I went for balance, did it work?

[jondunc]

12 team, 5x5, roto, very active Yahoo PLUS league. Any responses would be appreciated. 2nd place right now w/ great offensive numbers and horrible pitching stats.

C B Molina
1 A Dunn
2 R Freel
3 M Cabrera
SS C Barmes
OF C Crawford
OF C Lee
OF V Wells
Ut T Hafner
B B Giles
B G Atkins
B P Wilson

SP B Sheets
SP J Schmidt
RP C Cordero
RP J Valverde
P B Jenks
P CC Sabathia
P D Haren
B A Burgos
B K Escobar
B R Soriano

Thoughts?

[Bukoski77]

Bengie Molina is looking like a good late grab at C, particularly if he continues to bat 5th against lefties like Gibbons hinted at.

Even for roto it looks like you took a gamble going with R.Freel as your 2B. Was there no one else on the board? It looks like he is and will pay off but, WHEW!!!, close one.

Offensively wise that is a very balanced and stellar squad for 12 team 5X5 roto IMHO. Good job.

Your pitching I’m not so sold on however.

B. Sheets is a great A-1 option when healthy but he was a huge let down last year and has already started the year off dinged. I wouldn’t call that too risky of an option except your 2nd best SP option is coming off a horrible campaign and is still yet to show the velocity of earlier in his career. Sheets as your 1st SP or Schmidt as a 2nd option are both fine moves to make singularly but both of them on the same squad compounded with the rest of your SP’s staff makes me skeptical. I cant fault you for not for seeing Sabithia’s misfortune but he has already hit the DL and his weight will now always be a concern unless he gets in shape (LOSES WEIGHT). K. Escobar I’m big on as a sleeper but 2004 was the only time in his career breaking 200INN and he killed owners who took a flier on him last year. I like him but will still check the box scores with a heavily laden feeling of trepidation until he has strung together 5-6 strong outing in a row.

All in all your SP with the inclusion of Haren has the potential to put up great overall numbers but I think you assumed too much injury risk to really call your squad balanced with the merit of your SP staff being factored in.

Your RP is above average, good grab on Burgos if your league’s owners place a heavy value on closers. You don’t need him in your starting lineup and should be able to land a fairly decent return on him.

Above average squad with plenty of upside, but I wouldn’t quite call it a balanced team until your SP rotation have all been healthy and pitching effectively or a month or longer.

Hope that helped.

[Los_Dodgers]

You seem to be pretty balanced, but your hitting outweighs your pitching, especially since you have a guy like atkins on the bench. you won't really be able to play him only at coors because mcab is a must - start, along with hafner, so try to trade him for a decent pitcher.

[jondunc]

Thanks guys, excellent analysis! I do agree with the somewhat unfortunate SP lineup, but SP/RP was so overvalued in my draft that I felt this strategy was dictated to me. Thanks for the advice.

[brandnew]

I'd package Schmidt/Atkins for a better pitcher...