Instead of reading every fantasy magazine I can get my hands on and spending countless hours thumbing through Baseball Prospectus, I’ve decided to prepare for this season by doing mock drafts.  In this first mock draft I wanted to accomplish 3 things:

• See how the draft would react if I took pitchers early.
• See how long I could wait on a second baseman.
• What my team would look like if I went for pitchers early (I haven’t taken a pitcher before the 4th round in 3 years).

I had the 3rd overall pick in this draft.  This was a 10 team mix league, standard 5x5 format. My first 10 picks:

1. Hanley Ramirez (3rd Overall)
2. Johan Santana (18th overall)
3. Tim Lincecum (23rd overall)
4. Matt Kemp (38th overall)
5. Alex Rios (43rd overall)
6. Derek Lee (58th overall)
7. Brad Lidge (63rd overall)
8. Garrett Atkins (78th overall)
9. Chris Davis (83rd overall)
10. Jermaine Dye (98th overall)

I hate this team and I know that I don’t want to draft this way for my real league.  Taking the pitchers early is a huge mistake.  After taking pitchers in the 2nd and 3rd round I spent the next 10 scrambling for offense that wasn’t there.  In the meantime, other owners put together deeper pitching staffs that I would rather have than this top heavy rotation.  I think a better strategy would be to get a pitcher in the 3rd and 6th or the 4th and 6th.  You still have a shot at CC, Lincecum, and Santana, or you may have to settle for Cole Hamels.

1st base is extremely deep.  I took Derek Lee in the 6th round and I think he was the 10th overall 1st baseman chosen in this draft.  Don’t skip on Pujols in the first or Berkman in the 2nd, but keep in mind guys like Derek Lee are waiting if you want to go ahead and take Brandon Philips over Morneau.

Speaking of second base, I think it is worth it to grab one early.  Kinsler and Utley are potential late first round, definite second round picks, and Philips isn’t far behind.  I ended up with Howie Kendrick in the 11th round.  Get one early, first base and OF can wait.

Just to highlight the terrible “draft pitchers early” strategy:

My Staff: Johan Santana (2nd), Tim Lincecum (3rd), Justin Verlander (12th), Ryan Dempster (17th)

Joe’s Staff: Jake Peavy (5th), John Lakey (7th), Felix Hernadez (8th), Rich Harden (12th).

Obviously I could have grabbed some guys before Verlander in the 12th, but I was too busy trying to fill massive offensive holes because of my 2nd and 3rd round picks.