Fantasy Baseball Begins

It's that time of year again. No, it's not the start of baseball season. It's the start of fantasy baseball season. I nearly won the league last year but a disappointing final week led to a second place finish. My draft starts in about a half hour. I've done a lot of pre-ranking of players. I have a habit of drawing bad drafting positions. I'm assuming I will draft last again. My strategy is a little bit different than the conventional wisdom. I will take the best position player available in the first and second round. Then, I will try to take an elite pitcher in the third or fourth. I will also look for an elite closer in the fourth or fifth. After that, pitching is not a priority until the later rounds unless I see a bargain. I also don't look for outfielders until later on in the draft. I place a special emphasis on steals and saves. These categories can be tough to fill through free agency. If I can pick up a solid player who is eligible at multiple positions, this is a plus. Mark DeRosa has been a great example of this in past years. I also like to avoid pitchers with WHIPs over 1.35. I don't really focus on wins - they will come to me as long as I have pitchers from different teams. Free agency can alway help with runs or RBI. Anyway, I'm off to get ready for the draft. Good luck to those of you who will be in a fantasy league this year.