Sure a 1st overall pick is the pick you are looking forward to most leading into your drafts. It’s the big time, sexy pick that will give you six months of blissful Baseball Tonight viewing.
I will not discount the importance of getting that No. 1 guy you want, but for this article's purpose, lets not worry about selecting Hanley Ramirez when he is there for you at No. 2.
 What I would like to do in this series, is focus once a week on a guy you can land dead last in your draft. The Mr. Insignificant of your roster. What the heck is the importance of that you ask? Isn’t that guy just begging to be dropped? Well, maybe if you took 30 year-olds because they hit 18 homers last year, but the other way to go is upside…A few names to mention…Edinson Volquez, Cliff Lee, and Nate McLouth. All these guys could very well have been a last pick on a fantasy roster last season.
The difference between these guys and say, a Melvin Mora or Ty Wigginton, or Lyle Overbay is simply their potential. We know what we get with guys at the bottom of the barrel of drafts who have past their fantasy prime, so why in the world would you draft them?
Go with the guys who have yet to do anything at pick No. 22. It’s not even a risk reward, it’s a reward waiting to happen with nothing to lose.
Lets get to this weeks, last pick.
If you are a fan of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, as I very much am, you may remember a certain scene where fictitious rapper, Crazy Eyez Killah says that he is “Cool De La,” with Larry David. A hilarious scene, and a hilarious play on the famous 80’s hip-hop group De La Soul. Also a fan.
After a TiVo’d viewing last evening, this got me thinking, who am I Cool De La with?
How about Jorge De La Rosa? We told you a few weeks back to keep an eye on him, and that was when he didn’t even have a spot in the rotation.
That changed this past weekend. The Colorado Rockies found room for him, thanks to a potentially season-ending shoulder injury to Jeff Francis.
Sure you may be thinking, I am going to give this guy a draft spot because of some stupid reference to a television show and defunct hip-hop group???
Come on…you should know us by now. We’ll back up our predictions with not just the numbers, but the numbers inside the numbers.
Cool De La yet? If not, lets point some stuff out:
-He finished the second half of 2008 with a 7-3 record, a 3.08 ERA and an 8.38 K/9 ratio.
-From 2007 to 2008, he had an 11% improvement in his WHIP (1.64 to 1.46, respectfully).
-Back to that K/9 ratio…in 2007 his rate was 5.68 and last season, that number ballooned up 56% to 8.86.
-He is now in the rotation.
So, let me ask you one last time, in terms of your LAST overall pick in 2009...
Are you Cool De La?
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