The clock is ticking down towards Fantasy Baseball Frenzy, with the draft for two of the three divisions in the SnakePit Fantasy Leagues set for this weekend. Managers of the leagues yet to pick will be diligently poring over the latest news from Arizona and Florida, looking for clues as to injury, e.g. how far does Carlos Quentin's injury drop him down the rankings? Or perhaps not, relying on the divine favor of the Yahoo! Auto-Draft to select them a team worthy of the title... After the jump, we'll take a look at the opening round of the SnakePit league which has already selected, and how it stacked up against expectations.
The Clefo Conglomerate already had their draft, which took place over the weekend. The BattleMoses Battalion will be following suit on Saturday, and then the players from Division 1 will be making their selections on Sunday evening. Here's how the frantic first round of Clefo'ing went:
- Albert Pujols (LAA - 1B) - Fannatick
- Miguel Cabrera (Det - 1B) - A.ngry S.outheners
- Matt Kemp (LAD - OF) - Lmnade like gma made
- Troy Tulowitzki (Col - SS) - Strong Sad Inc.
- Jose Bautista (Tor - 3B,OF) - Balk Choi
- Robinson Cano (NYY - 2B) - Mallad JV
- Ryan Braun (Mil - OF) - warlords
- Adrian Gonzalez (Bos - 1B) - Insert Clever Name
- Joey Votto (Cin - 1B) - Tempe CockBlockers
- Justin Upton (Ari - OF) - Movin On Upton
- Prince Fielder (Det - 1B) - Goodfellas
- Jacoby Ellsbury (Bos - OF) - Keith Foulke You
- Carlos Gonzalez (Col - OF) - Penguins of Phoenix
- Clayton Kershaw (LAD - SP) - Steve 0ERA Finley
- Evan Longoria (TB - 3B) - Tatman's Corner
- Hanley Ramirez (Mia - SS) - DC Snakepit
The top six were the same as have been selected in other Yahoo! leagues, though the top pick here, Pujols, has come in below Cabrera and Kemp in overall rankings. The first surprise was at #7, where Braun went to warlords: even with the suspension being revoked, he wasn't seen as a first-round pick (#24). Not too much of a surprise to see only one pitcher go in the first round, though in a switch from the expected rankings, the man chosen was not Justin Verlander (scheduled to go at #12), but Kershaw (three spots lower). Perhaps this reflects a greater appreciation of the man who plays in the NL West. HanRam was also an unexpected first-round pick (#21 ranked).
Another fun aspect is the naming of teams. I simply stick with the boring, yet elegantly functional, "AZ SnakePit", but always enjoy seeing the names others come up with, from the witty through the sardonic to the completely obscure. I'll let you decide where the various members listed above fall, and into which categories! There's even a website that lets you vote on the best fantasy names: perhaps a bit too much Yankee influence on there for my taste (look, how many "Cano" puns are there?), but even I had to laugh at some of them, e.g. "Ethier Said Than Dunn" or "Zack & Miri Make a Morneau".
We'll be back after the Division 1 draft next Sunday, with a recap of our first round, and reaction from managers.
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