Kept: The Joel Schilb Story

Kept Players
Matt Holliday (Round 5)
Ryan Dempster (Round 15)
Jhonny Peralta (Round 23)
Geovany Soto (Round 11)
Alexei Ramirez (Round 14)

Last Year’s Record: 15-9
Division: Losers
Season Result: Second place in the Loser division and Wild Card winner.

Keeper Decision Scale: 7.2/10

I oddly feel decent about Joel’s selections with on semi-major exception. So let’s get on with the good, before I semi-rip Joel for not taking risks.

The Good:
Matt Holliday is a good hitter. I don’t care that he is not in Colorado anymore, I still think he is a 100/30/100 guy who will put up a lot of points for Joel.

Ryan Dempster had an oddly good season last year and maintained it for the whole year. It is worth the risk to keep him at 15.

Jhonny Peralta is a third-tier shortstop with the potential to be a second-tier guy. The upside makes him way more than worth it at round 23.

Geovany Soto is a top three fantasy catcher and he’ll have him for a mere 11th round pick.

Alexei Ramirez will be moved to shortstop this season which makes him valuable as a guy who can play both middle infield spots in fantasy. I don’t see his numbers improving that much, but as a utility guy, he will be very useful.

The Bad:

Fantasy is all about risk taking and I think Joel completely missed out on the opportunity to have an explosive season from Nick Markakis. Yes, a third round pick is a valuable pick, but I think Markakis is more than worth the pick given what he could do this season. He could easily be a 100/30/100 guy and maybe more with the continued improvement of Adam Jones and the early season arrival of Matt Wieters. Markakis is going to have plenty of opportunities to drive in runs with Brian Roberts and Jones hitting in front of him. Wieters will provide solid protection behind him if he hits merely half as well as he is hitting in the minors.

Additionally, Joel would have had the chance to have a corner outfield of Markakis and Holliday, something maybe only the Inoculators could match (Ryan Braun and Josh Hamilton). It would have been risky, but I think it would have been worthwhile.

Overall, I think Joel got good value for his keepers and has a good start to his 2009 campaign.