Keeper League: Best Picks

As some of you know, I run three fantasy keeper leagues (one each in football, baseball, and basketball). Most seasons (and offseasons), I spend some time working on reviews and predictions, and this year will be no different. So what I wanted to do was take a look back at the draft picks made in our keeper baseball league, and evaluate them based on the final rankings at each position.

For example, Brian McCann was the first catcher drafted, but three catchers were kept (Joe Mauer, Victor Martinez, and Russell Martin). So, McCann was the 4th catcher off the board. He finished the season as the second-highest ranked catcher on Yahoo, so that was a good selection.

It's not just a straight numbers-to-numbers game, though. Remember, guys like Alexei Ramirez, Justin Duchscherer, Ricky Nolasco, and Grant Balfour were widely undrafted, but finished in the top 25 at their respective positions. And since the most reliable talent in baseball is all locked up through keepers, it's harder to find high caliber talent in the draft. So keep that in mind when you start to say Paul Konerko was a bad pick.

I'll be giving the entire list of players and in what order they were drafted. But, if you would like to refer to the original draft, it's located here.

I'll be making posts every few hours, starting now, each with a new position. I'll highlight the best and worst picks at each position, and then we'll wrap up at the end with a summary of which teams did the most with their draft. Also, I'll post the final standings so you can compare draft success with league success. It should be fun.