Went over our NL-Only team already that was also hosted by Scott White of CBS.  To refresh your memory, it was the post that you didn’t read and skipped to the comments to ask questions.  No, not that one.  The other one… Yeah, that one!  If I had my druthers, and if I were using the word druthers correctly, I’d do an NL-Only league instead of an AL-Only league.  You think NL-Only was shallow?  NL-Only makes AL-Only look downright vapid, by comparison.  To give you an idea, the best starter available on waivers right now is Vicente Padilla.  That would be great if Ugly were a category.  The best 3rd baseman available is Jayson Nix.  I’m not sure if his mom, Jayne, would even draft him.  The top five best shortstops had 5 homers combined last year.  Democratically, divvying them up one each.  If you lose a player, you’re basically done.  With that said, I wrote this post right after I drafted the team and now we’re in first place (it’s still early; I know).  Anyway, here’s our 2012 fantasy baseball team with thoughts on different draft picks:

For sake of clarity:  12 teams, AL-Only, Roto, 5 x 5 — C, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, OF, OF, Util, BN, BN, BN — P, P, P, P, P, P, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL

C – Jose Molina $3
C – Chris Iannetta $9
1B – Justin Morneau $7
2B – Alexi Casilla $9
3B – Evan Longoria $33
SS – Alexei Ramirez $21
MI – Brendan Ryan $7
CI – Mark Reynolds $19
OF – Nick Swisher $20
OF – Michael Brantley $13
OF – Eric Thames $8
OF – Nick Markakis $19
OF – Yoenis Cespedes $7 (guessing on $ amount, he wasn’t in CBS when we drafted)
U – Alberto Callaspo $4
Bench – Ryan Kalish $0 (free round)
Bench – Jarrod Dyson $0 (free round)
Bench – Jermaine Mitchell $0 (free round)

P – Justin Masterson $13
P – Brad Peacock $4
P – Aaron Crow $3
P – David Robertson $5
P – Jim Johnson $12
P – Ivan Nova  $8
P – Chris Sale $12
P – Jake Peavy $8
P – Brian Fuentes $6
Bench – Kevin Gregg $0 (free round)
Bench – Matt Lindstrom $0 (free round)
Bench – Tyson Ross $0 (free round)
Bench – Dylan Axelford $0 (free round)

ACCORDING TO EVERYONE, OUR PITCHING’S TERRIBLE

By everyone, I mean Rudy and myself too.  Our pitching staff has one ace… If the league only used Cleveland Indian players.  Yeah, not so good.  If Peavy surprises and Sale does what I think he’s capable of, then the staff won’t be the worst in the league.  Maybe only 11th worst.  Our saving grace is our hitting isn’t terrible… Only slightly bad.  (BTW, to give you an idea of how early it is in the season.  We’re in first place because of this pitching staff… HA!)

ACCORDING TO EVERYONE, OUR HITTING IS SLIGHTLY BAD

I don’t mind our outfield.  Though I think it says a lot when Nick Swisher is your most expensive outfielder.  I think, in fact, it says, “What the hell were you doing?”  Our 2nd highest get on the whole team was Alexei Ramirez.  Huh?  That’s egregious with a side of vomit.  We need about ten players to play over their head and then some luck on top of that.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Asdrubal Cabrera strains his back, and, no “Asdrubal Strains Back” is not a sequel to a sci-fi porn movie.  At this time of the year, any little thing can knock people for the remainder of the year.  To help you picture what I’m saying, imagine this is April and we’re talking about Morneau.  That’s how easily players can get knocked out.  This injury comes on a day where Asdrubal hit his 24th homer.  Even if Da ‘drubal doesn’t return, he gave you everything he had this year.  Drubal took ’11 to 11.  For next year, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be a tad overrated.  He never hit more than 10 homers in any professional.  He’s been consistent with power this year from month to month, but his HR/FB% soared away above anywhere it had ever been before.  He should still be able to get around 15 homers next year, but if you get a 15/15 season, you’re suddenly wondering if a sure-to-be-underrated Jimmy Rollins isn’t a safer way to go.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Billy Butler – Missed yesterday’s game with the flu.  Someone dump a Gatorade cooler of chicken soup over Butler’s head.

Please, blog, may I have some more?