The 2011 baseball season is nearly here, and will officially begin March 31st. I participated in another draft last week, but haven’t had a chance to post the results until now. I was caught up in all of the March Madness and the NCAA Tournament!! My favorite time of year!! Unfortunately my bracket was busted along with my favorite team the Syracuse Orange who were upset over the weekend by Big East foe Marquette. I hate to see Rick Jackson graduate as he was the team's most consistent presence on both ends of the floor and the clear leader as a Senior. But with defeat and sadness brings hope for next season and the arrival of two 5-Star freshman recruits in Rakeem Christmas and Michael Carter-Williams.  I look for the continued improvement of Brandon Triche, Fab Melo, CJ Fair, Dion Waiters, James Sutherland, and Kris Joseph already said publicly that he will return for his Senior season. If Scoop can limit his turnovers and overall poor shot selection next season could definitely bring potential for the Orange, but enough College Basketball. Let's focus on Baseball and below is another one of my fantasy teams and the corresponding draft results.     
        For this particular draft it was a Free Agent Draft for a 12 Team H2H Dynasty/Keeper League where each team owner only received 3 picks total (Note: These picks could also be traded too). I'm not really sure its fair to call it a draft when it is so short, but that's the beauty of Dynasty leagues and in this particular one each team owner kept their entire roster of players (minus 3 players from season to season).
       The other twist with this league and what varies greatly from the other drafts that I have posted in the past on CBS is that this league also deals with Minor League players! I feel this is a unique element of fantasy baseball that I feel adds a whole new dimension in drafting and roster stylings from year to year. I should mention that before this FA Draft this league also conducted a 3 player minor league draft to include the MiLB roster size from 10 to 13. So with these two drafts (FA and MiLB) combined it adds up to six total picks and while the drafts were held at separate occasions they were for the same overall team and purpose, and will be referred to as Draft #3. 
       But before I reveal my picks for my team Los Angeles Dodgers I will provide a little background on the league first. This will be my third season in this league and year after year it is the most challenging league that I am a part of and that includes money leagues. This league is competitive, yet free and is also unique for the sheer number of players that each team owner has to keep track of between the MLB and MiLB rosters. Each owner manages 13 minor league players and up to 26 major league players (with the 2 DL slots) which is 39 total! It is a league where you definitely have to remain active throughout the season which isn’t always easy with the excruciatingly long Baseball season. Keeping up on player news or rather team news is important on tracking the top stars of the future and also maintaining a solid current fantasy roster. Please see below my fantasy roster before Draft #3 which is followed by the players I selected with my draft picks in the MLB Free Agent and MiLB Draft respectively. I have divided up my team below between the MLB and MiLB rosters. I have also included the roster rules for MiLB player status to help out. Be sure to check out my team, and as always any comments or advice are welcome!!

Team Name : Los Angeles Dodgers 

--LINEUP--

·     C -   Geovany Soto

·     1B – Lance Berkman

·     2B - Gordon Beckham

·     3B – Evan Longoria     

·     SS – Rafael Furcal

·     OF – Alex Rios

·     OF – Adam Jones

·     OF – Delmon Young

·     U  -  Austin Jackson

·     U -   Manny Ramirez

·     BN – Carlos Quentin

·     BN – Ian Stewart

--PITCHING--

·     SP – Jon Lester

·     SP – Chris Carpenter

·     P -   Trevor Cahill

·     P -   Jaime Garcia

·     P -   Rick Porcello

·     P -   Fernando Rodney

·     RP – Ryan Franklin

·     RP – John Axford

·     BN – Johan Santana

***************************
TEAM DRAFT RESULTS

Free Agent Draft Picks:
SP – A.J Burnett, NYY - Taking a chance that he returns to form, possible trade bait.
SP – Brett Cecil, TOR - Hoping for successful follow-up season to 15 wins a year ago. Underrated.
OF – Cameron Maybin, SDG - 24 y.o., 5 tool player, but little success at MLB level, hoping for breakout season.