it's Fantasy Baseball time again and I've been scouting statistics and crunching numbers and perusing leagues and doing drafts (and other than that, saw Munich and vegetated most of this weekend)... so for lack of substance in my very distracted, disorganized, and dishevelled brain, I offer up the results of the three drafts I've already done (I'm way behind, Rasputin has already done five, at least... he's a lot more competitive than I am)... a few years ago I started a league for Diarylanders, but nobody was interested at the time... if you're interested in playing fantasy baseball this year, drop me a line...

first off, I've done no research, not general or specific... just have not had time to read sports magazines or papers or time to study stats...

general research is important because it someone is injured or having a good or poor Spring Training (or has been traded to anbother team or will or will not be starting or will be platooned or something else), it'll effect their fantasy sports points rather dramatically...

specific research is important because the scoring in each league is different based on selected stats and/or point values set by the league commisioner and I enjoy the leagues with many variables much more than the leagues with just a few...

most leagues are standard 5x5 leagues, which use five batting and five pitching categories... adding additional stat categories means your team needs to pick players differently in the draft...

I also enjoy leagues with more than the usual number of players because that makes for more picks in the draft and therefore a more in depth knowledge of the stats of many more players...

so this year I am flying by the seat of my pants, doing some last minute referencing of last year's stats, and making some educated and purely subconscious guesses (based on whatever I remember or feel about players)...

for me, this is an interesting approach that makes this year's fantasy baseball more fun (though it might not help the overall stats Yahoo keeps on my profiles, but then, that's just the competitive part and making it more interesting for myself is more important than simply doing well)...

so I've handicapped my fantasy baseball playing this year (I've finished first, second, or third in most leagues I've joined - last year two firsts and a third with one ID and a first with the other ID and, well, I did good and just wanted this year to be more challenging and since I didn't have enough time anyway, making it more challenging seemed to be valid reasoning)...

so on to the results of the draft...

this first draft was for a league based on the following positions and stats (if this doesn't make sense to you, well, then this entry has probably already lost you, but if you are interested in numbers and statistics and games that use them, fantasy sports might be fun for you even if you don't follow sports much... if you are into sports, it'll be all the more fun... if you want to know more, just ask):

Batting Positions:
C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Util, Util,

Pitching Positions:
SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P,

Bench/DL:
BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL

Batting Stats:
R, H, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, SLG,

Pitching Stats:
W, CG, SHO, SV, K, GIDP, HLD, ERA, WHIP

and this is how my draft turned out (with the sixth pick out of ten teams... the first number is the draft round, the number in parentheses is the overall pick number in the draft):

1. (6) D. Ortiz
2. (15) A. Soriano
3. (26) J. Peavy
4. (35) D. Jeter
5. (46) M. Ensberg
6. (55) H. Matsui
7. (66) B. Wagner
8. (75) J. Varitek
9. (86) K. Griffey Jr.
10. (95) T. Hoffman
11. (106) J. Beckett
12. (115) F. Garc�a
13. (126) K. Foulke
14. (135) M. Clement
15. (146) J. Francoeur
16. (155) W. Taveras
17. (166) L. Overbay
18. (175) G. Anderson
19. (186) S. Linebrink
20. (195) S. Shields
21. (206) M. Loretta
22. (215) C. Guill�n
23. (226) A. Small
24. (235) M. Morris

this next draft sat me at pick number 11 out of 12 players... I've actually won leagues before with the 12th pick in a 12 person league (and came in second with the 16th pick in a 16 team league), but it's still quite challenging to pick that high and win (you've got to not only pick really well, have healthy players, and have at least a few players that have exceptionally good years, but get lucky during the season and pick up some hot players along the way)...

Batting Positions:
C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, Util, Util,

Pitching Positions:
SP, SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P,

Bench/DL:
BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL, DL, DL

Batting Stats:
R, H, HR, RBI, SB, BB, K, AVG, OBP, SLG,

Pitching Stats:
IP, W, L, SV, ER, BB, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP

1. (11) C. Crawford
2. (14) C. Carpenter
3. (35) R. Harden
4. (38) D. Jeter
5. (59) H. Matsui
6. (62) E. Gagne
7. (83) T. Hoffman
8. (86) C. Schilling
9. (107) T. Gordon
10. (110) F. Garc�a
11. (131) A. Ben�tez
12. (134) T. Jones
13. (155) S. Hillenbrand
14. (158) R. Belliard
15. (179) N. Garciaparra
16. (182) B. Molina
17. (203) K. Rogers
18. (206) M. Alou
19. (227) C. Blake
20. (230) D. Wheeler
21. (251) S. Eyre
22. (254) P. Feliz
23. (275) G. Maddux
24. (278) R. Aurilia
25. (299) J. Encarnaci�n

and the third draft I drew the fifth spot out of eight teams... fewer teams, but still deep into the player pool with thirty rounds (thirty players on each team) and extra stat categories...

Batting Positions:
C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, IF, IF, LF, CF, RF, OF, OF, Util, Util, Util,

Pitching Positions:
SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P,

Bench/DL
BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL, DL

Batting Stats:
R, H, 1B, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, TB, AVG, OPS,

Pitching Stats:
GS, W, CG, SHO, SV, OUT, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP, K/BB, K/9

1. (5) M. Ram�rez
2. (12) M. Young
3. (21) D. Wright
4. (28) C. Utley
5. (37) A. Pettitte
6. (44) J. Beckett
7. (53) B. Ryan
8. (60) A. Dunn
9. (69) H. Matsui
10. (76) B. Myers
11. (85) V. Wells
12. (92) B. Bonds
13. (101) P. Burrell
14. (108) T. Hoffman
15. (117) S. Rolen
16. (124) A. Huff
17. (133) W. Taveras
18. (140) J. Lackey
19. (149) C. Capuano
20. (156) B. Wickman
21. (165) S. Linebrink
22. (172) S. Hillenbrand
23. (181) B. Molina
24. (188) M. Gonz�lez
25. (197) R. Belliard
26. (204) J. Drew
27. (213) D. Lowe
28. (220) M. Timlin
29. (229) B. Hall
30. (236) D. Young

and in about an hour I'll be doing another draft... this will be the first public league (competitive level {experienced players}, as opposed to casual {should be much easier}, which means anyone can join and the stats are set by the server with standard 5x5 stats and standard positions... you can see how much less info and fewer players a standard league has in the draft... the key to winning a standard league is much more than the draft, it's much more based on picking up hot players throughout the season (and since I like the drafting a whole lot more than the daily player transactions because I don't have time for daily player transactions, this sort of league does not appeal to me as much)...

Batting Positions:
C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Util,

Pitching Positions:
SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P,

Bench/DL
BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL

Batting Stats:
R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG,

Pitching Stats:
W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP

I'll let you know how the draft turns out later...

not my best draft... but it'll be a challenge...

1. (9) M. Young
2. (16) I. Suzuki
3. (33) R. Johnson
4. (40) J. Kent
5. (57) H. Matsui
6. (64) A. Pettitte
7. (81) T. Hoffman
8. (88) K. Foulke
9. (105) C. Lee
10. (112) B. Wickman
11. (129) C. Ray
12. (136) G. Anderson
13. (153) S. Hillenbrand
14. (160) B. Molina
15. (177) B. Hall
16. (184) M. Alou
17. (201) P. Polanco
18. (208) J. Gibbons
19. (225) D. Lowe
20. (232) B. McCarthy
21. (249) J. Burnitz

Rasputin set up this league and he just opened it up to the public... so far there are four teams in it, Rasputin, his brother, me, and somebody we don t know... so join up (though that link might not work until you register for the league with the following info):

League Name: National Treasure
League ID: 18983
Password: American

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
(just let me know you were here)