I know it’s prime fantasy football time as we approach Thanksgiving, aka Turkey Day, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t knee deep in baseball right now. I know, I know, it might seem weird to think that we are going baseball at this time of year, but that’s the name of the game when it comes to magazines (you can read a bit more about this situation in What an Odd Life). To that end, we had a 15-team auction, NFBC style, with 23 starting spots (14 hitters, nine pitchers with no reserves). If you want to see how the entire draft played out you will have to buy the magazine when it hits the newsstands in the middle of December, but here are a few thoughts on my team.

1- I rostered Jimmy Rollins and Derek Jeter at shortstop and middle infield for a total of $49 of my $260 dollar salary. Considering the paucity of top level talent at shortstop, I thought that it was a great idea to not only fill my middle infield spot with Jeter, an amazingly consistent force, but also to in essence “steal” a stud shortstop from another squad. Good luck rolling with Ryan Theriot.

2- I grabbed a couple of guys, on the cheap, who clearly have a shot at returning some nice value in 2010.

Corey Hart ($10) – Wait a second, didn’t Hart go 20/20 in back-to-back seasons before last years struggles? Given that he is just one year removed from said 20/20 work, and that he will only be 27 years old on opening day, I’d have to say that my Fanball co-workers missed the boat here. He may never have that truly monumental effort with his lack of plate discipline, but there is at least a 50/50 shot that he returns at least $15 in 2010, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that number approached $20.

Johnny Damon ($10) – I guess everyone must have been staring at a hottie on the television when Damon’s name came up. Perhaps the guys are worried how his production could fall if he isn’t hitting at the top of the Yankees order in that great hitters’ park, but come on now. He has no upside, and will be 36 next season, but the guy has scored 90+ runs in 12-straight years and in each of the last 14 seasons he has appeared in at least 140 games – the third longest streak in the history of baseball. A safe pick if there is such a thing.

Johnny Peralta ($5) – Third base is really, really shallow this season. This isn’t a huge upside selection if you look at his ‘09 numbers (.254-11-83), that is until you realize that he socked 44 homers with 161 RBI in 2007-08. He has the added bonus of qualifying at shortstop (41 games) and third base (105). Considering how late I grabbed him (my 20th pick I believe), I don’t think there is any reason to view this as anything other than a fine selection.

Vladimir Guerrero ($6) – It’s like no one realizes that he hit .295 with 15 homers in just 383 ABs. Give him 550 ABs and we are talking about a pace that would have led to a .295 average and 22 homers. If healthy, I really don’t see a reason he can’t go .300-20, though you do have to remember he only qualifies at DH.

Francisco Liriano ($2) – I know he will never again be the wunderkind who went 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA and a 10.71 K/9 mark in 2006 prior to his elbow surgery, but he could easily quintuple the cost here, and that makes him a bargain basement buy with considerable upside.

So there are my thoughts on my first 2010 baseball auction, even though we still have a month and a half left in the 2009 season.

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