So it's a Friday night and I'm home all alone.  My wife has taken our kids out to the movies, which means it's time for me to settle myself into my favorite chair in my Man Cave and jump onto MockDraftCentral.com to draft my first team of the year.

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Joe Lano wrote earlier this week about how he's a “Mock Draft Junkie.”  Well Joe, no disrespect, but I'm about to one-up you pal.

See every year around this time I get the itch. Baseball fever starts running through my veins and I can't help but get really, really excited.

As I turn down the lights, the glow of my computer screens lights my Man Cave. I have five minutes left before the draft is ready to start.  I clear my desk, placing everything into my bottom right drawer. I position my mouse and keyboard in front of me as I anticipate the voice of MockDraftCentral telling me, “Now it's your turn.”

The time is finally here.  The draft is about to start and I have the second overall pick in the draft. I start to think to myself, “Should I really do this draft naked?”  Yes I tell myself, it's the first draft of the year, but am I really ready for this type of commitment?
 

There he is, the “MockDraftCentral Man” telling me it's now my turn. Even though I'm home alone, I still have to look out the door to make sure no one is watching. I go back and forth between Jose Reyes of the New York Mets and the third baseman and future Hall of Famer from the New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez. I get like this every year with my first pick, it's like I'm a Fantasy Baseball virgin all over again.  I'm nervous, my palms start to sweat and my heart races, but I have to make my selection. I go with Mr. Consistency, Alex Rodriguez, who I know will give me five categories throughout the season.  I feel pretty comfortable now.

What do I do in between picks?  There's so much time and I'm just sitting here.  All these thoughts run through my head. Did I pick the right guy?  These guys know I'm in the Industry; did I perform up to par?  What if they all laugh at me because my team is inadequate? Am I touching myself too much?
 

By the time I'm done battling my thoughts it's my turn again.  In the second round, again naked, not knowing which direction I want to go, I have to decide between Manny Ramirez, BJ Upton or Brandon Phillips. All three have great appeal.  Manny, well, he's Manny. BJ Upton is a rising star and bats in front of Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena and newly acquired Pat Burrell. Then there's Brandon Phillips.  Although his batting average will probably hurt me, there's not many second baseman in Major League Baseball that can hit 20 home runs, drive in over 70 RBI and steal over 20 bases.  I like the sound of that, in my head of course, and decide to go with Phillips.

The great thing about being in the front or the back of the draft, to me, is the turn pick.  I love being in this position. Think about it. After you make that first selection, you know that within a few picks you're up again and the adrenalin is still rushing through your body from the previous pick. I'm so excited right now.

“MockDraftCentral Man” once again informs me that it's my pick. I feel like a Looney Toons' character, “Which way do I go? Which way do I go?” In my opinion, and I'm sure Olin Forman, aka Big O will disagree, my team is starting to look strong. 
 

To make my team stronger though I want another 20-20 guy in my lineup that has a high batting average and can hit for power. The barrel seems dry. My choices are Nick Markakis of the Baltimore Orioles or Tampa Bay Rays' outfielder Carl Crawford who seems to have slipped a little later in the draft than I remember from 2008. 

Both players can be 20-20 guys, but which one will perform at a higher level?  Markakis plays on a toilet bowl team, no disrespect to those that like the Orioles. On the other hand, Crawford plays on an up and coming team, just off a World Series bid and still has a high ceiling. Crawford has never hit 20 home runs, but he's 28 and I'm being optimistic.  Markakis has never reached 20 stolen bases, but when I interviewed him last year he told me that he wanted to make steals a bigger part of his game. Do I use this information to my advantage or go with my gut?

I look down for advice, trying to figure out which way I'd sway my pick. It's up in the air at this point. Finally I make my pick and go with Crawford.  I'm telling you it's pretty hard to make these picks naked.

So there I was, sitting with Alex Rodriguez at third base, Brandon Phillips at second base and my newly acquired outfielder, Carl Crawford. Again, my opinion, not Wayne Provost's, one of our loyal readers, but I think I have the makings of a great team.

The draft continues to go on throughout the night.  My picks are up and down and the emotional drain started to fatigue me in round 11. When I finally finished my draft, three and a half hours later, I came up with a team that I thought could compete in a Mixed 5x5 league right now.
 

By now though you're probably wondering why I did my first mock draft naked.  Like I mentioned above, every year, for my first mock draft, I like to sit down, clear my desk of all papers, books and notes and see what type of team I can draft.  Since the end of the season all I've done is take notes, write down little tidbits of information and talk to Lenny Melnick, Patrick DiCaprio and Tony Cincotta on where we thought players would be picked in drafts for the up coming season.

I really wanted to do this naked, and by naked I mean no papers, books or notes to refer to during the mock draft.  I needed to gauge where I stood with out having to rely on all the information that was surrounding me.

In my opinion, I think everyone of you should draft naked.  Don't rely on anyone else's stats or projections and see how your draft comes out.  Did you make a stupid pick in round five because you weren't sure of what a player did last year?  The pitcher you picked in round 10, is he over the hill or battling for a spot in the rotation? 

After the draft you can assess your team and see where you deficiencies lie when it comes to player information, roster moves and future rookie stars.
 

 

 

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez  New York Yankees  New York Mets  Jose Reyse  Carl Crawford  Tampa Bay Rays  Brandon Phllips  Cincinnati Reds  Manny Ramirez  BJ Upton  Nick Markakis  Baltimore Orioles