Let the Fantasies Begin

Today marked the official start of the Fantasy season for me, as I had my first draft. Due to some scheduling difficulties, it was in the middle of the day, and I couldn't participate myself. Fortunately I went in prepared and my boy NPD hooked me up for the important rounds. The league is a ten team, head-to-head league, with the following categories:

Offense: R, HR, RBI, SB, BB, K, OPS
Defense: IP, W, L, SV, K, ERA, WHIP

A league constructed like this puts very little emphasis on closers in my mind, because they will help significantly in one category: saves. Now, if this was a regular rotisserie league, I would have to compete on saves, so as to not finish in the cellar in that category. However, this is a weekly league, and I would rather have a significant advantage in six categories and suck in one, than to be pretty good across the board and hope things break my way each week. Lastly, if you have two great closers, but one of your teams is in a slump in a given week, you essentially have one useless pitcher. Why bother? I purposely excluded closers in my draft strategy. Here are the results:

Round 1, Pick 1: Albert Pujols
Round 2, Pick 10: Jason Schmidt
Round 3, Pick 1: Curt Schilling
Round 4, Pick 10: Ben Sheets
Round 5, Pick 1: Eric Chavez
Round 6, Pick 10: JD Drew
Round 7, Pick 1: Matt Clement
Round 8, Pick 10: Joe Mauer
Round 9, Pick 1: Ray Durham
Round 10, Pick 10: Brian Giles
Round 11, Pick 1: Andruw Jones
Round 12, Pick 10: Zach Greinke
Round 13, Pick 1: Brad Radke
Round 14, Pick 10: Milton Bradley
Round 15, Pick 1: Kaz Matsui
Round 16, Pick 10: Scot Shields
Round 17, Pick 1: Atnori Otsuka
Round 18, Pick 10: Bronson Arroyo
Round 19, Pick 1: Corey Koskie
Round 20, Pick 10: Mike Sweeney
Round 21, Pick 1: D'Angelo Jimenez

Incredible. Simply incredible. A rotation of Schmidt, Schill, Sheets, Clement, Greinke, Radke, and Arroyo. 7 awesome pitchers. And while I didn't have the greatest lineup, it was more than solid. From here the real fun begins. Larry, our league commish, doesn't like waivers. Neither do I to be honest, but I have become accustomed to them. I'm sure someone will abuse this privilege later in the season, and I may bring that to his attention, but for now it's very cool. Changes made:

D'Angelo Jimenez dropped for Trot Nixon
Mike Sweeney dropped for BJ Upton
Kaz Matsui dropped for Mike Gonzalez
Milton Bradley dropped for Tadahito Iguchi

So here's how things shape up:

C: Joe Mauer
1B: Albert Pujols
2B: Ray Durham, Tadahitp Iguchi
3B: Eric Chavez, Corey Koskie, BJ Upton
SS: BJ Upton
OF: JD Drew, Brian Giles, Andruw Jones, Trot Nixon

SP: Jason Schmidt, Curt Schilling, Ben Sheets, Matt Clement, Zach Greinke, Brad Radke, Bronson Arroyo
RP: Scot Shields, Atnori Otsuka, Mike Gonzalez

Suffice to say I'm pretty happy. It's hard to be nitpicking after such a good draft, but potential weaknesses lie in a lack of steals, and possibly wins, as Sheets and Greinke pitch for below average clubs, and Arroyo is somehow not a lock for the rotation. Upton faces a similar fate, as Sweet Lou is almost completely irrational at this point. If Upton gets sent down to AAA that would suck, but I suppose I could pick up Khalil Greene or Matsui.

All in all, this might be my best first draft of the season on record. I suppose it is actually my second draft, what with my Scoresheet league and all, but that didn't have the same feel, because I was able to take my time with each pick.