by AeroDave10 » Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:36 pm
I completely agree with the last few guys, and I would like to add a few more comments. First off, I've rarely seen Santana have a really great season, so he is definitely a burden. If you have Peavy, who becomes very expensive in a $80M league, having just one other top line starter is tough to bear, let alone 3. It's good to have a decent closer, but realistically, he only comes in when your team is already winning. You have no middle relief, so unless the starters go 7 or 8 innings and hand it off directly to Nathan, you're in trouble. The second big problem is that your "star" hitters are not that great, and nearly all of them are BAL L. You will probably face anywhere from 70-85 percent righties, so Alex Rios, Mark Ellis, Ivan Rodriguez, Ryan Zimmerman, and J.J. Hardy won't contribute nearly as much because they don't hit righties well. Andruw Jones is a great defender, but usually forgets to even bring his bat to the plate.
It's still early in your league, so you need to be active on the FA and trade markets to right the ship. You don't have to have 4 stud pitchers because your home park will take care of some of that. Look for cheap guys with relatively low WHIPs (Dice-K, Maddux, Snell). I don't know what hitters available, but you need better fits for your park and the R/L percentages that you'll actually be facing.