2009 Keeper League Draft Recap

In honor of ESPN's Mount Rushmore of Sports, I will do my draft recap by comparing each GM to a famous sports figure.  I am doing this in the chronological order that these correlations appear in my head.  Analogously, I hope this draft recap will become the Mount Rushmore of Draft Recaps.  Only time will tell.

idunnobaseball (Tey)

Draft (B+):

Top quality keepers.  ARod and Mauer are both #1 in their position but both are hurt.  Brian Roberts is a close tier2 2B and isnt that far from the top.  I really learn to appreciate his skillz watching him play so often vs the red sox and yankees.  He is a fantastic player and he is one of those guys stats dont do him justice.  Kinsler and Utley are clearly the top 2 fantasy 2Bs.  Question is who would you rank #3.  Would you go with HR/RBI in Uggla, or speed in Roberts/Figgins, or a mix of both such as phillips/pedroia/alexei ramirez (i am borderline on him).  Incredibly seven are keepers this year.  The drop off after these guys are as big as the drop off between Mo Rivera and the next yankee wannabe RP.  Thats why i like Wong's Figgins pick because potentially he got keeper quality stats in non-keeper round.  

Anyway back to Tey's draft, Corey Hart #7 is off to a great start with a 7 BB to 10 K ratio, as of Friday, with all 7 BB came in the 2nd slot in front of Braun.  Brewers lineup runs arguably only 5 deep with Weeks, hart, Braun, Fielder, and Hardy.  After that its cameron, hall, kendall.  Hart needs protection because he is too much of a free swinger.  The Brewers need to put him at 2 and stick with it so he can develop since he should be part of the Brewers's long term plans.  If he doesnt turn out to be a 30/30 player by 2010, then someone should be fired.  Sometimes i dont understand what these clubs are doing...  On the other side of the pillow, i dont like Hunter Pence at all.  The future is muddy with him like a child too old to be trained as a jedi.  I just dont see where the upside is with this guy.  Last year he put up pretty much the same number as Hardy #11, is it gonna be different this year?  Tey drafted well in many slots including Ryan #12 (risky but worth it in retrospect), Cantu #13 (i had him in my queue for my next pick and he is cleanup for marlins), Ethier #14 (his 2008 stats are inflated but at #14, any leanup hitter is great value), Garza #16 (!!!), Burrell #17, Meredith #21, Ubaldo #24 (!!!), and Bengie #26 (another cleanup hitter!!!).  Ethier was moved to the 2nd slot on saturday for the first time this season promptly hitting 2 hrs in front of Manny, further proving that the GM who drafted O-dawg is a genius. 

Offense (A-):

Not one weak spot in the lineup even without ARod and Mauer.  Every categoy is covered except OBP.  Weakest positions are CF, OF and UTIL.  OF and UTIL are easy to replace when necessary or when DL guys come back.  I am kinda surprised Mark Reynolds #23 has so many ABs already.  If he gets ABs and stay in the majors, he might put up some stats, hopefully other than K's.  Adjusting from NL to AL will be tough so you cant expect Burrell to put up the same stats as last year as quickly.  He is still a solid producer nonetheless.  Ankiel #15 could be a good player, we will see how he adjusts this year.  His swing is a little too long and too much of a uppercut.  I am also iffy on Ankiel's playing time this year... La Russa micromanages way too much and that OF is crowded.  

Pitching (B+):

Pitching is good as well with 3 solid front line starters.  Ubaldo is a very wild wild card.  I am high on him as i was last year because he was the only pitcher that the sox had problems with in the 2007 WS until he completely lost his control for 1 inning.  Miguel Batista is puzzling.  The mariners bullpen is very very solid, i dont think Batista will have a role.  My scouting report tells me that the Miguel Batista of 2009 isnt the same Miguel Batista that dominated the yankees in the 2001 WS.  Maybe Tey is confused...  Seattle practically gift wrapped the Mets Sean Green (their RP with the worst stuff) who immediately becomes the Mets top RP behind Krod and Putz.  Mariner are like the anti-yankees in terms of bullpen quality.  Of course i am on the Edinson Volquez bandwagon but not at #10.  His fastball/changeup combo is as good as you will see and his motions are practically undistinguishable even in slow motion.  He is up there with johan and hamels and the hitter cannot sit on a pitch because he is too wild with both.  But due to his wildness, he cant get call strike one as consistently as johan and hamels.  he needs a third pitch that he can throw for strikes.  Bullpen is a little shallow.

Notes:

I wondered off topic a lot for Tey's recap.  Maybe i need to write another blog to summarize all the scouting reports i have.  I think it's unfair to make Tey the scapegoat for the defunct league because there were other GMs that were absent and Kenneth and Jehming had no idea what they were suppose to do during the keeper rounds.  Tey is focused and determine to prove that we should not throw him outta the league.  Pretty much he has hit rock bottom on the publicity front during the defunct draft.  Plus being unfairly scapegoated just like his yankee hero who was outted as the only one of 140 on the infamous (yankees) 'roids list...  Tey has the street cred of... AROD.

Six Trick Pony (Meng#2)

Draft (C-):

Great great keepers in Johan, Hamels, Lester (he will be fine, he started slow last year and confused me to drop him), and 3 of the top hitters include The NEW Epitome of Tremendous Upside Potential in Longoria.  

Overall this was a weak draft even without annual draft busts Vernon and Weeks.  Meng#2 drafted a lot of guys i would cross off as players to avoid such as JP Howell, the black Chris Young, Ianetta, and DeRosa.  On top of that, Marmol #8 is very early and backing up with Gregg #12 is smart, even though drafting Gregg at #12 is kinda early.  Michael Young #9 is in a great hitting slot between Kinsler and Hamilton but i have crossed him off for years.  Then Delgado #10 would a good sleeper pick for 4 rounds later and to fill your CI so early didnt make much sense.  Maybe thats why you wounded up with the black Chris Young, Drew, Bradley, Travis Snider, and Taveras as your OFs.  I like Travis Snider #21 a lot as a hitter, more than other people like Adam Lind.  As for Ianetta, on the surface, putting up 18 HRs/65 RBIs in 333 ABs is great.  But digging deeper, he put up those stats while part-timing the entire season.  There is a difference between playing around 17 games a month for 6 month and playing 25 games a month after a callup for 4 month, especially for a rookie and especially for a catcher.  I wouldnt even know how to project his 2009 numbers.  Penny #26 is good pick for the win potential.

Offense (C+):

Delgado is probably one of the most consistent run producers in MLB.  Check out his HR/RBI totals since his rookie year in 1996.  His WORST year by far was 2006 with 24HR and 87RBIs and those numbers would be fantastic for any other 1B.  Would u take those numbers for Ryan Zimmerman right now?  I certainly would, and i repeat that was Delgado's WORST stats year.  Hopefully, for the Mets fans sake, that he still Del-Got-It.  The strength is in the Infield where every position except michael young (he will give good quantity of runs) will probably net at least 20 HRs and 80 RBIs.  But the Outfield is so bad, it no different than the A's and SF Giants shitty OFs I get to watch everyday on the highlights.  Here is a bonus scouting report: Fred Lewis != Barry Bonds.  In fact, Barry Bonds probably had more talent in Jr High School than Fred Lewis does now.  Milton Bradley signing is good on paper for the Cubs but this team has too many RFs already.  Lowell will have a good bounce back season and be a good backup CI with plenty of RBI opportunities.  The Bosox lineup this year is really deep even with Big Papi struggling.  

Pitching (A):

Normally i just give meng#2's pitching staff an A and just get it over with.  I have no idea why there was a shortage of closers this year so i cant blame this bullpen having only KRod, Mike Gonzo, and Gregg/Marmol since i only have 1.5 closers myself in Mo and Hanrahan.  I have no idea what happened this year.  Still short on SPs but u can pick someone up as the season move along.  

Notes:

Before the draft, Meng#2 asked me who i would keep among Billingley, Greinke, and Lester.  Of course my answer was Lester.  Now i am thinking... given my track record with starting pitching, wouldn't the better question be...  which TWO pitcher would i keep, then go with the third one?  Remember that time at the craps table in AC when that one guy kept on betting on you to crap out over and over and over?  That guy made so much money off Meng#2 crapping out, so fast, without doing shit, he would have made Carl Pavano jealous.  At some point, probability-wise, u would be better off betting against me.  Asking me to advise you on your pitching is pretty much like letting Bernard Madoff invest your money.  In the end, Meng#2 got duped and lost valuable commodities like the Mets owner Fred Wilpon.

Ball Bags (Fred)

Draft (C+)

Fred had worse luck with his keepers than Tey with Holliday getting traded to Oakland.  At first i thought that with the addition of Manny, Matt Kemp would be the logical choice to either hit 2nd which would have made him a monster keeper or at least cleanup.  But apprently he is not one of Torre's Boys and he got dumped to 7th like ARod in the playoffs... totally unfair (in Kemp's case not Arod's).  Liriano is off to a terrible start.  Chris Davis is the first player in the top 10 rounds i crossed off this year.  But i made a note to draft Tulow if possible.  His hitting approach is a combination of a extremely quick line drive swing with good plate coverage and almost no stride.  It's unique to only one other player i can think of, Paul Molitor.  Very few things can go wrong with that swing and barring injury i would expect good things to come in the future.  8th/9th is probably a good slot for his fantasy potential, any lower i probably would have had to pick him up.  Tulow definitely came at a discounted price this year.  Speaking of Price #12 and Brandon Morrow #13 were fantastic picks both have high potential as RP and/or SP.  Only other guy in the draft worth mentioning is Josh Johnson #18 who is very high on my pitching sleeper list.  He has Cy Young stuff.  Getting him #18 might be the best pick in the entire draft.  

Offense (C-)

VMart will always be a great hitter if he can stay healthy but #9 for a catcher is too high.  I havent seen anything from Bruce #10 yet to make me think he is an everyday MLB hitter.  He is worse this year than last year.  Adam Jones #19 is off to a monster start.  Once again, I cannot emphasize enough, if an organization has a young player for the long-term future, stick him in the 2nd hole and let him develop.  Same thing with Howie Kendrick, if he cannot put up numbers this year in front of Abreu and Vlad, then he is nowhere near the prospect people make him out to be.  Morneau is always solid.  Everyone else is kinda blah blah.  Without looking at the 2008 stats, who on Fred's roster hit the most HRs last year.  The answer is Edwin... with 26!

Pitching (B):

Fred is like Meng#2 in that their fantasy prowess leans heavily on the pitching side.  Both of them have consistently identified great starting pitching both young and old.  Peavy, Josh Johnson, Harang, Lackey, Price, Liriano, and Kershaw are overkill.  Maybe Fred is why I couldnt find any good pitchers late and had to resort to dumb Taiwanese Yankee pitchers.  I said awhile ago that whenever Fred figures out how to put together a bullpen, he will be able to contend.  Morrow is obviously a fantastic pick.  I feel the same about him as I did about Papelbon...  he is much more valuable to the team if he develops as a dominent starter.  But you cant argue with his RP results.  Hoffman is pretty good at #15 but i dont like Charlie Villaneuva as a pitcher.  whatever stats he can get as temp closer is a bonus.  Chris Ray #17 just doesnt have it so far this year.  He is probably not even worth a fantasy roster spot at this point.  But i like Chris perez #24, I thought he handled MLB hitters very well in pressure situations last year.  Again, Fred's SPs are as terrific as his RPs are bad.  

Notes: 

It's strange to see 2 teams (Kenneth & Fred) rebuilding this year which made the lack of closers even more puzzling.  Fred is a past champion who likes to build on young talent and stud pitching.  Once in a blue moon, he will make a run and take down yearlt championship contenders like myself.  Obviously this will likely be a down year with young guys like Weiter, still developing Kemp, Tulow, Bruce, Kershaw, and Price.  I trust fred's ability to rebuild his championship team quietly like Jeffrey Loria, who in case you dont know, he is the owner of the marlins.

F this F'in League (Wong)

Draft (B-):

Kept 3 top players.  Da Mexican Panda aka "the player formally known as the epitome of tremendous upside" is an offensive juggernaut.  Aramis is keeper equivalent this year because of the weak 3B and drafting him and vlad were steals.  Russell Martin is a solid athlete who might get move to another position this year.  If he keeps his C tag while moving to say 1B or 3B full time, that would be ridonkulous.  True to Wong's style, he went offense and closers/relievers all the way with the exception of Lamborghini Gallardo #10 which was an ideal round to get him.  Problem is that although he has as much potential as guys drafted earlier like kazmir, daisuke, billingley, AJ, and the like, Brewers will definitely put the Joba-training-wheels on him limiting his fantasy production.  I dropped his value a couple of rounds because of it.  I have an affinity towards coco cordero as he put up one of the greatest fantasy pitching stat lines for my championship in 2006.  I had no idea jason motte was the closer for the cardinals at all.  Needless to say, drafting him at #15 goes without my approval.  Again, true to wong's monopoly style, drafting Shoppach #24 is good value but completely wasted given Thome at UTIL and Martin at C.

Offense (B):

Contrary to many retarded fantasy experts, I do not like orlando cabrera this year.  A's will have trouble scoring...  trust me, i know my local team.  Initially i gave wong a B for his draft but it turned out wong drafted WAY too many OF and C and will not be able to play them all, thus forcing me to drop him to B-.  If you are gonna go with Adam LaRoche, at least you should draft a back up CI until he gets hot mid-May.  Thats quite an oversight in my opinion.  I like the potential of a bounce back year from Figgins and a good year from Kendrick, the signing of Abreu really solidified the Angels lineup.  Everyone else is ok but i dont see too many of them out-producing 2008.  Except maybe kaz matsui if he can stay healthy to score 90R and 30SB getting plenty of rest during the season.

Pitching (C):

I like Scott Baker, he is a high in intelligence with passable stuff, which is a lot better than passable intelligence and great stuff such as a Carl Pavano.  As of this writing, Wong's SPs are just decimated (Webb, Smoltz, Baker all DL) but the RPs are doing good.  I would have avoided anyone in the TB bullpen this year because of over-valuing, especially Dan Wheeler.  i would drop a offensive player and pick up a RP to replace Motte for the time being.  Rafael Perez will be fine but he really should be dominating left handed hitters more than he is.  I cant believe someone drafted Maholms.  The upside is very limited.  My strategy of using my RPs to carry my SPs is feasible if you have a GREAT collection of dominant RPs.  Wong's RP corp is only above average.  It is much easier to hit the jackpot on a FA SP early in the season than late.  Wong needs to take some chances and fast.  

Notes:

I dont feel bad for stealing wong's thunder and taking over.  Running a keeper league isnt amateur night and requires a responsible commish to at least spell it KEEPER instead of kepper.  The drafting debacle is like an asterisk on the superstar 3B of a $209 million team, in a shiny brand new stadium.  I hope that i can still hand off the league for wong to run someday.  But right now, he is the inept commish that no one likes to talk about... Gary Bettman.

Young and Stupid (Eray)

Draft (B-):

4 Keepers were Beckett, Pedroia, Reyes, and Crawford.  Sounds a little weak but I expect huge bounce back years from crawford and beckett.  Beckett has what i call the Al Leiter disease where he alternate dominent and bad seasons.  This should be a good season.  Say what you want about pedroia, he is the new and improved version of derek jeter.  he is born to be a winner.  Eray needs big bats and got Quentin #5 who is a solid mvp candidate and keeper candidate.  3B is a weak position this year.  Between Quentin and Chipper #6, Adrian Gonzalez, vlad, Dunn, RMart, ichiro, and granderson where drafted in order.  Incidentally, there was the HUGE drop off in the quality of bats after chipper.  So although i dont really like Chipper Jones cuz of all the injury potential, looking back at who was available the pick is justified.  I like Carlos Pena's value to the team.  

If i were drafting at the head or tail of a snake draft, you can bet i would be putting pressure on the rest of the GM like Tiger Woods on a NOOB.  But eray took the safe and disciplined route and took a pitcher and a hitter at every turn.  Nathan #7 started the tier1 closer run.  Valverde #10 started a tier2 semi-closer run where Fuentes, Coco Cordero, Wood, and Kevin Gregg went in the 11th and 12th.  That lead to Capps #13 who came before tier3 the likes of Scot, morrow, heath, qualls, ziegler, street, and brian wilson.  So in terms of quality, i would have to give eray credit for getting the best of each of the 3 tiers.  

Offense (D):

I like pablo sandoval but not at #16, not as a full time player for the SF Giants, and not as a 2nd catcher..  I like Tejada mainly because he should be batting behind Lee and Berkman.  Doumit at #12 is a little high as well.  This is a make or break year for conor jackson because he is borderlining a bust.  As for the non-keeper players, there is just not much potential in this lineup.  The best and highest potential player on this offense might be Troy Glaus who is on the DL.  

Pitching (B):

Solid SP.  Joba at #9 is WAY high but i cant fault a die-hard yankee fan for believing Da Hype.  I put his over/under win total this year at 10.  Unlike his time for the yankees, Javier Vazquez will be great for the Braves.  Good closers and good relievers except Corpas.  I dont like any colorado reliver every with the exception of taylor buchholz as sp/rp setup guy last year.  But he does have the potential to take over the closer role at anytime and Eray has Carlson as backup.  

Notes:

Eray participates in the draft, but doesnt do much during the season to be a factor in the standings.  Once in awhile he will shake things up and make a trade for the sake of making a trade.  He is probably too rich working for Microsoft to care about the state of his team.  So his team is the Clippers and he is their owner Donald Sterling.

Qwack Qwack (Meng#1)

Draft (A):

4 superstar keepers plus borderline keeper in Big Papi.  I am happy with all my picks (plus ryan madson from gong #26)including the 2 guys i've dropped already Hinshaw #24 and Tracy #26.  Hinshaw is really, really good although not good enough to be the primary setup man just yet.  Brian drafting Bobby Abreu one pick ahead of me might be a blessing in disguise because i really should invest in a 3B with that pick and brian forced my hand.  Against all these so called experts, i would have avoided Chris Davis this year at all cost.  He reminds me of Kevin Maas.  So it was either Atkin with #8 cuz he wasnt coming back to me in round 9, or wait until #15 or so and roll the dice on some random 3B.  Hawpe at #14 is a steal.  Despite his terrible April and May last year, he still put up solid numbers and almost .900 ops.  

In the past couple of years, i have made a conscience effort to improve my SP drafting skillz.  I really wanted to draft Bedard, Verlander, and Ubaldo again at greatly discounted prices.  Needless to say my SPs last year were absolute disasters; however i have as much confidence in my SPs this year as yankee fans have in theirs.  

Offense (A):

If there is one thing i can do well consistently, that would be being able to assemble a great offense relative to cost.  Keeping Ortiz whose UTIL only tag and drafting Granderson CF #6 with my first pick (when i already have Josh Hamilton CF/RF)  meant I was handcuffed and would not be able to accomodate Bobby Abreu furthur justify my drafting Atkins #8.  Not one weak spot in the lineup and every single slot had a down year last year and/or have the potential to do better this year.  Its not often you will find such a perfect blend of value, upside potential, and cost.  Actually if you are paying attention, this happens every year when i draft.

In case you missed it during the draft, the question i proposed was...

Q: Where is the best place to hit in baseball?  is it Coors?  Citizen park?  Fenway park?  Texas?

A: The slot in front of Manny.  

Manny's benecifiaries include Papi in 2003/2004, pedroia, Youk, and most recently Andre Ethier who had a career year in 1/3 of a season batting in front of manny.  Andre Ethier is another one of those inflated players i would seriously avoid this year.  Orlando Hudson has been a consistent and steady producer for his entire career with little variation... but a career year is coming as he is slated to bat in the #2 hole in front of Manny.  He just hit a cycle today so apparently, you CAN teach an O-Dawg new tricks.  get it?  thats a good one.

Pitching (A-):

For the first time in ages, my closers are shakier than Jeter's knees in the WBC.  After one bad outing by brandon lyon, Jim Leyland went black closer over the white one and that really hurt me.  I will be in the market for closers at the trade deadline if necessary.  But true to my skillz, my relievers are top notch including a potential primary setup in Masterson with sp/rp.  My SPs are strong as well.  Harden, Wainwright, Lowe, and Wang make a solid front 4 with high % of winning close to 20 games on winning teams.  Verlander and Carmona are wild cards but i can back them up in a month with highly capable Duchs and Escobar from the DL.  

Notes:

As a baseball and fantasy guru, I have been very successful identifying and predicting the progression of players in terms of talents, skills, and fantasy stats.  I try to identify those players who continuously improve on a month to month and season to season basis.  On my team, guys like Kinsler, Wainwright, and Masterson fit that bill over various time spans.  Specifically, these are players who might not be highly tauted prospects, but with time, they develop additional skills at various stages of their careers in route to being a total package.  For the longest time, i could never figure out the term that accurately describe these players.  But in a stroke of genius like only i can, i think i've got it... i will call these players MMP which is short for... Mega Man Progression because, like Mega Man, these players get better and acquire new weapons as part of their arsenal as they age.  Other MMP candidate include rajon rondo and dwayne wade.

I probably wont be able to participate as much this year mainly because winning is getting a little mundane.  Sometimes you just need to take a break and find a new hobby.  As the resident 3-peat champion in both h2h and roto, this year I will play the role of Phil Jackson on a break year.

Joint Specialist (Jehming)

Draft (B+): Staying true to last year's strategy, Jehming went right into drafting starting pitching despite my suggestions.  (what do i know?  i've only won like 10+ baseball titles.)  Kept 5 offensive players so he drafted pitching immediately.  Meng#2 is extremely high on Billingsley so i will assume he is a good player.  I've always like Daisuke because he pitches best when the stake is highest and he never gives in.  Ended up with a LOT of the sleepers i like such as Andrus, Kuo, Morales, Sean Green, and Maybin.  Salty is intriguing but using a 12th rounder is way too high when there are better C on the board, plus he will prob share time since he cant catch for shit.  Semi-wasted 15th on Percival but back it up with Balfour (16th).

Offense (B): Other than the keepers, this infield is shakier than arod's knees in october.  But not this past october cuz he didnt get to play.  SB has to come from young guys like Andrus, maybin, and span.  This team has a good mix of big boppers but personally i think it has too many leadoff hitters and 8th/9th slot hitters to be a dominent.  OBP or SLG will probably suffer because of this.  I dont know what is more ridonkulous, maybe you guys can vote: 

1) Jehming didnt draft an offensive player until the 12th

2) the first offensive player you drafted was a part-time catcher 

3) that catcher is Salty

The high grade is based on the moderate-to-tremendous upside potential of the lineup despite the lack of investment in the draft.

Pitching (A+): This pitching staff is fantastic.  Top tier closer in Papelbon.  All SPs have the potential to be #1 starters and put up stats accordingly.  Kuo has the coveted sp/rp tag to pick up holds, K's and good ratios... plus he is TAIWANESE.  I feel bad about Joey devine's injury, he has filthy stuff.  devine/ziegler/casilla would have been one of the best shutdown bullpen in the league.  But percival/devine aside, this staff is fantastic.  CC might end up with been the bottom half of this SP staff.

Notes: 

I think Jehming is one of the few that actually uses logic common sense when drafting.  Unlike other most other GMs, he actually uses the draft to attack the weak spots on his roster instead of doing stupid things like monopolizing a position or overkilling a category.  He is also uneffected by closer and reliever runs the past two years.  Jehming won last year with one of the uglier final roster.  He made all the right moves to win ugly.  Doesn't do anything stupid and over-think during the course of the season (game) unlike rest of the coaches.  The only thing he is missing is gray hair and a grissly beard to remind of...  Greg Popovich.

Matrix (Brian)

Draft (B-): 

Considering Brian didnt have 13th thru 15th picks, this team is pretty decent.  Brian's draft is as one dimensional as his CF Brett Gardner... seems like he drafted nothing but offense and closers.  Best value pick in the whole draft is definitely Abreu in the 8th, but the only problem is that Abreu on this team is overkill.  A good GM would trade Abreu to a team that can fully maximize his value.  I like Ian Stewart the player but he is without a position.  I learned last year that its is almost impossible to predict Clint Hurdle's roster and lineup pattern.  During the draft, announcing that the best pick is coming up, then drafting Randy Johnson is a little ridiculous.  Thats like at the end of the movie Major League, the catcher guy pointed to bleachers like he is gonna hit a hr like babe ruth then laying down a bunt.  

Offense (A+): 

Wow, this team is a offensive juggernaut.  6x 100/100 players, 5x potential 30 hr guys, and thats not including ichiro, alex gordon, and a bunch of hispanics named jose, jorge, and lopez.  All you need is 45 SB from the jap to be on top of every category.  Seriously, why do you need Abreu?  Why not trade Abreu for some much needed pitching?

Pitching (B): 

I like this pitching staff a lot.  This team probably does not have the pitching to win, so it will have plenty of trade chips in terms of closers come trade deadline thus increasing its value.  Brian lemme ask you this... are you playing to win the game?  should we consider a 8th round and 17th round swap?  (Atkins + Wang for Abreu + Unit?)  Given your team's setup, I can guarantee you wang will provide more value to your team than abreu.  Think about it...  Seriously, your #2 is randy johnson.

Notes:

Here is my two cents on Abreu... granted his downward trend due to age, it is uncanny how consistently he can put up fantasy stats.  The value of Bobby Abreu is that the standard deviation of his real stats to my predicted stats for him is almost ZERO.  To a stats freak, this is like a blood diamond in the rough.  Statistically this is nearly impossible (although it is possible that i am really THAT GOOD at predicting baseball stats).  I am sad that i didnt get to draft him this year.  To me, statistically, there will never be another bobby abreu just like in real life there will never be another michael jordan.  

Ok back to reality...  Lemme get this straight.

1) You traded away your future and draft picks like nobody's business.

2) You are managing a team that is a juggernaut on offense.  

3) Your bullpen includes good shutdown closer(s) and big name setup guys that tend to blow up at any time.  

4) The success of your season is contingent on starters that include AJ Burnett, a black SP(CC vs ian snell), an aged lefty who is losing velocity and playing on a 1 year contract (pettitte vs randy johnson).  

This is too easy.  Brian = Joe Giradi.

Buccos (Buc)

Draft (B+):

No one drafts for value and according to the ESPN Live Draft Results quite like Bucco.  He rarely reaches for a player, almost always takes the best available on the board.  His inability to think outside the box reminds me of how one of Bill Simmon's readers described how Peyton Manning, while consistently good, could never win the big one vs Belichick.  There are plenty of value picks here like beltre, drew, derek lee.  But how many players on this roster would be considered "Targeted Players" on anyone's fantasy cheat sheet?  I dunno, I feel a little disappointed.  I cant knock any of the picks but not once during the entire draft did i feel threatened enough by one of Buc's picks that i had to check his roster.  It seems to me like buc just winged it.  

Offense (B):

This is like the emsemble of the musical CATS.  Its a good play but I have no idea who is the main character and who is suppose to do what?  Maybe we will know at the end of the year like at the end of CATS when the fat one goes to heaven.  Les Miserable is much more entertaining because it had heroes and villians and characters with defined roles within a story.

The problem with drafting Phillips and Utley last year is that your offensive production is hinged on middle infielders in a year 2B is deep.

The Good: A whole bunch of solid 20+ HR guys.  Not much variation, you can predict the outcome relatively easily.

The Bad: Not a whole bunch of upside.  Stephen Drew's potential improvement might be canceled out by plenty of potential declines.  

Pitching (B)

Halladay is good but no way he can put up an ERA lower than CC's weight in the AL East again.  I like chris young, lilly, carpenter, and greinke.  All solid but not specatular.  Although Greinke and Carpenter has high potential.  I dont like Lindstrom though, i would pickup his backup immediately whoever that is.  1.5 closer isnt enough to win the league and you will have to be up there in saves to contend so there is work to be done here.  Jeff Bennett at #21 really confused me.  i am pretty sure bennett isnt that good unless you know something i dont.  I think roster flexibility this early in the season is much more important unless you know your SP/RP is gonna be a primary holds guys.

I have been following the A's the SF Giants quite a bit lately.  So here is some scouting report.  I am a big fan of Matt Cain, maybe this is the year.  Last year the pressure of being listed as a #1 was too much.  Having Lincecum and Randy Johnson will definitely help him.  But i think the problem with him is that bengie is a TERRIBLE game caller for him.  I would not be surprised if Randy Johnson punches Bengie in the face this season.  

Ziegler is great but he is not a natural closer.  His success is very similar to huston street.  When the ump does not call the low strike and he is forced to elevate, trouble will ensue.  I thought that last year, he got A LOT, and i mean A LOOOOT, of low strike calls (especially at home) mainly because the ump had no idea how to read the plane the pitches were coming at the plate.You can see similar ball/strike calls with Corey Bradford.  He needs the low strike to be successful.  Problem with Street wasn't that he lost velocity or location.  it was that all the umps stopped giving him the low strike call on balls and the hitters learned to lay off during the offseason.

Notes:

Buc definitely has the talent to compete every year and in every format but he lacks the ability to close the deal come crunch time.  The title was Buc's for the taking last year.  Although he wound up falling short by a slim margin, he trash talked and bragged about finishing sloppy second like he was the champion.  On top of that, no one whines about every little detail/joke like buc.  And dont get me started on the bad sportsmanship of QUITTING.

Therefore Buc is our version of Sergio Garcia.

Orix Blue Wave (Kenneth)

Draft (C-):

Everyone knows I am not a big fan of drafting catchers early.  Kenneth then followed Soto and broxton with a DL SP, a bust 3B, another corner who had career year, a #9 hitter, and ended with a part time black closer.  However starting with #16, the rest of the picks all put up pretty decent numbers... in the minor leagues.  I actually wanted to draft Nelson Cruz 2 or 3 rounders earlier but I couldn't risk taking my 3rd Ranger so soon, plus i also wanted to draft Blalock and Andrus later.  Nelson Cruz will be good.  I like wandy as well.  But the rest of the guys are way too young and half of them probably wont get playing time.

Offense (B-):

Infield is strong.  I suppose if you add Zimmerman and Huff and average them out, getting somewhere between 80/25/80 and 90/25/90 is reasonable but high end might be too optimistic.  I dont know if those stats are worth back to back 11th and 12th round picks.  The outfield is so weak, only Nelson Cruz has a full time job aside from BJ Upton.  I dont like Jayson Werth.  i dont like when these so called fantasy experts like to project half season stats into full seasons and part time player into a full time player.  Statsticically that is as illegal and cheap as a crab dribble.  Its sad that KC is batting Aviles 9th, he is a good player and deserve the ABs.

Pitching (C-):

Dan Haren is great.  The chances are that Cliff Lee will not repeat his career year ever.  His reportoire and how he attacks hitters by mixing a straight fastball and a 2-plane breaker reminds me of a yonug barry zito.  Lee might sustain a few more good years with declining numbers and ratios unless he comes up with something new.  Broxton is a stud.  I am sad to say i know nothing about Cahill.  I was not very impressed with his first start.  Wandy is good but NL Central is full of righty dominated lineups.  Thats a little scary.  I've been watching him for 3 years and I still dont know what his out pitch is.

Notes:

Kenneth started last year with guns blazing pre All Star Game.  The success came fast and furious (the movie #1) then it came crashing down fastly and furiously (the movie #2 tokyo drift).  Now he is rebuilding the hard way thru young and highly touted players.  Hopefully he will turn out to be like box office superstar Vinn Diesel in the fastest and the most furious the movie #3.  But since Kenneth's third installment is still unknown, his path is more similar to that of Michelle Wie.

Dagongsters (Gong)

Draft (A+++):

I laughed so hard when Gong took JJ putz #8; however, I am really surprised when I took a look at gong's roster.  He had 5 extra picks in 10th thru 15th and made full use of it.  Not one weak slot on the entire roster.  I even like the bench players he drafted such as Hafner and Shin-soo Choo aka da Kim-Chi Hammer.  But for the sake of nitpicking, I dont like Jiambi pick when you already had Howard and Votto.  I like Hafner the bench player but i dont like hafner the draft pick due to the same reason.  Those picks just made no sense.  Also it seemed a little weird that you drafted Furcal #7 which was good value but then Jeter at #9 immediately after.  Problem is that not that you drafted him but that there seems to be a backlash against yankee position players like posada, jeter, cano, matsui, damon, nady.  They all dropped significantly in the draft.  Although i have to say that the Yankee starters are WAY OVER-VALUED.

Offense (A-):

I like Hank Blalock this year as i do every year, but chances are he will get hurt and disappoint.  Again just to nitpick, the jiambi pick or hafner pick or one of your extra picks should have been used on a CI, specifically a backup 3B, which is very scarce this year.  Jeter is bad as a fantasy SS but great as a MI and a good backup when furcal gets hurt.  I like Votto a lot.  He is a much more advanced hitter than Jay Bruce and its not really close, i believe i made that observation last year a month after bruce came up.  I hope Ellsbury will have a break out year, hopefully he gets back to playing his game which is to make contact and steal bases.  U might need some HRs if and when jiambi/napoli fail their expectations and howard doesnt hit 48 again.  Da Kim-Chi Hammer is an interesting proposition.  He is definitely better than a platoon/part-time player but he definitely isnt good enough to play everyday.  And when you do play him, he is good enough to hit 2nd or 5th but he is much more valuable grinding out ABs and picking up cheap RBIs and to provide speed at the bottom of the order.  I compare Shoo to a golf shot from 70 yards away in the middle of the fairway.  The green and the pin looks so big that you want to attack the flag.  But when I stand over the ball and i have no idea whether i should use a 52 or 56 or pitching wedge.  Then once i pick my club, i cant decide whether to half-swing, punch, flop, or pitch.  Its all good though cuz its one of those instances in life where i can stay there all day and practice without getting bored.

Pitching (A-):

Solid SPs.  Lincecum's publicity around the bay area is ridonkulous.  I like Bedard a lot despite him single handedly killing my fantasy team last year.  Arrendondo at #12 is way to high but u had so many picks, it doesnt really matter.  Getting back to Bengie as a catcher.  Bengie's one attribute is that he can consistently call the game with absolute zero logic.  His game calling skillz is so against common sense that its so obvious why it works sometimes.  Read the previous sentence again and you will be as confused as i am everytime i watch bengie call a game for Matt Cain.  On one end of the extreme, it is impossible for a batter to win against the combination of a pitcher with Lincecum's stuff and bengie's complete randomness in pitch selection and location.  On the other end, for pitchers like randy johnson, matt cain, and barry zito who need to setup hitters and buy strike 1 and 2 with secondary pitches, he is a bad bad solution that leads to hammer time for opposing offenses.

Notes:

I dont how long gong planned the draft but it is a near flawless draft with a good balance of offense vs pitching, HR vs SB, and value vs potential.  I would have to go over every pick and see who was available to be sure.  With a roster like this, Gong has my expection to finally deliver a Keeper Championship like a team with a $209 million payroll and a grand new ball park.

  

3 keys to winning a championship for you (or anyone) is as follows, agree with them or not is up to you:

1. Manage your saves and holds carefully.  u will need to figure out what you need and what you can get at the trading deadline.  Most importantly, you will have to figure out at the trade deadline what stats takes to win at least 9 in each category and how get it.  Trading draft picks for closers = illusions of a championship.  Its not that easy...  you have to know what you are doing.
   
2. Discipline.  Just because you start hot and in 1st place by mid-May doesnt mean you should trade the house and go for it, like what you did last time.  Just because you start cold and in last place and trail by 60 points by mid-May doesnt mean you cant compete and win the title, as I proved last year.  Dont make traded you dont have to make.
   
3. Manage your innings.  Last year I produced 1500 ip worth of near-championship stats from a staff comprised of 1 lucky draft pick of Volquez at #25 (~200ip) and relievers, overcoming almost zero or negative production from bedard(#3) and verlander (#5) and dropping Lester and Ubaldo after disastrous early season.  I can win championships drafting virtually no pitching because I have formulas to squeeze out more wins, holds, saves, and Ks per inning while holding onto a decent whip/era better than pretty much anyone alive.  Its true... its true.  While you wont have to be nearly as godly as me, but you will have to efficient.  Dont waste your IPs even in April.
   

Someone will come out as a dark horse to contend (maybe jehming or brian or maybe me if i am into it)... but this team is so much more complete than every other team, i would put the odds as Gong vs the field.  In honor of the Masters at Augusta this week... Gong is this week's Tiger Woods vs the field.