Keeper

I would rather have Napoli than the Salty/Tek platoon that could potentially be disastrous. Napoli isn't a very good catcher, but then neither was V-Mart.

I like Lowrie's chances a lot more than I like Salty's, but it is true that neither one of them is a sure thing.

Team: The Big Keeper Machine C: Chris Iannetta ($1.75 Million) 1B: Mark Teixeira ($20 Million) 2B: Gordon Beckham ($445,000) 3B: David Wright ($10 Million) SS: Rafael Furcal ($8.5 Million) RF: Justin Upton ($500,000) CF: Denard Span ($750,000) LF: Carlos Gonzalez ($406,000) DH: David Ortiz ($12.5 Million) Bench: RF - Nick Markakis ($6.75 Million) (L) Bench: UTIL - Ryan Raburn ($438,000) Bench: C - Ryan Hanigan ($415,000) Bench: 2B/SS - Danny Espinosa ($400,000) (S) Backups: C: Ryan Hanigan 1B: Ryan Raburn/David Ortiz 2B: Danny Espinosa/Ryan Raburn SS: Danny Espinosa 3B: Gordon Beckham/Ryan Raburn RF: Nick Markakis/Carlos Gonzalez/Denard Span CF: Carlos Gonzalez/Ryan Raburn LF: Ryan Raburn/Denard Span DH Against Righties: Nick Markakis DH Against Lefties: Chris Iannetta Lineup (vs. Righties) 1. Denard Span - CF (L) 2. Gordon Beckham - 2B 3. Carlos Gonzalez - LF (L) 4. Mark Teixeira - 1B (S) 5. David Wright - 3B 6. David Ortiz - DH (L) 7. Justin Upton - RF 8. Chris Iannetta - C 9. Rafael Furcal - SS (S) Lineup (vs. Lefties) 1. Denard Span - CF (L) 2. Gordon Beckham - 2B 3. David Wright - 3B 4. Mark Teixeira - 1B (S) 5. Carlos Gonzalez - LF (L) 6. Justin Upton - RF 7. Ryan Raburn - DH 8. Chris Iannetta - C 9. Rafael Furcal - SS (S) Rotation 1. Jon Lester ($3.75 Million) (L) 2. Dan Haren ($8.25 Million) 3. Brett Anderson ($500,000) (L) 4. Colby Lewis ($1.75 Million) 5. Jhoulys Chacin ($400,000) Bullpen 1. Closer: Heath Bell ($4 Million) 2. Setup Man: Takashi Saito ($3.2 Million) 3. Setup Man: Chris Sale ($400,000) (L) 4. Middle Relief: Kenley Jansen ($400,000) 5. Middle Relief: David Robertson ($426,650) 6. Long Man: Ernesto Frieri ($400,000) 7. Long Man/LOOGY: Jeremy Affeldt ($4.5 Million) (L) Dropped Kyle McClellan ($425,000) Dropped Matt Reynolds ($400,000) Current Payroll Used: $91,655,650

Gonzalez is much better than Ortiz at this point in their careers. No way would I have Ortiz bat 3rd and Gonzalez 5th.

Yeah, I have no problem with Kalish playing another year in AAA. He's still developing.

It's a perfectly reasonable discussion. What makes you think Scutaro would put up better numbers than Lowrie? Lou Marson played more than Carlos Santana on the Guardians. Should Marson start?

I understand what we're doing by using guys in the bullpen in their real life roles, and I like that. My question is what about bench players like backup catchers and 4th outfielders? Say everyone has picked a catcher and someone like Miguel Montero (not saying he would be, just for the sake of argument) is still on the board. Could we pick him to be a backup catcher? Same goes for 4th outfielders. Can we pick a starter to be a bench player? Also, are we having DH's, and if so, do these DH's necessarily have to be DH's in real life?

I had Crawford batting leadoff and 2nd in my lineups. Those spots make the most sense to me.

Ah, I forgot about Dave Winfield. He was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks and the Minnesota Vikings, even though he never played college football. I think the guy in my avatar could have played in the NFL.

Carl Crawford could have played point guard at UCLA and could have played football at a number of schools. Whether he could have gone pro in basketball or football I can't say.

Iverson would have been too short and scrawny to be an NFL QB, IMO. And I don't know anything about his arm strength.

Charlie Ward was an interesting athlete. Played in the NBA, won the Heisman at Florida State, and was drafted by the Brewers and Yankees as a pitcher. That's nuts.

Ah, that's a good one. I could see it. I think Rafael Nadal could have also played soccer.

Dice-K is another guy you always have to worry about.

I know Antonio Gates played basketball in college, and I saw him in Pros Versus Joes. He has game, but at 6'4" he'd be way too undersized to be a power forward in the NBA. And he certainly can't be a guard. Julius Peppers played basketball at North Carolina. But at 6'6" I don't see him making it in the NBA as a guard or forward.

It was suggested in another thread that LeBron James could dominate in the NFL as a receiver. Any other athletes you can think of who could play another sport and play it well? You can also mention retired athletes when they were in their prime, if any come to mind.

Works for me.

Ah, much better. Monthly power rankings is a good idea. I would be up for starting the draft whenever.

I've already done a fair amount of research, but some contracts are harder to find than others, particularly in the case of rookies from 2010. Is there a site that has salaries for every player?

Won't have that problem if you marry a Muslim chick. Apparently, they don't mind being oppressed.

Yes, 2011 WAR. It has to be at the end of the 2011 season. I don't see any other way to do it. Nor would I want to do it any other way.