Mastersball

Last week I further built upon my case that the recent spate of perfect games in baseball--that would be five over two years if we include Armando Galarraga--is not so much a case of superior pitching as it is inferior hitting.

Well, last Saturday I worked the Padres/Athletics interleague game, and though these two teams are not necessarily juggernauts of the offense, they are still lineups with major league hitters, facing major league pitchers.

Starting this particular circus were Ross Ohlendorf and Tyson Ross (they have Ross in common, eh?). They also both had no-hitters going through three innings, despite 56 pitches (30 strikes) from Ohlendorf and 44 (22 strikes) from Ross.

Ohlendorf lost his no-no when Seth Smith crushed a 1-0 slider over the center field wall, and Ross lost his no-hitter in the sixth, with two outs, to Carlos Quentin, after issuing a walk to Chase Headley.

At that point the score was Oakland 3, San Diego 2, and Ross came out after tossing 95 pitches, 50 for strikes, while Ohlendorf was pulled after 3.2 innings, and 85 pitches, 51 for strikes.

Sean Doolittle came in to cover Oakland in the seventh, and promptly lost the lead, allowing a double, a walk, and then a double, but was bailed out in the bottom of the seventh after Cliff Pennington walked, and Jemile Weeks singled. Josh Reddick then hit into a force out allowing Pennington to move to third, and Luke Gregerson was called in, mid at-bat, to finish off Jonny Gomes. His first throw was a wild pitch, and Pennington scored and the game was tied.

With a three-and-one count, Gomes crushed a two-run shot over the left field wall.

In the eighth, former closer Grant Balfour came in to hold the lead in the eighth, and he was awful, as follows:

1. Chase Headley lead off with a hard grounder down the line, nicely picked by Brandon Moss for a ground out.
2. Carlos Quentin walked.
3. Mark Kotsay  singled hard to right on a 3-2 count, with Headly moving to third. So, three batters, one fine defensive play, and runners on the corners.
4. Yonder Alonso hit a scorched line drive--also down the first base line--that Moss was able to spear while falling down. In the process he rolled over first base, doubling Kotsay off the bag, and ending the inning.

Somehow through all of that, Balfour was credited with a hold, while Gregerson, who threw precisely six pitches (he whiffed Brandon Inge after the Gomes dinger on three straight strikes) got the loss.

In the end, Ryan Cook came on to save the game, and of the nine pitchers who took the mound last Saturday, he was the only one who displayed any pitching acumen at all.

He got the save, and crazily Doolittle got the win despite five batters, two hits, a walk, and two runs over an inning. However, since awarding the victory is at the discretion of the OS, I personally begged Art Santo Domingo to award the win to Brandon Moss, who saved the game and Balfour with his two terrific defensive plays.

Still, four San Diego hits, and seven Oakland hits for a 5-3 game, with such lousy pitching does confirm my original therom:  hitting sucks.

Last year I wrote a piece for KFFL entitled Maybe Hitting is Just Lousy.

In it--and I encourage you to hit the link--I noted how terrible OBP was last year, and that maybe these days of great pitching is helped a lot by crappy hitting.

Well, on the heels of Matt Cain's perfect game--and, sorry, I was not there, so I did not work it--I started thinking more about that crappy hitting in the context of the perfectos.

Well, think about this:

Now, surely some of the frequency of this occurance has to do with that expansion as more teams means more hitters, and instead of the 224 best hitters alive, which is what there was essentially to 1962 with the first expansion, to now 30 teams, who, at 14 hitters per team, 644 hitters.

So, again, there is the factor to the hitting base is diluted.

Now, again, the focus on that KFFL piece I wrote is how terrible hitting--and in particular OBP--how suffered over the past few years, partially because younger players are being promoted sooner.

I think part of this is also that home runs are much not just what owners want, but how a player gets noticed, so working a count and taking advantage of strike zone knowledge have become less of a focal point it seems.

Which supports my thought that the "art" of hitting has shifted from Rembrandt and Matisse to the likes of Thomas Kinkade.

Of course this makes my brain kind explode with possibilities for study, from strikeouts per year, to number of walks to number of home runs, and then pro-rating everything to see how per player of "x" games--for remember, before expansion, 154 games was a season--strikeouts and OBP totals for hitters, while strikeouts and HRs allowed, for example among pitchers has changed.

Now, I do realize that a lot of the above might have already been done, but well, I am thinking about stuff I might do when I retire from having to do anything other than baseball to generate income (I do, but almost there).

But, I do think there is something to 22% of the total of one of baseball's rarest occurances all took place over the past three years.

 Mind you, I am not trying to diminish the accomplishments of those who have indeed tossed perfect games.

But, well, there is indeed something happening here and what it is is really not exactly clear. You know?

Before I go through my DraftStreet team for my fourth cycle of play, it is Interleague Time.

Now, I will confess I accept the DH, kind of like I accept Astroturf. I am not really crazy about either, but they are part of the baseball universe in which I live.

I am vehemently opposed, however, to any form of Instant Replay. For though I do understand the notion of wanting to get it right, since baseball--and all other sports for that matter--are games played and judged by human beings, it is fine with me to live with mistakes as part of the human factor of the game. Nothing is indeed perfect (including Instant Replay) and allowing for the human judge is akin to having an open and free society, as we enjoy here in America: the situation brings forth issues by definition. But, I would rather embrace that freedom and live with the consequences that live under restrictions than the illusion that being second guessed is an improvement, let alone always right.

But, I absolutely love Interleague Play.

I don't really know why, but as I write, I watch the Tigers and the Reds. I flipped this on after watching the Cubs and Twins, and before that it was a bit of the Marlins and Rays. However, I started the evening watching Luke Hochevar (who is on my Tout Wars team) duel Erik Bedard (who is on my XFL team) for six innings, before Hochevar was lifted for a pinch hitter.

And, I cringed watching Eric Hosmer play in the outfield, letting a ball get past him. And while part of me chuckles at the karma of the DH, the other part chuckles because it is indeed fun to watch these match-ups. I mean, I rarely watch either the Royals or the Buccos unless I happen to be working a game locally, and one of the teams is playing.

In fact next week I have Athletics games where the Oaklanders play both the Rockies and Padres in Oakland, and I look forward to it.

Back to the Pirates and the Royals, it is almost like an imaginary World Series that will never happen. It reminds me of being in London in 1977, during the start of the football season. There were ads for American beer on the wall of the underground stations, one of which extolled Super Bowl #12, ostensibly featuring the Chiefs and the Giants (in reality it was the Broncos and Cowboys).

At the time, that was as much of a pipe dream as a KC/Pittsburgh is now.

But, that does not mean it is not fun watching the two teams square off.

So, Yay to Interleague Play!

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So, my latest DraftStreet foray worked a lot better than in the past, as my team actually finished 18th, with 60.8 points, missing the winning Rosalita Team (shepherded by none other than Mastersball's Todd Zola) by basically Kendrys Morales.

Had I taken Morales, and his 12.5 points at $5551 instead of Bryan LaHair (-1.5) at $6182, my total of 74.8 points would have been enough to beat Z and his squad's 73.8 winning points.

If.

But I did not. Todd and I both did milk the very hot Paul Goldschmidt (15.5 points), but otherwise we had no players in common.

A much better showing, and one where I managed 31.55 pitching points. I did draw an Arizona blank with Jason Kubel, though interestingly, Todd had the same issue with both Willie Bloomquist and Justin Upton.

Still, I was tracking my team, because, well, it is fun.

And, well, like I said, I would have done better, if. Of course, so would Todd, although I am not sure what is better than winning?

I have had pretty good success in my Scoresheet League since I joined the Murphy configuration four years ago. My first season I had the best record in the 24-team head-to-head set up, and just missed the playoffs year two (thanks to my making a dumb trade and a dumb freeze) and year three we made it to the league World Series, though lost.

Part of this has been good drafting taking those dull sensible everyday players like Jason Kubel over potential young stars like Jesus Montero. Part of it has been in gambling on guys like Alex Gordon and Carl Pavano at the right time. And, part of the success has been when I inherited my team two of the freezes I got were Albert Pujols and Roy Halladay.

Albert and Doc certainly are capable of carrying a team--or at least they have been over the past decade--although, as I thought about assembling my freeze list in March, I started thinking about moving one or both, hoping to exchange them for some up-and-comers before the 35-year old pitcher and 32-year old hitter started to hit the slide inevetible in professional sports as players age.

Still, good players--say Derek Jeter, or even Lance Berkman--can reach deep and seriously produce as they get older, and the reality is there is nothing in the resume of either Pujols or Halladay to suggest they were ready to struggle for the first time, or, well, ever.

However, there are a couple of corollaries I like to follow when drafting--and trading in keeper leagues--while playing the season out.

First is the old Branch Rickey trading maxim of swap a guy a year before he goes bad.

There were a couple of reasons for this in Rickey's view. First, when swapping, you get top value in exchange for your commodity. Second, if the player gives a good season in his new venue, the team will not necessarily associate you with taking advantage. They will remember you traded them a guy who hit .295-32-101 when they got him from you, and not that he hit .256-17-63 a year later, .234-12-43 the next, and was swapped for Jamie Wright the following year. Which means the same team will likely be willing to trade again in the future.

But, I also have this rule within the fantasy universe and that is if a player has put together a pair of stellar years, try to avoid him, at least in throw-back leagues.

For example, players can have breakout years, like Matt Kemp last year, or Carlos Gonzalez..

The reality is those guys cost (or make high draft picks) the following year, with the expectation that they will meet or exceed the previous season. Matt Kemp might equal his 2011 line of .324-39-126, but the odds he will exceed it are slim. True, he might exceed those numbers one season over his career, but it is a hard game.

Same with Cargo a couple of years back, when .336-34-114, and while he might, like Kemp, exceed that total, perhaps even this year, expecting such steady production over a prolonged period is simply unreasonable in a game with such a fine margin of success and error, not to mention the potential for injury.

So, with Halladay and Pujols essentially putting up 10 straight years of exceptional statistics, and bearing in mind each player is moving to the final third of their respective careers, it was reasonable to expect an off-year sooner rather than later.

Hence, as the freeze date approached, I had to consider swapping both players because after three good years in a row, let alone ten, the odds were telling me think about moving them.

The problem, however, in the Murphy Scoresheet League is we as can only freeze eight players (that rule has since been expanded to allow us to each keep a soft eight, and up to three minor leaguers who take the 19th-21st draft slots), the question becomes what can I get for them, and how many of those spoils, in addition to the rest of my freeze list, can I actually keep.

So, I chickened out and froze them both.

I do have a good feeling that Halladay will rebound to close to his dominant form, at least for another year or two, and Pujols seems to have regained the bulk of his groove, although I am not sure if that means my team makes it to the post-season this time (we currently sit at 25-26, nine games out of first in out division, but with 111 games to go), and that also means some hard decisions next year.

But, since this year might be a loss leader anyway, though, I do wish I had swapped and begun revamping my squad now, while I could get the market maximum.

Like I generally say: "listen to those instincts." They are telling you things for a reason.

In fairness to the Angels, they are playing in a division with arguably the best team in baseball: The Texas Rangers.

However, this is a team with C.J. Wilson, Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Howard  Kendrick, Erick Aybar, Mark Trumbo, Kendrys Morales, and oh yeah, that Albert Pujols guy. Plus Torii Hunter, Vernon Wells, Chris Iannetta who have been hurt, Peter Bourjos who has been ineffective, and Mike Trout, the youngest player in the American League who has been terrific.

So, why are the Angels in last place in the A.L. West, seven games behind the Rangers, but also behind the rebuilding Mariners and the interesting but erratic Athletics?

It is not like the Los Angeles American League franchise has been problematic over the years, in fact especially since skipper Mike Scioscia has a .546 W/L percentage (1086-903), with five division crowns, and a World Series title in 2002, when they were a Wild Card participant.

But, after a six-year run, when Sciocia's team won those five titles with a second place finish between 2004-09, the Angels have not really been threatening since, landing third in 2010, second last year, while holding down fourth place this year.

Surely, to kick things up a notch and keep pace with, if not exceed Ron Washington and his Rangers, the Angels signed two of the most intriguing free agents this past off-season with Pujols and Rangers defector Wilson, but the Rangers replaced Wilson with Yu Darvish, and have enough spare parts who would be starters elsewhere that well, they are dominating once again.

In fact, I expect the Rangers will win the AL West, and I even think the third time will be the charm for Ron Washington and he will get his World Series title.

But, if I had to pick a dark horse, it would be the Angels, who really have all the pieces, and like our roto teams that take half the season to get healthy and coalesce, but then gain some steam and put themselves in the position of being hot at the right time. Like maybe the Cardinals of last year, or the Giants of the year before, since neither was the best team on paper, yet both beat the Rangers, the squad that arguably was the best.

So, I think betting on Pujols, Trout, Kendrick, Weaver, et al is really a pretty good bet over the course of the season. And one most people will dismiss at this juncture. Because over the course of the season, all those Angels players have pretty good career averages.

OK, I will do my best to not be political here, but, well, this week's topic sort was handed to me on a silver home plate.

A few years back, while I was ferrying back and forth between Chicago and Berkeley I read David Halberstam's wonderful book, "Summer of '49," which documents the amazing pennant race between the Yankees and the Red Sox, punctuated by great seasons by each team's offensive star. That would be Joe DiMaggio--who was injured the first chunk of the season as the Yanks struggled--and Ted Williams for the Red Sox as the great right fielder was producing at his peak.

Though Joltin' Joe managed to play in just 76 games that season, he put up a line of .346-14-67, good for a 1.055 OPS, while Teddy Ballgame led the league in just about every offensive category, hitting .343-43-159, leading in homers, RBI, runs (150), doubles (39), OBP (.490), Slugging (.556), games (155), at-bats (730) and total bases (368). By the way, that also mean and OPS of 1.141.

Within that great narrative we are introduced to the Yankees back-up catcher of those days, Charlie Silvera.

And, as it turns out, Charlie is a Bay Area resident, and a gentleman who likes to attend Giants games on Sundays. Charlie backed up Yogi Berra back then, functioning as the bench support  between 1948-1957, and to give an idea how durable Yogi was, Silvera managed a career line of .282-1-52 over 227 games and 541 at-bats during that ten-year span.

Since I frequently work Sunday games at ATT, I have gotten to know Charlie, who indeed is a character, and at age 87 is still a pretty sharp tack. In fact, one of Charlie's best tales deals with his squatting in the on-deck circle, taking a foul ball off the cup, and being carried off the field on a stretcher post contact. "That," Charlie says with a twinkle, "was the only standing ovation I ever got in baseball, when they carried me off from that."

Of course it is so much fun talking with--and mining the experience of--Charlie, hearing what it was like to play with Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle, not to mention Yogi, and playing under Casey Stengel. Along with being on so many Championship teams, for during his tenure, the Yankees made the World Series eight times, and won six, including a ridiculous five in a row between 1949-53. In fact, Charlie refers to his home in the city as "The house that Berra built," for Silvera's World Series checks essentially made the purchase possible.

Well, David Halberstam, who sadly died in a freak auto accident in Menlo Park--also in the Bay Area--in 2007 also wrote another baseball book, "October 1964," which covers the final Series appearance of that mighty Yankee juggernaut before an eleven year post-season drought that lasted from 1965 to 1976.

Halberstam's book actually focuses on that last year, and the writing on the wall, and as I began reading the book, I was seriously struck by the opening quote, before the Prologue.

"There is nothing more vulnerable than entrenched success"--George Romney

That would be George Romney, father to current Republican Presidential nominee-in-waiting Willard Mitt Romney, and the quote was made to Halberstam when speaking about the fate of General Motors in the 1980's.

Now Romney the Elder, was not only Governor of Michigan, but also CEO of American Motors, the car company that outlasted the bulk of Detroit wannabes, but never made it to the "Big Three."  American Motors, if you are old enough, gave us the Rambler and the Pacer and the Gremlin, and my favorite, the Metropolitan Nash (if you ever saw the film "The Big Picture," that is the tiny little car Kevin Bacon drives after he loses his Porsche and Hollywood prestige).

And, if you look at what Romney Senior said, he is right. Think of companies like Sony, or IBM, or Xerox, not to mention Ford, GM and Chrysler, all of which over-confidently sat at the top of the corporate heap, and all of which fell from grace and had to either seriously reinvent themselves or become extinct. And, actually Sony is in the process of trying to do that, having lost their edge to the likes of LG, Lenovo, and Apple.

But, aside from the irony of Romney the Younger claiming credit for the resurgence of the American automotive industry, which is beyond specious, Romney the Elder's advice is pretty good when applying to business, or god forbid, even fantasy baseball.

The quote is apropos the book for that 1964 year, the signs were clear that the aging Yankees--brittle Mantle, moody Maris, aging Ford and Berra et al--and with a diminished minor league footprint had run out their championship string.

In the fantasy world, this always seems tantamount to having that team that is out of the blocks strong, building maybe even a 20-point lead this early in the year: a distance that seems insurmountable to the other teams.

In fact, I had this "problem" last year as my American League LABR team was rocking and rolling like no other. The problem is that made it hard to make moves, for the proverbial notion of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" prevailed.

However, the problem is once a free fall begins, it is very difficult to put on the stops. That is largely because the free agent pool has been long picked clean, and the slumps and injuries that may have evaded a leading team, and haunted the lower squads in the same ranks, tend to reverse themselves over the course of the year.

So, I think, as we move towards Memorial Day, and that first real benchmark of the quality of our seasons--be your league keeper or throw back--heed the advice of Romney the Elder.

Don't sit on your laurels, but rather stay active and vibrant for success--and related championships--don't just happen.

They are made.

What has happened to the once mighty and steady Minnesota Twins?

As a fantasy owner, I was always one to purchase and draft members of the Twinkies for a myriad of reasons.

For one thing, they were perennial contenders. Over the past ten seasons Minnesota made the playoff six times, and only twice over that spread did they finish under .500. Once was in 2007 when the team went 79-83--dangerously close to the water line--and then last year, their second full season at Target Field, and away from that cushy indoor Metrodome that I think was a lot friendlier to their team than anyone wants to admit.

But, that is a second reason, for I liked taking players from the Twin Cities because they always had players like Randy Bush and Greg Gagne who hit in the .270's and knocked 10-plus homers, and swiped 10-plus bases, and best of all, were generally dismissed by the rest of the league, making them cheap and solid sleepers.

My first team had Bush, and Tim Laudner, along with Kent Hrbek and Tom Brunansky (who was brutally traded to St. Louis right after the start of the 1988 season, leaving me a hole) and I finished third. But, with Bush, and Kevin Tapani, I developed a strategy that allowed me to really focus hard on players of their ilk: Undervalued. And that led to more than a few local titles.

That trend continued for me into 2010, when I won the AL Tout Wars title largely on the backs of Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer, and Carl Pavano, all of whom were bargains and big producers for my team.

So, what has happened since, as Minnesota had their worst season last year since 1982, winning just 66 games?

Surely a lot of it is the money tied into their two stars, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, both of whom are tied to big contracts, as well as extended stints on the DL over the past few years.

There is something else going on with a team that used to do the basics so well. Under former manager Tom Kelly, who managed the team for 15 years starting in 1987, the team always seemed competitive, and more important, they always were able to replace players lost without any fuss or muss. I always thought this a combination of solid consistant drafting, coupled with then really aclimated their young players into that system so they became interchangable puzzle pieces of the highest order.

Something has even happened with that, where the team seemed to think that Nick Blackburn and Nick Punto, along with Jamey Carroll were the answer to much? And, while I am a big Eric Komatsu fan (I thought the guy had sleeper written all over him), I cannot understand why Minnesota simply does not give an everyday chance to Ben Revere? I mean, how much worse could the team be?

And, though the Twins did indeed make the playoffs in 2010, their first at Target Field, since then they are an abyssmal 71-122, and it does not look like the bloodletting will be over in the next few years, because that once never-ending stream of well drafted and disciplined players seems to have dried up.

Which is kind of sad, especially since current manager, Ron Gardenhire has really picked up the Kelly guantlet, managing the team over the past 10-plus seasons.

In fact, I am not sure if the move to Target is the thing, and Minnesota is simply trying to figure out how to build a team to be successful in their new home, as they did at the Metrodome, or somehow management, their approach, and decisions have just turned everything to the crapper.

But, I do hope the Twins figure it out and make a return, for I like Gardenhire. And, well, I always loved mining their underated yet successful teams as they always helped my teams be both the same: underrated and successful.

Wednesday night I looked forward to scoring the Giants/Marlins game for a couple of reasons.

The first was I simply liked the match-up for sentimental reasons as Giants starter Barry Zito and Marlins hurler Carlos Zambrano have long been favorites of mine.

I have spoken with Zito from time-to-time since his Oakland debut on July 22, 2000, when the then 22-year old took the pill for the first time, and Zambrano was my #1 on my top prospect list in both 2000 and 2001, being just 19 the first time he topped that list (The Big Z, as he is known, had his first game a little more than a year after Zito, on August 20, 2001).

It does seem funny now that both guys were--or at least seemed--so young back then, for when I think about it, I was more than twice the age of each pitcher when they made their first major league appearance (scary that I am getting that old), but since they were both favorites back when I have always had a fondness for them (you know how we get those mancrushes on prospects we champion and follow).

So, on Wednesday Zito brought his then 1-0, 1.63 ERA to ATT and Zambrano his 0-2, 3.24 mark in what, according to "Beyond the Boxscore" author Bill Arnold the fifth time pitchers whose surnames begin with the letter "Z" have squared against one another. In fact Zito and Zambrano have not only had one of those starts against one another, but Zambrano even faced Zito once as a pinch hitter!

 Surely there has been attention to both pitchers early this season. Zito has received press because of his hot start, including thoughts on our site by Greg Morgan on the Masters of the NFBC last Tuesday. Of course I have my Zito fears, largely based upon his history. I  mean, remember in 2010 he was 4-0, 1.53 for the month of April and finished the year 9-14. 4.15 and was not even on the post-season roster.

As for Carlos, his melt-downs are well documented, although now that both hurlers are in their early 30's, ideally some maturity has set in.

So, we did we get on Wednesday?

Well, to say Zito was all over the place, he threw 33 pitches over the first inning, 27 more in the second, and though just 12 in the third another 19 when pulled in the fourth, meaning 91 pitches, with just 50 for strikes, is an understatement. Zambrano was actually better controlled, though he basically tossed 18 pitches per inning over the first three, although when pulled after seven innings, had thrown 108 (61 for strikes) though Heath Bell let Carlos and a potential win down.

In essence that was 125 pitches through the first three innings, and that is an ungodly amount and largely why the game--though it did go ten innings--took three hours and twenty seven minutes.

Zito and his lack of control walked seven hitters, while Zambrano three more, and the Marlins prevailed despite just five hits, one of which was Giancarlo Stanton's homer in the tenth that basically was the game winner.

The Giants, on the other hand, collected ten hits--five in the ninth inning when they tied things up--but both teams left 11 runners stranded with the Marlins going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

So, the deceiving box score suggests strong pitching and really, the end result was a frustrating game that presented some pretty bad hitting.

I can say that I think Zambrano will be ok in Miami, while Zito continues to be an enigma.

I have, however, written so many times before that if any pitcher ever should be able to become the new Jamie Moyer, it should be Zito. He has four pitches, and though his fastball is 88 MPH at best, with a good curve and change and slider, that should be plenty fast enough (just ask Moyer). Furthermore, he is a smart guy.

So, while I hold little hope that Zito will ever return to his Cy Young form, I have every hope that he can be 9-14, 4.15 for another 15 years or so.

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.