JUST CRAZY ENOUGH TO WORK

Playing by the book? That's so 2004. The Talented Mr. Roto says forget everything you know about fantasy and take a walk on the wild side.

So, last year, a bunch of ESPN muckety-mucks got together for a baseball auction. And I'm there to run it, because I'm the fantasy monkey (which, incidentally, is as good a job description as I have). But then one guy doesn't show, leaving me to both conduct the auction and select a team. I haven't prepped for the draft, and I want to do a good job conducting it because, well, everyone in the league can have me fired.

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There's risky ... and then there's just stupid.

It's a 10-team mixed league, so I decide to just go after every high-priced hitter I can; in a league this shallow, there should be plenty of decent $1 starters. I end up spending $251 on offense, $9 on pitching. It's a strategy that's often called the Labadini Plan, after a guy named Larry Labadini, who first tried it in a national competition in 1996. It works, too: I finished second.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago. The Mag's fantasy editor calls me and says he wants to do a "living dangerously" package.

"You mean when you draft Liván Hernández?" I ask.

"Dangerously," he says, "not suicidally."

"You mean the kind of strategies and theories that are just so crazy, they might work? Like the plots of most '80s sitcoms?"

"Exactly!" he says.

So here we are. Have you ever thought about punting batting average? Or drafting a team older than the dirt at Wrigley? Or building your staff around a guy coming off reconstructive surgery? Bet you haven't. But after reading this preview, I know you will.

The other thing I know: how to keep my pimp hand strong. So without further delay, allow me to briefly mention ESPN.com's free draft kit, complete with updated rankings, projections and auction values. Plus, you can play fantasy baseball for free! We have free live scoring and all sorts of whizbang tools. Just check it out, okay?

And this year, trust your friendly neighborhood TMR. Take a chance. Go for upside, not slow and steady. What's the worst that can happen? Maybe they'll call you crazy. More likely, they'll call you crazy good.

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