Yeah, we're comin back in with another bombtrack.

Think you know what its all about.

Hey yo, so check this out. 

 Know Your Enemy

Every year there's a team in your league that defies all expectations and logic.  They succeed despite the supporting cast.  They succeed despite poor ownership choices.  They succeed when they have no business succeeding.

This year, I have one of those teams.

Yeah, we're comin back in with another bombtrack.

Think you know what its all about.

Hey yo, so check this out. 

 Know Your Enemy

Every year there's a team in your league that defies all expectations and logic.  They succeed despite the supporting cast.  They succeed despite poor ownership choices.  They succeed when they have no business succeeding.

This year, I have one of those teams.

Born with insight and a raised fist
A witness to the slit wrist

Yes, I'll be the first to admit that, despite some sheer brilliant auction day buys, I am lucky.  But before we get into how much of it is luck versus skill, you need to know some parameters about this league.  First, it's a 12-team mixed ultra keeper league.  The scoring is standard 5x5 with a slight (lemon) twist: Ks MINUS Walks replaces the traditional strikeout category.  You are not required to bring minor leaguers up when they reach a certain number of at bats.  Instead, any player can be "unsalaried" and can be held in your reserves indefinitely.  In earlier incarnations of this team, I held Rafael Furcal and Albert Pujols out for their entire rookie campaigns.  Reason being is that once you move a player to your active roster, they are thereafter salaried and can only be kept for two additional seasons.  There are no contract extensions in this league.  A player can only be kept for three seasons, after which they are automatically returned to the player pool.  Salaries are forced up at a 15% increase per annum with all decimals being rounded up.  So an unsalaried player becomes a 1st year/ $5 player when he's activated.  He can be kept for $6 the next year and $7 in his final year, after which he must be returned to the auction pool.

Ya gotta know, Ya gotta know
that when I say go, go, go
amp up and amplify
defy
I'm a brother with a furious mind

So let's go.  We'll start with my keeper list, which I felt was good for what it was.  You're permitted to keep 17 salaried and 7 unsalaried players.  (These numbers are being decreased in future seasons.)  (There's also a Head-to-Head component to this league, but I won't get into that now.)  I kept the following: 

C Brian McCann 3rd/$7

1B Prince Fielder 3rd/$7

2B BJ Upton 2nd/$6

SS Jimmy Rollins 2nd/$46

CI Kevin Youkilis 3rd/$3

OF Nick Markakis 2nd/$6

OF Alfonso Soriano 3rd/$33

P Kelvim Escobar 2nd/$13

P Takashi Saito 3rd/$14

Yes, I had no idea Escobar was going to be this dead to the baseball world this year.  Unsalaried, I kept the following:

James Loney, JJ Hardy, Orlando Hudson, Joba Chamberlain, Kosuke Fukudome and Andy LaRoche

LaRoche is the only one that hasn't seen time in my lineup this season.  McCann and Soriano came to me via an off-season trade.  I gave up a 2nd/$6 Adrian Gonzalez and a 2nd/$10 Jason Isringhausen.  With a pre-existing logjam at first, Gonzalez was expendable - or so I thought.  Prince should have his stat line and vice versa.

Action must be taken
we don't need a key
we'll break in
Something must be done
about vengeance, a badge and a gun

The action at the auction was pretty fierce, though with some big money already spent, I held myself in check.  The most I spent was $30 on Bobby Abreu.  Pitching was out of control with Santana going for $64.  I did add some starting pitching to my arsenal with Harang at $26 and Oswalt at $25.  After these three big buys, I was pretty much done, spending my remaining $44 on 13 players.  I bought Josh Willingham and Dustin McGowan for $9 each.  I speculated (successfully) on saves with $5 on Brandon Lyon and $4 on George Sherrill.  Melky Cabrera filled out my OF at $3.  Luis Castillo plugged my MI hole at $3.  I felt sorry for Shawn Hill when I said $4.  Clearly, I should not have felt sorry for him.  I picked up Dan Wheeler at the end for $1 and my 2nd catcher, Gregg Zaun, for another buck.  $1 on Nomah for a speculative 3rd baseman and $1 on Lyle Overbay to act as my Utility Hitter.

Not a team that's going to fear into a lot of other owner's loins.  Here's what it looked like on Opening Day with drafted reserves and pick-ups moved into the lineup to fill in for injuries and a general case of Suckalasia.

C: McCann, Zaun

CI: Fielder, Youkilis, Melvin Mora

MI: Upton, Rollins, Hardy

OF: Soriano, Markakis, Abreu, Fukudome, Melky

Util: Willingham

SP: Harang, Oswalt, Jeremy Guthrie, Mark Hendrickson, Jamie Moyer,

RP: Saito, Lyon, Sherrill