Thursday, April 28, 2011
Roster Doctor counsels relief
Posted by Jonathan Halket at 5:08am“When I was drafting I decided to take some risks at closer to secure my starting pitching and position players elsewhere. This strategy has come to haunt me as the guys I settled on, Joe Nathan and John Axford, have both sucked. Would trading a SP for a closer be the right move or would waiting for an unowned RP to get a closer job be the better option?
"As I've made inquiries to other owners the only SP which I could trade to realistically get something of value back is David Price. Is losing the innings that David Price would give you in a league with an innings limit be worth getting the saves? In past years I never would've considered the option but I'm pretty desperate in the saves category. Injuries, along with my closer problems, have caused me to drop to ninth in the standings. Since there are only two DL spots I am forced to have players on my roster who aren't contributing. Thankfully all of them seem like they should be coming back within the next several weeks.
"My biggest flaw in my hitting seems to be CI but there aren't many good options on the FA market. Best FA options are: Matt Laporta, Brett Wallace, Tyler Greene, Chris Johnson and Ty Wiggington. Looking at my roster are there any other changes I should make? Thanks."
Yahoo! league
Player Pool: Mixed
No. of Teams: 12
Categories: 5x5 (R,HR, RBI,BA, Steals x W, SV, SO, ERA, WHIP), daily, Public, Keeper
Scoring: Roto
C: Geovany Soto
C: J.P. Arencibia
1B: Joey Votto K
2B: Gordon Beckham
3B: Wilson Betemit
SS: Troy Tulowitzki K
CI: Todd Helton
MI: Danny Espinosa
OF: Jay Bruce
OF: Jose Tabata
OF: Logan Morrison
OF: Travis Snider
OF: Chris Coghlan
UT: Matt Joyce
BN: Freddy Sanchez
BN: Mark Trumbo
BN: Andres Torres
BN: Ryan Zimmerman K
SP: Roy Halladay K
SP: Felix Hernandez K
SP: David Price
SP: Brett Anderson
RP: John Axford
RP: Joe Nathan
RP: Koji Uehara
P: Edinson Volquez
P: Jordan Zimmerman
BN: Kyle Drabek
BN: Matt Harrison
DL: Zack Greinke
DL: Brian Matusz
—Izzy -
I would substitute Wallace for Trumbo. With Trumbo struggling, he’s no guarantee to keep his job or even stay in the majors once Kendrys Morales returns. Wallace’s average is a bit of a mirage as it is supported by an almost .400 BABIP. But the improvement in his batting eye seems for real.
As for your deeper problem with closers, there are two possible solutions.
The first solution is the more obvious one. You have a few front line starters and Greinke coming back from injury. You can trade one of them for a closer, but to get equal value for any of your top starters, you’d need to put together a package deal where you’d be giving up the best part. That’s not usually a good strategy. Maybe an owner will panic with Mariano Rivera or Brian Wilson and you can trade Volquez or Harrison for him (though I doubt it).
If you traded Price or Anderson for one of Rivera or Wilson, that’d be fine, though. You’re in a daily league which means you should be able to find, from time to time, good match-ups to stream; e.g., anyone pitching against Seattle or San Diego.
The second strategy is to stick with your solid starting staff, at least for a while, build up a solid lead in strikeouts and wins and a good buffer in ERA and WHIP, and wait for an owner who gets desperate. Injuries are not a rarity on pitching staffs.
In the meantime, dump any extraneous starter—preferably in a trade as they still have some value. I’m not huge fan of Zimmermann; his groundball rate is too low given his low strikeout rate. But he’s the brand of pitcher that some owners will bite on.
With the extra roster spot, feel free to stream relievers. Pick up a set-up man for a team whose closer has pitched the last two nights. You won’t get much here but you may vulture a few wins and saves. In the meantime, you may get lucky landing the next closer too. The closer crown is not being worn lightly this season and there are probably several more changes to come.
If you have a question for the Roster Doctor email here. Emails in simple text with players' full names properly spelled are much more likely to get responses. Also be sure to include your league's player pool (mixed, AL-only, NL-only), number of teams, scoring format (roto, head-to-head, points, etc.), categories, whether or not it's a keeper league, and any other pertinent information.
I see LaPorta as rosterable in this kind of league. I would prefer him to Trumbo or Wallace.
Todays Nl Waiver Wire column has four relievers for you to look at. Madson, Bastardo, Kuo, and Padilla. All should get some number of save ops.