AL- and NL-only leagues are indeed a thing, even in a 60-game season, and so it's worth sizing up the changes to that format along with all the others. I made sure there was one from the get-go. That's right: I'm officially fading Mike Trout in this pandemic-shortened season, instead opting for Yankees ace Gerrit Cole at No. 1 overall — and in a Roto league, no less.
Trout, after all, is expected to leave the team at some point in August for the birth of his child. He would be gone for at least three days, but potentially more, and would then need at least a couple more days to go through intake to be cleared to play again. If we already have reason to believe he's missing a week of a 9 1/2-week season, then we need to give serious thought to taking some of the other super studs ahead of him. I don't know that Cole would be one for me in every format, but the AL-only player pool is especially light on high-end starting pitchers.
Players who have tested positive for COVID-19 — a list that includes DJ LeMahieu, Joey Gallo and Miguel Sano — by and large retained their value in this mock draft. It was even true for one of the few starting pitchers to test positive, Jesus Luzardo, who likely won't have much time to ramp up for the season when he's cleared to return. He went 57th overall, in between Carlos Carrasco and Lance Lynn.
Rich Hill got his usual bump, and Nate Pearson and Aaron Hicks were of course much bigger assets than they were in March. I'm not sure this particular group pursued stolen bases and saves as aggressively as you might normally see in an AL-only league, given how few players are capable of contributing anything to those categories. I addressed my steals need with Adalberto Mondesi at the start of Round 3 and basically didn't need to bother with it anymore, given what other teams would need to scrap together to contend in the category. I was fortunate to get a reliever as good as Nick Anderson in Round 8, but not as fortunate as the guy who got Liam Hendriks just a couple picks earlier.
So who all took part in this draft?
1) Scott White, CBS Sports (@CBSScottWhite)
2) Phil Ponebshek, Patton & Company
3) Nicholas Mimikos, Stack Attack podcast (@NMimi)
4) Dan Gilbert, Fantasy Fisticuffs podcast (@DabberDanLit)
5) Scott Engel, SportsLine (@scotteTheKing)
6) Chris Towers, CBS Sports (@CTowersCBS)
7) Christopher Smoes, lucky reader who got to join in
8) Micah Henry, New Life Fantasy (@FantasyCentral1)
9) Nate Urban, lucky reader who got to join in
10) Frank Stampfl, CBS Sports (@Roto_Frank)
Here's how we did:
| Round 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Team | Player |
| 1 | Micah Henry | |
| 2 | Scott Engel | |
| Micah Henry | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rd | Pk | Player |
| 1 | 1 | |
| Scott Engel | ||
| Rd | Pk | Player |
| 1 | 2 | |
