1 week later...please grade my team, part 2.

[cincyreds]

One week has passed and I have made some minor adjustments to my roster. Please grade my team, please.

Hitters:

C A.J. Pierzynski
C Jason Kendall
1B Paul Konerko
2B Todd Walker
3B Hank Blalock
SS Erick Almonte (Strictly short term until Woodward gets hot)
OF Raul Ibanez (also eligible at 1B and DH)
OF Jermaine Dye
OF Carl Crawford
OF Vernon Wells

Bench:

SS Chris Woodward
DH Josh Phelps
OF Brandon Larson (not eligible for 3B yet)
OF Karim Garcia

Pitchers:

SP Wade Miller
SP Roy Oswalt
SP Roy Halladay
SP Mark Buehrle
SP Mark Prior
RP Eric Gagne
RP Eddie Guardado
P Lance Carter

Bench:

SP Ted Lilly
SP Jarrod Washburn
SP Brett Myers


So? What do you guys think?

Any good advise would be great to hear also.

Mark Teixeira is still on the WW in my league too, but I his 0 for 12 start will have sent back down once Mench comes back.

Kevin Mench is on the WW also.

Thanks in advance.

[jdh]

Your pitching and closers is absolutely great, you have 6 top 20 and 5 top 15 starters. Your offense however is fairly weak. You have two solid catchers, and a good 1st baseman in Konerko. Walker is a servicable if not great 2B for a 10-12 team league. You really need improvement at the SS and 3B positions. Neither Almonte nor Woodward are likely good enough to use as starting shortstops unless this is a very deep league. Blalock has been hot but I wouldn't want to rely on him as my only third baseman. Your outfield is also pretty weak. You have two good outfielders in Dye and Wells but Crawford is probably only useful as a bench player right now and Ibanez is pretty weak.

I would strongly recommend trading some of your starting pitching to upgrade your offense. If you only had 4 of those 6 top starters you now have, you'll be fine. You also have Lilly who should be a nice sleeper and more than adequate as a #5 starter.

[cincyreds]

Thanks jdh for the advise.

I may offer a trade or 2 for some good OF's. Which SP's would you trade?

I am thinking Washburn and perhaps someone else. Not sure though.

[jdh]

Definitely Washburn. I think that he is generally overrated given the fact that he had an awesome year last year and is the ace of the World Series champs. Prior to last year, he had never won more than 11 games in a season so it more than likely was a career year that he won't repeat.

As for another pitcher to trade, I would consider trading Hallday who also may be overrated and have had a career year last year that he won't be able to repeat. Others will obviously disagree, but I think you will be fine with any 4 of the 6 top starters you now have. Just trade whatever ones get you the most favorable trade. I would say that SS and 3B are even more problematic than outfield for you right now.