Well, it has been another exciting Tout weekend in New York City, and, as usual, I am flying home, writing about my impressions at 35,000 feet.

 

This year's AL draft was a wilder affair than normal because, well, the book Fantasyland, written by Sam Walker in 2004 (and published in 2006) was optioned for a film, and there was indeed a film crew on board to film us. As part of the process, the film producers picked a "regular guy" to play the part of Sam Walker. That is Sam, at the time, had never played fantasy ball before, but thought that based upon his experience as a sportswriter and his media access to big league clubhouses, he would be able to compensate for his lack of actual game playing time.

 

Though Sam continued in the league, the producers did an open casting call and selected Jed Latkin to be the newbie. Jed apparently has a lot of fantasy experience, as opposed to media access, but, he had never played at the Tout level before. Which, like it or not, is competitive in a way most fantasy players can only imagine.

 

It is true, that there are lots of great fantasy players out there who are unsung and could probably hold their own at high competitive levels. But, at Tout, for example, you better know who you will nominate next, whether you want him or not, and how much you would be willing to pay. And, you must be 99% sure of not just that, but, you must take the same approach with every player nominated by your opponents, and pretty much have a secondary and tertiary path of not just players, but numbers and how you will fill your holes, because, well, drafts are fluid and nothing in them ever really goes as planned.

 

Even more difficult, the pace is brutally fast, usually comprising no more than a minute to complete the spread between nomination, and "sold" being shouted out. There are no time outs, and scrambling for a pick at the last second for a name or stat will draw, at best, titters from the league.

 

This year the thing that struck me after looking at the results was the distribution of $1 players. Of course it is so difficult to exist without those bargains in a deep league, but, on the flip, owning too many is more often than not the kiss of death. That is because everyday players getting everyday at-bats is as much the name of the game as anything.

 

This year there were a total of 27 $1 players who found their way onto rosters, but interestingly, 19 of them we concentrated on two teams: those off Mike Siano (8) and Matthew Berry (11). Meaning the remaining ten teams had a total of nine $1 guys, and that tells me that for the most part the stars and scrubs strategy has been abandoned in this highly competitive format. In fact there were three teams--Ron Shandler, Steve Moyer, and me--who had none, while Jason Grey and Jeff Erickson rostered just one each and neither (Greg Aquino for Jason and JP Howell for Jeff) was much of a gamble.

 

OK, so, how does my team look?  Well, here goes:

 

C-John Buck ($6)

C-Jarrod Saltalamaccia ($6)

1-Carlos Pena ($25)

2-Dustin Pedroia ($16)

3-Eric Chavez ($10)

SS-Michael Young ($21)

MI-Aubrey Huff ($12)

O-Magglio Ordonez ($27)

O-Melky Cabrera ($15)

O-Milton Bradley ($13)

O-Jerry Owens ($14)

O-Carlos Gonzalez ($1)

U-Dan Johnson ($2)

P-Dustin McGowan ($17)

P-James Shields ($22)

P-Joe Blanton ($8)

P-Jake Westbrook ($5)

P-Mark Buehrle ($6)

P-Joe Saunders ($2)

P-Jeremy Accardo ($14)

P-Fernando Rodney ($2)

P-Joey Devine ($2)

R-Jack Hanahan

R-Brian Buscher

R-Jason Jennings

R-Scott Downs

R-Jason Michaels

R-Mike Morse

 

In general I hope this is a pretty solid lineup with minimum risk. Pena has to keep it up, and Mags has to stay healthy, as does Bradley. If Chavez does not, hopefully Hanahan and Buscher will cover that spot, and though Joey Devine was sent down, I have Scott Downs--for now--to hedge that bet.

 

And, as noted, what I think you need to do to have a chance to win is to exit the draft with as many everyday spots as you can, which I did. Then, you want your guys to perform so youcan be competitive at the break, and that is when your FAAB money and stat surplus can help keep you going as we move into the stretch.

 

So, I have my fingers crossed. I am guessing Jed Latkin does as well.

 

Check out the NL, AL, and Mixed rosters.