antheia

At the urging suggestion of a friend who was interested, I joined a Fantasy Baseball League for the first time in my life. Ordinarily, I think of myself as more of a Yankee fan than a baseball fan, and really only an Easter & Christmas fan at that (high holy days include games against the Red Sox, and Old Timer’s Day). I have precious little insight into the players on other teams; what little I’ve gleaned has been from the passing conversations of my brother-in-law and my mother, and chatting with two close friends, who are Cardinals and Braves fans, respectively.

So it’s not surprising that come draft day, I felt a bit like a babe in the woods. I talked to a couple of friends about their advice, put together a decent list, and started up the ESPN Fantasy Draft. I scored nicely in the first round, picking up Albert Pujols (a move my brother-in-law assures me means that I win at Fantasy Baseball automatically) as the 2nd pick of the Draft overall. I admit it, I was feeling a little cocky. As the rounds progressed and players I’d hoped to get went to other teams (why, Mariano, why?), that faded pretty substantially. Still, by the end of the process, I figured I’d acquitted myself pretty well:

BATTERS
C Brian McCann, Atl
1B Albert Pujols, StL
2B Robinson Cano, NYY
3B(1B) Carlos Guillen, Det
SS Edgar Renteria, SF
2B/SS Mike Aviles, KC
1B/3B Mike Lowell, Bos
OF B.J. Upton, TB
OF (DH) Milton Bradley, ChC
OF Jeff Francoeur, Atl
OF (DH) Hideki Matsui, NYY
OF Delmon Young, Min
SS Orlando Cabrera, Oak
SS Jason Bartlett, TB
OF Skip Schumaker, StL

PITCHERS
SP Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos
SP Ian Kennedy, NYY
SP Javier Vazquez, Atl
SP Carl Pavano, Cle
SP Rick Porcello, Det
SP Phil Hughes, NYY
SP/RP Joba Chamberlain, NYY
RP Grant Balfour, TB
RP Jonathan Papelbon, Bos
RP Joakim Soria, KC

And then I realized that I had four short stops and one catcher. Ha ha ha, oops? To the Free Agent List I go, with the question “Are any of the Molinas available?” hovering in my mind.

They were; and not just any Molina: Yadier hadn’t been taken! What a stroke of luck.So now I wait, and hope that my request to drop Jason Bartlett and pick up Yadier Molina will be approved. And that the DTD note on Brian McCann will disappear. Sadly, there’s nothing to be done for the piece of my soul that died when I selected not one, not two, but three Red Sox players for my roster.