By the end of January, I’d already drafted enough teams that it was time to take the Nikes off and start counting with my lower digits. I’d tried several auction strategies, because auctions are my draft of choice. I could write a whole series of articles on why auction drafting has to be the draft format of the future, but that’s another subject.

The reality is that baseball is in full swing. As always, conventional wisdom, so prevalent in fantasy baseball, is being "stood on its head" by small sample sizes and streaks that often become meaningless by seasons end.

Seriously…do you think the Orioles are this good? Not a chance. They are playing over their heads with a young team and questionable pitching. The smartest thing they did this past off-season was recognize that their barren farm system wouldn't improve their lot in baseball's toughest division. So they dealt what currency they had in the form of Miguel Tejada and Eric Bedard, restocking their farm system while adding some promising young players who, like the team, were likely to experience some growing pains. The coup was stealing George Sherrill away from the Mariners. Mariner fans and writers alike questioned the deal for the supremely talented but oft-injured Bedard, who has continued to deal with injuries to start the season.

11 saves and a potential multiple Gold Glove CF

25Ks, 2 W, and a creaky hip

One of the worst things any fantasy player can do is to adopt a herd mentality. In one of my long-time money leagues, the guy who had the first pick, an avowed Red Sox fan, refused to take Alex Rodriquez, instead opting for Hanley Ramirez to much taunting and derision.

I thought he chose the wrong player but made the right decision. I have always been of the mindset that you select players based first upon your overall strategy and second on your personal belief of that player’s ability to help you execute said strategy. I never had the chance to shock the world – because I only did a few snake draft leagues and never got the top pick – with my selection of Chase Utley…but I really wanted to. First, because I don’t believe in "conventional" wisdom, hence the quote at the beginning of this section. Second, because in my experience it’s the player who bucks said wisdom who often wins. Utley is already being spoken of as a leading candidate for MVP, and his numbers support the conversations. More importantly, he’s a power player at a position not known for its power production, making him an elite player at a scarce position.

A-Rod apologists will point to his incredible season last year. That’s a loser’s point of view. Think about it this way. How far will you drive if you are always looking in the rear view mirror? Answer – A crash is imminent. There is no way Rodriquez equals last year’s stats. He’s older, he had all the off-season distractions to lessen his focus, and he’s older. Don’t tell me about his past, I don’t care about that. My job as an analyst, and my responsibility to those of you who come to this site, is to help you make the right decisions so you can win, not so you finish your draft as "The Person Most Likely to Impress Others with his Solid Draft." I think it was Joe Sheehan who said something to the effect of "second place, last place, what’s the difference. If you don’t win it doesn’t matter."

In 2006 I had a major forum war at Talented Mr. Roto with Adam Madison (now with ESPN) on who should be the first pick of the draft. Conventional wisdom, and Adam, said ARod. I said Pujols. Those of you who don’t know Adam Madison should know that he is a very young, very talented writer with an over-blown opinion of his own opinions. He’s that guy who argues for the sake of arguing. He gets very emotional and agitated while trying to act aloof and snobbish. (I’ll admit it was kinda fun tugging on his strings.) His point was ARod’s past proved he was the better player, and he pointed to his multiple 50+ HR seasons and high production. My points were that he was older and his biggest years were in the hitter’s heaven called Arlington Park, while Pujols was younger, was more consistent, and had yet to hit his physical peak. That last point is the one that excites me most, enough even to giggle like a schoolgirl when he fell to me with the 9th pick of the Norton’s League this season.

572 AB, 113 R, 35 HR, 121 RBI, 15 SB, 0.2902, BA

535 AB, 119 R, 49 HR, 137 RBI, 7 SB, 0.3308 BA

Conventional wisdom has no value to me, because it's like being a lemming. You have no more advantage than all the other lemmings, and you’re bound to fall off a cliff at some point. Give me unconventional wisdom every time. I’d rather shoot for the moon than settle for mediocrity. Win, or lose flamingly bad, but do it with panache.

I like ending on a positive note, and frankly I can’t think of anything more positive than to end highlighting a victory over the defenseless Adam Madison. Since it is highly unlikely he’ll ever read this, I can easily crown myself the champion on the topic.

Chase Utley, MVP. has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?