A.L. ONLY WEENie MONEYmAZE TO FILL

I feel like once before I used a fifty-cent guy who could field but not hit at all as SS and it didn't work out; missed the Wild Card close. Yet here I am again. Ugh.

tws

Perhaps you are thinking about the A.L. League we played in 2005 (with cards based on the 2004 season), when you started the season with Alfredo Amézaga, only to end up trading with Sarge for Michael Young, thus inspiring my team's manager, Bob Dylan, to compose the hit "ForMichael Young."

You did make the playoffs that year, though. I recall beating you in either the finals or the semi-finals. (I wish we still had access to all that history.)

Do you get the sense we're playing a game of Old Maid, except in this case the Old Maid looks a lot like Johnny Damon?

While his card isn't terrible, it seems a tremendous amount to pay for a DH to platoon against lefties.

Now that I've written that, I imagine he'll end up having an MVP-type season for whoever ends up drafting him.

I do have a shortstop, although calling Ramon Santiago a shortstop is kind of a stretch. However, he's no worse in the field than Jeter, slightly less of a hitter, but plays three positions competently and comes at half the price. However, I was hoping to find him a platoon partner, and both of my choices for that role were snarfed up (one, Alexi Casilla, went right before my pick, leaving me with Mike "Unwanted 3B Platoon Partner" Moustakas instead). So now my options are either really bad fielding shortstops for the platoon partner, or biting the bullet and letting Santiago hit against all comers, which I may regret.

Other than that, I only need a platoon partner for Eric Thames at DH, a few backups, and a bullpen arm. (Johnny Damon is among the possibilities, but since he'd leave me with $2.36 million to spend on four players, it's not likely.)

No pick from CATom last night. I personally would like to finish this up today before a new work week starts, but I would guess we'll get done at least by tomorrow if we keep going the way we are.

I thought I'd provide a salary update. The number of players still needed below represents out of the 25 total, including the two we will autodraft. Unless I've calculated wrong (a possibility), I think you are already out of the Johnny Damon Old Maid game, Curt.

Name Amount Spent Players Needed Maximum Amount
Zim 69.34 6 1.16
Kev 67.91 7 2.09
Mark 67.72 6 2.78
TomWS 67.08 7 2.92
Merkel 67.07 7 2.93
Cal 66.57 7 3.43
Curt 65.86 6 4.64
Sarge 64.08 7 5.92
Jason 63.14 8 6.36
Al 63.12 7 6.88
Meat 61.40 7 8.60
CATom 55.51 8 13.99

I have proxies set in case UpTown and CAT draft. SGT D

I bet everyone is fearing my starting rotation . I think I will need to bring Tom onboard as the pitching coach to help get at least 5 innings out of them. SGT D

I thought I'd provide a salary update. The number of players still needed below represents out of the 25 total, including the two we will autodraft. Unless I've calculated wrong (a possibility), I think you are already out of the Johnny Damon Old Maid game, Curt.

You're right - I miscalculated the number of players I needed, and CATom took Damon anyway.

Almost forgot to check my fantasy football leagues in all this mess - which would have been a bad thing, as I would have been playing someone who's been ruled out altogether. Right now, my teams are 10-1-1 combined, so keeping up is a necessity.

Did I really make the playoffs that year, Al? Don't remember it that way at all, but you've been a better keeper of the Strat historical milestones. You also shocked me by taking Jhonny Peralta while I was still weighing whether it'd be worth putting him at SS, immediately making me realize I waited too long Hamlet-ing Peralta.

Feel like I missed out on several guys who look like or played like bargains -- Varitek, EEncarnacion -- while scrambling to find a LH-slugging DH platooner in Carlos Quentin -- who I probably never would've taken if he wasn't now a Padres mainstay (when not on the DL) and a SS who can turn a double play even if he may turn more than get on base himself in the course of the season. I'm not really sure what kind of team I've got here, but I'm not feeling all that good about it.

tws

PS - I originally started this comment to call out Al's hilarious Old Maid Damon comment, then went off on a tangent. Wanted to note my (+1) as postscript instead.

PS2 - I've direct Tweeted Uptown -- he's at the Giants game in the Meadowlands, but will try to do something from the press box online.

I actually wanted Damon! but he was still two rounds away on draft list. figured he'd gone this far at that ridiculous price, so I could grab him anytime. looks like a 27 man roster now...

damn, damon and abreu, who knew such scavenging could be filled with such dumpster diving deviants