Woody, we should take this to the hockey thread, but don't assume I'll get by Jammer. He always puts up a good fight and we split the season series.

I'll be able to make the draft, luckily!

Ok folks, looks like the draft is set now.

I've PM'd everyone info on signing up to the league. Get your butts in gear please!

7 p.m. draft is fine with me on Friday. I'll be re-arranging the old sock drawer until 6:59:59.

Can someone explain to me what has to be done BEFORE 7 p.m. on Friday? Do we have to rank players?

League Business

1. Draft is Friday at 7:00 PM EDT. If you cannot make it, the computer will pre-draft for you. You can change the default pre-ranking of players if you wish.

2007 Pistonsforum Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball

Click on EDIT MY RANKINGS above the short players list they display.

You may want to exclude players you hate, or anyone who has a late spring training injury/roster change (down the depth chart slide). You can also choose to move them down the list. Typically the Yahoo list is very good, but you want to keep in mind that just because a guy hit .300 and 30 homers last year doesn't mean he will repeat that feat.

Now if you see a diamond in the rough, maybe a rookie who could start the season with the big club and go off, move him up the list.

Don't worry. After the draft, you can add undrafted players if you see a gem out there, and you can make trades.

2. Some resources. Note: You do NOT need to spend any money on draft kits or additional products. You can if you so choose, but this is a casual league and personally I consider those investments unsound.

Team Depth Charts (draft full time players, not situational ones!)
Fantasy Baseball - Rotoworld.com

Fantasy Preview and Draft Do's and Don'ts
The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Fantasy: Fantasy Home

Draft Rankings (from a site I like)
Fantasy Baseball Player Rankings - Fantasy Baseball Cafe 2007

3. A couple tips on drafting. The scarcest quality players are catchers, short stops and relief pitchers (closers). A starting pitcher who throws a lot of strikeouts is also a plus particularly if he is a winner. Avoid middle relief pitchers, those guys are too inconsistent with their playing time to be dependable for wins or saves (Joel Zumaya excepted).

4. I want to remind everyone, that lineups are set once weekly, before Monday. Be prepared to set the next week's lineup early, say Friday/Saturday or so.

5. Any questions, please post to this thread. I will do my best to answer them however I have a heavy workload right now, so anyone can step in and provide a response if they know the answer. There are no dumb questions.

If I have two players at a particular position, say catcher, and there is only one catcher slot every day, does that mean I need to pick one or the other to play the entire week when I set my lineup on Sunday?

No. You set your lineup and that is who plays all week.

So here comes a free microwave tip.

A starting pitcher who plays Monday, has a pretty good shot to sneak a second game in the next weekend.

You do not want to carry two catchers. I would recommend a utility infielder and some extra outfielders for starters.

OK, so for instance, Kenny Rogers pitches Monday. So he is my pitcher all week, and I have to sit Bonderman that entire week, right?

Also, I was surprised that Catcher and shortstop are rare, but it makes sense when you think about it.

I'm talking rare as there are few standouts at that position. Also, some catchers split duty, the elite are less likely to do so.

Yeah, Rogers vs. Bonderman, but you can play up to 5 starting pitchers (2 x SP, 3 x P). If you end up with 5 elite pitchers that you cannot sit one over the other, then you had an amazing draft.

Thanks.