Team Name: The Write Stuff
Owner Name: Lawr Michaels & Patrice Evans
Home State: California
Baseball Web Site: CREATiVE SPORTS
Personal Bio
Began playing strat-o-matic in the late 70's and then became an avid Royals fan but the truth is that even though I currently cover the Athletics for several publications, being an analyst, especially and objective one, has eliminated any loyalties. I just love seeing a good game.

It's great writing a weekly baseball - I love the game and I love writing about it. At CREATiVESPORTS, I try and give basic information to help fantasy players make the best possible decisions when adjusting their rosters. I try to put out the kind of information that I would like to see if I was reading someone's column.

Pre-Draft Strategy
The CREATiVESPORTS approach is one of looking for strong consistent pitching, augmenting with good young hitters who improving, but have not yet reached their peak season. Last year we had good success with hitters like J. Giambi, Oak; M. Tejada, Oak and J. Cirillo, Col, all of whom had career years. We will look for the same types of players, hoping to cash in on a statistical improvement.

Our pitching staff was anchored by G. Maddux, Atl and M. Hampton, Col, along with E. Milton, Min and a number of other young arms. Though Maddux has definitely had several career years, and Hampton is a question mark at Coors, we still look for the same type of healthy guys who go out every five days and throw strikes.

We also like (well, love, especially if it irritates the other owners!) to push the draft in directions that the other owners are, or seem to be resisting. We are happy to nominate a closer, for example, while everyone else is focusing on catcher (or vice versa).

Post-Draft Analysis
Pretty happy with how the draft went. The plan was to build a strong pitching staff and support it with position scarce offense. Pitchers went fast and so I didn't get the staff I envisioned, but still happy with it regardless K. Brown, LA at the top makes everythign easier. After Brown everyone is young with high upside so any busts should be cancelled about by some scores.
 

What worked and didn't work in your strategy?
The staff should be solid but is made a top staff by the bullpen, A. Benitez, NYN I feel is the #1 stat reliever, and D. Graves, Cin; U. Urbina, Mon and M. Williams, Pit provide the depth and upside that I shouldn't have to worry about this side of the ball too much.

On the offense the scarce positions at C and SS are well covered with M. Piazza, NYN; M. Tejada, Oak, R. Furcal, Atl and M. Barrett, Mon. E. Chavez, Oak at 3B I regret taking so early ...and then I regret not backing him up with someone earlier...but I do like M. Barrett, Mon and his combo of 3B and C eligibility could be crucial.

What were your best picks?
I think M. McGwire, StL was and will be my biggest steal. Speaking of Big Mac I didn't overly concern myself with injury prone guys because I figure there are always plug in pieces available in a mixed league, and I wanted to concentrate on points per game value of a player.

Who were your sleepers?
With that in mind the player I missed out on was L. Walker, Col. He's always a possibility to be one of the top scorers, and at the least even without the pop he always scored big in point leagues, he went pretty late in my opinion. I planned on L. Walker, Col and S. Green, LA being my 2 OF'ers giving me high upside and consistency .... but was thwarted by Woodman.

I think my OF is potentially my weakest spot, but I think I have a nice mix of consistency and upside that should make it work. I think JD Drew, StL is the key to my OF and I expect him to finally live up to all that potential with regular PT this year.

What would you have done differently?
You never can tell how a draft will play out and so I might have changed a couple picks but nothing major .... and I wouldn't switch teams with anyone, sine we're going to win this league ;) I feel we're well covered in all the critical areas to winning a championship and we're also relatively well insured against injury with solid depth.

Swap teams?
I don't know if we're the best team yet but we should be poised, with good in-season management, to make a run at the top spot .... and that's all you can ask for coming out of the draft.