I did the unthinkable a minute ago…and felt the need to ask for forgiveness, or at least some assemblance of understanding.
I just submitted my keepers for my keeper fantasy baseball league. Some background: I joined the league in the late 80’s, and have yet to win the title (some are starting to call me the “Chicago Cubs” of the league; thankfully, half the guys in the league are Cubs’ fans and don’t bring up that infamous 100 year draught too often…not as often as the Brewers’ fans in the group do, heh, heh). We’re up to 14 teams, now, and I’ve tried just about everything to win. Last year, I spent over 30 hours pouring over stats to come up with the best team, only to finish 9-12-1 and out of the playoffs.
So, in deciding which players to keep for our 23-man, $230 salary, 5×5 league, I needed to go with the best values. John Maine for $5 was an easy decision, as was Kevin Youkilis–eligible at 3B–for only $3 had to be done (many of you are probably wondering, ‘why didn’t you pick up Ryan Braun for your third baseman last May when you had the chance?’ I have no idea why I didn’t, but he was picked up for less than $12 and will no doubt be off the board on draft day).
But I broke one cardinal rule last season by picking up Kelly Johnson after vowing to never have an Atlanta Brave on my team after they stole Greg Maddux from the Cubs. Yes, you see, I once was a Cubs’ fan, but had escaped the dark side of baseball, the Evil Empire of the Senior Circuit, until now.
In a move at the acquisition deadline, I picked up Kerry Wood for $6, in hopes I could have a cheap closer going into the 2008 fantasy campaign. I have been patiently waiting for Sweet Lou Pinella (who oddly enough resembles my cousin Ken) to make his infamous decision, only to have just learned that Wood has back spasms and won’t get back-to-back appearances until later this week. With the date to submit our keepers looming, I felt compelled to roll the dice, as it were, and to keep Wood over Kevin Gregg of the Marlins, who I also could have kept for $6.
So, that’s it. I kept a Cub.
Forgive me, Brewers’ faithful, for I know not what I do. With my luck, however, Wood’s season has been jinxed, and he’ll never record a save (I kept B. J. Ryan last year, and we all know how that worked out). But until that happens, I will, with much regret, be checking the Cubs’ box scores when they win to see if Wood got a save.
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