time on a catcher and still get one that's usable. Not sure that Hafner's going to be much good this year, but you didn't burn a high pick to find out.

And I'm probably taking the words out of Grey's mouth here (mainly because I've heard (?) them so often myself!), but that while Billingsley, Wainwright, Young, Bedard and Cueto are all great picks, it is a fair bit of risk to pile into one pitching staff. You could maybe use another closer too.

But all that said, it's a pretty solid team.

[Frank Rizzo]

Certainly not too much to be ashamed of here.

You're right - you can wait a loooong time on a catcher and still get one that's usable. Not sure that Hafner's going to be much good this year, but you didn't burn a high pick to find out.

And I'm probably taking the words out of Grey's mouth here (mainly because I've heard (?) them so often myself!), but that while Billingsley, Wainwright, Young, Bedard and Cueto are all great picks, it is a fair bit of risk to pile into one pitching staff. You could maybe use another closer too.

But all that said, it's a pretty solid team.

Thanks for the input.

Are Billingsley, Wainwright, and Young considered risky in 2009? Who are some of the safer SP picks?

More than 2 closers? Broxton and Lyon isn't enough?

[Steve]

They're not risky neccessarily (and should all be great in 09), but if you'd had them all on the same team last year, you'd have been pretty miserable.

And that's me quoting Grey!

Shields is a good safe No.1, although you'll probably need to take him earlier than you did Becket or Billingsley. Later, you can look at guys like Matt Cain, Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez (in the right spot) and later still, Meche, Guthrie and Jered Weaver who has been available real late in mocks I have been doing. Oh, and take a look here, here, here and here. And Rudy' list of risk of risky pitchers for 2009 is a must-read.

I only say you'd need another closer as 3 seems to be the accepted roto wisdom. In fact, you should grab as many as you can, even if they're not inherently great pitchers. A save doesn't care who gets it.

[Frank Rizzo]

Okay, I think I'm starting to get it. I did another mock last night and went after top talent first (2 first basemen b2b), and value where I saw it (Peavy). I'm not a huge Pedroia fan but thought in the 4th round it was decent value for a shallow position. And I thought Nathan was good value in the 9th round too. Not excited about Jeter as my SS but I was taking value at other areas instead of picking a SS a round earlier than needed. It was a Yahoo style draft which is a good fit because I'm in a Yahoo league. Please tell me if you like this better?

Final Roster
R1 P4 1B Albert Pujols, STL
R2 P7 1B Lance Berkman, HOU
R3 P4 OF Carlos Beltran, NYM
R4 P7 2B Dustin Pedroia, BOS
R5 P4 SP Jake Peavy, SD
R6 P7 3B Chipper Jones, ATL
R7 P4 OF Nate McLouth, PIT
R8 P7 SP James Shields, TB
R9 P4 RP Joe Nathan, MIN
R10 P7 OF Nelson Cruz, TEX
R11 P4 C Ryan Doumit, PIT
R12 P7 SS Derek Jeter, NYY
R13 P4 SP Adam Wainwright, STL
R14 P7 RP David Price, TB
R15 P4 OF Milton Bradley, CHC
R16 P7 2B Kelly Johnson, ATL
R17 P4 OF Willy Taveras, CIN
R18 P7 SP Kevin Slowey, MIN
R19 P4 RP Heath Bell, SD
R20 P7 SS Jed Lowrie, BOS [3B]
R21 P4 3B Troy Glaus, STL