“Get value early, wait to pick up pitchers, you need saves although young arms pop up throughout the season, get a good catcher but not too soon.”

This was the core of the strategy I used for my National Fantasy Baseball Challenge draft last Thursday. 

Not having the stomach to shell out $1,250 for the main event, I joined one of the many satellite leagues that NFBC offers. NFBC has satellite leagues (with varying entry fees and payouts) of all kinds with daily drafts starting in late February. Mine is a 15-team mixed league paying the top three spots. When NFBC was suggested to me I was told: Join early, leagues fill up fast. I was looking for a league more challenging than those offered for a few bucks by other sites where you play against anonymous faces and ridiculously named teams and where everyone but the top finishers lose interest by August. If that’s your cup of tea, NFBC is not for you.

The draft took place on MockDraftCentral.com. I get irritated when a web site is not intuitive. I found MockDraftCentral easy to use, although, I must confess, after a few turns, I started hating that stern voice coming out of the speakers telling me, “It is your turn”. Ninety seconds is barely enough to collect my thoughts. Clearly, to do well one has to be prepared. Sure, I could have used the pre-ranking and have the computer pick for me, but I like to adapt my picks based on the trends of the draft. Yesterday, no one used pre-ranking, which in my opinion was an indication of the high level of players.

I stayed faithful to my strategy of getting value early. I picked a 1B, an outfielder – boy, the good ones go fast – and a 3B. In the forth round I got Troy Glaus for the corner spot as he was the best value at the moment. That was a slight mistake; there was value at third late in the draft. In the fifth round I got Billy Wagner and in the late rounds Joel Zumaya and Mike Gonzalez hoping for turmoil in their bullpens. Where my team lags is stolen bases. It was surprising how fast stolen bases go. Are the steals worth sacrificing all other categories, I wonder?

On many levels I am glad that the NFBC season will be a challenging one ‘cause it will give the right to brag if I do well.