1 8 All Reedster My 5x5 Serpentine Draft (8 teams) 3/20/05, 10:01am (Last Edited: 3/20/05, 10:16am) I had the first of my three drafts yesterday, and I think it went pretty well. I had some mistakes, but based upon the way that the draft was going, people were taking a lot of guys who I considered "sleepers" in early rounds. There were some players that I really have a feeling for this year, and I had a few people scratching their heads. Round by round (I had second pick): Guy with the first pick goes with A-Rod. I was a bit surprised. A-Rod was my third pick (behind Vlad #1, and bad-footed Pujols #2). Round 1: &b-Vlad Guerrero-b& Round 2: &b-Jason Schmidt, Melvin Mora-b& Round 3: &b-Brad Lidge-b& (Gagne went two before; someone in the league picked Mariano Rivera before both Gagne and Lidge), &b-Pedro Martinez-b& Round 4: &b-Mark Teixiera, Mark Prior-b& (yes, Prior went that low; he wasn't really someone on my must have list because of the elbow, but how could I let him go here?) Round 5: &b-Joe Mauer-b& (please stay healthy), &b-Carlos Guillen -b& (I have him rated #1 in my personal 5x5 SS rankings based on last years stats) Round 6: &b-Jose Reyes-b& (I need SBs), &b-Jason Isringhausen-b& (yah, I was surprised he was there this late, too) Round 7: &b-Johnny Damon, Travis Hafner-b& (DH only eligibility for draft purposes, and I think he was forgotten by quite a few in the league as a result) Round 8: &b-Kelvim Escobar-b& (here is the most serious, potential mistake, but I have a real good feeling about this guy; I'm thinking low 3 ERA, decent whip, great strikeouts; there were other guys out there -- not many -- but I decided to pull the plug). It might have been the three shots of blackberry tequila talking that I had slammed during the previous hour. &b-&i-David Wright.-i&-b& I eventually made a mistake here because I hadn't properly kept track of positioning, which was later complicated when I picked a 1/3 in Derrek Lee. I had to later drop Wright, who I replaced with 20 game SS eligibility &b-Pedro Feliz-b&. I know Pedro doesn't appear to have a starting job, but his multi-position eligibility and that wonderful year were too good to pass up. Round 9: &b-Aaron Rowand-b& (again, I needed SBs; 0 in 2003, 17 last year); &b-Derrek Lee-b&. Couldn't resist all around great numbers this late. Round 10: &b-Mike Piazza-b& (oh, how the mighty have fallen, but I'll take him as my SECOND catcher -- especially when he is in the AL by July, sitting on the pine waiting to take his next DH at bat). &b-Jeremy Bonderman-b& (how can I call a guy with nearly a 5.00 ERA a sleeper)? :) Round 11: I need to fill up some OF, and I find &b-Larry Walker-b&. bad back and all. Stats (and potential) too good to pass up. Just gimme 450 Abs, Larry! &b-Austin Kearns-b& (what the hell). Round 12: &b-Greg Aquino-b& (all good closers washed up, gonna cross my fingers with this pick, as he may not keep the job). &b-Scott Shields.-b& This was an interesting pick because it was the ONLY write-in of the day. Our commish had a fantasy draft package from CBS Sportsline, containing printed STICKERS of the top expected fantasy players. There was no Scott Shields in the stickers. I liked my starting rotation of Schmidt, Martinez, Prior, Escobar, and Bonderman. I wanted to look for middle relief with high strikeout numbers and potential cheap wins on a pretty good team (even if I can't stand his team). How about the best middle reliever in the game? --- At this point, the draft took a break... which I thought strange because I had an empty middle infield spot. It was then that I figured out that Wright was the odd man out, so I had to dump him... and I picked up Feliz. --- The Wright debacle resulted in another problem. I was able to get him back with my first pick of the 5-man reserve (three position players and two pitchers). This wasn't my plan. Believe it or not, there was a young man named Justin Morneau still out there. He was at the top of my desired reserve pick list, but I felt sort of an obligation to snag &b-David Wright-b& back... We reversed the serpentine for the reserve, so I was going to get my first pick, then a pick two players later. I thought Morneau might slip under the radar. Unfortunately for me, the player behind me was the knowledgable Commish, and he took Morneau immediately. Resetting my plans, I went with that 97-mph throwing leftie &b-Scott Kazmir-b& with my second pick. Third pick came around, and I took the questionable &b-Miguel Batista-b&. Hey, maybe he will fare well as a closer. I decided at this point to just look for some potential sluggers who were fairly decent in at least 4 categories. I went with my previously mentioned (in a previous post) sleeper &b-Craig Monroe-b&. Then, true to form, I took another from my sleeper list: &b-Jeff Davanon-b& (he just has to get playing time; unfortunately, he isn't starting on the ANA depth chart). Yes, ANA, you bastards. :) All in all, I think I will finish at least top 3 with this group. [Reedster from Sylmar/CA] Replies: 9