Fantasy Draft Advice

The Major League Baseball season is less than a month away, which means it's fantasy draft season. The next three weeks will house many-a-draft, and we've got your back here at FanHouse. First, check out our Free Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit. If you have any questions or comments, that's cool -- we'll be chatting it up here at 1PM ET. Feel free to ask questions about different formats, tell us why you disagree with some picks, etc. We're open to anything (within reason, of course).

Even in the internet age of fantasy sports, I still think many players only partake in the games against groups of friends. Many of these leagues have live drafts in person, and the stories that come from these drafts are always great -- especially when alcohol is prominently involved. In fact, if you play fantasy sports and you don't have at least one of these a year, you are really missing out.

Anyway, we here at FanHouse -- being the house of true sports fans, after all -- decided to give fantasy sports fans an avenue to tell their favorite draft day stories. It can involve mocking a friend, someone making a fool of him or herself, or just a really bad pick. Here are a few to get the chain started.

Good news for both the Denver Broncos and Brandon Marshall (and better news for fantasy owners who took a gamble and drafted him) broke Thursday evening, as it appears that the only receiving threat in the Rockies will miss just one game.

Originally slated to miss three games for a domestic violence incident (among other things), Marshall will now be back in time for the Broncos first home game against the Chargers.

"I am glad the NFL took a second, good hard look at the case," [Marshall's lawyer Harvey] Steinberg told ESPN.com's Bill Williamson. "I am very pleased with the results."

Marshall flew to New York on Tuesday to meet with commissioner Roger Goodell. Goodell said originally that the three-game suspension would be reduced to two if Marshall kept in touch with a league-appointed counselor and stayed out of trouble.

And, bonus for everyone involved. Although it is a little disturbing, as Clayton pointed out in his article, that drunken driving doesn't apply to the Roger Goodell Iron Fist Rules of Off Field NFL Behavior. It's not dangerous, after all, like hanging out in strip clubs.

Morality discussions aside, this is a huge bonus for the Broncos because offensively, they absolutely need Marshall on the field.

Fantasy Spin: Bump him the mess up in your drafts (if you're drafting late tonight, you best be pulling while no one's looking) and bump Jay Cutler up a few notches too. He was going about the same time as Eli Manning, and well, that's ridiculous. Both of these guys could be in store for huge seasons and you can still get them at a reasonable discount because of Marshall's off-field concerns.

Ever hear of the economic principle, the law of diminishing returns? Basically, if production of an item reaches a certain point, it's counter-productive to create more output because the profits will decrease for each additional unit. In fantasy football, there is an opposite affect on players with question marks heading into the season.
A perfect example is Steve Smith. I already own him on multiple teams. Why? He's suspended for two games. Because of this suspension, however, owners are letting him fall too far on draft boards. You just have to approach drafting Smith like he has three bye weeks instead of one. Plug those holes with a someone like Nate Burleson -- who will be Matt Hasselbeck's top receiving option in the early season -- in the next few rounds and you're covered.

Smith is going to put up monster stats with Jake Delhomme back and other receivers attracting coverage this season in his 13 games. The point of profitable returns for Steve Smith is about round five. He can't fall lower than that.