What do you think of my team?

[uanap]

I'm a a twelve man league with classic 5x5 scoring. I like my position players but I think I need some help in the pitching department (esp. with closers). What do you guys think and are there any recommendations? Thanks

Catcher - Lieberthal
!st - Jason Giambi
2nd- Durham
3rd - Rolen
SS - A-Rod
OF - Erstad
OF - Andruw Jones
OF - Daryle Ward
Utility - Edgar Martinez
Bench - Jermaine Dye, Pat Burrell, Nick Johnson and David Eckstein
SP - Mark Mulder, Matt Morris, Ryan Dempster, Roy Halladay, Mike Hampton, Cory Lidle
RP - Leskanic and Roberto Hernandez

[Arlo]

I agree with you: your lineup is top-notch, but your pitchers look like they'll be in the middle of the pack. Nothing wrong with that, of course - you can win your league that way, but a bit of help on the mound wouldn't hurt.

The problem is that pitching help might be hard to come by, since your bench doesn't give you too much leverage in terms of trading bats.

Let's see... Morris and Mulder are studs, I don't like Dempster as much as most forecasters do, Lidle and Halladay could be very nice but are no guarantee, and I wouldn't touch Hampton, even if you're just planning on using him on the road.

Leskanic's situation is extremely hard to predict - he may well be the Brewers' primary closer later on this year, but a solid performance by DeJean or one of several other options could change that. Hernandez will get you decent saves, even if his other numbers won't look good.

If I were in your shoes, I'd drop Hampton and scour the free agent list for either a reliever who might fall into some saves, such as:

Looper, Gagne, Herges, Nunez. If no saves candidate is available, pick up a starter who can put up respectanle whip and era numbers.

This may seem like sacrilege, but I'd also ask around to see what you could get for Giambi. In all probablity, no offer will be high enough for you to accept, but asking around never hurts, and I like Johnson's chances this year. You could, of course, go the other way around and shop Johnson. If you could get a mid-tier pitcher (starter or reliever) for him, you'd be ahead of the game. Shopping Edgar Martinez is also an option.

Of course, you can always wait for the closer carousel to turn again and try to pick up saves that way, but putting your ear to the ground and seeing if any decent trade possibilities are out there can't hurt...

[uanap]

Thanks for the tips Arlo. I had planned on pitching Hampton away from Coors. I personally think last year was just an aberation.

Shopping Giambi is interesting, but remember I would need to get a decent first baseman in return. I dont feel confident enough to start Johnson.

I do have a request in to pick up Gagne. By the way, whats the closer situation in Minnesota? Is LaTroy not the closer anymore?

[Arlo]

Pitching Hampton away from Coors might work, but with your small bench size, it might not be worth the roster space.

If you don't feel confident about the unproven Johnson, talk him up a bit and see if you can get an arm for him...

And in Minnesota, Guardado is back in the closer's spot. I think he'll actually be decent.

[uanap]

Looks like pitching Hampton away from Coors didnt work for me yesterday. Oh well, its a marathon not a sprint. Right boys??

BTW, I did manage to pick up DeJene from Milwaukee to try and salvage some saves.