ESPN
Mar 14th, 2008 by Chuck Anderson
Being just a little burned out from hearing Mock Draft Central’s “Now it’s your turn” guy, I traded him in for the familiar music from Sportscenter and tried out ESPN’s draft system. For design and function it holds up well. For the sake of all those in a league, I hope the season goes without a hitch this time. My favorite aspect is how teams on autopick are displayed. Each one is prominently lit up and easy to account for as your pick is upcoming. The thing is, if you want to use ESPN for mock drafting, you will likely be dealing with half the teams on auto by round 10. The dropout rate just gets worse from there. Also, the rankings themselves are best described as odd. Here are some of the most glaring examples, use them if you want a different perspective, or if you want to jump into an ESPN league and heavily exploit them.
Numbers in parenthesis reflect the default rankings in 1) MDC, 2)ESPN, 3)Yahoo, 4)Fantasy Gameday ADP version 2
Prince Fielder (11, 20, 11, 11): Given that ESPN leagues default to 10 teams, how does ARod/Prince sound as a foundation?
Eric Byrnes (49, 33, 49, 56): Kudos for ESPN for not penalizing the “human crash test dummy” because he moonlights for Fox. Still, 3rd round?
CC Sabathia (51, 31, 46, 46): He was great last year, but is he worth bypassing a top hitter for?
Alex Rios (30, 47, 30, 31): Another bargain. He’s an all around producer and was top 20 in the Yahoo game most of last year.
Russ Martin (29, 55, 34, 30): I’m generally not one to go after a catcher early, but he’s really hard to pass up around 55.
Matt Kemp (113, 64, 121, 123): Sleeper? Not in any ESPN league. Crazy high.
Adam Dunn (40, 79, 40, 39): This may be loonier than Kemp’s rating. Bash the AVG all you want, but 40/100/100 is likely, with 8-10 steals too.
Ryan Garko (170, 114, 180, 181): Basically, if you like him for your CI slot, don’t count on getting him under the radar.
Chris Young (OF) (59, 91, 61, 67): With 193 more major league At bats than Kemp.
Adam Wainwright (174, 125, 171, 164): Like Garko, a player that commands a larger investment if you want him.
Shane Victorino (94, 141, 99, 103): No need to worry about filling 5 OF spots when you can get the Flyin’ Hawaiian this late.
Josh Fields (172, 239, 166, 169): Serious power potential at a no risk spot.
A few other general points:
-The Matthew Berry philosophy is in full effect, closers are devalued across the board
-Starting pitching tends to go at an accelerated pace
-Fields is not the only power threat available at a discount
-In the Weeks/Kendrick debate, Kendrick is about 20 picks higher
-Josh Hamilton is WAY above Jeremy Hermida
-Prospects like Justin Upton and Evan Longoria are ranked as fringe players
Hope this helps, remember don’t ever let default rankings trick you into a pick.
I believe ESPN is way off. I stick to my plans and draft who I want where I think/KNOW they should go, and most of my ESPN mock teams have looked amazing since they devalue alot of great players and BUMP alot of players that should probably go later. One thing I do notice is that with the need for 5 OF’s you need to fill at least 3 in the first 8-9 rounds, otherwise it might be slim pickens….
Tony, stick to your lists, without a doubt. I’m really just trying to shed some light on what to expect because there is no doubt that default rankings influence many drafters. As for the OF, last night in a mock I got Ellsbury, Fukudome, and Fields in round 17, 19, and 22 respectively. Not dominant, but I think I got good value.
Excellent article! I don’t use ESPN (and sure was glad of that last year), but this type of research is why I keep coming back to this site. Good advice in general of why you should always have your own rankings (and the courage to stick to them).
Thanks for the kind words Andy!
All that said, their cheat sheet is a nice starting place. I like having all of my players on a single sheet. But you have to mark it up and do the tiering yourself.