I Got Ellsbury

No, I didn’t need to draft him first overall. As I had hoped, I didn’t draft until the 8th spot in the first round (out of 12). That’s really my favorite area to draft from. I like being able to get a couple quick picks on the wraparound from round 1 to 2. In this case, my first two picks were Ellsbury at 8 and Roy Halladay at 17. I know. I can’t believe I didn’t take a Red Sox player in the second round either. But, I didn’t want the rest of my league to laugh at me again. And, I’m sure they were at least chuckling over the Ellsbury pick. I didn’t need outright belly laughs if I grabbed V-Mart or Pedroia at #17. But, I still think I ended up with a wonderful team. It doesn’t have the most Red Sox I’ve ever had, but it’s got plenty of them. I know you could care less what my fantasy team looks like, but it’s my blog and I’m telling you anyway. So there!

Starting with the offensive starters:

Catcher – Russell Martin
1B – Derek Lee
2B – Dustin Pedroia3B – Adrian BeltreSS – Miguel Tejada
Corner Infielder – Carlos Pena
Middle Infielder – Ryan Theriot
OF – Jacoby Ellsbury
OF – Torii Hunter
OF – Nate McLouth
OF – JD Drew
Utility – Mike CameronUtility – Ken Griffey, Jr

Not too bad. A nice balance I think. On to the pitchers:

Starting Pitcher – Roy Halladay
Starting Pitcher – Jon LesterStarting Pitcher – John Lackey
Relief Pitcher – Jonathan PapelbonRelief Pitcher – Billy Wagner
Pitcher – Scott Kazmir
Pitcher – Daisuke MatsuzakaPitcher - Justin Duchscherer

Yowzers, what a staff! Could have the Cy Young winners in each league.

On the bench sit:

3B, CI, U – Alex Gordon
C, U – Ryan Doumit
RP, P – Kerry Wood
RP, P – Daniel Bard

Naturally, the pitchers on the bench won’t stay on the bench. I expect Wood and Bard to be in the line-up every day to add in some K’s and saves. I don’t expect to ever put in Duchscherer to try and save innings for my better starters. Dice-K will ride the pine until he shows me he’s the 2008 Dice, and not the 2009 vintage. Unless he’s facing the Royals. But looking at the team overall, in a 5x5 I think it works out pretty well. Lee and Pena are a great start when it comes to HR and RBI. Most everybody else is at least solid in those categories. I won’t hit for high average, but Pedroia should help out with that. The Red Sox stars should split up runs scored pretty evenly, so that’s nice. And, with Ellsbury and Hunter I have no problem with steals. On the pitching side, how can I not be just fine in wins with the top three I have? Saves look pretty solid as long as Wagner is healthy. I’ve got really high strikeout guys too…especially my closers. As for WHIP and ERA? I have no idea. Halladay will help, Dice will hurt, and everyone else will be in between.0

I’ll have to see.