We hope you enjoyed our first day of TGFBI coverage and analysis and that you’ll stay with us as we continue our trek into the thirty-round wilderness of this league! Kevin and I both appear to be in some of the slower leagues, but that means more time for us to take a close look at a few players as opposed to many at once every day!
Rob’s Day Two Picks – League 16 Live Draft Board
3:44 – Charlie Blackmon – Colorado – OF
4:47 – Jose Altuve – Houston – 2B
Tales of my deviation towards risk and away from boring reliability were overblown. In fact, if I had not taken Altuve, I might have gone with another aging hurler in Zack Greinke. Yawn, boring, old. Get used to it, its how I draft.
Anyway, I’d been focusing upon the possibility that Blackmon would slip to me about nine or so picks in advance. Blackmon no longer can be counted upon to steal, but even without that aspect of his game (10 stolen bases would be bonus value at this point) his other skills still make him worthy of this pick. Like Arenado, Blackmon is a power hitter who does not have to sell out in order to get it, continuing to be an above-average contact hitter presenting continued .300+ batting average potential who has hit no fewer than 29 homers the last four seasons and has not fallen below 648 plate appearances since 2013. Again, building that foundation.
Clayton Kershaw and Manny Machado were the next two picks leaving the player still at the top of my board, Joss Altuve, available. I already own two Astros, so you can see I’m not letting the scandal color my choices especially since the home/road splits didn’t appear to have a significant impact on Altuve in 2019. That said, some homerun regression is to be expected, possibly to the mid to lower-twenties. His speed scores indicate he still has a motor and while he may not be a twenty-plus stolen-base threat anymore, he’s still able to leg out plenty of groundballs. At this price point/draft pick, I’m paying for about 10 or fewer steals, so again like Blackmon, any unexpected return to form in the speed game will be a bonus.
Kevin’s Day Two Picks – League 26 Live Draft Board
Pick 3.43 – OF Charlie Blackmon – COL
Pick 4.48 – 2B Whit Merrifield – KC
Continuing my early theme of predictable and consistent, I went with Blackmon with my third-round pick. Heading into the pick, I had narrowed my choices down to Blackman, Meadows, Springer or Villar. With Altuve, Villar, and Merrifield still possibly available to give me some speed at my next pick just 5 picks away, I decided to grab my first outfielder here. I love what the kid Meadows can bring across the board and Springer’s power explosion had my attention if he can stay on the field. But in the end, Blackmon was my selection. Yes, his speed is gone but that simply makes him a four-category contributor instead – a proven veteran one at that. His expected .310+ batting average goes well alongside my second-round pick Freeman. Blackmon’s 3-year average of 33 HR, 87 RBI, and 123 run numbers check a lot of fantasy boxes this early in the draft. If Blackmon were to get moved to another team, this pick will most likely be devalued some, but I am thinking he will remain at Coors all season, where he batted an insane .379-22-51 with 66 runs last season. Just like my pick of Freeman, Blackmon is a “set it and forget it” type player within my roster foundation build. I just need to convince GM Jeff Bridich to keep both Blackmon and Arenado at home in the Rockies for the entire 2020 season.
Ever have one of those fantasy moments where you have everything lined up perfectly and then, in the blink of an eye, your draft queue is blank? I had that moment times four when my fourth-round pick rolled around. As stated within my Blackmon writeup, I was targeting one of Villar, Altuve or Merrifield for my fourth-round pick. If Meadows or Springer fell to me, I would consider them as well. I had those five names on my queue for my pick five picks away – cruise control autodraft if you will. By the time my next pick rolled around, four of the five players in my queue were gone, leaving Merrifield as the lone member of my queue. A tip of the cap to the two owners after me with two great picks each at the turn. Ah, fantasy baseball… I love and hate you all at once. I used my pick on Merrifield, which is not a consolation prize to me at all. In keeping with the high BA theme of my draft, Merrifield hopefully brings yet another potential .300+ BA to my team. And if he were to approach the level of steals from two years ago, he’s a steal at this point (Dad joke type pun intended and no I am not drinking). But realistically, If Merrifield can give me .290-20-60-25 numbers, I’m good. I’ve never been a fan of the SB category, but it is what it is, and Merrifield is my first stab of slowly accumulating SBs, while also helping across the board as well. Good solid pick and my second base slot are now filled.
Parting Thoughts
Kevin and I were playing in the same league last time around in the TGFBI and it is now coming back to me that Kevin was distinctly calling me out (and vice versa) for liking the same guys and that continues to be the case . We’re both pretty pleased to have Blackmon in the late third round and believe it to potentially be a slightly discounted value.