Giving up on Saves, Going towards Wins, K's, and ERA

[Guest]

Hi,

I'm currently in 2nd place in a tight 10 team 4x4 league. I'm giving up on saves for the season because I could only possibly move up one spot. With Win's, K's and ERA I could possibly move up 6 spots and take the league titles. Here is my pitching lineup:

Benes, Andy
Halladay, Roy
Johnson, Randy
Lidle, Cory
Moss, Damian
Prior, Mark

Urbina, Ugueth
Julio, Jorge
Wohlers, Mark

I'm think about giving up Wohlers and going out and getting another starting pitcher or middle relief. Here are my choices:

Jennings, Jason
Wolf, Randy
Rick Reed
J.C. Romero
Octavio Dotel

I could also wait and see who has a two start pitch week and go with the best possibility. Here are my statistics on Wins, K's, and ERA:

Wins - 3rd place (5 behind the leader)
K's - 2nd place (1 behind the leader)
ERA - 4th place (0.103 behind the leader)

What should I do and who should I pick up?

[Arlo]

I think you have the right idea. If possible, however, see if you can trade some of your closers for a solid starter. There are bound to be teams in situations that are the exaqct opposite of yours. (Hopefully, your trade deadline hasn't come and gone.)

Of the names you mentioned, I would go with Wolf, who has been very impressive recently. If you have the innings to spare, drop Wohlers, grab Wolf, and then see if you can work a trade. Good luck!

[Guest]

Trade deadline has passed, but I dropped Wakefield and picked up Wolf.

Now I have only:

Urbina and Julio as my closers and should help me stay put in 7th place in saves and hopefully the addition of Wolf will improve my standings in the other categories. Do you think it's too risky to drop Urbina to pickup another starting pitcher or middle reliver? The team below me in saves has:

Sasaki
Guardado, Eddie
DeJean

If they pick up Urbina, they might be able to catch me down my 21 saves currently. What do you think? I could drop Urbina to pick up Jennings, Jason

[Arlo]

I actually like Reed a bit more than Jennings right now...

With a 21-save cushion, I think I'd hold on to Urbina a little longer. There are quite a few decent sleeper pitcher options available right now (check out the new sleeper column tomorrow for an example , and even if the guys you listed are gone when you feel dropping Urbina is safe, you'll still be able to pick up somebody good.