127 0 All The Olde English Ds Good Signs and Help Needed 2/17/06, 7:38pm Good Friday Baseball Geeks, I’m struggling to pull myself away from the intrigue that is Olympic ice dancing. A number of things coming from the Tigers camp stood out as quality signs for the upcoming year. The first is the excitement of Leyland in his first spring training in six years. It is great to hear how excited he is to get back to work. A thing he seems to bring to the table the Tigers have missed for some time is discipline. Trammell will always be my favorite Tiger and I do think he got a raw deal. However, I must admit that he lost control of the clubhouse after the All-Star break and the end of the season was a debacle. I like hearing how Leyland is hammering defensive fundamentals home to the pitchers and catchers in the first day of practice. As a baseball purist this is an aspect of the Detroit team causing the utmost of frustration. The other good sign is the respect Leyland commands from his players. In particular with the Tigers this means Pudge. At least after the first day of camp he is on Leyland’s side and states he is willing to put in the necessary work. I am not sure he will be able to catch 140 games, but it is good to see him shooting for this. Also it is great he is looking to add 5 to 10 lbs to his frame this year. All the lost weight last season and the huge head had nothing to do with steroids. My first fantasy baseball draft is little over 24 hours away. I need some help from the fellow fantasy geeks. I have the fourth pick of the draft in a 10 team league. Who do you take a pick 4? Do you take either a Vlady or Manny or even a Teixeira? Is the 4 spot too high to grab the best pitcher, such as a Johan Santana? I appreciate the advice and resources to my original question regarding fantasy strategy. I look forward to thoughts on the fourth pick. By Monday I’ll post my team to get people’s thoughts. Enjoy the weekend. OE [The Olde English Ds from Whitmore Lake/MI] Replies: 6