Help me play spoiler (1 Viewer)

[corpcow]

My dad has been running a fantasy baseball league since 1980 or something, with a bunch of his friends. I was in the league for a few years in my early teens, but I don't follow baseball much anymore.

The league itself is an auction league, with keepers being kept for $4 more than the previous year. It's also a total points league instead of head-to-head. The way the FA stuff works, you can't make any moves (even with injuries) if you run out of money.

My dad is running an experiment this year, trying to bring these guys to use an online league, switch to H2H format, and to be a little more liberal with the moves. So, he took the same teams that were drafted and put them online... and since there are only 9 teams in the league, he asked me if I wanted to pick up the final team.

The challenge, of course, is that I'm basically picking up from the leftovers - all of these teams already have a full roster, including backups. In theory, I should lose every single game... but by playing the wire I think I can compete. It's a big matter of pride, having known all of these guys for most of my life.

If this was football, I wold be confident I could put together a competitive team, but no way can I do this with baseball. So, help me... are there other sites like FBG quality out there for baseball? Who are the deep sleepers who aren't on rosters now but could be forces down the road? What general strategy should I employ to try to beat some of these guys?

My team, below, is the best I could scrape together from whoever is left. Can you guys rate my players? Who should never leave my lineup, if anyone? Who shouldn't I drop and who is expendable for chasing hot players, etc?

C: Inge (DET C/3B), Laird (DET), Saltalamacchia (Tex)

1B: LaRoche (Pit), Cantu (Fla 1b/3b), Carlos Guillen (Tex 1b/3b)

2B: Bonifacio (Fla), Freddy Sanchez (Pit)

SS: Guzman (Was), Renteria (SF)

3B: Guillen, Cantu, Inge

OF: Spiborghs, Delmon Young, Xavier Nady, Mike Cameron, Michael Cuddyer, Hideki Matsui, Carlos Gomez, Eric Byrnes

SP: Buehrle, Maine, Saunders, Galaragga, Penny, Blanton, Jurrjens, Millwood, Duchscherer (SP/RP DL)

RP: Kuo, Wuertz, and I need one

HELP!

 

[Scotch Rocks]

Spilborghs and Saltalamacchia are legitimate prospects, whose hot starts may mean something. Hold onto them.

Bonifacio and Inge suck, and they are mirages. If you can, parlay them into something while you can.

Do you have a minimum innings requirement? If not, you might consider parlaying a few of your hot starters into low-budget closers with decent era/whip potential (Qualls, Gonzalez), then load up on MR's with a track record of recent success in the era/whip department. This makes you a favorite in 2/5 pitching categories every week, with an outside shot at 3 if you can nab another closer or two through luck or injury.

Hard to make any suggestions offensively without knowing who is available to possibly pick up.

Apart from the above, you need to recognize one thing, and then employ the obvious complementary strategy.

The one thing is this: this team is bad. REAL bad. You know this, and obviously, it's not your fault. So don't be afraid to ditch guys who aren't performing and pick up the hot hand. Pick up EVERY hot hand you can find, and hope he continues it for a while. That's the only way to parlay a crap starting team into something that has a prayer of winning every now and again.

If you can fudge your way to a 3/5 in pitching, and maybe ride a few hot bats to a week of 2/5 or 3/5 in hitting every now and again...well, you'll still suck, and you'll still miss the playoffs, but you'll be maximizing your team's chances for annoyance. And frankly, a well played spoiler can be almost as much fun if you view it right. Little is more satisfying than going against the team who spent a fortune on Santana, Lincecum, and Sabbathia, and scorching him in pitching with your army of also-rans.

GL

 

[corpcow]

Thanks... I managed to assemble what looks to be decent depth in pitching, but I don't even have 3 RPs or any closer.

Any suggestions on the kinds of guys who are aybe having a slot start that I should trade Inge and Bonaficio for? I really don't know ANYTHING anymore about baseball, just trying to learn the value of guys but it's hard without something like the FBG rankings to just get a *general* sense of value, who is young and a good sleeper vs. who is a mirage, etc. I'm confident that I will know much of this by the end of the year, but right now I'm struggling to learn everything, and I have no gauge for player value. (Unlike football, where I can probably tell you half of the offensive lineme on most teams without looking hehe

Here are the best guys available based on % owned and ESPN's Player Rating.

Batters: Randy Winn, Iwamura, Endy Chavez, ####udome, Denard Span, Nick Swisher, Rowand, Marco Scutaro, Jason Varitek, Polanco, Bartlett, Francoeur, Giambi, Lowell, Kotchman, Troy Glaus (DL)

SP: Scott Baker DL15, Carmona, Sonnanstine, Volstad, Guthrie, Pettitte, Arroyo, Franklin Morales, Washburn

RP: Manny Corpas, Arrendondo, Wheeler, Parra, Villanueva, Balfour, Dotel, Miner, Condrrey, Tony Pena, Dennys Reyes, Scott Shields, Aardsma, Dan Wheeler

And yes, I know this team is bad, and my only goal is, as you said, to beat some people who I should beat and be as annoying as hell

 

[corpcow]

Right now, I'm losing 2-5-3... I have a 10 run lead, tied on homers at 7, slight lead on RBI 33-30, 1 behind on SB, and batting .261 vs. .266.

On the pitching side, I have 0 saves to his 5, a slightly higher ERA (3.45 vs. 3.32) and I'm down 9 Ks (27 to 36). Tied on wins at 2 and CG at 0. That said, I didn't have a lot of guys pitching early and I've only got 31.1 IP to his 40.2. (Well, and I'm down that one RP).

 

[Scotch Rocks]

Villanueva is closing while Hoffman is out (for a while, at least), and I think has a decent shot at closing the majority of the season once fly-ball hoffman becomes a danger in Milwaukee's band box.

Wheeler will probably get first shot in TB once Percy implodes. Scott Downs looks like the likely beneficiary in TOR if Ryan can't get his velocity back and continues to struggle.

Probable low era guys to target might include Balfour, Juan Cruz, Ryan Madson, Matt Thornton...if I think of others, I'll let you know.

If it's an ESPN league, there is definitely no IP minimum, and you could implement a MR strategy with zero effort.

Among the OF's out there, Randy Winn will certainly have value all year. Not a ton of it, but he produces. Francoeur is worth nabbing in case he starts playing well. He's one of those guys people will salivate over IF he gets hot, so to me, he has more upside in trade value than, say, Hideki Matsui.

All in all, I don't think you've assembled too bad a team based on what you could nab. And if you screw with it too much, you risk ridicule and collapse. But that wouldn't deter me. There is none so free as he who has nothing to lose.

At the very least, nab Villanueva.