I was fairly optimistic about my team in the "Blog Battle 2007" this year, as posted here. Yet, I'm off to a very slow start, with few reasons to expect that I'll be able to catch the mastermind who picked A-Rod and Rollins as his first two picks, and got Magglio Ordonez in the 7th, and Rich Hill in the 10th round. I gotta tip my cap to a guy who drafts B.J. Ryan and still dominates a league of experts.
I am a bit surprised at how few moves most of the other owners are making. I was expecting a much more active league, with the criteria for entry being at least frequent blog writing, with many of the managers owning their own blogs. At least only two DL'd players have been left on "active" rosters recently... Garret Anderson and Iwamura. And most of the players who seem likely to get saves get gobbled up quickly, which shows that at least some of the managers are paying attention. I'm surely going to be embarrassed if I finish behind a ghost team, let me tell you! :>
So, what's happened to leave the "Digested Daily" team in 10th place among the 16 teams after about a month?
1. Mark Teixeira - Um, this isn't looking like such a hot #1 pick any more. His career pace for 29 games is .280-6-21, with 18 runs scored. He's nowhere near those numbers so far, and it's hurting me. I'm dead last in RBI. I'd have about 6 more points (mostly in RBI) if Teixeira had matched his career pace so far. Sadly, that would still leave me in 10th place.
2. Catchers - I cannot seem to get these right. I knew that Montero was very high risk, and that it would be very likely I'd end up cutting him. But I figured with Laird, I'd have the position covered until I figured out what Arizona was going to do with Montero. Laird was awful, and I ended up cutting him, too, when someone else cut Pierzynski, who I had rated higher pre-season anyway. Both were anemic at the plate, so I figured I'd go with the pre-season favorite. He's hit .235-5-2-2 for me, so I am guardedly optimistic here. I even picked up Brad Ausmus for a game last week, being a firm believer in the power of Eric Milton to make a hitter look good.
3. Mets starters vs Philly - Maine was my first pickup, back on March 14. I started him in his 2nd start of the year, against Philly. And then I dropped him after he got hammered. Of course, he's been great since then, and I'm really kicking myself, since I knew he'd be a valuable pitcher. I picked Oliver Perez up off waivers after he seemed to have things together. I figured that the Phillies best hitters are both lefties, and so I felt confident starting him against them. It doesn't matter much which side the guys hit from when OP walks 7 hitters, and I gave up on him (these shallow leagues don't allow much patience - there are always other quality players out there). Suffice it to say that I'm going to be hesitant to start a Met against the Phillies again anytime soon!
4. Shortstops and Third-basemen - Whew! I thought these would be two of the strongest positions on my team. Billy Hall, Edwin Encarnacion, and Jhonny Peralta. I ended up cutting both EE and Peralta. I was able to get Peralta back after he heated up again. I still have Freel, who can play 3b, and I picked up Kelly Johnson to play second if he does.
5. Chris Young - I really needed to draft another solid OF until Young got himself established. I expected a slow start, but this has been crazy bad. I'm stubborn, so he's still on the roster, but I haven't given him many AB.
6. Chad Cordero - I am very surprised at how poorly he's pitched. I didn't expect 40 saves, but he should have 2 more, and be on a pace for 30.
7. Other waiver wire mistakes - I managed to get Chad Gaudin's worst start on my roster. Ditto David Wells. I got an 0-for-4 from Aurilia, and 1-for-6 from Gregg Zaun. Matt Lindstrom had a 9.00 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP in 2 innings for me. Mike Cameron was cut, and I jumped all over him... only to get a .190 average and little else from him in 42 AB.
8. David Bush - I had such high hopes for this guy. I thought getting him in round 12 was a steal. So far, all that's been stolen are my standing points in ERA.
What's gone right? Well, Matt Holliday in the 2nd is looking strong. Lofton's BA isn't that good, but 11 SB is still great for a guy I got in the next-to-last round of the draft. Jose Valverde fell to me in round 11, and assuming he can keep his job (1.85 WHIP?!), he's racking up the saves and K's. I was hoping for 2 of 3 of Harden, Chris Young, and Frank Thomas to do well. If Harden comes back, I will have that, and - as noted - I still haven't given up on Young. Thomas hasn't been special, but he's been stable. I was able to get Kelly Johnson and Jason Frasor on the waiver wire.
How could the season turn around? Well, here's my current "depth chart", keeping in mind that only 9 hitters and 7 pitchers can be active:
C: Pierzynski
1b: Teixeira
2b: K.Johnson
3b: B.Hall
ss: Peralta
of: Holliday
of: Lofton (C.Young)
of: Freel (Victorino)
ut: Thomas
sp: Sheets, (Harden-DL), Bush, Escobar, (Hughes-DL), (Maddux)
rp: C.Cordero, Putz, Valverde, Frasor, (F.Cabrera)
Even though Runs and SB are the only offensive categories I'm doing well in, I'm glad to have extra speed guys for now. It's usually very tough to add steals. I'm going to need to figure out how to translate one of the three (Lofton, Freel, Victorino) into a power bat. Billy Butler is now available, and I'll be putting in a claim for him, although I dropped to the bottom of the waiver queue by picking up Hughes. Honestly, I think I could pull into contention (although I am not sure that Team A-Rod has anything to worry about for the #1 spot) if I can get 1 more power bat, and if Harden comes back and pitches strongly. I expect Hall and Thomas to pick up their power production a bit, and Teixeira will hit unless he's seriously injured and hiding it. Any suggestions?
