Dream Team

Our Marathoner's Fantasy Baseball League held its draft last night. I'm the league commissioner this year, plus I'm the defending champ, so I was feeling some pressure to pull off a successful draft. I worried all week that I would land the first draft pick, even though the draft order is determined randomly by the league host (in our case CBSsportsline), I just didn't want anyone thinking anything wasn't kosher. So I was happy when I found out I'd be drafting 3rd.

My strategy was to go for big bats early and worry about pitching late. It was no secret that A-Rod would go first, then I thought David Wright would go 2nd and then I would have to make a decision, most likely Ryan Howard. The 2nd pick surprised me by taking Johan Santana so I jumped at the chance to get David Wright (3B, NYM). When the draft snaked back to me in the 2nd round I was surprised to see Ryan Braun (3B, MIL) still available. He's having some problems with his achilles and it must have been making people nervous. I was kicking myself for already having a 3B when this total stud was still available 18 picks into the draft. I seriously considered taking him as my DH but then finally settled on Vladimir Guerrero (OF, ANA) as my pick. To my utter surprise, Braun was still available 5 picks later when my turn came again. Ryan Braun in the 3rd round? Holy crap. Done. They left me with no choice. Braun didn't come up from the minors until the end of May last year and despite missing the first 40+ games, put up numbers to rival A-Rod when comparing the same number of games played. If he stays healthy he was the steal of the draft. Excuse me while I pause to pat myself on the back.

My luck continued as I snagged B.J. Upton (2B/OF, TB) in the 4th round. In the 5th round I came one pick away from getting Carl Crawford so I "settled" for Carlos Pena (1B, TB).
What? I'm boring you? So sorry. Here's what I'll do...I'll list my selections below and if you care, go ahead and check it out.

Starting Line-up:

C Ivan Rodriguez DET (rd 20)
1B Carlos Pena TB (rd 5)
2B B.J. Upton TB (rd 4)
3B David Wright NYM (rd 1)
SS Troy Tulowitzki COL (rd 7)
OF Vladimir Guerrero ANA (rd 2)
OF Nick Markakis BAL (rd 6)
OF Corey Hart MIL (rd 12)
DH Ryan Braun MIL (rd 3)

Bench:

2B Dustin Pedroia BOS (rd 15)
OF Jermaine Dye CHW (rd 16)
OF Jack Cust OAK (rd 18)
1B Kevin Youkilis BOS (rd 19)
SS Stephen Drew ARI (rd 21)

Starting Pitchers:

John Smoltz ATL (rd 9)
John Maine NYM (rd 11)
James Shields TB (rd 13)
Pedro Martinez NYM (rd 14)
Mark Buehrle CHW (rd 22)

Closers:

Joe Nathan MIN (rd 8)
Billy Wagner NYM (rd 10)
Matt Capps PIT (rd 17)