If you are playing in a deep ultra league, or some fun crazy format that allows for a fantasy baseball roster and bench the size of the Donner Party before dinner, then you are drafting into some deep player pools.
Several weeks ago, Greg Ambrosius initiated an NFBC Champions League, which means 15 drafters selecting 50 players each in a draft-and-follow format where the world of FAAB does not exist. That is because the NFBC Champions League setup allows for a 50-man roster from which owners must plug holes and make substitutions, meaning to compete, drafting at least 20 potential starting pitchers is essential for survival.
To say things get dicey after 500 players have been selected scratches the surface, but what about those after 600 or 700, when 750 total players will be selected?
Well, as I write, pick #610 looms, and obviously I am scrounging as to whom might be ambulatory and capable of earning a strike or a hit should the appropriate emergency — which as an owner I must assume will occur — befall my team.
So, here is a list of players still in the pool whom I am looking at (note I did not necessarily say they were in my queue!) as later gambles, along with my logic, however iffy that might seem.
Andrew Cashner: The newly signed by the Orioles is coming off maybe his most complete season if we think in terms of wins and innings. The righty’s 11 victories was a career high while the 166.6 frames ranked third-most, and the 3.40 ERA was Cashner’s second lowest if we overlook 2014 — when the former first-round pick only managed 123.1 frames. The newest Oriole is now a nibbler instead of a strikeout hurler with just 86 whiffs to 66 walks last year. However, if Cashner can stay ambulatory, as a starter, he could at least fill in and maybe even give some good innings as he fully embraces pitching instead of throwing.
Alex Gordon: Now 34, another former first-rounder has assembled 276 really awful games over the past two years, hitting .220-17-40 in 2016, following up with .208-9-45 2017, thus justifying the Royal’s existence within the dregs of the draft pool. Gordon still has a couple of years remaining on his contract, and he gets a bunch of money ($20 million due this year), so for sure someone is going to play the guy and try to get some value, be it Kansas City or Miami. And, in a relaxed setting, Gordon might just settle into a platoon-type role of 340 at-bats with a .260-11-54 line. If he can do that, he can be my 42nd pick.
Rajai Davis: Now 37, Davis just inked a minor league deal with the Tribe. Davis is coming off a somewhat dismal 2017, where he went .235-5-20, albeit with 29 swipes. And, well, as a gamble with the potential for 15 steals, Davis is worth the spot.
Mike Napoli: Also 37, Napoli is still scrounging for a home as a free agent, but he did bang 29 homers although he hit an anemic .193, logging an equally iron-poor .285 OBP. Still, Napoli has banged 63 big flies the past pair of seasons, so someone will likely sign him as bench strength. However, I will probably look elsewhere, at least till around pick #675.
Steve Pearce: Pearce will be 35 just after Opening Day and qualifies at first and second along with outfield, coming off a decent role-playing gig with .252-13-37 numbers. Pearce played pretty well in a similar role between 2014-16, and the utility player, who is signed with the Jays through 2018, could make a nice bench chip.
Clayton Richard: With a couple of more years on his Padres contract, there is not a lot on the bright side of his 8-15, 4.79 2017 with a 1.51 WHIP and league high 240 hits allowed. But Richard did toss 197.3 frames and a live (as in breathing, not overpowering) major league starter is never a bad thing to have in one’s back pocket.
Danny Valencia: Valencia, who is both 32 and a free agent, is another multi-positional guy (1B/OF, with just one game at third) again with some decent power — 50 homers the past three seasons over 365 games. In general, Valencia has been a pretty good on-base player and he probably gets a chance somewhere, though I am not sure about on my teams.
Brandon Maurer: Maurer has 35 saves the last two years along with 131 whiffs over 129 innings, although with awful ERAs (4.52, 6.52) and WHIPS (1.263, 1.511). Still the chance at some potential saves — for Maurer always seemed like a future closer — this late is not a bad thing.
