Took part in my first 2024 fantasy baseball draft, and, if this is any indication, pitchers are getting drafted like geese in Duck, Duck, Goose if that were played on the course of a marathon. Ducks are hitters; pitchers are geese. It’s like this: Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, GOOSE! Then a run that is marathon-length where pitchers go one after another forever, then, finally, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, GOOSE! And another run of pitchers that gooses on forever. Eventually, it calms in the 100’s when all pitchers are picked so dry you’re left thinking, “Yu Darvish has one bad elbow, but his non-throwing arm seems fine.” Okay, for those of you who don’t know, this is a two-catcher, 15-team league that is draft and hold — there are no waivers. Bunch of Razzballers got together and took part in the 50-round slow draft. Hopefully we get another going soon. Stay tuned. Anyway, here’s my Draft Champions draft recap:
PSYCHE! I began to roll out my 2024 fantasy baseball rankings on the Patreon. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out later this month. Anyway II, my 1st 2024 fantasy baseball draft recap:
Pos: Player (Draft Round)
C: Francisco Alvarez (13)
C: Danny Jansen (20)
1B: Triston Casas (8)
2B: Bryson Stott (6)
SS: Bo Bichette (2)
3B: Spencer Steer (7)
MI: Luis Rengifo (19)
CI: Josh Naylor (10)
OF: Julio Rodriguez (1, 2nd overall)
OF: James Outman (12)
OF: Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (14)
OF: Leody Taveras (17)
OF: Colton Cowser (22)
UTIL: Mark Canha (26)
Bench: Johan Rojas (27), Davis Schneider (28), Nolan Schanuel (30), Hunter Goodman (32), Orelvis Martinez (34), Andruw Monasterio (36), Christian Bethancourt (37), Casey Schmitt (40), Jonatan Clase (41), Korey Lee (42), Kyle Isbel (44), Matthew Batten (45), Osleivis Basabe (47), Ramon Urias (50)
P: Kevin Gausman (3)
P: Freddy Peralta (4)
P: Camilo Doval (5)
P: Kenley Jansen (9)
P: Braxton Garrett (11)
P: Nathan Eovaldi (15)
P: Charlie Morton (16)
P: Kutter Crawford (18)
P: MacKenzie Gore (21)
Bench: Ricky Tiedemann (23), Dean Kremer (24), Justin Lawrence (29), Mike Clevinger (31), Reynaldo Lopez (33), Miles Mikolas (35), Ryne Nelson (38), Roansy Contreras (39), Will Vest (43), Jared Shuster (46), Daniel Lynch (48), Angel Zerpa (49)
IF YOUR FANTASY TEAM EVER WANTS TO GET TOGETHER FOR DINNER YOU USED A VERY SMART DRAFT STRATEGY. DON’T DRAFT AN OUTFIELD, THEY’RE TOO MUCH TOO FEED.
Very funny, Mr. Bolden Al Caps.
NOT AS FUNNY AS YOUR OUTFIELD.
So, I clearly punted outfield a little. My team has flexibility. Steer and Rengifo have outfield eligibility (Rengifo is eligible everywhere but 1B and C; Steer also has 1B); Rojas, Goodman and Isbel are also outfielders. I reached a little on Colton Cowser, but I do like him, if the Orioles make a trade of Santander, Mountcastle, or someone else. Cowser was prolly my worst pick, and I tried to make up for it. We’ll see if I did. Johan Rojas is a starting outfielder in this deep of a league, as long as he has a starting job, which he should since he’s the only Philly outfielder that can somewhat hit and owns an outfield glove. I added “somewhat hit” there to differentiate between him and Pache.
OKAY, EXCELLENT CLARIFICATIONS, VERY ILLUMINATING [YAWNS]. SO, YOU OBVIOUSLY LIKE YOUR TEAM OR YOU WOULDN’T HAVE DRAFTED IT. TELL ME WHY I SHOULD LIKE IT.
First off, I drafted without the draft War Room, because it was back in November/December, when I drafted this team, but our subscriptions and War Room are officially back! Exclamation mark for the hard sale. Speaking of hard, it’s a little hard to tell you how much I like Braxton Garrett, FreddyKBB, Kutter Crawford, and MacKenzie Gore before you see my rankings, but my pitching is stacked. I am stacking. Love my depth too for IP, so much I felt comfortable taking a flyer on Tiedemann (Here’s my Ricky Tiedemann fantasy, for the uninitiated.) The staff has very little to complain about. I could see only starting Doval as a reliever and going with an extra SP. It is glorious. Praise me.
YOU’RE REALLY AVOIDING TALKING ABOUT THE HITTING.
The hitting needs a little help.
THAT’S THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR.
I like my infield, but I might need Bichette to steal 30 bags. Does that sound possible? Don’t shake your head. You’re putting bad vibes out there! I’m going to blame you for putting “realistic vibes” on Bichette. I grabbed my Josh Naylor sleeper, so you know I love that, and I can say confidently my team should compete in average, which should fuel runs and RBIs. Yeah, banking on the three least projectable stats isn’t ideal, but having an Osleivis and an Orelvis has to count for something, doesn’t it? Right…? No…?
ANY PARTING THOUGHTS? SINCE THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME ANY OF US HEAR ABOUT THIS TEAM SINCE IT’S DOOMED TO FINISH IN THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE LEAGUE.
Neither here nor there, but it’s funny that I got sniped on my last round pick. 50 rounds in and I wanted Nick Madrigal, because he was a 3rd baseman, but I ended up with Ramon Urias.
YEAH, NICK MADRIGAL WOULD’VE SAVED THIS TEAM. SHUCKS ON THAT ONE.
