I have had a chance to fill out my roster in the Fantasy Baseball Trade Market Slow Mock Draft since my last post.  Quite often, these picks are the determining factor in where your team will finish the season.  Pick well and you have a great chance to finish in the money.  Pick unwisely or unluckily, and you may as well kiss the season goodbye.

I believe Kelly has posted our picks through the 13th round, so I will just put up rounds 14 and 15 here:

Round 14

1. Kelly Pfleiger, FantasyGameday.net – Chipper Jones
2. Chris Spencer, FantasyBaseballTradeMarket.com – Roy Oswalt
3. Bob Sikon, FantasyBaseballTradeMarket.com – Ryan Dempster
4. Kevin Orris, FantasyPros911.com – Tim Hudson
5. Tim McLeod, RotoRob.com – Kurt Suzuki
6. Jason Sarney, FantasyPhenoms.com – Chad Qualls
7. Mike Siano, MLB.com – Jorge Posada
8. Ivar Anderson, FantasyGameday.net – Garrett Jones
9. Chris Mulligan, FantasyPros911.com – David Price
10. Cory Schwartz, MLB.com – Michael Gonzalez
11. Todd Habiger, RotoRob.com – Neftali Feliz
12. Brett Greenfield, FantasyPhenoms.com – Jonathan Sanchez

Round 15

1. Brett Greenfield, FantasyPhenoms.com – Kerry Wood
2. Todd Habiger, RotoRob.com – Geovany Soto
3. Cory Schwartz, MLB.com – Chris Iannetta
4. Chris Mulligan, FantasyPros911.com – Miguel Montero
5. Ivar Anderson, FantasyGameday.net – Ryan Theriot
6. Mike Siano, MLB.com – Jhonny Peralta
7. Jason Sarney, FantasyPhenoms.com – Everth Cabrera
8. Tim McLeod, RotoRob.com – Erick Aybar
9. Kevin Orris, FantasyPros911.com – Ryan Ludwick
10. Bob Sikon, FantasyBaseballTradeMarket.com – Johnny Damon
11. Chris Spencer, FantasyBaseballTradeMarket.com – Brad Hawpe
12. Kelly Pfleiger, FantasyGameday.net

My picks for the last 6 rounds were:

10th  Juan Pierre, OF, CHW

11th  Andrew Bailey, RP, OAK

12th  Julio Borbon, OF, TEX

13th  Frank Francisco, RP, TEX

14th  Garrett Jones, 1B/OF, PIT

15th  Ryan Theriot, SS, CHC

By the way, anyone that wants to see the entire draft to date, I have posted a spreadsheet with picks by round/team and position, along with my projections for my roster at Google Docs.  Just click on the link to view.

In the 10th round, I realized that my roster was lacking any real speed aside from Jeter and McCutchen.  Even with those two players, I was going to be sorely lacking in the steals category, so I made a decision to pick up Pierre, who I haven’t had the time of day for in a couple of years.  The fact that he is now in Chicago, and presumably playing regularly for Ozzie Guillen’s White Sox, made him a much more palatable pick this season.  I expect him to hit .290/.300 or better and swipe 35-40 bases.  He will also help in the run category, and I can forgive his lack of power given the rest of my roster to this point.

Next round, I took my first closer.  I have waited on closers in the past and was burned by that decision.  Now, I have determined it is better to grab two proven closers by the time I am done with the 15th round.  I liked Bailey’s performance last season, stepping into the closer role without missing a beat.  I would anticipate that his ERA will be sub 3.00, a WHIP of 1.15 or better and 35-40 saves.  Even if Oakland isn’t an elite team, their closer will get 30+ saves without question, especially playing in the weak AL West.

As my 12th round selection, I took Borbon for his speed, just like Pierre.  I realize this pick carries more risk than any of the others I have made to this point in the draft, but I wanted to secure at least a mid-point finish in steals.  Borbon will run, so long as he plays in Texas’ lineup, and assuming 500 ABs, he should steal the same or slightly more bases than Pierre.  I also like him to hit for average and score some runs in that powerful Ranger lineup.   With Pierre and Borbon in my OF, I now feel confident that I have good balance on my roster for both speed and power.

For my next pick, I grabbed my second closer, Borbon’s teammate, Frank Francisco.  My belief is he retains the closer role, but the injury risk did give me pause as I considered my options.  I like Francisco’s potential return more than that offered by Nunez, Aardsma, Qualls, or Mike Gonzalez, all of whom went after my pick through the rest of the 13th and 14th rounds.  If healthy, I would expect 35 saves with an ERA in the mid 3.00 range and a WHIP around 1.2 or so.

The 14th round was where I grabbed my CI in Jones.  He’s another risk/reward pick, and as long as the NL pitchers don’t figure him out, he should provide more than a bit of power and double digit steals, as well as decent R & RBI production.  The average is a bit low, but 4 out of 5 is not bad.

The fifteenth slot on my roster went to my MI, The Riot, as I like to refer to him.  Another guy who provides decent production later in the draft, I see him as a run and stolen base provider, whose BA won’t kill me.  I thought about taking Orlando Cabrera, but project Theriot to have better speed production and thus went with him.

My next post will cover rounds 16-20, at which time my roster should be pretty well set and I will simply be filling in my pitching staff and drafting catchers (ugh).

I would be interested in any comments on my selections or the players I let pass by.  After all, the mock draft process exists to allow us to learn and prepare for our actual drafts, and I am always interested in receiving constructive criticism if I can improve my draft techniques.