Bush-League Pitching - Need SP Help! WHIR IN-DEPTH!

[WeTalkinAboutPracticeMan]

Like I said, I've been able to draft/trade/pick-up my way to a pretty stud offense, but my starting pitching and relief/closer depth isn't really where I'd like it to be -

C Brandon Inge
1B Ryan Howard
2B Ian Kinsler
3B David Wright
SS Troy Tulowitzki
OF B.J. Upton
OF Justin Upton
OF Josh Hamilton
UTIL Mark Teixeira
BEN Juan Pierre, Willy Taveras
DL Stephen Drew

SP Wandy Rodriguez
SP Yovani Gallardo
SP James Shields
RP Kevin Gregg
RP Ryan Franklin
P Armando Galaragga
P Luke Hochevar
BEN David Price, John Maine

I just traded for Gallardo, but otherwise my pitching has been coming up short or just barely scraping by in my H2H weekly. I had an extra slot so I picked up Hochevar as a speculative play, but could anyone recommend anyone else that I should try to target as a "buy-low" in a trade, or some possible waiver wire pick-ups? Here are some of the SP that are available -

Ricky Romero
Randy Wolf,
Matt Palmer,
Dallas Braden,
Koji Uehara,
Jason Marquis,
Hiroki Kuroda,
Kelvim Escobar,
Clayton Kershaw (Dropped him to get Juan Pierre, so can't pick him up unless he clears waivers)
Randy Johnson,
Chien Ming Wang,
Fausto Carmona,
Manny Parra,
Tommy Hanson (Really, really, really want to, but it looks more and more like Glavine's going to come back and try to win over whoever on Earth could possibly question his pitching career).
Justin Masterson

...and the list goes on, but nothing really "better" than what's up there. I was also thinking of picking up Ryan Madson or Jose Arredondo, as I really think at some point this season they'll take over at closer for their respective teams the way that Lidge and Fuentes have struggled - what are your thoughts on this? Thanks in advance for your input, and feel free to link to your own threads in your replies and I'll do the best I can to help you in return.

Yahoo! 12-Team H2H
Hitting - R, H, 3B, HR, RBI, SB, AVG
Pitching - W, CG, SHO, SV, K, ERA, WHIP, NH

[WeTalkinAboutPracticeMan]

As much as I hate to do this, Bumpity McBumperson will have to make a visit to this thread.

[wallywojo]

Looking at that waiver wire, you are gaining nothing. I would hold off on any pickups. Wait it out.

check mine out? http://www.fantasybaseballcafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=384579

[ABA316]

Thanks for mine!

I would take a flier on Kuroda when you activate Drew..might as well use the DL spot. Randy Johnson might be good too. I'd drop Tavares once Drew is active..add Kuroda..do the DL switch and add Randy.

[WeTalkinAboutPracticeMan]

Thanks for your suggestions. I've been thinking about picking up Kuroda since he's sidelined with an oblique injury and nothing that would directly hinder his mechanics (as something like an elbow or shoulder injury), and a lot of Japanese pitchers seem better able to handle the American Bigs their second time around. I don't know about Randy Johnson, especially with how little offense the Giants provide at times. He's also crazy-prone to the long ball, which is never good. This was all great feedback though, anyone else have any ideas?

[master_herm]

Thanks for your help in mine - as a Cubs fan I've been looking to trade Ludwick anyway, because I plain don't like him. I do think he will put up 30+ HR and 100 RBI though, so the value is there.

You can easily trade away one of your elite offensive players for either several good pitchers or a great one with a decent offensive replacement. Your team is the type of team I like to field: dominate offense, and compete with pitching. But right now you are SO dominant on offense - that lineup is unbelievable - that even losing a guy like Hamilton won't hurt you too much. I don't know where you are in the standings but I'd guess you're up there, the only thing holding you back is losing pitching every week (hence why you are here, asking for help). If I were you, here's what I'd do:

Trade Hamilton for Santana and another decent pitcher/hitter. Or Greinke. Or Sabathia. Or Billingsley. Or any elite pitcher. You need someone to anchor your pitching staff and get you the occassional CG. While you may not like losing an offensive stud, your offense is FINE without one of your guys and the benefit to your pitching by having an ace will be tremendous.

What's the point in dominating hitting cats when you could shave a little bit off the top and compete in the other 50% of categories - pitching - as well? You HAVE to think of starting pitching. But I know where you're coming from b/c I love hitting as well.. but your offense can afford losing Hamilton or anyone else. Pull a deal.

[WeTalkinAboutPracticeMan]

Thanks for your help in mine - as a Cubs fan I've been looking to trade Ludwick anyway, because I plain don't like him. I do think he will put up 30+ HR and 100 RBI though, so the value is there.

You can easily trade away one of your elite offensive players for either several good pitchers or a great one with a decent offensive replacement. Your team is the type of team I like to field: dominate offense, and compete with pitching. But right now you are SO dominant on offense - that lineup is unbelievable - that even losing a guy like Hamilton won't hurt you too much. I don't know where you are in the standings but I'd guess you're up there, the only thing holding you back is losing pitching every week (hence why you are here, asking for help). If I were you, here's what I'd do:

Trade Hamilton for Santana and another decent pitcher/hitter. Or Greinke. Or Sabathia. Or Billingsley. Or any elite pitcher. You need someone to anchor your pitching staff and get you the occassional CG. While you may not like losing an offensive stud, your offense is FINE without one of your guys and the benefit to your pitching by having an ace will be tremendous.

What's the point in dominating hitting cats when you could shave a little bit off the top and compete in the other 50% of categories - pitching - as well? You HAVE to think of starting pitching. But I know where you're coming from b/c I love hitting as well.. but your offense can afford losing Hamilton or anyone else. Pull a deal.

Thanks for the advice, and I have to agree with most of what you said. I'm not going to lie, I'm a huge Cubs fan too, so I'm also anti-Ludwick biased, but regardless of that I still feel he's underachieving severely and that concerns me. However, like I said in your post, the guy definitely has the power and last year's numbers as proof that he could prove me wrong at any point this season. We'll just have to wait and see.

I like your motto of dominate with offense and compete with pitching, but I agree that it appears my team has taken it to the extreme. My team looked a lot different on draft day, but I've always been a really big fan of buying low and selling high, and was able to do so with Wright, Howard, Teixeira, and B.J. Upton. Not too bad of a haul, if I do say so myself. Galaragga got absolutely shelled, and although I was willing to gamble this time around since he was not half bad last year and was great at the start of this season, I couldn't take it any longer, and it appears as if my speculative play with Hochevar was ill-advised. As I try to work a trade out, I ended up dropping both of them and picked up Clayton Kershaw and Chien-Ming Wang. Wang has been incredibly effective in his rehab starts, and it appears as if he has full command of his pitches now and his velocity is where it was at in his 19-win seasons, so I feel he's worth holding on to to see what happens. I got Kershaw because he's pitching a lot better than his record suggests, but the drop-off in L.A.'s offense is absurd and has me concerned, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens. I'm going to try to work out a deal for Johan, even though his teammates hate him and refuse to score runs for the guy when he's on the mound. It'll be rough parting with one of my offensive guys, but what you said is completely right and I can't argue with your logic. Thanks for your input.

Does anyone else have any ideas about how I could boost my rotation? Possible trades you would suggest? Waiver wire pick-ups or sleepers just starting to emerge? I'd love to hear any and all suggestions.

[caliendo]

First of all... WOw thanks for the help on mine.

I would definitely pick up Randy Johnson as I feel he still definitely has some stuff left, and if its a keeper league Id pick up Braden. You're pretty set at SS with Drew/Tulowitzki, so if you wanted to you could probably trade one of them for another SP, but I dont know how you feel about that.

[WeTalkinAboutPracticeMan]

Thanks for the help.

A number of people have told me to pick up Randy Johnson, but two considerations prevent me from doing so. The first is that he's proved himself to be incredibly prone to giving up the long ball this season, and when this is combined with the fact that the Arizona offense is still struggling to produce runs as a whole, I just can't justify picking up the gay. However, his home/road splits are crazy this season, so although I can't really bring myself to pick him up now, if he has another QS at home tomorrow, we'll just have to see what happens. Thanks for your input though, my line-up's actually changed a little bit since the initial posting of this thread, so I'll update my roster when I have a chance in the morning. Does anyone else have any ideas? If so, I'd love to hear them, and I'll return the favor as best as I can.

[WeTalkinAboutPracticeMan]

Also, caliendo, it's not a keeper league. Sorry, I should have made that clear from the beginning.