Back in November, when I was writing my Rebuilding a Dynasty League Roster series, I had to jump from the team which was the focus of the first two-thirds of the series to a team in a different league which was further along in the process. However, as things progress with the original team, I’m going post addendums to the series so that the exercise of following one team through the entire rebuilding process can be followed to completion. Here are the previous entries in this series:

Part 1: Setting the Table
Part 2: Establishing Your Time Horizon
Part 3: The Evaluation Stage
Part 4: The Opening Trades
Part 4a: Wait at Your Own Peril
Part 5: The Free Agents
Part 6: The Re-Evaluation Stage
Part 7: The Secondary Targets
Part 8: The Waiting Game
Part 8a: The Challenge Trade
Part 8b: Know Your Waiver System and Draft Rules
Part 9: The Draft
Part 10: The Turn
Part 10a: The Makings of the Turn
Part 11: Pushing In Your Chips
Part 12: The Prestige

Just as a reminder, here are the league details that are helpful in following along. Active lineups are 17 players and break out as follows: C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, 3 OF, 2 Util and 7 pitchers. Teams also have 8 bench spots, 2 DL spots and 25 minor league spots – which makes the player pool pretty deep. Pitchers seem a little more valuable than hitters in general in this point system, so most competitive teams stock their benches with starting pitching (though there’s a 14 start limit per week). My other first thoughts from looking at the scoring system were that big IP, low WHIP pitchers are very valuable, with strikeouts being slightly devalued compared to other points leagues. From the offensive side, it seemed pretty standard for this type of format – pretty OPS focused, with some skewing based on walks and strikeouts. Steals are a factor, but not a huge one.

For the 2013 draft, I had the 9th overall pick in the 1st round (out of 16 teams) and the draft snaked for the second round. I had accumulated five picks in the first two rounds from trades during the season and was looking forward to using them to further stock my farm system. But, as I talked about in my post on the draft, sometimes things happen that you don’t expect and you have to adjust. Here are how my picks went:

Pick #1.9 — TRADE

Shortstop was my weakest position by far on this team, and I really wanted to address it in the draft. Addison Russell lasted until the pick before me here, which was really disappointing. I tried to negotiate with the team picking directly in front of me, but they weren’t having it and wanted Russell. Once that went down, I let the league know I was looking to trade out of the pick, as I didn’t have a huge preference between the top names left on my board. What ended up happening made me very, very happy as I was able to grab one of the top young shortstops in baseball via trade. Here’s the deal:

I traded Pick 1.9, Travis d’Arnaud and Yunel Escobar for Starlin Castro and Pick 3.8

In one fell swoop, I turned a position of weakness into one of strength. And d’Arnaud I could spare because I have Wieters in there as my starter. In other words, I got off to a great start. After this, I ideally wanted to grab some offensive prospects, especially at OF — and I ended up being able to do just that, even though I did miss out on Fried as he was taken before I picked next. And in case you were wondering, the owner who traded into this pick took Kevin Gausman — which was a very nice pick by him.

Pick #1.12 — David Dahl, OF, Colorado Rockies

After Fried went the pick before this by the same owner who took Addison Russell the pick before my last spot, I was looking at either Dahl, Giolito or Yasiel Puig. In the end, while I’m not as high on Dahl as some, I had to take him as he was the best value on my board and he played a position of need. And this now fills in the remaining blank of the first trade I made in this league way back in June:

I dealt Jeremy Hellickson and Derek Holland for Brett Anderson, Travis d’Arnaud, Jedd Gyorko, Aaron Sanchez, Taylor Guerrieri, Jose Campos and David Dahl.

Pick #2.4 — Yasiel Puig, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers

Now THIS pick was I ecstatic about. I did not think that Puig was going to get back around to me and figured I’d be looking at a lesser prospect. However, with a few picks going the right way for me, I was able to snag two first round level talents even after trading away my first pick. Of course, I’ve gotten even more excited about this pick since Spring Training started (this pick was made in early February). Again, best guy on my board at a position of need — no brainer. And if you remember from way back, this was the draft pick I was able to get for Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Pick #2.8 — Lance McCullers Jr, RHP, Houston Astros

This is the first pick that started off as my own and I drafted as my own. McCullers was the final Top-100 prospect I had left on the board, and I like his fantasy outlook since he can be a pretty great late inning reliever if the whole starting thing doesn’t work out.

Pick #2.12 — Lewis Brinson, OF, Texas Rangers

And yet another outfielder comes off the board for my team. Was really tempted to take a couple of other bats like Joey Gallo, Stryker Trahan and Richie Shaffer — but in the end, the upside of Brinson is just too tantalizing. This now gives me three high-upside outfielders in four picks, and all without reaching based on eligibility. And it also leaves me just three more spots left to fill before I hit my roster limit.

Pick #3.8 — Blake Snell, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays

One of my breakout picks for 2013, Snell may be the next in a long line of great Tampa pitching prospects. He’s had a decent start to the season, but is not showing the good control that he did in the Appy League in 2012.

Pick #3.9 — Adalberto Mondesi, SS, Kansas City Royals

This one is a pure upside play. I love the potential that Mondesi has and he could easily be a top-50 prospect by the end of the season. Just the fact that he’s playing in the Midwest League right now and he doesn’t turn 18 until the end of July is completely insane — it almost doesn’t even matter what sort of numbers he puts up. As long as he keeps his pants on, he’ll be on the right path.

Pick #4.8 — Jorge Alfaro, C, Texas Rangers

And if it’s possible to have even more of an upside play than Mondesi was, Alfaro is it. Like I’ve said before, he’s got about a 5% chance of actually reaching his potential, but if he does, he’s a 30+ HR monster in the middle of that Texas lineup (with potential double-digit steals to boot). I’ll take a shot on that.

In the end, I was very happy with how the draft worked out, given what my goals were when it started. And with my time horizon still holding tight at 2014, some of these players are going to make for nice trade chips when it comes time to move all in. Well, except for Yasiel Puig, who’s going to help lead me to that promised land. I’m going to check back in on this team again in another month for the one-year anniversary of my ownership to see how the roster has changed since I took the team over (hint: A LOT).

Follow me on Twitter at @dynastyguru.