Wade Miller

[Stewie]

I've run into a bit of a conundrum in my ESPN league. My hitting is fantastic, I don't have a weak link on that side. The pitching, however, not so good. About a week ago, someone offered me Beltran for Randy Johnson, and I accepted it b/c I was worried that Randy was just getting old and wasn't pitching like he used to. Then the day after the trade got processed, I turned on the Fox Saturday game to hear Joe Buck and Tim McCarver raving about how Randy is back to his dominant self and pitching with anger. That's great.

My starters are:

Brett Myers
Jon Lieber
Aaron Harang
Cliff Lee
Mike Mussina
Javier Vazquez
John Patterson
Odalis Perez (DL - but hopefully he'l be back soon)
Wade Miller

My staff isn't horrible (last week I played a guy who inexplicably started Eric Milton in our 10 team league), but it could be better. The top available pitchers are Ervin Santana, David Wells, Danny Haren, and Kip Wells. What I've been trying to figure out is, should I drop Wade Miller and pick one of those guys up? I'm leaning towards Santana or David Wells, although I had Wells earlier in the year, and he angered me greatly, so I'm a little wary of picking him back up. Santana intrigues me, especially if Escobar has to have surgery. Or, should I give the axe to Patterson before Miller and hope that Miller turns it around? Will Miller even turn it around?


Thanks


on a sidenote: why is Corey Patterson listed as an "undroppable" on ESPN? He sucks. I got this punk rotting on my bench and I just can't get rid of him. I can't trade him, becasue no one wants him, and I'm not allowed to drop him. What's up with that? I'm only in a 5X5 league where OBP doesn't count, but Patterson's OBP is .289. That's like Doug Glanville territory.

[kheidg-]

I'd likely cut Patterson and pick up Haren. He has had quite a few good outings as of late and may finally be getting into a groove. Patterson is battling injuries and on a decline. I'd hold onto Wade Miller in favor of picking up David Wells as of now. Wells has been pitching well, but only recently had his 17 innings scoreless streak snapped yet his ERA is barely below 5.00.

[Red Leader]

I agree that Haren is the pitcher you'd want to pick up. Not sure who I'd drop, though. Either Patterson or Miller. Probably Miller.

[Stewie]

Yeah, I axed Miller a couple days ago and picked up Haren. Someone else picked up David Wells before his last start, so that made that decision even easier. My current mission is to keep writing to ESPN until they remove Corey Patterson from the "undroppable" list. They said they periodically review the players on the undroppable list, but that's just not quick enough for me. I want to pick up Jose Vidro as insurance since he should be coming off the DL as early as this weekend. My middle infield is fine with Utley, Iguchi, Felipe Lopez, and Rollins (all of which are in my starting lineup), so I don't need Vidro, but it couldn't hurt to take a chance on a good MI. Now I have to figure out if it's worth it to drop another pitcher (John Patterson) to create another bench spot used for a hitter. I already have two hitters sitting on the bench (the injured Milton Bradley and the aforementioned superstar Corey Patterson). Picking up Vidro would mean that I would use another bench spot on whichever MI (Vidro or my current four) happens to be slumping.

Thanks for the replies, though.


EDIT: apparently the letter I wrote to ESPN this morning asking to have Corey removed from the undroppable list worked, as of this evening Corey Patterson is able to be dropped. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Corey.

[kheidg-]

Granted Patterson is not having that good of a year thus far, but he is not this bad. I think you are a bit premature in dropping him now when you have lesser players on your roster. A guy in my league dropped Mike Lowell about 2 weeks ago, I promptly snatched him up. I had Chipper at third, but since he has been injured I've been playing Freel there since he is eligable there in Yahoo leagues. Since then, Lowell has been lighting it up. I tend to rely more on past stats than stats for this year only. Patterson likely will hit well the rest of the way - he hit 24 HR with 32 steals last year. Expect close to those numbers. Vidro would be a good pickup especially over Iguchi who is unproven and as the White Sox are likely to fold. Rollins should be your whipping boy - whose stats (minus the steals) are equally as unimpressive as Patterson's.

[Stewie]

I may have been premature in dropping Patterson, he should be better than this, but I just don't think he is that much better than the numbers he is putting up (current slump notwithstanding). His career average is .260, and he isn't too far off of that right now (although, given his current slump he is down to .245). He is also pretty much on his career pace in home runs. And in looking at his previous two full seasons, his batting average went down a decent clip in the second half with power numbers staying relatively the same. Plus, my outfield is Abreu, Beltran, Vernon Wells, and Mark Teixiera (he is OF eligible) with Milton Bradley to the bench once he comes off the DL, so there really wasn't any room for Corey.


But yes, I know about Rollins. That was one of the reasons I wanted Vidro, to give me more flexibility and hopefully try to move either Iguchi or J-Roll for a starter.