Team Name: Dr. Stats Juggernauts
Owner Name: Jeffrey Kamys
Home State: To come
Baseball Web Site: Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports
Personal Bio
I am the founder of Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports - http://www.docstats.com - and have played in fantasy leagues for the past 12 years. With the help of some talented programmers, I have created one of the more dynamic and interactive Web sites available to give fantasy sports players the edge in their leagues. Check it out at http://www.docstats.com.

Pre-Draft Strategy
Since I am coming off a Championship in this league last year, my strategy isn't going to change all that much. After looking over the league scoring system and then running some early numbers it didn't take a genius to figure out that this league favors stud pitchers in terms of scoring, especially guys that can give you 200+ innings and some strikeouts. Last year I drafted #1 and that was a nice position to be in. It was either P. Martinez, Bos or R. Johnson, Ari and I went Pedro. This year I draft 6th and although my draft spot has changed my philosophy hasn't, I will go after one of the stud pitchers early. M. Mussina, Bal and K. Brown, LA seem like nice choices at the sixth spot assuming that Johnson and Pedro will be gone which they should be.

Catching is always scarce but in this league 2 catchers are combined into one position as far as limits so 2 decent platoon guys are not a bad idea. After looking at the scoring there aren't too many catchers in the top 50-60 so I will wait it out at the catcher position. Last year I had C. Widger, Mon and T. Hundley, ChiN and they did a fine job in a platoon for me. This year I may take a risk and grab a guy like S. Alomar, ChiA late. I would expect that pitchers will go early, especially the top 10-15 guys and that there will likely be an early run at that position.

My overall strategy is this: Get 2 top quality starters - M. Mussina, NYA or C. Schilling if they are still around - then go after a top closer. After all, pitching dominates the points in this league. After that I will work on trying to pick up some speed and power guys. With SB's worth 2 points and HR's only worth 3, I will try to get as many multi-talented threats as possible. Only needing 4 starters, OF is as usual the deepest talent pool in the draft and I will try to hold off in that area. One player I will be avoiding this season is J. Hammonds, Mil who leaves Coors Field and heads to the new Milwaukee Stadium or Miller Park which appears to be a pitchers park. Obviously D. Neagle, Col and M. Hampton, Col are a nice pair in the Colorado rotation but their value will decrease as they will pitch half their games at Coors Field.

Post-Draft Analysis
My team filled out pretty much as I thought it would. I am satisfied with my pitching staff and that's key with this league's scoring system. J. Smoltz, Atl was a solid pick in round 10. Even if he only returns to 75% of his past form he's still a steal at that point in the draft. One player that I would have liked to grab was B. Zito, Oak, as he has "can't miss" written all over him. I felt that 5th round was a bit early for Zito to go and I had him locked in a couple of rounds later.

In the OF, I followed a similar strategy that I used when I won this league last year. Instead of grabbing pure HR hitters, I made sure that the guys I grabbed could produce on the base paths as well. That's key since this scoring system favors steals.

I loaded up with more injury risks than I usually like to take and that is one area that concerns me. R. Mateo, Tor; H. Bush, Tor; J. Smoltz, Atl; R. Alomar, Clev; and B. Larkin, Cin; will need to be watched closely this year.

This league has a nice bench size of 7 players. That really affords you the opportunity to take some chances on some players that could develop in spring. The so-called sleepers or undervalued players that I grabbed are R. Mateo, Tex; C. Beltran, KC; and C. Patterson, ChiN. Patterson is a longshot to make the club out of spring. Beltran, however, could end up being the steal of the draft if he reverts to his '99 pre-injury form. Mateo still needs some refinement but with all the talent around him he could blossom.