O.k. guys I took your advice and here is what I came up with

[kingsx2003]

If you remember I drafted my first team last week and the general consensus was that I spent way too much money on pitching. I just drafted a new team and kept that in mind this time. What do you guys think of this team? Is it an improvement at least? Do I have enough pitching? Thanks for the help.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=3619

[SCOTTBROWN]

love mulder, love him!! not sold at all on colon or buehrle. not enuff in the pen.....is this prewaivers? doesnt look like it.. in your div you could save some $$ on pitching, get some guys w/ some bp#s, you should be ok.

to me, some of your hitters, ie konerko/wright are too ballpark #s dependant for your park and your div......

[Coffeeholic]

Pretty nice effort for just your 2nd team kingsx! 8)

A couple of points though:

1) You've got 4 SP*'s with endurances of 7. I didn't look over your league or divisional opponents, but $2.79 mil on Escobar seems extravagant. If you need a hard RHP for certain matchups, look for a cheaper option. Whatever you can save on this 5th SP should be put into upgrading your closer (Hermanson) and your second relief choice (Timlin). You've got the right idea with the 4 cheap match up RP's though. Your 4 SP* "7's" really allow you to go with a short pen, but that C1/6 needs to be a good one to get you through the 8th and 9th innings!

2) Another money saver would be to downgrade your back-up catcher. VMart is a 600+ PA guy, so can only go down for a max of 3 games. A 50 cent back-up should be adequate. Put this money saved into upgrading those 2 relievers.

3) Konerko looks like a dud this year. Maybe you could snake a trade for Berkman, 'cuz you could sure use that type of OBP in front of Ortiz!

4) Have'nt used Green yet, but he seems to beg for a platoon mate. I'd look for a guy who can go both ways... maybe Guiel?

[NFLed1]

This team looks darn good to me as is. Escobar is probably a luxury which won't help you much unless -- and this is a huge unless -- your division has 2 or more teams which would start 6 righty hitters against righty pitchers in which case you can spot Escobar in the many series you will play against those teams if you adjust your rotation carefully.

Konerko is fine for his value in my view. You can probably drop the backup C for a .50 but that's not a lot of savings there in any case and the -1 arm for your backup may come in handy as a defensive replacement against some teams. Green is fine with his 4R because most of the rest of the starting lineup on your team is better against lefties so you can move Green down against lefties and not be hurt too much.

What I like about the team is that other than Escobar there doesn't seem to be much money wasted at all.

[worrierking]

Definitely get rid of Escobar for someone cheap and use the money on a better set-up guy. Hermanson will be adequate as a closer, but you need an R2 guy to eat innings. I don't care how many 7 inning starters you have, HAL will yank them early frequently. Get a Linebrink-type innings hoss to replace Timlin.

[paul.czarnecki]

Don't understand the enthusiasm for Mulder. In my 4 2006 leagues, I've yet to see him post an ERA under 5.00.

[kingsx2003]

O.k. tinkered with it a bit. Here's what I came up with. Thanks for the input and feel free to let me know what you think of these moves.

Dropped Added
Carlos Beltran Jeremy Reed
Henry Blanco Raul Chavez
Kelvim Escobar Steve Trachsel
Mike Timlin Scot Shields
Dustin Hermanson B.J. Ryan

Only starting hitter I had to drop was Beltran who I wasn't expecting any offense from anyhow. Reed might be a bit worse offensively but has the same exact defense so I'm not losing anything defensively at least. Upgraded Hermanson/Timlin to Ryan/Shields. What do you guys think?

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=3619