re: SBL draft recap

Here are some rankings I did....

14.) VKC - It's hard to compete with the pick situation that he had...probably the worst I have seen in this league. He has some good keepers and may be able to flip some guys if he wants to go through a total rebuild. If not, he'll have a decent keeper set next year (Braun, Bruce, Harvey...) with a full slate of picks, but this isn't his year.

13.) Chowds - Chowds has some decent pieces but also has several question marks. Will Lawrie bounce back or is he 15ish HR guy? How will Granderson and Cruz do on their new teams? Are Tiex, Dunn and Phillips over the hill? If it works out, he's got a potential playoff team. Just too many "what if's" right now.

12.) Jew T - Kind of difficult to see what direction Jew is trying to take. He's got a few vets (Pujols, Yadier, VMart, CC, Jeter) but also traded Holiday for prospects and drafted a few nice ones. After his 3 starters, the rest are meh. I believe after a few weeks Jew will sell off some of the older guys and continue to rebuild.

11.) Papz - On the surface, Papz seems rated too low. He has a decent, steady offensive team with solid depth. Not very explosive but should be able to compete week to week. The SP is pretty weak though. I like Teheran and Moore, and Liriano was solid last year, but how will he do this year? The RP is probably the worst in the league. Papz is going to struggle if he doesn't win the hitting categories each week, and while his offense is good, I don't think it's good enough to carry him. He was pretty active last year so maybe he's planning on making some moves already.


10.) PCT - I'll slot myself in right here. I like the potential of the offense for this year, but it's still a year out from being really good. Freeman, Myers and Pence are expected to carry the load, but I think Middlebrooks could have a really good season. I only had one healthy SP going into the draft but now probably have one of the best units in the league. Wacha, Zimmerman, Tanaka, Latos, Ryu and Gallardo could end up being the deepest group in the league. If Tavares gets called up early in the year and makes an impact and if Arenado rakes like I expect him to, the playoffs aren't out of the question.


9.) Will - I think the main difference in Will's team and mine is that most of his young players are either stars or will be stars this season. Trout is the best player in the league. Bogaerts will be a stud. Profar is finally going to get full PT...not to mention Heyward and Machado. He also has a nice pair of closers in Kimbrel and Perkins. The only thing that I am not crazy about is the SP. Shark will strike people out, but will he do anything else? Is Lester a legit #2 SP? I'm not sold. Probably a year away but it wouldn't surprise me if this team made the playoffs this year.

8.) Louie - Lou has a nice balanced offense, anchored by Longo, Votto and Choo. He lacks the pop that some of the teams in front of him have, though. Is this the year that Hosmer hit 25ish bombs, or is he just an 18ish type of guy? We'll see. Felix and Gio look good at the top of the rotation. Walker will need to come through for him though...as a whole, the SP is just OK. RP could be good, or it could be bad if Axford stinks it up.

7.) Gyno - The champ rated this low? Really?? Well, to be honest there is not a ton of seperation between the top 7 teams in the league. I think his pitching staff is one of the better groups in the league, especially if Johnson / Garza rebound in their new NL homes. E5, Kipnis, Beltre and a healthy Reyes are all studs. I don't really like the depth though. Gyno's biggest strength is probably the ability to make trades. I expect this roster to be greatly modified come playoff time.

6.) LE - I thought he had one of the better drafts. Hardy is pretty undervalued. He'll have another 25+ home run season and sneak in power from the SS spot. Trumbo and Moss could hit 70 between them and he stole Holiday from Jew. The top 4-5 SP are solid and he has 4 closers, so if he wants he has pieces to make more deals. I wouldn't say it's a top 2-3 team on paper but it's one to watch for sure.

5.) Wiseguy - Wiseguy inherited a beastly offense, headed up by the best middle infield in the league with Cano and Hanley. Upton, Adams, and Wright are studs as well. I'm not really a fan of the pitching though. Hamels will be starting the season on the DL and after him the two asians are good, but good enough to cary the staff? IDK. Wiseguy did load up on closers though and they may pitch enough to only have to start 3-4 guys a week.

4.) Rondo - I like what Rondo did in the draft, landing two stud closers and getting guys like Wieters, Panda and Kelly Johnson to go along with his power guys in Davis, BOWvarez, Tulo and Puig. Verlander, Cobb and Fernandez make a good starting trio. Should be one of the better teams in the league.

3.) Earl - Love the offense. Goldy, Miggy, Stanton, Gomez, Santana, Segura...loaded. Yu is one of the best SP in our format, and the closers look good. I'd be worried about the rest of the staff though. They could be good but right now it's just ok. Still, with this offense Earl will be tough to beat.

2.) Clams - Kershaw, Miller, Stras...three closers...Enough said. The pitching is the best in the league IMO, and the offense ain't bad either. Cargo and McCutchen are as balanced as they get. Rizzo and Zimmerman will provide the pop. Solid team all around.

1.) Chat - I feel like Chat's keepers were so good that he really couldn't go wrong in the draft. I love Prince in Texas I'm really digging the Harper / Ellsbury-led OF. Price / Sherzer / Cole is an elite trio of SP and his closers should make him competitive in the save cat. If there is one thing to nitpick, it would be his offensive depth. I'm not loving it, but overall I think he has the best balance of hitting and pitching.