Fantasy Baseball 2009: Start 'em, Sit 'em, Trade 'em

[Andarvi]

I need some fucking help. I didn't know my draft was going on yesterday and missed the whole damn. Auto draft drafted me only hitters really, a fuck ton of outfielders, and one pitcher (Cliff Lee). Not a single reliever. Here is my lineup.

Rodriguez, Ivan C HOU
Teixeira, Mark 1B NYY
Phillips, Brandon 2B CIN
Zimmerman, Ryan 3B WAS
Betancourt, Yuniesky SS SEA
Beltran, Carlos CF NYM
McLouth, Nate CF PIT
Ordonez, Magglio RF DET
Berkman, Lance 1B HOU
Delgado, Carlos 1B NYM

Active Pitchers MLB
Buehrle, Mark SP CHW
Lee, Cliff SP CLE
Meche, Gil SP KC
Percival, Troy RP TB

Reserve Batters MLB
Molina, Yadier C STL
Sanchez, Freddy 2B PIT
Lowell, Mike 3B BOS
Abreu, Bobby RF ANA
Burrell, Pat LF TB
Francoeur, Jeff RF ATL
Hart, Corey C. RF MIL
Thome, Jim DH CHW

Reserve Pitchers
Cain, Matt SP SF A
Lackey, John SP ANA
Moyer, Jamie SP PHI

I got some nice players like Texeira, Beltran, Ordonez, Berkman, but I had to pick up most of my pitching staff (excluding Lee and Lackey, who was the only one i managed to pick before I left) off the waiver wire. My catchers are weaksauce and I am absolutely horrid at ss.

That being said, who is expendable? This guy is trying to trade me Dice-K for Magglio Ordonez, and while I badly need pitching, Maggs is expected to bring in a lot more points. Is it better to have a slightly weaker pitching staff and a much stronger hitting crew or to average them out? How important are relief pitchers, they dont seem to get many points in my league, though I guess if they pitch everyday they could be nice.

Help! We start tomorrow.

[Mertron]

Ordonez is a nice bat but you have Abreu on your bench, and Hart/Burrell are at least decent reserve players for the outfield if you decide to trade for Dice K.

I dont think the trade would be equal value, but if you really need a starter...

[Bregor]

Round 7: Best available catcher. Catcher is the hardest position to get quality production from, thus I usually draft one higher than I normally would.

Normally I agree that you need to get a quality catcher early, but there are so many catchers this season that could put up good numbers, I wouldn't really worry about it. Some catchers who went late in my leage were Chris Iannetta in the 15th, Ben Molina and Jorge Posada in the 18th, and Mike Napoli and A.J. Pierzynski in the 20th. If your league only starts one catcher, no one's gonna carry two (unless they're worried about an injury or waiting on Matt Wieters) so you can get good quality late this year.

[Akiyama]

Normally I agree that you need to get a quality catcher early, but there are so many catchers this season that could put up good numbers, I wouldn't really worry about it. Some catchers who went late in my leage were Chris Iannetta in the 15th, Ben Molina and Jorge Posada in the 18th, and Mike Napoli and A.J. Pierzynski in the 20th. If your league only starts one catcher, no one's gonna carry two (unless they're worried about an injury or waiting on Matt Wieters) so you can get good quality late this year.

I'm in this situation in a league. I'm using Molina from San Fran and carrying Wieters on my bench for when he gets called up.

I need some fucking help. I didn't know my draft was going on yesterday and missed the whole damn. Auto draft drafted me only hitters really, a fuck ton of outfielders, and one pitcher (Cliff Lee). Not a single reliever. Here is my lineup.

Rodriguez, Ivan C HOU
Teixeira, Mark 1B NYY
Phillips, Brandon 2B CIN
Zimmerman, Ryan 3B WAS
Betancourt, Yuniesky SS SEA
Beltran, Carlos CF NYM
McLouth, Nate CF PIT
Ordonez, Magglio RF DET
Berkman, Lance 1B HOU
Delgado, Carlos 1B NYM

Active Pitchers MLB
Buehrle, Mark SP CHW
Lee, Cliff SP CLE
Meche, Gil SP KC
Percival, Troy RP TB

Reserve Batters MLB
Molina, Yadier C STL
Sanchez, Freddy 2B PIT
Lowell, Mike 3B BOS
Abreu, Bobby RF ANA
Burrell, Pat LF TB
Francoeur, Jeff RF ATL
Hart, Corey C. RF MIL
Thome, Jim DH CHW

Reserve Pitchers
Cain, Matt SP SF A
Lackey, John SP ANA
Moyer, Jamie SP PHI

I got some nice players like Texeira, Beltran, Ordonez, Berkman, but I had to pick up most of my pitching staff (excluding Lee and Lackey, who was the only one i managed to pick before I left) off the waiver wire. My catchers are weaksauce and I am absolutely horrid at ss.

That being said, who is expendable? This guy is trying to trade me Dice-K for Magglio Ordonez, and while I badly need pitching, Maggs is expected to bring in a lot more points. Is it better to have a slightly weaker pitching staff and a much stronger hitting crew or to average them out? How important are relief pitchers, they dont seem to get many points in my league, though I guess if they pitch everyday they could be nice.

Help! We start tomorrow.

See if you can talk him down out of Maggs for Dice-K. He's a nice pitcher, gets you wins and some strikeouts, but holy fuck will he screw your WHIP up to no ends. Your catchers aren't terribad. Se if Wieters is on the FA Pool still, and check the ESPN rankings for some others ones. How many people in the league? That sort of info would help too.

[Bregor]

I'm in this situation in a league. I'm using Molina from San Fran and carrying Wieters on my bench for when he gets called up.

Was gonna do the same thing, but Wieters went hella early in my draft, like in the 8th round despite him already being optioned to Triple-A. I still like Sandoval as a cheap pseudo-catcher though.

Also, thirty more minutes until baseball that matters... I can't wait :D

[Akiyama]

Was gonna do the same thing, but Wieters went hella early in my draft, like in the 8th round despite him already being optioned to Triple-A. I still like Sandoval as a cheap pseudo-catcher though.

Also, thirty more minutes until baseball that matters... I can't wait :D

I grabbed Wieters in Round 17 or some crazy shit. I got him and Cameron Maybin, actually, so I stashed em both away since I'm satisfied with my starting line-up and pitching for the most part.

I traded Joba for Aubrey Huff also as I was hurting at 3B, so that was nice for me as well. Screw Joba and his 150 IP limit.

[Melena]

This may actually be one of my better teams, so long as I avoid the DL Merry Go Round of the past 3 years.

C: Brian McCann
1b: Ryan Howard
2b: Marco Scutaro
3b: Melvin Mora
SS: Alexi Ramirez
OF: Ryan Ludwick
OF: Jacoby Ellsbury
OF: Brad Hawpe
Util: Pablo Sandoval
Bench: Johnny Damon
Bench: Aaron Rowand
Bench: Felipe Lopez
Bench: Jason Giambi

SP: Chad Billingsly
SP: Zack Greinke
RP: Brad Lidge
RP: Troy Percival
P: Matt Cain
P: Kevin Gregg
P: Kerry Wood
Bench: Gil Meche
Bench: Dave Bush

[Raineer]

Here's where I ended up, opening day lineup:

C Victor Martinez
1B Albert Pujols
2B Dan Uggla
3B Kevin Youkilis
SS Miguel Tejada (Hardy off 4/6)
OF Carlos Lee
OF Nate McLouth
OF Andre Ethier
UTIL Carlos Guillen

Bench J.J. Hardy
Bench Howie Kendrick
Bench Adam Jones
Bench Yadier Molina

SP Roy Halladay
SP Francisco Liriano
SP Kevin Slowey
SP Ted Lilly
SP Gavin Floyd
RP Francisco Rodriguez
RP Francisco Cordero

Bench Ervin Santana
Bench Brandon Morrow

Draft went decent, the OF ended up shallow because most of the earlier rounds I kept seeing better value elsewhere. I'm hoping the pitching holds up, and I get decimated by injuries every year . . really hoping to avoid it this year.

Also KC/CHI (4/6) just postponed so make sure to change your lineups.

[Headspace]

Damn Aki, are we ever having this draft?

[Akiyama]

Sorry. D: Do you have MSN or AIM? If so, PM me. Tuesday night should be the last change, lol.

[Jaffar]

Just had my draft over the weekend- last year I won my league largely due to drafting Lincecum in the 11th round & getting Cliff Lee of waivers in week 1, while drafting offense, and ultimately punting saves after Kerry Wood & Saito got hurt. So, I tried to find young pitching that can make a big jump, and hope to plug holes with waiver add ons. Despite focusing on offense this year, it doesn't seem like I have a lot of pop in my lineup:

C M. Napoli
1B D.Lee
2B R. Cano
3B E. Longoria
SS J. Reyes
OF C.Lee
OF J. Bay
OF A. Rios
UTI H. Pence
UTI C. Jackson

Bench: J.Upton, C. Guillen, M. Tejada, F. Lopez, A. Lind

SP F. Liriano
SP Y. Gollardo
SP Z. Greinke
P C. Kershaw
P C. Marmol
RP H. Bell
RP M. Wilson

Bench: W.Rodriguez, D. Price

[volcanicweather]

I need a guy who can get me some SBs and has a good chance of being on the waiver wire... any recommendations?

[Akiyama]

Uhh.. Juan Pierre maybe? He seems to get 40+ steals a year.

[Cephius]

Uhh.. Juan Pierre maybe? He seems to get 40+ steals a year.

Which is amazing because he never walks and always has a sub-.330 OBP.

If you're adding Juan Pierre to your team, it might as well be only for SBs because he doesn't do much else. Personally I'd add someone else who could maybe give you some decent numbers as well. Maybe someone like Ellsbury or Lastings Milledge.

[volcanicweather]

I looked into Pierre but it doesn't look like he's starting in LA.

Both Ellsbury and Milledge are long gone.

I added Brett Gardner as he's starting CF for the yankees (for the time being)... but if anyone has a recommendation I'm all ears

[Bregor]

Carlos Gomez, part of a rotating OF in Minnesota but he should be good for 500 PAs and 30+ steals.

[Headspace]

Cliff Lee can suck my nuts.

[Andarvi]

Ive got Beltran (Tex, Berkman, Abreu, Delgado, Ordonez, Thome as well) and I need pitching (I have Cliff Lee, Buerhrle, Meche, Cain, Carmona on suspension and Lackey coming back in a few weeks). I def have stronger hitting than pitching, a guy wants Beltran for Dice-K. Should i do it?

[ErzaScarlet]

My god baseball is so boring

[Daahan]

Should I start Hank Blalock or Jason Giambi at first base?

Thoughts?