Staff Fantasy Baseball Draft: Analysis of Our 12-Team Head-to-Head League
Round 3
Pick | Overall | Player | Position | Fantasy Team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 25 | Adrian Beltre | 3B | Alex Gutjahr |
2 | 26 | Corey Dickerson | OF | Jacob Adler |
3 | 27 | Anthony Rendon | 2B/3B | AJ Weinberg |
4 | 28 | Buster Posey | C/1B | Kyle Stanzel |
5 | 29 | Jacoby Ellsbury | OF | Matt van de Merlen |
6 | 30 | Justin Upton | OF | Dale Redman |
7 | 31 | Chris Sale | P | Jeff Hicks |
8 | 32 | Stephen Strasburg | P | Nick Friar |
9 | 33 | Madison Bumgarner | P | Jim Sannes |
10 | 34 | Ryan Braun | OF | Cory Rindone |
11 | 35 | David Price | P | Scott Barrett |
12 | 36 | Nolan Arenado | 3B | Peddle/Barry |
This was an ugly round, if you ask me. Only Adrian Beltre to Gutjahr comes across as a team getting a third-round player. AJ Weinberg might get a steal with Anthony Rendon, who will miss time with a sprained MCL, but Rendon is oft-injured and may not piece together another full season like he had in 2014.
The first catcher, Buster Posey, goes off the board with the fourth pick to Kyle, and after three pitcher selections in the first two rounds, four aces get scooped up.
Peddle rounds it out with Nolan Arenado, whom our algorithms project to be the 51st-most-valuable hitter. Among available third basemen, numberFire believes Carlos Santana, Todd Frazier, and Josh Harrison would all have been more valuable picks.
Redman selects Justin Upton, now of the Padres sixth but wouldn’t do it again. “My only regret is taking Justin Upton over a starter who can anchor my pitching staff, like Chris Sale or Madison Bumgarner,” he said. “Upton will be a solid contributor in all categories, but the drop off between him and Starling Marte is not as big as you would think.”
My pick: Corey Dickerson
Reach alert! I took Dickerson under the line of thinking he wouldn’t be available at my next pick, and that he can outperform projections. Since we drafted under the guise of a H2H league, I can exploit matchups and potentially stream his outfield spot if he has a bad week away from Coors Field.