Team Carty’s LABR NL roster

Sorry guys; no full article from me today. I spent the weekend in Phoenix drafting my team for the League of Alternate Baseball Reality (LABR) National League. If you’re not familiar with LABR, it is considered to be one of the ‘big two’ of fantasy baseball expert competitions along with Tout Wars.

USA Today will be publishing the full results of the auction later in the month, but I thought you guys would appreciate a sneak preview of my roster right now.

Team Carty — LABR NL

+-----+------------------+-------+
| POS | PLAYER           | PRICE |
+-----+------------------+-------+
| C   | Ramon Hernandez  | $15   |
| C   | Carlos Ruiz      | $ 2   |
| 1B  | James Loney      | $25   |
| 2B  | Kelly Johnson    | $23   |
| 3B  | Dallas McPherson | $ 3   |
| SS  | Jimmy Rollins    | $40   |
| CI  | David Freese     | $ 1   |
| MI  | Clint Barmes     | $ 6   |
| OF  | Raul Ibanez      | $23   |
| OF  | Cody Ross        | $13   |
| OF  | Aaron Rowand     | $ 9   |
| OF  | Kosuke Fukudome  | $ 6   |
| OF  | Nyjer Morgan     | $ 5   |
| UT  | Brandon Moss     | $ 5   |
+-----+------------------+-------+
| P   | Javier Vazquez   | $25   |
| P   | Rich Harden      | $19   |
| P   | Kenshin Kawakami | $ 7   |
| P   | Ben Sheets       | $ 1   |
| P   | Mike Gonzalez    | $11   |
| P   | Huston Street    | $ 9   |
| P   | Manny Corpas     | $ 7   |
| P   | Mike Adams       | $ 2   |
| P   | Jeremy Affeldt   | $ 2   |
| P   | Joe Thatcher     | $ 1   |
+-----+------------------+-------+
| BN  | Jorge de la Rosa | RSV-1 |
| BN  | Ross Ohlendorf   | RSV-2 |
| BN  | Brian Moehler    | RSV-3 |
| BN  | Jeff Suppan      | RSV-4 |
| BN  | Zach Duke        | RSV-5 |
| BN  | Jason Marquis    | RSV-6 |
+-----+------------------+-------+

To preemptively answer a question I’m sure to get, yes, I’m aware that Freese has been since been demoted to the minors. But I had him as a $9 value if he got 350 at-bats, so he was plenty worth the risk as a $1 pick, even if a demotion was somewhat likely. Plus, I suspected the next guy on the list would go undrafted, and he did, so no worries.

Also, please keep in mind that I was using a unique strategy that makes the pitching look a little light upon first look. Given neutral luck, I estimate I could pull down nearly 55 pitching points, though. I’ll let you know more about the strategy later, if you don’t figure it out yourselves. For now, it’s about time I get some much needed rest.

Finally, thanks to Steve Gardner of USA Today for the invite and to all the other guys who made this such a great draft and who I’m sure will make this a great season.


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Jason Collette
15 years ago

What I like: your infield, Affeldt, Ohlendorf
What I don’t like: seems light on power, steals, and Sheets and Adams might not even pitch in 2009.

Without seeing the other NL teams, you appear to have your work cut out for you.

Andrew
15 years ago

I’d be curious to know how much Reyes and Hanley went for – did you plan going in to get one of the Big 3 at all costs?

Dave G
15 years ago

I’ve played NL only leagues for a long-time and I think you should rename your team to Catfish because it looks like a total bottom-feeder overall.  Sorry, but true

Peter D
15 years ago

I don’t like your team very much at all.  Here are some of my thoughts:
– You overpayed for a mediocre 1B in Loney, he does have upside, but paying for upside rarely works
– Your only Stud is Jimmy Rollins who had injury concerns and a down year last season, and is the 3rd best in his position.
– I do like Affeldt as well, his road numbers last year were incredible
– Fukudome helps very little in roto leagues, and now he’s platooning
– Little overall power
– Questionable pitching

Everyone seems to be in love with Javy Vazquez this year, however, he’s been in the NL before, and wasn’t very good (with ARZ), even with Montreal he was up and down.  Same goes with Ibanez, he’s the hot guy because he’s moving to Philly, a hitters park.  I think those two will be the biggest disappointments this year, and they’re not sleepers if you pay big bucks to get them…which it appears you did a lot.

I find the biggest issue with fantasy experts is that they fall in love with sleepers, and ignore the proven guys.  You would have been much better off paying for some top talent and getting some more real sleepers like Barmes.

Rob T
15 years ago

Really hard to completely comment without seeing other teams but I’d like to see what other 2B went for. Spending 10-12 on a 2B, then using that extra 10 to find power somewhere (likely the OF). That McPherson pick is pretty risky, could pay-off huge or leave a gaping whole at 3B. He seems to be a better CI pick than your starting 3B.

Be interesting to hear your pitching strategy, I’m not big on Vazquez or Harden. Harden could give you 150 IP of fantastic, or nada. Spending 16 total on 2 Col relievers seems like a waste.

Harry Proctor
15 years ago

I was rather surprised to see Ramon Hernandez go that high. I figured him for about $7. Rcih Harden who is a pitch away from a long time on the DL at $19 strikes me as an overpay as well.

D Wrek
15 years ago

It seems like in a 13 team lg you have a chance for a lot of AB’s, which obviously by default helps the counting stats.
With the rotation, theres seems like a lot of risk/reward.  Do you think thats what it takes to win these expert leagues?  Ive heard that theory somewhere before.

Dave G, you have my favorite comment so far.  “Ive played in NL leagues for a long time, so that gives me permission to be as vague as possible.  Just trust me, your team sucks.  BTW, Ive played in a lot of NL leagues.”  LOL

anonymous
15 years ago

Love the Barmes pick, he’ll end up being the steal of the draft.  I’m also a big fan of the pitching strategy, though I would’ve picked two different guys as my aces. . .the strat is quite sound, though. 

Hope McPherson sticks at third, you’ve got a nice team if he does.

PJBRW
15 years ago

I think the wait and see is the key to your picks.  You’ve proven your strategies before and am sure at the end of the season people will be saying “Now I get Derek’s strategy, how did he do that I need to know for next year”.