by qksilver69 » Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:18 pm
Agree with most of the above. I think your SPs are good to go if you add a good Shea reverse RH SP like Eaton or Benoit. I would do as follows, in order of priority:
1) Get a 2-range SS. Anyone - Renteria, Clayton, Rollins, whoever. Failing that, if Carlos Guillen is available, get him. If you cannot get a 2-range SS, upgrade over Jimenez at 2B to a 2-range guy. If you get a 2-range SS, I like Jimenez a lot as a leadoff guy. 2-range important at 2B but not critical like at SS.
2) Get a 2-range CF like those mentioned above. You need decent offense from CF on this squad.
3) Revamp the bullpen except for Rivera. Target guys like Erasmo Ramirez, Duchscherer, Linebrink, Billy Wagner (if u want to swap out Rivera). Make sure that you have 3-4 guys with an R2 rating plus a few R1 specialists. Right now you have mostly R1s, and your div is very much a hitter div, so you need arms that won't get tired easily. You have 7.2M in guys besides Rivera, and I think you should spend the same amount (around 10-11M total) but distribute it differently.
4) I assume this is a DH league. I would play Morneau at 1B or DH & get another stud hitter as well. Consolidate your cheap OFs (Nady, McCracken & Mondesi can all go) & pick up Daryl Ward if possible as a backup guy for Morneau. In that div he should hit well. Eric Valent also good choice. If there are a lot of LH SPs on the other rosters, invest in a good DH vs LHP. I like Swisher as a leadoff/OBP guy vs LHP.
5) Get the LH hitting C to complement Molina. Mauer is best, then Varitek, V. Martinez, then down the line from there. Melhuse also an option in that div. Also, though I love Molina, his power is W, and in your div, any W power guys are going to be drawbacks.
6) Get the reasonably-priced reverse RH SP.
Lineup vs RH:
Jimenez
Ichiro
Matsui
(DH)
Morneau
Blalock
C/CF
CF/C
SS
Lineup vs LH:
DH/1B platoon
Ichiro
Molina
1B/DH platoon
SS/CF
CF/SS
Blalock
Jimenez
As you can see, your lineup vs LHP has some serious holes in it, so I would get a CF who hits LHP a little better ala Kotsay. You desparately need an OBP type in front of Ichiro, who is perfect #2 hitter vs LHP - would never hit him #1 as you lose impact of hits, so Swisher per above may be the right call. You also need a cleanup hitter, which can be Renteria if available.
That's all I got for now - good luck!
Qk