Fantasy Baseball: My NL-Only 4 x 4 Keeper League Draft Results

C-Ramon Hernandez-$5

C-Ryan Hanigan-$1

1B-Ryan Howard-$48

SS-Ruben Tejada-$1

OF-Kyle Blanks-$5 (keeper)

OF-Xavier Nady-$6

OF-Jayson Nix--$1

MI-Jeff Keppinger-$1

CI-Daniel Murphy-$9

U-Chris Johnson-$4

U-Travis Ishikawa-$1

P-John Smoltz-$1 (keeper)

P-Clayton Richard-$1 (keeper)

P-Chad Qualls-$28

P-Brad Lidge-$18

P-Cole Hamels-$24

P-Derek Lowe-$10

P-Jamie Moyer-$1

The first player I drafted was Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds, fresh off his 40-20, season, I won the bidding at $36. As I was writing his name on my sheet, I heard the comment from a fellow ownere "you should have raised him!!". That drew a hearty chuckle from your truly as I made one of my worst decisions as an owner in this league by not raising him to $15 before the start of the 2009 season.

I was involved in the bidding for Albert Pujols but could not pull the trigger on bidding $60 on him, as he went for $59 to another owner who is also playing for 2011. I then targeted Ryan Howard, perhaps one of the more consistent power hitters in all of baseball, and got him at $48. I think he will be easier to trade at $48 than Pujols at $59.

After landing Howard and Reynolds, I targeted speed and closers. I was able to land Chad Qualls at $28 and injured Brad Lidge at $18. With Octavio Dotel going for $24, Carlos Marmol going for $26, Francisco Rodriguez going for $35, and Matt Capps going for $27, I think I made a good decision targeting Qualls, as I like him over all the other available closers at the price I got him for. Lidge is a risk, but can he really be as bad as he was in 2009? He has to show SOME improvement, right? I took the chance.

After winning the bidding for the two closers, I targeted speed, but did not want to spend $36 on Jose Reyes or $35 on Michael Bourn. To me, Reyes still has some risk, even though he appears healthy so far in extended spring training. After losing out on both speed guys, I targeted a less risky Carlos Lee who could put up a 30-100 season even on a bad team like Houston. In comparison, Jason Bay went for $39, and I think Lee can outperform Bay in 2010. Again, at $38, he won't be difficult to deal.

Then I targeted Cole Hamels and Derek Lowe to solidify my pitching staff. Before the draft I targeting injured pitchers Jordan Zimmerman and Edison Volquez, but both were called out too early for my liking and went for $8 and $10 respectively. Brandon Webb was another target and he went for $12.

Mike Adams-$14

Takashi Saito-$11

Luke Gregerson-$8

Roy Halladay-$41

David Wright-$39

Raul Ibanez-$30

Jimmy Rollins-$39

Adrian Gonzalez-$38

Carlos Beltran-$24

Johan Santana-$28