Another fantasy baseball mock: Allen Craig, Justin Morneau, more

December 28, 2012 @ 13:05:55 PDT

Why you ignoring Morneau, eh?

Another mock, another high pick - this one for the RotoWire Online Fantasy Baseball Championship, to go into their upcoming mag. Appreciate the invite for what turned out to be an exciting process.

Not much changed from my strategy in my recent USA Today pick 'em. In the first three rounds, I aimed to balance out track record and earning potential with positional scarcity, then fill in the blanks.

I picked second and, in a word, my team was ... volatile. My depth skewed young - not sure if I'd take this many chances on a played-out team. But herein rests the debate of mocks: I used this one to point out potential difference-makers you should take chances on in the late rounds, and which commodities that frighten others that you should pounce on. Enjoy.

Bats	RD	POS	Player	TM	Notes
C	9	C	Jesus Montero	SEA	Shorter distance to fences, DH AB preserve HR upside. An optimal midrange backstop grab
C	10	C	Jonathan Lucroy	MIL	Top-5 mixed C upside. Added power to stellar BA profile last year. Will be forgotten by your competitors. Don't fall into that trap.
1B	7	1B	Ike Davis	NYM	One of the slew of midrange 1Bs which, if you're patient, will win you your league. I'm sure my ranking of them will vascillate until March.
2B	2	2B	Dustin Pedroia	BOS	His down year was still excellent. Not straying from him.
3B	1	3B	Miguel Cabrera	DET	Come on. Please say I should've taken Mike Trout. It gets a bit quiet before January around here.
SS	5	SS	Ian Desmond	WAS	Inflation wasn't as responsible as many will claim. Even with HR/FB drop, holds above-average pop for a SS. SBs cement him as a top option.
CI	16	3B/SS	Trevor Plouffe	MIN	Needed a pop grab. That's Plouffe's singular skill to cement in your expectations.
MI	14	SS	Jean Segura	MIL	SB will make him profitable immediately. And he's not Dee Gordon or Jemile Weeks!
OF	3	OF	Jason Heyward	ATL	Even if power doesn't take another step, nearly a guarantee for elite HR-SB balance to add to my notable first two selections.
OF	4	OF	Allen Craig	STL	Originally had him as 1B (was tempted by value buy Mark Teixeira), but beauty of Craig's dual eligibility let me change plans. Stud when healthy
OF	8	OF	Shane Victorino	BOS	One of his best possible landing spots, especially with the way they're reloading.
OF	18	OF	Ryan Ludwick	CIN	BA safety? Hardly. But in this lineup, should continue producing in every other column.
OF	19	OF	Peter Bourjos	LAA	After Kendrys Morales trade, he's free! OF-DH rotation keeps him in lineup nearly every day. 20-20 potential
UT	20	1B	Justin Morneau	MIN	Glad he fell, again. Contract year, full offseason of health. Low investment, big pay-off.

Arms	RD	POS	Player	Tm	Notes
P	6	SP	Matt Moore	TB	Continuing my quest to boost his ADP and the notion that he'll be a top-10 mixed SP.
P	11	SP	Ian Kennedy	ARI	His 2012 was almost the same as 2011, but HRs were bloated. That's a warning sign, but not enough to avoid him.
P	12	RP	J.J. Putz	ARI	Putz is in control, as long as he stays on the field ... and ARI doesn't trade him.
P	13	SP	Jeff Samardzija	CHC	Not worried about IP hangover. As SP3, still a nice K buttress.
P	15	RP	Tom Wilhelmsen	SEA	If I had known Joel Hanrahan would've been confirmed as BOS closer, he'd have been the pick. But Wilhelmsen should be solid again.
P	17	SP	Lance Lynn	STL	Volatile SP continues, but similar situation to Samardzija.
P	21	SP	Shaun Marcum	FA	Wherever he winds up, has skills for rotation buffer. Preferably, however, because of his fly follies, he winds up in P-friendly digs.
P	22	SP	Jason Hammel	BAL	Still driving his bandwagon. Breakthrough was real, and regression won't be violent.
P	24	SP	Hyun-Jin Ryu	LAD	David Wells/Ted Lilly clone set for immediate success, especially at home

Bench	RD	POS	Player	Tm	Notes
BN	23	SS	Hiroyuki Nakajima	OAK	There's HR hidden in his frame. Don't overlook them.
BN	25	SP	Trevor Bauer	CLE	Fresh start should recharge this highly intelligent, mega-talented 22-year-old. At least he's in a pitcher's park if he has to be in AL.
BN	26	C	Mike Zunino	SEA	If John Jaso is shipped, this pick could turn out even better. Mature makeup, if not elite skills, but means quick path to bigs.
BN	27	OF	Brett Jackson	CHC	HR-SB combo. That BA downside is mitigated as a bench player.
BN	28	RP	Brian Wilson	FA	Still worth a SV flier.
BN	29	SP	Erasmo Ramirez	SEA	Pristine BB/9 an alluring building block for depth sleeper SP.
BN	30	RP	David Robertson	NYY	Are we sure Mariano Rivera will come back like his old self? Why not take this chance with an already-skilled closer-in-waiting?

The spots where I netted the candidates for negative regression wasn't all that frightening, so they should meet those prices. This team would either finish in the top three or crash and burn near the basement. Guess that's the way you have to play it.

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About Tim Heaney

Tim's work has been featured by USA Today/Sports Weekly, among numerous publications, and recognized as a finalist in FSWA's awards. The Boston University alum competes in Tout Wars and LABR and has won numerous industry leagues in both baseball and football.

During baseball and football season, he's on The Reality Check with Glenn Clark every Wednesday on 1570 AM WNST in Baltimore. He hits the airwaves every Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio, where he often crashes other shows, as well.
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