Meaningful Topic, Meaningful Analysis

Since no one at MSNBC or CNN seems to be able to discuss last night’s debate in anything other than sports terminology (e.g. “low-scoring affair,” “tonight we saw hockey as opposed to basketball,” “a few field goals for Clinton, but no touchdowns”), I think it’s time to discuss some important items of my own.

The Suicide Squeeze Experience (the one true Fantasy Baseball League) is back online. The draft is four weeks away, so it’s time to start planning.

First things first. Last season was not kind to Total BeastandJack. Although my team finished in the top 5 in most of the major categories, we got unlucky on a lot of the match-ups and wound up finishing in the cellar. It didn’t help that I used the first overall pick in last year’s draft on Albert Pujols, who proceeded to have the worst season of his career.

There are reasons for optimism. I can keep five players from last season, and although my 25-man roster is pretty weak, my top five are as good as anyone’s. Let’s run down the list of potential holdovers.

Pujols is still all-world caliber at first, and a lock. That’s one.

At third base, I have Miguel Cabrera, now in Detroit, with better ballpark and a killer offense. Even with Dolphin Stadium and the woeful Marlins around him, he would have been a first rounder, so he stays. There’s two, and the infield corners are set.

Derek Jeter is top-notch at short, and supposedly he’s more agile coming into camp this year, so we might see a recovery in his base-stealing prowess -- always a big part of the Jeet-appeal. I could never drop The Captain (yes, capitalized) anyway.

Now, it gets a little trickier. Two keeper slots remain, and 3/4 of the infield is set. Let’s move on the outfield, as this was an area that killed me last year.

I had a disastrous outfield coming out of the draft. I took Tampa center-fielder Rocco Baldelli in the 6th round, believing that his colossal talents would finally come through in a healthy season. He’d been hurt each of the previous three years, but he has five tools, and I’d seen him do lots of terrific things in games he played against the Yankees. Center-field is a weak position anyway, which enhances the value of a guy who hits for power and average with speed to spare. He batted .204 in April, with 4 home runs and no steals, tweaked his hamstring in the first week of May, and never returned. Rocco had better hope he never meets me face to face.

That draft choice was a part of a mistaken philosophy that prioritized position value over total value. I chose a potential top-five center-fielder instead of a top-15 corner outfielder, because of the shallow talent pool in center. Of course, the scoring system doesn’t care where a player plays, just how frequently he hits the ball and how many bases he touches afterwards. I over-thought my draft philosophy. At the time that I drafted Baldelli, I could have taken Matt Holliday or Magglio Ordonez. I’m not making that mistake again.

Left field was also a debacle. I took Nick Swisher two rounds after I drafted Baldelli. I hate Nick Swisher. He hit 35 homers in 2006, his second year in the majors, with a nice on-base percentage and decent average. In the middle rounds, he was the best bet for outfield power. The guy hit about 15 dingers for me, several when he was supposedly too hurt to play on a given day, and spent about 3 weeks on the DL before I released him at the end of July. Even Swisher’s real team (Oakland) traded him in the off-season. White Sox, enjoy the most mediocre corner outfielder in the American League.

This brings us to the lone bright spot in the 2007 Total BeastandJack outfield: Alex Rios. He’s young, and was virtually unknown before last season. I inadvertently scouted Rios in 2006, by virtue of watching him consistently own the Yankees. I cursed his name then, but when I saw him available in the 8th round, I snapped him up. He did not disappoint. He played 161 games, notched 191 hits, 43 (!) doubles, 24 homers, and led the Blue Jays with 17 steals. He also has an outstanding arm and produces outfield assists like a champ. The guy is a stud. He plays for an AL East rival, but the crazy thing is how much I love that kid.

The caveat is that he’s not MVP material, and productive right fielders are a dime a dozen. So, on those grounds, he’s not worth keeping, because his production in right (though ridiculously consistent) is not superlative enough to rank him above the 50 other guys who can ably play that position.

But here’s where Total BeastandJack caught a lucky break. Vernon Wells spent most of September on the DL, and the Jays plugged Rios into Wells’ spot in center field. Rios is already above average in right. Considered as a center fielder, he’s behind only Curtis Granderson and Carlos Beltran in terms of all-around ability. He’ll move back to right this year, with Vernon (who is so bad, he even sucks in the video game) healthy again. But, because Rios played 20 games in center field last year, he’s eligible to play that position all year long for Total BeastandJack. Alex Rios, center-fielder, welcome back to the team. Please see the equipment manager for a jersey.

We’ll leave it there for now. Four spots are set. Pitchers, catchers, and second basemen remain, all vying for that final spot. It’s an open competition during Spring Training.