Let's Play 2 Dynasty - Big Tymers

[Big Tymer]

So to no one's surprise, my strategy going in was to not play for now but for later. Part of this is baked into uncertainty for this year but mainly because fantasy baseball is fun for me and I prefer to leverage my knowledge around the younger kids. As others have stated, we changed up the rules for this one to separate the 2 drafts which altered my strategy but I actually like this team better than my other one so guess we'll see.

In terms of KDS, I decided to prioritize #6 pick pretty high - not my first choice but as it turned out high enough up my list that I landed this pick based on the rules of Ken's algorithm. Was ok with that as ideally I wanted to build around a young player so #6 gave me Tatis. For minors, I wanted a pick in the middle of the draft and landed #9 which imo turned out well with Andrew Vaughn.

For the MLB draft, I wanted to build a young and strong pitching staff as this would allow me to almost solely focus on hitting prospects which historically have a better success rate. I ended up taking 17 hitters in the minors to 3 pitchers but that is because I took several prospect pitchers in the MLB portion as you'll see.

MLB ROSTER:
C (2): Carson Kelly, Jacob Stallings
1B: Eric Hosmer
2B: Keston Hiura
SS: Fernado Tatis
3B: Rio Ruiz
MI: Amed Rosario
CI: Renato Nunez
OF (5): Nick Senzel, Bryan Reynolds, Shed Long, Brandon Belt, Josh Rojas
U: Nick Solak

Bench: Luis Rengifo, Abraham Toro

MINOR LEAGUE HITTING (17 - not in pick order):
Andrew Vaughn, Alec Bohm, Erick Pena, Liover Peguero, Travis Swaggerty, Luis Campusano, Diego Cartaya, Braden Shewmake, Kevin Alcantara, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Junior Sanquintin, Jose de la Cruz, Adael Amador, Yasel Antuna, Adam Hall, Jose Salas, Trejyn Fletcher

HITTING THOUGHTS:. Tatis & Hiura were my first 2 picks and super happy with that base. Senzel & Rosario were added a bit later so first 4 hitters gave me nice speed and BA. Reynolds is more BA and then like the outlook for Solak and Kelly is a top-10 dynasty catcher. Long and Rojas are dart throws while Hosmer & Belt are filler for depth. I addressed 3B and 1B in the ML draft with Vaughn & Bohm who will help asap so OF is really going to be the focus and hoping that is where Solak gains eligibility over time (15 games to qualify for 2021). With Campusano & Cartaya I feel good about the catcher position long term as well. I love taking SS prospects as if they can play up the middle there are always so many more opportunities for them as they progress. Most will not likely end at SS but defense does matter in fantasy as defense & PT correlate.

PITCHING:
SP (6): Jesus Luzardo, Julio Urias, Jose Berrios, Chris Sale, Yonny Chirinos, Hwang Hyun Kim
RP (3): Jordan Hicks, Nick Anderson, Corey Knebel

OTHER SP: Ross Stripling, Corbin Martin, Patrick Sandoval, Joe Palumbo, Logan Webb
OTHER RP: Austin Adams, Jose Alvarado, John Brebbia

MINOR LEAGUE PITCHING (3):
Tahnaj Thomas, Zach Thompson, Jairo Solis

PITCHING THOUGHTS:. Invested heavily at the top with Luzardo in particular so fingers crossed that works. Picked him over Lux but at that point I already had Tatis & Hiura and was targeting Rosario so to me Lux wasn't needed as much as the potential for a young ace. Coupled Luzardo quickly with Urias and Berrios and then grabbed Sale as well. Thor & Severino went right before Sale and with the way I built my staff I actually preferred the "safety" of Sale. Average age for my team is 26 so Sale at 31 is older but should be an anchor for several years to come while giving some of the kids time to develop. I wanted as much Pitching as possible again because I wanted to avoid investing in minor league pitching in that portion of the draft. By most lists Corbin Martin is a top-100 prospect while Palumbo made the "Just Missed" portion for Keith Law. Webb is a decent prospect in a great ballpark (SF) while some in the industry like the potential for Sandoval. Really, if one of these hit I'll be happy and really hoping Stripling gets moved next offseason. Love my bullpen with a young stud in Hicks coupled with Anderson & Knebel who will rack up saves & holds now. Adams has a chance to close in SEA while Alvarado was great in 2018 (and young) and Brebbia is a steady type.

As with any team, there is work to be done particularly in the OF but this gives me a lot to work with I think with 2022 likely my focus as the kids will be 2 years older and Sale will be 1 year recovered from TJS.

[Hornsby]

What can I say, you definitely "have a type" of player you like. Let's start with the good, your pitching should be outstanding for years to come. Both starters and relievers, nothing but upside arms with lots of K's, good ratios, and on good teams as well. Minor leaguers are irrelevant with such a young staff. Nice reserves as well, enabling some switching if this league has the Friday lineup changes. Nothing to worry about here other than the usual pitching woes, and even those are somewhat diminished with Luzardo, Sale, Urias, hicks, and Knebel all coming off significant injuries that, IMO, should make them stronger and more durable.

Hitting, well, you've already cataloged your faults, and I won't repeat them, but suffice to say you've got some building to do. Hosmer is a particular sore thumb to me, but it's not like he's actually bad, he's just not anywhere near what he probably should be. Love your MI, love Kelly, the OF is blech to me unless Senzel comes up with near superstar performance. Vaughn will help soon, but the rest are a mile away from the majors...high upside though. Plenty of power and speed from the younsters in the majors, so you have a nice base to build on.

I wouldn't be surprised to see you winning as many as 4 pitching cats with that staff, and not winning 1 with the hitting side. But you've always been a top flight owner, so I have no doubt that this group is going to be upper division, and soon a title contender.

[Big Tymer]

Thanks buddy! Bohm will be up as well immediately. Hosmer for me was nice because of that contract. Whether its as UT or just bench its nice to know he'll be playing for awhile.

I own Senzel EVERYWHERE at this point so its the proverbial all-in move. Lot of work though I agree in the OF but ideally I've created a situation where I only have to address 1 thing over next few years.

[wombat104]

I always use your team as a measuring stick and I feel our pitching will be peaking at the same time. Horns was correct that pitching will be tough to beat and all are relatively young so you should be set for quite a long time. I am not as concerned with your hitting, if for no other reason than your proven ability to build a solid minor league system to feed the majors. All in all we ended up with teams that have a similar construction and my hope is in 2022+ we will be duking it out near the top of the league.

Some of the picks I relative to where you grabbed them:
Chirinos: will provide decent innings in whatever role they put him in
Rojas: Good plate approach with emerging power, position eligibility is a bonus, really think he breaks out
Toro-Hernandez: Sniped him as I was hoping he falls; great plate approach and just needs a path to play time to provide a decent return
Martin: Great snag so late, he fell off my radar and wish he didn't. Should provide a solid back-end starter with mid-rotation upside
Salas: Nice grab fairly late, really hoping he fell to me as I almost grabbed him the round prior

[Big Tymer]

Thanks - no doubt we will have overlapping contention windows so should be fun!

Toro and Rojas are bonuses if either hits. Both are on the prospect radar but could be stashed in the MLB roster. Buy skills and not roles sometimes and every know and then it works out.