After a brief hiatus to make room for bold predictions, we return to our regularly scheduled program of explaining #TDGX picks. We left off at round 12 in our last run through and will go through round 20 in this turn, with the explanations getting understandably shorter as we go along.

Round 13 – Pick  259 – Jarrod Parker, SP, OAK

Well s***. I really, truly loved this pick at the time. Parker gets dinged in fantasy circles for his relative lack of strikeouts but he pitched in a great park, for a good team and put up quality ratios. This was and is a huge loss for my pitching staff, but guys like Alex Guerrero and Justin Morneau were going ahead of him. Other pitchers taken ahead include Dickey, Lynn and Beachy (ouch). Obviously the injury risk came back to bite me on Parker but I like my process here and while the product is unfortunate, I think this was a good value at the time.

Round 14 – Pick 262 – Clay Buchholz, SP, BOS

The plan here was to get both of these pitchers in tandem. Up to this point I had only selected Chris Archer, so I needed to fill in my pitching depth. Both Buchholz and Parker have their flaws, but both have impact potential (Parker did in bulk innings, whereas Buchholz was likely to throw fewer innings but have better overall numbers). Here’s hoping Clay can throw 150-180 innings now and pick up some of the slack from Parker’s loss. If he doesn’t, I might be sunk in pitching categories.

Round 15 – Pick 299 – Casey Janssen, RP, TOR

WELL THIS IS GOING GREAT. Janssen, presumed healthy at the time was part of a strategy I employed in attempting to start a closer run. I knew if I was going to compete in saves I needed to have two closers – which would be fairly competitive in a twenty team league. So I took Janssen, who had great numbers these last several years, and paired him with…

Round 16 – Pick 302 – Grant Balfour, RP, TB

With Ernesto Frieri being tabbed between Janssen and Balfour, the closer run I was hoping for took off. I snagged the guys I wanted, getting the value I sought, while everyone else played catch up and let other picks I wanted fall to me. The downside is obviously that Janssen is hurt right now, but again, process over product. This was fairly effective.

Round 17 – Pick 339 – James Loney, 1B, TB

This was a flexibility pick. First base was getting brutally thin and while I had already nabbed Brandon Moss, he has outfield eligibility, so this gives me the flexibility to wiggle my roster when I want. Loney isn’t any great shakes, but 339 picks in, I’m happy enough to get an everyday player in a solid lineup at a position of relative weakness.

Round 18 – Pick 342 – Rajai Davis, OF, DET

Have I mentioned that outfield is brutal in this league? Davis just got a bump in playing time around this pick because Andy Dirks was put on the DL. Davis can steal 30+ bags anyway, so I’m not scared of any other potential platoon here, but the bump in opportunity always helps. He’s terrible against righties though so he does give some value back on that front. This was a steals play and not much more.

Round 19 – Pick 379 – Jake Odorizzi, SP, TB

Again, I’m still pretty short on pitching at this point, so I went back to the TB well (Archer, Loney, Balfour, etc). Odorizzi had yet to win the fifth starter job with Hellickson out, but I was still confident he would make at least 15 starts this year with the potential for 25+. He’s not going to be a big strikeout guy but with gambles on guys like Buchholz, I need depth to provide bulk innings at a quality rate. Odorizzi is that depth.

Round 20 – Pick 382 – Aaron Hicks, OF, MIN

This was a gamble. Taking place later on in Spring Training, I actually thought Hicks would be sent to Triple-A to start the year. At the time, the Twins were rolling with Alex Presley in center, and I’ve seen that movie, and I know how it ends. I knew Hicks would be up at some point, and while he was brutal in 2013, I’ve always liked the talent. He’s got mild pop and speed, and while I think a .250 average is a very real possibility, we’re almost 400 picks into a draft, so I think it’s worth it given the scarcity of starting outfielders. Peter Bourjos was taken at pick 364, and as much as I don’t like him, it’s hard to knock the pick given how far along we are. I think Hicks can at least equal Bourjos now that he’s starting from opening day, and quite possibly exceed him. This was one of two gambles on post-prospects that I think will really pay off for me. The next one will be covered in my next installment.