2/9/2008 8:32:02 AM

Maggs this late was the steal of this round. Can't believe a guy with comparable stats to my boy Holliday fell this far. Weird. V. Martinez is a little early, especially considering he's not even the #1 ranked catcher available. Wonder if a minor run on catchers is about to start. I am concerned that I didn't grab a pitcher earlier. I'm not real thrilled with my 2nd and 3rd picks here now.

Jimmy Dinsmore

2/9/2008 9:14:46 AM

I was really questioning whether or not to pull the trigger on Bedard to start the third round. I love this guy pitchinig at Safeco Field. Getting out of Baltimore will do wonders for his value!

The key to having a successful fantasy draft is to anticipate the runs and either be the one to start them or stay away altogether.

Picking 24/25 and then again not until 48/49 is a long time to wait around to get your No. 1 pitcher. Santana and Peavy are in a class of their own, the reality of it is after that there are about five or six guys in that second tier in my eyes Bedard was the best option. Had I waited until my next pick my top pitcher would be a Tier 3 starter...YIKES!!! Greg Simons and Jimmy Dinsmore have already both come out and said they regreted not taking a pitcher, you know I didn't.

Dan Clasgens

2/9/2008 10:55:54 AM

It took a little while for me to decide to take Beckett this round. I have Reyes who will fill all my stat categories most likely and a great OF in Carlos Lee. I seriously thought about taking Mags here, but with having the third pick in the round I knew I needed to snag a pitcher.

There were going to be a lot of players taken between my picks, most of which I figured would be pitchers. So snagging up one of the best out there in Beckett ended up being a no-brainer. He may have blister problems at times, but I think that might be a thing of the past for him. Guess we'll see. He was the only 20 game winner last year...just thought I'd throw that out there.

I usually don't take a pitcher until later on and focus soley on hitting and that's worked for me in the past. But I'm never usually picking this high in the draft so I had to change up (pun intended) my strategy. Pitching can win you championships in fantasy baseball, you just have to put the right staff together and play them at the right times to do it. Even with not taking pitchers until later on, I have won my last three leagues because of my pitching staff...more for making the right moves (free agent pickups, trades, etc) at the right time.

The biggest surprise of this round, as mentioned previously, was how far Mags fell. I figured with me not taking him he would go maybe a pick or two after. But to fall all the way to the bottom of the round makes for the biggest steal of the draft so far.

Depending on how things fall in round 4, I'm thinking of taking another hitter followed by maybe another pitcher in round 5. All depends on how things fall...just know I'm not taking a catcher for quite some time. Seriously, Victor Martinez with the second to last pick of the third round? Was that a scramble pick Polking since you tried to take my boy Carlos Lee?!

Chris Murdico

2/11/2008 9:12:29 AM

I had a tough decision here. The draft has gone pretty much the way I thought it would, with the exception of the Victor Martinez pick.

So I already had a good foundation in pitching stats, minus saves, with Santana. I also was able to nail a nice foundation in the speed stats (SB's, Runs, Avg.) with Ichiro. So now I needed a stud power hitter.

I had to think long and hard between Maggs and Manny. I went with Manny because I want the bigger power numbers here (HR, RBI, Runs). Granted, I believe Maggs is the best overall hitter. I have to grab the guy who best fits my strategy.

And most of you know how well my Bye Week Strategy worked in the football league. Now I'm going to see how it works in the baseball draft.

What? There are no bye weeks in baseball? Uh-oh.

Jeremy Fischer