Its finally here!

Time to drive the wives nuts! I was already ignoring my wife and kid last night just so I could watch PIT at HOU. A completely meaningless game for me, as I am not a fan of either team, but its baseball! I am also 8 days away from my first Cub's game of the year. We have dugout box tickets. I have never actually been that close to a MLB game, so I am very excited. I also wanted to give you a quick update on my NL-only auction league which drafted this past Friday. I realize "draft season" is over, but I've been talking about this league since January so I thought I would post the results. Our salary is $2,000 and its standard 5x5 except we do OBP instead of runs. The players with an "*" are players I am bringing back from the previous year (just have to double their salaries to keep them). Take a look:


Iannetta, Chris C COL $55
Pujols, Albert 1B STL $450
Kent, Jeff 2B LA $120
Rolen, Scott 3B STL $120
Ramirez, Hanley SS FLA $50*
Bonds, Barry LF SF $100
Willingham, Josh LF FLA $60*
Young, Chris B. CF ARI $10*
Jackson, Conor 1B ARI $50*

Carpenter, Chris SP STL $200*
Maddux, Greg SP SD $50*
Sanchez, Anibal SP FLA $10*
Sheets, Ben SP MIL $220
Snell, Ian SP PIT $50*
Wickman, Bob RP ATL $15

Montero, Miguel C ARI $10
Durham, Ray 2B SF $10
Hardy, J.J. SS MIL $10
Baker, Jeff RF COL $10
Kearns, Austin RF WAS $120
Kemp, Matt CF LA $10*
Scott, Luke RF HOU $10
Billingsley, Chad SP LA $10
James, Chuck H. SP ATL $50*
Jennings, Jason SP HOU
Lincecum, Tim SP SF $10
Perez, Oliver SP NYM $10
Torres, Salomon RP PIT $40

McCutchen, Andrew OF PIT - Minors
Carrillo, Cesar SP SD - Minors
Inman, William P MIL - Minors
Samardzija, Jeff SP CHC - Minors

I think the team is solid. Not my best draft, as I was really looking to add a stud OF, but the prices for them were much higher than I expected. I really need Bonds to have a great year. I like my team's OBP & AVG, and I should be very competitive in HR & RBI. My only offensive weakness is SB, but I'm hoping C. Young has a big year in that department. If he doesn't meet my expectations, I can always substitute Kearns or Scott for him. I love my pitching staff, especially after listening to the MIL/LAD game yesterday. Sheets was absolutely dominant. The Brew Crew is currently a trendy pick to win the central, but they are really good. I also took some high-risk, high-upside pitchers in the latter part of my draft. Billingsley, Lincecum, or O. Perez could potentially dominate. I also have a couple of solid back-ups in Jennings and James that could fill-in for injuries or ineffectiveness. Would love to hear your thoughts...