2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft

Well it’s that time of year again, where baseball fans are gearing up for another season of Fantasy Baseball.  As I am privy to year after year (no matter how much I get aggravated!), I join my friend Gary’s fantasy baseball league, courtesy of Yahoo!  This year my order in the draft was as disappointing as usual, with getting the 11^th overall pick (out of 12 teams).  Nevertheless, this year I arguably picked one of the best teams in my long drawn out history of playing fantasy baseball.

In case you were wondering, I wanted to show you how the first round of our draft went…

1.  Hanley Ramirez – High caliber young shortstop for the Florida Marlins that in 2008 hit for an avg. of .301, slammed 33 homeruns, stole 35 bases, and scored a whopping 125 runs.  This guy is simply amazing.  The Marlins are blessed with a great location.

2.  Albert Pujols – Prince Albert has consistently been awesome since he came into the league in 2001.  Sure he gets injured almost every year, but the man knows how to play ball.  Last year, he hit .357, launched 37 homers, and drove in 116 runs.  (Mind you he was injured for 2 weeks last year)

3.  Jose Reyes – Reyes is starting to creep up there in age, but his legs are still wicked fast.  Last year he stole 56 bases, had over 200 hits (first time in his career), and scored a 113 runs.  Only downside is that he’s a Met….I had to.

4.  Miguel Cabrera – A safe bet.  Last season Cabrera had his best season in terms of RBI totals (127) and homeruns (37).  However, he hit .292 for the season, which was considerably lower due to being in a new league but also because of his new responsibilities with the Tigers as the cleanup hitter.  His numbers should be similar this year to last year.

5.  David Wright – Typically Wright is a late starter, but as far as talented baseball players…well he tops the list.  As the only Met worth rooting for, in 2008 David hit for an avg. of .302, hit 33 homers, drove in 124 runs, and scored 115 runs.

6.  Tim Lincecum – Broke into the NL in 2007 and really put in a dominant season pitching for the San Francisco Giants winning 18 games and striking out 256 batters.  He’s young enough to be an outstanding pitcher for a long time, barring his arm holds up…

7.  Ryan Howard – The 2006 MVP has tremendous power on a team that knows how to get on base.  In 2008, Howard slammed 48 homers with 146 runs batted in.  Although his batting average is not where it was in 2006, look for him to continue beating the crap out of the ball.

8.  Ryan Braun – A young player on a young team with tremendous power.  Last season Braun hit 37 homeruns and batted in 106 runs.  Look for those numbers to improve this season as last season was his first full season playing for the Brewers.

9.  Grady Sizemore – After a subpar season last year, look for Grady to bounce back.  He is the ultimate team player as he does everything a great ball player should do.  In 2008, Grady hit 33 homers, drove in 90 runs, stole 38 bases, and scored 101 runs.

10.  Jimmy Rollins – Former 2007 NL MVP, Rollins put in a lousy performance last year only hitting .277 for the season with 11 homers, 76 runs scored, and 58 runs batted in to show for it.  The highlights for him were stealing a career high 47 bases.  It didn’t help that he missed 25 games, so look for his numbers to bounce back this year in a big way.

11.  Mark Teixeira (My first round draft pick) – Tex’s numbers last season were impressive.  He hit for an average of .308 (in the NL), homered 33 times, and batted in 121 runners, all while scoring 101 runs himself.  Now he’s playing in the best lineup in his career.  Look for his numbers to improve upon last season, especially when A-Rod gets going.

12.  Josh Hamilton – What a feel good story?  Josh overcame contemplating suicide and abusing drugs to being an All-Star last season.  He hit .304, homered 32 times, and batted in 130 runners.  He definitely had a great season, albeit most of it in the first half.  Let’s see if his numbers continue to improve,

Wow!  No A-Roid in the first round?  No David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez?  No Vladimir Guerrero?  While this draft is not indicative of whom the best players are out there, it definitely provides some light as to what fantasy owners are looking for in terms of offensive stats.  Clearly, stolen bases, extra base hits, and batting average are the top criteria for fantasy owners out there.

For my own enjoyment, not for yours, here is my 2009 Fantasy Baseball team:

Catcher:  Chris Iannetta (Rockies)

First Base:  Mark Teixeira (Yankees)

Second Base:  Chase Utley (Phillies)

Third Base:  Chone Figgins/Felipe Lopez (Angels/Diamondbacks)

Shortstop:  Jhonny Peralta (Indians)

Left Field:  Carl Crawford (Rays)

Center Field:  Cameron Maybin (Marlins)

Right Field:  Rick Ankiel/Jeff Francouer (Cardinals/Braves)

Designated Hitter:  None other than the Giambino! (Athletics)

Starting Pitching:  Joba Chamberlain (Yanks), Edinson Volquez (Reds), Dice-K (Red Sox), Aaron Cook (Rockies)

Relief Pitching:  Jonathon Papelbon (Red Sox), Brad Lidge (Phillies), Brian Wilson (Giants)

Now that I am done boring you all with my fantasy team, I hope the Yankees win it all!

Image Used in this Post

Coors Field image courtesy of Flickr user compujeramey published under the CC license.