The weekly head to head matchup is decided on a ONE WIN BASIS, which greatly affected my draft strategy. I wanted to have certain categories that I felt were easily winnable simply because many managers would overlook them, such as doubles and triples and average, each of which I think I'm in good position to win every week. All I need to do is win a majority of the categories per week and I get the win.
So, without further ado, here is my team:
C: Joe Mauer 1B: Albert Pujols 2B: Howie Kendrick SS: Stephen Drew (double and triple machine) 3B: Mark DeRosa LF: Carl Crawford CF: Alex Rios (same as Drew) RF: Nelson Cruz Util:Jason Bay BN: Carlos Guillen BN: Adam Jones
SP: Felix Hernandez SP: Scott Kazmir SP: Jon Lester: SP: Aaron Harang SP: Wandy Rodriguez SP: Kelvim Escobar SP: Ben Sheets (I want to kill myself over this one. Totally blanked on his injury and picked him in the 14th round or so, thinking I was getting a huge steal.) RP: Joel Hanrahan RP: Joey Devine RP: Kevin Gregg
Yes, I know my RP's are terrible, but saves is only one category out of 16 or so, and I'm willing to sacrifice it on a weekly basis.
I'd really appreciate some feedback from people who've actually read and understood my league settings and how they affected my overall strategy. I seek advice on trade strategy, strengths and weaknesses, or whatever you have.
Those are hard categories to cover all of them on a weekly basis. So, I think you have the right idea going with giving up a few cats. CG, and SHO are a little bit of a crap shoot since each week you may have no one or just one player on each team throw a complete game. I do think you have average on your side. I dont see anyone hitting below .285 on the season for your team and most of them are going to hit above .300 for the year. As long as Mauer and Kendrick can stay healthy you have .avg. Thats a big question mark though.
2b and 3b I think you are solid on that, but I think you could actually be better if you are giving up on HRs you may serve your team better to put Adam Jones in the utl spot over bay. Jones just spent his first full season in the bigs and got 21 2bs and 7 3bs in 477 at bats. I also think his batting average will increase this season by 10-20 points, so he could be a .280-.290 hitter this season which would equal what you would be getting with bay on a good season (career .282 hitter). With a higher avg. and more at bats jones will probably increase his numbers to 30 2b/103b. Also, with Jones in the line up I also this you have a chance to take Sbs. He has projected himself for 40+ steals this season. I'm thinking closer to 25-30, but he is a speed guy who is going to steal more then he did last season. This would give you 4 possibly 5 guys (if kendrick can stay healthy) who will steal 25+ bags this season and 2 of those 5 that will steal some where around 40.
My advice on Jones all depends on what Cruz does. If he comes into the season even as close to as hot as he was at the end of last season he could be the 30/30 guy some are projecting him to be. Im thinking about 18-20 Hrs and 30 bags on the year. If he starts doing what he as done on other trips to the majors then jones may need to replace him in your line up. Cruz is a great risk reward guy this season, IMO.
Pitching, taking out sheets I think you have decent pitching staff even on RP. I think RP is over rated. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 10 pitchers who will start the year a closer, but may end up being a set up man by mid-season. That includes Gregg and Devine on your team.
Why not punt saves completely then? You could load up on SPs to try to go 5-3 in pitching stats every week (punting saves, losses, and possibly ERA--although that last one should be attainable). That's a tremendous boost to your offense to only have to go 4-4 each week.
I'd consider trying to get an Ellsbury if you could for your offense, too: try it with Cruz and your closers? If you add in some propensity to win steals most weeks (and you're not too far off there) to go with your BA, Runs, and XBH, you might be invincible.
Wow, there are definitely a lot of categories and as previously said, you do have the right idea to give up a few while focusing on others. I like your idea of focusing on the categories that other managers overlook. It might definitely be a good strategy for these particular settings. I loved Adam Jones last year and he did fairly well but if he can take a step forward this year, he has the potential for a huge statistical season. If Kendrick can stay healthy, he'll be a solid 2B that provides average, along with doubles. I don't know why his power is not there but if it comes around this season, the better for you. Carlos Guillen is another guy I like to provide you with doubles, triples, and even 10-15 home runs. To me, he's always been under the radar but he does put up pretty good numbers and there's no denying how potent that Tigers lineup is. I don't think your pitching is that bad but if Felix can show put together a full season of what he did in the first couple weeks last year, then that'll be good. Kazmir, Wandy, and Lester are all solid and Harang should rebound from that awful year. Be wary of how Escobar performs after that surgery. You might want to look into other options to replace him if something happens.
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by Los_Dodgers » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:36 am 
