Nervous about Minute Maid team

[MoCrash]

... because it came together too easily. Got almost everyone I wanted in draft and waivers, only made one FA change. League looks good for me: Metrodome, Wrigley and US Cellular in division and only one LH park (Shea) among the rest.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=20021

Give it a look please and tell me what you think.

Projected line-up:

LF Ford
2B Castillo
C Kendall
3B Mora
DH Alou
RF Cabrera
1B Bagwell (RHP), CF Byrnes (LHP)
CF Byrnes (RHP), 1B Bagwell (LHP)
SS Izturis

[MARCPELLETIER]

1- Kendall falls well short from having sufficient power to be third in the line-up. He is weak, and the only multi-base hit chance to score someone from first is at "1-4". That's way too little. He has to be lead-off, or second at most. Mora is an excellent third hitter, plenty of hr, doubles, and single**.

2- I don't suggest that you start the season with Byrnes at cf. Byrnes is optimal at lf, but he goes from lf-2 to cf-3. Cf is a deep position this year, so you shouldn't have a problem to fill this spot. So to make your line-up fully effective, either have him at lf, or cut him and hire another cf. It wouldn't hurt your team anyway to have a third lefty hitter vs rhp. If you keep Byrnes, put him in the heart of the line-up vs lhp. I think he can be a very strong third hitter vs lhp.

3-Same logic with Cabrera. His best defensive rating is at lf, so that's where he has to play. Ford, on the other hand, can play at rf without penalty.

[geekor]

lucky hit on same great points.

Definetly Move Cabrera to LF and either Ford or Byres to RF. You need at least a 2 in CF, 2b, and SS (you have 2 1's, even better). I think Castillo should be 1, Kendall 2 and Mora 3. Even though you are in MM, it is really optimal to still have at least 1 or 2 LH hitters. There are too many cheap 8R RH pitchers that will mow you down otherwise. Someone like Casey would be great.

[Stoney18]

Mo, noticed your manager name for the team is Coot Huddleston. I'm a Huddleston, just wondering if there is any connection.

[MoCrash]

No, I just made up a name.

Thanks for the suggestions. Got Finley for CF instead of Byrnes, will bat him 7th (LHP) or 8th (RHP). May move Ford to 3 hole after Castillo and Kendall, although will look at it some more. Switching Ford to RF wouldn't hurt, although the arm isn't ideal, because of having Finley in CF and Cabrera in LF ... should keep opponents a little honest in their settings.

[LMBombers]

I don't like Finley for Minute Maid. His power is lost there. If you want a LH hitter for CF I would go with one with less power and more OBP like Corey Patterson, Damon, Kotsay or Pierre. You are paying for power from Finley that you are not going to get.

Also how about a platoon at 1B. Is Phelps available? A Phelps/Bagwell platoon would be awesome in Minute Maid IMO.

[Coffeeholic]

Gotta agree w/luckyman, geekor and Bombers!

Finley will probably tank in Wrigley.

You'd think Pavano would be excellent in Minute Maid, but I've had very poor performances from him?

I'd also look for a 1 or 2 more LH OB type hitters.

Also, Sanchez and Johnson are too expensive for your bench.

Mora, Bagwell, Cabrera, Zambrano though, are excellent choices, and Kendall, Alou, Ford seem pretty solid!

As is, I'd go:

VS RHP:
Kendall
Ford
Mora
Cabrera
Alou
Bagwell
Finley
Castillo
Izturis

vs LHP:
Kendall
Castillo
Mora
Cabrera
Alou
Ford
Finley
Bagwell
Izturis

[MoCrash]

Picked up Damon for CF. Plan to bat him ahead of Bagwell in No. 7 hole. Even though he lacks power that against LHP, he may drive in runs or sustain rallies anyway with high BA/OBP.

Am trying to decide on which to keep as fourth starter: Pavano or Silva. If Pavano stinks, then its not worth his price tag. Silva has been effective for me in Minute Maid on another team, but am concerned about how he'll perform on road vs. LH teams. No quality inverted RHP available, or else I might cash in Silva and pick one up as spot starter (long reliever if possible). Want to keep four-man rotation because to ensure Zambrano, Oswalt and Glavine get bulk of starts.

[Coffeeholic]

Nice move to grab Damon! He should do very nicely for you.

Pavano doesn't necessarily stink, I just haven't gotten any decent performances from him. Really, he should be a pretty decent fit in Minute Maid.

Westbrook and Benson are options which have done well for me if you are comitted to a 4 man rotation.

You can go with a 5 man staff however. If your 4th and 5th guys are SP's, they will alternate starts in the #4 spot, and Zambrano, Oswalt and Glavine will still pitch every 4 days.

Sanchez and Johnson are using up valuable salary. Your line-up has no-one who can go down for more than 3 games, and you even have some players who's max injury is "rest of game". By downgrading Sanchez and Johnson to $.50 scrubs, you could free up some salary to grab a decent R2 set-up guy in th $3 mil range?

[MoCrash]

That's good advice on Johnson and Sanchez. The reason I have Sanchez is that he may be valuable if SS or 2B go down so I don't lose much defensively, even if only for 3 games. Johnson I have as a defensive sub, but maybe I can find a nickle guy for that.