The day was March 19th, 2016 and the first ever draft of my brand new 10 Team, H2H, forever keeper league took place. This league consists of a group of my friends and I happen to be the commissioner who set it all up. I had the second pick overall and after months of researching and studying, I was ready.

Something I wanted to do for the blog was to make a round-by-round breakdown of my picks and why I picked them when I did. This way, I can look back on my draft and really analyze my picks to find out if they were good or bad, also to see what other options I could have taken. Also, I think it would be pretty interesting to read as a follower and learn from other people’s mistakes or good decisions. So without further a due, here is my team!

Yahoo! 10 Team - Keeper League (4 Keepers - Keep forever and sacrifice the round that you drafted the player in)



H2H Scoring Categories - 5x5

Hitting: R, HR, RBI, SB, OBP

Pitching: W, S, K, ERA, WHIP

Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, UTIL, UTIL, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN



Round 1: Bryce Harper



This round didn’t have much thought behind it. It was “take whoever doesn’t get taken, Harper or Trout”. This is a forever keeper league so Goldschmidt wasn’t really an option for me. Personally, I couldn’t pass up on a 24 year old Trout or a 23 year old Harper. I really didn’t mind who fell to me or who I ended up with here because I’m lucky to even have one of them. In my personal rankings I have Harper ahead of Trout because I believe that Harper has a higher power ceiling and has a better offense around him. Yes, Harper is coming off of an NL MVP season and a career year, but we’ve all known that this would happen eventually for him. Now that he’s matured, became patient and has done it once, I believe that the sky is the limit. The only reason that I would have been happy with Trout is because I had Harper last year and it would be cool to own a different superstar, but I’m definitely not going to complain about getting the guy I ranked first with pick number two in the draft.

Round 2: J.D. Martinez

“Are you out of your mind? Dee Gordon, A.J. Pollock, Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Jake Arrieta and Chris Davis were all available to you, why J.D. Martinez?”

Well, I’ll tell you. On Yahoo!, J.D. Martinez has an ADP of 35 and a lot of people fall too deep into the ADP trap. I was drafting with a few people from my league and as I selected J.D. Martinez, I heard some of my friends saying, “Whaaaat? That was a bit early”. Well, I don’t find it to be too early at all. In my personal rankings, J.D. is ranked 19th. I without a doubt could have gotten him with pick 22 but I didn’t want to take the second pitcher off the board. Last year in my H2H league, I lacked power and when you lack power, you lack RBI’s and Runs as well. I didn’t want to make the same mistake again and the best power hitter on the board was J.D. Martinez. I honestly wanted Mookie Betts, but unfortunately he was taken right before me with pick 18. So with Betts off the board, It was between Dee Gordon, A.J. Pollock and J.D. Martinez. I didn’t want Dee Gordon because despite being the second best 2B and one of the best base-stealers, I’m not a fan of spending a second round pick on a three category contributor. A.J. Pollock worries me with his elbow issue and I just see a lot of regression coming so I passed on him. I don’t like Chris Davis this year, he just got paid and he has the ability to have an awful season (ex. His 2014 season). As I stated earlier, I didn’t want to take the second pitcher off of the board. Having to choose between Scherzer/Sale/Arrieta is like choosing between Trout/Harper/Goldschmidt so I wanted at least one of them to get picked before I chose my ace. That left me with J.D. Martinez. A .280-.300 hitter, who can easily hit 35-40 homers, drive in 100 runs, score 90 runs and bats behind/learns from the best hitter in the league, Miguel Cabrera. Sign me up every time.

Round 3: Jake Arrieta

After I chose J.D. Martinez, Max Scherzer and Dee Gordon were the next two picks off of the board. I wasn’t planning on taking a pitcher in the third round to be honest. I was actually planning on taking three outfielders with my first three picks. Which is completely stupid and I don’t recommend doing it because you are extremely limiting yourself. My original plan was; Harper/Trout, Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez. If I took J.D. in the second and didn’t get Betts, then I was planning on grabbing one of the five category outfielders or an ace. Once it became my pick, my logic kicked in and I realized that picking a third outfielder in three rounds is the dumbest idea ever. I knew I was going to end up with way too many outfielders anyways because there are so many good outfielders this year and I like all of them. Since Dee Gordon was off of the board, who I might have taken despite my distaste for picking a three category contributor so highly, my only option was an ace. The two that I was choosing between were Sale and Arrieta. Heading into the draft I was leaning towards Sale. For some reason Arrieta never crossed my mind. However when I saw him available my mouse just hovered over to him and picked him for me, it just felt right. Arrieta is an ace who is coming off of a record setting second half last year, an NL Cy Young award, and is on the Chicago Cubs who are projected to win over 100 games this year. Sale may get more strikeouts but I’d prefer the better peripherals and more wins, especially with the other pitchers that I was targeting later on.

Round 4: Noah Syndergaard

Thank god. Syndergaard was the one player that I wanted this year more than anyone. Not only because I’m a lifetime Mets fan. Not only because his nickname is Thor. Not only because I collect his baseball cards. The reason that I wanted him so bad is because I truly believe that he’s not only the best pitcher on the Mets, but he is a top ten pitcher in the MLB. His arsenal, nasty. His mechanics, simple and repeatable. His fastball, extremely fast. He’s extremely exciting to watch and now every time I watch him pitch, I can get even more excited because he’s on my team. That’s one of the great things about fantasy baseball. I don’t think that anyone will question Syndergaard’s talent but you may be wondering why I took him in the fourth round. Well, the guy who had the first pick overall (back-to-back picks after my fourth round pick) is a huge Mets fan as well. Eight out of ten of the friends in my league are Mets fans and two are Yankees fans. So if I didn’t pick him when I did, I would have missed out on him. In-case you were wondering, the other pitchers on the board at that time were; Kluber, Keuchel, Archer, King Felix and Carrasco. Which honestly, Kluber and Keuchel are the only two I would have considered taking, yet I still like Syndergaard more. Also, Syndergaard is only 23 years old and this is a forever keeper league so the fourth round isn’t too bad if I wanted to keep him there. I would have much preferred to pick him up in the fifth, but like I said, I wouldn’t have gotten him. Thor is here to protect my team, and Asgard.

side note: After I took Arrieta and Syndergaard back-to-back, I told myself not to take another starting pitcher until later (11th or 12th Round). That was the plan.



Round 5: Miguel Sano

Another guy that I was targeting all year. Ever since I saw him emerge onto the scene and hit the highest home run (that wasn’t a home run) that I’ve ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3k2xLTToFw

He has 3B eligibility on Yahoo and in an OBP league I am nothing but excited about owning Sano. His name might be Sano, but I’m definitely saying Sa-YES! To me, he’s a better Chris Davis for a fraction of the price. Chris Davis was taken in the third round and Sano was taken in the fifth by me. I love the Twins line-up as well, with Joe Mauer in front of him who does absolutely nothing but get on base. I think that this was the steal of the draft, especially in a forever keeper league.

Round 6: Jason Heyward

Here I go again with outfielders. This time it was about value though. Lorenzo Cain was my target, but if he was taken by the time it was my pick then Heyward was my fallback plan. Kind of like how you ask a girl to be your wife if you’re both single when you’re 40. That sort of deal. Cain was taken 7 picks before mine, and in that same round Ryan Braun and Adam Jones were taken as well. The next five outfielders off the board were; Jason Heyward, Matt Kemp, Gregory Polanco, Hunter Pence, and Yasiel Puig. I believe that Heyward was the last outfielder of the decent tier left. After that you’re rolling the dice. Can Kemp hit in the first half and stop aging? Can Polanco live up to the expectations? Can Hunter Pence not be old? Can Yasiel Puig get his head straight? So Heyward was more about value for me here. I also ended up with a lot of Heyward in mock drafts for some reason, so maybe it was telling me something. My team lacked stolen bases up until this point and Heyward gives a little bit of everything. At the top of that stacked Cubs line-up he will give me a good OBP, a lot of runs, some decent power and some decent speed.

Round 7: Carlos Carrasco



How? How in the world does Carrasco fall to me here? I’m not complaining AT ALL, but how? I swear I’m the only one who has any idea about this guy. Last year I got him in the 11th round. This year I got him in the 7th round. He is an ace. The Indians rotation doesn’t get as much love as it should, probably because their offense is atrocious and they don’t get many wins. Anyways, Carrasco might be a top 10 starting pitcher in the MLB. Which now means I own three aces. THREE. I DIDN’T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN LEAGUE, IT JUST DID! With this staff, I’m pretty sure I have the second best in the league. Right behind the guy who drafted; Clayton Kershaw, Jose Fernandez and Gerrit Cole (within the first four rounds). I honestly couldn’t pass up the value of Carrasco in the 7th round. Especially when the guy before me took; Felix Hernandez and Sonny Gray back-to-back. He just left Carrasco sitting there waving at me. Pitchers were flying off the board like crazy the entire draft but he somehow slipped down to where Jon Lester and Cole Hamels were being taken.



My original plan was to take Wade Davis here. Like I said earlier, I took Arrieta for the peripherals and I was really high on taking a top tier reliever or two and getting a good amount of K’s from them as well as good peripherals (i.e The Marmol Strategy). Of course Wade Davis got taken 7 picks later (which after taking Carrasco, I was hoping the reliever run wouldn’t start until the next round - with me taking Davis). However, Carrasco in the 7th to me is a steal and I couldn’t pass up on the value.

side note: This was honestly the last starting pitcher that I wanted to take until the 12th-13th round. My staff is too packed and I don’t want my line-up to fall behind.

Round 8: Eric Hosmer

After Wade Davis was taken in the 7th, it sparked a reliever run in the 8th. Jeurys Familia, Craig Kimbrel and Kenley Jansen were all taken before it was my pick. If Davis, Familia or Kimbrel would have been there for my next pick, I would have taken one of them. However, I’m a fan of zigging when everyone else is zagging. I needed a first baseman and Eric Hosmer, Freddie Freeman and Albert Pujols were all still there. After those three, it’s a complete crap-shoot of a bottom barrel. As you already know, I chose Hosmer. He gives me a little bit of everything and usually bats third or clean-up in a “keep the line moving” type of offense. I think he is reliable, consistent and can be even better than he was last year. Freeman would have been my pick if he didn’t have so many injury problems and the worst team assembled around him. I like Pujols too but he just had surgery and I’m not fully sure if I want him to be my first choice at first base. Give me the man who crushed my dreams at Game 5 of the World Series last year. Please make up for it with awesome production this year.

Round 9: Mark Melancon

I was very happy with taking Melancon here. In my book he’s the 4th best closer although I do have him ranked as the 5th or 6th best closer in my top 100. He has great peripherals, pitches for the Pirates who can win a lot of games (as you can tell by Melancon having 51 saves last year) and has an excellent pitching coach staff around him. He doesn’t give me a lot of K’s like I wanted out of my closer but I had a plan for that later on and Melancon is still one of the games elite closers.

side note: I should have waited a little longer on a reliever here and grabbed one of the three players that came off the board right after my Melancon pick. Which included; Francisco Lindor, Brian Dozier and Rougned Odor. Corey Seager also went four picks after Odor. I probably should have went with either Dozier or Odor here because at the end of my draft, I’m some-what disappointed at second base. Also I really, really like Odor and I have Sano so Dozier would have been cool to have teamed up with him. I undervalued middle infield pretty hard within this draft.

Round 10: Maikel Franco



SEXY PICK ALERT! Everyone’s favorite not-so-sleeper this year. He is putting an absolute show on in spring training with 7 home runs so far. I’ve been a fan of Franco since last season when he got called up. Miguel Cabrera (who was playing third base for me last year) got injured and Maikel Franco got called up. Not knowing who he was (because I was still familiarizing myself with the current player pool, rookies and prospects) I picked him up and slotted him in. He was phenomenal. Ever since then, he was a guy that I was looking to grab again in the future. I was hoping I could get him later on in the draft sort of ‘under-the-radar’ but because he’s had a hot spring, EVERYONE knows his name. I know that he was being targeted by my entire league and I decided to pull the trigger at what seemed to be a perfect time because I heard many “Damn’s…” from my friends behind me. I was keeping track of what other teams needed throughout the draft and noticed two teams right behind me without a third baseman. Kyle Seager and Evan Longoria were taken shortly after my Franco pick in the next round. Always be aware of what teams need during your draft, it allows you to get a leg up!

Round 11: Ken Giles

Back to zigging! I should have approached this round a little differently though. If I had to pick the one round where I wish I drafted differently, it would probably be this one (and possibly the 9th round as well). I’m a big fan of relievers this year, but I should have looked around a bit more before locking in this one. I already had a pretty ridiculous starting pitcher rotation with Arrieta, Syndergaard and Carrasco but instead of taking Giles here, I could have taken Marcus Stroman or Carlos Martinez. I’m a big fan of both pitchers this year and was targeting them in the 12th (refer to Round 7′s side note). However both of them went in Round 11 and I missed out on two pitchers that I really liked. I didn’t essentially need them, especially with how my staff rounded out, but I would have liked them. I also noticed Anthony Rendon still available here. Which my thought process was, “Well if he’s slipped this far, I should be able to grab him in the next round”. Which, what do you know, he was taken the pick before my next. I should have grabbed Rendon here and took a gamble on him especially after missing out on Odor and Dozier. He should return a lot of value in the 12th round.

Anyways, back to my pick. I locked in my last closer. I usually like to draft two and then pick up another one when someone loses their job later in the year. I still had a reliever that I wanted to grab later on but I was done drafting closers. It was between Ken Giles and Zach Britton which coincidentally, I had both of last year. I ended up choosing Giles because I think the Astros win more games and give him more save opportunities than the Orioles will give Britton. Their K’s are about the same and so are their peripherals. Giles has the potential and the arsenal to be a top 5 closer.

Round 12: Adam Eaton

Remember how I wanted Mookie Betts in the second round? Well I ended up with the white, less-high-of-a-ceiling and older version of him. Yet another outfielder, but I wanted some more stolen bases and runs. He bats lead-off on a re-surging White Sox offense that added Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie to the mix. He’ll give me double-digit home runs (I’m hoping for 18 but guessing 11), double-digit steals (I’m hoping for 30 but guessing 22), and score 90+ runs with a good OBP. I think that in the 12th round he returns a good amount of value.

side note: This is the round where I was distraught about Rendon being taken the pick before mine. I really thought I’d get him then but just like when I saw Betts still there the pick before mine, the same guy grabbed him too.

Round 13: Steven Matz

I know what you’re thinking…you stupid Mets fan. Well yes, yes I am. However, Matz was a good pick here because he was the best pitcher available. All of the pitchers that I wanted before Matz were taken; Carlos Martinez, Marcus Stroman and Carlos Rodon. As I said in the 7th round, I didn’t want to take another starter until around this point. It was between Taijuan Walker and Steven Matz here. Of course I chose the Met. Not only because I’ve seen him pitch and know how good he can be. Not only because we’re both from Long Island. Not only because we both enjoy Seaport Deli. The reason why it’s a smart pick is because he is excellent trade bait. I noted earlier that 8 out of 10 friends in my league are Mets fans and Matz could be the guy that I throw out on a line to get someone I really need to improve my team. Everyone is hungry for a Mets pitcher, our staff is just…ridiculous. Yes I might have took him a little too early, but I personally think that it was right around where he will return value.

Round 14: Russell Martin

I didn’t really want to draft a catcher here. I was going to grab Travis d’Arnaud later on in the draft (who ended up going four picks after my Martin pick) but I knew that someone would reach for him. If I would have known that Yan Gomes would be available in Round 20 or that J.T. Realmuto would go un-drafted, I probably would have waited on a backstop. However, I took Martin here because I didn’t see anyone else that really screamed VALUE at me and I wanted to start filling the holes within my team. I had Martin last year and he actually won me some weeks. He also went 1/20 one week but let’s look at the positives here. I think he is a reliable catcher that provides a lot of RBI chances and pop in the middle of that loaded Blue Jays line-up.

Round 15: Randal Grichuk

SEXY PICK ALERT! Yet again, another outfielder. That makes five if you’re counting. I absolutely love Randal Grichuk though. I lied in the last paragraph where I said no one really screamed VALUE to me, because Grichuk did. I just wanted to wait the extra two picks to grab him in the next round. I’ve had my eyes on Grichuk for months now. He has an incredible ceiling, he hits balls extremely hard and he is in the heart of the Cardinals order. I have a good feeling about Grichuk this year and moving forward. If I have no place to put him, I think that I’ll be able to set-up a nice trade with an owner in my league who is lacking power. Especially in a forever keeper league where someone can keep him in the 15th round if they want to.

Round 16: Yu Darvish

Another ace? How does the draft room keep allowing this to happen? Sure he’s not pitching for the first month or two of the season, but with my pitching rotation, I can afford to stash him. I think that Darvish returns extreme value in the 16th. We all know what Darvish is capable of and he can even finish this year as a top 15-20 starting pitcher. The Rangers said that they weren’t going to limit his innings once he’s back so that’s even better news for me.

side note: A.J. Ramos (Marlins closer) was taken this round. Going back to Rounds 9 and 11, if I were to take Odor, Dozier or Rendon instead of one of those closers, I could have picked Ramos up here. Then I would have still had two really good closers and not currently be without a second baseman.

extra side note: I’m willing to trade a Pitcher if anyone in my league happens to read this.

Round 17: Brandon Crawford

Not the most sexy pick here but definitely the best SS on the board (besides Jung Ho Kang). Many things went right for Crawford last year. I picked him up off of Free Agency last season and he absolutely killed it for me. Some people are saying that 2015 was an outlier year and he won’t hit over 20 home runs again. On the flip side though, why can’t he? Maybe he is taking a different approach like Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals did or finally figured something out. It’s an even-year so I feel like any Giants player is a safe bet to do well but I don’t see much downside with Crawford. If he gives me more than 17 home runs at the SS position then I will have easily gotten value in the 17th round.

side note: I wanted Jung Ho Kang but I planned on him being a stash-pick later on (Round 19-20). I didn’t end up with him but it’s alright.

Round 18: Dellin Betances

I never understood why Betances was taken last year in a non-holds league. Then during the off-season I studied hard, researched and actually became good at fantasy baseball. I used to be good at fantasy baseball, but last year I just started getting back into it, didn’t know the players and wasn’t aware of some new strategies. Betances is incredible. He will always pitch at some point in the game. He’ll be the set-up man for Miller while Chapman is out and possibly the 6th and 7th inning guy when Chapman is back. He has the ability to pitch multiple innings, his peripherals are incredible and his K/9 is amazing. He will pick up the K’s that Melancon doesn’t get me or if my starter lacks in a start that week and he’ll actually help my peripherals overall. I came into the draft with the idea of taking Betances late and I’m extremely happy that it worked out the way I wanted to. This was one of my favorite picks in the draft. It felt even better when one of the Yankee fans in my league gave me a fist-bump after the selection.

Round 19: Byung-ho Park

SEXY PICK ALERT! Man oh man do I love Byung-ho Park. Have you seen his bat-flips? No? Well here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MYDopzay6Q

He put up video-game-like numbers in the KBO league and has tremendous power. Similar to his teammate Jung Ho Kang, I believe that his power will easily translate to the MLB and he will be a future top 5 first baseman. He’ll have a slow transition period (although in spring training he’s killing it) but he will be worth the stash and will easily return value in the 19th. I’m being optimistic here but I think that he puts up around 30 home runs this year. I would sure love that. He’ll be great in one of my utility spots or a back-up to Hosmer.

side note: Kang was taken three picks later and Raisel Iglesias was taken the pick before mine. Also this round Andrew Miller was taken (a round after I took Betances) and Zack Wheeler was also taken.

Round 20: Delino DeShields

SEXY PICK ALERT! Ohhhhhhh mamaaaaa. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Jose Altuve and Dee Gordon were taken in the 2nd round. A.J. Pollock was taken in the 3rd. Charlie Blackmon was taken in the 4th. Billy Hamilton was taken in the 13th and Billy Burns was taken in the 14th. The fact that DeShields fell to me in the 20th round…thank you. He single-handedly saved my teams lack of speed. He’s a good hitter, leads-off for the Rangers and has incredible speed. Not much to say about this pick except that the value here is tremendous. However, yes this is another outfielder, which now makes six if you’re counting. If I need steals, I can always just throw DeShields in for a day or two but I have a pretty unbelievable bench now. I’ll definitely be wracking my brain when picking between who plays which day.

side note: Julio Teheran, Stephen Piscotty and Yan Gomes were taken this round. All three are extremely great value picks as well.

Round 21: Hisashi Iwakuma

Low peripherals and the Mariners should put up some more wins this year. I’m not thrilled about this pick but I did watch him throw a no-hitter last season on MLB TV, so that was cool. At this point I needed to round out my pitching staff and I just wanted lower peripheral guys. It was between Jaime Garcia and Hisashi Iwakuma this round and I went with Iwakuma because Garcia just always gets injured.

Round 22: Josh Harrison



By far my least favorite pick of the draft. This was your typical, “What do you need left on your team? Who is left? What stats do you want them to provide?” moment. The only position that I didn’t have was a second baseman and he was one of the only good ones left. I felt like my team could use a bit of speed in the everyday line-up and Harrison offered the most speed at the position of the talent that was left. He bats at the top of the Pirates line-up which is another ‘small-ball’ playing team so he should give me a good OBP, solid runs and decent stolen bases. He also has multiple-position eligibility (2B, 3B and OF) but like I said, not very excited about the pick.

Later on in the season I will definitely try to improve this position. I have a very deep bench and a lot of great pitchers so I should be able to move one piece in order to get one of the second baseman that I should have drafted in the first place. That was my only mistake in this draft really, but hey, no one has a perfect draft. I’ll take my one mistake and fix it later.

Round 23: Wei-Yin Chen

Now pitching in a better park, he has low peripherals and finds ways to win. I like Chen and think he’s a solid last round pick to round out my pitching staff. I consider Iwakuma and Chen dispensable. If they mess up or do poorly, I can always replace them with someone in Free Agency or try to piece them with something in a trade later on.

side note: Ketel Marte and Marcell Ozuna were both drafted in this round and have the chance to return tremendous value.



With round 23, that rounds out the breakdown of my draft. I know that it was long and no one will probably read it, but if you did I hope that it was helpful to you and a good read in general. If there’s anything that I want you to take away from this breakdown is to; draft the players that you like and believe in, know who is in your league and keep track of what their needs are, and remember that you are human and you will make a mistake somewhere in your draft. Always have fun playing fantasy baseball, go for the win, but have fun while you do so. I absolutely love my team and I wish you all good luck in your drafts!

