Sloths, Lemmings, and Hippo's....OH MY!!

[DOUGHBOYS]

David Cushard was King of these Boards during the first two years of the NFBC. I could only aspire to be as clever as Dave was with his posts.
I've also been in two or three Main Events with Dave. Always a pleasure because he is just as good at putting a fantasy team together as he is at putting words together on these Boards.
Since those early times, life has taken over for Dave, and these Boards have become almost obsolete for him.
It's too bad.
We lose.

I bring Dave's name up because of his draft in this year's Main Event. He started out his draft by taking three third basemen. Evan Longoria, Hanley Ramirez, and Ryan Zimmerman. While it is obvious that Hanley would be positioned at shortstop on his fantasy team, in real life, he had three third basemen.
After seeing these first three picks, I made three mental notes-
1. Having not not selected a 3b with my first three picks, I'd have to 'settle' at the position.
2. His team is going to be either very good or very bad.
3. Is this the way to 'cure' the most injury prone position in baseball?

Scott Rolen was my 3b going into the season. I took some well deserved barbs from the Advisory Board for that one. Rolen was a shot in the dark. Both in that he would hit and stay healthy. He did neither.
Even Bugs Bunny would call me a Maroon. But, we'll talk animals later in this post....
Dave's team is neither very good or very bad. Injuries have hit him hard, but he has managed to keep his team afloat in spite of having six dl'ed players on his bench.
And no, this is not a cure. Over drafting the position has only caused heartache. He has had very few lineups where all three have been healthy.
If we want anything from our first three picks, it is good health. Another reason why so many first basemen and outfielders are in the first round. They are more stable than other positions.


If fantasy baseball was a jungle, first basemen and dh's would be sloths. Slow, sure, and steady. Less chance of injury and unappetizing for most pitchers, er, I mean predators.
Third basemen are lemmings. It seems they all take a turn hurling themselves off a cliff. The predators don't get them. They get themselves.
Middle infielders and outfieders are the gazelles. The fastest ones stay ahead of the predators. The slow and injured are gobbled up, digested, and turn to manure, or in our case, faab.
The catchers are hippos, not hunted by predators and seemingly happy just staying the way they are. Some, like Carlos Ruiz and AJ Ellis will try to over achieve for awhile, but all will be perfectly happy just sitting in the mire and wallowing in their statistical abyss.

In our world, we have to have each of these critters. And somehow, they have to mesh. Whenever one of our animals does not help us in a category, another has to pitch in. Speaking of pitching, by now you've gathered that predators are pitchers. Some strike (outs) early and often. Others are craftier, preferring to get their kills by other means.
It is here that we are different from the jungle. We draft our gazelles and sloths first. We want the creatures that'll best survive the predators. It is only after this group that we think about the predators themselves.
Our animals have to get along while doing the jobs we hope they will do. They must mesh together to form an unbeatable pack. If any member of the pack gets hurt, it affects the pack as a whole.


As for the lemmings, drafting three of them isn't the answer. At least not with the first three picks. Odds are, that at least one of them will hurl themselves off a cliff.
The best that we can hope for is to draft a lemming, hoping that it has the decency to wait till next season to hurt himself and somebody else's team.