| BATTERS | |||
| C/1B | Víctor Martínez | ||
| 1B | Lance Berkman | ||
| 2B/3B/OF | Mark DeRosa | ||
| SS | Jhonny Peralta | ||
| 3B | Mike Lowell | ||
| OF | Vladimir Guerrero | ||
| OF | Curtis Granderson | ||
| OF | Magglio Ordóñez | ||
| OF | Nate McLouth | ||
| OF | Elijah Dukes | ||
| OF | J.D. Drew | ||
| UTIL | David Ortiz | ||
| PITCHERS | |||
| SP | A.J. Burnett | ||
| SP | Matt Cain | ||
| SP | Carlos Zambrano | ||
| SP | Javier Vázquez | ||
| SP | Johnny Cueto | ||
| SP | Zack Greinke | ||
| RP | Trevor Hoffman | ||
| RP | Frank Francisco | ||
| RP | Joel Hanrahan | ||
| RP | George Sherrill | ||
| RP | Chris Ray | ||
| DL | |||
| 3B | Álex Rodríguez | ||
Nate’s team is a lot like mine in Travis’ league, so my criticism will probably glow.
Vic Martinez is healthy. Look out. He looks good this spring, and Cleveland has intentions of using him as much as possible at First. If they can get enough hitting from other 1B’s, Vic will catch or even DH if Hafner is as worthless as he has been the last 2 years. Bottom line, I think Vic is a Steal of the Draft candidate.
I’m not sure what to think about Lance. He continues to bat like a man in his 20’s that isn’t awkardly overweight. But I’m scared that he’s always going to be hurt, so I don’t like him. Peralta surprises me. He does well in obscurity, so it’s probably good that nobody hypes him up ever.
Several years about ATL chose Marcus Giles over Mark DeRosa. I’m angry with their decision. DeRosa is like Fly Kicks from America’s Best Dance Crew: always underrated, always outperforms expectations. He’ll never be an all-star, but he’s regular like fiber boi.
Last year I tried to draft Granderson in the 2nd round but someone beat me to the punch. Then he got hurt and only at the end of the season when no one was watching baseball be played in Detroit he got hot. He really is going to be Grady Sizemore’s statistical clone, but with more triples.
McClouth will get traded this year. It will boon his value. Kid can flat out play and deserves to be in an even remotely baseball interested market.
Downfall:
Nate is old. Papi, JD Drew, Vlad, Mags, Lowell. They are all on the downside of their careers, but how good can they still be? My guess is Papi rebounds, but nowhere near 2 years ago. Vlad lost weight this offseason, but unless he improved his batting eye, he’s got a fork in him. Mags has enjoyed a recent revival… I think it’s mostly over tho. And Lowell and Drew will be somewhere just below pedestrian.
…like Blair’s team tho, Nate doesn’t NEED these guys to put up numbers circa …whenever they were in their respective primes.
I don’t know what to say about Dukes.
Pitching:
I was searching for something negative to say about Nate’s starters, but they really are quite average-to-above average, and as he mentioned, all “K-guys”
I’ll maintain that his bullpen is weak, and I’d rather have 2 superb Closers versus 4 question marks.
I took Lowell in the last round, and only to be used when AROD can,t and JD DREW was like 23rd round, but yeah, other than that I am betting on Ortiz, Vlad, and Mag still playing like they aren’t shelfed. We offer differing opinions on the bullpen, I’ll take 4 question marks from rounds 15-21 than 2 guys i would have had to take in 5th-8th rounds. Elijah Dukes could be one of the better players in baseball if he gets control of his emotions and plays a full season. Just look at his numbers from last year in 250 at bats at the age of 23. It should also be mentioned that a big downfall of mine will be relying on spot starters and offensive strikeouts most matchups all year.
Here’s another team I can get behind. The picks regardless of order seem solid and sound. I’d be astounded if this team was worse than top-5.