We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled March Programming

We interrupt our regularly scheduled March programming. Tomorrow, I promise, we'll return to the tourney. But last night marked the draft in the first ever fantasy baseball Sox Blogger Showdown. There are twelve teams:

Team (Owner @ Website)
Phil Bradley (Jim @ Sox Machine)
SSS Torpedo Boat (Cheat @ South Side Sox)
A Useful Perez (Keith @ South Side Sox)
Omaha Black Sox (Jay @ Black Sox Blog)
ChiSox Daily (Buda @ ChiSox Daily)
(Marc) Hill St. Blues (DT Kelly @ Life in the Cell)
Rock Raines' Rascals (Jeeves @ Life in the Cell)
Steve Kemp All-Stars (James @ Life in the Cell)
Craig Grebeck (Tom @ Foul Balls)
Zeke Bonura (Panger @ Foul Balls)
LeBilly Jo Robidoux (Jake @ The Bard's Room)
Uribe's Legal Defense (Me @ Here)

You can find links to all of these outstanding websites in the links list here at the Ron Karkovice Fan Club. Well, except of course to this site because, well, you're already here. Anyway, the list is right over there. No, there. To your right. Good.

We drafted 21 players in a relatively speedy two hours. There was no indication of collusion between the 47 representatives of Life in the Cell. Although, Panger from Foul Balls, did threaten to use her feminine wiles to get her way in future dealings, if need be. There was also a general display of displeasure when Keith drafted Michael "Boom Boom" Barrett. I'll have to punish him for that transgression when Uribe's Legal Defense meets A Useful Perez in the season opener. We also chided Cheat for not putting Mark Prior on his "Over My Dead Body" list, which resulted in the computer auto-drafting him when Cheat was unable to attend. I laugh in Cheat's general direction. Then, I realize that I somehow wound up with Orlando Hudson at second base.

Anyway, here's my team:
C -- Russ Martin
1B -- Prince Fielder
2B -- Orlando Hudson
3B -- Miguel Cabrera
Garrett Atkins
SS -- Troy Tulowitzki
OF -- Matt Holliday
Dave Roberts
Adam Dunn
Chris Young (who I took immediately after Jay took, uh, Chris Young. Very confusing.)
Util -- Frank Thomas
SP -- Curt Schilling
Kelvim Escobar
Anthony Reyes
Dave Bush
Freddy Garcia
Greg Maddux
RP -- Brad Lidge
Brian Fuentes
Pat Neshek

It's a good team, not a great team. As you can tell, I went after offense early. The pitching leaves a little to be desired.

Speaking, of which, we interrupt our interruption to ask the following very important question: who in the heck is Adam Russell? He's come out of nowhere to put himself squarely in the battle for the fifth starter. Baseball Prospectus did have the foresight to give this guy a PECOTA card. We know this: he's huge. Six foot, eight inches, 250 pounds. He's also fairly young, at just 24 years of age. His projection isn't pretty, featuring an ERA of more than 6.00 in 18 starts. I'm just as hopeful as the next guy that someone emerges to lock down the fifth starter spot. But I'm loathe to make the choice based on a strong spring. What happens in limited spring innings doesn't say much about what will happen over the course of a year. I thought Danks was the best choice before the spring started, and Russell's strong spring hasn't changed my mind.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled interruption. There's also something of a stars and scrubs approach to my roster, which is odd because it was a straight draft, rather than an auction. Anyway, now that you've got the background, rest assured that I will provide much anticipated updates throughout the season. I also will not hesitate to talk trash, even as my season inevitably goes down in flames.