First snake draft in 10 years HDID?

[Ken]

I've played auction leagues only for the last 10 years, trying out a draft this year.
Unfortunately all my auctions/drafts are the first week of the season, so most others have wrapped up draft season.

Here's my team from tonight's draft. Competitive 15 team 5x5 mixed:

C Travis d'Arnaud 19.4
C Tyler Flowers 23.4
1B Hanley Ramirez 5.4
2B Jose Altuve 1.4
3B Yuli Gurriel 21.4
SS Jedd Gyorko 17.4
MI DJ LeMahieu 6.12
CI Mike Napoli 15.4
OF Starling Marte 2.12
OF Giancarlo Stanton 3.4
OF Justin Upton 7.4
OF Nomar Mazara 16.12
OF Max Kepler 18.12
UT Victor Martinez 13.4
P Justin Verlander 4.12
P Danny Salazar 8.12
P James Paxton 10.12
P Michael Fulmer 11.4
P Robbie Ray 12.12
P Charlie Morton 20.20
P Tyler Skaggs 22.12
P Jeurys Familia 9.4
P Jim Johnson 14.12
Bench Carter Capps 24.12
Bench Alcides Escobar 25.4
Bench Wei-Yin Chen 26.12
Bench Joe Mauer 27.4
Bench Jose De Leon 28.12
Bench Jose Iglesias 29.4
Bench Kennys Vargas 30.12

Steamer has me winning in a landslide but I know projections are about as useful as you can throw them.

My pitching staff is a little on the risky side, either due to health or youth in several cases. And Stanton is risky too. But I have some more reliable picks in Hanley, VMart, LeMahieu, Johnson, and Verlander to hopefully balance it out.

I may end up starting Escobar and sliding Gyorko over to 3B until Yuli can prove something.

Anyway, I know I have work to do to keep this team competitive but I thought it went pretty well for my first foray back into a snake draft in 10 years.

Appreciate all critiques.

[chancellor]

Interesting team - looks to be a powerhouse in counting stats other than SB, great BA. Pitching, you have significant WHIP risk and mid to lower in saves, but with your skills, doubt that'll be an issue. You'll find decent closers.

Fair amount of health risk though - Stanton, VMart, HanRam. Losing one won't hurt you two much, but two of them going down will bite. And JUp's cold streaks are terrible on your mental health.

Looks like solid picks up and down the roster, though. Great job!

[Ken]

Good analysis, I think you quickly found my biggest weaknesses.

Saves are definitely middle of the pack, although hoping Capps takes over at some point and helps there. WHIP is not a strength across the board but if Verlander and Fulmer can come close to repeating their 2016 seasons (I know that's a big IF), then that can hold my overall whip at least in the middle third of the standings.

On steals, I probably abandoned it too quickly after starting out with Altuve and Marte. I may need to use Escobar for his ~15 steals just to stay competitive there.

Thanks for the critique and compliment chancellor!

[revo]

I like this team a lot. There's a couple of holes, like there are on all deep league teams, but nothing major. I agree with Chance about the SBs. I'd pick up a 3B backup in case Gurriel underwhelms, but otherwise, I think this team is a top contender.

[Ken]

The correct answer for how would I do was "win".

Altuve, Stanton, and Upton were gold in the early rounds. Marte, Hanley, and Salazar were disappointments.

Verlander and Ray held up the pitching staff.

A lot of turnover at the closer spot. Started out with Johnson, Familia, and Capps, but ended up getting Doolittle, Rivero, and Trienen out of free agency throughout the year.

Very happy with how this turned out.

[Gregg]

Congrats! Well done.