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.

2008 Draft Picks 1 - 7

The eMLB draft has begun and things are humming the Beach Bums war room. Our priorities shifted slightly away from SP due to the winter meeting trades. But we still needed talent at every position except for 3B. I was in the position of taking the best available player almost every round.

Round 1 - Magglio Ordonez - Although I had two OF's, Ordonez was too good to pass up. He is a lock for .310/25/110/100. I know have plenty of run production in the outfield with Ordonez, Beltran and Cuddyer.

Round 2 - Fausto Carmona - I had to get a top SP here. I was leaning towards Smoltz or Holliday, but some Indian fan swayed me on the younger Carmona. A repeat of last year's 19/3.08/137/1.21 looks to be in order.

Round 3 - Brett Myers - I was planning on going infield here but I had a feeling about Myers. He was wasted in the bullpen last year but put up great numbers in 05 and 06. I am looking for 15/3.90/200/1.27.

Round 4 - Khalil Greene - With the infielders going fast, I had to jump on the last decent SS left. Greene puts up good numbers (except for average). I predict .260/25/95/90/4.

Round 5 - Manny Corpas - My second year with the Rockies' closer. Corpas was great last year replacing Brien Fuentes and I expect at least 35 saves on a good Rockies team.

Round 6 - Ryan Garko - An up and coming talent. Hit 21 dingers last year and I expect more of the same.

Round 7 - Derek Lowe - A solid but unspectacular starter.