Easter weekend flew on by, the FBtB draft occurred, and opening day happened! There’s plenty to write about, and lets start with the draft. Just like the majority of drafts, Albert Pujols, led off the festivities. In fact the draft was quite typical for the first part of the first round. After Pujols, Hanley Ramirez, A-Rod, Braun, Kemp, Utley, Mauer, and Prince Fielder were the top half of round 1. Crawford, Jeter, Cabrera, Lincecum, Felix, Halladay, Teixeira, and Greinke were the 16 players taken in the first round of the draft.

It is quite apparent that the members of the league did not take the advice of my blog posts. This is all fine and dandy, my team turned out quite fine.

1. Felix Hernandez
2. CC Sabathia
3. Adam Dunn
4. Andre Either
5. Jose Reyes
6. Matt Wieters
7. Chipper Jones
8. Nate McLouth
9. Jered Weaver
10. Billy Wagner
11. Jorge Cantu
12. Ryan Franklin
13. Placido Polanco
14. JD Drew
15. Ben Sheets
16. Jon Rauch
17. Ryan Madson
18. Franklin Morales
19. Jhonny Peralta
20. Pat Maholm
21. Orlando Hudson
22. Melky Cabrera
23. Kelly Soppach
24. Casey Kotchman
25. Luke Scott

The team is full of consistent talent, while holding onto replaceable upside. Felix and CC even when they have “rough” starts should do better than average (as seen in opening day), Dunn and Ethier fill in my outfield and can handle their bats.  Wieters was by far the best catcher available, and as long as he doesn’t sophomore slump he will help the roster. Chipper Jones is Chipper Jones, I don’t buy spring numbers in McLouth’s case, Jered Weaver, JD Drew, Placido Polanco, all provide reasonable production.

The team here is made in a few key picks. First off is Jose Reyes. I wrote about him earlier, and I was shocked to get him in the 5th round 77th overall. Many people were for probably good reason scared off by his early DL assignment, but Peralta should fill in just fine if it only for a couple weeks. If Reyes comes back and returns to being Jose Reyes, I just turned a 5th round pick into a 1st or 2nd round pick.  If he struggles through the season, I could be hurting, but I feel like the 5th round was an appropriate gamble.

I also picked up relievers almost at the end of ever “run” on the closers in the draft and I got the ones I wanted. Billy Wagner is a stud when healthy, Ryan Franklin proved to be good last year, and Jon Rauch, Ryan Madson, and Franklin Morales will all get at least save opps, or be in line for some holds. My bullpen should be sneaky good for my team. If they fall apart, they can be easily replaced week by week if necessary.

The home run pick I feel is Ben Sheets. The Ben Sheets we remember from yesteryear was an ace, and was a hard pitcher to miss. However not pitching for a year will hurt a guy’s potential, and he fell to me in round 15. If Sheets can pull things together, I have an amazing sleeper pick. However round 15 was by no means a draft crippling reach for a player of his potential.

I feel like my team could finish first, or even dead last, at lot hinges on CC and Felix’s production, without them my team is shot, with them, every week I have a great chance. If Reyes comes back strong, if Sheets comes back strong, I don’t see this team losing often. However, the team was built to withstand their short comings, and the appropriate amount of depth should provide this team with the production it needs to succeed.