12 Team, 6x5 HTH - Need some direction I think.

[Benjn]

Drafted not so long ago... I'm in a 12 team HTH league with a DEEP bench. The first five or six picks got autodrafted for me because I woke up late.. the draft was 5am my time (eh, I live in Japan), so they were less than stellar. The league categories are standard, with the addition of HITS.

Hitting categories: R, H, SB, RBI, HR, AVG
Pitching categories: W, K, SV, ERA, WHIP

And my roster:

OFFENSE
C - EMPTY
1B - James Loney
2B - Brian Roberts
3B - Garrett Atkins
SS - Michael Young
OF - Nick Markakis
OF - Kosuke Fukudome
OF - Josh Hamilton
UTIL - Chris Duncan
B - Frank Thomas
B - Justin Upton
B - Mike Cameron

PITCHING
SP - Jake Peavy
SP - Erik Bedard
RP - Francisco Cordero
RP - Brian Fuentes
P - Carlos Zambrano
P - Matt Cain
P - Tim Hudson
P - Francisco Liriano
B - Phil Hughes
B - Homer Bailey
B - Andrew Miller
B - Ian Kennedy
B - Hideki Kuroda

-------------------------

So, here we go - I've never been in a HtH league before. I've played roto for the past few years. Further, I haven't really been keeping up on baseball this offseason. Then, to top things off, I missed the first few rounds of the draft.

I know my SP is very, very strong. My strategy in the late rounds turned to drafting every prospect-type pitcher I could find in hopes of turning them for hitters via trade to pitching starved teams. There are plenty. I also forgot to draft a catcher until it was too late, then opted instead to just pick one up off FA.

FA available catchers: Buck, Suzuki, and Ruiz. Pretty much anyone else of note, I think, has been taken. If I pick up a FA, Cameron will probably be the first offensive player dropped. Leaning towards Ruiz, I suppose. Is there any chance Pirates C/OF Ryan Doumit lands an OF job if Nady gets traded? Something along those lines? If so, I'd look at him as well.

Also, my RP is pretty weak but I'll fix that soon via FA. There's still a few hidden gems out there that went undrafted so I'm not too worried about that.

Except catcher, I don't see any huge holes in my offense. A lot of it's banking on potential from players that might not show up in 2008 (Fukudome, Duncan, Loney, Upton)... I don't have any big bats in the lineup, but a lot of my players generate a good amount of Hits (a category I don't like in fantasy, but I think will help my team out a bit).


So, anyone have any comments on my team? Perhaps advice that might help me?
Should I pursue a trade for a Catcher or just settle for one off FA? Should I be searching for a big bat, maybe giving up one of my mid-high talent SP (Zambrano, Hudson, Cain)?

[Benjn]

Went ahead and dropped Mike Cameron and picked up Carlos Ruiz to fill that Catcher role.

I could, instead, pick up John Buck when he clears waivers. Which is the better option?

[abrage22]

actually looks pretty good . the computer prabably did a somewhat great job

[The Big Train]

Ruiz isn't a bad choice at all. I would have taken Doumit if the situation was more clear in Pittsburgh but Ruiz is a good option for now. I like Loney at lot as a hitter, but more as a bench/utility option. He simply won't provide enough power regardless of how well he finished up last year. I would certainly be looking to deal your SP depth for hitters with more HR/RBI potential. Zambrano would be the first SP I would try and deal given the amount of pitches he's thrown the last few years. I personally would have no use for Upton or Miller.

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