Everyone wants to hear about my Fantasy Team

Right? I'm sure all of humanity was waiting for this post. I'm in only one fantasy league this year because I am past the point where I can focus on five of them like I could in the olden days. One is enough. The one I joined was a league of card bloggers organized by PunkRockPaint. The draft has been run, moves have been made and the season is upon us. Time to dissect my roster and draft strategy in the first edition of Dave Annoys Everyone By Discussing His Fantasy Team Endlessly.

1. (4) David Wright 3B
Firefox crashed 2 minutes before the draft started. Argh. By the time I killed the process and reopened the browser, Wright was already picked. I was kind of thinking Miguel Cabrera for this pick but as far as autopicks go Wright isn't bad.

2. (21) CC Sabathia SP
The plan was to go with a big hitter here, but I didn't see anyone I wanted. Capn' Cheezburger was just too tempting even though round two is too early for a pitcher in my opinion.

3. (28) Brian McCann C
I had decided on getting Mac at the very start. As soon as Russell Martin got picked I knew it was now or never. Mauer just wasn't a good enough consolation prize for me to risk waiting 17 more picks.

4. (45) David Ortiz Util
My normal strategy of picking speed and players qualifying at multiple positions went completely out the window at this point. I couldn't pass up Papi though. I may come to regret not having that flexibility on the utility position though.

5. (52) Curtis Granderson OF
I'm looking for a good year from Grand. I doubt I'll be disappointed. He and Wright are pretty much it for steals though. That will be a problem.

6. (69) Chad Billingsley SP
Good young arm, lots of K's. I'm happy about this pick.

7. (76) Javier Vázquez SP
This was the biggest reach of my draft by far, but I really think Javy will drop that ERA down about a point in the NL. At the very least he's durable and can get 200 Ks.

8. (93) Jay Bruce OF
This is when I had the "omigawd I only have one OF" panic. I always assume that since there are so many outfielders that can produce that I can wait forever to pick them. Then, I freak out and start picking a ton of them because I don't see any more stars on the board and I think my outfield looks weak. I think Jay will do ok for me.

9. (100) Roy Oswalt SP
Oswalt at 9?? Yes, please. Every year I try to pick up Aaron Harang or Oswalt. Solid pitchers that everyone else forgets about until it's too late.

10. (117) Joey Votto 1B
This was a choice between Votto and Adam Dunn. No contest. I'll trade 10 homers for 50 points higher average any day of the week. One year I got caught up in the "lots of homers and /220 average" trap and I refuse to let that happen again. Votto might hit 30-40 himself anyway.

11. (124) Jonathan Broxton RP
I normally wait and bottom feed on the closers but Broxton has too much upside not to pick him here.

12. (141) Robinson Canó 2B
It seems like everyone hates Cano all of a sudden for some reason. He's a second baseman who gets to benefit from that Yankee lineup. I'm cool with this pick.

13. (148) Nelson Cruz OF
My first real hard core gamble. If Cruz can grab a starting job in that crowded Ranger outfield I think he can hit 35 homers. Of course he could also have a sophomore slump and revert back to a Quad-A player. We'll see what happens.

14. (165) Joey Devine RP
I picked him a couple rounds too early and now he's on the DL. This is why you wait to pick closers. Now Ziegler will probably end up with the A's the closer job and I'm stuck with Brandon Lyon off the waiver wire.

15. (172) Mike Napoli C
Mike Napoli = McCann insurance. Finding a backup catcher that can actually produce is tough and once the season starts it's next to impossible. Plus I follow the Braves closely so I should be able to plug Mike in on Big Mac's days off.

16. (189) Justin Duchscherer SP
I goofed on this pick. And I mean badly goofed. Possibly even bungled. I should have taken Kevin Slowey or Justin Upton here. I had four players queued up that I wanted to take in the 17th round and all four of them went before it came back to my pick. Now he's hurt and I wasted a pick. The silver lining is that I picked up Jeremy Hermida to fill his roster slot and there's a very good chance he could break out this year.

17. (196) Rick Ankiel OF
Upton getting taken forced me into making a panic pick on Ankiel just to get another outfielder. I'll have to cross my fingers on this one.

18. (213) Frank Francisco RP
Another example of me vastly deviating on my normal plan of attack. I usually draft a couple of closers then scrounge the waiver wire during the season for saves. I just didn't see anyone else here that I wanted. It's probably for the best though now that Devine went sideways.

19. (220) Yunel Escobar SS
I probably could have waited a few more rounds for a shortstop as there were a bunch of solid ones still on the board. Cabrera, Renteria, that sort of thing. Nothing really excited me at this point though and I like Yuney.

20. (237) Tommy Hanson SP
First rule of successful fantasy drafts: NEVER PICK ROOKIE PITCHERS. EVER. I just picked a rookie pitcher. To my credit, I held off on Jordan Zimmerman. Seriously, rookie pitchers will only disappoint you.

21. (244) Adam Lind OF
Adam Lind was one of those end of the draft "just pick someone I've heard of that might have upside" type of picks. I ended up dumping him for Ryan Spilborghs, who might be able to get me some of those steals I lack if he pans out.

22. (261) Josh Fields 3B
I saw a news item that Fields won the 3rd base job for the Sox and decided why not take a flyer on the guy. If he's any good I can trade Wright in a blockbuster. Having 6 outfielders helps on the trade front too, if 4 turn out to be good I can put up Big Papi on the block and try to pick up some pitching or steals.

23. (268) Casey Kotchman 1B
Yeah, I know, my fifth Brave. Just call me Homer. Casey ain't a bad backup for Votto and he'll be a lot better than he was at the end of last season.

And now... THE DUMPED:


And the preseason pickups:


There's the roster, first game of the season is against Tribe Cards, whose team naturally consists of all Indians. I'll update my progress each Monday for the rest of the season or until I'm so far out of first that I get bored with it.