Advice on my first fantasy league team plz.

[A New Era]

Here is how my team turned out. 10 team H2H. I was 9th and got pick #9 and #12. Beltran and Ramirez were my first 2 picks. If I do some trades, what should I be looking for and who can I afford to deal?

 

OF - Juan Pierre

SS - Rafael Furcal

1B - Paul Konerko

3B - Aramis Ramirez

OF - Carlos Beltran

OF - Bobby Abreu

C - Michael Barret

2B - Rickie Weeks

Bench - Matt Murton, Moises Alou, A.J. Pierzynski, Craig Biggio

 

SP - Daisuke Matsuzaka

SP - Dontrelle Willis

SP - Mark Prior

SP - Roger Clemens

SP - Greg Maddux

SP - Jason Marquis

RP - Kerry Wood

RP - Joe Borowski

RP - Ryan Dempster

RP - Bob Howry

[Mephistopheles]

0/10; you drafted Jason Marquis and Juan Pierre!

 

But seriously you're going to have some power issues when you have more than three guys won won't crack 20 jacks. One of them won't even crack five.

[A New Era]

0/10; you drafted Jason Marquis and Juan Pierre!

 

But seriously you're going to have some power issues when you have more than three guys won won't crack 20 jacks. One of them won't even crack five.

 

ADVICE!! ADVICE!! Not predictions of doom. How do I FIX!

[Balsa]

You're lacking in Saves, you should place very high in SB.

 

I think RBI and HR are pretty good, and your starting pitching is deep, even with Marquis.

 

A decent team, but I'd be surprised if it won.

[Mephistopheles]

see if Alex Gordon or Ian Kinsler are on waivers. If so pick them up. If Gordon is there, then dump Pierre and Aramis and turn him into a very nice outfielder, Bay Sizemore etc.

 

If Kinsler is there, dump Weeks and Pierre off for the best OF you can get.

 

IF neither are there, just dump Pierre for the best OF you can get that knows how to swing a bat.

[tkenm356]

As a participant in your league, you probably should go ahead and drop Howry and Wood, honestly. Wood might be a stretch to keep, but Howry will be worthless in fantasy. As a middle reliever the only positive things he can bring is K's, since his ERA/WHIP will not be relevant enough to bring down your overall ERA and WHIP due to lack of innings pitched.

 

As far as RP's are concerned, you want closers. I say keep Wood as a stretch because he might be next in line for the closers spot, and he also may be good for 5-8 K's a week, which some starter's can't even achieve, maybe more if he regains form and is used a few times a week.

 

But yeah, you should probably drop Howry and look for a closer alternative, and it looks like Octavio Dotel is the only choice. While he's coming off injuries, and he's playing for the Royals, he'll likely help you out a little more than Howry will since the difference in a save can mean the winning of a category whereas the difference in an ERA is rarely close week-by-week. WHIP and ERA's rarely ever come down to a tenth of a point. Usually one team has a full number lower than the loser of the category. That plus Dotel is penciled in as the Royals closer and there's no other RP available on the FA market that has that attributed to them

 

Other stuff:

 

1) You probably got one of speediest outfields in the game, which is always nice to have. Not only that but you can work it around to get a little bit of pop when you need it with Alou and Murton on the bench. Other than that Pierre, Beltran, and Abreu is a well balanced OF as far as speed and run production is concerned.

 

2) Konerko and Ramirez will produce for you, but coming from someone who has had Aramis on all 4 of his fantasy teams prior to this league, he will come in stretches of amazing superhuman hitting ability, and Neifi Perez hitting ability. But his overall production combined with Konerko's will give your IF good power, while Furcal and Weeks will supply a decent amount of SB's and Barrett will (knock on Wood) provide good balance in the AVG/HR/RBI department. Your IF is solid. Not the best, not the worst. But it'll hold you over.

 

3) Your SP is probably your 2nd weakest component of your team behind your relief pitching. You can count on Matsuzaka to at least provide some wins with that potent Red Sox lineup. You can count on Dontrelle being Dontrelle. As we all know you can't count on Mark Prior, but he's a risk move with huge upside. Clemens, he definitely won't pitch until AS break and such, if he pitches at all, another huge risk move with big upside. Problem with him is you can't use him for a loooong time. Maddux is reliable for 10+ wins, but he's obviously seen better days. Marquis is, well, Marquis. I sure hope he does good (on weeks I don't play you and games the Cubs score 16 runs), but who knows with him, he's rather inconsistent and sketchy.

 

4) The BP needs major re-working. You may need to trade one of your players for a middle-of-the-road closer. Dempster could be a total nut job again and post a horrible season, causing him to lose the job to, for your sake, Kerry Wood. Or he could go back to 2005 form, which is great. If the Indians play how critics say they should, Borowski could be a great pick-up assuming he stays healthy, and if the Indians are successful that could spell 35+ saves again. Howry, like I said, dump him.

 

Personally I like having three solid closers on my team. By last year's stats I got those 3 (Rodriguez, Street, Wickman) but I don't have a lot of faith in Wickman because he's old and... well, he's fat... and Mike Gonzalez is better than him in my opinion and he's right behind him in Atlanta. Having consistent closers ensures you'll get a great ERA, WHIP and a few saves out of them each week. You, however, have 1 good closer in Borowski. Dempster is an unsure thing. My suggestion to you is see if you're willing to part with one of your larger, yet, expendable offensive players for a nice consistent closer. Maybe dangle Abreu or Pierre for a closer. I figure at least Abreu can net you at least a Chris Ray, Trevor Hoffman, or a Chad Cordero (EDIT: Maybe even better than them), and you can replace Abreu with Murton or Alou, who can probably match Abreu's declining power numbers, although you'd have to sacrifice his RBI's and SB's. But by doing that you create a stronger bullpen that, honestly, without a closer better than Borowski, will likely get slaughtered in the SV department each week, no offense. I did the same thing in my first league. I didn't think saves would be that big a deal, but they crushed me. I actually think I only drafted one closer... MISTAKE!

 

Anyways, that's my 2 cents, and as a fellow participant and opponent in your league, I still like helping out with whatever information I think is useful. It is a beginner's league after all :)

[tkenm356]

see if Alex Gordon or Ian Kinsler are on waivers. If so pick them up.

 

They actually went a lot earlier in the draft than one might have expected

[TruffleShuffle]

some people need to put their homerism aside when doing fantasy sports

[Shilzzz]

i can tell you are a cubs homer. just don't let yourself get picked apart in trades...

[Mark_R]

I actually think the pitching is really weak. Dontrelle is not a great fantasy starter. Who knows what Prior will give you. Daisuke could be great, but its unlikely he'll be in fantasy elite level. Marquis will most likely be below average.

 

I believe Clemens will play, and he'll give you a nice boost if he does, but he's your best pitcher, and there's no guarantee he's going to play this season.

[MPrior]

A New Era -

 

I have proposed a trade to you which I think is pretty generous, and in fact is very much along the lines of what tkenm356 suggested. I proposed it because you said you're screwed on relief pitching and would be interested in trading in another thread - it's been up on the site for several days now, so I'm just not sure you've seen it. Check it out.

[imb]

why did you only draft cubs and former cubs?

 

seriously, thats like 80% of your roster.

[BigbadB]

If you want an honest opinion, I think you have the makings of a last place team, unless SB's are the only offensive stat and times on the DL is the only pitching stat.

 

Assuming your league is SB, HR, RBI, AVG or OBP, power guys are much more important than SB's. Power dominates more categories of scoring than speed does, and you just don't have much power.

 

In a 10 team league, this is just not a good team. Plain and simple.

 

I'd peddle Pierre if you find someone in need of steals. I'd dump your entire bench except maybe Alou. Alou will likely have a field day hitting behind Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Delgado. He's old, but the Mets give him an ideal situation to put up a ton of RBI. Murton is a part time player, Biggio is probably a part time player as well, with Loretta and Burke on the Houston roster. Part time players really have no value on a fantasy team. I would never carry a back up catcher. The one day your starting catcher is off is the day your back up catcher's team is off. Finding a time to put your back up catcher in is too rare to waste a roster space.

 

You're going to get killed in saves. Borowski and Dempster are probably both on top of the list to get replaced, but you do have Wood as Dempster's back up. Wood still scares me as a potential closer, because he is prone to giving up the walk. SP is so-so. I know you like Marquis, so there really isn't any point in me attempting to convince you to drop him.