I'm only playing in two fantasy leagues this year, down from four in 2009, and the second of my two drafts was held this weekend. I'm pretty happy with my Hurler league squad. (If you're so inclined, you can check it out right here. I'm the Inglorious Bunters.) However, my money-league draft that was held Saturday was pretty much an unmitigated disaster. Players I had targeted were snatched up just a few picks in front of me time and time again, and my final roster has gaping holes in it. With that said, I now have two complete rosters to stare at and hope for the best for as we wait for Opening Day to arrive. For me to find success this season, here's a short list of things I need to have happen ...

-- Dice-K needs to bounce back and be a legitimate #3 fantasy starter. In both leagues, I took Matsuzaka late to stash on my DL once the season starts. A healthy and K-throwing Dice-K come May would be a nice bonus to my Hurler league team (which is already above average in SP, even without him), but it's almost a necessity for my money-league team, where I'm severly lacking in quality starters.

-- Jonathan Sanchez needs to stop walking people, and Phil Hughes needs to make the Yankees rotation. Want to know how bad my money-league rotation is? Chad Billingsley and John Danks are my top two. Yeah, I know. No need to rub it in. It's not good. But Sanchez and Hughes are both high-upside picks who could really help drive the stink away.

-- Kyle Blanks needs to be as awesome as his afro. (Does he still have the 'fro? God, I hope so.) Took him late in both leagues. Am expecting big, big things. Don't let me down, Kyle.

-- Joey Votto needs to be as good as I not-so-secretly think he is. I spent a second-round pick on him in the Hurler league. 100-30-100-10, please? (Shut your face. He can do it.)

-- Jonathan Papelbon needs to not get injured or let his recurring migraines interfere with another successful season. I spent on Paps in both leagues this year. Anything less than his usual 37+ saves will be a disaster.

So those are the things I'll be hopin' and wishin' and prayin' for. How 'bout you all? What will need to happen for you to achieve fantasy glory in '10?

Comments (12)

spike said:

	... billy butler and scott baker are common to most of my teams
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March 22, 2010 | url
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Handsome Husar said:

	... Good luck Bobiooooo... You'll need all the luck you can get just to "save face"!
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March 22, 2010 | url
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Dullboy31 said:

	... I am hoping that all closers–for which I drafted the back up-get hurt.
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March 22, 2010
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calibob02 said:

... Nick Adenharts The problem with an early draft is too much time on your hands before the season starts. So I thought I’d go ahead and do what Bob didn’t do, post boring details about my draft experience, including what I hoped to do and whether I feel I achieved my goals, as well as a round by round description of what happened from my perspective. It helps to know where you’re drafting. Last year I had the #1 pick, drafted Hanley Ramirez, and ended up tying for first. What I learned last year is that it really helps to have Hanley Ramirez. I also learned that the league is going to be an active and well-played, which makes the draft that much more important. I think a draft is like a golf swing. If you think about too many things at once, the whole thing falls apart. So I focused on just a couple of objectives. 1. Get a least four closers because few cheap waiver wire saves will be available in this active league. 2. Overpay for catchers – two catcher leagues force this. 3. Balance power and speed, and balance potential with certainty (the Zen category) 4. Keep position scarcity in mind. I drew position six. I hate this pick for the first round, because I think the first five players are much better than the rest, but I like the position for the rest of the draft because I vastly prefer picking from the middle. I don’t like the ends because you tend to overreach, and it’s boring. Bob had made some noises about picking Kemp, but I knew the top five pre-ranks would be off the board, and that Kemp was going to be my first round pick. After that, I had no plan. So the draft began. See part 2

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March 23, 2010
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calibob02 said:

... 1. (6) Matt Kemp – he’s no Ryan Braun, and I’m not addressing position scarcity, but he’s the right pick here. I’m not very excited, but I’ve got some power and some speed. 2. (19) Ian Kinsler – based on the pre-ranks, I thought I Crawford was going to the best player on the board. But when Kinsler dropped, I jumped. Sure he’s injury prone and had an atrocious batting average last year. But I love the big BA and SB at 2B. 3. (30) Brian McCann - I wish Victor Martinez had dropped. Now I have to overpay even more for McCann. I hate this pick, but I still have to do it.. 4. (43) Zack Greinke - I wish Mourneau had dropped. I’m screwed, Now who do I take? I never draft SP this early. I have Zack ranked about 27. Damn, this is not what I planned. I drafted Peavy here last year and that sucked. 5. (54) Aramis Ramírez – I’m really happy he dropped to me. 3B is shallow this year. 6. (67) José Reyes -- too good to pass up. This pick could make my team, or send me down the toilet. But at 67, I’ve got to take the chance. 7. (7 Carlos Quentin - I wanted Josh Hamilton or Carlos Quentin as my second OF. Hamilton is gone so I’m going to reach and take Quentin. I don’t give a damn about Yahoo pre-ranks at this moment. Sometimes you just take who you want. 8. (91) Ricky Nolasco – this is normally where I draft my first SP. I like Nolasco here, so I take him. I think Ricky is a great value because his horrendous first half disguised his great second half. 9. (102) Shane Victorino – I didn’t plan to take Shane but he kept dropping and I’m balancing Quentin’s power with Shane’s speed. I go back and forth on this pick even now. 10. (115) Heath Bell – time to take my first closer. Let’s see, Heath Bell’s the best one left. One down, three to go. 11. (126) Alexei Ramírez – I need to address MI. I think Alexi was a little overrated going into last year, and a little underrated this year. I like him here – a lot. See part 3

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March 23, 2010
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calibob02 said:

... 12. (139) Jorge Posada – damn, a catcher run. I can’t believe I have to waste this pick on Posada, but I don’t want to end up with I Rod. 13. (150) David Aardsma – Two down, two to go. 14. (163) Frank Francisco - Three down, one to go. 15. (174) Matt Capps - damn, the closers went early in this draft. I hate Matt Capps, but what’s below is even worse. Well, at least I’m done with this. Although it would be nice to add one more. 16. (187) Chipper Jones - I hate having Chipper at this point in his career because he’s always injured, and when it happens, he often doesn’t have the decency to go on the DL. But at 187, this is a bargain. 17. (19 David Ortiz – I hate everything about the Boston Red Sox, and I hate this drug-using, lying, steaming sack of shit. However, I’ve whiffed 1B, so the fact that Ortiz is available this late and has position eligibility is actually a bit lucky. This could turn out to be a good pick. No, a great pick. Go Big Papi!! 18. (211) Corey Hart – I like this pick a lot. He’s a 20/20 upside guy and a lot better than the alternatives. 19. (222) Francisco Liriano - I like this pick too even more than the last one. There’s talk that he could be a starter or a closer. I don’t care. I just want him to be the old version of himself. 20. (235) Ervin Santana - a high upside SP roster-filler. Just what I was looking for here. 21. (246) Dexter Fowler – a high upside OF-filler. 22. (259) Travis Snider - balancing Fowler’s speed with power. I’m hoping one of these two ends up being in my line-up at the end of the year. 23. (270) Fernando Rodney – roster filler 24. (283) Erick Aybar – I’m going to need someone to fill in for Reyes, and hopefully he’ll give me a few steals until Jose comes back. 25. (294) Elijah Dukes – high upside OF (until he got waived a few days later). 26. (307) Joe Blanton - back-end starter. 27. (31 Luke Scott – wasted pick. So, coming out of the draft, I was pretty happy. As usual, I have no depth at SP, and a crappy last couple of guys in the OF, and no legit 1B. Since then I have picked up Nick Johnson to mix and match with Ortiz and Chipper, subbed in Scott Downs for Rodney, and added Bronson Arroyo to my SP’s. Overall result of the draft and the post-draft pick-ups, not bad. Not perfect, but not bad. I’ll post something at the end of the year to comment on what happened. Good luck to everybody in the league. I hope we have a great year!!

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March 23, 2010
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Bob Taylor said:

	... Nice breakdown of your team, Calibob!
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March 23, 2010
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calibob02 said:

	... Thanks. I'd actually be interested for everybody to post, including you, their additional thoughts on the draft. Can't wait for the season to start.
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March 23, 2010
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Dullboy31 said:

... I came into the draft feeling like I was already treading water. Knowing I had 5 OF spots to spots sort of blinded me to the two catcher issue. I typically focus on pitching because I feel like that decline in offensive players is much more gradual after the first three or four rounds, but the pitching decline is much steeper. This has always served me well, but the position scarcity problem has never really been an issue for my teams... Until this draft. I thought I would borrow a page from one of the writers I do like and focus only on power for offense, and good to great SPs, and not be too concerned about saves. Also, I managed to avoid drafting a single player I had EVER owned until the 13th round. Totally by coincidence.

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March 24, 2010
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Dullboy31 said:

... (7) Prince Fielder: Although 1b is mega-deep, I can’t pass up a potential 40/135 guy. I’ve never owned him before, I’ve always preferred Miggy, but Detroit has me pretty wary of his cumulative numbers this year. (1 Roy Halladay: In my opinion, should be far and away the best pitcher in the NL this year. (31) Kevin Youkilis: Also a guy I’ve never owned, but the multi-position eligibility and the fact that McCann just went ahead of him makes me pull the trigger (42) Jayson Werth: My first OF, thinking power, power, power. (55) Derrek Lee: Analysts seem to be going either way on this guy, but I’m choosing to go with the positive thoughts and take my CI here (too early) (66) Cliff Lee: As good as he was last year, could be better in Seattle with an improved defense behind him. (79) Bobby Abreu: Steady Eddie? I sure hope so. (90) Jason Kubel: Totally a power projection pick. (103) Raúl Ibañez: Ditto (114) Julio Borbón: Hoping he can continue his good work from last year. (127) Asdrubal Cabrera

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March 24, 2010
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Dullboy31 said:

... (13 Jair Jurrjens: I’m a little skeptical of a player with this many J’s in his name, but I liked the supporting ratios. (151) Miguel Tejada: This is the first player I’ve taken that I’ve owned before. Plus the added 3b eligibility will be helpful. (162) A.J. Burnett: Think he could be a disaster for my ERA and WHIP, but the 180+ K’s couldn’t be passed up at 162. (175) Ben Sheets: Fingers crossed, he could be a lesser version of 2009 Carpenter. (186) Yadier Molina: My first catcher. Yuck. For the next rounds, I kept saying ‘that guy will be there when I come around again’, and then he wasn’t. (199) Orlando Cabrera: Not a terrible MI. (210) C.J. Wilson: (223) Paul Konerko: I will gladly have a 25/85 guy at this spot. (234) Michael Wuertz (247) J.P. Howell: Solid (injury prone) MR (25 George Sherrill: Solid (injury prone) MR (271) Joba Chamberlain: Here’s where I grab every potential set-up man/5th Yankee starter. I hate the Yankees. (282) Alfredo Aceves: Nothing to say here. (295) Tyler Clippard: Solid (injury prone) MR (306) Phil Hughes: Hope he keeps the magic What will it take for me to win? Age to not be a factor, and a trade for Joe Mauer.

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March 24, 2010
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calibob02 said:

	... Dullboy, I love your late pitcher picks, including Hughes pick at 306, AJ at 162, and Sheets at 175, even C.J. Wilson at 210. You did good.
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March 25, 2010
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