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2010 Draft Breakdown: Rounds 7-9 E-mail
Written by Bob Taylor   
Thursday, 04 March 2010 15:55

PLAYERS TO TARGET:

Chone Figgins scored 114 runs and swiped 42 bases last year. But the reason you should be excited about possibly getting him this late in the draft is that he plays third base, which is pretty damn thin this year. If you still don't have a third baseman by the sixth or seventh round and miss out on Chone, you might find yourself starting Chase Headley.

You will be so much better off drafting Nelson Cruz in the seventh than you would be taking Bobby Abreu in the sixth. Trust me.

Denard Span is a 26-year-old runs/steals/average guy who Twins fans are hoping can blossom into a superstar this year. Draft him in the seventh or eighth and hope right along with them.

People either forget that Andre Ethier hit 31 homers and drove in 106 runs last year, or they don't believe he can do it again. Those are the only possible explanations for him getting drafted, on average, in the eighth round. Hey, that's cool ... I'll take him.

I will definitely be drafting some pitching during these rounds in all my leagues. Why spend early draft picks on the Greinkes and Sabathias of the world when you can wait until the eighth and get Tommy Hanson (sophomore slump my ass); Clayton Kershaw (ready to put it all together); Wandy Rodriguez (a K/9 rate of over 8.4 both of the last two seasons); or Cole Hamels (bounce-back city, baby!)?

For those of you who don't want to spend a second-round pick on Jacoby Ellsbury but still believe in the one-stop-steals-shop strategy, might I suggest Michael Bourn?

PLAYERS TO AVOID:

People love Billy Butler this season. I'm not convinced last year's 78-21-93-.301 line doesn't represent his plateau (rather than something to build from). Let's also not forget the team he plays for. Right now he's being taken in front of Ethier and Adam Jones, which is ridiculous.

Dan Uggla has hit .245 or less in two of his last three seasons. If you reach the late sixth/early seventh and are desperate for a second baseman, then do what you must. But getting dragged down by this guy's average is brutal. And painful. Brutally painful.

Remember last year when I had to warn people repeatedly against drafting Josh Hamilton in the first round? And then a bunch of roto-managers went and did it anyway? And then watched their seasons go up in smoke? Hilarious. Well, I'm back to tell you not to bother with Hamilton in the eighth round this year. Dude was a one-hit wonder of Dexy's Midnight Runners proportions. (And injured already, incidentally.) Take Raul Ibanez instead.

Matt already offered up plenty of evidence that shows why it might not be best to draft Andrew Bailey so early. I happen to agree with him.

Previous 2010 Draft Breakdowns: Rounds 1-3 | 4-6

You may be wondering how many of these things I'm going to write, how many rounds I'll get through? The answer is as many as I have time to do before the Hurler Invitational draft, which is scheduled for a week from Sunday. Stay tuned ...

Comments (7)add comment

ErichSmith said:

...
The 'Nard Dogs are ready to barroom brawl with you over Cruz Bob. I need him on my team.

Likewise for Span, who would allow me to change my team name to Denard Dogs.
 
March 04, 2010
Votes: +0

Glenn1 said:

...
Word! regarding Uggla and what he does to your avg. He is just one of those guys I do not even really consider in a draft (along with Carlos Pena). If Uggla is my "best" option, I will just wait till the end and pick up a Polanco or something.
 
March 04, 2010
Votes: +0

Xander said:

...
I totally agree about Billy Butler. He was pretty high in my one league, and I thought I was the only one raising an eyebrow about that one.

Hey guys, I love your site for a while and I linked to it on my new blog. If you want to check out my blog...Caught Looking, that would be great. Baseball fans will like it.
http://baseballwheelhouse.wordpress.com/
 
March 05, 2010 | url
Votes: +0

Glenn1 said:

...
I must confess that I love me some Billy Butler. However, I try to be patient and I pass on him in the 6th/7th rd. Often he slips due to the fact that almost everyone has a 1B at that point and begins to draft to fill open slots. I nab him around the 8th or 9th rd.
 
March 05, 2010
Votes: +0

SpecialKGuy said:

...
im going to have to go ahead and disagree on 3B being thin. to start off, if one is using Figgins as your starting 3B you better be getting alot of power elsewhere.
back to 3B. the top 7 are say- ARod, Longoria, Wright, Zimmerman, Youkilis, Reynolds, Sandoval. throw in eligibility from Beckham, Ian Stewart. i think Gordan can bounce back if healthy. i think Beltre is going to surprise with Boston. Kouzmanoff could surprise in Oakland now that he is out of PETCO, allthough Oakland isnt exactly a hitters park. if you have someone on your bench to fill in you can get good numbers from guys like Aramis Ramirez, Chipper Jones.
back to Figgins. is he going to be playing 2B with Seattle with Lopez at 3B? Figgins would be alot more valuable then. otherwise i think he is a waste that early in the draft when you can get steals much later in the draft.
 
March 06, 2010
Votes: +0

Bob Taylor said:

...
Hey, SpecialK, one of those games you named hit 10 home runs last year. Another one batted .228. A third hit .232 while only logging 164 ABs. And I'm pretty sure Panda actually ate Beckham.

THIN!!!!!!! (The position ... not Panda. Certainly not Panda.)

I'm with ya on Beltre, though. Good call.
 
March 06, 2010
Votes: +0

Bob Taylor said:

...
BTW, for those of you who haven't drafted yet (which should still be a good many of you), I hope to get at least two more of these up this week. That's the plan anyway.
 
March 07, 2010
Votes: +0

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