@JR: Thanks!

Qualls, Bell and Frank Frank are all pretty much the same. More or less coin flips, but I’d put them in that order.

couple of questions :

#1 … round #7 … SP run … you guys grab matt cain .
before you , dice k , harden , javy vaz , oswalt , and , aj burn were taken .
which of those would you NOT have taken (over cain), had they falllen to you ?

#2 …. round # 11 … RP run … you guys took frankie “the slinger”
over qualls . before you , went bj ryan , motte , and bell .
would you have taken one of those 3 , instead , had they fallen ?

Marmol and Devine were dropped yesterday.

That said, writing on this site definitely helped me last year in picking up SAGNOFs. Goal this year is to pick the Ludwicks and Quentins (assuming they are FAs)….

@Grey: My league only uses 3 OF and no CI or MI (not to mention, God forbid, two Cs) so that contributes to the shallowness.

But yeah, it’s weird to read guys on here posting, “Broxton just got dropped. Should I pick him up? My bullpen is Nathan, Papelbon, K-Rod, Fuentes and Capps. I’m thinking Broxton is slightly better than Capps.”

@Baron Von Vulturewins: Broxton was high on our list but Capps as top closer. I don’t feel as safe. Plus, ERA/WHIP/K contributions from closers are more important IMO with deeper leagues. You don’t give as many innings to SPs b/c reduced quality. Also, when you draft #14 in a 16 team league, it’s real easy to be on the wrong end of a closer run…(that’s what happened with SPs in the 3rd round)

As for favorite league size, I’m warming to deeper leagues. I think free agents play too big of a role with 10 team leagues. I’d say 12 team is now the minimum i’d want to play for mixed. I’m kind of liking 12 team NL-only too which is the farthest extreme i can see playing.

But personally I wouldn’t have paid the Lidge premium, rather I’d have opted for Broxton or Capps a few rounds later. But my brain is hardwired for 12-team, so it’s hard for me to gauge who could/should have gone where.

I used to kind of like Brad Evans, and feebly defend him, but he’s been defeated by the frequency and length of blog-posting. That Erin Brockovich thing was inexcusable. It’s kind of too bad that with all the experts over there at Yahoo!, he’s painted himself into the Mad Punner corner. I mean, they all pun now, so he’s got to be that much more shrill to be heard.

Back to the team… Rudy/Grey, do you have a favorite league-size? I admit my 12-team, while manageable, feels somewhat shallow. I didn’t like the RCl 16-team format, though, which was way too deep.

Though I do agree with Baron that Behrens is the one guy worth reading at Yahoo. Of course, for every good title by Behrens there’s five pages of awkward alliteration and rhyme crime forced on us by Brad “Where the pun goes to die” Evans.

@Baron Von Vulturewins: Yeah, we wanted at least one safe closer. Already got f*ed with Devine (draft was before his injury trouble) and Ziegler was picked not too far after.

As the resident Junky Closer Evangelist, I can’t endorse Lidge in the 5th. Would like to have seen some offense there, though Lord only knows what slim pickings were left on the barren plains of a 16-team draft board.

That said, I hope you horsewhip everyone over there, especially the Yahoo! board commenters, who are first-spouting morons. (Every thread starts with five guys shouting “First!” “First!” “First!”)

I do like Mr. Andy Behrens, though, who seems to have a good head on his shoulders and can be counted on for excellent pun-headline references. Anyone who writes “You Shall Know The Reduction In Our Velocity” is fine by me.

I think he’ll be better than 2008, but closer to 2008 than 2007. He’ll walk less guys, but not get as lucky as he did in 2007.