Fantasy Baseball

In about an hour, I will be drafting my 4th fantasy baseball team. You would have to say I'm a fan. Not so much of baseball as whole, which I am to some degree, but to fantasy sports, in general. As you may have picked out over my few blogs, I'm very competitive in most things I delve into. Frankly, if I'm gonna do something, I want to be the best and win. So, fantasy baseball allows me to compete for over 5 straight months...how could I not get involved.
With fantasy baseball, I still have not figured out exactly what it takes to win consistently, but I'm improving greatly. Last year, my three teams finished 1st, 4th, and 8th, though the 8th place team suffered some lousy injuries that dropped me from 2nd like a rock. This year, my three teams thusfar are looking pretty solid, with my 12-team Rotisserie draft team being my favorite.

The good thing about my leagues is, they're all very different...so it keeps me from getting too bored with the whole concept. I'm in a keeper auction league, a standard rotisserie league, and a standard head-to-head league. Plus, I always sign up for a public team on Yahoo as soon as they're available just to make a team, since I've been waiting for several months.

Each one offers something different and the group of people in each makes the smack talking more or less fun as well. Since I've already drafted my teams, here are my favorite picks that those of you who haven't picked yet, may want to look into. Or...more importantly, I have this documented so I can look back at it in September and see how accurate I was:

Good players to avoid:
5) Barry Bonds - I was going to recommend this before his whole "I'm tired" speech...just wanted that known.
4) Todd Helton - I think this is the year things start to slide.
3) Mark Prior - Not a fan
2) Carlos Delgado - New team, new city, new ballpark
1) Curt Schilling - I think he's more messed up than he'll ever let on

Guys you might want to grab cheaper:
5) Jose Guillen - He gets lost in the shuffle because of his attitude in Anaheim last year. He's the man in DC...though he may not stay here the whole season.
4) Chipper Jones - Everyone seems to forget that this guy usually hits .300 with like 30 HR and 100 RBI. I stole him in my league in like the 7th round.
3) Bobby Madritsch - He's like my Cinderella pick. Pitches in Seattle and his K/IP is pretty solid. I'm putting lofty hopes that he'll get around 15-17 wins and an ERA under 4.00.
2) Ken Griffey Jr. - Amidst all of the steroid stuff, I think it would just seem fitting that the man who stayed in the HR hunt with McGwire and Sosa, sans juice, would have a monster year this year.
1) Andruw Jones - Get him on your team. He's the magical age, is actually hitting well this Spring and I'll go out on a limb and say he's gonna pull a .300-100-40-120-15 season.

Also, if you have the chance to get Ichiro and it's not too much of a stretch (i.e. anywhere after the 5th pick), he will single-handedly allow you to ignore BA for the rest of your auction/draft.

That's my take on Fantasy Baseball...updates to come monthly on each team's performance.

Less than a week to go. Go Yankees and Nats.