My turn for a quick review of the draft.  I was picking 10th so had two picks fairly close together each time followed by a reasonable gap.  In practice this didn't affect things too much though and I was pretty pleased with how things turned out.

Going in my strategy was to take the best player left on the board each time in the earlier rounds and then start to pick off specific positions later on.  I wanted to make sure I got power and a few dual threat players (HR/SB) early and planned to leave 2B, SS and C till late if I didn't get one of the elites as the next levels were actually pretty deep.


Picks were as follows:

C - Wilson Ramos (18), Yasmani Grandal (20)
Really pleased with this pair.  Ramos is underrated and will put up great numbers if he can stay healthy.  Grandal is the back-up in case Ramos isn't healthy and is primed for a break-out - now the starter in LA, had a great stretch at the end of last season and is a former first round draft pick so has all the pedigree, just has to put it together.

1B - Anthony Rizzo (1)
I'm expecting Rizzo to be very solid.  I wanted power from 1B and he should provide it.  He'll also drive in his fair share and hopefully rack up plenty of walks.

2B - Howie Kendrick (17)
Kendrick is pretty unglamourous but I still needed a 2B in the 17th round and Kendrick was still there so seemed a bargain.  He's fairly predictable so for a late round pick I think he should be fine.

3B - Chris Davis (7)
I figured Davis was underrated going into this season after his sub .200 average last year.  HR at 3B are hard to come by these days though and he should provide them.  His average should rebound to the .230 range and if he continues to walk a lot then in this league (which values walks) he should do nicely.

SS - Starlin Castro (16)
I really didn't want to take Castro at SS but I still needed one in the 16th round and by that point Castro had fallen so far that he was actually pretty good value so quite happy.

LF - Starling Marte (5)
CF - Jacoby Ellsbury (3)
RF - Ryan Braun (4)
Util - Matt Kemp (6)
I filled the outfield and Util spot in four straight rounds and I'm very pleased with the bunch.  I was just picking based on the top ranked player on the board each time but between them they will provide average, steals, homeruns and the other counting stats.  Marte, Ellsbury and Braun also fulfilled my objective of getting some multi-category (HR/SB) contributors early.

Bench - Kole Calhoun (11), Wil Myers (22), Alex Rodriguez (25)
Kole Calhoun was still on the board way after he should have been taken so even though my outfield was full I took him.  At the top of the Angels line-up he could lead the AL in runs and will be a good back-up should I have any injuries or will make good trade bait later on the in season.  Myers and A-Rod were late round fliers to add some depth.

SP - Felix Hernandez (2), James Shields (8), Tyson Ross (9), Gio Gonzalez (10), Jose Quintana (15)
My plan for starting pitchers was get an ace early, get a few middle-round arms and then fill it out later / off the waiver wire in April / May.  I managed to stick to this plan and am pleased with the arms.  In particular I think James Shields is underrated - going from the AL to the NL and in particular to the cavernous Petco Park in SD should lower his ERA a fair bit.

RP - Koji Uehara (12), Hector Rondon (13), Tony Watson (14), LaTroy Hawkins (19), JP Howell (21), Bryan Shaw (23), Pedro Strop (24)
I never overpay for saves and there was no exception this time round.  I waited until rounds 12 and 13 to get a couple of closers.  I then added a couple more later on plus some quality set-up men who should rack up HLDs, Ks and decent ratios.

Summary
Overall very pleased with how the draft went.  I ended up prioritising hitting over pitching early on with the exception of getting King Felix as my ace and I feel like I should have a strong line-up that can compete in all categories.  The one regret was being pipped to Asdrubral Cabrera late on, would have been a great back-up for Kendrick and Castro at 2B/SS but they are both pretty durable so hopefully not a big problem.  I think my pitching (starting and relieving) should be fine after maybe adding one more starter from the waiver wire in the early season.  Looking forward to the season getting started!