hope springs eternal

I thought I'd recognize the beginning of the baseball season today by posting one of my two fantasy baseball rosters. (I'd joke that this is due to popular demand, but even as a joke that's too much of a stretch.)

This is my Zackattack team in the Cheap Seats League, a brand new keeper league; we held our initial draft a few weeks ago, and man, was that excitement. Some details: it's a rottisserie league with 40-man rosters, an add/drop waiver wire, and seven major league and three non-major league keepers each year. It's 7x7, with W, CG, SO, ERA, WHIP, SV, HO (yup, holds), AVG, OPS, R, HR, RBI, SO and SB. We also have a weird rule where you get three active utility players that can be either hitters or pitchers. In other words, one team can have as many as three more pitchers or hitters active than another team at any time. (It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out; my guess is it creates more parity by letting each team compensate for weak areas.)

Here's my roster:

C MPiazza
1B PKonerko
2B ASoriano
3B ARamirez
SS OCabrera
CI HBlalock
MI OVizquel
OF JDamon
OF CFloyd
OF JEdmonds
OF ARowand
UT JGathright
UT RSanders

Reserved Hitters
C/OF JWillingham
1B FThomas
3B #IStewart
SS #JGuzman
OF JDye
OF MAlou
OF CPatterson

Active Pitchers
SP JSantana
SP MBuehrle
SP APettitte
SP ZDuke
RP CCordero
RP EGagne
RP CRay
P JPutz
P JPatterson
P EBedard
P JLieber
UT ASisco

Reserved Pitchers
OdPerez
#JeWeaver
#CHamels
#DMatsuzaka
#CHansen
#JDevine
DRiske
#RWagner

I think I'm in good shape. I love my pitching--I shouldn't speak too soon, but I don't know if I've ever had this many promising and/or reliable starters on one team (as if any pitchers are really reliable)--and my hitting seems to have a good mix of speed and power. I have a nice group of non-major leaguers (designated above by #), and a blend of reliable veterans and high-upside candidates, without too many real longshots. I'd love a better middle infielder, my depth isn't great in some areas, and holds might be a tough category, but I'm pretty happy with this team and ready to get the season going...