Need ideas, offense full of underacheivers!

[rwdiii]

My team is killing me this year, my pitching finally woke up (minus wins) but my hitting has been atrocious. I was expecting my team to be stacked in offense but they've pretty much ALL been performing under expectations. At 1B Hafner has been far from his stellar self, at 2B I stupidly dropped kinsler because I expected his injury to take longer to heal and am now using 1 cat wonder F. Sanchez, at SS Furcal isn't running, 3B Atkins couldn't hit for the first 2+ months of the season, Crawford finally starts running and twists his ankle, Bay dropped off the face of the earth, and Vlad has been the only guy performing like he is supposed to. Sexson I played far longer than I should have knowing his season doesn't usually start until the second half. Hart was nice for a while but has been sitting a lot lately.

So here's the deal, I'm DEAD last in runs and BA. Ouch. I'm actually still in the hunt and within 12 points of first place. WHAT do I do to improve? I feel like at lot of improvement will come if people just start performing like they should. I'm trying to deal some saves (I'm first in S) for a 2B but haven't had luck finding a trading partner to date. I feel trapped but need to do SOMETHING. Any sage advice out there? I'll help in return as always if you so desire.

13 team, standard 5x5

C M. Piazza
1B T. Hafner
2B F. Sanchez
SS R. Furcal
3B G. Atkins
OF C. Crawford
OF V. Guerrero
OF J. Bay
UTIL C. Hart
BN A. Pierzynski
BN R. Sexson

SP C.C. Sabathia
SP E. Bedard
P C. Young
P S. Kazmir
P B. Hennessey
RP M. Capps
RP F. Cordero
BN B. Myers
BN T. Lincecum
BN I. Snell
DL A. Otsuka

[pdman]

I would think the first step would be to clear up roster space, so you can grab some players who can sub for Hafner, Crawford and / or Bay until their bats come around.

It doesn't look like you need to be carrying two catchers at this point, so Pierzynski can go. I would also dump Sexson. People keep saying he hits great after the all star break, but the all star game was a while ago, and he's hitting .187. Now, who to pick up? I would target a guy with 1B,OF eligibility like Chris Duncan of St. Louis. He's hitting .367 with 18 RBI over the last month, but a lot of owners won't touch him because he sits against left handers. You could then spot start him over Hafner, Crawford, or Bay, depending on matchups.

If you're looking for more runs, you might try trading for Julio Lugo, (or picking him off waivers, if he's there). He's been hot over the last month or so, and hit leadoff for Boston in three of the last four games. You might be able to package Sanchez and a closer for Lugo. Sanchez has hit four home runs in the last month, which is very unusual for him, and you might be able to talk that up to swing the trade.

I'd also try to get better use out of your DL spot. You don't really need Otsuka because you're so deep on closers. You might drop him for Phil Hughes or Rococo Baldelli.