My 2010 Fantasy Baseball First Pick ~ My Perfect Draft

So you've been doing your research, prepping for your draft...or one of many drafts. You have your cheat sheets and your list of sleepers. You are determined you're going to have the perfect draft. Yet, you approach your draft apprehensive, because you've been here before, armed to the teeth with stats and expert advice, and when the draft was over you looked upon your roster and sighed. Not perfect. Nowhere near perfect. So why does it seem like those other morons in the league, seem to have fared better? Quick, sign up for another team. You'll get it right this time.

This is how managers end up with a dozen teams each year.

So how does one complete the perfect draft? Well, first you have to change your view of what a perfect draft is. Let's start with a draft based on average draft pick (ADP). For the purposes of our article we will give YOU, the reader, the 6th pick. Below you will find the first 10 rounds of a 10 team draft based on ADP in a 5x5 roto league. Your pick location is in Bold, and I have offered 3 options for each round. The results are at the bottom of the draft.

PLAYER, TEAM POS AVG PICK COMMENTS 1 Albert Pujols, StL 1B 1.1 2 Hanley Ramirez, Fla SS 2.4 3 Alex Rodriguez, NYY 3B 3.3 4 Ryan Braun, Mil LF 4.6 5 Chase Utley, Phi 2B 5.8 6 Prince Fielder, Mil 1B 7.1 Round  1, Option 1 7 Matt Kemp, LAD CF 8.7 Round 1, Option 2 8 Tim Lincecum, SF SP 9.6 9 Carl Crawford, TB LF 10.5 10 Mark Teixeira, NYY 1B 10.7 11 Miguel Cabrera, Det 1B 11.7 12 Roy Halladay, Phi SP 12.7 Round 1, Option 3 13 Joe Mauer, Min C 12.9 14 Ryan Howard, Phi 1B 13.2 15 Evan Longoria, TB 3B 13.3 Round 2, Option 1 (or Wright) 16 David Wright, NYM 3B 14.9 17 Justin Upton, Ari RF 18.0 Round 2, Option 3 18 Felix Hernandez, Sea SP 19.7 19 Jacoby Ellsbury, Bos CF 20.6 20 Troy Tulowitzki, Col SS 20.9 Round 2, Option 2 21 Matt Holliday, StL LF 21.2 22 CC Sabathia, NYY SP 22.2 23 Ian Kinsler, Tex 2B 24.1 24 Derek Jeter, NYY SS 25.4 25 Zack Greinke, KC SP 25.4 26 Adrian Gonzalez, SD 1B 27.7 Round 3, Option 2 27 Ichiro Suzuki, Sea RF 28.2 28 Jimmy Rollins, Phi SS 28.4 Round 3, Option 3 29 Grady Sizemore, Cle CF 31.4 30 Robinson Cano, NYY 2B 32.4 Round 3, Option 1 (or Pedroia) 31 Dustin Pedroia, Bos 2B 32.4 32 Dan Haren, Ari SP 32.5 33 Ryan Zimmerman, Was 3B 32.9 34 Pablo Sandoval, SF 3B 34.7 35 Kevin Youkilis, Bos 3B 38.5 Round 4, Option 3 36 Jon Lester, Bos SP 40.2 Round 4, Option 2 (Wainwright or Lee) 37 Joey Votto, Cin 1B 41.2 38 Jayson Werth, Phi RF 42.0 Round 4, Option 1 39 Cliff Lee, Sea SP 42.0 40 Adam Lind, Tor LF 42.7 41 Brian Roberts, Bal 2B 43.2 42 Brandon Phillips, Cin 2B 44.3 43 Justin Verlander, Det SP 44.4 44 Adam Wainwright, StL SP 44.9 45 Brian McCann, Atl C 44.9 46 Jose Reyes, NYM SS 45.4 Round 5, Option 1 47 Mark Reynolds, Ari 3B 45.6 Round 5, Option 2 48 Jason Bay, NYM LF 46.4 49 Victor Martinez, Bos C 48.1 Round 5, Option 3 50 Justin Morneau, Min 1B 48.2 51 B.J. Upton, TB CF 48.6 52 Johan Santana, NYM SP 52.7 53 Chris Carpenter, StL SP 54.8 54 Aramis Ramirez, ChC 3B 55.7 55 Curtis Granderson, NYY CF 56.8 Round 6, Option 1 56 Carlos Lee, Hou LF 57.4 Round 6, Option 2 57 Mariano Rivera, NYY RP 57.8 58 Andre Ethier, LAD RF 59.0 59 Kendry Morales, LAA 1B 60.1 60 Jonathan Broxton, LAD RP 60.3 61 Nick Markakis, Bal RF 62.3 62 Ben Zobrist, TB 2B 64.7 Round 6, Option 3 63 Yovani Gallardo, Mil SP 65.2 64 Josh Beckett, Bos SP 66.3 65 Nelson Cruz, Tex RF 66.7 66 Adam Jones, Bal CF 69.9 67 Javier Vazquez, NYY SP 70.0 68 Bobby Abreu, LAA RF 71.7 Round 7, Option 1 (or Adam Jones) 69 Adam Dunn, Was 1B 72.0 Round 7, Option 3 70 Aaron Hill, Tor 2B 73.2 Round 7, Option 2 71 Chone Figgins, Sea 3B 73.4 72 Josh Johnson, Fla SP 74.2 73 Shin-Soo Choo, Cle RF 76.0 74 Shane Victorino, Phi CF 76.4 75 Jonathan Papelbon, Bos RP 77.4 76 Tommy Hanson, Atl SP 77.4 Round 8, Option 1 77 Josh Hamilton, Tex CF 78.8 Round 8, Option 2 78 Billy Butler, KC 1B 80.4 79 Derrek Lee, ChC 1B 80.8 80 Torii Hunter, LAA CF 83.6 81 Manny Ramirez, LAD LF 85.2 82 Joakim Soria, KC RP 85.8 83 Francisco Rodriguez, NYM RP 86.7 84 Gordon Beckham, CWS 3B 86.7 85 Andrew McCutchen, Pit CF 87.1 Round 8, Option 3 86 Lance Berkman, Hou 1B 87.4 87 Matt Wieters, Bal C 88.1 Round 9, Option 1 88 Brandon Webb, Ari SP 89.2 89 Michael Young, Tex 3B 91.5 90 Matt Cain, SF SP 91.6 Round 9, Option 3 91 Ricky Nolasco, Fla SP 91.8 92 Carlos Pena, TB 1B 92.9 93 Cole Hamels, Phi SP 94.0 Round 9, Option 2 94 Elvis Andrus, Tex SS 94.2 95 Johnny Damon, Det LF 96.8 96 Ubaldo Jimenez, Col SP 97.8 97 Jake Peavy, CWS SP 98.0 Round 10, Option 1 98 Hunter Pence, Hou RF 98.4 Round 10, Option 2 99 Carlos Quentin, CWS LF 98.6 Round 10, Option 3 100 Andrew Bailey, Oak RP 101.8 Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 C Weiters 1B A. Gonzalez C Martinez 1B Fielder 2B Hill 1B Dunn 2B Pedroia 3B Reynolds 2B Zobrist 3B Longoria SS Tulowitzki 3B Youkilis SS J. Reyes OF Kemp SS Rollins OF Werth OF C. Lee OF J. Upton OF Granderson OF Hamilton OF McCutchen OF Abreu OF Pence OF Quentin SP Hanson SP Lester SP Halladay SP Peavy SP Hamels SP M. Cain

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After the first 10 rounds off the draft, all three potential teams are off to an excellent start, with a nice blend of power, speed and average. I focused on getting my offense done first, while picking up a couple of solid starting pitchers.

Any combination in any of those rounds would have been the foundation for a dream fantasy team. The trick is balancing patience with knowledge.

You will note that in the first round, for my 3rd team option I dipped outside the first round draft picks to grab Roy Halladay. Tim Lincecum would have been an excellent choice too, but I have more faith in Halladay's situation this year; solid offensive team, and his switch to a new league with no DH. Which brings me to...

Do NOT get caught up in draft position and rankings. Follow your instincts, and the map you have drawn up for your draft. If you make changes as you go, do it based on what makes sense for your team, not because X player is being taken 2 rounds before the guy you think will help you best.

Finally you'll note I did not draft a single Closer in the first 100 picks. That is a rule I follow religiously. In the first 10 rounds, six Closers were taken. That means there are 24 more options for the second half, while you have the heart of your team already built.

Now go draft a winner!!!

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Closer Rankings, Sholty’s Drafting Tips, 1B Rankings, 2B Rankings, Catcher Rankings, OF Rankings, Assume the Position, 5 Guys To Avoid Like The Plague, The Grady Sizemore Debate

Need more fantasy? NFL – NBA – NHL.