Had a fairly mediocre draft a week or two ago. It's a very, very competitive league (seventh year in existence, $50.00 buy-in), and the owners are all pretty savvy. Twelve teams, 25 man rosters, C/1B/2B/3B/SS/CI/MI/CF/RF/LF/OFx2/UTIL, SPx5/RPx4, Benchx3.

Here's my draft:

Well, I had some doozies. I wanted stolen bases from my MI in the first four rounds. Unfortunately, everybody I wanted was gone (like Brian Roberts), so I reached for Alexei Ramirez. In my defense, the "standard" guys available, like Russell Martin, were pretty unpalatable. I should have gone with a more solid OF selection.

Morneau was another reach, but every OF and CI I really wanted in the second round was gone,and I did not want to end up considering Carlos Pena for a starting 1B or CI slot on my team. Huff may look strange in the sixth, but consider this: one inconsiderate asshole took three third-baseman in his first four picks. This is EXACTLY the scenario I predicted in my Third Base Draft Guide. And he reads Fantasy Hurler.

I wanted Wright with my first pick; he took him. I wanted Aramis Ramirez with my third pick; he took him. I was hoping Chris Davis would make it back to me in the fifth (I almost took him instead of Alexei Ramirez); he took him. This created a disaster. One team has Chone Figgins at third, another has Adrian Beltre, a third has Alex Gordon . . . the one with Jorge Cantu is actually happy all things considered. There was gnashing of the teeth and near-panic when guys like Ryan Zimmerman vanished off the board. It was a huge problem for many owners, all due to one guy tripling up on a scarce position. I'm warning all of you: a determined owner can really fuck up how a league approaches the third base position.

I did get lucky with Reyes. I see the first tier of players as four deep: Hanley Ramirez, Reyes, Wright, and Pujols (in that order). I was praying somebody would pick someone else, and an owner took Ryan Braun with their fourth selection. Ended up with Reyes, who on the surface, looks like he's going to steal 70 percent of the bases for my team.

The two stolen-base sleepers I wanted -- Chris Dickerson and Elvis Andrus -- were both available late. So was Cameron Maybin. I just need one to pan out.

I saw huge, huge depth at OF this year. Didn't mind making Raul Ibanez my number one pick. I have sneaky power at OF if Shin Shoo Choo stays healthy and Hawpe has a rebound back to his 2007 levels.

Well, I really wanted Votto. Badly. He wouldn't have made it back to me, but he and Morneau better do significantly better than their home run totals of last year or I'm in trouble.

Pablo Sandoval went in the 10th. Goddamnit. This is the problem with writing for a fantasy website: your personal interests in keeping guys secret always interfere with your journalistic integrity. Well, he went five picks before I would have taken him. Now I'm getting out my Victor Martinez voodoo doll and using it to ensure he plays first base or is a complete pile of dog shit again this year, so my Shoppach pick can look brilliant.

Lot of question marks on my pitching staff, but the only guy I took at his "appropriate" draft spot was Hamels. Obviously, I won't hesitate to cut anyone else loose. There are some truly awful looking staffs in this league.

I took Rivera before Soria. I'm regretting it a bit as Rivera is still working his way back from relatively minor shoulder surgery -- I wish the draft was later -- and I thought there was an off-chance Soria might make it back. In any event, I like the Ks amongst my relievers, and I didn't pad my saves statistics by taking a marginal pitcher, though there were many available. I'll hope that Balfour or Soriano win out their job, and give me a better fourth closer than guys like Sherrill, etc., that were out there late.

This league is murderous every year. A few oddball draft strategies seemed oddly designed to fuck over people who waited on picks. Guys like Theriot, Taveras, and a host of catchers were drafted by teams who obviously didn't need them -- nobody's putting Theriot in a UTIL position -- simply to ensure that people didn't get draft day steals. That's just plain rude.

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