Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Injun Draft Board Strategy

With the 16th pick of the Season 11 draft the Cleveland Indians select? The answer to that question lies in the answer to another question. What do the Indians need most in this draft? Normally it is pitching but after really looking at the minors and the ML roster I have determined the answer is a power hitting 2B or 3B. Egads, after looking at the board the pickings are slim for that need. I have tagged 8 position players in the first 8 slots. The first 3 are top 5 picks, though with all the pitching available on my board and I am not seeing many High School players due to the way the budget is set, they could drop a little. After doing several drafts with these budget settings you get the hang of where to put HS players and none of these on my board are worth getting excited over. So I did a little mock draft.

My #1 should go to OKC if they don't take the best pitcher on their board. Otherwise he could fall to Helena at #4 but that would be the lowest he should go.

My #2 is not really all that fantastic but should not pass no further than the Mets with the 7th pick.

My #3 is iffy, I originally had him out of my board but put him back in due to needs. I doubt he will fall past the 12th pick anyway.

My #4 could fall to me at 16, he isn't the 3B I want but is a 2B/CF which is a plus. Not exactly the hitter I want but will do.

My #5 is iffy and should really fall to the mid 20 picks.

My #6 is iffy and should really fall to the mid 20's also.

My #7 is a gap singles hitter and could easily fall to me but not what I am looking for.

My #8 is the best catcher on my board and is really more of a supplemental pick than a first round pick.

My #9 thru #16 are pitchers and most should be picked before 16 but somehow I very seriously doubt it.

I have an hour before the draft and after doing the mock draft, I am debating on whether to change the positions of a few players. Pick 16 is the cut off for a starting pitcher in most drafts. The pitchers have good control and splits and a good out pitch but not real good second pitches. This is the oddest draft board of all of them I have had recently. The only constant is the player I really want is not on the board or has no way of falling to me.

So after the mock draft I moved #5 thru #8 down the board behind 3 pitchers that make sense. And moved #4 up to #3. Normally I would say I would get two players in my top 10 and I am still banking on that but which ones is a mystery.

#1 - Greg Woods - projected #1
#2 - Harry Cora - projected no lower than 8
#3 - Bernard Shelley - I am hoping
#4 - Andy Fassero - iffy stock could let him drop to me if #3 not there
#5 - Josh Towers
#6 - Jim Matthews
#7 - Pepper Inge
#8 - Deivi Silva
#9 - Albert Valenzuela
#10 - Pascual Zapata
#11 - David Palacios
#12 - Turner Ferrell


Hopefully I will get two of these players in the draft. I should get 2 because I am not seeing any top 25 HS players and I kicked out 6 top 25 picks that I didn't like their physical stats or bios, so in all that makes about 36 players I am not seeing in the top 25 that would normally be there or spread on other boards. I say that because I think everyone has a chance to draft an actual top 10 player on their board, you just have to figure out who it is. After my 16th ranked player, there isn't much of anything really great and not even anything I would call marginal ML bench players. Ok it is about 20 minutes to draft time, I am out of cherry Twizzlers and the tea glass is empty. TTFN

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