My Fantasy Baseball Team, Thus Far

I'm in keeper league for fantasy baseball, and this is the 2nd year of its existance. We are a 12 team league, use 5x5 scoring in a rotisserie format, and draft each year in a snake format. Our keepers are determined by the round they were drafted in the previous year, and if they are kept in a consective year, they're assigned a 1st round value for the 1st, 2nd round value for the 2nd, etc. I finished first last year, so I drafted 12th. We draft on a message board, so we get about a round done a day. Unfortunately, one of our members had a stepfather pass away, so we're giving him 2 weeks until we start the draft up again. My best wishes go to him and his family.

So far I've compiled the following team:

C - Joe Mauer (6th round keeper)
1B - Mark Teixeira (2nd round keeper)
2B - Howie Kendrick (drafted 7th round), Jeff Kent (drafted 11th round)
SS - Empty
3B - Hank Blalock (drafted 13th round), B.J. Upton (drafted 14th round)
OF - Alfonso Soriano (1st round keeper), Alex Rios (drafted 5th round)

SP - Brandon Webb (10th round keeper), Jake Peavy (drafted 3rd round), Curt Schilling (drafted 8th round), John Patterson (drafted 12th round)
RP - Joe Nathan (drafted 3rd round), Takashi Saito (drafted 10th round)

Prior to the draft, I decided to trade Vernon Wells (6th round keeper) and Chone Figgins (2nd round keeper) for Alfonso Soriano (1st round keeper). This was just a straight up Wells for Soriano trade for me since I had no intention of keeping Figgins. This will be the move that defines my team, because since I already had Joe Mauer in the 6th round, I would have kept Wells in the 7th round, which is actually a 22 player difference since I pick at the end of the odd rounds. I already regret this decision, not because I don't think Soriano is a better fantasy OF than Wells (there's no question about that), but because of the value attached to the player. Soriano is not 66 players better than Wells per their keeper value, so this looks bad right now. This is my first offseason in a keeper baseball league, so it's definitely a learning lesson.

Keepers (C, 1B, OF, SP): Soriano and Teixeira are elite bats. Soriano will probably not hit much above .280, which is slightly better than a great fantasy team average over a season, so he definitely won't hurt that catagory. He should be great in runs scored, HRs, and SBs. He's not going to get 40-40 again after admitting he ran more at the end of last year to achieve that, but 30-30 seems reasonable, with 30 being on the low end for his HRs. Hitting leadoff will limit his RBI chances, but he should knock in at least 80 runs with his power. Teixeira had a horrible start to last year, but he was back in normal form in the 2nd half. .300/100/40/100 is within reach. Soriano is a bit of a value at #12 overall given he'll go top 5 in most drafts, and Teixeira at #13 is about right. Mauer is going to be one of the best offensive catchers in baseball for the next 5-10 years, and keeping him in the 6th round is great value. Webb came into his own and is a top 10 pitcher, so keeping him in the 10th round is outstanding. He'll probably suffer a slight dropoff in his ratios, but he has good infield defense behind him and pitches in a fairly weak offensive division. All in all, this gave my team a nice start heading into the draft.

2B - Given this is a keeper league, youth tends to win out over proven players at times during the draft. I was guilty of that when I selected Kendrick over Kent, but he has .300/20/20 potential, and at 2B those numbers would put him right behind Utley as the 2nd best fantasy 2B. I don't expect him to get there this year, but he should be a solid 2nd tier 2B this year with room for improvement. He's a favorite to be my keeper for next year as a 7th rounder. Jeff Kent has be falling too far in drafts this year, and I couldn't pass him up in the 11th round. That's way too far for a solid 2B to fall, especially one hitting cleanup. He was injured last year and remains a risk, but he was still very productive when healthy. Kent provides a great backup in case Kendrick flops this year, or if Kendrick fullfills potential I'll have trade bait on my hands, which is great at a position as shallow as 2B.

SS - The top 8 options (Reyes, Jeter, Tejada, H. Ramirez, Furcal, Rollins, B. Hall, M. Young) were either kept or drafted by the time I got my first pick at the end of the 3rd round, so there was no rush, but I'm regetting waiting so long to take one. Every decent one is gone now, so I'll be looking at boom/bust picks such as Johnny Peralta and Bobby Crosby now. I really wanted Stephen Drew, but I picked Kent instead. Sure enough, Drew was gone several picks later. We'll see how that pans out.

3B - The top 5 options (A-Rod, Wright, Miggy Cabrera, A-Ram, Atkins) were all kept or drafted, just like the top 8 SS, and there's a pretty solid dropoff just like SS so I waited until later on to take one. I considered Blalock, Chavez, and Encarnacion with this pick, but I like Blalock the best. Chavez disappoints every year and will never be the offensive stud he was projected to be, plus he seems to be slightly injury prone to boot. Encarnacion is an exciting prospect, but his defense seems to be a distraction and I dunno where he stands in the organization right now. Blalock's star has faded the last two years, but he seems to have re-dedicated himself under the eye of Ron Washington and seems to be focused again this year. I like his chances to bounce back offensively, with the potential of doing such in a big way. I had him last year when he turned in his worst professional season, but this is a case of where fantasy owners MUST have a short memory and not boycott players because they failed them once.

OF - I probably should have gone Thome with my 5th round pick, but again age got the best of me and I went with Alex Rios instead. I considered Matsui as well, but wrist injuries are troublesome for hitters and often adversely affect their power. Rios broke out in a big way last year until a staph infection killed his season. He'll be out to prove last year was not a fluke, and while he won't post the RBI numbers that Matsui will, he'll be pretty close to 15 steals while staying close to him in all other catagories. I really wanted Markakis as my 3rd OF, but he was drafted a few players ahead of where I wanted to take him. I have a hole left in my OF, and I plan to load up on a few younger talents like Hermida and Chris B. Young and hope one of them breaks out.

SP - I'm very strong here. Peavy represents huge upside for where he's falling in drafts this year, and while his shoulder comes with risk, his ERA last year was way out of whack with his career numbers and his peripherals last year. He has a chance to be a dominant ace again this year, and with the consistent Webb leading my staff, I can afford to find out. Schilling is a great #3 who should be motivated this year for one last contract run as his current deal expires at the end of the year. His ERA won't be much under 4, but his K rate and WHIP remain strong, plus he pitches for a team that will win a lot of ballgames. John Patterson could be one of the steals this year. He doesn't have the upside that Peavy does, but he pitches in a great pitcher's ballpark and is only one season removed from a 3.13 ERA. Wins will be a problem, but he's another big K pitcher who maintains a solid WHIP as well. If he's healthy, he'll turn in a great year. I have 2 sure things and 2 risks with a ton of upside here.

RP - I'm not a big fan of drafting closers up high, especially since so many quality options start the year on the waiver wire each season, but no player stood out to me like Nathan did. The closer run in our draft had just started, and I miraculously landed arguably the best closer as the 4th one taken. Given I had 22 picks left til my next selection, and with keepers included over 60 players were gone, it wasn't a bad choice. Saito is a good 2nd option. If he repeats last year, he'll be a top closer all year long. He has pretty good job security, and he actually has good stuff unlike most Japanese pitchers who rely more on deception. I plan on taking Broxton later who would close if Saito disappoints, and who is also a great RP in a roto league since he has an a elite K-rate along with low ratios. I prefer taking two closers to start the year, drafting 2 elite setup men later on, and then plucking a 3rd closer off the waiver wire once the season starts.

I need to add an additional starter or two, a SS, and some OF help when the draft starts back up. We'll see how it turns out!