an incredibly quick fantasy baseball draft tonight, which is always a good thing. 12-team league, 18 players/team. myself and two others online, nine in a basement in the north 'burbs.

early in the process, i adopted the 'best player available' technique. in a non-traditional 4X6 league that counts pitchers for W, Sv, K/BB, and ERA, and batters for AVG, TB, RBI, R, SB, HR, pitchers are generally undervalued. that is, a good pitching staff can only get you four of the ten points in a week.

so, the 'best player available' theory got me johan santana with the eighth overall pick. and then we snaked back, and the 'best player available' was randy johnson. then a dropoff. so i went with the unit. did i err? i don't think you can when you nab two of the top two pitchers.

when we came back around, with the 32nd-overall pick, i got miguel cabrera. above average power, great avg potential. on the way back, i couldn't pass up juan pierre.

so now i'm officially a strong-average, good wheels kind of team. fifth round, i lose the 'strong average' component, as i go for the 30-30 potential of corey patterson. so now my three outfielders are drafted (we've got the util spot as well, of course). when i was compiling my 'stay away from' list, several names were on it, including pedro (uncomfortable with him), piazza, griffey, and jeff kent (l.a.=hitters death). well, kent was still there in the sixth round, and this seems to be relatively low for him, and giles was already gone, so i went with kent. this gained me some power, relative to most second basemen, i think.

and then we're coming back, now the seventh round. and i'm a bit confused. so into my yahoo chat, i type "schilling's still available?" and amazingly, he is. and so i scanned the internet to make sure he hadn't died or anything, and i pulled the trigger on it. and so my three starting pitchers are also the game's top three pitchers (certainly three of the top five, anyway).

at this point, i was looking to grab one of the corner spots. debating between two youngsters who i think will have huge years, i grabbed morneau, about the ninth first baseman selected. i figured that i'd wait on david wright at third until the next round. but, alas, the mets fan in the league grabbed wright four picks after i got morneau.

and then i tried to draft infielders with power potential, and i think i did a good job of it. actually, i grabbed the injured but back soon lance berkman, then went to find some middle infield pop. and that was my easter.

here's how the destroyers look:

SP: santana, unit, schilling (weaver on the bench)
CL: isringhausen
C: barrett/ramon hernandez
1B: morneau (pedro feliz, michael cuddyer)
2B: kent (uribe, cuddyer)
3B: uribe (mcpherson and his 40-homer potential, i hope, cuddyer)
SS: feliz (uribe)
OF: cabrera
OF: patterson
OF: pierre
UTIL: berkman

i've got to say, there's not much in the way of big names or exciting players (outside of the pitching staff, of course), but i think this team is going to fare pretty well. 20-25 HR power at each of the three infield positions, 35-40 HR potential at first, and two relatively consistent options behind the plate.

plus, i'll win ERA and K/BB every week, and i should win the W category every week, and i'll always be competitive in saves.

i don't think i'll write about fantasy baseball again, or not until playoff time, at least.

in other news, i woke up with a wicked sore throat saturday morning. i went into the office a bit today. we've only got 11 days until the season starts. woof!

and now, to my prerecorded arrested development.