Your Ideal MLB team

[Kingdom]

C Toby Hall - He's a gamer,
1b Rich Aurilia - grinder,
2b Craig Counsell - gritter,
SS David Ecksten - who doesn't take a play off,
3b Casey Blake - doesn't take an at-bat off,
LF Brian Jordan - He's a great character guy.
CF Marquis Grissom - He's a veteran.
RF Justin Ruggiano - He's a guy who's won.

CL Todd Jones - Cause he cares!

[Buckcheeks]

CL Todd Jones - Cause he cares!

Cause he cares?

I once went to an Astros-Rockies game, and witness Mr. Jones calling an Astros fan a "dirt cork."

It was instigated by the fan saying(to Jones), "Hey Irockie, get in your bunker."

But still...

[love_that_reefer]

Dirt cork? Irockie? Just how many beers/joints did you have at this game?

[ljshorty89]

What the hell is an Irockie?

[Buckcheeks]

What the hell is an Irockie?

It was not too long after 9/11, so I think it was an "Iraqi/Irockie" kind of joke.

And I don't drink beer or smoke, so that should answer your question.

[realmofotalk]

Limiting my team to just three franchise type players, one at ace SP, one at SS, and one at 1b because you can't afford to be cheap at either SP and SS, and 1b is an expensive position for offense anyway:

C - Yadier Molina - Best catch and throw guy, best at calling a game, knows where his pitchers are going to throw, plus can hold his own with the bat

1b - Albert Pujols - no explanation necessary

2b - Ben Zobrist - Since he wasn't a heralded prospect and was only a utility player until this year, he's the most undervalued player at $415,900.

SS - Troy Tulowitzki - already one of, if not, the best defensive shortstop. His only rival on offense is Hanley Ramirez.

3b - Andy LaRoche - I feel going with Mark Reynolds is too obvious and cheating a bit, so King Andy is my candidate for 3b sleeper.

OF - Skip for now, too many to consider.

Bench- Matt Stairs - the latest copycat trend in trading is to acquire the next Matt Stairs

SP - Tim Lincecum - It's just ridiculous how good his mechanics are and that he may be the only one in the big leagues who's athletic enough to use them effectively over and over again.

RH RP - Chad Bradford - How many other groundball pitchers who are not sinkerballers (who are susceptible to control problems) are there? None.

LH RP - Joe Beimel - Not as expensive as Jeremy Affeldt, and is almost as effective against both lefties and righties.

Closer - Joakim Soria - Not quite at Mariano Rivera's level, but Soria gets the job done (just 3 blown saves in each of the last two years)

[DirtyKash]

Not Russell Martin at catcher?

[realmofotalk]

Not Russell Martin at catcher?

Absolutely not. I particularly hate that he always sets up early pitches outside. Like he expects his pitchers to be able to locate with NASA-like precision.

Despite that I'm glad Dioner Navarro hasn't given people a reason this year to believe he's any more of a franchise catcher than Martin is.