Wednesday, July 12, 2006

All-Star Fantasy Team

Every summer I look forward to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. For the past four years, a friend of mine from the Deep South, Tony, and I would seat ourselves at a local watering hole and watch the entire game while trading baseball statistics and factiods. Our little tradition started out with just the two of us but has grown to include a larger number of baseball fanatics.
This year, however, I will not be attending the annual event since I am away on Hilton Head Island. Instead, I have convinced my Wonderful Wife that it would be necessary for us to have wings and beer at the local Wild Wing Cafe in the spirit of our annual get-together.
Yep, there is even a Wild Wing on the island, a little slice of hot-wing heaven. If you haven't heard already, I love this place (read my old rant here).
So with the big game in mind, I have examined my current fantasy baseball team and I think I have a winner. Much to the chagrin of some of the whiners in my league, I have assembled a serious contender, and I think I have a very good shot at the championship this year. Let me run down the list of players on my team, whether or not they are All-Stars this year, and how they ended up on my roster.
Offense --
Joe Mauer (C - Min): All-Star, Drafted
Albert Pujols (1B - StL): All-Star, Keeper
Dan Uggla (2B - Fla): All-Star, picked up from free agent list.
David Wright (3B - NYM): All-Star, Keeper
Rafael Furcal (SS - LAD): Keeper
Chone Figgins (Util - LAA): Keeper
Manny Ramirez (OF - Bos): All-Star, Traded Corey Patterson (OF - Bal) for him amid much league controversy. The trade was offered to me, and the originating team manager still wanted Patterson even after several other managers berated him.
Jeremy Hermida (OF - Fla): Drafted
Justin Morneau (1B - Min): Drafted, dropped and picked up again later from waiver wire.
Ryan Freel (Util - Cin): Drafted, dropped and picked up again later from the waiver wire.
Gary Sheffield (OF - NYY): Traded Brad Wilkerson (1B, OF - Tex) for him even though Shef was on the DL.
Pitching --
Roy Halladay (SP - Tor): All-Star, Keeper
Mark Prior (SP - ChC): Keeper
Billy Wagner (RP - NYM): Drafted
Joel Zumaya (RP - Det): picked up from free agent list
Rafael Soriano (RP - Sea): picked up from free agent list
Scott Kazmir (SP - TB): All-Star, Drafted
Francisco Liriano (SP - Min): All-Star, picked up from free agent list
Ryan Dempster (RP - ChC): Drafted
Huston Street (RP - Oak): Drafted
Justin Verlander (SP - Det): picked up from free agent list
Yep, that's quite a team.

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