What This Crazy Life is Doing to Me

I realize that posting something about one's fantasy baseball team might not be the best way to go most days. It could be boring, if not outright repugnant to some readers. But it's Sunday morning, and I'm drinking coffee strong enough to give me a permanent natural eyebrow lift. So I feel like writing.

Last year, I played fantasy baseball for the first time and the everyday aspect of it hooked me big-time. And when I get into something, I tend to dive in head-first. So this year, I tossed aside the syringe and opted for the IV drip, signing up for more teams that available leisure time will likely allow. (The first couple of teams, of course, are meant to be "practice" for the league[s] I really want to win.)

Since no one in my regular everyday life plays fantasy baseball, thus giving me no one to talk with about it, I figured I'd post my first draft results here and see if anyone has a thought or two to share. It's a Yahoo! 12-team rotisserie league, and I began with the fifth pick. In order of draft selection, here is Delaware Mud:

1. Jose Reyes
2. Travis Hafner
3. Justin Morneau
4. Victor Martinez
5. Chone Figgins
6. Ryan Zimmerman
7. Adam Dunn
8. Nick Swisher
9. Brad Lidge
10. Francisco Cordero
11. Bob Wickman
12. Jeff Francoeur
13. Brad Hawpe
14. Josh Barfield
15. Derek Lowe
16. Curtis Granderson
17. Freddy Garcia
18. Scott Olsen
19. Kevin Millwood
20. Scot Shields
21. Dan Wheeler

I'd be curious to see what others think, but I'm pretty damn happy with this stash. With the fifth pick, I snagged who many "experts" consider the second best player in fantasy baseball, Jose Reyes. And I was still able to pick up a big power hitter by the time my turn came up in the second round.

I didn't want to take a catcher so early, but the top-shelf outfielders and third basemen were gone, so I just went with who looked like the best hitter on the board. Also, the run on closers started much sooner than I thought it would.

To me, the biggest mistake was waiting too long to draft starting pitching. Ideally, Derek Lowe wouldn't have been my first guy. I'd prefer to have at least one "ace." But a decent starting pitcher can be found on waivers most days, and maybe I can deal stolen bases or saves for some help down the line.

Actually, I really screwed up in the 14th round and missed Dave Bush. Had I been able to find him, he would've been my pick, but that was the one round where I was frantically shuffing through my lists, looking over names that hadn't been crossed off, and didn't get a pick in on time. So Josh Barfield was automatically selected for me. Not a bad pick, really. But Chone Figgins is eligible at 2B in Yahoo! leagues, so I had that position covered. It could've been worse.