3rd Overall

Last Tuesday we had our big off-season meeting for our fantasy league, and I must say the meeting was excellent. Everything we said after the end of last season was passed, and new rules were placed into affect. (see last entry)

I'm quite happy about that because it adds more competitive balance to the mix, but also adds more strategy into the picture with picking and choosing starting pitchers, than just streaming them. We also finally rid ourselves of the IP stat, which truth be told was one of the worst fantasy stats I've ever had to go up against.

During the meeting we also picked the draft order from a hat, since I was the champ last year, most of the guys wanted me to pick. I pulled out the following names...

1.Frank
2. Brian
3. Eddie
4. MAX
5. Dennis
6. Ray
7. McCann
8. J West
9. Diggs
10. Chalie

At first I thought it was very weird that I picked Frank's name out first. Frank is my biggest rival in the league and we constantly smack talk each other very intensely. He was the one I beat last year in the championship match, and saying he is hungry is really an understatement.

I'll be honest, I really like the 3rd pick. I did not like having the 1st pick last year because I feel your always pigeonholed into taking Pujols or Hanley, but with the 3rd pick, I can choose almost anyone from Braun to Crawford in the rankings.

With the 3rd Pick, I have these three players I'm looking at...

- Ryan Braun
- Chase Utley
- Prince Fielder

I'm really thinking hard about taking Chase. Here's Chase's projection...

"He's the class of a historically weak position, and while second base has grown deeper heading into 2010 NL-only owners might be interested to know that Utley finished 25th overall on the 2009 Player Rater, 42 spots ahead of No. 2 second baseman Brandon Phillips and 107 spots ahead of No. 3, Felipe Lopez. In other words, Utley's value takes on even greater importance the shallower your draft pool, but regardless of format, his place as a first-round value is indisputable. His average stat line the past five seasons is .301-29-101-15-111, numbers you would expect from an elite outfielder, and he's well within his prime at 31 years old. And Utley's Phillies are every bit as potent an offense as they were in any of those five seasons, making him a prime pick to lock down a somewhat difficult position early."

Here's Ryan B....

"Braun's about as complete a fantasy player as there is. In each of his three big-league seasons, he's managed at least 30 home runs, 90 runs scored, 90 RBIs and 10 stolen bases, and he's averaging .308-34-106-16-99 per-year numbers. Braun is amazingly consistent, managing an OPS of .900 or greater in 11 of 17 career months in the majors and falling short of .800 in the category in only four. What's more, he accomplished those feats from the onset of his career, in his ages 23-25 seasons, and now he's entering what's widely considered a player's power-prime years. So, can Braun actually improve on his 2009? Perhaps. He boosted both his walk and contact rates in his third big-league season, a sign he's developing as a hitter, and he stole a career-high 20 bases (with a solid 76.9 percent success rate), so there's room for growth across the board. But even if Braun's numbers remain constant, is there any question he's a first-round pick?"

Chase's ADP is 6.6
Braun's ADP is 5.1


The clock is ticking....