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CDM Draft & Play Fantasy Baseball Review

Posted by rotorank on Monday, January 01, 2007 (EST)

A great game for good competition at a fixed price.

Introduction

One of the most overlooked keys to winning a fantasy baseball league is knowing the league’s scoring rules. If you don’t know how your players score points, how can you be expected to build an accurate draft list and draft plan?

I did two drafts this weekend using the CDM Draft and Play system, and it was amazing how many people didn’t know that there was no trading in these leagues! This small fact can have a huge impact on your draft plan. You don’t want to waste picks on players for trade bait, so you want to make sure each pick fits into your game plan.

Basic Rules

There is no trading in any of the CDM Draft & Play Games
Free Agents are for the most part on a first come first serve basis.
Injured Players do not require the use of a reserve spot, but you may only have 28 healthy players on your team at any one time.
There are two types of scoring leagues: Rotisserie or Fantasy Points.
The Fantasy Points game has two negative point categories for pitchers: Losses (-5) and Earned Runs (-1).
Only one grand prize is awarded for each scoring format, so All rotisserie scored leagues compete for an overall prize of $1000, and all fantasy point leagues compete for a separate $1000. The best chance to win the grand prize is to be in a mixed league, because AL and NL only leagues do not have the same talent pool depth to compete on a national level.
If you don’t make a pick in 60 seconds, the computer makes your next pick based on highest ranked player! Since I was preparing material for this article, I was burned a few times by this draft rule!

RotoRank Preparation

Since this draft was using Fantasy Scoring, I took advantage of the new league configuration tab explicitly designed for fantasy scoring. This page should be used for all fantasy scoring leagues! RotoRank still produces good rankings for fantasy scoring leagues, but there are some players who RotoRank won’t rate properly for fantasy scoring leagues, namely hitters with low batting average or pitchers with high ERA.

I used the Expert Draft Guide report in combination with the Draft Rankings Comparison report to produce my game plans. I always like to prepare to game plans, so that I can quickly switch gears based on the flow of the draft. If you read my free 2004 Mock Draft article, you’ll know that due to some problems I had, I didn’t take a pitcher until round 12. Normally that’s not a good idea, but I had planned for that event although the reason I executed that plan wasn’t entirely my choice!

Upon analyzing the reports, I found that starting pitching was practically worthless in the fantasy scoring leagues for this new CDM Game. Since Earned Runs and Losses are subtracted from point totals, most starters don’t rank in the top 50. I think Prior just made it actually, and a few others were grouped between 51-60. Closers are far more valuable in this game, as well as having good point scorers in the scarce infield positions.

The Draft Plans

Plan 1 was to pick the best available point scorer no matter what position he played. This was the plan I expected to use; because I thought most of the owners had realized the non-factors that starting pitching would be in this league.

Plan 2 was to draft the best closers available until bargains surfaced in other positions. The top 6 closers should all be in the top 25 of all players for this game at the end of the year, based on my projections as of 2/13/2003. This plan was also going to utilize the popular CDM strategy of rotating starting pitchers in and out of the lineup based on the fact if they had 2 starts in a week. (Interestingly, this is the plan I decided to go with in the rotisserie scoring game as well, although it is not as advantageous in that game due to the ERA and WHIP categories that tend to suffer as a result of the extra starts.)

The Live Draft Results

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
1	1	Albert Pujols	StL	Team 1	1B
1	2	Alex Rodriguez	Tex	Team 2	SS
1	3	Mark Prior	ChN	Team 3	P
1	4	Alfonso Soriano	NYA	Team 4	2B
1	5	Barry Bonds	SF	Team 5	OF
1	6	Vladimir Guerrero	Ana	Team 6	OF
1	7	Eric Gagne	LA	RotoRank	P
1	8	Todd Helton	Col	Team 8	1B
1	9	Nomar Garciaparra	Bos	Team 9	SS
1	10	Carlos Beltran	KC	Team 10	OF

In a rotisserie league, Gagne is a poor first round choice, but in a fantasy scoring league, he was the highest scoring player on the board at pick 7! Prior should not have gone in the first round, since I project him to score between 610-640 points as opposed to Gagne who should score over 700, if he gets his 3^rd consecutive 50 save season.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
2	11	Curt Schilling	Bos	Team 10	P
2	12	Gary Sheffield	NYA	Team 9	OF
2	13	Roy Halladay	Tor	Team 8	P
2	14	Billy Wagner	Phi	RotoRank	P
2	15	Pedro Martinez	Bos	Team 6	P
2	16	Manny Ramirez	Bos	Team 5	OF
2	17	Kerry Wood	ChN	Team 4	P
2	18	John Smoltz	Atl	Team 3	P
2	19	Carlos Delgado	Tor	Team 2	1B
2	20	Javier Vazquez	NYA	Team 1	P

With 2 more pitchers and an outfielder being selected before me in the second round, I realized I had the RotoRank edge! I went to plan 2 and would draft best available closers until bargains surfaced at the scarce infield positions later in the draft. All of the hitters selected were worthy picks, but they were at the deepest positions. All Hitter Statistics have positive values, so they will be more valuable than pitchers in most cases.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
3	21	Magglio Ordonez	ChA	Team 1	OF
3	22	Jim Thome	Phi	Team 2	CI
3	23	Jason Giambi	NYA	Team 3	1B
3	24	Randy Johnson	Ari	Team 4	P
3	25	Sammy Sosa	ChN	Team 5	OF
3	26	Richie Sexson	Ari	Team 6	1B
3	27	Keith Foulke	Bos	RotoRank	P
3	28	Edgar Renteria	StL	Team 8	MI
3	29	Mike Mussina	NYA	Team 9	P
3	30	Octavio Dotel	Hou	Team 10	P

With only top two Shortstops off the board at this point, I decide to grab Foulke. I was hoping to get Tejada on way back down in round 4. Note: Dotel in round 4 was actually a better pick than RJ or Mussina, based on the scoring system.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
4	31	Vernon Wells	Tor	Team 10	OF
4	32	Tim Hudson	Oak	Team 9	P
4	33	Bret Boone	Sea	Team 8	2B
4	34	Miguel Tejada	Bal	RotoRank	SS
4	35	Mariano Rivera	NYA	Team 6	P
4	36	Preston Wilson	Col	Team 5	OF
4	37	Jason Schmidt	SF	Team 4	P
4	38	Brian Giles	SD	Team 3	OF
4	39	Lance Berkman	Hou	Team 2	OF
4	40	Scott Rolen	StL	Team 1	3B

I could have taken Rivera, but with 3 stud closers already, I had to take Tejada.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
5	41	Kevin Brown	NYA	Team 1	P
5	42	Bob Abreu	Phi	Team 2	OF
5	43	Jeff Kent	Hou	Team 3	2B
5	44	Derek Jeter	NYA	Team 4	SS
5	45	Ichiro Suzuki	Sea	Team 5	OF
5	46	Bartolo Colon	Ana	Team 6	P
5	47	Jeff Bagwell	Hou	RotoRank	1B
5	48	Eric Chavez	Oak	Team 8	3B
5	49	Roy Oswalt	Hou	Team 9	P
5	50	Barry Zito	Oak	Team 10	P

The CDM autodrafter got me. I was writing notes and then couldn’t find Chavez in my list in time to draft him. Bagwell was still a good value, but Chavez is whom I wanted! If I do another CDM Draft & Play closer to opening day, I won’t be missing picks because I’m taking notes. Also, I may not even preset my rankings, since it is too hard to find players to select from your list, if the other owners are drafting unexpectedly.

This is the first round that I would have considered to take a starting pitcher, but I had committed to my RP and Hitter plan, and I wasn’t going to let up on the other owners now!

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
6	51	Aubrey Huff	TB	Team 10	1B
6	52	Juan Pierre	Fla	Team 9	OF
6	53	Ivan Rodriguez	Det	Team 8	C
6	54	Chipper Jones	Atl	RotoRank	OF
6	55	Carlos Lee	ChA	Team 6	OF
6	56	Derrek Lee	ChN	Team 5	1B
6	57	Johan Santana	Min	Team 4	P
6	58	Mike Lowell	Fla	Team 3	3B
6	59	Garret Anderson	Ana	Team 2	OF
6	60	Luis Gonzalez	Ari	Team 1	OF

Chipper Jones, is another autodraft selection. I could decide on whom to take after Ivan Rodriguez was selected, and Chipper was highest scoring player remaining.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
7	61	Mike Sweeney	KC	Team 1	CI
7	62	Shawn Green	LA	Team 2	OF
7	63	Josh Beckett	Fla	Team 3	P
7	64	Jorge Posada	NYA	Team 4	C
7	65	Andruw Jones	Atl	Team 5	UT
7	66	Hank Blalock	Tex	Team 6	3B
7	67	Eddie Guardado	Sea	RotoRank	P
7	68	Kazuo Matsui	NYN	Team 8	SS
7	69	Javy Lopez	Bal	Team 9	C
7	70	Rafael Furcal	Atl	Team 10	SS

Jorge Posada and Javy Lopez were good selections in this round, but my fascination with the Closer and Hitter scheme prevailed…

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
8	71	Brandon Webb	Ari	Team 10	P
8	72	Mike Piazza	NYN	Team 9	UT
8	73	Mark Mulder	Oak	Team 8	P
8	74	Jose Vidro	Mon	RotoRank	2B
8	75	Orlando Cabrera	Mon	Team 6	SS
8	76	Phil Nevin	SD	Team 5	CI
8	77	Armando Benitez	Fla	Team 4	P
8	78	Adam Dunn	Cin	Team 3	OF
8	79	Milton Bradley	Cle	Team 2	OF
8	80	Esteban Loaiza	ChA	Team 1	P

Second Base is scarce this year, so I was surprised I got Jose Vidro. Montreal is going to be better than most people think. I think their offense is actually better this year, even though they lost Vladimir Guerrero, they got Nick Johnson, Tony Batista, and Carl Everett to upgrade 3 of their wholes from 2003.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
9	81	Russ Ortiz	Atl	Team 1	P
9	82	Torii Hunter	Min	Team 2	UT
9	83	Joe Borowski	ChN	Team 3	P
9	84	Jose Contreras	NYA	Team 4	P
9	85	Marcus Giles	Atl	Team 5	2B
9	86	Kevin Millwood	Phi	Team 6	P
9	87	Luis Castillo	Fla	RotoRank	MI
9	88	Carl Crawford	TB	Team 8	OF
9	89	Matt Morris	StL	Team 9	P
9	90	Ugueth Urbina	Fla	Team 10	P

Outside of some outfielders, Luis Castillo was my highest rated player, and I wanted some insurance at second base! Urbina and Borowski could be huge bargains in this round, if they close for their respective teams the whole year. It might help if Urbina signs a contract soon…

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
10	91	Eric Hinske	Tor	Team 10	3B
10	92	Troy Glaus	Ana	Team 9	3B
10	93	Jason Isringhausen	StL	Team 8	P
10	94	Jim Edmonds	StL	RotoRank	OF
10	95	Jimmy Rollins	Phi	Team 6	MI
10	96	Aramis Ramirez	ChN	Team 5	3B
10	97	Morgan Ensberg	Hou	Team 4	3B
10	98	Rafael Palmeiro	Bal	Team 3	CI
10	99	Craig Wilson	Pit	Team 2	C
10	100	Randy Winn	Sea	Team 1	OF

I was hoping to sneak Glaus in this round, but Team 9 beat me to the pick, and I couldn’t find Aramis Ramirez in my list so that autodrafter selected Jim Edmonds for me. He is projected to score 75 more points than either of the 3b, but outfield is just so deep. Maybe I’ll get it right in my next draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
11	101	Andy Pettitte	Hou	Team 1	P
11	102	Mike Young	Tex	Team 2	2B
11	103	Frank Thomas	ChA	Team 3	UT
11	104	Angel Berroa	KC	Team 4	MI
11	105	Jason Kendall	Pit	Team 5	C
11	106	Jason Varitek	Bos	Team 6	C
11	107	Johnny Damon	Bos	RotoRank	OF
11	108	Corey Patterson	ChN	Team 8	OF
11	109	Jose Reyes	NYN	Team 9	MI
11	110	Derek Lowe	Bos	Team 10	P

I wanted Varitek! These owners were starting to irritate me… I went with the safe play and top scorer remaining in the form of Johnny Damon.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
12	111	Mike Cameron	NYN	Team 10	OF
12	112	Trevor Hoffman	SD	Team 9	P
12	113	Dontrelle Willis	Fla	Team 8	P
12	114	Shea Hillenbrand	Ari	RotoRank	3B
12	115	Greg Maddux	Atl	Team 6	P
12	116	Alex Cintron	Ari	Team 5	SS
12	117	Ryan Klesko	SD	Team 4	1B
12	118	Arthur Rhodes	Oak	Team 3	P
12	119	Miguel Cabrera	Fla	Team 2	3B
12	120	Ray Durham	SF	Team 1	2B

I needed a third baseman and I was torn between Hillenbrand and Koskie. I remembered in my previous draft that Koskie slipped well beyond his rank and Hillenbrand didn’t, so I went with Hillenbrand and hoped Koskie would last until one of my later picks.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
13	121	Mike Lieberthal	Phi	Team 1	C
13	122	D'Angelo Jimenez	Cin	Team 2	MI
13	123	Scott Podsednik	Mil	Team 3	OF
13	124	Joe Nathan	Min	Team 4	P
13	125	Mark DeRosa	Atl	Team 5	MI
13	126	Hideki Matsui	NYA	Team 6	OF
13	127	Mark Teixeira	Tex	RotoRank	OF
13	128	Troy Percival	Ana	Team 8	P
13	129	David Ortiz	Bos	Team 9	1B
13	130	Jorge Julio	Bal	Team 10	P

Mark Teixeira was projecting close to 500 points and he qualifies at 1B and OF, so I was really happy to get him in round 13. Lieberthal, Nathan, and Julio were also good picks in this round. Team 5 is really reaching by selecting Mark Derosa. He could have gotten Dersoa in round 28!

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
14	131	Placido Polanco	Phi	Team 10	2B
14	132	Robb Nen	SF	Team 9	P
14	133	Raul Ibanez	Sea	Team 8	CI
14	134	Pat Burrell	Phi	RotoRank	OF
14	135	Mark Loretta	SD	Team 6	2B
14	136	Randy Wolf	Phi	Team 5	P
14	137	Wade Miller	Hou	Team 4	P
14	138	Shannon Stewart	Min	Team 3	OF
14	139	Joel Pineiro	Sea	Team 2	P
14	140	Hideo Nomo	LA	Team 1	P

Pat “The Bat” Burrell is the forgotten man in Philadelphia. In a fantasy-scoring league, he should have gone much higher since his poor batting average doesn’t affect the standings! The teams who selected starting pitchers in this round got some good values as well!

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
15	141	Richard Hidalgo	Hou	Team 1	UT
15	142	Woody Williams	StL	Team 2	P
15	143	Austin Kearns	Cin	Team 3	RES
15	144	Matt Mantei	Ari	Team 4	P
15	145	Roger Clemens	Hou	Team 5	P
15	146	Sidney Ponson	Bal	Team 6	P
15	147	Erubiel Durazo	Oak	RotoRank	CI
15	148	Shawn Chacon	Col	Team 8	P
15	149	Kevin Millar	Bos	Team 9	CI
15	150	Matthew LeCroy	Min	Team 10	C

Autodraft strikes again. You can’t believe how fast 60 seconds passes when it’s your turn to draft! I couldn’t find LeCroy in my long list, so I got stuck taking Durazo. It could be a blessing in disguise, because he does score a lot of points. Kearns, Hidalgo, and Chacon were good values in this round.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
16	151	Francisco Cordero	Tex	Team 10	P
16	152	Vicente Padilla	Phi	Team 9	P
16	153	Reggie Sanders	StL	Team 8	OF
16	154	Corey Koskie	Min	RotoRank	UT
16	155	Bill Mueller	Bos	Team 6	CI
16	156	Byung Hyun Kim	Bos	Team 5	P
16	157	Nick Johnson	Mon	Team 4	CI
16	158	Danny Graves	Cin	Team 3	P
16	159	Jamie Moyer	Sea	Team 2	P
16	160	Jermaine Dye	Oak	Team 1	OF

Wow, look how drafting the day before helped me out! I got Koskie 4 rounds later than I wanted him. This is the kind of value pick that helps me to win a league!

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
17	161	Geoff Jenkins	Mil	Team 1	OF
17	162	Mark Buehrle	ChA	Team 2	P
17	163	Francisco Rodriguez	Ana	Team 3	RES
17	164	Ken Griffey Jr	Cin	Team 4	OF
17	165	Matt Clement	ChN	Team 5	P
17	166	Rocco Baldelli	TB	Team 6	OF
17	167	Braden Looper	NYN	RotoRank	P
17	168	Carlos Zambrano	ChN	Team 8	P
17	169	Larry Walker	Col	Team 9	OF
17	170	Mike Hampton	Atl	Team 10	P

Rocco Baldelli and Ken Griffey Jr were really tempting me in round 17, but I got the best closer available to add to my top 4 stud closers.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
18	171	Trot Nixon	Bos	Team 10	OF
18	172	Roberto Alomar	Ari	Team 9	2B
18	173	Juan Gonzalez	KC	Team 8	OF
18	174	Paul LoDuca	LA	RotoRank	C
18	175	Mike MacDougal	KC	Team 6	P
18	176	Freddy Garcia	Sea	Team 5	P
18	177	Jeromy Burnitz	Col	Team 4	OF
18	178	Livan Hernandez	Mon	Team 3	P
18	179	Eric Milton	Phi	Team 2	P
18	180	Alex Gonzalez	ChN	Team 1	SS

Two years ago, Loducca was in Top 60 players. In this round, he is a fair value. If he somehow finds his power stroke again in 2004, I will be beaming! Juan Gonzalez and Trot Nixon are two very nice picks in this round as well. Jeromy Burnitz was made for fantasy scoring leagues, and this year he is in Colorado!

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
19	181	Eric Young	Tex	Team 1	MI
19	182	C.C. Sabathia	Cle	Team 2	P
19	183	Alex Sanchez	Det	Team 3	OF
19	184	Jon Lieber	NYA	Team 4	RES
19	185	Mark Redman	Oak	Team 5	P
19	186	Jacque Jones	Min	Team 6	OF
19	187	Danys Baez	TB	RotoRank	P
19	188	Dmitri Young	Det	Team 8	OF
19	189	Bernie Williams	NYA	Team 9	OF
19	190	Junior Spivey	Mil	Team 10	MI

Wow, another closer for me. I will only keep Baez active when he has favorable matchups and to fill in for one start pitchers, if I decide to grab a starter sometime in this draft. Eric Young will rise in value if the AROD deal gets done.

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
20	191	Brad Wilkerson	Mon	Team 10	OF
20	192	Jay Gibbons	Bal	Team 9	OF
20	193	Kelvim Escobar	Ana	Team 8	P
20	194	Danny Kolb	Mil	RotoRank	P
20	195	Jose Guillen	Ana	Team 6	UT
20	196	Rich Harden	Oak	Team 5	P
20	197	Cliff Floyd	NYN	Team 4	OF
20	198	Bob Wickman	Cle	Team 3	P
20	199	Tim Wakefield	Bos	Team 2	P
20	200	John Thomson	Atl	Team 1	P

Danny Kolb was simply awesome in the second half of 2003. If he puts a whole year together like that in 2004, I got another huge bargain!

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Owner	Position
21	201	Brett Myers	Phi	Team 1	P
21	202	Al Leiter	NYN	Team 2	P
21	203	Sean Casey	Cin	Team 3	RES
21	204	Carl Everett	Mon	Team 4	OF
21	205	Kip Wells	Pit	Team 5	P
21	206