Draft Day Dilemma

OK, here's the story, party people: Brendan and I both took a siesta after suffering a few hangovers. Yours truly was hung over actually and spiritually over United losing big to Liverpool and apparently, they're still hung over if losing to Fulham shows me anything. As for Brendan, well, he just has the habit of getting hung over.

After going toe-to-toe on the Shortstop dilemma, Ray and I felt it was time to head back 60 feet 6 inches from the dish, and tackle some starting pitchers who actually don't wear the same team's jersey. I'm sure you recall the debacle that was Shields vs. Kazmir, where Ray finally conceded defeat - the smartest move he's pulled this entire series. But he came back, like the glutton for punishment that he is, so today I school him on several life lessons, like finding oneself, locating one's center, and selecting a staff Ace.

We're balls deep in these dilemmas now, and there's simply no turning back! Full speed ahead!!

Today's draft day dilemma deals with two up-and-coming shortstops who have similar upside and can do some serious damage to your stress threshold: Stephen Drew and Troy Tulowitzki.

After three successful Draft Day Dilemmas, including our most recent Shields vs. Kazmir, we're back, heading back into the sea of grass known as the Outfield. Today we pit two guys who can be had in the 4th Round of most drafts, Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis, against one another. The count, last I checked, is 3 - 0 in my favor, so let's see if we can't pull a 2004 Red Sox and take four in a row against the evil opposition. House money is on the sweep, folks. Let's get busy, shall we?

Today's dilemma pits two Tampa Bay Rays pitchers against each other: James Shields and Scott Kazmir, both of whom couldn't be any more different than the fact they're teammates for the defending American League champions. In the fantasy world, Scott Kazmir still pulls the strings of fantasy managers' hearts with his tantalizing strikeout upside and the capability for dominant stretches.

After the raging success that was our first Draft Day Dilemma: Ian Kinsler vs. Chase Utley, where I completely out-dueled Ray in every possible way, shape, or form (mark it down folks, Hort - 1, Ray - 0), we're back to take a look at another Draft conundrum: the 35 year old perennial All-Star Ichiro, or 25 year old Beantown favorite, Jacoby Ellsbury. Both these guys burn up the base paths and make more contact than Chris Brown before the Grammys (too soon?). So, for all their similarities, what differentiates these two? Well, Ray and I are here to give you the shake down, as we come out of our corners, gloves up, for Round 2. Somebody ring the bell... Ding. Ding.

Welcome to the first debate of our Draft Day Dilemma series. With Chase Utley's recuperation from offseason hip surgery going better than planned to the point he can be ready for Opening Day, the debate as to who's the top-ranked 2B entering 2009 continues to heat up. By default, Utley has rightfully been the most sought-after second bagger in fantasy baseball for the last 3-4 seasons.

Coming very soon to Rotodatabase is a special draft prep series called "Draft Day Dilemmas". In each entry, Brendan and yours truly will look at two closely valued players with similar average draft positions and/or similar production value. Then, we'll both take a side in making a case as to why player X should be drafted over player Y, or vice versa. Here's a preview of topics we'll cover: