SB Nation User Blog: Ophidian

Dynasty League: Vin Mazzaro vs Sean West

Ophidian — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:30:26 -0000

For context, this is a 10 team dynasty league (40 man rosters including the minors, but only MLB-level players are available in-season) with the standard 5x5 categories for pitching. Weight future performance more heavily than this year since my pitching staff won't be depending on either for anything but the occasional spot start. For reference, the last guy on my staff right now is the injured Ervin Santana but others are carrying folks like Ted Lilly, Joe Saunders, Kevin Millwood, Brad Penny so that's around the absolute minimum level of competency needed going forward.

Poll

Who would you rather have:

Vin Mazzaro, RHP, OAK

89 votes

Sean West, LHP, FLA

68 votes

They're both just d00ds

11 votes

168 votes | Poll has closed

What happens to Taylor Teagarden

Ophidian — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:09:19 -0000

So I'm curious to hear what others think about Taylor Teagarden's future. He's getting extremely sporadic playing time (only 57 PA so far) down in Texas right now, which can't be good for his development. He's also year and a half older than Saltalamacchia, but reportedly the significantly better defender and it's not like Salty has been some kind of world beater in the past year and a half (he currently has a lesser wOBA than such luminaries as Kenji Johjima, Brad Ausmus, and Miguel Olivo). I'm aware that Teagarden hasn't been great offensively either, but I'm inclined to chalk some of that up to "young catcher with long swing getting extremely sporadic playing time in first taste of the majors".

What is Teagarden's future? Does he become a starter? Does Texas hang onto him and stunt his development? Does he get traded for help at the deadline? Was he always going to be a career backup anyways? (I find that last one hard to believe given his great glove and decent patience/power combo).

Dynasty Reserve Roster

Ophidian — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:22:23 -0000

For the purposes of this discussion, I don't have any positional needs at the major league level so we're looking at just straight talent. As well, I have sufficient depth that superstar talent is much more important than guys of the low risk / low ceiling variety.

After the draft, I feel my decision really boils down to the following:

Keep two (No positional concerns):

Jose Tabata
Michael Almanzar
Jaff Decker
Ryan Kalish
Hank Conger
Max Ramirez
Daryl Jones
Ryan Westmoreland

Cut one:

Mat Latos
Martin Perez
Matt Moore
Julio Teheran

For reference (in case you want to know about my depth), I have the following guys coming out of the draft (including guys I carried forward on my reserve roster). I need to cut this list down to 15:

Justin Smoak (1B, TEX)
Brett Wallace (3B, STL)
Carlos Triunfel (SS, SEA)
Wilmer Flores (SS, NYM)
Michael Almanzar (3B, BOS)
Jason Heyward (OF, ATL)
Fernando Martinez (OF, NYM)
Jose Tabata (OF, PIT)
Ryan Kalish (OF, BOS)
Ryan Westmoreland (OF, BOS)
Jaff Decker (OF, SD)
Hank Conger (C, LAA)
Max Ramirez (C/DH, TEX)
Daryl Jones (OF, STL)
Neftali Feliz (SP, TEX)
Chris Tillman (SP, BAL)
Michael Ynoa (SP, OAK)
Michael Main (SP, TEX)
Mat Latos (SP, SD)
Martin Perez (SP, TEX)
Matt Moore (SP, TB)
Julio Teheran (SP, ATL)

Any help, suggestions, ideas appreciated.

Dynasty League Draft advice?

Ophidian — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:32:02 -0000

So I'm in a Dynasty league, 10 teams, typical 5x5 with OBP instead of AVG and 1CF/2OF instead of 3OF. I have the 4th and 10th picks in the first round for this year's amateur draft to stock the minor league systems. After the draft, the minors are off limits unless they make it to the show prior to Sept 1.

My expectation is that Madison Bumgarner, Pedro Alvarez and Tim Beckham will be off the board before my pick. The rest of the draft pool is mostly breakout guys from last year that shot up the board, and 2008 draft picks.

I pretty much have zero holes on my major league roster (biggest risks are Rickie Weeks and Catcher with Mauer backed up by Teagarden). OTOH, I have depth at both of the major positions that are strong for this draft class: I have Dunn/Kemp/BJ Upton/Chris B Young/Hermida as my current OF with Heyward, F.Mart, Tabata, Kalish, J.Duran, K.DeLeon (NYY,OF) as my OF prospects; I have Prince Fielder and Joey Votto at 1B in the majors. I suspect that the best way to go is just straight upside.

Guys I'm looking at include: Stanton, Smoak, Lars Anderson, Posey, Hanson, Hosmer, B. Wallace, C. Santana, Matusz, Brett Anderson, Ynoa.

Any thoughts on who to take are appreciated.

From the "long ways away" crystal ball

Ophidian — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:01:48 -0000

You can have one of Juan Duran (CIN, OF) or Kelvin De Leon (NYY, OF). Which do you take and why?

Both are very, very young, toolsy, high profile international signees.

John has De Leon in the Honourable Mentions section (so likely grade C?) of the Yankees Top 20, and Duran as a grade C at #21 in the Reds Top 20

Not too many numbers to provide since they both played in the DSL but are also really a lot more about scouting & projection than current performance at this point (De Leon put up significantly better number for those that care).