By Tony in Hitchin

League 4

League 7

Thanks to everyone who took the time to get in touch following my first installment of this season-long diary. I’ll address some of the points raised in the emails I’ve received.

The first question I was asked concerned the identity of our opposition.

The rest of the league looks like this:

RotoAuthority / MLB Trade Rumors
RotoRob
Razzball.com
Fantasy Gameday
Steak Grows on Dmitri (representing Seamless Baseball)
Fecta 420 (also representing Seamless Baseball)
FantasyHurler.com
Rotonomics
Faketeams.com
Crooked Pitch
Brock For Broglio

And then there’s our Mafia team, Don’t Tase Me Bro! That phrase was all over the web last year after a much-publicised incident in which a heckler at some political rally got hauled off by the police (and if you haven’t seen the video of it, go find it because it’s hilarious). Also, it was intended to be a warning to other owners intending to fleece us when offering trades, but maybe that connection is one that only I made.

When the two guys representing the hosts, Seamless Baseball, also chose a name that bears no relation at all to their website I didn’t feel too bad … until the other nine owners signed up! Ah, well. Moving on …

One of League 9’s finest, Rob Monacelli, offered some insightful comments about the team I drafted. Rob suggested that he would have gone in a different direction in round 4, when I took Travis Hafner (having taken Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder and Aramis Ramirez with my first three picks). He also suggested some interesting pitchers who we might look to pick up as season progresses.

Rob’s email was greatly appreciated. I liked the fact that it looked in both directions - back at the draft, forward to the season - and provided food for thought. Thanks Rob - I promised you a shout out.

The mention of Travis Hafner is an interesting one. Hafner disappointed most owners in 2007, with a BA of .266, which was well below expectations, as was his total of 24 HRs. However, almost without anyone noticing, he also drove in 100 runs. So what can we expect from Pronk this year?

Hafner’s looking pretty good in Spring Training (so far), and several pundits are already talking about a rebound season. I find it interesting, though, how some Spring Training stats are ignored while others are considered important. I mean, are Ichiro owners worried that his spring began with an 0-for-17 streak? Is Ichiro plummeting into the 4th round on draft boards across the country? Er, that’ll be no.

There are certain things I look at during March, but batting average isn’t one of them … and nor is ERA; for me, the thing worth looking at - gosh this will sound wrong - is legs. I’m interested in how someone’s running, especially someone like a Rafael Furcal who, of course, is also on our team. Furcal stole “only” 25 bases in 2007: how many will he steal in ‘08? I think the under/over has to be in the region of 40 … and I’ll take the over based on what I’ve seen so far. (The ailment suffered by another of our base-stealing threats, Kaz Matsui, will not be discussed here - this is a family site, after all.)

Still on the subject of speed, any mention of Coco Crisp excites me at the moment. I read in several columns that the Cubs are interested in Crisp, and that’s a move that I’d heartily endorse. A deal, or otherwise, may depend on whether the Cubs land Brian Roberts, and I’ve also read that the Red Sox aren’t enamoured of any of the prospects the Cubs are likely to offer in trade. So, to be honest, I’m not holding my breath. For now, I’m happy that we can handcuff Crisp to Jacoby Ellsbury and slide whichever one starts into an OF slot.

And this brings us full circle because the tactics being employed by our opponents clearly place us at a disadvantage. If you stop to think about it for a second, our opponents write about baseball in various guises, some of them with a specific focus while others write more generally. That’s fine … and means the chat is lively, and informed, and opinionated.

But, since some of these websites are ones to which I would turn when I’m thinking about a certain player, I go to those sites now and find that the player in question was picked up by that website’s team, oh, maybe, 10 minutes before the article was published.

I can picture our opponents researching articles as they presumably do, writing up their post and reaching the conclusion that Eugenio Velez of the Giants might be the steal (sic) of the season. Except that, before posting the article on their site, the author/owner flies off to the list of free agents in our league, snaps up the very same Velez.

Honestly, I’m not making excuses for us just in case the season goes horribly wrong. But do you see the point? The other guys, for the most part, write about baseball and/or fantasy baseball on a daily basis, some of them doing so full time. I only thought about this a couple hours ago, and now it frightens the living daylights out of me. When this year’s Ryan Braun appears, which of the twelve teams is the least likely to get him at face value? It should be us, I fear, since some of my fellow owners will have been tracking 100 potential Ryan Brauns.

But all hope is not lost. I mention these points only to, once again, make the point that this is OUR team … not mine. Collectively, the Mafia can overcome the challenges. All I did was to get us started: the rest, I hope, is up to you.

Please do not think of this as homework, but as Rob observed, we’re going to have to work hard on the pitching side of things. Hot tips, favorable reports, anything you think will help the Mafia team - send it over.