I almost feel dirty posting about myself participating in a fantasy league that included the dreaded American League, but I thought it would be a challenge.  Plus it made me use some of my free time during my extended layoff from employment (anybody need a personal chef in the Chicagoland area?) studying up on ADPs and players from the AL.  Most of the picks have some analysis (through round 13) and it can be found at the Crooked Pitch.  Let me know how I did through the comment section below or you can find me on twitter at @seniorcircuit.  This is a 26-man roster, including 2 C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P, 3 BN, 5X5 scoring categories.

So as the 2009 fantasy baseball season gets going, I wanted to do some team-by-team projections of the starting rotations around the National League.  I always like to keep this list close at hand during a draft or auction as it helps me see who is expected to pitch in which spot, this will affect innings pitched, amount of starts, and overall managerial confidence in a pitcher.  These are not concrete rotation orders, but an estimate on how the manager will line his pitchers up to begin the season. Typically the 4th or 5th starter will be determined during or directly after spring training and any full projections will have to wait to see who gets the spot in the rotation.  These will be updated periodically depending on free agent signings, injuries, etc.  Updated March 16/09.

National League East

New York Mets

Johan Santana

John Maine

Oliver Perez

Mike Pelfrey

Jon Niese/Tim Redding/Freddy Garcia

Philadelphia Phillies

Cole Hamels

Brett Myers

Joe Blanton

Jamie Moyer

Chan Ho Park/J.A. Happ

Atlanta Braves

Derek Lowe

Javier Vazquez

Jair Jurrjens

Kenshin Kawakami

Jorge Campillo/Jo-Jo Reyes

Florida Marlins

Ricky Nolasco

Josh Johnson

Chris Volstad

Anibal Sanchez

Andrew Miller

Washington Nationals

John Lannan

Scott Olsen

Daniel Cabrera

Odalis Perez

Jordan Zimmerman

National League Central

Chicago Cubs

Carlos Zambrano

Rich Harden

Ryan Dempster

Ted Lilly

Sean Marshall

Cincinnati Reds

Edinson Volquez

Aaron Harang

Bronson Arroyo

Johnny Cueto

Micah Owings/Homer Bailey

St. Louis Cardinals

Adam Wainwright

Kyle Lohse

Todd Wellemeyer

Joel Pineiro

Chris Carpenter/Brad Thompson

Houston Astros

Roy Oswalt

Wandy Rodriguez

Brandon Backe

Mike Hampton

Brian Moehler/Russ Ortiz/Chris Sampson

Milwaukee Brewers

Yovani Gallardo

Jeff Suppan

Manny Parra

Dave Bush

Braden Looper/Seth McClung

Pittsburgh Pirates

Paul Maholm

Ian Snell

Tom Gorzelanny

Zach Duke

Jeff Karstens/Phil Dumatrait/Ross Ohlendorf

National League West

Arizona Diamondbacks

Brandon Webb

Dan Haren

Doug Davis

Jon Garland

Max Scherzer

San Francisco Giants

Tim Lincecum

Matt Cain

Randy Johnson

Barry Zito

Noah Lowry/Jonathan Sanchez

San Diego Padres

Jake Peavy

Chris Young

Cha Baek

Kevin Correia

Wade LeBlanc/Josh Geer

Los Angeles Dodgers

Chad Billingsley

Hiroki Kuroda

Randy Wolf

Clayton Kershaw

Jason Schmidt

Colorado Rockies

Aaron Cook

Ubaldo Jimenez

Jason Marquis

Greg Smith

Jorge De La Rosa

Yesterday afternoon I was fortunate enough to participate in a live National League only draft which consisted of 10 teams, standard 5X5 scoring categories, and 29 man rosters including 2 C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 1 MI, 1 CI, 5 OF, 1 Util, 9 P, 6 Reserves.  I randomly was put in the 10th position of the draft.  Here is the outcome with only a few surprises in certain rounds and I may have reached for sleepers too early or just wanted to make sure I got players that would produce if called up or put into starting positions.

I feel that some people are counting Utley out for a significant portion of 2009 or are predicting him to not produce up to his usual level after this injury.  I am not one of these people, even if he starts the season on the DL through the first two weeks of the season, his value as the best 2nd baseman in the National League outweighs the risk.  I was more than happy to take Johan Santana & Chase Utley in the 1st and 2nd rounds.  I waited forever to draft a catcher but I think Ramon Hernandez may have a decent season with his power and the move to Great American Ballpark.  I may lack a true power hitter but feel I have a balance over all the hitting categories.  My pitching will be high on strikeouts and wins, but some of those wins will harm my ERA and WHIP.  Overall this is not bad beginning to the 2009 fantasy baseball season.

Tomorrow evening I will be venturing out to some unknown suburb of the greater Chicago-land area to participate in my yearly National League only fantasy baseball auction.  This will be my 7th season in this league.  This 10 team league consists of a $260 starting budget, standard 5X5 scoring, lineups include C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF, 1 UT, 2 SP, 2 RP, 3 P, 6 Reserves, a minimum of 4 keepers with an unlimited amount of keepers.  The keepers’ salaries are increased based on signing a player to a 2 or 3 year contract.  Our keeper rules state that:

From season to season, each team must retain at least 4 players. A team can retain more if desired.

The names of the players being retained must be recorded on distributed worksheets with the league secretary by midnight exactly one week before the next auction. No trades may take place from the time the worksheets are due until the auction.  After two seasons (a season is defined as any part of a major league season) of a player being owned by any rotisserie team without having been released to the free agent pool, the player must be signed to a long-term contract, given his option contract, or released.

If a player is released, he is made available to all teams in the next major league auction.

If a player is given his option contract, his salary remains the same for one season. After that season is complete, the player must be released and made available for the next major league auction.

If a player is signed to a long-term contract, his salary will be raised by the standard salary increase.

If a player is released before the end of his contract, the team releasing that player will be penalized as follows: The team’s salary cap will be

decreased by $5 the following year. For example, if a player is signed to a 3-year contract and is released during his second season, the team waiving the player will have $5 removed from his allotted salary cap in the next season, leaving that team with only $255 instead of the usual $260. If the player is traded to the AL, retires, etc., there will be no penalty.

A player may be signed to only one long-term contract. After the contract has expired, the player must be released and made available for the next major league auction.

Trades do not affect the contract status of a player.

I am preparing to keep the following players:

1B  Prince Fielder  $18

3B Edwin Encarnacion  $10

OF Conor Jackson  $8

OF Shane Victirino  $12

OF Cameron Maybin  $11

RP Matt Capps  $13

RP Jonathan Broxton  $10

P  Jose Valverde  $25

Which leaves me with a grand total of $153 for filling my remaining 17 roster spots.  My focus this year will be on power and average at the infield positions and reliable starting pitchers.  I think I am getting a great deal on Fielder, Victirino, and Broxton.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I will write about the outcome of the auction after it takes place.