patcub

I think the first team is the best, or at least the most well rounded. It has good depth, and you might even want to consider dropping Gabriel in that league. I don't see you playing him over your other WRs and the Patriots should be going run heavy, so I don't see Gabriel putting up great numbers. Your second team is pretty decent, I like your WR depth. That trade shouldn't be accepted, as I don't think anyone would trade one of the three best players for a bunch of third tier players. Quantity for quality usually doesn't work with first round picks. I don't see much thats worth upgrading, but if you go for Jamals backup, its actually Smith not Anderson. Gabriel is better than Porter (hes a number three right now) but there could be someone even better on the waiver. Your third team also has good WR depth, and a well rounded team. Gabriel deffinatly isn't needed, all you WR are better. You might want to find a different backup QB though. McNabb is prone to injury and I don't think Favre is going to be worth a roster spot this year. His team is terrible and his decision making has gotten really bad to the point where all his picks hurt a lot. Maybe someone like Chris Simms is available, who has a lot of upside and can be very good this year. I assume the Manning on team 4 is Peyton. I personally don't like the deal you made. You did need RB help but this really weakens your WRs. Boldin should be very good this year and Horn could have a good year with no other recievers on that team. Santana Moss should revert back to his old self with how much they'll spread the ball this year and Brunnell looking bad. McGahee will get a lot of touches but their QB and line stink so hes not a great back. Addai could be good but its a big risk. Also, why do you have 3 TEs? Unless you start 2 its a waste of a roster spot. I don't like this team as much as the others. You had a dynamic WR set but now its just ok and you didn't improve your RBs too much.

Oops, my bad! I could play this off like I meant to do it in sort of ironic "moran" type thing, but I'll just admit I'm not very good at spelling. But what do I care, I just had my last final and am graduating on Sunday!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?page=shorthops_060510&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines Didn't see this posted anywhere, but has anybody seen this? Scroll down to the Kruk article entitled "Down Times for Cubs". I knew he was a joke on Baseball Tonight, but this just cements it. Not only does he profess his love for Dusty Baker and how sorry he feels for him (what about us?), but then goes on to say we should trade Prior for Cano of the Yankees. Yeah, thats not one sided or anything. I can't believe ESPN keeps this guy on.... then again they don't really have any good baseball analysts outside of Neyer.

This seems a lot like what just happened to me. I'm in a 16 team league and drafted Nomar late as a sort of high risk/reward pick. Needless to say, put him on the DL and picked up Hanley Ramirez to replace him. Then I realize someone in my league drafted Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins, and Orlando Cabrera so I tried to work out a trade with him. I saw his pitching was really weak so I offered Tim Hudson and Nomar for Rollins and Hielman. He basically ignored it so I sent him an email asking what he wanted for his shortstops. He sends back Hudson for Cabrera, which I rejected and said I really wanted Reyes or Rollins, so he offers Rollins for Beckett and Nomar. I jumped on it of course. It may not be as big of a steal as yours but I felt I capitalized on Beckett's hot start pretty well.

There is no way I would drop Giles for Zimmerman. The Nationals park is just as bad if not worse for power stats, and Giles has more power to begin with. Also, in a league that counts OBP Giles is worth a good amount, Zimmerman won't get on base as much as Giles. Giles also is in a better spot in the order for rbi's and runs. And remember, Zimmerman is still just a rookie who is starting mostly for his glove in Robinson's eyes. However, while I feel Giles is way better than Zimmerman, he could be a pretty good bech player if you have someone else worth dropping.

I just had the draft for my league where we play for money. I won this league last year (mostly with DLee, Grady Sizemore, and Felix Hernandez's help), and this year we have 16 teams. Its a little different from most leagues in that we actually have two leagues, one head-to-head and one roto, but we use the same team in each. They are both 6 by 6 with the extra categories being walks for hitters and losses for pitchers. C- J. Willingham 1B- L. Berkman 2B- C. Utley 3B- E. Chavez SS- N. Garciaparra OF- M. Ramirez OF- C. Beltran OF- J. Hermida Util- D. Johnson BN- T. Nixon BN- R. Cedeno BN- Delmon Young SP- T. Hudson SP- J. Beckett SP- J. Lackey SP- J. Blanton SP- M. Cain RP- A. Benitez RP- S. Shields P- Ol. Perez BN- J. Crain BN- A. Eaton I had the 6th pick and was all set to take Ortiz but then Manny fell to me. I obviously tried to go hitting heavy and I think I have the best offense in the league. By the end of the draft I realized Nomar was my shortstop so I should get a good backup and I almost had Cabrera fall to me. I took Ronny cause I figured if he actually starts he has some good upside. I waited until the 6th round to start drafting starting pitching and I feel like I still made out with a deep, solid yet unspectacular staff. My relief pitching is is crap save wise, as I kind of ignored both catching and relief pitching till late. Benitez was probably a waste of a pick as I should have scrapped saves altogether, but as I look at it more I can still beat some teams in saves in the head to head league that have no closers either. Shields and Crain were my attempt to use relievers to boost my other stats besides saves. Also, I can always get closers on the waiver wire.

Sorry, but I really don't see a team like that winning any league. Your infield is very good, except for Castillo. He hits for average but thats about it, as he doesn't steal and has zero power. Your outfield is pretty weak; Giles is good, especially in leagues that count walks, but hes not a number one type fantasy outfielder. Maybe you could get a first baseman like Dan Johnson or Chris Shelton other people might have passed on so you could plug Dunn in the outfield. Also, just as a rule, I would never, ever put a catcher in the utility spot. Catcher is by far the weakest spot offensively, one is enough in a lineup. There has to be someone, even Murton, who will give you better production. Pitching wise, yes you have a lot of potential but you also have a ton of health risks. You should try to have one guy who you can get a reliable 200 innings out of. Hopefully Prior finally gets there this year, and if he does hes a great number one. Kazmir is a decent 3 or 4 guy, but a 2 is stretching it, since he'll give you little wins wise. I happen to think Wagner is a very good top closer, and could be better than K-Rod. His team should win a lot of games, possibly giving him more saves than K-Rod, and he'll probably have a better WHIP and ERA. Jenks, however, can go either way, and no one knows if he'll even stay as the Whitesox's closer. You might want to boot saves all together and package Wagner for either a big bat or a stud starting pitcher. Sorry if I'm sounding too critical, I'm just trying to give you advice on how to improve.

Well, your only exceptional offensive players at their positions are A-rod and Bonds if hes healthy and age doesn't catch up to him. On my first team Helton, Figgins, Wright, Abreu, and possibly Lopez could be considered top 5 at their respective positions, and my other players are pretty well rounded. On my second team the same can be said of Pujols, Figgins, and possibly Berkman and Lopez, with more power than my first team but less speed. Pitching wise you probably beat both my staffs. Almost everyone expects Carpenter to regress somewhat but he'll still be good, and Peavy is a stud. Your relief pitching is somewhat shaky, relying on two guys who were hurt last year, though I do expect Gagne, if healthy, to dominate. You also get more wins from your other pitchers. The top two on my first team are very injury prone but could be dang good if healthy. On my second team I think Oswalt and Big Z could be just as good as Carpenter and Peavy. Relief wise on my teams, I tried to get one young reliable guy, one guy who could be good if healthy (Benitez, like you), and one young unknown. All in all, while I might be a little biased, I feel both my teams are more well rounded than yours. I think both of my offenses beat your offense hands down, while your pitching staff edges mine, but not by as large of a gap as the offense. Hence, the "I think both my teams could take yours" quote.

I think both my teams could take you, both 12 team leagues: C- B. Molina, R. Barajas 1B- T. Helton, A. Pujols 2B- C. Figgins, C. Figgins 3B- D. Wright, C. Jones SS- F. Lopez, F. Lopez OF- B. Abreu, L. Berkman OF- V. Wells, V. Wells OF- M. Holliday, A. Huff Util- D. Johnson, J. Gomes BN- R. Freel, P. Polanco BN- C. Barmes, D. Johnson BN- J. Hermida, J. Hermida SP- M. Prior, R. Oswalt SP- R. Harden, C. Zambrano RP- J. Nathan, H. Street RP- A. Benitez, A. Benitez P- J. Lackey, D. Haren P- J. Blanton, D. Davis P- M. Gonzalez, C. Ray BN- S. Kazmir, M. Cain BN- Ol. Perez, J. Blanton

Yeah, Figgins wasn't my first choice at second base, but Utley went one pick ahead of me in the third round. I pretty much got Freel figuring he could play many positions and possibly play him in the outfield but then I picked up Holliday all the way in the 11th round. I was sort of blindsided with relief pitching also; relievers were taken pretty strangely in this draft. Huston Street was taken as the first reliever really early, so then relievers strarted flying off the board by the fourth round. K-Rod ended up being the fourth reliever taken, so I just waited and got Nathan in the seventh round. By the time I got Benitez, the only decent closers left were Dempster (who I completely missed), Borowski, and Gonzalez, who I ended up getting anyways.

How many people were in each league? I ask because your starting pitching is insanely stacked in both leagues. I would definitly try to trade one of those arms for some offense, especially on that second team. Both teams look pretty solid, the first one in particular. I think your first team will have enough stolen bases with Freel, Lopez, and Baldelli, but it never hurts to add more. The second team seems pretty weak offensively, counting on Edmonds, Jones, Hunter, and Giambi to put up similar years to last year while aging. The only other thing I would say is the relief pitching might need a little help since who knows how Gagne will come back, and we all know how you can't really count on how any Cubs players will do.

Hey guys, I know theres alot of these threads, but I still wanted some input about my team. It's a 12 person 5 x 5 roto league with a 21 man roster I had the 10th pick and I think I made out with a pretty decent, well rounded team: C- Bengie Molina 1B- Todd Helton 2B- Chone Figgins 3B- David Wright SS- Felipe Lopez OF- Bobby Abreu OF- Vernon Wells OF- Matt Holliday Util- Dan Johnson Bench- Ryan Freel, Clint Barmes, Jeremy Hermida SP- Mark Prior SP- Rich Harden RP- Joe Nathan RP- Armando Benitez P- John Lackey P- Mike Gonzalez P- Scott Kazmir Bench- Joe Blanton, Oliver Perez I'd say I have stolen bases pretty well covered, and my infield os pretty stacked, but I might be a little light on power.