AL-only Expert League

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Published on March 9, 2010

I represented RotoWire in the KFFL AL-only fantasy draft tonight. Here are the results of my team, snake draft, 12 teams, 23-man rosters, one spot per infield position, four outfielders, one DH, eight Ps, five bench spots, 5X5 scoring-I had pick number 10:

5. Scott Baker

7. Matt Garza

10. Maicer Izturis

11. Erik Bedard

12. Jon Rauch

13. Fernando Rodney

14. Russell Branyan

15. Justin Duchscherer

16. Jeremy Hellickson

17. Trevor Cahill

18. Derek Holland

19. Felix Pie

20. Ryan Garko

21. Jeremy Bonderman

22. Terry Evans

23. Willie Bloomquist

My thoughts on the draft in general and my team:

I missed out on closers and I'm a huge advocate against punting saves. That being said I got some nice values on closers-in-waiting-Jon Rauch the brightest option at this point. For those wondering, Joe Nathan went fifth round, number 50 overall.

In an AL-only league, second base is very, very deep. On my list I've got Kinsler, Pedroia, Cano, Zobrist, Hill, Kendrick, Roberts, Lopez, Cabrera.

There's not a lot of power in the AL, hence I didn't mind missing on Carl Crawford or Jacoby Ellsbury in the first round and was happy to grab Grady Sizemore in the second. This also explains my gamble on Josh Hamilton at pick 34. Only 12 players in the AL hit 31 or more home runs while 15 did the same in the NL. Of the 12 in the AL, eight reached 31 or more for the first time in their career, an outlier or a player on the rise?

Conversely, there's a ton of speed in the AL this year. Here's my list of players who could see 30-plus SBs this year: Ellsbury, Crawford, Sizemore, Figgins, Upton, Davis, Borbon, Andrus, Kinsler, Jeter, Abreu, Podsednik, Pierre, Roberts, Bartlett, Suzuki, Gardner, Rios, Span-just to name a few, I'm probably missing a couple.

I might have reached on Wieters, but I was hoping to grab V-Mart at 10 which didn't happen. After Wieters comes Kurt Suzuki and Mike Napoli; I'll take the guy with solid upside and batting average all day long.

I love Adrian Beltre this year, 20 home runs plus 10 steals is his floor, not his ceiling. Before last year he put up three straight years of 25 plus home runs and that was in Seattle.

Jeremy Hellickson has struck out six of the eight batters he's faced this spring. He won't break camp with the club, but he'll be the option before Andy Sonnanstine if someone struggles or there's an injury.

I love Nolan Reimold, but the Achilles' injury doesn't sit well with me. Pie got his chance last season, hit for the cycle and ended up with nine home runs in 252 at-bats. He was once a top prospect (taking the Corey Patterson route) and is still just 25. Not the worst end-game pick you can make.

Don't read too much into Spring Training numbers from a pitcher. They could be tinkering with pitches, trying something new out, you just never know. Trevor Cahill and Jeremy Bonderman have been horrible this spring but it didn't stop me from taking a chance on them.

I got Matt Garza 11 picks after James Shields. For me, Garza has more upside as well as strikeout potential. The two totaled 19 wins last year; it wouldn't surprise me to see 30 between them this season.

Love Willie Bloomquist as a late-round snag, he always winds up with multi-position eligibility think of him as the AL-equivalent of Jerry Hairston, Jr..

Trading is allowed and we'll play this league out. If you're interested in the whole draft, here's the link to MockDraftCentral.com:

https://www.mockdraftcentral.com/draft.jsp?id=128730