I'm drafting my 15-team mixed home league Sunday, and I was seriously thinking of punting starting pitching for 10-12 rounds because there are so many high-upside rookie pitchers coming into the league this year. Please feel free to tell me I'm delusional, but assuming I draft 2-3 closers, I could get 6-7 pitchers, mostly rookies late.
How would this staff look:
Then I fill my six-man bench with four cheap starters like Brad Penny, Glen Perkins, Nick Blackburn and Anthony Reyes - at least until Hanson and Price come up.
I might also sub in Clay Buchholz for Price/Hanson depending on which was cheaper. I wanted to add in Stephen Strasburg, but he won't be up until at least mid-summer and probably later, so I'd hold off. And I don't want to mess with the two Rangers star prospects (that's a terrible park), or any of the Orioles' ones, either because of the division.
The reason I feel I could do this is that young Oakland pitchers almost never fail, Hanson and Price are monsters, and McDonald and Zimmermann are in the NL in good parks.
Of course, I wouldn't have to go all rookies per se - other cheap pitchers with upside like Andrew Miller or Homer Bailey might work just as well. But it would be cool thematically to restrict it to rooks.
And my offense would be sick because with the exception of Rivera (who I've decided I'm going to take in every league), my first 13 picks or so would be hitters.
And no, this is not an April Fools post - I'm being serious.