OK, so my Strat-O-Matic drafts are in the can, and we now have the month or so of experimentation before the season really begins, and we begin our foray into updating computer managers and netplay and such.

And, I know this is my friend and colleague JP Kastner's favorite time because he loves setting rosters and playing automatic games by the thousand to see what clues the results reveal.

I have done lightweight variations of this exercise in the past, and especially following last season, I am now a lot more mindful to really glean what we can.

For example, it took me almost half of the year last season to realize that I should be platooning Eric Chavez against left-handed pitchers. Even though I knew Chavez was awful against lefties, I was so stuck in thinking of him as an everyday guy, that I was slow at giving both Mark DeRosa and Casey Blake playing time.

But, once I worked them into the lineup as lefty platoon options, my American League Mountaineers kicked it into overdrive and I won my division.

Same with relying a lot more on the platoon DH option of Ross Gload and Robb Quinlan, both of whom delivered very well, when I began to use them. And, the reality is, with limitations on playing time that the league enforces, I may never had paid enough attention to re-discover how well the platoon factor works in Strat-O-Matic.

But, my initial inability to rest my "legitimate" starters--not to mention forgetting things I learned in the late 70's and early 80's--had me stuck in thinking that playing my "preceived" best starting lineup was the way to win.

So, with a new season, and pretty solid rosters, I am going to certainly try my lineup with both Blake and Chavez platooning at third in the AL. And, I am going to see how Gload works in left field with Melky Cabrera and Nick Swisher in the outfield against righties, as well as trying Austin Kearns, who really owns right field. And, then I will try the same with Quinlan playing right, moving around and replaying seasons to see which lineup really delivers the goods the most consistantly.

Similarly, some of my hurlers, like Gil Meche, Mike Mussina,  and David Bush could get knocked around a bit by a host of lefties, but if I play a bunch of games through with that troika starting, I might get some insight into when to play them, when to pull them, and how to put my best lineup out there that gives me the best percentage to win.

It will also answer the question of whether I want Jair Jurrjens getting his 30-plus innings, or whether I want to rely on Lenny DiNardo. How much more fun can life get?