What Should I fix?

[CHARLESBELL]

The horde has made progress, going from 16 games under .500 to just 6. Now at 42-48. I'm now wondering if I can do more. cjones and mueller have not gotten any better, both hitting under .200 in their platoon roles. Madman has shown fits of decent pitching, but has stll been awful more often than not.

I am considering releasing Madman and letting Dennys Reyes take the rest of his starts. Stats wise Reyes can't touch madman but it's hard to see how he'll pitch any worse. I could use some of that money to add rp carrera to the pen, which would be one more good arm, reducing dejean's time on the mound as well.

A second step would then be to release the abysmal jones/mueller platoon and get either bellhorn or glaus to take over 3b. Glaus of course is a 5 inj risk - I can back him up with Helms if I want to take that risk. On paper bellhorn does not have the stats that the platoon does, but it just kills me how bad those two are playing.

Thoughts?

[cummings2]

I've been following the progress of the horde, congrats on your 10 game climb.

I think that switching to Glaus certainly gives you the pure homeruns that won't be affected by PNC, his INJ would be a concern especially since you also have Mauer and you could loose two big bats at the same time for several series...but that's the fun of gambling. I am playing Glaus currently in a Safeco team, very early on in the season to make something out of these #s but just for reference: he's batting very low avg (.188) low OBP (.283) good SLG (.475) 6 HR in 80 Abs. He's already been injured twice or three times. Safeco and PNC both have a 7 for RHB BPHR rating. I like his card a lot actually for my all or nothing #5,6 or 7 in the linueup.

Is Burroughs available? could you make another platoon like Burroughs/Alfonso? Some 3b that can use the singles in your park to set up table for your big bats?

As I said the my previous post it's quite interesting when you take clutch and BP hits away from Mueller and Chipper's card you end up with a ridiculously low # of pure hits. I think on the good side chipper will get on base a bit and Mueller should be O.K. in the right spot of the order.

I would change that platoon. Without a doubt, not only because of their numbers but because of where you need your 3b to bat in your lineups.

Is menechino taken? Randa? Jolbert Cabrera? Rob Mackowiak, Jose Macias? Both Macias and Mack-o have been good bargains before, and Cabrera has given me a couple of .300+ BA seasons.

As far as Madman...I don't know, I understand your wanting to re-allocate the money...hmmm

I've seen Reyes used quite effectively by people who spot their 3,4,5 starters. If you want the high maintenance and the strategy you can try that, get yor self two or three starters that specialize vs. different lineups and pitch Reyes vs. heavy RH lineups with an xR balance...

The way I see it is a bit differently: Madman has a better chance of having better games than Reyes has AND MAdman's #s are actually improving quite a lot in your team, the only thing is that they have been soooo bad that it's tough to see the improvement:

In my last post Madman had given up 10 HRs in 67 innings, he's given up 1 in 24 innings since, Before RHB were batting almost .380 against him, their AVG is down to .350, the avg has dropped 30 points in 24 innings. I like Carrara but DeJean is holding his own so far...By moving Reyes to the rotation and Bringing Carrara in you essentially move a "DeJean" in your rotation. I wouldn't do it. Is Sabathia available?

Just my two cents.

Congrats on the run and continued good luck to The Horde

[CHARLESBELL]

Several of the 3bs you mentioned are available, including mene, randa, burroughs, and mack-o. I have the SOM ratings disk so I can look at real hits/obp/tb/etc on the cards. The ratings count chances on the card( ie, a rating of 25 would mean 25 chances out of a possible 108 on the card).

If I'm going to make a change I want to add hits if I can, since if I go with OBP no one avilable is better than what I already have. I also looked at earlier comments regarding those 7 LHB in my RHP lineup. Perhaps a RHB would actually help the overall RHP lineup in my case. It boild down to mene and ginter, both RHB. Vs LHP Mene has very slight edge in hits 24.4 to 23.8, opposed to 16.4 hits on chipper's card) with ginter having nearly equal obp and better power than mene. Vs RHP ginter has a slight advantage in hits (20 vs 19.3) with more power and TB but much lower obp than mene (31 to 39.3). I could still acquire burroughs with either of them, although I might be better off pinch hitting him and using him as a defensive replacement. Burroughs has 31.2 hits vs RHP with w power. For comparison, vs RHP mueller has 24.4 hits.

So the question - If I go with say ginter/burroughs, should ginter play full time or platoon?

[cummings2]

Good question...since in your divisional run you'll playing Shea and Turner I'd like to have a lefty that can take advantage of the parks (unfortunately as you pointed out Burroughs is a W and won't fully use the parks given his complete lack of BPHR) then Citizen's and ofcourse PNC are neutral.

I guess that the advantage of ginter is that the brew crew is playing 4 lefties (though are bal xR), Straits is playing 2 LHP in a four man rot. (1 E and 1 5L) and the 100th seems to be spotting his staters, so it's tough to say who you'll face., so Ginter should see a bunch of of Lefties that play right up his alley but in parks that don't favor him when away from home...on the other hand burroughs can't really use the parks because of his W. I am currently playing burroughs in miller park. he's hitting .287 with a .357 OBP but only a .333 SLG vs. RHP. Since your 3b will most likely hit 7th/5th if you just replace Mueller/Jones without altering the rest of the order I'd say that Ginter is probably best to be fulltime with Burroughs as a PH/late inning rep.


Now I am a defense oriented kind of player...so for me it's weird to even suggest this but...would it be easier/cheaper/best suited to just play burke as your everyday 3b and get Jose Molina to platoon with mauer?

I mean it IS putting a 5 on 3B but...

Just a thought.

Anyhoo...about your question...I guess I'd answer it this way: If I had to settle for one I'd probably start Ginter full time but I'd try to see different options before I make the move.

Another option is moving Saenz to 3b vs LHP getting Giambi to Platoon in 1B vs LHP (He'll kill in Turner and Shea), vs RHP you use Burke in 3B and then the only thing you need is a C to platoon with mauer (I'd go with Jose Molina-whom I didn't see in any other team in your league-so I assume he is available-same with Giambi) the cost of these moves is .98 for Giambi and 1.68 for Molina. If you find that the lower cost of this move frees up money you want to use in something else maybe it's something to consider.

I just saw that the horde had a tough series...Madman did good-even though the game was lost-he did good...just trying to see the positive :}

Hope these suggestions help.

All best of luck.

[CHARLESBELL]

Yea, got swept last night but not that worried about it because it was more just bad breaks than bad play. On a bad night for Schmidt in game #1 we still had it won until that 3-run 9th inning comeback. In #2 we almost came back to win it with a 9th inning 3 run rally of our own, and then #3 was against Santana and Madman pitched well. Just an unlucky night.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll probably make some moves today. CJones went down with a 5 game injury and I'm pulling the plug on him.

[cummings2]

What a way of bouncin' from a tough series...way t'go 8)

[CHARLESBELL]

Still hanging in there. Got a great game out of Madristch last night, you were right to tell me to hang on to him. Just wish Schmidt would live up to his price tag now.

Mueller is now down with an injury. Working to replace mueller/jones today. Hopefully before tonight's games.

[CHARLESBELL]

Pulled the plug on mueller and c jones, and also had to release r martinez to make the numbers work. Menechino and burroughs have been added to the team. I think I got it done in time for tonights games. Would have preferred Ginter to Menechino but could not make the numbers work. Let's see how it goes . . .

[1crazycanuk]

Madritsch sucked on my team before...but I do have Burroughs and Alfonzo on my current team and they are doing well.

[CHARLESBELL]

Took two games from my division leader last night. Got some good hitting from both burroughs and menechino. Now at 49-53, 4 games under .500 for the first time I think. 7 GB the div leader, 3 GB (but 5th place) in the wild card. Not looking too far ahead, though, just maintaining steady pressure.