Hi. I'm Joe Sheehan, and I've written for Baseball Prospectus, Sports Illustrated and the Rotowire Fantasy Baseball Magazine. Some time back, Chris Liss invited me to start posting here, and having survived the offseason and a very busy March, I'm ready to do so. I have no idea what I'll be writing about, although I do think I'll cover non-baseball topics as much as baseball ones. Because the world needs to know how little I understand the NHL these days.

For now, I wanted to kick off by mentioning some friendly wagers on the 2009 baseball season that I have going with some of the Rotowire guys. The first is the traditional contest between Peter Schoenke and I, or should I say, the traditional $20 I end up with. For two years now, we've picked three teams to each take a side on, over or under, and I've won two of three both times.

This year, it's 20 bucks a team again on the following:

The Tigers. I have under 81.5 wins, Pete has over.

The Rays. I have under 89, Pete has over.

The Royals Rockies. I have over 76.5. Pete has under.

The combination of Pete and I agreeing a lot and a set of numbers that didn't allow for a lot of disagreement left us forcing the last two. I think this is the year he'll beat me, because while I really like the Tigers number, the other two don't do much for me.

Chris Liss was in New York last week for Tout Wars, and in between torturing each other with trivia questions and buying rounds, we ended up in a big disagreement over Alfonso Soriano's fantasy value. After negotiating for a week, we settled on the following:

If Alfonso Soriano ends up OVER 56.5 (HR+SB), Joe buys a steak dinner. If under that number, Chris buys.

I don't think Soriano will play enough or run enough to make that number. Note, however, that the last time Chris and I disagreed, it was expensive for me. Something about Todd Walker, Aramis Ramirez, and me being really, really stupid that day.

Let's face it...whether Pete gives me yet another $20 or I end up spending that cash on Liss' dinner isn't really the point. These are fun bets where the real value is in the bragging rights, the trash talk. Whether it's silly side bets or a fantasy league, what's fun is the competition with friends, and that's what I hope to also write about in this space.

OK, back to channel 720 and drinking Opening Day through a firehose...