who would you rather start your team off with? (baseball drafting strategy)

[IvyinBarondise]

Cano ____ ( all about position scarcity)
Beltre


Trout _______ ( health/short body of work vs incredible upside)
Strasburg


Braun ________ (tride and true power and 5 category help)
Stanton



Some people like to start off their drafts (snake format) with positions that have a large dropoff after a few elite players. Some people are looking for potential beast numbers. Some people stick to pretty standard drafting strategy and wait on pitching and grab the best offensive players available through at least the first two if not 3 or 4 rounds.

I say it all depends on who falls to you and I'm more of a "best player available" guy. I'm not as high on Stras as other guys out there...that is to say I wouldn't draft him in the first or early second round in a 10 or 12 team league. I might start to consider reaching a pick or two early and taking a Cano over a Trout however. First of all I'm not convinced it's more probable that Trout has a larger offensive contribution then a Robby Cano but there are a ton of guys to look @ in the OF this saeson....2b is very very slim picking after the first 3 or 4. Beltre is a clear number 1 3b, after that you gotta gamble on Longoria staying healthy or Wrights production in a dismal lineup and don't forget he has health issues of his own... After that I'm seeing guys gamble on the one year wonder Headley and REALLY reaching for guys like Ramirez WAYYYY too early if you're looking @ numbers....

I love braun...I love stanton.... but can I get an Austin Jackson and a Josh Reddick much much later and have a much larger differential in the infield then the production I get out of the OF?

Personally I'm torn here, but it's a very interesting question this season...


OF and SP are STACKED this season... might be time to reach for certain positions....obviously if I have the 1st pick I'm not going Cano...but you get what I mean here...What do you guys think?

 

[reNew Orleans]

i think if you go into a draft with the mindset of drafting a particular way, you are F'ed. gotta be flexible depending on where you draft/who is available.

 

[IvyinBarondise]

oh for sure, I might have an idea of players I'd like to target but it's deff important to remain flexible or you find yourself f'ing up every which way. This is a hypothetical on who you'd like to start your first two rounds off with if you literally had to chose between one of the three...We don't get these choices during the draft but it poses an interesting proposition within the hypothetical.

 

[reNew Orleans]

id prob go w/ trout/strasburg.

I've done the position scarcity thing and its backfired on me completely. I blame David Wright.

As for Braun/Stanton. I like it but Stanton scares me a little just because theres not much around him.

 

[tipyerbartender1]

Trout or Braun, and another hitter in the 2nd. Let someone else take the pitcher.

 

[reNew Orleans]

basically what tip said

 

[IvyinBarondise]

oh sure, I would love that too...thats why i thought these three duos made the decision a lot harder

 

[TheHbomb]

In my younger years, I fell for the position scarcity and it came back to bite me every single time. I'll take offensive studs over stud pitchers every day of the week. Pitching is also easier to trade for from my experience. Once in awhile there is a true #1FBL pitcher (Pedro in his prime for example) that I would take number one, but it is very rare. I love Strasburg, but he still has question marks and that is plenty enough to dissuade me. Cano, Trout, Braun for me.

 

[IvyinBarondise]

agreed

 

[Seabass]

The only thing "scarce" is elite talent. Take the best players and you will win.

With the scarce positions, I've started to simply punt them, take 2 flyers at the end, and then scour the waiver wire for the hot hand. Last year, that landed me Ian Desmond at SS and Wilin Rosario at C. Worked a lot better than reaching on Tulowitzki. Additionally, I think Karabell had this stat - Buster Posey won the NL MVP at a scarce position, but still was only 27th or 28th on the player rater...

 

[wreck]

i think if you go into a draft with the mindset of drafting a particular way, you are F'ed. gotta be flexible depending on where you draft/who is available.

pretty much. do a bunch of mock drafts and learn accordingly.