2008 Draft Picks 8+
The rest of the draft was spent rounding out the roster, hoping to find that diamond in the rough.
Round 8 started out bad when I took Tony Pena. He was the favorite to be the Diamondback's closer but seemingly the next day, Brandon Lyon was named the closer going into training camp. Hopefully Pena will setup and get a bunch of holds.
I had two sub-strategies for the later rounds. The first was to get all the young speedsters I could. I was able to pick up Reggie Willits, Jerry Owens and Rajai Davis. None of the three are starters but all have the ability to steal tons of bases. Willits will get his chances on the Angles offense most likely filling in for injured players. Owens will probably platoon and pinch hit. Davis has the best chance to get at-bats as he is behind the fragile and old Dave Roberts and the Giants are going with youth. I figure at least one or two of these guys will pan out and I will get steals and possibly trade one to fill a hole.
The second strategy revolved around the second base position. Robinson Cano was the only tier one 2B available and he went 8th overall. The rest of the guys were bunched up. Since I was filling other positions I never picked a second baseman. I had Clint Barmes on the roster (please don't snicker) and he is a candidate for the Rockies 2B job. So I decided to pick up the other likely candidates in Jayson Nix and Ian Stewart. Both of whom are highly touted. I figure one will get the starting gig and I drop the others (except for Barmes).
Overall I like my draft. I picked solid guys for the most part. My biggest deficiency is lack of infield depth. Only at catcher do I have a backup. I will certainly remedy that before the season by dropping some duds and hitting the waiver wire.
A couple of late round gems (IMHO):
Randy Johnson - injured last year, put up decent numbers in 07 and was great in 06. I think he still has something left in the tank and he's playing for a contender.
Rajai Davis - a mentioned his speed, but he plays for a terrible team. I think he starts most of the season and gets 50+ steals.
Round 8 started out bad when I took Tony Pena. He was the favorite to be the Diamondback's closer but seemingly the next day, Brandon Lyon was named the closer going into training camp. Hopefully Pena will setup and get a bunch of holds.
I had two sub-strategies for the later rounds. The first was to get all the young speedsters I could. I was able to pick up Reggie Willits, Jerry Owens and Rajai Davis. None of the three are starters but all have the ability to steal tons of bases. Willits will get his chances on the Angles offense most likely filling in for injured players. Owens will probably platoon and pinch hit. Davis has the best chance to get at-bats as he is behind the fragile and old Dave Roberts and the Giants are going with youth. I figure at least one or two of these guys will pan out and I will get steals and possibly trade one to fill a hole.
The second strategy revolved around the second base position. Robinson Cano was the only tier one 2B available and he went 8th overall. The rest of the guys were bunched up. Since I was filling other positions I never picked a second baseman. I had Clint Barmes on the roster (please don't snicker) and he is a candidate for the Rockies 2B job. So I decided to pick up the other likely candidates in Jayson Nix and Ian Stewart. Both of whom are highly touted. I figure one will get the starting gig and I drop the others (except for Barmes).
Overall I like my draft. I picked solid guys for the most part. My biggest deficiency is lack of infield depth. Only at catcher do I have a backup. I will certainly remedy that before the season by dropping some duds and hitting the waiver wire.
A couple of late round gems (IMHO):
Randy Johnson - injured last year, put up decent numbers in 07 and was great in 06. I think he still has something left in the tank and he's playing for a contender.
Rajai Davis - a mentioned his speed, but he plays for a terrible team. I think he starts most of the season and gets 50+ steals.