Dead man drafted in FLAKS fantasy baseball

Do you do fantasy baseball?

I play in a 16-team league called FLAKS (Fantasy League All-Stars, Kontenders and Slackards) which this year is celebrating its 24th season. FLAKS is made up primarily of communications professionals. Many of us are former journalists who worked together at IBM at certain points. In the early years, before the Internet, we literally kept our own stats. Now every pitch is recorded.

Many years back FLAKS became an auction league. Each year, shortly before Opening Day, we gather together to draft our teams. Do the math. 16 teams, 25 players per team, that’s 400 players. And we bid on every player, one player at a time, one dollar at a time.

The draft normally takes up the better part of 12 hours. This year, for the first time, a dead man, the former Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura, was drafted. And we had an epic bidding war for Kris Bryant of the Cubs, which wound up in a league record $60 price.

Following the draft, CBS Sports evaluates our draft. My team, SportsLifer, received a D this year, but fear not. Those grades are based on a snake draft, not auction. Last year CBS gave me an A, and yet a week into the season SportsLifer was in the basement. Eventually, after a series of trades and pick-ups, we managed to climb into a tie for seventh place and finished in the money.

This is my 2017 squad. Although not a superstar-studded roster, it appears to be a well-balanced squad. And it will evolve over the course of the season, one week a time. We’ll see what happens.

SPORTSLIFER 2017

C — Gary Sanchez, NYY

1B –- Eric Hosmer, KC

2B — Jonathan Schoop, Bal

SS – Jonathan Villar, Mil

3B – Nick Castellanos, Det

OF – Dexter Fowler, StL

OF – Adam Jones, Bal

OF – Hunter Pence, SF

DH – Brandon Moss, KC (1B, OF)

RESERVES

1B – Josh Bell, Pitt

OF – Howie Kendrick, Phil

OF – Nick Markakis, Atl

OF — Tyler Naquin, Cle

OF – Josh Reddick, Hous

PITCHING

SP – Gerrit Cole, Pitt

SP – Johnny Cueto, SF

SP – JA Happ, Tor

SP — Rick Porcello, Bos

SP – Blake Snell, TB

RP – Mark Melancon, SF

RP – Jim Johnson, Atl

RESERVES

SP – Brandon Finnegan, Cin

SP – Mike Montgomery, Cubs

DL – Didi Gregorius, SS, NYY; Collin McHugh, SP, Hou