16 team league...H2H 5x5 I decided to do a crazy strat since I was bored this year. I tried to go big on steals and have a top flight pitching staff (Halladay, Lester, Cain, Marmol, Verlander, Brian Wilson, Clay Buchholz, Leo Nunez, Brian Duensing, and I picked up Walden and Downs from the Angels). It didn't go perfect with the steals since someone else went insane on steals, but I still ended up with C Arencibia 1b Cuddyer 2b Kendrick 3b Headley SS Asdrubal Cabrera OF Pagan OF Pierre OF Bourjos OF Coghlan BN Alcides Escobar I drafted Borbon in the 13th hoping for another big steals guy but I dropped him for Coghlan since Murphy is probably gonna be taking his job. I am trying to trade Pagan for Kendrys. He said he really likes Pagan this year, but he asked if I would do Pierre for Kendrys. Do you think I can still dominate steals without Pierre by having Alcides Escobar take his place in the lineup? Adding Kendrys would be really nice to replace Cuddyer, but I need to make sure I at least win 1 offensive category a week with SBs. Am I left with too many question marks in the SB department? Sorry for the long post........opinions please!
Thanks for not answering my question, but fwiw somehow my team was projected to win the league in a roto format. And do you really think my pitching staff is that bad?
I used this strategy in 2002...enjoy being a cellar dweller.... Steals don't relate to the power or avg or obp numbers... So you're gonna lose big in those other offensive categories...good pitching won't overcome that
It was like 2 days before the draft and I wasn't even gonna play until my friend suggested this strat, so I was like what the hell. I can't really see this team being a cellar dweller. I should win SBs 90% of the time. I don't think I will get killed in average and runs. I'm probably middle of the pack in average and lower mid in runs. I will get murdered in HRs and RBI. Pitching I should win 4 of 5 categories almost every week. I don't think I have a top team, since the best I can do in a week is 8-2. However, I think I have an interesting team that could do well in the playoffs (5-5 tie breaker is ERA). Pretty much every team in our league has holes, so I think I can tread water around .500 and keep looking for trades to balance my offense.
Do Pierre for Kendrys. SB are cheap. A power bat like Kendrys could potentially provide is much more valuable.
He traded me Kendrys for Pagan. Now I am trying to work a deal for Crawford. I proposed a bs offer to the guy who has Crawford. Pierre and Leo Nunez for Crawford. I know this owner will spaz out if his players aren't performing to start the season, so I figured what the hell. Anyhow, he actually countered with something not unreasonable. He offered Crawford and Ryan Madson (PHI possible closer candidate when Contreras blows up) for Pierre, Marmol, and Brian Wilson. It at least made me think about taking it immediately, but I countered with Marmol and Pierre for Crawford and Madson. We will see what happens....
Well as the league has gone on my team has morphed into something a bit more competitive. C Arencibia 1B Cuddyer 2B Howie Kendrick 3B Betemit SS Asdrubal Cabrera OF Crawford OF Pence OF Coghlan Util Maybin BN Markakis BN Alcides Escobar DL Kendrys SP Halladay SP Lester SP Verlander SP Cain SP Buchholz SP Duensing RP Walden RP Nunez RP Madson Just traded Brian Wilson for Hunter Pence to a guy who was desperate for a closer. I had 3.5 closers since I picked up Madson to go along with Nunez, Walden, and Wilson...so I felt the Pence trade was a no brainer. Also, I was able to pick up Markakis from a frustrated owner who dropped him. I'm hoping for another trade to balance out my roster and get another starter. I'm hoping to trade Coghlan and Cabrera to the same dumb owner who gave up on Crawford. He has Mauer and I am more than willing to take a chance on his ladyboy leg condition if he takes that trade. I doubt he will take it, but hey you never know.
Pence and Crawford look good, but the rest of the lineup in every position could be better, pitching looks pretty good though. Although I look at my team and I wonder where you got screwed (picked poorly) C Victor Martinez 2b Pedroia 3b Sandoval SS Drew OF Crawford OF Bourne OF Kubel DH Ortiz P Lester P Weaver P Putz P League P Romero P Beckett P Wandy I'm lacking in HR's, but have a good average, high steals, good runs, higher RBI then I had hoped for, and my pitching is pretty top notch as you can tell by the players listed. My strategy behind these is, best 2 or 3 players available (obviously not if they all play 1b) and then plug in your line up where needed. Luck will play a large part in anything past the 4th round. I personally wasn't expecting what I've gotten out of Ortiz, Beckett, or Romero so far, but you take the ups and downs. (I couldn't remember who my original 1b was, but dropped them pretty quick and picked up Brett Wallace, right at the time he fell off a cliff with his batting average, now I have Michael Morse who's giving me some needed pop, also have Billy Butler who's giving me .300 with 30 rbi and 30 r, and picked up Salas the Cards closer who's helped as well)
I see after reading my message how it could come across as me ragging on your team, and I didn't mean or intend to in the least. Your pitching is very good, I'd like to see it stacked up against mine. Both our teams seem to be lacking those big time players that offer a lot (Puols, Howard, Pence, Konerko, Batista, Granderson, Berkman, to name a few) granted my first pick was Crawford and outside of the last 3 weeks has been a huge disappointment.
hippos... Overall, I've been a little on the unlucky side in the head to head. I'm 7 games back in my division (4 divisions of 4 teams) and I'm 54-52-4 #8 overall. If this were a roto league I would be 3rd with 108.5 points and the guy actually leading my division would be running away with it with 126.5 points. He is 3rd overall in the league fwiw. Here is what my team looks like now. It's been pretty rough lately with injuries to Pence, Crawford, and Kendrick. C Arencibia 1B Mitch Moreland 2B Kendrick 3B Cuddyer SS Asdrubal OF Pence OF Andres Torres (Getting dropped soon...been disappointing after his start) OF Markakis Ut Nyjer Morgan/Revolving door of crap ... Just dropped Willingham for him DL Crawford SP Halladay SP Verlander SP Cain SP Lester SP Guthrie RP Walden RP Madson RP Nunez RP Mike Adams RP David Robertson DL Buchholz
I actually used the same strategy...speed-heavy+awesome pitching+no saves+little power. 10-team league C-Wieters 1B-Berkman 2B-Pedroia 3B-Micheal Young SS-Alexei Ramirez 2B/SS-Cuddyer (pick-up) 1B/3B-Micheal Morse (pick-up) OF1-Granderson OF2-Jay Bruce OF3-Ichiro OF4-Heyward OF5-Victorino Util-Stanton Bench-Aaron Hill Bench-Rajai Davis SP-Halladay SP-Lester SP-Verlander SP-Haren SP-Ricky Romero SP-C.J Wilson SP-Vogelsong (Pick-up) RP-Kimbrel RP-Venters (Pick-up) RP-Melancon (Pick-up) RP-Madson (Pick-up) DL-Brett Anderson The strat works if you can get cheap power, by aiming for underrated power-hitting OFs as I did, and getting lucky with a few veterans and pick-ups. Berkman, Bruce, Granderson, and Stanton were the keys to my strat, and I ended up paying less for them combined than what people paid for Pujols or HanRam. It's a roto league, I'm in first with about a 17 point difference o_o That said, if I were you, I'd try what I've been trying before---trading one or two solid arms for some under-performing power players. Your trade for Pence is good, but you should try and dangle out there for say---Stanton. A young, up-and-coming power outfielder would do wonders for your roster, which seems like a revolving door of speedsters at this point in the outfield. Maybe try dangling Verlander for some amazing power, you're more than covered with Halladay as your ace.
I figured I'd bump this again. Right now I have the 3rd highest winning % in the league, but guy with by far the best team is in my division. I should make the playoffs. Also, Northside I have been doing a lot of brainstorming lately trying to decide if I should trade some pitching for hitting, but I can't make up my mind. The guy who is first in the league is absolutely raping the league in hitting (if it was roto he would have 78 out of 80 points in hitting). So my feeling is that I should stick with my pitching dominance to make sure I beat him in all 5 pitching categories if we were to meet in the playoffs. ERA is the tie breaker if you are tied 5-5 in the playoffs, so better pitching wins. Further, my team is completely injury ridden right now. Crawford, Madson, Lester, and Buchholz are all on the DL and if I trade a healthy pitcher away then I really put a lot of risk on my team which is heavily dependent on pitching to survive. Unsure what to do
You have arguably the two best pitchers in baseball in Halladay and Verlander. Lester, Buchholz and Madson are going to be back soon, and definitely before your playoffs. (i find it kinda jokes how we have the same core pitching rotation---Lester+Halladay+Verlander) I'd try to trade away Cain for a slightly underrated power OF like Stanton. Maybe try for Heyward as well. players of that nature---guys with power that for one reason or another (who watches the Marlins? and injury) have reduced prices on them. Or if you really want to go balls out, trade Verlander for a top gun---Braun, Kemp etc.
Just traded Alex Gordon, Roy Halladay, and Bobby Abreu for Prince Fielder, Shane Victorino, and Zack Greinke. I would suggest you to do a similar trade if you can if you need offense!
Sorry, guess I forgot about this thread, I have a 10 team and 12 team going. My power numbers are ridiculously bad so I've been making some trades. C Martinez 1B Morse 2B Cano 3B Sandoval SS Drew (out for season due to that shattered foot) 2B/SS Walker 1B/3B Youkilis OF Bourne OF Crawford OF Cuddyer OF Luddwick OF Ellsbury Util Boesch P Weaver P Beckett P Vogelsong P Latos P Wandy P Putz P League P Soria P Venters This one is a roto, I'm in 3rd right now, 3.5pts from 2nd and 5pts from 1st. Pitching is by far I think the best in the league, 2nd in era and whip, tied for 2nd in wins, 4th in saves (helps that Putz will finally make his was back after 4 weeks on the DL), 6th in strikeouts (we're given a max 200 pitching starts, all except for one team has 15+ more starts than I do, by the end of the season it will all even out and I should be no worse than 2nd in strikeouts) Second in batting average, 3rd in the steals (only 2 away from being 2nd, and just traded for Ellsbury last week, and Crawford finally came back this week) 4th in rbis (only 5 away from 3rd) 5th in runs and dead last in homers.
Updated roster after trade deadline: C: Martinez 1b: Morse 2b: Cano 3b: Sandoval SS: Hardy 2b/SS: Walker 1b/3b: Youkilis of: Bourn of: Crawford of: Pence of: Ellsbury of: Kubel util: Butler P: Weaver P: Beckett P: Vogelsong P: Latos P: Wandy P: Burnett P: Putz P: League P: Soria If you know how Roto works (1-10 point scale) My team is doing real well (in 1st as of today) Hr: 1 Runs: 5 RBI: 5 SB: 9 Avg: 9 K: 4 Wins: 9 Saves: 7.5 Era: 9 Whip: 10 My pitching has been pretty dominate. 5 teams have 9+ more pitching starts than I do, a couple of them have 20+ more, and still second in wins. With the 200 start max we have, some will hit that before August is up, leaving me all of September to catch up in k's. Era is a solid 3.122, guy right behind me is a 3.297, so I think I'm firmly in the 1st or 2nd spot by end of season. Whip is a 1.158 with the guy right on my ass in 2nd at 1.160, other than us two, no one is under 1.2, so that's a solid 1st or 2nd there as well. I can't catch the guy infront of my average, he holds over a .01 over me, I could slip to 3rd, but the difference between my average and 4th is .004, so at worse I'm at an 8 in average. Runs I could gain one spot or lose one spot, nothing more than that, RBI's I can't lose a spot (hold a 32 advantage on the guy) but only 5 behind the guy right infront of me, and 15 away from 2 spots above him. With the trades I made, I bolstered RBI's and runs, which bode well for me gaining a few spots on top of the automatic 3-4 I'll gain in strikeouts. So barring some big injuries, I should take this league down and make a few bucks. Robbie, hows your team looking?
