Talkin' baseball

Warning: Extremely nerdy subject matter follows

Yesterday, most members of my past-our-collective-prime softball team gathered for our yearly Fantasy Baseball draft, one of the few genuine sources of entertainment I have found around here. I did pretty crappy last year. Finished next-to-last if I remembered correctly. This year, I actually did some research, and went in with a specific gameplan, deciding to target individual players and be willing to overpay to get them, knowing I could acquire $1 sleepers down the road.

Our league runs drafts as an auction, with each GM being allocated $260 dollars to spend to fill out a team. What ended up happening this year, with expanded rosters, is that prices for superstar players started out high, as expected (ARod for $41, for example), but as the draft went on and coffers got low, suddenly, good players started going for a lot less (Justin Verlander for $19?). It was living in 1980s Argentina or the Weimar Republic. Heck, I got Rick Ankiel and Jacoby Ellsbury late for a $1 each!

The only player I desperately wanted but didn't get was Jeff Francouer, leaving me with a outfield long on potential but definitely looking shakier than a three-legged table; however, I've got starting pitching to die for and actually have closers for once (Fantasy truism: never, ever pay for saves - what's the difference between Matt Capps and Jonathan Papelbon? $25).

Anywho, this is what the team looks like:

Bend Derenbacks (it is my dream to someday have enough money to bring a minor league baseball team back to central Oregon, and name them the Derenbacks - oh, the humanity)
C: Russel Martin, LAD
1B: Nick Swisher, CWS
2B: Brandon Phillips, CIN
SS: Miguel Tejada, HOU
MI: Bobby Crosby, OAK
3B: David Wright, NYM
OF: Josh Hamilton, TEX
OF: Rick Ankiel, STL
OF: Lastings Millidge, WAS
UTIL: Billy Butler, KC
UTIL: Ryan Garko, CLE
SP: Erik Bedard, SEA
SP: Felix Hernandez, SEA
SP: Justin Verlander, DET
SP: Ian Snell, PIT
SP: Johnny Cueto, CIN
RP: Matt Capps, PIT
RP: Troy Percival, TB
RP: Francisco Cordero, CIN

BENCH: Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, BOS
BENCH: Andy LaRoche, 1B, PIT
BENCH: Justin Upton, OF, ARZ
BENCH: Rich Hill, SP, CHC

Yeah, my outfield is iffy, and I'm none too fond of hoping for big years from Tejada and/or Crosby at SS, but look at that pitching! Bedard, Verlander, and King Felix?! That's just insane.

We now resume our normally scheduled blogging, already in progress.

Dave