Fantasy Baseball: How not to build a fantasy sports franchise (Part Two)

In part one of this two-part article, I took you through a fantasy baseball franchise's draft. Part two will feature my team's season up to the current week and the many, many trades I made thus far.

Before the start of the season, I was itching to get Ichiro back on my squad. I really didn't want to start trading for at least a couple of weeks, but I needed to have the sharp hitting outfielder on my team at any cost. Hey, come on: money's involved here.

However, I made another trade first, obtaining Roger Clemens and Edgar Martinez from Pimp Daddy for Magglio Ordonez and Barry Zito. Later that day, I made my move, obtaining Ichiro in a three-team deal with the Cavs and Bronx Bombers. I sent Barry Bonds and Todd Zeile to the Cavs for Ichiro and Tino Martinez, whom I sent to the Bronx Bombers for Mark Quinn. The Bombers also obtained Travis Fryman from the Cavs for Brad Radke.

I learned my lesson that week of why I will never trade Barry Bonds again; he scored 78 that week as the same Cavaliers soundly defeated me by 132 points.

One week later, I made another trade, this time with the Bronx Bombers, giving up Miguel Tejada for Carlos Guillen, Bubba Trammell, and Orlando Hernandez, also known as El Duque. It proved to be a good move as I beat Mt. Kournikova's Rough Riders by 58.7 points.

Week three and yet another trade; again, I did some business with the Bombers and Pimp Daddy's in a three-way deal. I sent Preston Wilson to Pimp Daddy's and Jorge Posada and Joel Piniero to the Bronx Bombers. In return, I received Alex Ochoa from Pimp Daddy's and Livan Hernandez, Eli Marrero (via Pimp Daddy's), and Jeromy Burnitz from the Bombers.

Three weeks into the season and my first three draft picks are gone. What was I thinking again? Oh yeah, and I lost by 83 to the Pop Tarts, the team my buddy in Boston owns.

Week four comes along and I make four trades. Once again, the Bronx Bombers became a customer, as I traded Mark Quinn for Dustan Mohr. A day later, I made a deal with Steinbrenner's Stable. No, I didn't get my boy Vlad - although I hope there is a small chance of that happening. I sent Jon Olerud to the Stable for Nick Johnson and Scott Spezio.

The same day, I make another trade, and again with Pimp Daddy's: Ray Durham and Mike Sweeney for Tony Clark, Jose Cruz, Jr., and Barry Zito. I get one great start from Barry Zito before trading him to Smells Like Bologna for Mo Vaughn (and a dozen Dunkin Donuts).

Once again, I lose, this time to the Ghetto Blasters by 153. These trades aren't exactly helping me.

I didn't trade in week five, and maybe that was a good thing because I beat one of my frequent customers, the Bronx Bombers, by five. Don't ask me how; I don't know how I managed to pull that one out either.

Week six and three more trades; at this point, I think the rest of the teams in the league were conspiring to commit me to a mental institution. David Bell, Jeromy Burnitz, and Edgar Martinez to the Hong Kong Cavaliers for Ivan Rodriguez, Ben Grieve, Sean Burroughs, and Bill Haselman. It turned out to be pretty fair because Pudge and Edgar were both on the DL at the time.

A day later, another trade with the Bronx Bombers: Tony Clark, Ichiro, Livan Hernandez, and Fernando Vina for Randy Winn, Miguel Tejada, Russ Ortiz, Tino Martinez, and Javy Lopez. The same day saw Mo Vaughn (and a box of Krispy Kremes) go to the Ghetto Blasters for Doug Mientkiewicz. None of those trades would have mattered anyway because I lost by 23 to the Pimp Daddy's.

I decided to sit on my team to see how they would all pan out and it actually worked as I rallied to defeat Smells Like Bologna by 23 in week seven. Going into week eight, I felt that my team was starting to turn around. Well, my plans for not trading worked for only one week. Two of my players scored over forty points while three players on my opponent's squad, Smitty's Brewdogs, scored over seventy, including 124 by Shawn Green alone. I'm not going to say how much his team beat me by, but I'll go on record by stating that they almost doubled us up. Now let us never speak of that week again.

Week nine comes along and my ego is battered, bruised, tattered, and chewed up. (Like I said before, the rest of the league should thank the good Lord I have a sense of humor.) My team is 3-5, but at this point, eight of my first ten draft picks are gone via trade, fourteen of my first twenty picks due to trade or release. My power was gone; Bonds is having another great season, Ordonez is hitting Triple Crown numbers, and Mike Sweeney is starting to turn things around. So I make yet another trade. Well, two really.

The Bronx Bombers came knocking at my door once again; I'm surprised the Bombers don't have a Frequent Customer card yet. Ted Lilly and Miguel Tejada to the Bombers for Travis Lee, Felipe Lopez, and Joel Piniero. A day later, another trade, this time with Smitty's Brewdogs, the same team that humiliated me the week before. I finally got the power guy I was looking for: Fred McGriff, Charles Johnson, and Ryan Dempster for Felipe Lopez and Jon Lieber.

In week nine, I was up on Steinbrenner's Stable on Thursday. Friday morning comes around and I'm ready to change my lineup at work. One problem: the firewall went down overnight and had to be rebuilt from scratch. I missed the deadline for my lineup setting and was allowed to set my lineup after it came back up, but the service, CBS Sportsline, would not allow me to do so. I also missed setting my lineup on Saturday and it cost me. I wind up losing by 77.7 points.

Week ten comes along and I'm deflated. The season starts its turnaround point and I'm 3-6, last in the West Division. I'm set to play the Cavaliers again, who trounced me in week one. I got a good jump on the Cavaliers after the first day, and we went back and forth. By Saturday night, I was ready to give up. Ryan Dempster got me a whopping six-point night after lasting four innings in Minnesota.

But Sunday came up to be huge. Randy Winn went 4-5 with a home run, two doubles, and ten total bases, scoring thirty points. Timo Perez, a late week pickup, hits a home run: twelve points. Brian Jordan goes 2-3 with two RBI's: seventeen points. Roger Clemens and Russ Ortiz squared off in a pitching duel: 28 and 25 points respectively.

I woke up this past Monday morning expecting to win. I check out the standings and I'm 4-6 in the standings. Then I check the scoreline: a win by four-tenths of a point. I'm back in the playoff race with the closest win in league history!

Life is good.

So far this week, I haven't made any trades, even though I lead the league with thirteen trades this season - so far - and I'm also down 34 points to the Mt. Kournikova Rough Riders right now. This is all before readjustment tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that Roger Clemens doesn't get suspended for beaning Barry Bonds; I need him for Friday night! I'm hoping to win this week because I'll be only a game below .500 going into next week's game against my buddy from Boston. Lucky for me, my team is just beginning to pick it up.

(By the way, if you're looking for a pair of outfielders on hot streaks right now, I highly suggest Randy Winn and Timo Perez.)