What should be done with this team?

[MICHAELSCIANATICO]

I thought I drafted a pretty excellent team here, well
balanced.
Thus far, my pitching has been suffering terribly.
Here is a link, any suggestions on what I should do?
http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=17553

Here is my lineup to, any tweaking I should do, let me know:
Lineup vs. RHP
1. Loretta, Mark (R) 2B
2. Freel, Ryan (R) DH
3. Walker, Larry (L) RF
4. Rowand, Aaron (R) CF
5. Blalock, Hank (L) 3B
6. Rodriguez, Alex (R) SS
7. Matsui, Hideki (L) LF
8. Lee, Derrek (R) 1B
9. Estrada, Johnny (S) C

Lineup vs. LHP
1. Loretta, Mark (R) 2B
2. Walker, Larry (L) RF
3. Rodriguez, Alex (R) SS
4. Rowand, Aaron (R) CF
5. Matsui, Hideki (L) LF
6. Lee, Derrek (R) 1B
7. Blalock, Hank (L) 3B
8. Estrada, Johnny (S) C
9. Furcal, Rafael (S) DH

Thanks for any input

[CHARLESBELL]

vrabek, this looks like a pretty good team to me. On the pitching side my only comment would be that I have had terrible luck with madritsch. I can't get any wins out of him. So that 3-7 record may be what you are going to get the rest of the season from him.

I've also had trouble in moderately neutral parks. Haven't played Bank One but balanced parks and balanced teams just don't seem to do well for me.

Lineup wise rowand in the #4 hole worries me. I know he has the TB and is a bad clutch for 5th, but he doesn't have much HR power for #4 (he's only got 13 RBIs vs RHP!). The problem is that all your other HR hitters are otherwise light in TBs vs RHP. I don't see a really good #4 hitter vs RHP on your team. I'd try a-rod in that spot, but he's not really ideal either.

[Coffeeholic]

Ouch! Mahay and Shields are usually money in the bank... they should get better!

My thinking is that you're wasting Freel by platooning him and that he should lead off both ways, followed by Loretta. Freel has 45.6 Ob chances vs LHP and 47.7 vs RHP and that almighty *, which will boost Loretta's production behind him.

The production you're getting from Walker, IMO, won't last, and he's definetly not the banger you want in the #3 hole. It's a $100 mil league, so I'm sure the FA pool is pretty picked over, but perhaps you could persue trade options. You would have Walker, Furcal, and even perhaps one of those excellent RP's (You have 5 after all) to offer for a DH option to use in the #3 hole (Freel can play RF). Matsui's production to this point is dis-appointing, but it should improve, and he would be my choice for #3 vs RHP barring any roster moves.

[tersignf]

I'd also think you want Estrada 6th...will hit plenty of singles** and doubles with good clutch. Matsui definitely higher in the order. Your lefties have unuasually bad splits vs righties for their cards, maybe you have a couple teams with RH lefty killers like Lowell? Madritsch has faced almost 75% righties. For those matchups, you want pettite, alvarez, etc.

[cummings2]

Personally I think your offense is doing great, I just glanced through AVGs, OBPs and SLGs and I don't think the area to fix is in your offense.

I think that maybe one of the problems is that the pitchers that are underperfoming for you have a higher chance of challenging your second baseman's defense rating (2B(x) on 7). Shields, Mahay, Westbrook, Harden, Burnett, Weaver ...(Moreno and Cormier too but they're holding their own just fine)

Now, If you feel like your offense can take the loss of Loretta then I'd suggest replacing him...If you can go all the way up to a 2B 1 do it. WIth the BOB on my side I'd even take a swing at Boone. One of my staples is Pokey Reese, love the glove...can do without the INJ and a better Bat would help but he's still a good pick for me.

It is also true that the BOB will have that kind of effect on pitchers' stats but...overall I think you have an exellent team you'll be fine.

[tersignf]

Well the offense better be good with over $60M in salary on it!
Obviously with Matsui hitting 220 against RHPs, there's an issue at least in terms of underperformance. The offense is much better against lefties, yet he's only seen LHPs less than 30% of the time--so the offense is not a valued correctly right now (or not performing as expected).

Gotta look at the matchups you're getting and gear your offense to hit righties better from both sides of the plate.

As for the defensive chances, that's standard...i.e., 7 fielding checks at SS, 6 at 2B, etc--not sure what you meant Cummings?

[cummings2]

Just an observation on the actual pitcher's cards.

Most pitchers have a 2b(X) falling on a 7, but some other pitchers have the 2b(X) fall on the 8 and the 2 of the same column. I was just pointing out that some of the pitchers that are underperforming have the 2B(X) falling on the 7 slot and that Loretta's D might be contributing to the "Underperforming" pitchers' stats.

[tersignf]

Got it.
Although falling on a 7 vs on a 2 and an 8 reveal the same statistical chance of occurrence...roll of a 7 occurs 6 times...roll of a 2 has one chance and roll of an 8 occurs 5 times, so still 6 chances.

I wasn't trying to be a smartelic at all, I was just curious since it wouldn't be the first nuance of this online version of the game that I seem to miss on a daily basis!