Brag away...Fantasy Roster

 Someone mentioned in another thread (sorry, forgot who it was so I can't credit them) that it would be interesting to see some of our fantasy/sim rosters. We all see what the rosters posted by occasional bloggers, but rarely the regular bloggers here. So let us have it... I think it would be fun and could help us understand the types of players/roster building that others like.

I only have one team, a DMB Simulation keeper team. League started before the 2003 season, and each GM was able to take over one team and their roster. We started with each team's starting salary cap, and they have been adjusted yearly based on a standard yearly increase, win totals (improving or regressing), Wild  Card, Division Titles, World Series wins and appearances. I took over the Cubs, mainly so I could have Mark Prior (QUIT LAUGHING!)... Each team can have 50 players total on their reserve and active rosters, minor and major leaguers.

I only have one division title, and that was in 2007, but I have never had a losing record. My current roster (we are starting free agency next month, so it's slim) and how I obtained them:

Pitching:
Craig Breslow (trade)
Neal Cotts (trade)
Aaron Cook (trade)
Roy Halladay (trade)
Michael Hinckley (draft)
Phillip Humber (draft)
Jon Leicester (inherited with team)
Tim Lincecum (draft)
Chris Mabeus (draft)
Justin Pope (trade)
Mark Prior (inherited)
Nate Robertson (trade)
Ricardo Rodriguez (trade)
Matt Roney (trade)
Jonathan Sanchez (trade)
Rafael Soriano (trade)
Huston Street (draft)
Justin Verlander (draft)
Carlos Villanueva (draft)
Matt Wise (trade)

Hitting:
Benjie Molina (signed)
Brad Ausmus (signed)
Mike Lowell (signed)
Bernie Castro (trade)
Tony Abreu (draft)
Jason Bay (trade)
Joey Gathright (draft)
Franklyn Gutierrez (trade)
Nic Jackson (inherited)
Jackson Melian (inherited)
Rene Reyes (trade)
Endy Chavez (signed)
Nate Frese (inherited)

As you can see, I love to draft high ceiling/low floor pitchers (Verlander, Street, Lincecum). I also had Rich Hill up until a few weeks ago, but I traded him basically for Aaron Cook and Nate Robertson. It filled my rotation so I didn't have to sign an SP this offseason, and it made my rotation more groundball-ish. Hill just kept getting slaughtered with the gopherballs. I also rarely sign pitchers in free agency, instead I trade for or draft them.

I still have several players who I will never use on my team. Melian, Ricardo Rodriguez, Rene Reyes, Nate Frese, Nic Jackson, etc. In order to waive a player, we have to pay them their salary for that year. My finances have usually been too tight to do that, so I have just let them rot away on my reserve roster. I traded for Reyes and Rodriguez back in 2003 or 2004 when they still had a decent ceiling.

So what do your teams look like? Let's see them!

I like the keeper aspect (and was able to retain Bruce, Rasmus, and Antonelli along with some further away guys like Jennings, Villalona, and Brett Anderson), but there are just way too many trades, as everyone gives up early, punts, and will give away their entire team for a minor leaguer.

We had a guy trade away his 1st, 3rd, and 4th round picks for Justin Upton.  

And players can only be kept for 4 years max anyway (after they lose ROY eligibility) so it gets a bit frustrating.

That said, I've won in back to back years, so I probably shouldn't complain.  I trade away all of my minor leaguers for value, and then just pick up  good ones before anyone else has heard of them.

league setup is interesting.  16 teams.  H2H.  6x6 (2B+3B, SB-CS, OBP not AVG; holds).  

salary cap auction league.  $100 (million, but whatever) cap.  multi-year contracts (5 years max).  so, good starting players go for about $6M x 3Y; studs will get $10M+ over 5.  pujols is getting $20, but that's considered faintly ridiculous; that always happens.

minor league draft every winter.  25-man low minors roster.  you can keep minor leaguers for 3 years.  minor leaguers are free, salary-wise, unless you promote and use them, in which case they cost the minimum ($0.3M) for the rest of the 3 years.  at the end of 3 years, you can take them to arbitration: below-market fixed rate contract extensions.  $0.4M for 1 year, or $3M for 5 years (for that special player), or a range in between.  

so, as in real baseball, player development and cost-controlled young talent become hugely important.  drafting a good player means you get him cheap for the next 8 or 10 years.  but it's not just straight dyansty keeping; you have to calculate costs.  at the end of 3 years a guy might be only in AAA; he looks like a stud, but is he really worth $3x5?  it's tricky.

here's my roster.  the league started before the 2006 season, and i took a sort of long-term rebuild-from-scratch strategy, essentially punting the first year in order to build a monster that would crush everyone.  my big auction investments were weeks, upton and mccann.

here's the current team:

C: mccann ($2 x 2)
1B: kotchman ($2.75 x 1)
2B: weeks ($6 x 3)
SS: tulowitzki (rookie)
3B: mark reynolds (rookie)
OF: bj upton ($4.5 x 3)
OF: chris young (rookie)
OF: mike cameron ($6.5 x 1)
DH: butler (rookie)

bench (stats count half)
C: salty (rookie) / napoli (rookie)
CI: huff ($4.25 x 1)
MI: asdrubal (rookie)
OF: dukes (rookie)
OF: juan rivera ($1 x 1)

SP: sheets ($11 x 2)
SP: lincecum (rookie)
SP: gallardo (rookie)
SP: greinke ($2.75 x 2)
SP: kuo / sean marshall / lannan (rookies)

RP: marmol
RP: okajima
RP: rafael perez
RP: mark lowe / fernando cabrera / rowland-smith
(all rookies)

minors:
clayton kershaw, chris tillman, scott elbert,
james mcdonald, dellin betances;
desmond jennings, jordan schafer, lars anderson, carlos triunfel,
josh rodriguez, wes hodges, gerardo parra, justin maxwell.  

12 open slots for upcoming draft (plans heavily redacted).  plus i have the most money open for this year's auction by a fair margin (about half my payroll's free) even though i already like the team as it is.  

made the finals in second year last season.  so far so good.  

for some reason i can never get a real third baseman though.  i signed ensberg originally and that guy turned out to be a total jackass.

C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ramon Castro
1B Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Jim Thome
2B BJ Upton
SS Orlando Cabrera, Asdrubal Cabrera
3B A-Rod, Chipper, Youkilis
OF Jermaine Dye, Chris Young, Billy Butler, Delmon Young, Andruw Jones
SP Jake Peavy, Felix Hernandez, Tim Lincecum, Javier Vazquez, Jeremy Guthrie, AJ Burnett
RP Takashi Saito, Matt Capps, Brett Myers, Peter Moylan, Jon Rauch, Pat Neshek

and then some of my better prospects

Clayton Kershaw, David Price, Matt LaPorta, Matt Wieters, F-Mar, Faustino De Los Santos, Joba, Hank Conger, Jesus Montero, Bill Rowell, Gorkys Hernandez, Jason Heyward, Michael Burgess

Basically, I'm pretty much set for a while.