An update (finally)

I know it has been waaaay too long (my apologies), but I've returned to save the earth, as Tom York would say.

One might ask how??

Well, I don't have an answer for that but I will tell you about my fantasy basball teamS!

The first league is an NL-only league. It is a CBS-Sportsline run league called NL Experts; it's a champions league, accessable only by people who have won their league before. That makes me feel speacial.

The second league is a mixed league. I was invited three hours prior to the draft by a longtime friend. Despite the fact that I knew very little about AL players, it was on! I was and still am determined to give it my best. As of now I am tied for first out of eight teams. This week I am engaged in a showdown with my first place comrade.

In my "expert" league, I am in last place. That's right, last. Is it frustrating? Very frustrating it is. Freaked out I am sure not to be. The best thing to do is to play it cool. I have made a few well calculated moves. The best thing I did was to drop Rafael Soriano and pick up Dan Wheeler. I did this before the season started, so when Wheeler slid into the closer job, I was already on it. I got lucky, though. I even had tried to trade for Lidge! That brings me to perhaps my biggest mistake of the draft. Chris burke at 91. Although he has duel elgibility at 2b and Of, and although he has 4 Sb's already, he is hitting under .200! There is talk that he may lose his job to hot-hitting Hunter Pence from the Astros' AAA team. This is ok, for now my last pick has been a gem. Kaz Matsui at pick 211 211 211 211 in the last round. Except for now he has hurt his back and is out for two weeks. That's fine, Burke makes for a suitable replacement. Hopefully Matsui recovers within two weeks and it isn't longer than that.

The place I really blew it was relievers. I failed to pick up a legit closer, and oh how it burned me. So far Wheeler, Linebrink, and Capps have yet to pay dividends, and that really hurts. Wheeler should get a save or two this week, but I'd really like to have about five a week from my team, in the form of two legit closers. I think the chances of Capps taking over for Torres at some point this season are about 50/50, but for now Capps isn't helping me that much. Linebrink will only be a closer if Hoffman gets hurt. I like Hoffman, so I don't really want him to get hurt, but man I just wish someone would drop a bomb on Torres. Giants fans know how that goes. Despite all that, here is a story about Torres written by Tim Kurkjian of ESPN.

Also, I am really hurting at first base. I knew Conor Jackson was only going to be a subpar option at first, but I didn't know we would be this bad. My replacement option Scott Thorman has been much worse, resulting in his being cut from my team. :( I'll think about picking him up later, but for now Jackson is my man at first. I side with Jackson's real life manager Bob Melvin, who says that he will continue to be their number one first baseman despite his hitting struggles.