Crap, I just wrote a long good post and put the subject in the wrong spot and lost it all. Warning to all -- be sure you have a subject or it all goes away.

My short(?) version is this:

1) Vacant teams are due to lack of promotion, not because the game is too narrowly targeted. There are plenty of guys who will like this game once Mike believes he is ready for a recruitments effort.

2) A deep league is more fun than a shallow league. With 24 teams, you appreciate a guy like Mark Ellis. With fewer teams, he becomes the innocuious replacement-level player. In a deeper league, your "lousy" hitters get to face Parque. In a shallow league, your pretty-good hitters perform "lousy" because they always face Zito. Somebody is always at the "lousy" level.

3)The game is meant to be a challenge. You must think about things that a real GM thinks about, and that roto players never consider. Why did Billy Beane bring in Lilly and Halama? Would he have FOUR LH starters if the 3B was Zeile rather than Chavez? Can you build a better team with guys who are undervalued -- maybe by trading for groundball pitchers to pair with your gold-glove IF. This is part of the joy of this game. Give it a chance. It is not designed for the many fantasy players who think its a challenge to choose between Aurilia and Renteria.