One of the benefits of holding a high(ish)-profile position on a national sports website is that I get invited to join Experts Leagues from time to time and, this year, I joined my first Fantasy Baseball Experts League, the Roto 500 League put together by www. nfl jerseys china .baseballHQ.com. Ron Shandler, who has been publishing fantasy baseball analysis for 25 years, came up with a new style of fantasy baseball called Roto 500 and set up one league in New York and one in Toronto to see how it played out. The basic rules for the Roto 500 league are as follows: Its a four-by-four keeper league with Runs Created (Runs+RBI-HR), Home Runs, Stolen Bases and On-Base Percentage as offensive categories. For pitchers, Wins, Strikeouts, ERA and Net Saves Plus Holds (Saves+Holds-Blown Saves). Each team starts with a $500 budget (hence the Roto 500 name) for player acquisition and that applies to the auction at the start of the season and the waiver process during the season as teams manage a 23-man active roster (2 C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, 5 OF, U, 9 P) and up to a 17-man reserve list, which includes minor leaguers, injured and bench players. There were a few quirks to the draft/auction process, the first being that it was a hybrid draft/auction process. Like a normal draft, teams were slotted 1-12 (my team was 12th). Unlike a typical snake draft, players had a monetary value (set beforehand, based on average of the last two years production) and were up for bidding at the point that their name was called out, with each owner holding the right to bid up, above and beyond the set value, three times. Included in those three bids, however, was the possibility that the initial drafter could "top up" by paying $1 more than the highest bid for a player that they had put forth. It sounds more complicated than it really is. With my first pick, for example, I put out Alex Rodriguez and his value was in the mid-$30s, I believe. Others bid up his price to $53, at which point I had the option to pay $54 to keep him or forgo my pick. I kept him, which turned out to be fairly standard practice in the early rounds. Additionally, this league uses some categories that I have not typically used in the other leagues in which I participate, including on-base percentage, which forced me to place a premium value on players that will take walks, and the net saves plus holds which not only reduced the premium that might be paid for closers, but also made it sound strategy to get at least a couple of pitchers from the same bullpen, as I did with the Yankees and Orioles. I was one pick away from nabbing Koji Uehara to give me three Orioles relievers while I got a good hold on the Yankees pen with Mariano Rivera, Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano. A few notes on my strategy, such as it was: Given how deep the rosters go (even for a mixed 12-team league), the league requires a rather comprehensive knowledge of players and prospects. Since the league has a salary cap, value is important and its precisely why I targeted guys like Mitch Moreland, Neil Walker and how my additions of Buster Posey and Robinson Cano (after most owners had used up their three allotted bids) could be great value, or at least potential value in slow-starting Poseys case. Because values are based on the previous two seasons, it also pays to get players on the cusp of a breakout and I have quite a few of those players on my roster. Moreland and my second catcher, Chris Iannetta, were surely more valuable in this league for their propensity to get on-base. Iannettas fairly ridiculous in that respect. His .235 batting average would be a liability in leagues that use batting average, but his .398 on-base percentage makes him a star in this format. Any rookie-eligible prospects cost $10 on draft day, so I took a shot at Angels outfield prospect Mike Trout, one of the top prospects in all of baseball before the season started (and the 19-year-old has a 1.029 OPS at Double-A so far this season). Ive added a few value picks off the waiver wire -- its surprising to me that there are still useful players available -- getting Ryan Roberts and his multi-position eligibility, Yankees starter Bartolo Colon upon his promotion to the rotation and Indians pitching prospect Alex White, once he was called up from the minors. To this point, Ive only spent $395 of my $500 budget, which has me on the low end of spending in the league and allows me plenty of flexibility, maybe even more than I need. I should have enough pitchers on my staff that I can mix and match in this weekly league based on schedules and Roberts versatility certainly will help if injuries wreak havoc with my roster (as I notice both OF Jason Heyward and 1B Ike Davis ailing *sigh*). For all the challenges and apparent complexity of the league, Im not complaining. Its been a blast so far and my team isnt embarrassing itself, which is important. Heres a look at my current roster: Pos. Player Team Price C Buster Posey San Francisco $10 C Chris Iannetta Colorado $2 1B Ike Davis N.Y. Mets $12 2B Robinson Cano N.Y. Yankees $22 SS Ian Desmond Washington $9 3B Alex Rodriguez N.Y. Yankees $54 CI Mitch Moreland Texas $7 MI Neil Walker Pittsburgh $10 OF Jason Heyward Atlanta $19 OF Seth Smith Colorado $8 OF Colby Rasmus St. Louis $12 OF Drew Stubbs Cincinnati $13 OF Carlos Beltran N.Y. Mets $9 U Ryan Roberts Arizona $2 P Felix Hernandez Seattle $39 P Zack Greinke Milwaukee $21 P Mariano Rivera N.Y. Yankees $13 P Tommy Hanson Atlanta $12 P Jair Jurrjens Atlanta $12 P Madison Bumgarner San Francisco $8 P A.J. Burnett N.Y. Yankees $6 P Kevin Gregg Baltimore $5 RESERVES Pos. Player Team Price P Rafael Soriano N.Y. Yankees $12 OF Chris Coghlan Florida $11 P Mike Trout L.A. Angels $10 P Alex White Cleveland $8 OF Lorenzo Cain Kansas City $6 P Anibal Sanchez Florida $6 P Michael Gonzalez Baltimore $6 P Travis Wood Cincinnati $6 2B Chris Getz Kansas City $5 P Clay Hensley Florida $5 P Joba Chamberlain N.Y. Yankees $3 SS Jamey Carroll Los Angeles $1 1B Dan Johnson Tampa Bay $1 P Bartolo Colon N.Y. Yankees $1 Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. wholesale nfl jerseys .com) - A highly anticipated battle between teams that swapped head coaches during the offseason is on tap today, as John Tortorella and the Vancouver Canucks visit Alain Vigneaults New York Rangers for a clash at Madison Square Garden. cheap jerseys online . Nova (3-2) was charged with an unearned run in 7 1/3 innings, helping the Yankees avoid a fourth consecutive loss. The right-hander scattered two hits and walked one. We needed a lift after the way we played in Detroit, losing three games in a row after winning the first one off of (Justin) Verlander, said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. . Second-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States made lighter work of her day as she beat 2009 champion and Swiss wild card Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-3. Two seeds fell: No. 4 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium lost to Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-2, and No. [url=http://www.jerseysnflwholesale.us.com/]cheap nfl jerseys .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have signed two free-agent forwards, Mark Mancari and Kevin Porter, and re-signed minor league goalie David Leggio each to one-year contracts.NEW YORK -- Canadian midfielder Dwayne De Rosario of D.C. United was named the MLS player of the week on Monday. The reigning league MVP scored on Wednesday in a 2-0 victory over Colorado and added another two goals on Saturday against Toronto FC. The 34-year-old from Toronnto needs just two more goals to become the seventh player in MLS history with 100 career regular-season goals. cheap nfl jerseys. Its De Rosarios 10th player of the week award, second most of any player in league history. He trails only Jeff Cunningham, who has 14. ' ' '