So, I got about 1,000 words into today's daily notes, and then my STUPID LAPTOP BATTERY died cause the power cable slides out too easily and the battery is shot so it lasts about 45 seconds on battery power. It was probably the best Daily Notes I've ever written. Pultizer Prize winning stuff. There was this great break down about the Chi Sox bull pen, and how I picked up Hector Santiago before yesterdays game for my Blog Wars team. Well here is take two.

On to today's VERY TICKED OFF BULLETS...

The other day I tweeted the Marlins vs. Cardinals game on Wednesday was the soup and salad to the M's vs. A's series appetizer to Thursday's main course. I was asked if Friday would be seconds or desert. I haven't decided yet. I do know that yesterday was a pitching buffet. The scores from yesterdays games more closely resembled matches from the English Premiership than MLB. Onto the recap of action! Max Payne style...

At this time, I would like anyone who thought Kyle Lohse would take a no-hitter into the 7th, raise their hand...I thought so. What else happened?

• David Freese picked up where he left off in October getting 3 hits, 2 RBI and a run. He's a popular pick for sleeper at 3B this year, we just wonder if he can stay healthy.
• Rafael Furcal got himself 3 hits, an RBI and a steal. It's a good start, but he's old. Despite the talent pool at SS, I wouldn't rush out and pick him up based on one game.
• Josh Johnson gave up 10 hits in 6 IP, walking 2 and ringing up 4. Not great for the WHIP or ERA, but at least losses aren't usually a category in fantasy, right?

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Seeing that the season is here and the top five players are almost consensus top five players, I decided to combine the top 5 into one post. 

Key Stats: 

• Jose Bautista has 97 home runs in the last two seasons. That is 18 more than the next best player in baseball (Albert Pujols). He retains third base eligibility in most leagues this season and he added batting average to his repertoire last season. 
• There's nothing like a get out of jail free card to radically change the value of a player. That's what happened to Ryan Braun in this off-season. The NL MVP will have the whole world watching as he deals with any potential questions in a potential slow start regarding PEDs and the departure of Prince Fielder. Fielder's departure won't be all bad news for Braun fantasy owners. Braun easily stole a career best 33 last season, and with less to lose by stealing this season and more walks likely coming his way that total could approach 40 this season.

Here we go again, a chance for me to talk about me. The Blog Wars Snake Draft (hosted by RotoExperts.com's own Dave Gawron) was last night, and along with it, I came to the end of my league drafts for this 2012 season. Being new to the writing world, this league marks my first expert league and didn't disappoint as I was challenged from round 1 until I made my last pick 26 rounds later. 15 teams, all managed by some of the brightest baseball minds on the interwebs. If you are interested, you can check out the league and participants here.

This league being as deep as it is, I strayed away from my conventional drafting practices. Normally I don't take a pitcher in the first 6 rounds of a draft... here I took two in the first four. I normally try and win saves, this time,  I nearly punted it altogether, instead choosing to get high quality setup men or middle relief. I usually try to focus much more on power/speed across the board contributors. Here I mainly just drafted stats. 

I love auction drafts. There is so much more strategy and skill involved than a snake draft (no offense to Mr. Snake Draft, I love you too) and you have the ability to target the exact players that you want without someone snagging them in front of you (until the $1 rounds at least).

However, auction drafts take time and a whole lot of patience. After buying my first two players early, I waited more than a few rounds to add a third piece and a few rounds more after that to really start getting in on the action.

In a league like this one, with some of the best fantasy baseball bloggers out there, I knew I had to refine the strategy that I normally take into any draft: Don’t pay too much for pitching. In a standard league (12 teams), I would try to hold true to said strategy, but this league holds 14 teams – the deeper the league the more important pitching is – and just about everyone of my league mates seems to be set on not overpaying for pitching either. This, however, created an opportunity to get into the pitching market at an affordable price. Since no one was going to overbid on pitching, the prices remained at or even under market value for pretty much the entire draft. This was obvious early on, when I bought my first player, Justin Verlander, for $28.

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Key Stats: Troy Tulowitzki had an OPS over .900 last season - a feat no other shortstop acheived. It was the third consecutive season that Tulo had an OPS that season. The debate of Tulo versus Hanley Ramirez that was out in full force last year and non-existent (against Tulo) the year before is now completely in Tulo's favor. 

Skeptics Say: Tulo has seen his steals drop from 20 to 11 to 9 (with less steals in more at-bats last year). Also, there's a possibility that the pain in his elbow right now is more serious than the X-rays would indicate. Fantasy teams wish Tulo would just keep his mouth shut. 

We’re almost ready for baseball’s real opening day. Most drafts are done and teams are set, but there is still time to craft a sneaky trade or find an early free agent gem. Here are 10 bold predictions for 2012… no comments