No humorous rundown. First half felt better than the second. Going back to bed...

C Kelly Shoppach (183)
1B Mark Teixeira (10)
2B Kelly Johnson (130)
3B Garrett Atkins (82)
SS Jed Lowrie (250)
2B/SS Rickie Weeks (207)
1B/3B Joey Votto (58)
OF Carlos Beltran (15)
OF Shane Victorino (34)
OF Adam Dunn (63)
OF Brad Hawpe (106)
OF Cameron Maybin (154)
UTIL Jason Kubel (274)
P Jake Peavy (39)
P Adam Wainwright (87)
P Bobby Jenks (111)
P Max Scherzer (135)
P Francisco Cordero (159)
P Jered Weaver (178)
P George Sherrill (202)
P Scott Downs (226)
P Fausto Carmona (231)
Bench Mark Buehrle (255)
Bench Hong-Chih Kuo (279)
Bench Leo Nunez (298)

C Geovany Soto, ChC C
1B Adrian Gonzalez, SD 1B
2B Jose Lopez, Sea 2B
3B Aramis Ramirez, ChC 3B
SS Hanley Ramirez, Fla SS
2B/SSYunel Escobar, Atl SS
1B/3B Carlos Pena, TB 1B
OF Matt Holliday, Oak OF
OF Jacoby Ellsbury, Bos OF
OF Conor Jackson, Ari 1B, OF
OF Shin-Soo Choo, Cle OF
OF Fred Lewis, SF OF
UTIL Kevin Kouzmanoff, SD 3B
P Brad Lidge, Phi RP [Recent News]
P Yovani Gallardo, Mil SP
P Joba Chamberlain, NYY SP, RP
P Chien-Ming Wang, NYY SP
P Frank Francisco, Tex RP
P Chad Qualls, Ari RP
P Brad Ziegler, Oak RP
P Jair Jurrjens, Atl SP
P Matt Thornton, CWS RP
Bench Cristian Guzman, Was SS
Bench Chris Volstad, Fla SP
Bench Randy Winn, SF OF


1: Hanley, dur
2, 3: Confound you, Strangelove! I already stocked up on tofu burgers. Well, Holliday will do I suppose. Aramis as planned
4, 5: CI disappearing like Orioles rotation candidates. Gonzo. A single tear fell when Rios didn't quite make it. Ellsbury
6, 7: See I get what you're saying, my own draft list, but I just dislike Josh Beckett so screw him. Next on list: Soto. Lidge.
8, 9: You should probably have been drafted by now, Pena. And wow where did all the pitchers go? Umm, Gallardo.
10, 11: Wang, Joba. pitcherpitcherpitcherpitcherpitcher
12, 13: CoJack, Lopez. I'm having to take my usual late value batter picks like 3 rounds early this draft
14, 15: Francisco, Qualls: SAGNOF only if you have a rotation to speak of
16, 17: Ziegler. OK all done with that. Now, OF still too thin - choo choo
18, 19: Lewis, Jurrjens. Filling holes, and pretty glad last round's bet that Jarjar would fall paid off
20, 21: Guzman, Volstad: Holy crap every one of these players is awful. My list is now useless. Uh, you there, and you over there
22, 23: Kouzmanoff. Probably the best one left for that empty UTIL. Winn - gross. But I had to do it.
24, 25: Yunel: Oh cool I guess I'll platoon MI or something. Thornton - umm, anybody want to trade for a pitcher?

Well, Here's what I have. Not too happy with it, but it'll have to do!

Team Huckleberry

C Chris Snyder
1B Ryan Howard
2B Robinson Cano
3B Evan Longoria
SS J.J. Hardy
2B/SS Mark DeRosa
1B/3B Aubrey Huff
OF B.J. Upton
OF Curtis Granderson
OF Corey Hart
OF Nelson Cruz
OF Milton Bradley
UTIL David Ortiz
P Dan Haren
P Javier Vazquez
P Kevin Gregg
P Heath Bell
P Hiroki Kuroda
P Chris Ray
P Wandy Rodriguez
P Andy Pettitte
P Jose Arredondo
Bench Alexi Casilla
Bench Paul Maholm
Bench Mark Teahen

You seemed to really fade in the 2nd half, maybe it was the time difference. The front half of your team looks really solid though. Love your outfield. Solid fliers up the middle. Tex and Votto -- nice. You definitely need a decent amount of steals from Maybin. Not a huge fan of Atkins, but at 82, that's good value. Peavy, Wainwright and Jobacum are a solid front three. 1 and 3/4 closers (Downs, Sherrill, Jenks) is a good base. So even with some questionable end calls, I still really like your team. Nice, Steve. Now take a nap.

Hanley is like that rug in The Big Lebowski, it just really ties everything together. (I think of this with Reyes too, but not Wright or Pujols as much.) Unfortunately, I don't think you really solidified the rest of your offense like you could have. Not sure about your outfield in particular. You have Hanley then you grab four guys that may not hit 20 HRs a piece. You need Soto and Holliday to make up some slack there and you have a lot of pressure on your 1st, 3rd and Corner guys. Your pitching staff is very young and risky. Could work out for you, but I think you're going to wish you had a more solid foundation. Volstad - blech. Winn? You have three Winns already in your outfield.

I really like your pitching staff and I really like your late round fliers. Ortiz totally jams up your offense and now you have no way of playing hot hands. I think you have a good balance of power and speed with your hitters. Your OF is probably one guy too many on the high risk factor and overall you may have problems with average. Not a bad team though.

Hey, I may as well throw myself on my sword. I am working on posting pics of the rosters.

DOGS OF SUMMER ARMSTRONG
SLOT PLAYER, TEAM POS
C Chris Iannetta, Col C
1B Derrek Lee, ChC 1B
2B Alexei Ramirez, CWS 2B
3B Chone Figgins, LAA 3B
SS Jose Reyes, NYM SS
2B/SS Khalil Greene, StL SS
1B/3B Ty Wigginton, Bal 3B, OF
OF Nick Markakis, Bal OF
OF Jayson Werth, Phi OF
OF Justin Upton, Ari OF
OF J.D. Drew, Bos OF
OF Rick Ankiel, StL OF
UTIL Cody Ross, Fla OF
P Josh Beckett, Bos SP
P Francisco Rodriguez, NYM RP
P Jon Lester, Bos SP
P Brett Myers, Phi SP PP
P Andy Sonnanstine, TB SP
P Kenshin Kawakami, Atl SP
P Manny Parra, Mil SP, RP
P Brandon Lyon, Det RP
P Bench Cole Hamels, Phi SP
Bench Orlando Hudson, LAD 2B
Bench Erick Aybar, LAA SS
Bench Hank Blalock, Tex 1B, 3B

Actual league draft to follow.

@bsa: was going to do it later, but you could just post the league link as it's viewable to everyone.

On my team, not sure what happened in the second half. Scooped a couple of times, couple of mis-steps etc. Still, have a few guys who I will absolutely not mind dropping when something better comes along.

How many starters do y'all go with? Five or six?

Lets see if this works:
http://games.espn.go.com/flb/tools/draf ... ueId=41777



One more to follow....