Well I had my annual fantasy auction yesterday. I'm in a 12 team, keeper league (you get to keep between 5-10 players) salary cap league. The cap is set at $275. The league is 5 x 5 (avg, hr, runs, rbi, sb, wins, saves, whip, strikeouts era).

 

Last year I got 5th, I'm hoping to do substantially better this year. Winner gets around 400 smacks, so it's pretty high stakes.

 

Here is my roster, I'm open to any and all suggestions, in fact I welcome them.

 

Catcher: Pierzynski, AJ CWS

1B: Konerko, Paul CWS

2B: Durham, Ray SF

SS: Matsui, Kaz, NYM

3B: McPherson, Dallas, ANA

Middle Infield: Iguchi, Tadahito CWS

Corner Infield: Nevin, Phil SD

OF: Bonds, Barry SF

OF: Matsui, Hideki, NYY

OF: Edmonds, Jim STL

OF: Pierre, Juan FLA

OF: Crisp, Coco CLE

Util: Cameron, Mike NYM

Util: Kendalll, Jason OAK

 

SP: Schmidt, Jason SF

SP: Buehrle, Mark CWS

SP: Garcia, Freddy CWS

SP: Greinke, Zack KC

SP: Webb, Brandon ARZ

RP: Takatsu, Shingo CWS

RP: Cordero, Chad WAS

RP: Percival, Troy DET

P: Arroyo, Bronson BOS

P: Wells, Kip PIT

 

THoughts? Opinions? Strengths? Weaknesses?

Great pitching staff, but a lot of question marks for an infield. Durham's numbers should be helped by Alou's signing, but Matsui and McPherson are ???? right now.

 

Plus for me, I try to stay away from too many players from one team, and you have a lot of White Sox.

Your starting pitching may be troublesome.

 

Greinke, Webb are good young pitchers but play for below average teams. This usually means that they are going to have to be dynamite to get an average amount of wins. Wells is meh, and also plays for a below average team. Bronson I would not expect much from. The top 3 are good, but as SSK2 said that if the Sox are slumping then your down to 1 reliable SP for wins.

 

You have much more OF depth than infield depth. Your if is very unreliable and could really be a problem. Matsui never was able to even play a single day for me last year, Dallas is a rookie, and Durham is on the wrong side of his career. Iguchi is an okay back up, but without a strong IF already, he may be starting more than you would like.

 

You have good talent, if you can just get it a little more diversified that would help your team immensely imo.

 

SB

Your starting pitching may be troublesome.

 

Greinke, Webb are good young pitchers but play for below average teams. This usually means that they are going to have to be dynamite to get an average amount of wins.

 

I drafted Webb too.

 

It's gonna take a little while for the D'Backs offense to gel, but this lineup ain't too shabby on paper:

 

1. Craig Counsell 2b NEW ADDITION

2. Royce Clayton SS NEW ADDITION

3. Shawn Green OF NEW ADDITION

4. Troy Glaus 3B NEW ADDITION

5. Luis Gonzalez OF

6. Jose Cruz Jr. NEW ADDITION

7. Chad Tracy 1B

8. Koyie Hill C ROOKIE

 

I dunno who else they could put in the 2 hole. Royce might have had a .340 OBP last year, but that was with the Rockies. When he was with the Sox in 2002, his OBP was .295.

 

You have Cintron in the picture, though.

 

Now, the bullpen? It appears to be one of the worst in the majors (in the bottom 10%, perhaps). Webb will lose some victories, but nowhere near as many as last year because the offense is so much better. I'm expecting about 14 wins.

BTW, nice team Aboz.

 

If I were you, I'd try to unload Jason Kendall for another damn good starting pitcher (as you already have AJ). Jason will give you batting average and runs, but not much else. Maybe 15 SB if he's lucky. He's damn good, don't get me wrong, but he is waaay overvalued. You could get something nice in return.

BTW, nice team Aboz. 

 

If I were you, I'd try to unload Jason Kendall for another damn good starting pitcher (as you already have AJ).  Jason will give you batting average and runs, but not much else.  Maybe 15 SB if he's lucky.  He's damn good, don't get me wrong, but he is waaay overvalued.  You could get something nice in return.

Only thing is that Kendall has taken a lot of swings for years. I don't know how the A's are planning on using him, but you may worry about replacing him with someone who plays sporadically. Though I agree you may not lose anything with AJ, so I see your point.

 

Aka, Hey, I have Kendall...

BTW, nice team Aboz. 

 

If I were you, I'd try to unload Jason Kendall for another damn good starting pitcher (as you already have AJ).  Jason will give you batting average and runs, but not much else.  Maybe 15 SB if he's lucky.  He's damn good, don't get me wrong, but he is waaay overvalued.  You could get something nice in return.

 

I will almost be willing to put my house on the line that Kendall does not steal 15 bases...if he does, it will be his own doing. The A's stole 47 bases as a team last year, and that was with Byrnes stealing over a third of them(17). The last time he stole 15 bases was 2002, and he was caught 8 times too, giving him a 65% SB rate, which is not good in the A's eyes.

 

I'm almost positive Macha will say do not run to him.

Now, the bullpen?  It appears to be one of the worst in the majors (in the bottom 10%, perhaps).  Webb will lose some victories, but nowhere near as many as last year because the offense is so much better.  I'm expecting about 14 wins.

 

Just because they are very young for the most part does not mean they will be one of the worst bullpens in the league. They have some excellent bullpen arms expecially their top four. Valverde, villarreal, aquino, and koplove would all be our right handed set-up man.

Just because they are very young for the most part does not mean they will be one of the worst bullpens in the league. They have some excellent bullpen arms expecially their top four. Valverde, villarreal, aquino, and koplove would all be our right handed set-up man.

 

Maybe I was a bit too harsh in saying they're bottom 10%, but I'd put them in this group (the lowest 1/4).

 

Washington Nationals

San Francisco Giants

New York Mets

Arizona Diamondbacks

Toronto Blue Jays

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Kansas City Royals

 

I'm sure that I'm missing somebody.

 

Their combined WHIP and ERA as a group was pretty bad last year, although they have potential. I have Aquino on my fantasy team as my third closer behind Nathan and Benitez. Valverde is one hell of a setup-man.

I will almost be willing to put my house on the line that Kendall does not steal 15 bases...if he does, it will be his own doing.  The A's stole 47 bases as a team last year, and that was with Byrnes stealing over a third of them(17).  The last time he stole 15 bases was 2002, and he was caught 8 times too, giving him a 65% SB rate, which is not good in the A's eyes. 

 

I'm almost positive Macha will say do not run to him.

 

Yep, good point. So, all that he really offers is batting average and runs scored (dude to his OBP). The fact that he gets on so much should give him a good shot at creating 7 to 10 SB, though.