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NFBC From The Wheel - Jeff Erickson's Draft

At the same time that Chris Liss was drafting in the NFBC Main Event, I was also drafting, albeit in a different league. I had the 15-spot in the draft, meaning that I was going to miss out on the clear top-8 players, plus a handful of other first-round quality players. Drafting on either end, but especially on the wheel, requires extra planning on when you are going to attack certain commodities - especially closers and catchers. With 28 selections between your two picks, you need to be able to begin "runs" rather than try to react to them.

While my draft didn't have the big names like Chris's draft did, there were still some awesome players - including two of the top-50 career earnings leaders, Jeff Dobies (#17, and second overall in career auction earnings there) and Michael Edelman (#49). For the second time in four years, I'm also playing against actor/director Nick Cassavetes, who won the league the last time I played against him. I don't mean to insult anyone else by omission - there were plenty other skilled players at the draft. I also had the unique problem of facing off against RotoWire's Vlad Sedler, with whom I'm sharing a team in the RotoWire Online Championship. There was also one less-prepared player in the draft - more on that later.

Full results of the draft can be seen on the grids below:

NFBCMain1

and

NFBCMain2

I was toying with a few options to begin my draft.

1. "Mad King" - If Max Scherzer, my clear #2 starting pitcher behind Kershaw, somehow fell to me, I'd snag him in a hurry, and then contemplated pairing him up with King Felix. But I'd only do that if Scherzer somehow fell, which didn't happen - he went ninth to Cassavetes.

2. One starter, one hitter - I eventually bailed on this plan, but it was tempting to take King Felix and one hitter. But ultimately I decided it's more difficult to chase hitters later on, and wanted to start with two of the best.

3. Two hitters - what I really wanted was to go with one of the two elite Blue Jays, Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion, and pair him with Yasiel Puig, with Troy Tulowitzki as the fallback to Puig. Alas, Tulowitzki went 11th, Bautista 12th and Puig surprisingly went 13th. Chris and I talked about this scenario on the show, so I knew it was probably coming, but it was still annoying nonetheless. Luckily Encarnacion was still available, and I took him, and I paired him with Jose Altuve to give me a source of batting average and speed to begin the draft.

Pick-by-pick:

1.15 Edwin Encarnacion - The back injury combined with his injury history pushed Encarnacion down a couple of slots. I like that he's not a huge strikeout guy and that he's as reliable as they come in terms of power.

2.1 Jose Altuve - This is the tougher decision, as I ultimately didn't take Felix Hernandez, eliminating any chance of taking two top-tier starting pitchers. This is the only league where I've drafted Altuve this year.

3.15 Zack Greinke - I'm higher on Greinke than most, though maybe not the highest in the industry, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him fall to me at 45th overall. Had he not been there, I was resigned to not taking a pitcher until the sixth round, and then making up for that with a higher volume of starting pitchers. I still should have gone earlier with subsequent starters, but I'm thrilled to get my #5 SP as the 11th overall starting pitcher.

4.1 Corey Dickerson - I'm in the believer camp, and again this pick wasn't too difficult for me given our overall ranking on him. The only other strong alternative I had was Aroldis Chapman, who went three picks later. By the way, Kris Bryant went at 4.7 (#52) in this draft.

5.15 Kole Calhoun - I think Calhoun will score a ton of runs batting atop the Angels' lineup and contribute across the board.

6.1 Cody Allen - In previous years in the NFBC, I've mistimed the closers runs, and drafting 15th made it imperative that I get the first of my two in this spot. Chapman, Kimbrel, Holland and Melancon were all gone, I had soured on Betances and Uehara, cutting down on those that I'm comfortable drafting. I didn't want to be in a situation where 5-7 more closers went off and I was left having to take two from the next tier down the next time around.

7.15 Yan Gomes - I'm happy enough with the pick - Gomes is my third-ranked catcher, and I got him sixth among catchers. With 30 catchers starting per league, I like having one of the two being a top-10 catcher. But taking him here cost me a starting pitcher from the end of the second tier, or beginning of the third. But the SPs from that tier that I liked were gone already - Cole, Samardzija, Teheran, Gray, Shields, Iwakuma, Carrasco, Arrieta, deGrom, Wacha and Wood all went between my sixth and seventh round picks. Those that remained didn't stand out as a must-have, so I went with Gomes. Seeing as how only one other catcher went before my ninth round pick, that might be considered a mistake.

8.1 Chris Carter - Because I had a lot hitters projected to hit for high averages before Carter, I could take on his risk as a trade-off for his 35-40 homer potential.

9.15 Zach Britton - The second closer run had already begun, and I was sweating this pick. The only healthy closers that I like that went after Britton (Papelbon, Rondon, Rodney) all went in the subsequent round and would not have gone back to me.

10.1 Taijuan Walker - While he shouldn't be my second starter, that's not an indictment of where he went here so much as it is a function of taking Gomes above. I love Walker this year, and believe in the breakout. Just stay healthy and don't go Cingrani on me, please.

11.15 Jayson Werth - He fell, as he always does. One of these years he will break for good, but it's not this year. I took him after A.J. Pollock, Adam Eaton and Brett Gardner all went in this round.

12.1 Ben Zobrist - Nothing against Zobrist, but this qualifies as my next "should have taken a starting pitcher" selection. He'll qualify three places and help some across the board, but I think I would have been better served by taking one of Chris Archer, Ian Kennedy, Lance Lynn or Collin McHugh. I thought McHugh would have been available at the next turn as he usually is, but that wasn't to be the case.

13.15 Chase Headley - I love Headley this year in Yankee Stadium, and third basemen were starting to dry up.

14.1 Brandon McCarthy - I'm buying the velocity increase last year and the change in ballparks. It was either McCarthy or Matt Shoemaker, but Shoemaker didn't make it back.

15.15 John Lackey - I keep landing him - last year's poor result with the Cardinals was an aberration. I think he'll thrive in a full season in the NL.

16.1 Aramis Ramirez - Purely a value pick, and an acknowledgment that I waited late to grab a third baseman.

17.15 John Jaso - Jaso should rack up copious at-bats while playing DH for the Rays, meaning I'll get an edge over many in terms of counting stats at the position.

18.1 Jesse Hahn - Hahn is beginning the year as the A's #2 starter, and I like his new ballpark almost as much as his old one.

19.15 Nori Aoki - I was a little light on speed at this point in the draft, plus Aoki has a decent potential to score a lot of runs at the top of the Giants' order.

20.1 Travis Snider - I just can't quit him. I like Snider's potential in Camden Yards.

21.15 Wei-Yin Chen - Coming out of the second break, I knew I was light on starters, but this was a bit of a feature, not a bug. I like having volume, getting more options to stream for two-steps and home starts. Chen doesn't have a great park but does have a good team.

22.1 Carlos Martinez - It's always nice to have good news about one of your players right after the draft, so it was a welcomed sight to see Martinez won the fifth starter's job for the Cardinals.

- After my pick of Martinez in the 22nd round, Team 14 next to me selected Jurickson Profar. I really couldn't believe my ears. It's not wasting a 22nd-round pick is going to cost you your draft, but it's a huge reflection on your preparation, or lack thereof. If you've spent a good chunk of change to play in this league and have some experience playing fantasy baseball, you'd better know the player pool. These guys were nice guys and made some better picks earlier, but they were also drafting out of a magazine. Mind-blowing in this day and age.

23.15 Jordy Mercer - I've gone almost full circle on Mercer. I was big on a possible breakout back in November and December, before the Bucs signed Jung-Ho Kung. I got cold feet for a while in draft season, but I'm back to being bullish on Mercer.

24.1 Kyle Gibson - Gibson has really improved his changeup, and as a result is striking out more batters in spring training. Even with the low strikeout rate last year he maintained decent numbers in his first full season in 2014 - there's breakout potential with Gibson.

25.15 Tim Hudson - Another youngster on the rise ... obviously, he's a streamer for home starts only.

26.1 D.J. LeMahieu - LeMahieu's a hedge against Mercer not working out as my MI, with home start streaming potential. Remember, in the NFBC you set your offensive lineups on Monday *and* Friday, so I should be able to skim the cream off the top for his Coors Field starts.

27.15 J.A. Happ - The Mariners confirmed Sunday what was rumored earlier - Happ has made their beginning rotation, with Roenis Elias getting sent out. He's another nice home start streamer.

28.1 Raisel Iglesias - I'll be honest, I have no idea whether Iglesias will be ready this year. But just in case his AFL performance is any harbinger of his 2015 potential, I want to be there. Could very well be my second cut, though.

29.15 Ender Inciarte - The best available outfielder at the time - could start, could be in the minors. But at least he's hitting .362/.397/.414 this spring with four stolen bases. He'll fight David Peralta, Yasmany Tomas and Cody Ross for playing time.

30.1 Vance Worley - Already lost the battle for the Pirates' fifth starter job to Jeff Locke despite having a better spring and a better track record last year. Oh well, cut and advance.

For this team to compete, I need to do as well as I think I'm going to do with the hitting categories, for my two closers to keep their jobs, and to successfully stream/FAAB starting pitchers in the bottom slots. If I'm chasing saves on the waiver wire all year, it's going to be a struggle. I need that budget and those roster spots to try to find the next McHugh/deGrom/Shoemaker, or at least maximize the available starts. Speed will be the other commodity I'll be seeking in FAAB, though there's less of a sense of urgency in that pursuit.