2013 Draft Prep: 12-team, AL-only Roto draft
We went a little deeper with this one.
We still had 12 participants. We still had standard 23-man rosters -- and with no bench at that. But in our latest Rotisserie mock draft, we cut the player pool in half.
None of that Senior Circuit talk here.
This group did it AL style ...
1. Jameson Fleming, CBSSports.com Social Media Coordinator
2. Peter Madden, Editorial Director, Fantasy Sports
3. Jeff Tobin, Associate Managing Editor
4. Al Melchior, Data Analyst
5. Bill Passonno, Fantasy Writer
6. Scott White , Senior Fantasy Writer
7. Jeff Lippman, Fantasy Writer
8. Nando Di Fino, Senior Fantasy Writer
9. Adam Moore , Fantasy Writer
10. Igor Mello, Fantasy Writer
11. Ed Gauna, Fantasy Writer
12. Adam Aizer, Fantasy Video/Podcast Host
The takeaways for you AL-only types are both good and bad.
First, the good ...
Everyone should get a halfway respectable first baseman. If you end up with James Loney as yours, you've fallen asleep at the wheel.
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Filling out 24 catcher spots isn't as difficult as you'd think. Yeah, the last three or four aren't so great, but of the catchers not projected to get regular at-bats at the start of the season, some of the most intriguing -- such as Mike Zunino, Geovany Soto, Derek Norris and Ryan Lavarnway (who didn't even go in this draft) -- are in the AL.
You'll hate your outfield at the start of the draft, when you're taking Nick Swisher or Wil Myers as your No. 2 option, but with all of the speed specialists and solid-but-unspectacular Torii Hunter types available later, the position ends up being not so bad, especially compared to three-fourths of the infield.
Now, the bad ...
Second base is as much of a disaster here as in mixed leagues. If you don't extend yourself for Jason Kipnis or Jose Altuve after the elite foursome goes off the board, you're lining up in the punt formation.
You can't wait around at starting pitcher, at least not if you want someone halfway reliable. The safe options end with the top 10. After that, you get into Jake Peavy, Jon Lester and Josh Johnson territory. I pulled the trigger on Yu Darvish in the third round and died a little inside.
The most surprising position was third base. If you don't take Miguel Cabrera, Evan Longoria or Adrian Beltre in the first round, your only other hope before descending into the lower tiers is Brett Lawrie. Granted, settling for Kyle Seager, Will Middlebrooks or Mike Moustakas in the middle rounds isn't so terrible, but holding off until the middle rounds to draft them will take a few years off your life.
One last note about these league-specific formats: No, you don't want to reach for a high-end closer, but once the closers start going off the board, you better jump in there if you have any ambitions of accumulating saves this year. The second of the projected closers, Mariano Rivera, went off the board in Round 10. The last, Jose Veras, went in Round 14.
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