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The Beat Chris Liss League

Tonight, I drafted in the NFBC's 12-team online "Beat Chris Liss" league, part of the $100K RotoWire Online Championships. We start the standard 14 hitters and nine pitchers in a 5 x 5 format. I picked third. Here are the results:


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I just wrote a 1500-word recap I accidentally deleted, and I don't have the wherewithal to re-do it, so I'll be brief:

I was hoping for Clayton Kershaw with the No. 3 pick, but was fine with Bryce Harper. It just meant I'd have to get Chris Sale in Round 2 and Jose Fernandez in Round 3. But Sale went one pick before me, and I thought I could wait on Fernandez, so I took Chris Davis. When Fernandez went at 3.2, I took Stephen Strasburg, who I like a little less, but fits the profile of an ace with No. 1 upside.

Having learned my lesson on Fernandez, I didn't wait to see whether Yasiel Puig would come back to me and scooped him up in the fourth. In Round 5, I took what I consider to be the last of the aces in Johnny Cueto.

Once Cueto was off the board, I was determined not to pay up for mid-level pitching as it typically has the worst ROI. I wanted to get Kenley Jansen in Round 6 to bolster my strikeouts from the closer spot, but when he didn't make it, I rostered Ryan Braun who seemed too good to pass up. I filled all five outfield spots by Round 8, and two of three corner spots by Round 9. That was my plan - to pay for offense from the traditional offensive positions and wait on catcher and middle infield.

I nabbed two closers in Rounds 10 and 11, but only backed them up with Joaquin Benoit, so the team is shaky in saves, the starting pitching depends on two pitchers with significant injury histories and the team is a little light in steals (though it has a lot of moderate contributors.) It's big on power and run production, though, and one closer and a starter or two are fairly easy to acquire on the waiver in a 12-team mixed league.