Here's a look at the second of my two fantasy teams

Let me start out by saying nobody should derive any fantasy baseball advice from looking at this roster. I'll be shocked if I contend in this particular league.

It's a 10-team league -- five new owners (including me) and five returning owners. The five returning owners got to keep up to five players from last year, with the stipulation they couldn't keep their first-round draft pick from last season. That means there were still some elite players on the draft board, like Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano and Clayton Kershaw. All those guys were first-round picks in this league last year, and therefore could not be "kept" by any of the returning owners.

Nevertheless, some elite guys who were *not* first-round draft picks last year were kept and were not available in this draft. That list of players included Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew McCutchen -- all of whom certainly would have been drafted in the first round had they been available.

I had the 10th pick out of 10, so pretty much all of the real top-flight guys were gone by the time I made my first pick. They were either kept by returning owners, or selected in the nine picks made before mine. I knew I was behind the eight-ball no matter what I did, but I ultimately decided to take Troy Tulowitzki with the 10th overall pick and Jason Kipnis with the 11th. If nothing else, I had my middle infield set, and those positions are traditionally harder to fill than first base or any of the outfield spots.

Without further discussion, here's the team I drafted:

C: Brian McCann
1B: Eric Hosmer
2B: Kipnis
SS: Tulowitzki
3B: Manny Machado
LF: Mark Trumbo
CF: Michael Bourn
RF: Jay Bruce
Util: Mike Napoli
Util: Coco Crisp
BN: Jhonny Peralta
BN: David Freese
BN: Kelly Johnson

SP: Cole Hamels
SP: James Shields
SP: Julio Teheran
SP: Matt Moore
SP: Sonny Gray
SP: Justin Masterson
SP: Chris Tillman
RP: Trevor Rosenthal
RP: Grant Balfour
RP: Tommy Hunter

It should be noted I've already made two roster moves since the draft. Bourn is going to start the season on the DL, so I added another speedy outfielder in Ben Revere, who surprisingly was left undrafted in this league. I think he's a decent sleeper this year. In addition, another owner dropped Chase Headley, so I quickly snapped him up and released Freese, who is coming off a rough year and has had a poor spring.

Much like my other team, I'm taking a chance on Machado getting healthy and returning to form at third base. He's not going to be ready for the start of the season, so I needed a decent backup. Headley was the guy I wanted for that role all along, but somebody drafted him before I could get to him. I settled for Freese, but I was delighted earlier this week to see that Headley became available for nothing. I see him as a reasonable stopgap in the short run.

Have I mentioned yet there's one guy in this league who had Trout, Goldschmidt, McCutchen and Dustin Pedroia as his keepers? And, oh yeah, he drafted Kershaw, Jose Fernandez and Justin Verlander with his first three draft picks. That team is completely stacked, and it's hard not to feel like the rest of us are playing for second.

Me? I'll be lucky to finish in the top half of the league. Maybe next year.

Here's a look at the first of my two fantasy teams

Manny Machado

I'll be participating in two fantasy baseball leagues this summer. In addition to talking about actual baseball, I plan to post about fantasy baseball from time to time once the regular season begins. I'll talk about the progress of my own teams, and hopefully hand out some decent advice to readers of this blog.

I was nowhere near a computer last night and therefore unable to participate in the draft for the first league I'm in. This is my first year in this keeper league, where I inherited a last place team. I did have the first pick in the draft, and the league commissioner selected a team for me based upon player rankings. Here is my roster:

C: Jason Castro
1B: Prince Fielder
2B: Ian Kinsler:
SS: Troy Tulowitzki
3B: Manny Machado
LF: Starling Marte 
CF: Michael Bourn
RF: Josh Reddick
DH: Matt Kemp

BN: Domonic Brown
BN: Aramis Ramirez
BN: Daniel Murphy
BN: Todd Frazier
BN: Alexei Ramirez

SP: Jordan Zimmermann
SP: David Price
SP: Gerrit Cole
SP: Mike Minor
SP: CC Sabathia
SP: Dan Straily

RP: Steve Cishek
RP: Addison Reed
RP: Joaquin Benoit
RP: Mark Melancon

The league allows owners to keep four guys from the previous year's team. My four were Tulowitzki, Machado, Fielder and Zimmermann.

Zimmermann was the easiest choice. I can see why last year's owner finished last. His relief pitching was terrible, and Francisco Liriano was his second-best starter. I figured I had to keep one pitcher, and Zimmermann was the only guy on that roster I liked.

I'm always a little reluctant on Tulowitzki. He always seems to have injuries, but he's still the best offensive shortstop in the game. It's hard not to keep him if you have the chance.

I kept Machado because third base is a hard position to fill. Even though he's coming off an injury and may not be ready to start the season, I feel like he's a good fantasy option over the long haul. At least I have Ramirez and Frazier as backups at third base to get me by in the short run.

Finally, I had to decide whether to keep Fielder or Josh Hamilton as my fourth guy. I chose Fielder because I think he will thrive in hitter-friendly Texas, and Hamilton hasn't been healthy this spring. I was already keeping a couple health risks in Tulowitzki and Machado, and didn't want to take another one.

At first glance, it looks like right field and relief pitching will be my two weaknesses. Reddick, who was chosen for me in the 21st round, is my only option in right field. Once Machado is healthy, I might be looking to deal one of my third basemen to fill that spot.

As for relief pitching, well, closing situations are always so fluid. Things change quickly, and if you're on top of things, you can sometimes find some good options for your team on waivers. We'll see.

I have another draft next Sunday. It's not a keeper league, and I'll actually be able to go to the draft. I'll post the results and my thoughts on it in this space next week.