1. Try not to draft anyone over age 32.

2. Unless they're a superstar or there's some other reason to believe they won't decline this year.

3. If possible, in the first round draft Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina or Tom Glavine (in that order of preference). Since Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Kevin Brown were kept by other teams, these were the remaining top starting pitchers.

4. Try to get a solid starter at every hitting position. Don't fill up my team with aging outfielders.

5. Draft a few valuable prospects in the late rounds.

6. Don't worry much about relief pitching.

Pos	Player	Team	Round/Pick	Age	Comments
C	Bobby Estalella	SF	5/69	26
C	Jason LaRue	Cin	15/221	27
1B	Mike Sweeney	KC	2/28	27
1B	David Ortiz	Min	9/127	25
2B	Edgardo Alfonzo	NYM	Keeper	27
2B	Luis Rivas	Min	12/183	21
SS	Christian Guzman	Min	7/95	23
2B/SS/3B	Placido Polanco	StL	11/159	25
3B	Mike Lowell	Flo	4/60	27
3B/OF	Albert Pujols	StL	16/242	21
OF	Peter Bergeron	Mon	Keeper	23
OF	Trot Nixon	Bos	Keeper	27
OF	Mike Cameron	Sea	Keeper	28
OF	Tim Salmon	Ana	3/37	32
OF	Mark Kotsay	SD	8/118	25
2B	Marcus Giles	Atl	13/192	23	Reserve
SP	Barry Zito	Oak	Keeper	23
SP	Jim Parque	ChW	Keeper	26
SP	Glendon Rusch	NYM	Keeper	26
SP	Tom Glavine	Atl	1/5	35
SP	Hideo Nomo	Bos	6/86	32
SP	Andy Benes	StL	10/150	33
RP	Kelly Wunsch	ChW	Keeper	28
RP	Paul Shuey	Cle	Suppl	30
RP	Rod Beck	Bos	Suppl	32
RP	Bob Wells	Min	Suppl	34
SP	Matt Kinney	Min	14/214	24	Reserve
SP	Sun-Woo Kim	Bos	17/244	23	Reserve

I'm pretty happy with the results, even though I lost my chance at Todd Hundley and Rich Aurilia when I thought I'd get one of them. (I'd just drafted Mike Lowell and thought it likely I'd have a shot at one of the two others.)

As you can see, only six players are in their 30s, and five of them are pitchers. My pitching staff is arguably my weak link, as a lot is riding on good seasons from Rusch and Zito, but I think that's a pretty decent bet. My offense seems reasonably potent, and is more likely to outperform expectations than underperform them (injuries notwithstanding).

I'm especially happy with the pickups of Marcus Giles and Albert Pujols, who both seem like good bets to have successful careers, possibly even this year. (As I write this, Pujols is off to a hot start, and has hit well enough the first week to not be sent down when Bobby Bonilla came off the DL.)

But, it's a long season and there are plenty of other good teams out there, so we'll see...

Reading the above is rather funny, now that the season is over. While Pujols and Cameron had break-out years, we know now that Salmon, Rusch and Benes imploded, Alfonzo and Parque got hurt, Bergeron disappointed again, and Estalella mysteriously got ditched by the Giants and was never given a shot by anyone else.

My offense ended up being pretty good - sixth-best in the league. Led by Pujols and Sweeney, it held together most of the year. I added Fernando Vina on a waiver-wire pickup, and traded Alfonzo (before his injury) for Chuck Finley (who melted down after I acquired him). Zito and Glavine struggled in the first half before posting good second-half numbers, and I added Jason Marquis and Ruben Quevedo to augment them.

But it was too little, too late as I had the second-worst pitching staff in the league and finished 13th overall - one spot worse than last year. (Subrata evened things out for beating me last year by finishing dead last.)

Lessons to learn for next season? Don't squander valuable keeper years on guys like Jim Parque and Kelly Wunsch (I could have kept Jose Cruz, Jr. instead). Figure out how to evaluate pitching properly in our scoring system. For a start.