Things learned from RJ Mock 1 - 2017

[kawaise]

I thought it'd be interesting to note observations and/or things learned from RJ Mock 1 (revo - delete this thread if you think it should be in the Mock One Discussion thread).

[harmon]

I learned that Kawaise makes a nice spreadsheet.

[kawaise]

I learned that Kawaise makes a nice spreadsheet.

lol

Thanks harmon.

[chancellor]

I learned that Kawaise makes a nice spreadsheet.

Really nice. And maintained it well. Thanks!

Youth was served - early, I felt, in a lot of cases. It's a good point of reference, though - if you want a young player, you might have to reach a round or two early to get them

[Hornsby]

It reminded me that there are a LOT of older vets, really boring guys, but guys who still produce. To get Markakis in the 25th? round of a 15 teamer is crazy. he's still a .280/12/75 guy, and that's valuable in any lineup.

[harmon]

As a long time NL only guy I found this foray into a Mixed draft very challenging. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

[madducks]

I learned that if you are picking in the middle and hoping a player will still be available when you pick in the next round.......forget it.......it's not happening.

[kawaise]

My forte is only-league auctions. This is my first foray into a mixed-league draft (not counting auto-pick Yahoo leagues).

Catchers went later in this draft compared to their ADPs.

There seemed to be a priority on power in this draft. In auctions I tend to look for players that contribute somewhat to all categories. It was easy to determine early on that I was short on power in this auction.

I've never been in leagues that drafted a bench. Forty percent of the picks in the first three rounds of the reserve round were pitchers (19 of 48 picks) - much different than what happened in the draft. This was a revelation.

Not having any experience in this setting, I followed the crowd and picked a closer. It was surprising to me that every team picked closers; two teams picked three closers (revo may have picked up a third closer in the reserve round (Gomez)). I haven't purchased a closer in an auction setting in many years - in retrospect I'd probably have followed the same philosophy.

[kawaise]

I learned that if you are picking in the middle and hoping a player will still be available when you pick in the next round.......forget it.......it's not happening.

Agreed. It seemed that many of my picks were narrowed down to two or three players. Many times one of the players that I was considering (but didn't pick) went to other teams within just a few picks before or lasted until just before I picked (outside the first seven or eight rounds when many of the players should have been picked I missed out on Elvis Andrus, Felix Hernandez, Marcus Stroman, Starlin Castro, Didi Gregorius, Marco Estrada, Orlando Arcia, Adam Wainwright, and Hisashi Iwakuma).

Chancellor beat me to the punch on Jarrod Dyson with pick #204 - I was so confident that his ADP would "hide" him that I wrote a note that I would target him in the 14th round at pick #218, a full 130 picks before his ADP of 348.

[revo]

I learned that there is going to be A LOT of "fallen angels" available late in the draft (15+ Rd) that you either have to have had done some homework on, or just take a blind risk. Some of those guys include Heyward, McCann, Peralta, Phillips, Choo, etc.

[kawaise]

The reserve rounds abounded with some young pitchers that didn't explode on the scene like many had hoped/predicted: Berrios, Severino, Bradley, and Giolioto.

[joncarlos]

1 catcher leagues are just so weird.

I was amazed at how late the bottom tier closers/closer candidates went. Maybe that's because there are only 8 pitcher slots? I got Greg Holland and Carter Capps in the reserve rounds. Even the top tier closers slipped a little (probably a lot compared to NFBC).

I had a tough time with closers picking 16th. I had to jump Edwin Diaz about a round because all of he, Oh, Giles Davis, Colome, Herrera, Osuna were on the board at for my 5th/6th rounder, but gone by my 7th.

[Piney Boy]

The reserve rounds abounded with some young pitchers that didn't explode on the scene like many had hoped/predicted: Berrios, Severino, Bradley, and Giolioto.

woo i picked two of those.

[quoin]

The frustration of getting my player sniped just before my pick over and over again is a reminder why I like auctions better.

In general I found pitchers (at least the better starters) went lower than ADP would suggest.

[Big Tymer]

You don't "need" to take a pitcher in the first 4 rounds. I already believed this to be true but listening to all these preseason podcasts and reading articles makes it seem like you need a staff anchor to be successful. Given the frequency of SP injury, that is just a lot of risk. Sure, we feel good when at the end of the year we look at the 3-4 SPs who were "worth" 1st and 2nd rd grades but the problem is we never know who they will be especially when drafting well before the season. I think its crazy to take Kershaw in the 1st let along someone else in the 2nd but different strokes.

We like to think baseball > football due to less randomness which is true but let's not fool ourselves and say luck isn't a big factor. Diversifying risk over more assets at SP to me at least seems a very viable strategy.