The Hardball Times Fantasy

Roster Doctor

by Paul Singman
May 19, 2010

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.

Elbert's team will be examined today. Let's see if we can help push it into first from second place.

Player Pool: Mixed
No. of Teams: 16
Categories: R, Hits, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP, SLG, // W, QS, Sv, Holds, ERA, WHIP, Ks, K/BB
Scoring: Head-to-Head
Other notes: Team is currently in second
Roster:
image
Nope, I never thought a man named Ubaldo would ever lead my fantasy team either. (Icon/SMI)

C: Matt Wieters
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
2B: Rickie Weeks
3B: Evan Longoria
SS: Marco Scutaro
IF: Kendry Morales
OF: Carlos Lee
OF: Hunter Pence
OF: Aaron Rowand
UT: Adam Kennedy
UT: Scott Hairston
BN: Nate McLouth
DL: Rafael Furcal
DL: Carlos Guillen
DL: Mark Ellis

P: Ubaldo Jimenez
P: Aaron Harang
P: Koji Uehara
SP: Scott Baker
SP: John Danks
SP: Tom Gorzelanny
RP: Leo Nunez
RP: Daniel Bard
BN: Ted Lilly
BN: Scott Kazmir

Starting off with the hitting and more specifically your infield, I love it. Even though this is a mixed league, at 16 teams deep it plays deep and having no holes in your infield is impressive. No need to change anything in there.

Your outfield however, and you pointed this out as well, is the weaker part of your lineup. The pair of Astros you own, Lee and Pence, are off to slow starts but trying to trade them at their low point would not be a smart idea. They have proven themselves quality hitters and should begin to rebound soon enough. Rowand is the one I like the least going forward but as a third outfielder he can suffice.

Hairston is a solid under-the-radar fantasy contributor in both power and steals and I would try to keep him over Kennedy and McLouth when your injured players become healthy. For a boost in steals see if Coco Crisp is available to be picked up, who should begin playing within the next week. Other pickups I would consider are Jonny Gomes, Seth Smith, and Nate Schierholtz if they are available. Overall your hitting is a strong point and if one of your currently DL'd batters plays well, I would try to trade one of your infielders—Morales is a good candidate—for an elite outfielder.

In a head-to-head league sometimes all you need is one star pitcher to carry your team, and obviously you have that in Jiminez. Beneath him I like your depth of Harang, Baker (who have gotten unlucky thus far), Danks,and Gorzelanny. Packaging one of these pitchers with a hitter for a hitting upgrade would be worth trying given your starting pitching depth. Kazmir I feel is cuttable and instead I would add another reliever to help your ratios.

Overall I like your team and it should remain at the top of the standings, good work.

Paul has been managing fantasy baseball teams for many seasons and writing for THT Fantasy over the past three years. He is currently a student at UPenn welcomes readers' thoughts at his email here or in the comments below.


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