Last time we looked at off season trading; now we move to selecting our keepers.
This league keeps 15 players on the Major League Roster and up to 10 players on the Minor League Roster.
My goal prior to selecting my keepers was to get a good base of the starting positions. The second goal was to select a small amount of pitchers to keep; you can find good pitching in the draft, since it’s a little more difficult to predict what a pitchers going to do.
As a refresher, here is my roster…
C – Russell Martin, Jeff Clement
1B – Pablo Sandoval
2B – Howie Kendrick, Asdrubal Cabrera
3B – Alex Rodriguez
SS – Jimmy Rollins
OF – Jason Bay, Curtis Granderson, Conor Jackson, Colby Rasmus, Grady Sizemore, Nick Swisher
SP – Cole Hamels, Dan Haren, Scott Kazmir, Tim Lincecum, Francisco Liriano, Pedro Martinez, Jeff Niemann, Josh Outman, Aaron Poreda, Chris Young
RP – Matt Lindstrom, Dan Meyers, Mariano Rivera, Fernando Rodney, George Sherrill, Jose Valverde
Minors – Daniel Bard, Hank Conger, Scott Elbert, Eric Hosmer, Derek Holland, Lou Marson, Brian Matusz, Jesus Montero, Jarrod Parker, Brett Wallace
I started looking at which guys were not keepers. I instantly dropped Jeff Clement, Conor Jackson, and Nick Swisher. Clement has potential, but he’d be available in the draft. Jackson and Swisher are nice players, but I have better options with other players.
I was on the fence about Asdrubal Cabrera; he’s got a lot of worth being able to qualify at multiple positions. He’s solid for a middle infield guy. I really couldn’t justify keeping him over any other fielder. He’s in the “possible keepers” group.
I was also on the fence about Russ Martin; he was solid in the past, but really struggled last year. I was also worried that there wouldn’t be many good catchers in the draft. He’s also in the “possible keepers” group.
The final on the fence player is Colby Rasmus; he’s got the talent to be great and I used a first round minor league pick on him last year. At the same time, I could see Tony LaRussa platooning him or benching him at the first sign of struggling. He’s also a “possible keeper”.
For those keeping score, that’s 7 keepers, 3 possible keepers, and 3 non-keepers.
With pitching, I’m keeping the sure things.
The non-keepers were pretty easy. Pedro Martinez hasn’t signed with a team and possibly could be a mid-season pick up. Josh Outman will miss most of the season, so there is no point in keeping him; it’s questionable if he’d even be back in the majors after he heals up. Lastly, Aaron Poreda has good potential but his role isn’t certain. He’s someone I could draft late or pick up after his role is known.
For the relievers, any non-closer is gone. Holds are easy to pick up in the draft, so there is not point in wasting a spot on one of those guys. Dan Meyers, Fernando Rodney, and George Sherrill are gone. Rodney will get some save chances and Sherrill could be traded to a team needing a closer, but neither are worth a spot at this point.
That leaves us with 10 guys.
The possible keepers are now picked out. Jeff Niemann, Francisco Liriano, Chris Young, Matt Lindstrom, and Jose Valverde are the 5 that stand out. Niemann had a good debut, but struggled at times. Liriano hasn’t looked the same since Tommy John surgery. Chris Young’s health is too unpredictable. Matt Lindstrom had lost the closer role in Florida, and could very possibly lose it again in Houston. Jose Valverde has had the same track record at points in his career as Lindstrom.
Keepers will be Hamels, Haren, Kazmir, Lincecum, and Rivera. I have 3 spots for 8 guys.
Valverde is the first to move to keepers. He’s been solid for a couple of seasons and is moving to a pitchers park for the first time in his career. I feel solid with 4 starters and 2 closers.
So, the final 2 spots come down to Rasmus, Cabrera, and Martin. Martin moves over next, since I don’t know if I can get a better catcher and he should rebound. The final spot goes to Rasmus; his potential is a lot higher than Cabrera’s and Rasmus would go fast in the draft. I have a better chance of re-drafting Cabrera.
On to the minors. Before I get into players, I wanted to acknowledge that the league has agreed to up minor league rosters to 15 players.
My goal in picking keepers was to get as many picks as possible, while keeping top talent. If I release a guy, I’ll still have the chance to pick him back up. I also decided to promote 4 players that will have large roles in the majors in 2010 – they will be my 4 final picks in the major league draft:
– Daniel Bard will be in the Red Sox bullpen.
– Lou Marson will be the catcher in Cleveland until Carlos Santana is ready. If he gets to a hot start, I can probably deal him.
– Brian Matusz is in the starting rotation for Baltimore; I have him as my pick for AL ROY.
– Brett Wallace was a question mark, but he’ll be up by mid-season and I wanted as many picks as possible. I may pay for this next off-season.
So, that narrows me down to 6 players to decide on.
With Montero as the top catching prospect in baseball, I feel that Conger becomes expendable. There is no point in carrying both.
Eric Hosmer still has potential and I don’t think I could find a better player late in the draft, so he’s staying.
That leaves 3 pitchers – Parker, Holland, and Elbert. I feel Parker and Holland are no brainers; both have top of the rotation potential. Elbert on the other hand hasn’t had success in his small MLB experience. His role is uncertain. He’s expendable.
So, the final keepers are as follows:
C – Russ Martin
1B – Pablo Sandoval
2B – Howie Kendrick
3B – Alex Rodriguez
SS – Jimmy Rollins
OF – Jason Bay, Curtis Granderson, Colby Rasmus, Grady Sizemore
SP – Cole Hamels, Dan Haren, Scott Kazmir, Tim Lincecum
RP – Mariano Rivera, Jose Valverde
Minors – Eric Hosmer, Derek Holland, Jesus Montero, Jarrod Parker
Promotions in the Draft:
Lou Marson, Brett Wallace, Brian Matusz, Daniel Bard
I’ll have 11 picks in the minor league draft, since I’m only keeping 4 minor leaguers.
Next, we’ll look at my draft prep and my picks.
