Yep, I got accepted into the real TGFBI fantasy baseball league, for industry experts, like me, yeah, um, right. I am so flipping stoked, of course, but enough about that. How did the draft go, you’re asking. Well…

It went real nice, Steve, thanks for asking! But seriously, I had the 13th pick, so that was a little harsh, but can’t dwell on that. Being right near the turn, but not actually on the turn is kinda brutal (spoiler alert). I got sniped by Keaton DeRocher at least three times, and twice in a row, and that’s what makes this fun, right? We play this game for fun! So here we go…

Round 1: Jose Ramirez, what is there to say, he’s a top 10 position player in all roto formats (steals, AVG and power) so this was a no-brainer.

Round 2: Bryce Harper, some risk, but the guy crushes the ball and plays with a lot of passion. Bring it on, Harp.

Round 3: Luis Robert, at this point, all the true ace pitchers were gone and so was Eloy Jimenez, so I took Luis Robert, who is just a fun player. He’s going to ruin my AVG, so will need to address that later.

Round 4: Lance Lynn, my first pitcher. Had to do it. Could not wait another 24 picks or whatever it was. He’s fine, he’s good. He tends to stay healthy and pitch deep into games.

Round 5: Zach Plesac, big question mark. Is he as good as he looked last year? Time to just cross your fingers and hope the stuff is for real.

Round 6: Keston Hiura, sort of a panic pick. I started worrying about 2nd base. Even though he’s going to kill my batting average (am I punting AVG?) I like the power upside of this guy. Miller Park, great hitter’s ballpark.

Round 7: Jesus Luzardo, I kinda love this pick. He was sort of slept on. I think he might be the best pitcher in Oakland. I could have taken Matt Olson or Paul Goldschmidt here, but I figure Clegg already has Bellinger, and Keaton isn’t going to take Goldy and Olson….WRONG!!! HE TAKES BOTH!!

Round 8: Max Muncy, misery pick. Both of my 1Bs got sniped, BY THE SAME GUY, so I had to settle for Muncy, who I’m not particularly fond of. As a consolation, he has been crushing recently in Spring Training, so maybe he’ll be okay.

(This brutal sniping was the point in the draft that I should have realized that you shouldn’t leave key players on the board hoping they’ll come back around to you. With a 60-second timer, maybe more people panic on the turn and miss a trick, but with 4 hours to pick, it’s not an issue.)

Round 9: Pablo Lopez, no brainer, had to get in on the fun-time Marlins rotation. I guess I’m glad I didn’t get Sixto, who will start the year at the alternate site. Some times there’s no predicting these things, I just got lucky. I thought about taking Carlos Correa here, but Keaton has Lindor and Clegg has Gleyber, so he’ll probably last 4 more picks right? WRONG!!! Keaton snipes me once again!

Round 10: Wil Myers. No regrets here. Yes, I got sniped on Correa, and shortstop now becomes a problem for this team, but gotta love Myers. I tried to draft him everywhere in 2021, after losing out on him on a FAAB bid last season and regretting it all year. Slam Diego was the best part of 2020, and it sucked not having a piece of the action. He is coming out of Spring Training red hot, so let’s hope he can keep it up and stay healthy!

So that’s Round 1-10, and at this point in the draft, I like my team, but don’t love it. Stay tuned for more observations on the later rounds tomorrow!!