Seeing Starlin?

This is my first true work day of the week, at least in terms of KFFL day-to-day stuff. From Monday to Wednesday, I joined GM Ryan Bonini at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association's annual conference at Las Vegas.

Strangely enough, I didn't make my usual trip to the blackjack tables. The only gambles I took in Sin City came at the mic during karaoke (inquire within for more) and at the draft table Monday for the gathering's MLB experts selections, which was broadcasted by the ever-talented Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio team.

(Shamefulless plug: KFFL is lucky enough to run things on Sirius 210/XM 87 Wednesday nights from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET).

This 13-team, 29-round face-off (including defending champ and FSWA award winner Ray Flowers from Sirius) is one of the earliest single-year, for-realsies pick 'em parties in the industry. There are no trades in this weekly-lineup, standard 5x5 mixed rotisserie format, which alters draft strategies for many.

The 15 of you who read my blog know that in standardized setups, I focus on building a strong infield, collect near-ace starting pitchers and tab values at the closer, outfield and catcher spots.

This one went along that track as I picked from the No. 2 slot:

Pos	Rd	Name	Tm	Notes
C	17	Kurt Suzuki	OAK	Durable w/some HR upside
C	29	Ryan Hanigan	CIN	See CIN handcuff below.
1B	1	Albert Pujols	LAA	Albert will continue to reign.
2B	4	Dan Uggla	ATL	Power complements early-rd BA mavens.
3B	2	Adrian Beltre	TEX	Built-in DL, but elite when on field
SS	3	Starlin Castro	CHC	Best 5-category combo after studs went
CI	8	Ike Davis	NYM	Health, shorter Citi will aid breakout.
MI	11	Jason Kipnis	CLE	Danny Espinosa w/ less harmful BA
OF	5	B.J. Upton	TB	Shaky clip? Pshaw. 20-40. Drool
OF	7	Brett Gardner	NYY	Nicholas Minnix believes. So do I.
OF	12	Brandon Belt	SF	In this draft, had to reach for boom.
OF	15	Alex Rios	CWS	A better rebound bet than Adam Dunn
OF	20	Jason Kubel	ARI	Chase Field a helpful rebound locale
UT	22	Pedro Alvarez	PIT	2011? Meh. This price? Absolutely!
P	6	Yovani Gallardo	MIL	A prime candidate for roto acehood
P	9	Gio Gonzalez	WSH	Eat the BB. Savor the K.
P	10	Max Scherzer	DET	Profile suddenly ubersafe for a SP3
P	13	Brandon Beachy	ATL	200 IP? Prob not, but for a SP4? Daymn
P	14	Rafael Betancourt	COL	Old but skilled w/ elite K/9, K/BB
P	16	Frank Francisco	NYM	Health could yield 30-plus SV
P	18	John Danks	CWS	My fave from this draft
P	26	Jonathon Niese	NYM	Grounder foundation, blossoming K/9
P	27	Luke Hochevar	KC	Luuuuuke: a long-term roto crush peaks
BN	19	Bryce Harper	WSH	Little to lose, loads to gain
BN	21	Devin Mesoraco	CIN	I'll wait for C GP, eventual boom
BN	23	Jason Bay	NYM	Mets' stigma equals value
BN	24	Zack Cozart	CIN	A cheap Kipnis to round out MI depth
BN	25	Johan Santana	NYM	Declining, sure, but why not?
BN	28	Brent Morel	CWS	Here's why.

• My focus on combining homers and stolen bases worked; this team projects for 261 homers and 195 swipes with the listed starting lineup on offense. This was a K-heavy pitching approach, as well.

• I've covered myself at 1B with Pujols, Davis and Belt (when he's not an outfielder). Don't underestimate the lack of reliable distribution at the 3; would you rather pay for solid production or rest your mixed-league hopes on the likes of Freddie Freeman?

• I don't necessarily think third base is as shallow as many others, but I did know that my fellow drafters would lock one up as soon as possible.

• My Starlin Castro selection was one of the hot topics when I chatted with other drafters following the process. I considered taking Carlos Santana there and might've done it on a different day. But I wasn't confident in the shortstop lot that would've been there for me following that long turn after Pick 28. In an auction, I wouldn't hold Castro at such high esteem.

• Closers continue to serve as middle-round fodder among industry folk - even the Craig Kimbrels and Jonathan Papelbon. This shows you how worried many are about building an offense and how abundant saves continue to be.

Some of my favorite picks from others:

• Ryan Braun, Round 5 - RotoWire's Chris Liss echoed my approval for taking on Braun's potential suspension; as abbreviated as his numbers will be, they'll still be elite. If Braun were anything but an outfielder, his stats would be extremely difficult to front-fill without overcommitting to the position and leaving others on your team behind.

• Rickie Weeks, Round 6 - Not even an impending Prince Fielder departure should knock Weeks that far down.

• Matt Moore, Round 9

• Jason Heyward, Round 11 (Another Lisser. He complained about me swiping some of his selections during our radio chat Tuesday. You did some sniping of your own, Chris.)

• Paul Goldschmidt, Round 11 - If I hadn't needed a more helpful batting average, he would've been mine in Round 8 in place of Davis.

• Ian Kennedy, Round 11 - Rick Wolf and Glenn Colton picked Victor Martinez. Ouch. At least they got this solid value.

• Cory Luebke, Round 13 - My coin flip that round gave me Beachy instead.

• Joel Hanrahan, Round 13 - No way he should've lasted that long.

• Kenley Jansen, Round 14 - Thanks, USA Today folks, for snatching him one pick ahead of me.

• Wilson Ramos, Round 15

• Brandon McCarthy, Round 17

My favorite sleeper picks by others in Rounds 20-29

• Addison Reed, Round 21

• Jake Peavy, Round 23

• Tim Stauffer, Round 23

• Jarrod Parker, Round 23

• Anthony Rizzo, Round 26

• Vinnie Pestano, Round 26, one of my favorite closers in waiting

• Lonnie Chisenhall, Round 26

• Chris Capuano, Round 28

• Brett Anderson, Round 29

***

In Vegas, it was announced the projections Nick spearhead and I contribute to finished third place in the FSTA/The Most Credible Fantasy Baseball Projections Accuracy (preseason) contest. We wound up second (2009) and fourth (2010) previously. This is more motivation for us to finish first for 2012.

***

I want to end by thanking all the conference's masters of ceremony and congratulating all of the award winners for the FSTA and Fantasy Sports Writers Association, along with the six inductees into the FSWA Hall of Fame, all announced during the fantasy world's takeover of Vegas.

KFFL Hot off the Wire analyst Daniel Dobish won the Best Writer Awards for Racing and Hockey for his work with KFFL friends RotoExperts. Our own Cory J. Bonini was a finalist for the Best Football Article in Print Award, which he won in 2010. One of our NASCAR writers, Brian Polking, was a finalist in alongside Dobish in the Racing category. Eric McClung, one of our longtime contributors, was a finalist for Golf Writer of the Year for his work with Fantasy Football Toolbox.

Thanks to the newest Hall of Fame members for all they've done in the industry. All the honorees recognized at the program show how much this sector has grown; how hard we analysts work and compete; and how strong our impact is on not just fantasy sports, but also the sports themselves. That's something on which even my 12 draft opponents and I can agree.