pudge and lineup

[ivan]

10 team 5x5; weekly changes; no bench

I'm in 1st place by a slim margin bc of strong pitching (41pts) but figure to fluctuate btw 1rd and 3rd. Batting has slightly improved. Weakness: 8th 265 BA, 9th with 40 SB (2nd place guy has 57) and 4th with 370 R (leader has 407). Thought this might help.

When will Pudge be back? Who would you drop? Benito or AJ

C- Benito, AJ
IF- Delgado, Spivey, Ventura, Tejada
OF- Drew, L.Walker, Erstad, B.Giles, Berkman
U- A.Sanchez, A. Jones

Dropped Durazo for Sanchez bc of slump and injury. Then he goes out and whacks a HR. Geez! But who do I drop? What is your take on my lineup?

Shall I grab Durazo again since can help my BA and hope my guys can keep me afloat in SB. Think my OF and U can keep me in SB but wanted a SB guy.

It was him or E. Young. Good choice? Others were Patterson, Furcal, Roberts, Vina, Eckstein. Who will be better for my team?

Don't like Ventura but unable to unload him. Koskie, Alfonso, Hinske, Aramis are available. Should I just drop him since he's the main reason I'm behind in BA and SB?

Offered Padilla, Berkman and Spivey for Soriano and Ichiro.
Wanted to add Graves since he needs saves. Fair or withdraw?

SP-Unit, Glavine, W.Miller, Ishii, Padilla, Prior
RP-Gagne (he's gold!!!), Wags, Graves
IL- Radke

Kile on waivers. What's wrong with him? slow starter? Who do I drop? will he help my pitching or shall I just stand pat?

Apologies for so many questions. Appreciate your insight and comments for this rookie fantasy baseballer.

[Arlo]

Ok, let's see...

First off, if 17 steals is all you need for 2nd place, I'd go all out in an attempt to pick up someone with speed. I like Durazo, but Sanchez is the right call. Patterson and Furcal are also both solid options. Stick with Sanchez for now, but be prepared to jump to one of the other two if he stumbles.

Pudge is on a rehab assignment and is expected to return sometime next week. Watch his progress this week closely, however. both your catchers are doing pretty well right now, but I'd keep Pierzinski. That's just a hunch, though, based in part on Santiago's age. Trust your instincts here, or see which one might command more as part of a trade (always preferable to dropping a player outright).

3b is tricky. Alfonzo might be the right choice here if you're looking for a boost in average.

The trade offer sounds reasonable without Graves. Perhaps you could add Graves if you're given a lesser closer in return.

Kile isn't traditionally a slow starter, and his fantasy numbers aren't that bad so far. His drop-off in both k/ip and k/bb has me worried, though. Stay with what you have unless this changes.

Overall you seem to be in great shape, although one more proven and reliable starter would be nice (Miller has me worried, for one thing). If you can get near the top in steals, you may well be the team to beat.

Hope I touched all the bases here and didn't miss any questions...

[ivan]

Hey again,

Feel like dropping W.Miller bc will have neck pblm thruout season. At least Kile is healthy and hopefully rebounds.
W.Williams, Weaver and Nomo also just made available. Hmm?

Do you think Jose Cruz (available)will turn it around and be useful to me?

Not worried about BA bc think team will turn it up. Is Fonz injured? I'm liking Koskie and Hinske since both can run and solid all around. Is Koskie 100% healthy now? Do you think he'll be good enough from this pt on? (at least better than Ventura?) Thinking he'll do alright with teammates coming back to provide good protection.

I'll keep one U spot for SB. Add and drop players based on games, matchups and hot hand. Vina, Furcal and E.Young seem like good candidates.

Get a sense most gave up on our season since no response from trades. Bummer. Maybe 5 still competing.

Thanks again.

[chuckr37]

FYI Pudge has 2 games back to back behind the plate in A-ball with no problems.

[ivan]

thanks Chuck! (funny thing, that's my nickname)

I'm really glad to hear pudge is ahead of schedule. Hopefully he'll help me surge to the top and stay there. yay!

[Arlo]

Lots of people are hoping he'll be as good as new and will be able to provide a huge boost to their teams. Let's keep our fingers crossed - all the signs look good so far...