Bernie's Bombers (H2H points)
Standings: 1-1, T-2nd in Cheese
Last Matchup: L, 285-310
MVP of the Matchup: Jhoulys Chacin, 9.0 IP, 6H, 2BB, 0ER, 7K, CG, SO, W, 38 pts
Goat of the Matchup: Rain delays. I lost 6 batter-games to rainouts, which may well have been the margin of victory for my opponent since none were made up this week as double-headers. If I had to pick a player, though, it's Tim Hudson (6.0 IP, 7H, 2BB, 5ER, 2K, L, -2 pts).
The Skinny: I lost quite a few points to rain delays, and that put me in a hole I never quite dug out from. I did make a mistake benching Drew for Tejada, but I wanted one more week to ensure Drew would stay healthy. Markakis/Victorino/McCutchen all had down weeks, and benching one of them for Span instead would have helped. Those two moves would have been enough to overcome the rainouts, of which my opponent only had one. Well, hindsight is 20/20 and all that. This week introduced me to a lot of the uncertainty inherent in setting weekly lineups- I also started Edwin Jackson because he was predicted to have two starts, but the ChiSox ended up starting Humber instead of skipping him. Looking at the scoreboard, it looks like 300 points in a week is the gold standard for a better-than-average shot at winning.
Looking Ahead: I've got a bunch of potential 2-start pitchers this week in Tim Hudson, Liriano, Zambrano, and Edwin Jackson. I'm on the fence about Liriano- his start against the Royals was a fluke, since it's hard to give up 5 earned runs in an inning when the ball never gets behind anyone. On the other hand, that defense isn't going to change anytime soon. The O's and the Tribe look like good medicine though, so I'll probably stick with him. The other debate is whether to start Zambrano or slot him into an RP spot- I'm leaning towards the latter until Boston starts winning enough to give Paplebon save opportunities.
There's also a question about what to do with Victor Martinez. He tweaked his groin and already missed a game, but he's mostly a DH so I don't think he'll miss much time for it. I only get 5 games from Cano, but I think I'll still start him. Markakis sits until his bat heats up some; he was drafted because he's a high-average doubles hitter and if he's not doing that he's not getting points. So it looks like a lineup of V-Mart/Butler/Cano/Beltre/Drew/McCutchen/Victorino/Span/Morrison/Roberts, with Weaver/Liriano/T Hudson/Jackson/Chacin/Zambrano/Perez pitching. My opponent this week is my friend Alex, who's having to start Hundley at catcher instead of Mauer. His only two-starter is Kuroda, so I should do OK with this one unless Liriano really gets knocked around and my bats go ice-cold. I picked up Ogando this week, dropping Peavy to clear out the DL for Zimmerman. I don't need him, so I'm debating dropping him for Lowrie in anticipation of increased playing time. The 2B eligibility would make Roberts (or Cano for the right price) moveable, and the SS qualification would allow me to drop Tejada.
Cubbie Blues (5x5 roto)
Standings: 4th place (63.5/100, 9 back)
Weekly Line: 64/261 (.245 BA), 38 R, 9 HR, 27 RBI, 9 SB, 54 IP, 54 H, 21 ER, 21 BB, 47 K, 2W, 7 Sv, 3.50 ERA, 1.39 WHIP
MVP of the Week: Either Jay Bruce (7/20, 6R, 2HR, 3RBI) or Logan Morrison (6/19, 3R, 2HR, 5RBI, 1SB)
Goat of the Week: Either Brett Gardner (1/13, 1R) or the aforementioned Tim Hudson
The Skinny: Well, Mauer went down. I should have seen that coming. I had to replace him with Russell Martin, though Arencibia, Avila and Buck are all out there as well. I somehow managed to gain both points and ground on first place while dropping in the standings, but that can't happen every week. I continue to find myself in a big WHIP hole, and I need more K/W per start. I'm also clearly going to need to pick up RBI, so I may have to pick up a 4/5/6 hitter since most of my guys hit 1-4 in the order. My BA plummeted this week, but it was also an off week for a lot of people. .245 is about as bad a week as I can have with this lineup.
In more mundane news, I dropped Nishioka to move Mauer to the DL and picked up Russell Martin so I have a catcher. I also dropped Buchholz for Jaime Garcia(!), swapped out League's mediocre save opportunities for a suddenly-OK Lyon at closer, and dropped WHIP-killer Dempster for Sam Fuld. I don't need more SB, and I like Dempster, but I want to run up SB early in the season.
Looking Ahead: I still need to make a move with one of my infielders. A Gonzales/Uggla/Prado/Drew/Rollins/Walker/Butler is one person too many, given the quality of all of them. Hopefully I can get a pitcher out of the deal (Drew-for-Kuroda might be OK). Fuld essentially replaces Gardner; they're both SB guys but Fuld is hitting right now and Gardner can't buy time on first base. I'm not too concerned with the week-to-week of a roto league, especially in April, since there's plenty of time for things to even out. I should come out on top in the long run.
Cubs Expatriot (H2H categories)
Standings: 15-4-1, 1st in East
Last Matchup: 5-4-1 (50R/6HR/24RBI/9SB/.2915 vs 38/8/34/1/.2500; 45K/4W/4Sv/4.797 ERA/1.203 WHIP vs. 52/3/4/3.676/1.211)
MVP of the Matchup: Either Daniel Hudson (10Ks) or Chipper Jones (6/16, 4R, 2HR, 6RBI)
Goat of the Matchup: Liriano again 5.0 IP, 8H, 1BB, 7ER, 4K, 12.60 ERA, 1.80 WHIP
The Skinny: I got into an ERA/WHIP hole with Liriano and couldn't quite dig myself out, at least not with ERA. I ended up having to stream Lowe/Floyd/Pineda/Ogando over the weekend on the theory that I was already losing ERA/WHIP/K/W, and so I couldn't get hurt (only helped). It worked for two of them (a combined 24.1 IP, 22 H, 9BB, 14 ER, 13 K, 5.178 ERA, 1.274 WHIP, 2 W). But really, I was fortunate my opponent started Bumgarner twice. I'm clearly having trouble getting RBI in this league, too.
I dropped an injured Furcal to pick up Peralta, but ended up punting the SS position to stream pitchers by the weekend. I also dropped Jordan Zimmerman as part of that effort. I can get him or someone better back. I also dropped the shaky Ryan Franklin to pick up David Murphy and his increased playing time, and used an open roster spot to take a flyer on Sizemore.
I also consummated my first trade on any team this season, sending Hiroki Kuroda (whom I got off waivers) and Andre Ethier off for Felix Hernandez. I would rather have traded two pitchers to make this happen, but I couldn't. In any event, I have plenty of OF depth without Ethier (Braun, BJ Upton, Tabata, Rasmus, Pierre, Murphy, Sizemore), though I'll miss the average and RBI a little. I didn't entirely follow my early-season trading rules, but I did enough that I'm OK with it. I wanted to pick up a pitcher I could keep on my roster who was better than Marcum, and I ended up getting a new #1 pitcher. With a top-3 of Felix/Weaver/Marcum, I should be in good shape for pitching. That I didn't have to compromise my hitting too much to do it helps a lot.
Looking Ahead: I still have a surplus of pitching, but not as much as before. I have Felix/Weaver/Marcum as permanents, and Liriano/D Hudson could fit the bill as well. My last two spots are Pineda and Ogando, one of whom will get dropped for Morrow and the other can be a streaming spot. On top of that, I still have four closers with Lyon now sitting on waivers after being dropped as part of the trade. I may drop Ogando for him, but I'm not sure if hoarding closers is the best strategy right now.
Aybar comes off the DL this week, and though SS production is mostly gravy it will help. What I need are RBI, so we'll see what I can do about that. My next opponent has a lot of power, plus two starts each from Halladay, Zambrano, Correia, Wood and potentially Lewis. My only two-starters are Liriano and Marcum, so this will be a tough one. I'll likely take average/steals, he may well take HR/RBI, runs is a toss-up. The pitching will depend on how well I stream, but I should at least take saves (he's only got Marmol and Feliz). I predict another 5-4-1 kind of week.
Cubbie Blues (7x7 roto)
Standings: 9th place (72/140, 33 pts back)
Weekly Line: 89/282 (.316 BA), 42 R, 18 2B, 11 HR, 39 RBI, 52 K, 12 SB; 32.2 IP, 37 H, 9 BB, 17 ER, 1 HR, 19 K, 2 QS, 2 W, 4.68 ERA, 1.41 WHIP.
MVP of the Week: Oddly enough, probably Aaron Hill (7/19, 3 R, 2 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 4 K, 3 SB).
Goat of the Week: Liriano or Gardner. Take your pick.
The Skinny: So is Aaron Hill this year's Zobrist? Last year Zobrist had nowhere near the power he was supposed to have, but he ran a ton, struck out a bit, and had a mediocre average (until it tanked in the last month). To date, Hill is hitting .246 with 11 K and no bombs, but also has five steals. Which is to say, one fewer than Jose Reyes.
In other news, I am a fool for thinking Hamilton would stay healthy. I tried to see if I could move him for seventy-five cents on the dollar, but the best offer I got was I send Hamilton/Butler/Gardner for Ortiz/Zobrist/Carlos Pena. Given that it's a keeper league, I'd rather hold onto Hamilton, especially since replacing Butler with Pena drops my average from that roster spot in half. In the meantime, I added red-hot Johnny Gomes, who didn't come through for me last year, and dropped Cuddyer for Desmond Jennings. I'm treading water right now anyway, so I might as well stash him and keep him.
Looking Ahead: Well, there's Jennings. I'm mostly treading water- I was in 4th place for all of a few hours at one point, but any gains like that are quickly undone. I'm just trying to continue to put a better roster together and hope something pans out.
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