Triple Crown League: 1st Round Draft Done

My strategy going into the draft was to try for only 1 or 2 highly-competed-after picks like these guys, and then try for players who I thought would go uncontested. Overall, the strategy worked okay. I did not acquire any of the high-consensus picks, but landed Joba. I missed a few lower-consensus picks that I really wanted, but did wind-up with a lot of uncontested players. In fact, I have 24 players already when most teams have about 12-14. This should give me an advantage in the later stage drafts because I can focus on a few areas. My team is fairly strong so far:

Starters:
Chase Utley Phi 2B
Mark Teixeira NYY 1B
Jack Cust Oak OF

Bench:
Adam Jones Bal OF
Mike Aviles KC 2B, SS 3B
Willy Aybar TB 3B 1B, 2B
Ryan Freel Bal OF 2B, 3B

Rotation:
Chien-Ming Wang NYY SP
Andy Sonnanstine TB SP
Joba Chamberlain NYY RP

Spot Starters:
Carl Pavano Cle SP
Gio Gonzalez Oak SP

Bullpen:
Joel Hanrahan Was RP
Jeff Samardzija ChC RP

Minor leagues:
Wade Davis TB SP
Yonder Alonso Cin 1B
Rick Porcello Det SP
Alcides Escobar Mil SS
Jason Heyward Atl OF
Nick Adenhart LAA SP
Ryan Perry Det RP
Christian Friedrich Col SP
Daniel Schlereth Ari RP
Carlos Santana Cle C

So far I have a good power core, flexible bench, middle to back-end of my rotation, not much in the bullpen yet, and a very strong minor league crop containing a few top 50 prospects. With $30 million left to spend, I can go after some high-priced players to round out the roster.

Benchwarmer Baseball 16 Most Contested Draft Players

There has been 3 drafts so far this off season in Benchwarmer Baseball that have been strictly list-style: Blue and Gray League, Experts League, and Bleed Dodger Blue League. The information contained in the contested picks is quite interesting and valuable when considering the development of one's own draft sheet. Additionally, the information is also value for non-drafters, as it can be viewed as a general ranking of which players are deemed most desirable and valuable. By taking the three lists of contested players, the number of times each player was chosen by a team, and then summing them, we can derive an overall ranking of the 16 most contested players in Benchwarmer Baseball:

1. Francisco Liriano / 751 salary (31 times chosen over 3 drafts)
2. Yovani Gallardo / 508 (29)
3. Cameron Maybin / 100 (26)
4. Matt Wieters / 100 (26)
5. Clayton Kershaw / 719 (23)
6. Alexei Ramirez / 1289 (22)
7. Ian Kinsler / 2276 (22)
8. David Price / 100 (21)
9. Max Scherzer / 609 (21)
10. Francisco Liriano / 751 (20)
11. Cameron Maybin / 100 (19)
12. Chris Davis / 698 (19)
13. Pablo Sandoval / 200 (19)
14. Matt Wieters / 100 (18)
15. Yovani Gallardo / 508 (17)
16. 4 players tied (16)

This differs quite meaningfully from my previous list of the Top 16 Draft Targets for Benchwarmer Baseball primarily because this player list above tends to contain more prospective picks on a relative basis. Both lists, however, are loaded with great talent, with the list above displaying the league's view of most attractive contracts in Benchwarmer.

Joining New Benchwarmer Baseball League: Triple Crown League

I was awarded a free new team for this season since a was a division winner in the Hall of Fame League. I have decided to help complete another new Benchwarmer Baseball league: the Triple Crown League. Two of the main reasons I was so compelled were that 1) I like to help Benchwarmer Baseball out as much as possible to help it grow, and 2) I liked the name of the league. Another league recently was formed which was called Bleed Dodger Blue, but I dislike the Dodgers, so there was no way I was joining that one. I wonder if anyone else has had similar aversions to some leagues for reasons of the name.

It's been a while since I have done a start-up draft, but fortunately, I have already given extensive thought to who the top targets should be and previously wrote about it here. Since there is a 44000 Benchwarmer Buck salary cap for the first round of player selections, selecting all of the players on my 16 Top Draft Targets would not leave much room for additional players, so one must be selective. I will be refining my Triple Crown draft selections this weekend, and will definately be applying the two guiding draft principles from that post: maximizing roster productivity and acquiring controllable assets. My goal is to win the Triple Crown League this year. I am looking forward to an exciting and challenging year.

Benchwarmer Baseball Top 16 Draft Targets

Despite not having participated in a Benchwarmer Baseball league from the start-up draft stage since the Beatleball League was added as the 2nd BWB league in 2004, I have been giving a lot of thought to who I would select in the first round of a new league in 2009 if I were drafting. Here a my thoughts on the Top 16 players given the assumptions that:
1) the primary goal is to win the championship this year; and
2) the secondary goal is to lay the groundwork for a dynasty that can win each and every year.

To reach goal #1, one needs to maximize roster productivity by acquiring the players with the most expected BWB utility. Many of these players will be "established" players (ie. not prospects). Established players' salaries should be reasonably expected to already fully reflect such utility (or even be at a premium due to the fact that MLB awards earned by players further increase BWB salaries), so few discounts will generally found here.

To reach goal #2, one needs to acquire longer-term productivity at a discount. This is achieved by drafting prospects and younger stars and sign them to multi-year contracts before their salaries as established players trade at par or a premium to their productivity.

An optimal mix of "premium established", "par established", and "discounted" players is the key to winning now (maximizing productivity), and later (paying the least amount for that productivity).

With that framework established, these would be my Top 16 targets in a new league:

1. Evan Longoria 1437 -- could be your #3-hitter for a long time
2. Ian Kinsler 2276 -- only behind Utley at 2nd but at a fraction of the cost
3. Carlos Quentin 2325 -- see Evan Longoria
4. Carlos Lee 3220 -- star player, but at deeply discounted price
5. Joey Votto 1569 -- rising star; salary low enough to extend several years
6. Chris Davis 698 -- not sure if he's a star yet, but salary is sooo low
7. B.J. Upton 2485 -- if the playoff power is here to stay, major bargain
8. Chase Utley 5738 -- par established player in scarce position
9. Mark Teixeira 5104 -- star player at small discount
10. Ryan Braun 4612 -- could be going for 1500 more after this season
11. Matt Kemp 2727 -- see Joey Votto
12. Jay Bruce 918 -- see Chris Davis
13. Jonathan Broxton 1794 -- blown saves in 08, but could dominate
14. Francisco Liriano 751 -- if he regains old form, CY Young for pennies
15. Ryan Ludwick 2733 -- can he repeat? salary worth finding out
16. David Price 100 -- hasn't proven himself yet, but can't get any cheaper

The more of these 16 players you can get into your roster, the better chance you have of achieving both objectives:
1) winning this year by adding discounted utility which further results in having more funds to spend on the better established players in later rounds; and
2) building a dynasty by securing controllable assets.