Shallow Drafts: Waiting on Pitching

So a buddy of mine calls me the other day in need of a 10th team for his home league.  Apparently someone dropped out at the last minute due to work obligations and he needed to find someone competitive to fill the slot.  Shallow league, very basic.  10 teams, mixed, 5×5 roto, standard snake draft.  Happily, I obliged and decided that this would be a great opportunity to see just how long I could wait on drafting a starting pitcher while still maintaining a competitive staff in the league.

Usually in shallow leagues, I’ll wait until atleast the fifth or sixth round before grabbing my first starter.  It’s a standard practice by most, so I knew I would push that back by atleast a few rounds.  Obviously I could have waited until my last nine picks given that it’s just 10 teams, but again, I wanted to make sure I still drafted a strong enough staff that wouldn’t require me to constantly waste my waiver priority while rummaging through the bargain bin of pitchers.

So here’s what happened…

Round 1

I had the 4th pick and went with Ryan Braun.  No pitchers were taken in this round.

Round 2

Surprisingly, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander and Roy Halladay all came off the board before my pick.  I went with Hanley Ramirez and no pitchers were taken after me.  (SP drafted:  3)

Round 3

Cliff Lee went with the first pick of the round.  I opted to grab Mark Teixeira with my pick.  Tim Lincecum, Jered Weaver and Felix Hernandez all went with the last three picks of the round.  This league is pitcher crazy!  (SP drafted:  7)

Round 4

The guy with the pick right before me took Dan Haren and I followed with a selection of Michael Bourn.  A little too high for my taste, but ESPN has him so high up in the rankings and I figured it wouldn’t kill me to lock in some steals here.  CC Sabathia went two picks later.  (SP drafted:  9)

Round 5

The top third basemen went fairly quickly so I grabbed Brett Lawrie here with my pick.  Two picks later Cole Hamels was off the board and Zack Grienke quickly followed.  I was the only one without a pitching slot filled.  (SP drafted:  11)

Round 6

So usually this is where I would normally grab a starter if I liked what was left on the board.  Jon Lester went the pick just before mine and I landed Carlos Santana.  Nice, right?  In a one catcher league, no less.  Matt Cain and David Price went with the next two picks.  Meanwhile, I was loaded up at catcher, first base, third base, shortstop and had two of my five required outfield spots filled.  (SP drafted:  14)

Round 7

James Shields and Yovani Gallardo came off the board while I grabbed Alex Rodriguez to cover my corner infield spot.  I’m loving my offense and watching Stephen Strasburg and C.J. Wilson come off the board towards the end of the round.  (SP drafted:  18)

Round 8

Saw some closers come off the board and then saw Matt Moore get scooped up.  The guy right before me took Adam Jones (damn him!) so I settled on Shin-Soo Choo.  Better than a poke in the eye, right?  Still no starters and not a concern in the world as Madison Bumgarner came off the board next.  (SP drafted:  20)

Round 9

When it came to my pick, I can’t say there was anyone that I really coveted.  With 20 starters off the board, I thought about making my first pick here in the 9th.  Instead, I noticed Matt Wieters still there, so I grabbed him instead and chucked him into the utility spot.  Figured someone would want to trade for him, right?  Ian Kennedy, Adam Wainwright and Ricky Romero were taken to close the round.  (SP drafted:  23)

Round 10

Would this be the round?  Daniel Hudson went a few picks before me and as I looked down the list of pitchers still available, I decided to grab Michael Cuddyer and his multi-position eligibility.  Jeremy Hellickson went two picks later.  (SP taken:  25)

Round 11

OK, so 25 starting pitchers are now gone in a 10-team league.  I figured this was probably a good place to cut it off.  Probably a round or two too early actually, but as I said before, I wanted to maintain a strong enough staff to compete and there weren’t any hitters out there that were blowing me away.

Positions covered — C, 1B, SS, 3B, CI, 4 OF and UT

I was looking at Dee Gordon and Danny Espinosa but figured I could grab them both later on based on what everyone else had filled and the way they were drafting.

I went with Mat Latos as my first pitcher drafted.  A tough first half last year skewed his overall numbers but the guy was rock solid in the second half.  His ERA will spike a little with the park change, but as a ground-ball pitcher, I’m confident it won’t kill him.  He’s also having a nice spring which can’t hurt.  Josh Beckett, Josh Johnson and Matt Garza all went after me, so I figured it was now time to build that support staff.  (SP drafted: 29)

While everyone then spent the next several rounds trying to build up their offense, I rummaged through the remaining starters and made some choice picks.  Joining Latos are Brandon Beachy, Cory Luebke, Gio Gonzalez, Brandon Morrow, Mike Minor, and Bud Norris.  There’s definitely a lot of youth, but the upside, in my opinion, is fantastic.  This staff should do more than just fine.

I may sit behind the guy who has Verlander, Haren, Lester, Beckett and Yu Darvish on one team, but there’s not another staff out there that looks incredibly dominant.  At least not as dominant as my offense looks in comparison to the rest of the league.  No question, the more shallow the league, the longer you can wait.

And as for my full roster…

C	Carlos Santana
1B	Mark Teixeira
2B	Jason Kipnis
3B	Brett Lawrie
SS	Hanley Ramirez
MI	Jemile Weeks
CI	Alex Rodriguez
LF	Ryan Braun
CF	Michael Bourn
RF	Shin-Soo Choo
OF	Michael Cuddyer
OF	Lorenzo Cain
UT	Matt Wieters
P	Mat Latos
P	Brandon Beachy
P	Gio Gonzalez
P	Cory Luebke
P	Brandon Morrow
P	Mike Minor
P	Bud Norris
P	Rafael Betancourt
P	Javy Guerra
BN	Paul Goldschmidt
BN	Bryan LaHair
BN	Kenley Jansen