I agree you should take the Reds first, there's just a wealth of good players you can use on that team (Bphil, cordero, votto, jay bruce, and most of their rotation are upside sleeper picks). Can you trade players, or do you have to keep only guys from your 3 selected teams all year? This is what I'm thinking if you take KC, which I like because you could use the extra ace and Butler/Soria are top talent for positions you still need to fill.
C-Posada 1B- Teixeira 2B- Cano SS- Jeter 3B- ARod OF- Granderson OF-Swisher OF- Jay Bruce UTIL- Billy Butler UTIL- Joey Votto BN - Brandon Phillips, Nick Johnson? Rick Ankiel?
SP- CC SP- Burnett RP- Rivera RP- Francisco Cordero P- Vazquez P- Hughes P- Joakim Soria P- Zach Greinke BN - Johnny Cueto? Aaron Harang? Aroldis Chapman? Homer Bailey? Joba? Kyle Davies? Volquez?
The bench is a little iffy beyond BPhil, but I'm loving the batting lineup, and CC/Burnett/Vazquez/Greinke/Hughes should be a great lineup with Cueto, Harang, Aroldis, Bailey, Joba, Davies, or Volquez battling it out for bench spots. Don't ask me to choose between the Reds pitchers, they are all so risky, but each one has upside. Does Cueto figure it all out? Can Harang return to 2006? Bailey takes the next step forward? If you have the luxury of being the only one allowed to call up Reds pitchers, I'd bank on at least one or two guys emerging out of this group to rise as serviceable back-end rotation starters for you.
I like the Orioles, but you have a decent outfield with Yankees/Reds players already and I think you would be better off going for the Royals. (posada = smaller use for wieters, tillman/matusz = greinke? sorry, i like having greinke more than the two low-end SP options. soria >>> gonzo, he is ELITE. why get brian roberts when you have cano and bphil, one of whom will probably see the bench, are you going to Util two 2B and have no play to play Butler/Votto? Granderson/Swisher/Jay Bruce is plenty good enough, I wouldn't make the above sacrifices to gain Markakis/Adam Jones/Reimold.)
The Nationals combo of Dunn/Zimmerman does sound nice, but you could really use that extra ace to lift up your pitching (and Stras is not an ace for this year, no matter how much hype you read about him!) Besides, you already have Arod and Teix, so you'd be sticking them in Util. (unless you can slot Dunn in the OF... but even still, Greinke man, Greinke!!!).
not a fan of Royals. other than Greinke in the rotation is there anyone else that good? Baltimore has some talent, but alot of young pitchers in the rotation in the AL East, might not be pretty but maybe worth the risk. i think i would have to go with Baltimore for the final team, and i definitely agree on the Reds for #2
SpecialFNK wrote:not a fan of Royals. other than Greinke in the rotation is there anyone else that good? Baltimore has some talent, but alot of young pitchers in the rotation in the AL East, might not be pretty but maybe worth the risk. i think i would have to go with Baltimore for the final team, and i definitely agree on the Reds for #2
That's what I'm saying though... Greinke, Butler, and Soria are pretty high-end options. True, the rest of the Royals suck, but at least bazzy could use all three of those guys. Markakis/Reimold/Adam Jones and Matusz/Tillman/Gonzo... not as sold, sorry. Frankly, I think Markakis is over-rated, Reimold is splitting time to start the season with Felix Pie until he recovers fully from injury, Adam Jones was okay but not great last year... they all have upside, and could improve upon their last seasons, but I think Butler emerges with the most value out of all them, pure stats wise. Having a bunch of similar OF/Util options also just creates a bottle-neck... honestly, I think Bruce/Granderson/Swisher is good enough, and putting Votto/Butler in the UTIL is nasty. He's got Yankees throughout the rest of his lineup, it's great! The real deal-breaker for me here is Greinke. Only the Royals offer an ace pitcher, and they also have a stud closer and rising 1B.
1. Royals and Orioles. Maybe not the deepest fantasy teams, but they match your needs well. You get a solid 2nd and 3rd outfielder from the Orioles in Markakis and Jones. You get a nice upside pitching pick in Matusz for your back end. You get Greinke as a second SP1 and Soria as an awesome second closer. Butler is a solid Util, he and Johnson could be really sneaky as two Util guys. Wieters and Posada could provide a ton of offense from catcher. Roberts as a platoon partner and speed booster for Cano is gravy.
I like this roster a lot:
Roster: C-Posada 1B- Teixeira 2B- Cano SS- Jeter 3B- ARod OF- Granderson, Markakis, Jones UTIL- Nick Johnson, Billy Butler
SP- CC, Greinke, Vazquez, Burnett, Hughes, Matusz RP-Rivera, Soria
BN - Roberts, Wieters, Swisher, Gardner, Mike Gonzalez, Andy Pettite, Tejada
Dominant looking SP staff there. Two good SP1s, a decent SP3, and two big breakout potential types. No apparent weaknesses either.
2. Cubs and Indians
The Indians are the shallowest team I can see you picking, because they fill your outfield slots very well but do little else, and the Cubs are the deepest, so this is seems a decent match. You'd have three awesome power/speed outfielders here and really lengthen out the back end of your pitching staff and provide more security at util.
The pitching isn't as strong as the top, but the depth is outstanding. You can mix and match a lot of guys by matchup here, and the offense looks deeper too, upgrades at both Util spots over the first roster and both outfield spots too.
3. Reds and Astros
These two provide a decent complimentary mix. You get excellent outfield depth with lots of different types of high value players. You get Wandy for the front end of your pitching staff, Harang for depth, Cordero as a closer, and Phillips to match with Cano, Berkman to stick at Util and lots of other guys to match up there
This roster looks deepest overall to me, but there's a bit more wasted space than the other two. You're all outfielders and second baseman. The pitching is a nice medium between the first two though, you get your two Super-Utils, three closers, and higher upside in the back of your SP staff.
Alot of good replies so far. I think I'd lean towards the Reds and Royals. Nationals would be a close 3rd for me behind the Royals. I pretty much agree with everything thejusman1 said. Yes you're losing some depth by taking the Royals over the Nats, but gaining a top 4 or 5 pitcher in Greinke would be huge for your team, and although Butler's bat isnt as good at Zimm's right now, its still solid.
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by thejusman1 » Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:22 pm 
