nilodnayr

I'd have to say for me it goes 1. Cubs 2. Cubs 3. Cubs 4 (a). Indians 4 (b). A's I suspect its somewhat similar for a lot of people on here.

Eduardo Perez's lefty splits 2002: 997 OPS in 70 ABs 2003: 1126 OPS in 102 ABs 2004: 623 in 27 ABs 2005: 897 in 135 ABs

Yeah, I can understand the hesitation on Willingham, but I think hes the real deal. But if you are in a league with cubs fans and barrett gets a streak in the beginning, I'd deal him quickly. Barrett is extremely streaky (not telling you anything you dont know), but be mindful and get max value. You may be able to get a Lackey or Haren for him (they went just before barrett in my draft). Slot either of them as your third starter and Duke looks a lot better as a low risk/high reward 4th member of your pen. I agree with the point about the lack of SBs. Holliday and Hermida will give you 20, but other than that you are barren. You'll just have to trade for them midseason and overpay for them like me.

Thanks, the one thing Im worried about is speed. My general strategy was to overdraft for steals. As you can see that didnt exactly work out. I was really hoping for lugo, but some one else also appreciated the 40 steals hell be able to produce. But Im very happy with my middle infield as it stands. My second shot was taveras who I think will for sure get 50+ this year. But again, some one else overdrafted him too. I think my outfield is the weak point (subconsious cubs fan?). I purposefully went as late as possible on relievers. This year more than ever there are so many unsafe jobs/injuries. I wanted one of the elites though to anchor my pen and Street was still available after a closer run of wagner, krod, cordero, and BJ so I absolutey had to bite (Nathan went the next pick after Street and Hoffman, Izzy, and turnbow went very soon after). Things calmed down for a few rounds but then another second tier closer run came, which I was at the end of. I decided to wait to get a third closer and am going to pick up Fernando Rodney off waivers. I decided to drop Upton for JJ Hardy and Rios for J. Encarnacion.

No, but hes definitely a fine #3 closer. Low risk/high reward.

Fuentes is CRAPPY. If I were to pick one closer that will flop this year, its him. Anyways, my team also needed speed and didn't need the SP, so I traded Wells and Lieber for Pierre and Borowski. I think it helped both teams. Id have to agree with diffusion, Fuentes is not crappy. But I think wells and lieber for pierre and borowski is a pretty good deal, as I said, Im not high on wells and lieber has a rough home park, doesnt provide adequate Ks. Pierre will get you mad steals, probably a good average and tons of runs scored. And Borowski has been on fire this spring.

I echo this sentiment. Most leagues are set up for a 162 game max per position, but innings pitched maxes are usually relatively much lower. For example in my league its 1350 innings, which is significantly less than 162x9. So moral of the story, feel free to play your backups in the field on your stud's off days, but be very choosy with your innings pitched. Ride your aces, but for your worse starters make sure you only play them against crappy teams or in pitchers parks.

Encarnacion just got waived and I have Rios and am thinking of dropping him for Encarnacion. Is Rios going to break out this year and live up to his potential? Encarnacion is going to be hitting behind Pujols so he'll have plenty of RBIs. Neither is going to be a starter for me, but I'd still like to have the better player. Thoughts?

For this year yes, but I was hoping to get Willingham to keep. Actually, I think I kinda lucked out, I pretty happy with Hernandez.

In my draft Wells went in the 7th and so did Turnbow. Ryan went in the 5th, Guardado went in the 8th, Gagne in the 9th, Cordero in the 10th, Valverde in the 11th, Jones, Fuentes, Wickman in the 12th, Ray, Gonzalez, Reitsman in the 13th. Take a look at your draft and see who was selected after him. Frankly, I'm not high on wells at all and since he would just be riding the pine on your team try to trade him away for a closer and upgrade at another position. Also, you can probably pick up a third closer through waivers.

Also, Blake and Michaels are right handed, so you would want a left handed bat to replace them, that was probably a big reason why they took Holla over Dubois. And Dubois has options. If you are trying to knock Shapiro down a peg, remember we are talking about Dubois/Holla for 4th outfielder for 2006 as opposed to starting left fielder for 2005. If anything the fact that a decision needs to be made between two players who were battling for a starting job in 2005 as to who will be the 4th outfielder in 2006, shows how smart Shapiro is.

yup hes the closer and has the job fairly well locked up as of now

FA's that are have me thinking... David DeJesus Todd Walker Conor Jackson Juan Rivera Jorge Piedra Brian McCaan Ryan Doumit Scott Baker Brian Bannister (is he even on yahoo?) Bannister is not on yahoo. Shame on them, thats ridiculous to not have a starting pitcher on a preseaon NL champ favorite.

Hmm, ok, what about either cinci catcher, mccann, torrealba, or navarro? Looks like theres no pitching available.

FA's that are have me thinking... David DeJesus Todd Walker Conor Jackson Juan Rivera Jorge Piedra Brian McCaan Ryan Doumit Scott Baker Brian Bannister (is he even on yahoo?)

I'd hold tight for now. You can always pick up a closer later on or if Reitsma falls apart youll be fine with 3 closers. Baldelli will be good again, you should start Willingham over Molina, keep Gonzo, hes ageless. I dont see any value in the Mayor.

God, I wish I was in your league...Johjima went in the 11th and Willingham in the 14th in my league. So I picked up Hernandez in the 15th, and very upset that I missed out on Willingham.

Well Bonderman would replace him, although nowhere near as well. I have a ton of minor league prospects on the way (Anibal Sanchez, Jon Lester, Mike Pelfrey, Colin Balester, Chris Volstad, Aaron Thompson) plus Guzman and Marshall. I'm thinking of not doing it, but Bonderman has the potential to be an ace and I could really use the offense of Mench in the OF/UTIL and McCann at catcher. Plus, Gonzales is a top 50 prospect who is compared by BA to Carlos Beltran when he's on...a little bit slower but a little bit better hitter. Just wanted to list the reasons why I'm even considering it. Well it will definitely be suicide for this year. Bonderman (even though hes still very young) is just one of those guys that has not lived up to his potential and although he gets to pitch half his games in Comerica, he unfortunately has to pitch all of his games for the Tigers who are a fairly inept organizaton. I'd wait until bonderman actually starts to realize his potential to start considering the trade. Your OF is thin, but you should look to backfill it with prospects who have a better chance of realizing their potential and staying healthy than you pitching prospects. Mench isnt a huge improvement anyway. In the counter offer I would upgrade from Mench to one of the other guy's better OFs. I really like McCann, but there are a lot of catching prospects about to hit the bigs, look to pick some one up there if theres any one available. Yeah, I understand what you're saying. The only problem is there isn't anyone to pick up. It's a deep league with very knowledgable owners. I probably will turn it down for now though. Making that trade would complete kill the slight chance I have to squeak into the playoffs. But seriously this league is crazy. If you can think of any deep sleepers that might be available please let me know. All the guys like Brazelton, Gavin Floyd, Dave Bush, etc. who are young and had great springs have been taken. I have room to pick someone up because I just put Hampton on the DL, but there's nobody even worth picking up. Well if youre looking for starting pitching and Heilman and Liriano (I know, not starters now) arent available, what about Bannister or Baker? If your looking for a catcher what about Doumit?

Well Bonderman would replace him, although nowhere near as well. I have a ton of minor league prospects on the way (Anibal Sanchez, Jon Lester, Mike Pelfrey, Colin Balester, Chris Volstad, Aaron Thompson) plus Guzman and Marshall. I'm thinking of not doing it, but Bonderman has the potential to be an ace and I could really use the offense of Mench in the OF/UTIL and McCann at catcher. Plus, Gonzales is a top 50 prospect who is compared by BA to Carlos Beltran when he's on...a little bit slower but a little bit better hitter. Just wanted to list the reasons why I'm even considering it. Well it will definitely be suicide for this year. Bonderman (even though hes still very young) is just one of those guys that has not lived up to his potential and although he gets to pitch half his games in Comerica, he unfortunately has to pitch all of his games for the Tigers who are a fairly inept organizaton. I'd wait until bonderman actually starts to realize his potential to start considering the trade. Your OF is thin, but you should look to backfill it with prospects who have a better chance of realizing their potential and staying healthy than you pitching prospects. Mench isnt a huge improvement anyway. In the counter offer I would upgrade from Mench to one of the other guy's better OFs. I really like McCann, but there are a lot of catching prospects about to hit the bigs, look to pick some one up there if theres any one available.

No, you are already too thin in the rotation, trading away Johan would be suicide.

I like the team, I have been so high on willingham its not even funny but didnt get him in my draft. Really like Hermida too, he should score a lot of runs with his OBP skills and mashers behind him. I like Thome too, he looks nothing but back to form this offseason/ST. Will probably hit 40 HR in the Cell. I picked Holliday and Ellis as well, hopefully they can live up to their potential and repeat last years (respectively). I was really high on Ensberg thinking he could sustain last years breakout year because he changed his batting stance, but then realized that he only had a decent second half. Considering the metrics you use, Dunn is more valuable than normal leagues. Hafner, nothing else to say but MVP. Not a big fan of the rotation. You obviously didnt concentrate on it much, which might work out in the end with the depth of pitching this year. 3 solid closers and if foulke falters you can trade one of them and slot papelbon in and sit back and let the saves roll in. In a 12 team league its amazing you picked two catchers. Whyd you do that? Some one had to get screwed in catchers. I'd try to make a trade with them to upgrade the rotation.

Deal

12 team 5x5 roto first year of keepers Ramon Hernandez Jason Giambi Chone Figgins Chipper Jones Jhonny Peralta Mark Ellis Mark Loretta Manny Ramirez Matt Holiday Johnny Gomes Jason Michaels Reggie Sanders Chris Shelton Alex Rios BJ Upton Rich Harden Ben Sheets John Patterson John Lackey Kelvim Escobar Huston Street Chris Reitsma Chris Young Francisco Liriano Aaron Heilman Put Sheets on the DL and put a claim on Casey Kotchman

Is this a 40 team keeper league? No love for the stolen base? As far as I can tell, both are mid-second round guys in a 12 team league. I'm far from a fantasy aficionado, but SB is only one category. With your second pick, I'd be looking for someone who can help you in multiple areas, like a stud OF or SP. Runs and Average are also categories. You can get a 35 HR guy in the second round, but you can also get a 25HR guy in the fifteenth round. You can get a 60 SB guy in the second round or a 20 SB guy in the fifteenth round.

Is this a 40 team keeper league? No love for the stolen base? As far as I can tell, both are mid-second round guys in a 12 team league.