Reassessing your team’s state mid-draft is a key to having a successful draft. Of course you should have a rough plan coming in, but things change frequently. Here are the ADP post round two teams for a 12 team league, and advice on where you should go from there.

(in order of second round pick, commonly called “the way back”)

Soriano/Sizemore - Nice power and speed balance here. Both are young players. Sizemore had the bar set high by a lot of people before ‘07. Now that we have all seen where he is we know what we’re getting. This is a solid set for the sandwich. Both will help you in all areas and can definitely be built around for power speed or both as the draft continues. Even if you like to draft pitching, your offense won’t suffer unless you completely neglect it in the middle rounds.

Crawford/Fielder - Crawford will win steals over teams that have punted speed. If that is good enough for you SB wise, then you could definitely build a power offense around these two sluggers and have plenty of pick to use up on dominant pitching. Average is going to be up to the other 8 guys on your offense as these two won’t cripple you but also will not carry you like an Ichiro would.

Braun/Cabrera - Both 3b, trade one if allowed mid-draft for a bunch of picks. If in a keeper league then you can get a ton of value for either of them. Keeping them isn’t the worst idea ever, but if you can reel in 4-5 picks in the first 12 rounds then there is no question you should do it. There are worse things than being “stuck” with Braun at UTL, but keeping him there limits your ability to take the best available player. Some leagues which have rules preventing you from drafting bench guys before you fill your starting lineup, if this sounds familiar then I would want to either deal Braun or leave him for a non 3b player.

Ortiz/Howard - Both 1b power hitters. Odds that you would take Ortiz if you had Howard are not good. For the sake of the article we’ll assume you did. Speed is not your strong suit yet, but there are always later rounds for guys like Byrnes, Jacoby, Victorino and others if you are still determined to compete with the Reyes/Ichiro (and the likes) team in steals.

Santana/Rollins - Nice versatile start to offense. You can take this team in any direction you want. Pick up another Rollins like player and it’s possible to have offensive sweeps if you don’t get any average killers. The best pitcher (as always) swapping leagues is sure to give you a ton of Ks. Since this is one of the few times we have to talk about pitching let me just say, high K pitchers are infinitely more reliable than Wang and D Lowe types. That’s another story for another article though.

Utley/Vlad - Both have more power than speed. Both also have a great average. Much like the Crawf/Fielder combo you’ll beat the punters in steals, but won’t hang with the big boys. You may be better off staying there and focusing on dominating the other categories. Let’s call this a “semi-punt” for the future (when you aren’t trying to win it, you’re just trying to outplay those who have definitively given up on a category).

Beltran/Holliday - Both of these guys I think are a bit overrated. Obviously they are elite players, but I don’t see Holliday outplaying Utley, Howard, or Cabrera this year. Splitting hairs up there really, but in the second round Beltran is the streakiest player you’ll find. People still seem to lump ‘06 post season into his fantasy value. This is probably the weakest set in my opinion. (still far from being a burden on any manager however)

Wright/Peavy - Wright is a great player in a position with a few great players. Having one of the elite who will help a lot in all totals and averages enables you to draft for the absolute best available player offensively. Peavy looks to repeat a phenomenal year and stay healthy during the stretch run instead of fading like last year. These are both great guys to start your hitting and pitching around respectively. Taking a Bedard or Webb round three wouldn’t be the worst idea to cement the dominant (starting) pitching.

Ichiro/Reyes - Now that you have SB and average wrapped up you can focus on getting a few more power guys and really having top notch pitching. I would love to go to battle rounds 3 through whatever with these two. Both are established sure things as far as steals average and runs. This would be my number one team to select (draft position considered)

Pujols/Texeria - Power hitters here for sure. With all of the elite steals guys gone you might want to “punt” that one. Espically if you are in a h2h league where you can scrape together SB if you need them on any given week you are facing another steals weak team. Texeria has been amazing in A Town thus far, and of course PuJo is well, PuJo. There’s a lot of middle guys needed to compliment these two, but Puhold had to have led the league in HRs on Sunday…. Surely a coincidental stat, but if there is anything to it his emotional h2h value is off the charts. (if anyone can find days of the week splits I would be eternally grateful… I’m trying to find a h2h clutch factor, the only reason I know this about Pujols is I had him on one of my teams last year)

Ca. Lee/Hanley - Another great power/speed combo. Lee’s SB were down but Hanley more than makes up for it. He has lots of power as well. Some high average guys like Polanco would fit nicely and bring your average to an elite level without spending high round picks. It’s always nice to pick up one of the two SS before the huge drop off from top 5 overall talent.

A Rod/Phillips - A Rod and anyone is a great combination obviously. Phillips is going about where he should, snagging BJ Upton with the next pick should make your offense well rounded with a good deal of power (second to the Ortiz/Howard duo and 2b to the Braun/Miggy tandem) That being said, there is going to be more help needed for speed totals to combat the Ichiro team and the Hanley team.

In the first two rounds there really aren’t too many wrong choices, but it’s what you do with the cards you are dealt early that will determine whether you are successful or not in your fantasy draft.

Remember, Splitsville next week, let me know if you have any requested players.