Please rate my team for the 2nd half and offer suggestions

[Red Leader]

C J. Posada (NYY - C)
1B T. Helton (Col - 1B)
2B J. Hairston Jr. (Bal - 2B,DH)
3B H. Blalock (Tex - 3B)
SS D. Jeter (NYY - SS)
CI M. Mora (Bal - 3B,LF)
MI Á. Berroa (KC - SS)
OF G. Sheffield (NYY - RF)
OF B. Giles (SD - LF,CF,RF)
OF M. Cabrera (Fla - 3B,LF,RF)
OF R. Baldelli (TB - CF)
Util J. Burnitz (Col - LF,CF,RF)
Util V. Martínez (Cle - C)
DL M. GilesDL (Atl - 2B)


SP F. García (Sea - SP)
SP M. Mussina (NYY - SP)
SP J. Moyer (Sea - SP)
SP J. Piñeiro (Sea - SP)
RP A. Benítez (Fla - RP)
RP O. Dotel (Oak - RP)
P B. Lidge (Hou - RP)
P A. Burnett (Fla - SP)
P M. Batista (Tor - SP,RP)


Offense:

1) I've tried to trade Posada for some starting pitching help, so I can put V.Martinez at C and pick up a player for UTIL, but no luck. I'm fine with keeping both if need be.

2) Players I'm worried about: Mora (second half fade); Burnitz (trade outside Coors); Hairston (platoon); Berroa (picked him up recently because he's been on fire, hopefully it continues). Luckily, I get Marcus Giles back around the AS Break, so if 1 of Berroa / Hairston falls apart, I have a replacement.


Pitching:

Starters: I've hated having 3 Mariner starters since the draft, and it continues. Freddy started hot, so I didn't want to trade him. Nobody would give me equal value for Moyer or Pineiro, so I'm stuck with them. I just picked up M.Batista because he's been hot, but am also considering picking up M. Redman if Batista begins to struggle. Mussina will be fine. Not sure what to expect with Burnett. First couple starts were bad, the last 2 have been good. Hopefully he keeps improving as he goes. If not, I could pick up Kip Wells, Mark Redman, or Jose Contreras for him.

Relievers: I started with Benitez, Dotel and Rhodes. I dumped Rhodes for Affeldt, and yesterday dumped Affeldt for Lidge. I think I now have 3 dominant closers, which was my goal coming out of the draft.

I'm in 8th place out of 10 teams so far, so I have a long way to go. Any suggestions or advice you guys can give me would be appreciated.

[Johnny Footstool]

Hairston is seriously outplaying Brian Roberts, so I don't think the platoon will be an issue. The rest of your offense looks very solid.

I think your SPs might be a little short on Wins, but they should put up decent, if unspectacular, ratios. They're the weakest part of your team, but they're really not all that bad.

Overall, a very solid squad.

Why are you in eighth? What categories are you deficient in?

[Red Leader]

Ok, I made a couple changes because of injuries to my offense.

J. Posada (NYY - C)
1B T. Helton (Col - 1B)
2B J. Hairston Jr. (Bal - 2B,DH)
3B H. Blalock (Tex - 3B)
SS D. Jeter (NYY - SS)
CI J. Giambi (NYY - 1B,DH)
MI R. Belliard (Cle - 2B)
OF G. Sheffield (NYY - RF)
OF B. Giles (SD - LF,CF,RF)
OF M. Cabrera (Fla - 3B,LF,RF)
OF J. Burnitz (Col - LF,CF,RF)
Util V. Martínez (Cle - C)
Util R. Hidalgo (NYM - RF)
DL M. MoraDL (Bal - 3B,LF)
DL M. GilesDL (Atl - 2B)


IP W L CG SV HR K ERA WHIP
SP F. García (CWS - SP)
SP M. Mussina (NYY - SP)
SP J. Moyer (Sea - SP)
SP J. Piñeiro (Sea - SP)
RP A. Benítez (Fla - RP)
RP O. Dotel (Oak - RP)
P B. Lidge (Hou - RP)
P M. Batista (Tor - SP,RP)
P J. Contreras (NYY - SP,RP)


Moves: I traded OF Rocco Baldelli for 1B/DH Jason Giambi. Good deal??
I dropped SS Angel Berroa and picked up 2B Ronnie Belliard
I DL'd Melvin Mora and picked up Richard Hidalgo because he's hot.

Marcus Giles will be back after the All-Star Break, and I'll most likely drop Belliard to make room for him. If Hidalgo stays hot, I might have to drop Burnitz when Mora comes back. Burnitz has been struggling lately and trade rumors out of Coors have me worried.

I dropped A.J. Burnett and picked up Contreras again. I keep getting crushed in K's.

This is a head to head league and it seems every week the team I'm playing goes insane. This past week, I had 15 HR and 51 RBI and lost both those categories. All other teams in my league had under 11 HR and 45 RBI for the week. The team I played had 17/56.

My offense has been good. They're keeping me at around .500. My pitching on the other hand is the reason I'm at around .500. We have 8 hitting categories and 8 pitching categories. I usually take 6-8 hitting categories and 1-2 pitching categories each week.

Advice on what I should do? I've tried offer Posada, Burnitz, and Hidalgo + Contreras for an upgrade at SP, but no takers.

[Red Leader]

I also just received a trade offer:

SP Miguel Batista for SP CC Sabathia. Sabathia recently has had problems with a bicep tendon in his arm. He got lit up in his last start on Monday. Meanwhile, Batista keeps cruising along. I know it won't last all season, but I'm thinking that if I hold on, I might be able to get more for Batista later on.


and one more for my offense:

OF Jeromy Burnitz for OF Garrett Anderson. I'm scared that Burnitz will get traded out of Coors. If he does, he offers me little value. Anderson has been banged up all season, but is at the heart of a great offense. If he can stay healthy, I like this trade, but will he stay healthy?

[Johnny Footstool]

Sabathia may be hurt pretty badly. I'd wait on that deal.

[Red Leader]

I'm actively trying to trade Batista. I don't think he'll continue pitching as well as he has and TOR has a rough second half schedule. I still have the C.C trade hanging out there, and I could pick up: Cliff Lee, Brian Lawrence, Eric Milton, Steve Trachsel, Jason Marquis, A.J. Burnett or Brad Radke if I flat out dropped Batista. I need help in W, K, ERA, WHIP the most. I like Lee and Milton's W's, but not ERA and WHIP.

I'm also trying to shop Belliard, but no takers, so I'll drop him to activate Giles. I'm also trying to shop Hidalgo and Burnitz, but not many takers there either.

What do you think I could get for Burnitz? Hidalgo? A package of both of them?

[Red Leader]

Here's another trade that spun off the original trade:

I would give SP Miguel Batista, OF Jeremy Burnitz, and OF Richard Hidalgo

I would get SP C.C. Sabathia, and 1B Carlos Delgado.

His other pitchers are: J. Schmidt, L.Hernandez, E.Loiaza, A.Eaton and Oliver Perez.

He won't give up Schmidt or Perez. So should I try to sub in one of those other pitchers? I need help in W, K, CG, ERA, WHIP. So, its between Livan Hernandez, Esteban Loiaza, Adam Eaton and C.C. Sabathia.

Livan would be nice, but no help in W's.

Unless you guys expect Mussina, Garcia, Moyer, Pineiro and Contreras to really turn it on in W's, I need to get a guy that gets them.

[Red Leader]

Working on another deal:

I trade : OF Jeremy Burnitz, OF Richard Hidalgo, SP Miguel Batista, RP Octavio Dotel.

I get: OF Bobby Abreu, RP John Smoltz.