Roster Doctor: 4/27/09
by Eriq GardnerApril 27, 2009
Welcome to THT Fantasy's Roster Doctor. If you'd like your team to be analyzed by one of our fantasy baseball experts, please send your full roster to this address. 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. If your roster is selected it will be analyzed in a future Roster Doctor column.
Player Pool: Mixed
No. of Teams: 12
Categories: Traditional 5x5
Scoring Type: Head-to-Head
Roster:
C-Dioner Navarro
1B-Carlos Delgado
2B-Chase Utley
SS-Alexei Ramirez
3B-Aramis Ramirez
OF-Hunter Pence
OF-Josh Hamilton
OF-Nelson Cruz
UT-Jacoby Ellsbury
BN-Matt Wieters
BN-Billy Butler
BN-Rickie Weeks
BN-Khalil Greene
BN-Kevin Kouzmanoff
BN-Milton Bradley
BN-Colby Rasmus
BN-Travis Snider
SP-Matt Cain
SP-Aaron Harang
SP-Ubaldo Jimenez
SP-Johnny Cueto
SP-Tommy Hanson
RP-Brad Lidge
RP-Kerry Woods
RP-Carlos Villanueva
DL-Trevor Hoffman
Let's start out with team positives. The outfield on this team is very strong, with a nice balance of power, speed and average. The two aces of the relief staff, Lidge and Wood, are top-tier closers who will provide a little bit of a boost in strikeouts. The team figures to do well in RBIs. Finally, with two of the top prospects in fantasy baseball (Wieters and Hanson) this team will likely get better even if the owner doesn't do much.
How about the negatives? Not withstanding Ellsbury, a shortage of top-of-the-order players who will produce runs. A bunch of players (Delgado, Alexei Ramirez, Pence, Cruz) who figure to be a bit streaky and may sink batting average in many scoring periods. Some decent National League starters, but a fickle starting pitching staff who may struggle with consistency and wins.
I like Rickie Weeks in a H2H format like this. Unfortunately, he's a bit injury prone and blocked from much playing time with Chase Utley in front of him and Ellsbury at utility. Other teams in the league probably need a second baseman, and Weeks is off to a hot start, so it may worth putting trade feelers about him.
Same goes for Hoffman. Having three closers in a H2H league is a real luxury, as in most scoring periods, it probably won't be necessary. Package one to any team short a reliever.
The other trade chips are all the hyped rookies like Rasmus, Snider, and Hanson, whose press may overshadow true value.
A good target for this team might be Jimmy Rollins, off to a slow start, and a candidate to buy low. On the pitching side, try John Lackey, a solid, consistent pitcher on a strong team, whose value may be low because he's coming off of injury. But in a H2H league, who cares what a player did last scoring period, right?
Eriq Gardner is a New York-based writer and founder of Fantasy Ball Junkie, a website for advanced fantasy baseball enthusiasts.
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