2/20/2008 5:55:22 AM

I went with the strategy to purely pick the best player available for the first ten rounds. I ended up with 6 position players and four starting pitchers- just what I hoped for. Now, I have to start filling some holes/ needs like catcher, middle infield and closers. All of the top players at each of those positions are gone, but there are plenty of solid players available. These available players are not huge dropoffs from the top four or five players already taken at these positions amd that is why I like my strategy.

Pete Muehlenkamp

2/20/2008 8:26:34 AM

I couldn't pass up power numbers like Thome puts up (even though there's still a lot of power to be had). Looking things over, I don't feel good about my pick here. I could've landed a reliever like Valverde instead. Thome is good for 32+ HRs, but there's still guys out there capable of doing that as well who don't have the age and injury issues of Thome. Plus, Thome is technically only a DH, but I'd have to play him at 1B. Now, my logic behind Thome was solid. Swisher was my earlier drafted 1B. I didn't feel great about him and so I backed him up with his White Sox team mate Thome. That was my logic. I almost took Orlando Cabrera in this round and passed and hoped he'd be around in the next round (which he was). So, I think there were many good picks in this round (Pierre being one of them) and I think Thome was one of the worst picks, in hindsight. Power numbers are the easiest to come by, both late in drafts and on the waiver wire.

Jimmy Dinsmore

2/20/2008 8:37:17 AM

This pick was pretty easy for me. I had to have a SS, and the crop was wearing very thin at this point. If I waited any longer to fill that need, I would've been stuck with some serious garbage there.

It came to down to Peralta and O. Cabrera, which were the two best SS left on the board. I ended up going with Peralta because right now I needed to add to my power numbers, more than my speed (I already own Ichiro, Martin, Kinsler).

If you take a look at the projections for both Cabrera and Peralta, they are basically a wash in the average and runs scored categories. Cabrera will hit for a slightly higher average, but not drastically so.

However, Cabrera will do better in the stolen base cat., whereas Peralta will do better in the HR/RBI categories. I need the power more, so Peralta was the easy choice.

Jeremy Fischer

2/20/2008 9:40:17 AM

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Bret Sims

2/20/2008 5:51:17 PM

My drafting of Gallardo was totally a sleeper pick. He just had surgery on his knee which will keep him out until the middle of March and could have him missing the first half of April depending on how quickly he makes it back. So this pick was a double risk pick...risk because any time you're taking a flyer/sleeper pick, its somewhat of a risk and its a risk because of the injury.

With that said, Gallardo has the potential to put together a solid complete season in the middle of the Brewers rotation. He could even end up putting up better numbers than the No. 1 guy in Milwaukee, Ben Sheets. It all hinges on whether or not he'll get through the season without anymore injury issues.

Even with the injury issue, I'm pleased with my pick here. I like taking risks and I had Gallardo on my radar as a sleeper pick in the middle-to-late rounds. I probably could have gotten him a couple rounds later, especially with his injury now, but its all gravy.

Chris Murdico

2/22/2008 4:14:07 PM

I thought Brad Penny was a safe choice here. I desperately needed a second SP, and Penny was coming off of a 16-win season with a decent K/IP ratio. In my opinion, an undervalued solid addition to any fantasy rotation.

Chris Wetzel