Any hints for this team?

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

I have drafted a new team which starts on Monday. My division has a Shea, a Fenway and a BOB. I am in Yankee. My league has 3 more Sheas, another BOB, Ameriquest, Camden Yards, another Fenway and a Turner. Any general hints anone can give me. It is pre Waivers at the moment so not much point in putting my team on a link yet but I presently have 5 LH hitters, Alou, Casey, Blalock and Wilkerson and Kennedy in my team. I am thinking of dropping Alou (Thome?) and Blalock, (Castilla?) in waivers. Rest of league presently has 22RHP and 19LHP. My league has 12-3 in favour of RHP.

Any general directions anyone can give me?

[JOELKING]

A link would be nice. :)

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=34623

I said Alou was a LH hitter. Obviously he is not. Could go for Ortiz instead of Alou but I don't want too many LHB, but not too few either.

[JOELKING]

I like your fab three, weaver is good enuff, the pen is decent, maybe another stud in the pen to help Rivera, would be nice.

now your hitting,

1b) casey
2B Kennedy? ( maybe consider an upgrade there, but he due if you cant find anyone else)
SS) Clayton, is solid dont change him at all.
3B) Blalock, H. ( not crazy about him, however some ppl had good luck with him. look for lowell, or mora
LF ) wilkerson, solid, not much of BA, but will hit a ton of dingers for you.
CF) I am assuming your going to used Freel here? its not bad choice, but look for someone with better range, and arm. dont trade or release him. could still lead off vs righthand pitchers.)
RF)Mohr, I dont recommend, unless your playing in coors, to many bad results i heard from others with him.
Alou I would dump, look for munson, eric young, Valent. munson, you dont need platoom, but the others Eric young, and valent, nice combation. as DH,

hope this helps, batting orders, you need to figure that, i have enuff of my own problems with that. :)

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

I was going to play Wilkerson at CF and Freel at RF. Mohr was gained during the draft. I went after Drew but did not get him. I want Ortiz to replace Alou and would like to get spmeone to replace Blalock. Mohr can hit #2 vs Rhp I guess.

[JdEarly]

In your division and your park in particular, Dustan Mohr should be a solid leftfielder (he's a 2 out there), and as long as you don't expect a huge homerun total from him, I think he will be just fine. Good defense, good OBP, and plenty of doubles. Putting him with Moises Alou and Vinny Castilla gives you three dangerous right handed batters in a division where they should be allowed to do well.

Sean Casey, Brad Wilkeron, and Jason Varitek should also do well, as all three are high OBP bats that should do well with neutral and lefty favoring parks, and hold their own in the parks in our league that favor righties.

Freel will get on base plenty and steal you a ton of bases, I think he'll score a lot of runs with those six guys hitting behind him. Your DP combo doesn't jump off the paper as an offensive threat, but Clayton is deceptive. I've had him produce solid numbers for me the couple of times that I used him. Adam Kennedy dissappointed me the one time that I used him, but his defense is more than adequate. Your lineup will be fine, if not better than that.

I like your four starters, and the top three in your pen should put up some decent numbers, but I think with all of the Shea's in our league, you're gonna want a couple more lefties in the bullpen. We've got guys like Steve Kline, J.C. Romero, and Horacio Ramirez available at the high end of your price range... unfortunately, the solid lefties that don't cost too much are pretty well picked over - what would you expect with so many Shea's in the league?

Good luck, and I will keep an eye on you. Feel free to ask me for help throughout the season.

-James

[elpasopesos]

to me the problem is your pitching... why would you ever want Mike De Jean to touch the ball get rid of Juan Cruz and replace with a cheaper guy say Kevin Gregg if available and I have had great success with Chris Hammond if he is available replace the 5th starter with a 5th starter who can also chew up blow out innings like John Halama

[The Turtle]

seems to me you only need one, they are about the same really, so I might keep Freel, but some people have had him hit for a low avg, you can keep either you feel more comfortable with but I would use the extra cash to upgrade your bullpen , for instance get a lefty set up man and change out DeJean for a one-sided guy like Leicester or 9L .... you should have plenty of cash to do that..and Alou might be switcehd out as well as you could use some more protection vs lefties...

your lineups should be

Freel
Mohr
Casey
Alou
Castilla
Wilkerson
Varitek
Clayton
Kennedy


LHP

Freel
Varitek
Wilkerson
Casey
Alou
Castilla
Clayton
Mohr
Kennedy

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

Thanks for the advice and opinions guys. I have both Freel and Clark as an insurance. I will get rid of one before the season starts. I think I will go for freel as he has a bit more speed. My line ups are similar to those proposed but any advice is always welcome.