Mastersball

OK, forgive the shameless plug for the Draftstreet game my mate Lord Zola is driving. And, I will get back to that.

A bunch of years ago--when I was first starting to get a reputation at playing fantasy ball--my brother suggested that if I applied my player prediction skills to the stock market, I could be rich.

Maybe, for some odd reason making a fortune as suggested was never as much of a driving force in my existence as wanting to figure out if Matt Moore is really going to be as good as the numbers suggest. Or more important, when?

Anyway, there are pretty good parallels between player prediction and the market, in fact for a while many years back I wrote once a week for Wall Street Sports, which had the basic premise of picking slumping or unproven players on the cheap, and building a portfolio by buying those players on the rise and dumping before they slump.

Well, the Draftstreet setup is pretty similar in principle, allowing us a $100,000 salary cap to assemble a team with eight position players, a pair of utility guys, two starters, a reliever, and an extra arm.

As my mate Todd has probably explained, in the point-based system, you get points for the good stuff, like homers and walks acrued, and lose them for allowing homers and walks.

Anyway, to facilitate some player interaction, Draftstreet is giving all of us a freebie, and well, to me this seems kind of fun.

It means you can sign up and play against Todd, Ryan Carey, and me (and perhaps a few more Mastersballers and friends) for not just fun, but those all important bragging rights.

Ultimately, what I am hoping is even a little dialogue--though I know Todd and Ryan are working this on our Platinum Board--where we can indeed discuss what works, what doesn't, and how we come to the choices we make.

As for my squad, I used up all but $186 of my 100 grand. And, for fun, here is who I picked this time through the cycle (note we will be playing every couple of weeks in the same format), and my logic (if any).

• Buster Posey Giants are heating up, coming home, and the LOVE Buster at ATT.
• Albert Pujols  He will never get cheaper, and is due to bust out. Once he does, a few multi homer games abound.
• Ian Kinsler Does everything on a team that hits everything.
• David Freese Won't be a sleeper too much longer.
• Cliff Pennington Steady, plays every day, and cheap.
• Ben Zobrist Another guy who is cheap based upon a slow start. Calculated gamble.
• Jose Tabata When players are hitting around the Mendoza line three weeks into the year, it suggests multi hit games are looming. Steals, too.
• Josh Reddick Keep an eye on Reddick. He is a steady young star on the move.
• Matt Kemp Gotta spend the big bucks somewhere. Matty K. is red hot.
• John Mayberry Under the radar but has some power (if they would let him play).
• C.C. Sabathia Mr. Steady, and slowly gaining his command. Not to mention he is a Yankee, and they tend to win.
• Cory Luebke Another young star on the rise. If you don't know his name, you should.
• Santiago Casilla Part of the Giants closer mix, Casilla was cheap, and pairs nicely with...
• Sergio Romo Romo, who is undoubtedly the best set-up man in the National League (and also cheap for now).

Remember, baseball, and fantasy baseball as well, are supposed to be fun, and this looks like it.