Round 11
At the last minute, I decided to take a flier on Jeremy Bonderman rather than Radhames Liz; neither one would have been solid though. Bonderman hasn’t been good, while Liz didn’t make the MLB roster.
1. Team C – Angel Guzman, RP, Cubs
2. Team HC – Ryan Doumit, C, Pirates
3. Short Bus All Stars – Jeremy Bonderman, SP, Tigers
4. Team SC – Octavio Dotel, RP, Pirates
5. Team B – Ryan Theriot, 2B, Cubs
6. Team H – John Maine, SP, Mets
7. Bizkits – Anibal Sanchez, SP, Marlins
8. Team OWS – Grant Balfour, RP, Rays
9. Team VSB – Dustin McGowan, SP, Blue Jays
10. Team 25A – James Loney, 1B, Dodgers
Right now, I’d rather have Sanchez who I had on my list. He wasn’t crucial to my team and taking a chance on Bonderman seemed to have bigger reward at the time. No one else here really interested me.
Round 12
For my final pick, I went with Scot Shields; he used to get a ton of holds. Now, I know I mentioned earlier that Team C picked based of past performance, but this is different this late in the draft. You look for value and Shields appeared to have value during the draft. Of course, he doesn’t appear to be the same pitcher any more.
1. Team 25A – Kevin Gregg, RP, Blue Jays
2. Team VSB – Brett Myers, SP, Astros
3. Team OWS – Josh Willingham, OF, Nationals
4. Bizkits – Kevin Koumanoff, 3B, Athletics
5. Team H – Rajai Davis, OF, Athletics
6. Team B – Kurt Suzuki, C, Athletics
7. Team SC – Johnny Damon, OF, Tigers
8. Short Bus All Stars – Scot Shields, RP, Angels
9. Team HC – Kevin Slowey, SP, Twins
10. Team C – Marc Rzepczynski, SP, Blue Jays
Aaron Cameron would be proud to see the Athletics representing this round. There was a solid pick of Willingham this late; that’s good production for the end of the draft. You’ll be seeing a lot of guys that are just filling in rosters. Shields is now available (but I’ll get into roster management later).
Round 13
Here is the first of my promotions – Daniel Bard. Bard is going to be a fixture of the Red Sox Bullpen and worth more now than most of the other players available.
1. Team C – Ryan Raburn, OF, Tigers
2. Team HC – Nick Swisher, OF, Yankees
3. Short Bus All Stars – Daniel Bard, RP, Red Sox (Promotion)
4. Team SC – Kevin Correia, SP, Padres
5. Team B – Casey McGehee, 3B, Brewers
6. Team H – Tim Hudson, SP, Braves
7. Bizkits – Chris Volstad, SP, Marlins
8. Team OWS – Andy Pettitte, SP, Yankees
9. Team VSB – Brad Penny, SP, Cardinals
10. Team 25A – Luke Hochevar, SP, Royals
Correia is a pretty big regret. I was looking at him earlier and really should have taken him over Bonderman. I also like the Penny pick here; I had him on my list but couldn’t pull the trigger. Swisher was also a nice late round pick.
Round 14
My pick here went to the promotion of Lou Marson. I traded for Marson on the off chance he’d be productive. Russ Martin is my starting catcher and I’ll use Marson on days when he’s not playing (we have daily transactions). While he’s been horrendous, he’ll serve his purpose.
1. Team 25A – Mark Buehrle, SP, White Sox
2. Team VSB – Kyle McClellan, RP, Cardinals
3. Team OWS – Travis Hafner, DH, Indians
4. Bizkits – Matt LaPorta, OF, Indians (Promotion)
5. Team H – Nick Johnson, 1B, Yankees
6. Team B – Ryan Perry, RP, Tigers
7. Team SC – Placido Polanco, 3B, Phillies
8. Short Bus All Stars – Lou Marson, C, Indians (Promotion)
9. Team HC – Elijah Dukes, OF, Nationals
10. Team C – Kelly Johnson, 2B, Diamondbacks
The Kelly Johnson pick looks great right now; that ballpark is really helping him. I had him on my list as soon as he signed in Arizona. I also had Perry on my list with potential for the minor draft. I tried to trade for LaPorta, but Chad didn’t want to improve my team.
Round 15
I finished with 2 picks this round and promoted Brian Matusz and Brett Wallace. Matusz was given a rotation spot in Baltimore and I expected him to have a good year; he’s not off to that bad of a start. I probably jumped the gun on Wallace, but he’ll be up this year so I’m not worried.
1. Team C – Ryan Ludwick, OF, Cardinals
2. Team HC – Mike Adams, RP, Padres
3. Short Bus All Stars – Brian Matusz, SP, Orioles (Promoted)
4. Team SC – Bengie Molina, C, Giants
5. Team B – Randy Wells, SP, Cubs
6. Team H – Chris Iannetta, C, Rockies
7. Team SC – Todd Coffey, RP, Brewers
8. Team OWS – Alcides Escobar, SS, Brewers (Promoted)
9. Team VSB – Bronson Arroyo, SP, Reds
10. Short Bus All Stars – Brett Wallace, 1B, Blue Jays
Ludwick was a steal in this round. Escobar was a solid promotion. I would have considered Iannetta as an option for back up catcher, but I had Marson and I don’t know if he’s ever going to hold the job on his own.
So, my roster was now set for opening day…
C – Russ Martin, Lou Marson
1B – Pablo Sandoval, Troy Glaus, Brett Wallace
2B – Howie Kendrick, Asdrubal Cabrera
3B – Alex Rodriguez
SS – Jimmy Rollins
OF – Jason Bay, Curtis Granderson, Colby Rasmus, Nolan Reimold, Grady Sizemore, Chris Young
SP – Erik Bedard, Jeremy Bonderman, Jaime Garcia, Cole Hamels, Dan Haren, Scott Kazmir, Tim Lincecum, Brian Matusz
RP – Daniel Bard, Chris Perez, Mariano Rivera, Scot Shields, Jose Valverde, Billy Wagner, Joel Zumaya
Next, we’ll look at the minor league draft…
