By Butters in D.C.

League 14

League 16

Well, folks, I’ve finally resigned myself to another year of moderate success.  I only have a shot in one league … the non-keeper FBM staff league, where I currently sit in third place.  I am also in third in Keeper League 14 and sixth in League 16 where I feel like I started behind the ‘8-ball’.

The reason I started behind the ‘8-ball’ is actually my own fault.  I took over an abandoned team and built my keeper list through a new owner draft where I made mistakes on three of my five picks.  Learn from my mistakes, and develop your own keeper list that can win your league.

I was lucky enough to get the first pick in the new owner draft that included A-Rod.  Say what you will about his performance in the clutch - and as a Yankee fan, believe me, I will - but there are few players in all of baseball with the upside of Rodriguez.  He was an obvious ‘no brainer’, but having the #1 pick meant that I would miss out on Grady Sizemore, Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Carl Crawford, and Carlos Lee.

With A-Rod, I figured I had power, average, and a little speed, so I figured I would bolster the average and add to the speed with Ichiro Suzuki.  I figured that I had a great start to protect my batting average, tons of runs, great speed, and could build up the rest of my power in the draft.  It was with my next three picks that I went wrong.  Very wrong.

I chose supposed ’super stud’ pitcher Jake Peavy with my next pick, over Garrett Atkins who would have seriously helped my power and RBIs without hurting my average. I, at the time, was lured in by the appeal of having the #2 overall pitcher to go with my top-rated hitter.  I thought I could dominate.

Well, what happened was what so many people seem to warn about - I wound up coming up short on top quality hitting at the expense of a 9-9 pitcher.  Granted, he DOES have a 2.69 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 155 Ks in 153 innings, but he is certainly not the #2 pitcher this season.  Had I not been lured into taking Peavy because of the name, I could have gotten Dan Haren and Cliff Lee later in the draft - both of which I passed up because I either didn’t want to take another pitcher so soon or had the spot filled.  It is fairly obvious to see which would have worked out better for me.

The next pick was Curtis Granderson instead of Ian Kinsler. I thought that Granderson was a baby Jimmy Rollins, but I liked Kinsler better as far as upside and position.  I lost out on the opportunity to draft Kinsler in the league-wide draft when someone took him with the last pick of the new owner draft.

By far, my biggest error in judgment and preparation came from my 5th and final pick of the new owner draft. I took Francisco Cordero.  I was panicking that I would lose out on a top closer, and, after having Cordero in another league the year before, I really liked what he could do. I did not, however, take the time to figure out who would be available had I not taken anyone and vacated my last pick to get another from the larger player pool of available players as an extra pick.

Jonathan Papelbon and Brian McCann were both available with my first pick in the open player draft, and since I had Cordero, I took McCann.  Just a little bit of research could have alleviated this problem and allowed me to wind up with both on my team. A top five of A-Rod, Ichiro, Atkins, Kinsler, and Papelbon certainly would look better than A-Rod, Ichiro, Peavy, Granderson, and Cordero.

Yes, this look back at keeper decisions is made with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, but I honestly think I just got caught up in the moment and wound up making some bad decisions. Armed with this experience and knowledge, I’m sure that I won’t make the same mistakes again. Don’t fall victim to flash and panic, you can get starters and closers later in the draft. What you can’t replace are top hitters at tough positions.

Go for upside.  Go for bats.  Go for known quantities. Don’t take unnecessary risks in your ‘Top 5′, and do your research to make the best choices for you. Ultimately, this will be your team next year.  Do what you need to do to start off on the best foot possible.

Next time, we’ll look at some players that should not be on your keeper list under any circumstances, and one of them is a top 5 rated player in all of fantasy.  E-mail me at mike@fantasybaseballmafia.com !