Twoggers Draft Results

Written by Andrew Kneeland | 27 March 2010

This year, I hadthe opportunity to participate in a fantasy baseball league comprised solely of Twins bloggers. Aptly named "Twoggers," this league held its draft earlier this week. Here are my round-by-round selections, along with my thoughts for each pick. Below you can find a list of all the owners and their respective blogs.

This is a typical 12-team rotisserie fantasy baseball league, with all of the traditional statistics being used for the scoring system. This proved difficult to me at times, because at times I was faced with the selection of someone who I knew would have more RBI and/or HR, but wasn't necessarily the better player. I survived the new mentality, though, and think I did a fairly good job of drafting my team. What do you guys think?

Team: Knee-High Strikes

1st round (8th overall) - Carl Crawford, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

With all of the elite talent off the board, I grabbed Crawford. With an excellent batting average, above-average home runs totals, and an incredible amount of stolen bases, Crawford is an extremely valuable fantasy baseball player. With most other drafters going after the home runs and RBI, I decided that I would focus on the less glamorous (but equally weighted) statistics. The selection of Crawford would set a precedent for how my team would look after the draft.

Click here to see the rest of my picks!

2nd round (17th) - Matt Kemp, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers

The league settings allow for five outfielders, and I couldn't pass up on Kemp with this pick. Kemp is a 30/30 candidate, offering a very good chance at both 30 HR and 30 SB. With a great batting average and the chance to rack up some high RBI totals in the middle of that Los Angeles batting order, I was surprised to see him fall into my lap at #18.

3rd round (32nd) - Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Boston

There aren't many elite fantasy second basemen, and Pedroia excels at many of the five offensive stats used in the league: Batting average, home runs, RBI, stolen bases, and runs scored. Kinsler had already been taken off the board, so I jumped on Pedroia with this pick.

4th round (41st) - Adam Wainwright, SP, St. Louis

With no pitchers on my roster at this point, it was important that I grab an elite starter before I was left in the dust. I enjoyed Wainwright on my team last year, which may or may not have influenced this decision. Wainwright is a clear top-10 pitcher, and his plethora of strikeouts will be supplemented by plenty of wins and a low ERA. His less-than-stellar WHIP is a little concerning for this fantasy league, but his high strand rate cancels this out. (Even if strand rates aren't scored in fantasy baseball. Oh, well.)

5th round (56th) - Chris Carpenter, SP, St. Louis

I didn't see this coming, but Carpenter was the best player available. Pitchers were flying off the board at this point in the draft, and I needed to solidify my rotation. I'm happy with the pick, even though I now have 40 percent of the Cardinal's rotation.

6th round (65th) - Aramis Ramirez, 3B, Chicago NL

Ramirez is one of the best fantasy third baseman available, and it was great that he fell to me in the 6th round. Ramirez will have a .300 batting average to go with at least 25 home runs and plenty of runs scored and RBI.

7th round (80th) - Billy Butler, 1B, Kansas City

Butler is a younger version of Ramirez. Both lack speed, but are excellent in the other categories. (Although Butler won't get many RBI in the Royals' inept offense.)

8th round (89th) - Aaron Hill, 2B, Toronto

Hill was a value pick, and fills the 2B/SS hole on my roster. His value is probably artificially high after a great 2009 season, and his power will surely drop, but he will still provide plenty of fantasy value.

9th round (104th) - Derrek Lee, 1B, Chicago NL

Playing opposite Ramirez, Lee provides about the same as his counterpart in terms of fantasy production: batting average, home runs, RBI, and runs scored. He will fill the 1B/3B roster spot.

10th round (113th) - Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B/SS, Cleveland

Cabrera offers some flexibility in terms of positioning, and has a high batting average to go with a decent amount of stolen bases and runs scored.

11th round (128th) - Carlos Quentin, OF, Chicago AL
12th round (137th) - Roy Oswalt, SP, Houston
13th round (152nd) - Billy Wagner, RP, Atlanta
14th round (161st) - Max Scherzer, SP, Detroit
15th round (176th) - Geovany Soto, C, Chicago NL
16th round (185th) - Juan Pierre, OF, Chicago AL
17th round (200th) - Frank Francisco, RP, Texas
18th round (209th) - Rickie Weeks, 2B, Milwaukee
19th round (224th) - Jonathan Sanchez, SP, San Francisco
20th round (233rd) - Wade Davis, SP, Tampa Bay
21st round (248th) - Kerry Wood, RP, Cleveland
22nd round (257th) - Marco Scutaro, SS, Boston
23rd round (272nd) - Derek Holland, RP/SP, Texas
24th round (281st) - Matt Diaz, OF, Atlanta
25th round (296th) - Seth Smith, OF, Colorado

My roster:

C: Geovany Soto
1B: Billy Butler
2B: Dustin Pedroia
3B: Aramis Ramirez
SS: Asdrubal Cabrera
2B/SS: Aaron Hill
1B/3B: Derrek Lee
OF: Carl Crawford
OF: Matt Kemp
OF: Carlos Quentin
OF: Juan Pierre
OF: Matt Diaz
Bench: Marco Scutaro
Bench: Seth Smith

SP: Adam Wainwright
SP: Chris Carpenter
SP: Roy Oswalt
SP: Wade Davis
SP: Max Scherzer
SP: Jonathan Sanchez
RP: Derek Holland
RP: Kerry Wood
RP: Frank Francisco
RP: Billy Wagner

Members of the Twins' Bloggers Fantasy Baseball League - Twoggers: