Large league, lots of teams, how do I stack up?

[bananaphone]

Ok, so the league is really big. 20 teams, 35 man rosters. Lots of players being kept. I inherited the 3rd to worst team in the league, and made lots of changes. So I'm wondering how my team might stack up.

First, here's the stats we record:

Offense: Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Total Bases, Walks, Strikeouts, Sacrifices, Steals, Caught Stealing, Ground Into Double Plays, Batting Average, OBP, Slugging Percentage, Fielding Percentage

Pitching: Innings Pitched, Hits, Earned Runs, Home Runs, Walks, Strikeouts, Quality Starts, Wins, Losses, Saves, Save Percentage, Holds, ERA, WHIP, K/9, K/BB

Head to Head scoring, the league is in 2 divisions of 10 teams.

Lots of stats. I built my team on speed, since I figured it would carry over into the most categories as far as offense. To me, speed means more runs, less double plays, more steals, and more bunting, which means more sacrifices. Speedy guys are usually also younger, which is a huge advantage in this league.

Pitching is scarce as you might imagine, so I grabbed whatever I could.

Here's my club:

C - Bengie Molina
1B - Ryan Garko
2B - Kazuo Matsui
3B - Mike Lowell
SS - Elvis Andrus
LF - Carlos Lee
CF - Adam Jones
RF - Randy Winn
UTL Anybody else

Bench: Eric Byrnes LF, Jesus Flores C, Nick Swisher 1B-LF-CF, Emilio Bonifacio 2B, Luis Castillo 2B,
Emmanuel Burriss 2B-SS, Jason Kubel RF, Colby Rasmus RF, Travis Buck RF, Dewayne Wise LF-CF

SP: Chris Carpenter, Chien Ming Wang, John Maine, Wandy Rodriguez, Dave Bush, Andrew Miller, Tim Wakefield, Franklin Morales, Jose Contreras, Gio Gonzalez
RP: Joel Hanrahan, Scott Linebrink, Darren Oliver (may get dropped), Doug Brocail, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez

Disabled List (I can hold 5): Shaun Marcum, Jeff Francis, Alex Rodriguez



Obviously the A-Rod injury really hurt my chances to get off to a good start, but I'm hoping I can hold down the fort with a hot start from Lowell (wishful thinking), I'll also have Bonifacio at that spot relatively soon, although he seems more useful at second base right now. I don't really like my first base situation at all, but I haven't been able to improve it. Garko/Swisher are much better than what I started with there.

My pitching is obviously a weakness, but I've got a lot of guys. I'm hoping to get some good value out of my 3 youngsters, although I don't think I can expect to. Light on saves, but I'm not awfully worried about that. I figure more of than that not Hanrahan will get 1-2 saves a week. If he makes them both, I'm really only conceding the saves category, as my percentage will be 1000.

As far as the other teams in the league. THere are 2-3 really top heavy stacked teams that I don't think I can match up with in the division. On the other side there are a few more. I'm kind of wondering though, how bad off I really am?

Any suggestions? Any players you'd suggest I target to sum up the holes?

I also have some minor leaguers, but not too many that will affect me at the start of the year, so I didn't list them. I'll be starting out with Gio, Andrus, and Rasmus on my roster.

[TheAverageJoes]

This is pretty hard to gauge..seeing that I don't really know who would even be availiable in a league like this.

C....I think you did well with Molina in such a wide league.
1b... Hafner shouldnt be as atrocious..I'd try if he's out there somewhere
2b...kazuo is looking like he might be steady..obviously you know that position is thin..I'd say you're alright.
3b...If lowell comes back decent he could be a steal...Any multi position guys out there?
ss...Great pick w/ Elvis I'd expect that cat to be a run machine.
I like your outfield...Got at least one sure bopper..the other guys are solid.

Eric byrnes is dark horse..hopefully he gets in enough at bats and gets going for ya.
A-rod situation...if he's a second half solid 3b you're sitting nice.


Can't imagine You're still the third worst...without knowing the players you've moved around I'd say you're greatly improved.

See if Clayton Richards is still out there..he's primed to be the White sox young 5th starter and is looking really promising..
did well against the rays in the playoffs last year is some reallly tought situations.

good work..g'd luck. I'd appreciate if you could take a look at my predicament.. I have a topic in this forum.

[bananaphone]

See if Clayton Richards is still out there..he's primed to be the White sox young 5th starter and is looking really promising..

Richard is taken, probably as a prospect.

I didn't mention this in my original post, but we have 40 man minor league rosters as well. I didn't post my guys from there because they're not going to make a huge splash really. I'll keep my eyes peeled for any trades though. I may be able to pick him up in a trade.

[bananaphone]

I got a trade offer:

Verlander for Rasmus and Linebrink.

Should I go for it?