Death of the Draft

“He feared his maturity as it grew upon him with its ripe thought, its skill, its finished art; yet which lacked the poetry of boyhood to make living a full end of life.”

-T.E. Lawrence

There were no clink of the glasses or call for cheers to signify the start of the 2026 draft. Four out of six of the owners who came to the in-person event were at the table. The other, Threepeat Champion Vinson, was outside trying to start a fire with wet wood. Brooke was in the kitchen, cleaning up dishes and putting away items for the trip back home the next day. The room was relatively quiet as the draft got underway. It got even more quiet when Pat left the table and never came back, having finished with his first and third picks, since he was now free for four rounds because of a trade he made in the offseason. 

For a weekend in which the entire point was to draft in person together, half of the participants were in completely different areas. Some even messaging on Discord in the other rooms. 

It shows just how much has changed in the 17 years this league has been active. We’re all adults now. We’re less passionate than we used to be. Everyone except myself is in a relationship, married, and/or with kids now. There are more important things to focus on in life. More things to prepare for or to do.

I think the death of the draft has been a quicker progression over the last two years rather than a gradual buildup, which is why I’m only writing about it now. There was of course the talk of a shift to dynasty to fix tanking in May. But it was forming last year when out of nowhere, Threepeat Champion Vinson got up and left to go inside, never to come back out. And it was always obvious that Brooke had other things to take care of during every draft as it seemed to be a distraction to her rather than a main event.

“I like the weekend and seeing everyone,” Pat told me. “I could take or leave the actual draft, as it just feels like meaningless manufactured drama. I’ll always do the in person event so I can reconnect with friends, but the draft itself just should be a chill time to check a box.”

That “meaningless manufactured drama” was something I noticed too. But it has largely died down of late as there was a lack of any kind of panic or overreaction that you might expect from a fantasy draft. There was an attempt from James at the end as he came up to me, hit me on the shoulder, and excitedly told me that he had gotten all the empty batting average players he wanted despite the rest of the world telling him not to. But it felt forced. It was performative, like something expected to be said or done rather than anything genuine anymore.

That’s because we’ve grown out of all those big gorilla emotions we used to have in the draft. Not only do we have more things in our lives to focus on, but we’re all just better at this now. There are no more moments of panic since we’ve all done this enough times that we’re ready for alternatives and can adapt better. And more importantly, we know we can adapt better. So when I watched Xavier Edwards get drafted by James, I only felt a mild pang of annoyance rather than the fury that would have risen out of me back in college. Instead, I just took Alec Burleson for my average padding and threw a dart at Gleyber Torres later. It was fine. 

But does all of this really mean the draft is dead?

With that question in mind, I investigated this year’s draft by sending out these nine questions to every owner. I got back a fairly good amount of responses from about half the league. 

1. What do you look forward to the most about the draft or draft day? 

2. Did you have a plan for the draft (general or specific) and how well were you able to execute it?

3. Who were your targets in the draft that you had to have? Were you able to get them?

4. Any steals or reaches that you’re particularly proud of?

5. Any moments of panic because either a player you were counting on was taken or because a run on a position occurred before you were ready? How did you handle it?

6. How do you feel about your team before the season begins?

7. Who do you believe had the best draft?

8. Which team are you most worried to face?

9. Which team do you relish facing this year?

Let’s break down some of these as it can kind of give an insight into how people draft these days, what goes into their decision-making process, and how people in general feel about the draft still. 

The Draft and Draft Day

It’s worth noting how folks answered the first question. There were some who talked about how they like spending time with others and hanging out. Pat, despite having a different stance on drama, shares his with Dan’s favorite part of Draft Day as “comrades and talking shit.” The trash talking, regardless of the year, has always been present. It has gone down significantly during the actual draft, but it still has a presence. It just has been moved more to Discord messages and is spread throughout the offseason instead. And it’s always something Threepeat Champion Vinson is able to stamp down with a comment that is something like, “A lot of big talk from people coming in second this year.” His three championships in a row have become a hammer onto any discourse about fantasy team composition. Yes, yes that’s all well and good, but have you won three championships in a row? No? Then sit down. 

And there were others that talked about how the draft itself is fun: “I love the anticipation of my next pick,” Mark told me. Whereas Jon appreciates “the end of all the keeper shenanigans and manipulations.” Once keepers lock, that’s it. There are no more trades or draft pick switches to happen. Which is nice because this offseason saw a ton of moves in the last month, specifically involving draft position swaps. Mike did so many that I just stopped updating the Big Board anymore because I lost track of all the moves. So, I can agree with Jon on this one. Thank God that’s over. 

Ian cuts between these two views with his comment, “For me the draft is like a marathon in that it’s a celebration.  At that point the work is done and I enjoy the day. Being with some of my best friends doing something I love is the best part of the day.” 

So maybe the draft isn't completely dead. It's just been beaten up a bit recently. Between the lack of engagement for the in person meet up and the draft doesn't matter crowd, it hasn't had an easy go of it lately. But it would be wrong of me to look at the minority of the league present and assume the rest feel the same. The engagement on the Discord chat was as lively as it has ever been. And to be honest, the enthusiasm during the draft was high this year… it just was for the three round minor league draft instead.

Plans and The Draft Doesn’t Matter

“I did very little planning this year because I decided to build a fun AI powered application to help me draft.” -Pat

… What?

Should any of us be surprised by this though? 

“It didn’t draft for me, I made all the decisions, but it did provide live advice based on who was available, picked, and predicted to be picked, all coded around my team construction, keepers, projected stat strengths/weaknesses, how to fill them with predicted available players, our leagues unique construction/categories/preferences, etc.”

There has been a lot of talk in the offseason about how much does the draft really matter in terms of making the playoffs. Dan first postulated this two years ago in between swigs from his craft beer and puffs from his bong. It would have sounded crazy 10 years ago. But he had a point. A point that was tested last year when I traded my 1st, 2nd, and 7th round picks to get Elly de la Cruz back on my team. Then this year really tested it with Jon, Pat, and Dan trading over four or more of each of their first ten rounds to other players. 

As Patrick explains in defense of his offseason trade, “We have a lot of data that the draft doesn't really matter at all. Richard was still a competitive team despite Elly. Vinson won despite Ginson and dropping his entire team. Ian is terrible despite being a pick hoarder. This isn't some crazy take.” He’s referring to my Elly trade, the fact Threepeat Champion Vinson passed out drunk during a draft, and that Ian, despite having all of the picks from that Elly trade, still failed to finish above half the league. 

But does the rest of the league feel the same way? The answers were rather all over the place. 

“Clearly I do lol” said Threepeat Champion Vinson. As the recipient of Pat’s five draft picks in exchange for Vladimir Guerrero Jr and his first round pick, Threepeat Champion Vinson was all in on this draft. Especially since he elected to not keep any of his players save for his conditional 7th, Luke Keaschall. That meant every round mattered. He had no core to go in with, only draft picks. Vinson’s draft ended at round 19. For someone who has had a history of ending the year with only 3-5 players of the ones he started the year with, it’s a very bold move to put everything into the draft like this. But it’s also something that has a history of working out. Threepeat Champion Vinson has won the championship the last three times this way. While he states that the draft matters, it’s interesting to see how this year, it’s keepers that don’t matter.  

Taking a more nuanced view were Jon and surprisingly the architect of the “draft doesn’t matter” groupthink, Dan. 

Jon: “I believe the draft doesn't matter to a point. You can't win the season with a draft, but you definitely can lose it.”
Dan: “The draft matters until it doesn’t.”

Ian though, didn’t mince words. His experience in the league with trying out all different predraft strategies has led him to probably an obvious stance on this matter, "Yes. Everything matters. The draft matters, keepers matter, free agency matters, roster construction matters.”

Talking with Jon and Dan more led to them coming to some similar conclusions as Ian. That it was more than just a yes or no question. Dan pushed for the managerial factor that has strong weight. “It’s definitely FA pickups and being smart on the wire. Y'all have to remember I came in here hot and did well with a terrible draft my first year. I lived on the FA wire and it led to known success. I think I’ve adapted every year to my keeper and other keeper situations well. Which also leads to the fact that I don’t think roster or construction really means a lot in the draft matters or doesn’t conversation. In a league of this deep and intense, we should all expect to have a weak spot on our roster. It’s up to you to decide if that’s worth living with.”

“I'm sure Pat did say that lol.” Jon said to me, assuming Pat would be the one to besmirch roster construction. “However, in categories you want to be intentional of who or what you are going to excel in. All around players are fine, but too many make you brittle and unresponsive to peak and valley performers. Those boring all arounders can be found in the waiver wire. Category dominators cannot be in our league.”

A talk about if the draft matters or not would not be complete without the one person who has arguably made the playoffs more often than anyone else and has his own mysterious, idiosyncratic rankings for the draft.

“I am probably the #1 draft does matter person because I consider myself to be a good drafter and a miserable manager. So, there’s some bias in there.” Mark said when I asked him the question of if the draft matters. “The level of the draft depends on the commitment of the manager. If you kill the draft, you don’t have to churn over the WW every day, but if your draft sucked, you have to keep turning over pre-draft WW fodder hoping to hit it big.” Mark’s schedule has gotten busier in recent years as he has welcomed two sons into this world. The ability to draft well to him and those with a packed schedule like him, means less time up late looking for that special player to fix the hole in your roster. And with his record, it’s hard to argue with the results.

So, what actually is the answer here then? Does the draft matter? Yes.

You shouldn’t punt an aspect of your roster like you punt steals or a position like RP. Claw, fight, and grab at every piece of value that you can in your draft, keepers, roster construction, and free agent pickups. Don’t willingly let one fall short unless you can get equal value for that loss.

It’s that last line that does the most heavy lifting and leaves itself to the most varied of interpretations from owners.

The Rankings

At this point, we have three different rankings for the preseason results of the league. Two are ones we all have seen, FantasyPros and Mark. But I also have, for you all, Pat’s rankings from his AI labor of love machine.

Pat’s AI script rankings. It only includes Pat’s waiver pick ups from immediately after the draft.

FantasyPros rankings. Experts have not been edited

Mark’s rankings. From whatever criteria he adheres to.

The Results

A couple things stand out. The first is that no matter which rankings you adhere to, Ian tops the list. Threepeat Champion Vinson endorsed this, “I think Ian had the best draft. His offense is very strong and well rounded and his pitching should be competitive.” It is worth noticing how many people relish to face Ian despite also believing him to be the toughest. Jon, Threepeat Champion Vinson, and I have all mention wanting to face Ian for a reason or another. For Jon, it’s just because Ian is “a fun and friendly opponent” (something I’ve never experienced). For Threepeat Champion Vinson, it’s to keep up his win streak against him. For myself, it’s a hopeful return for that bygone time when our teams would hit some new level as if they knew they were facing each other.

The message is clear though, Ian has a target on his back. A feeling he is familiar with and is welcoming with a sense of cockiness that he hasn’t had in a while in this league, “I’ll relish every win. Hopefully there will be many.” Ian had a spectacular draft, aided by not only the abundance of early round draft picks he amassed by trading Jackson Chourio twice, but by his own discipline to stick to a plan rather than grab every shiny player like last year. It’s remarkable that Ian was about to get a second chance to repeat the draft from last year and he did not waste it. Going down his lineup, Ian’s hitters manage to attack every stat. This might be the first year in a long, long time that I have not seen Ian punt a stat in an effort to maximize another. It makes me nervous a bit because that’s hard to stab at each week without a real vulnerability to use. I will only nit-pick a few things that ultimately I don’t think will affect Ian too much. Michael Harris is garbage and will probably be a batting average sink on Ian for most weeks. Caglianone looked great in the World Baseball Classic, but can he bring that back to the Major Leagues now that the hype is lower? Ian’s pitching relies on Bubic and Weathers being healthy and repeating their dominant years, Imanaga and Nola not repeating last year, Wheeler coming back healthy and being the same as he was before thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, Gray to prove he’s not regressing, and for Lopez to not get shelled in Sacramento. It’s a pitching staff that after Christopher Sanchez, looks really iffy. But that iffy could also be a collection of three additional aces so who knows. The projections all say he’ll be fine so maybe I should say sure, why not.

But how does everyone else feel about their own teams if they’re wanting to take on Ian? Everyone said they have something they need to work on or fix concerning their team. Mark acknowledged his uphill battle it will take to make the playoffs this year, noting his 2B/MI spots are rough looking. To be fair to Mark, those positions were going to be rough for everyone this year. He’s at least buying into a hopeful bounce back from the former long time consistent player, Marcus Semien. If Jackson Holliday can take a step forward when he comes back from injury, Mark might be okay. That’s a big “might” but it’s hard to find teams that have it better off. Everyone’s 2B or MI has some form of a hole to poke at and question their reliability. I think the bigger concerns with Mark’s team is he has no true ace for his pitchers and his OF is really shallow. Buxton is elite, but that’s only when he’s healthy. Which he’s not often. Cam Smith is a dart throw, and Doyle has to prove last year was a result of the family issues off the field. Ian Happ is fine. Adell is above fine. It’s certainly not the worst outfield in the league, but it makes me itchy when I look at it because of the amount of ways it could go wrong. His pitching has questions about innings for some and whether Boyd can repeat last year. This might be a staff that struggles to get enough W+QS.

Jon knows he has some work to do with his team and is utilizing an RP heavy strategy, something he’s not comfortable with, “I personally hate RP heavy strategies, but desperate times called for desperate measures.” With the amount of picks Jon gave up in the draft to get Chourio, he did remarkably well in keeping his draft less speculative (like he was drafting for a year after this year) this time. “Due to the loss of 3 top 10 picks, I needed to find a weird edge and go against my better judgment. We’ll see how well I can execute it.” As someone who has done something similar to what Jon is attempting, I hope he finds more success than I did. In 2023, I went into the draft with an injured Musgrove and Glasnow and decided to shore up my pitching with RP in an attempt to hold the beach head. So to speak. It did not work out well. While Musgrove and Glasnow eventually came back, I was left with a paltry offense that saw the beginning of the end of the almost decade of dominance from Mike Trout. Jon’s core is younger than mine was so there’s a chance he can thread this thin needle.

Threepeat Champion Vinson’s plan was unchanged from other years. “Just take the best player available” has been his mantra since he joined this league. The result of that this year? “My team isn’t the best or the worst. I think I put myself in a decent position given I didn’t keep anyone. I trust myself to make moves to improve in season.” Threepeat Champion Vinson did go heavy into high risk and high reward players this year. If a handful of them pop off, he’ll be fine. But with Lewis, Story, Varsho, Trout, and Westburg all injury risk and with Westburg, Hader, and Cole already starting the year on the IL, it’s going to be a lot of risk mixed in with players that haven’t yet proven it yet or are coming off some disastrous seasons. But they all have these ceilings that are sky high. So again, if just a handful of these players work out, Vinson will be golden. I’m just not the kind of owner that will build almost an entire team on that.

Having the draft seemed to calm Mark down about his team, “… I drafted a lot of players that I like, so at least I’ll go down swinging with players I wanted.” This is a sentiment that was shared with James at the draft. His team was consistently ranked low in the mock drafts this offseason, but he was determined to have fun with players he actually liked and worry about the results later. It’s worth noting that both FantasyPros and Pat’s AI has James finishing fairly well for the season. We’ll see if he can live up to that prediction with a team whose pitching might need some work depending on how well Eury Perez does this year. If he breaks out as the ace everyone assumes he is, then James will be in for a very fun season. If not, James needs to hope Bradish goes deep enough to get the W+QS in games and that Detroit’s defense doesn’t hurt Valdez.

Despite drafting during dinner with friends, Andrew is feeling pretty good about the start to the season. His problem seems to be the exact opposite of James, “Ended up with more pitching then expected but it’s probably the best slate of pitching I have ever drafted.” Perhaps a future trade between the two could be in order. Both Mark and Pat’s AI seem to like Andrew’s team a lot. “I like Heller’s draft. Super even performance for what he had,” Pat said. Andrew really does have a massive pitching monster formed here with Skenes, deGrom, Burns, Castillo, Horton, and Ray for starters and then Fairbanks, Iglesias, Pagan, and Garcia for closers. The only real fault on Andrew’s team is the possibility of platoons for some of his hitters. Michael Busch, Kerry Carpenter, and Noelvi Marte all have had talks of platooning roles in the offseason. Kerry Carpenter has historically sat against lefties, but being Andrew’s 7th OF, it’s a luxury he can afford. Noelvi as his starting 3B is super rough though. He’s a player that would fit on Vinson’s team right now: someone with a high upside but has not shown that level in a while now. Still, there’s a lot of talent on this roster that will make the first week matchup against me, more difficult than I would like.

Dan’s team probably has the second most deep OF next to my own. J Rod, Acuna, and Soderstrom are a potent threesome. Lile is a great speculative pick up that can provide a little bit of everything, and Barger was once last year’s fantasy darling so it’ll be interesting to see if he gets the runway to claim that again this year. On the pitching side, Dan also doesn’t have a true ace to lead his staff, but he does have a decent collection of SP2s to make up for that. It’s all rather amazing to look at Dan’s team being as well off as it is despite how many draft picks he lost from the top of the draft. “I also like Dan's draft,” Jon said. “His off season was an abomination, and he should question his sanity since for 3 years in a row he's done this, but when it comes to drafting he's very disciplined. Which makes me wonder if he has a whole Jekel/Hyde thing going on.” I wonder that too. Dan does a lot of trades and a good portion of them feel like wastes. But come draft day, he’s figured out how to get all the pieces he needs to cover his team’s weak spots. This year might be his best draft yet.

Joey’s team reminds me of every player I used to have on my team in years past but gave up on for one reason or another. I don’t hate it, I just find it really precarious to look at because these are all players that have not shown they’re capable of reaching levels needed to win a fantasy season anymore. But maybe he can squeeze a bit more juice from some of the veterans and get players like Colt Keith to finally be the player thought of two years ago. Jon listed Joey as one of the teams he’s worried to face, “His glass cannon strategy is predicated on guys who REALLY slumped in 2024/2025 making a bounceback. If that works, we are all in trouble.” That glass cannon can really be felt in the pitching where he went into the season with Strider, Grayson Rodriguez, and Sschwellenbach. All are on the IL now. And yet Joey still has Peralta, Webb, and the player formerly named Dylan Cease. It’s surprising depth that if just one of those glass arms can be something, will make this staff difficult to face.

It’s amazing that Mike’s team is going to work out with having Lindor playing for opening day. You should not have this kind of luck and yet here it is, in all its splendor. “I am annoyed that I like Mike's team. He grabbed his type of guys, all power, low avg guys, but I think his double digit picks are cheap power in a low power output area which helps him find the Jacob Wilson of 2026 in the Waiver Wire.” Jon said for who he believed had the best draft. There are nit picks I have, like what Ryan O’Hearn is doing on a roster or why Steele was drafted since he’s not worth the stash for even a May return. But I’m really bending over backward to find faults here. The OF is good, although Josh Lowe is always a question for platooning and health, his INF is good, his pitching is elite with Brown and Skubal. It’s annoying seeing a team this potent and I’m surprised it didn’t pop up higher on the rankings.

No one really mentioned Patrick’s teams in any of their responses. And yet his team managed to be at the top of most of the rankings despite him also getting rid of a ton of his picks in the first ten rounds. Maybe the draft really doesn’t matter since both he and Dan have pulled off these projections so well. It helps that Pat traded 5 of picks for a second 1st round pick and Vlad Jr. That isn’t just any kind of swap, that’s an impact bat that was able to be kept while Judge was able to be thrown back and then redrafted. Pat would be the anti-Threepeat Champion Vinson for this year. He went heavy into keepers matter while punting the draft. I have questions like how good will Abel really be after being terrible last year for Philly. Can Gore improve with a real major league defense behind him? Can Cantillo, Schlittler, Ashcraft, or Bello take the next step to be dominant? What I like the most about Pat’s team and what I’m sure he’ll agree with me was the plan all along, is how easy it will be for him to cut bait with almost all of these guys. His biggest complaint in recent years is how he feels trapped by his players because of their perceived draft day value. No such players here as they’re all from pick 8 and below. This should offer Pat a lot more flexibility which should make his season one of the more active ones among the league.

I was shocked to see Brooke ranked so highly in Mark’s and Pat’s AI’s rankings. However, I think this year she’s set up to have one of the more balanced teams in a while. I do have concerns like with her first and third basemen and whether Lowe can come close to his performance last year. But I like her Outfield a lot and her pitching is super deep with Crochet, Woo, Sale, and Gausman if he can get his act together this year. I’m at the point where I don’t love Ohtani on her team. He’s kind of wasted with how much the owner needs to pay attention to when he’s pitching, something Brooke just isn’t the kind of manager to do. But while he’s left in her UTIL, he’ll provide her with some excellent hitting categories. And her pitching is deep enough that losing his pitching stats is probably not that big of a deal. If Brooke puts a little bit of time into this team this year, I can totally see a path to how her team finishes in the rankings those projections are raving about.

My team is great and there’s nothing really much to say about it. I built it on power and built a deep OF to weather as much terrible luck as possible. Almost all of my pitchers need to hit or excel past their projections though or else this will be a real rough time. We’ll see how this goes with the rebuild basically over now and the real test beginning. Feels good to finally be a bit confident in my team. So long as I don’t look at Mark’s rankings.

Epilogue

Look, I love fantasy. Every year at this time is the same. There’s way too much excitement to start wondering if this is the year that begins the end for the draft being the fun spectacle it once was. I pushed out these questions and of the people that responded, half mentioned the draft in terms of hanging out with friends in their answers. The draft is an important part of the fantasy season because it’s the only time we are all logged into something at the same time. A sort of checking in on everyone without ever actually sharing much personal news. A chance to comment on how Joey’s voice is way too silky for the likes of our dirty ears to hear.

I hope this year was just a blip. That there isn’t a pattern that’s forming. Because as the rest of the questions proved, everyone is just way too excited to talk about their baseball teams they drafted than to notice something untoward happening in the other room. Check out for yourself below for all the straight dope from the people who answered.

Thank you to everyone who responded and for giving such depth to several of the questions.

Good luck on the fantasy season.

Raw questions and Answers

What do you look forward to the most about the draft or draft day?

Pat: I like the weekend and seeing everyone. I could take or leave the actual draft, as it just feels like meaningless manufactured drama. I’ll always do the in person event so I can reconnect with friends, but the draft itself just should be a chill time to check a box.

Ian: For me the draft is like a marathon in that it’s a celebration.  At that point the work is done and I enjoy the day.  Being with some of my best friends doing something I love is the best part of the day.

Jon: I enjoy the end of all the keeper shenanigans and manipulations.

Mark: I love the anticipation of my next pick. My top choices are dwindling, there's only 1-2 names left I REALLY want in that spot. If 1 is there I feel great and if not I feel awful.

Threepeat Champion Vinson: Draft day usually marks the start of spring and gets me excited for the baseball season and summer.  Unfortunately I had to return to a blizzard when I got back from draft weekend this year.

Dan: Best part of the draft is comrades and talking shit.

Did you have a plan for the draft (general or specific) and how well were you able to execute it?

Pat:  I recognize this is going to be polarizing as I didn’t previously reveal or hint at what I was doing and I also recognize I’m probably going to be ribbed ceaselessly for it. I did very little planning this year because I decided to build a fun AI powered application to help me draft. I did a couple mocks to test it out and then just let it ride. It didn’t draft for me, I made all the decisions, but it did provide live advice based on who was available, picked, and predicted to be picked, all coded around my team construction, keepers, projected stat strengths/weaknesses, how to fill them with predicted available players, our leagues unique construction/categories/preferences, etc. it was a labor of love that didn’t work perfectly but worked very well. Super happy with my team as I constructed it.

Ian: I did a lot of prep, probably more than usual, but didn’t adhere to a plan involving specific players like I usually do.  I had a broad team build strategy and what I thought was a thorough knowledge of the player pool.  This allowed me to be flexible and I’m extremely happy with how my team turned out.

Jon: I had a very basic strategy of going RP heavy. Due to the loss of 3 top 10 picks I needed to find a weird edge and go against my better judgement. We'll see how well I can execute it. I personally hate RP heavy strategies, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Mark: I had a rough plan in the sense of a big board but not something so rigid as to say, I'm taking this player or that position in this/that round. 

Threepeat Champion Vinson: My plan was to just take the best player available at pretty much all points of the draft. I identified a few fallback options at each position if nobody fell to me early.  I think I ended up with someone I feel comfortable with at every position.

Dan: my only plan was in the first 10 rounds I wanted a 7/3 split of hitters to pitchers after that it’s best player on the board

Who were your targets in the draft that you had to have? Were you able to get them?

Pat: Kirby or Reily. Miss, but Fried is better than I could hope. Payton Tolle. Miss. Sniped by marks “last pick” in the 18th. Caleb Durbin. Hit. Isaac Paredes if no Riley. Hit. Not getting suckered into relievers. Massive hit.

Ian: I didn’t have any players I had to have.  I very much wanted my first pick to be a shortstop because I felt that in the 3rd round it was possible all the great ones would be gone.  I also adamantly wanted a 3B in the 3rd round for the same reason.  I achieved both aims.

Jon: I wanted to grab either Luis Garcia or Matt McLain for 2 B late. I wasn't able to get them. Beyond that I had some desire to grab Rodon so glad to see him. I wanted to grab Jasson Dominguez late but that didn't work out.

Mark: These were the following players i wanted a lot and put on my drinking game list

Jorge Polanco-No

Max Muncy-No but didn't have a roster spot for him either

Teoscar Hernandez-No

Nathan Eovaldi-Yes

Nick Pivetta-Yes

Drew Rasmussen-Yes

Shota Imanaga-No

Cade Horton-No

Nick Lodolo-No

Matthew Boyd-Yes

Threepeat Champion Vinson: My biggest targets were Wilyer Abreu, Jake Burger, Sandy Alcantara, and Nathan Eovaldi.  I got all but Eovaldi.

Andrew: I felt like I went after OF whenever I could. In years past I was bargain bin diving for OF 4 and 5 and was going for players that I felt were going to get plenty of ABs for counting stats.

Dan: Biggest target I had was Seager and Imai. Yes I got both of them. Also I wanna mention Snell because I think he has late league winner potential

Any steals or reaches that you’re particularly proud of?

Pat: Fried was unexpected and easy. The Vinson effect. Everyone forgot Owen Caissie, including me, until the end. Couldn’t believe he was available. I reached a little for Durbin.

Ian: Nothing huge.  I’m really surprised Devin Williams lasted to the 11th and that Bryan Abreu lasted to the 14th.  I’m always one to wait on relievers but getting these two that late felt like a steal.  Wheeler was a pick I had considered for weeks and I felt I could absorb the risk with my build.  It’s one of those ones that could make me feel real good in a few weeks but thankfully won’t sink me if it fails.

Jon: I like Colson Montgomery, especially as a late SS, same for Joe Musgrave

Mark: I wouldn't call him a steal given his injury history but if Austin Riley wasn't there in Round 3, I wouldn't take Buxton so I was very happy to see him there in R4. 

Threepeat Champion Vinson: I reached hard a few times in the mid round but that’s fine.  I’m hoping to get value out of the currently injured players I drafted late (Hader, Cole, Westburg).  I don’t usually prioritize relievers but Mason Miller fell a lot and there wasn’t really anyone else in that range I wanted so I’m excited to have a top closer on my team.

Andrew: I think I took a risk on Ozuna but I waited him out and I have some rotation OF in case he stalls out. But really waiting as long as I did, I think it was worth the risk on round 17.

Any moments of panic because either a player you were counting on was taken or because a run on a position occurred before you were ready? How did you handle it?

Pat: No panic. Very even keeled and straight forward, which I attribute to the ai help. It was a lot different than using fantasypros, because I never felt that some experts were trying to force a generic best adp value like they do in that tool, only for it to not be right for our specific league. I was getting a little worried about outfield depth and 2b/3b depth but I got the guys I wanted there. Maybe a little early.

Ian: No I felt my strategy was flexible so this didn’t really happen.

Jon: James taking Luis Garcia. I had every plan of taking him either in the 19th or 20th round, I gambled and said James wasn't interested but forgot that damn Nats irrationality! I didn't quite panic, grabbed Hunter Greene in the upside play and grabbed Baty who I think will surprise people this year.

Mark: Okamoto was a sweat for about 12 picks because 1st base was looking bleak and he was the last of a start-worthy tier. I don't think I was affected negatively by any runs. My 2nd/MI spots are pretty rough but that was expected.

Threepeat Champion Vinson: SS went fast so I took Story.  Not my favorite pick but acceptable and I think I’ll be ok.

Andrew: Moments of panic. The run on 3b. All of my prep kept proving that there was a pretty big drop in quality early in the draft. I think Riley, Bregman, and Chapman all came off the board relatively quickly and Marte was more or less a panic pick.

Dan: My only moment of panic was when Carlos Rodon and Cole and Musgrove went off the board because I wanted one more of them. I was happy with Snell so not the end of the world but whatever.

How do you feel about your team before the season begins?

Ian: Great.  I alluded to this but my strategy was to spend 5 of my first 6 picks on hitters.  That with my 6 hitting keepers would fill out most of my starting hitting lineup out by the end of the 4th round.  I liked that a lot and it didn’t sink my arms due to the plethora of draft picks I had amassed in the 3rd and 4th by trading Chourio twice.

Jon: I think again I have some work cut out for me. However, I have a really strong core with some exciting high upside low floor late guys that if they don't perform or get hurt, looking at Crews and Cowser there, I can cut and get an oatmeal player in the WW.

Mark: I feel better about my team than I did before the draft. Making the playoffs is still an uphill battle more than most years but I drafted a lot of players I like, so at least I’ll go down swinging with players I wanted.

Threepeat Champion Vinson: My team isn’t the best or the worst.  I think I put myself in a decent position given I didn’t keep anyone.  I trust myself to make moves to improve in season.

Andrew: I feel good about the start to the season. Ended up with more pitching then I expected but it's probably the best slate of pitching I have ever drafted. Really pleased at the end of the day with the balance. I ended up with player projection to all hit 20+ hrs (or very close to it minus Horner) and more SBs then I expected. I will say drafting on my phone during a dinner with friends over did limit the in round research I could do. I do wish I could squeeze more out of my hitting with early picks but it was tough sometimes when the value was there for pitching that I just didn't need. I will be honest. I almost missed that pick I traded you. I was sitting there with looking and was like why is this guy taking so long and with 30 seconds left I realized it was me lol

Who do you believe had the best draft?

Pat: I like Heller's draft. Super even performance for what he had.

Ian: I will selfishly say I did.  Aside from me I unsurprisingly love Vin’s draft.  He took a lot of smart risks.

Jon: I am annoyed that I like Mike's team. He grabbed his type of guys, all power, low avg guys, but I think his double digit picks are cheap power in a low power output area which helps him find the Jacob Wilson of 2026 in the Waiver Wire. I also like Dan's draft. His off season was an abomination, and he should question his sanity since for 3 years in a row he's done this, but when it comes to drafting he's very disciplined. Which makes me wonder if he has a whole Jekel/Hyde thing going on.

Mark: Ian had the best draft.

Threepeat Champion Vinson: I think Ian had the best draft.  His offense is very strong and well rounded and his pitching should be competitive.

Which team are you most worried to face?

Ian: I’ll always worry about Vin because he’s the only owner I’ve never beaten, but I think this may be the year I break that streak.

Jon: Joey. His glass cannon strategy is predicated on guys who REALLY slumped in 2024/2025 making a bounceback. If that works, we are all in trouble.

Mark: Ian is the team I’m most worried to face

Threepeat Champion Vinson: I’m most worried to face Ian because I’ve never lost to him and I don’t want this to be the first time.

Which team do you relish facing this year?

Ian: I’ll relish every win. Hopefully there will be many.

Jon: I want to send Pat back to complaining about how he's actually a hidden genius again. Also Ian, mostly cuz he's a fun and friendly opponent.

Mark: I relish to face anyone who forgets it’s baseball season.

Threepeat Champion Vinson: I also relish facing him [Ian] the most.

FOLLOW UP QUESTION! Does the draft matter? Why or why not?

Ian: Yes.  Everything matters.  The draft matters, keepers matter, free agency matters, roster construction matters. It’s like health and fitness.  You can be well by eating healthy and not working out, and vice versa, but it’ll always be easier and better to do both.  You can build a championship team without a strong draft, but it will be harder.  It’ll always be better to try to do all things well in all aspects of the game.  If you’re deliberately neglecting one of them it’s like running with dumbbells in your hands.
Me: Woah you had picks last year, sir
Ian: Yes and I committed them to my lousy keepers. Which was a big mistake. I undercut the advantage you gave me
Me: There is that feeling of “it’s a free keeper because I have the same pick twice.” It’s tempting to use it like that
Ian: Exactly. And that was a huge mistake. I tried to not do that this year
Me: I wish I could say that I planted that for you to trip yourself, but my machinations began and ended with trading for Elly.

Jon: I believe the draft doesn't matter to a point. You can't win the season with a draft, but you definitely can lose it. I think in a league with such shallow benches, you need to prepare for dropping players that would otherwise be kept around in a bench spot in other leagues. That fact alone means the waiver wire becomes much more impactful for the last 10 or so starters.
Me: So the top half of the draft matters more than the bottom half then?
Jon: Yes again to an extent. I think that the first 2-3 rounds matter a lot. Then it gets progressively harder to hit. What matters is finding players that will exceed draft ADP in our league because they become helpful trade pieces and you can find rather boring or at least streaky players in the waiver wire. If they miss then they just get dropped rather quickly.
Me: Makes sense. Would you say it’s equal to keepers, roster construction, and free agency pick ups then? Or do one of those have more weight than the others?
Jon: Roster construction matters the most.
Me: Oh interesting. Some have said it's important to be more balanced or that you can almost punt one of them and be fine. Someone else even said that roster construction specifically was the least necessary to focus on.
Jon: I'm sure pat did say that lol. However, in categories you want to be intentional of who or what you are going to excel in. All around players are fine, but too many make you brittle and unresponsive to peak and valley performers. Those boring all arounders can be found in the waiver wire. Category dominators cannot be in our league.

Mark: I am probably the #1 draft does matter person because I consider myself to be a good drafter and a miserable manager. So there is some bias in there. The level of draft matter depends on the commitment of the manager. If you kill the draft, you don't have to churn over the WW everyday but if your draft sucked, you have to keep turning over pre-draft WW fodder hoping to hit it big

Threepeat Champion Vinson: Clearly I do lol

Andrew: I think it matters. It doesn't guarantee success or failure but it sets the starting point for the year. How you manage the team you draft is what sets the stage for success. But if you have a terrible draft, well you then have a lot of work to do.

Dan: The draft matters until it doesn’t. If you go in thinking it doesn’t matter? Take your shots and pick up shit on the wire to supplement or fill out your entire team. If you go in thinking it matters it means a lot more. I’d like to exist in the gray area where I don’t want to think too hard about it but also don’t want to draft Matt Shaw in the 5th.
Me: Interesting coming from one of the pioneers of this thought. Would you say it's equal to keepers, roster construction, and free agency pick ups then? Or do one of those have more weight than the others?
Dan: It’s definitely FA pickups and being smart on the wire. Y’all have to remember I came in here hot and did well with a terrible draft my first year. I lived on the FA wire and it’s lead to known success. I think I’ve adapted every year to my keeper and others keeper situations well. Which also leads to the fact that I don’t think roster or construction really means a lot in the draft matters or doesn’t conversation. In a league of this deep and intense, we should all expect to have a weak spot on our roster. It’s up to you to decide if that’s worth living with. For me the weak part of my roster will always be relief, catchers, and first baseman because I think you can find comparable talent on the wire at any time.
Me: I have grown into the idea of you’ll find a way to get the best player into your roster. Position scarcity is a myth… Maybe not a myth myth. But like the Schwarber argument. You’ll find a way to make it work and it’s not as bad as people make it out to be.
Dan: Right. Our league is a weird gray area of deep but also available talent abound where if you dig only on surface level guys you won’t get far but if you peel a layer back there’s a lot there.