Help! My roster's a friggin' mess....

[Red Leader]

Simply put, I don't like my team.

R, H, HR, RBI, SB, BB, AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS
IP, W, L, SV, R, HR, BB, K, ERA, K/9

C - V. Martinez
1B - R. Sexson
2B - C. Utley
3B - M. Mora
SS - R. Furcal
OF - J. Bay
OF - M. Holliday
OF - B. Hawpe
UT - J. Gomes
UT - T. Hafner

I like Martinez, Utley, Bay, Gomes and Hafner. Don't mind Sexson or Mora.
I can't stand Furcal, Holliday or Hawpe. Ideally I'd like to have a different SS and 2 new OF's in place of Holliday and Hawpe.

SP - R. Harden
SP - J. Patterson
SP - B. Myers
SP - E. Bedard
RP - B. Ryan
RP - C. Ray
P - J. Papelbon
P - T. Gordon
BN - B. Penny
BN - J. Bonderman

I like all of my pitchers. I don't think I need 4 RP's and I'd like to have 1 bench hitter instead of 2 bench pitchers, but I'm ok with what I have.

Not sure what to do with my team overall. The two SS's I'd want in place of Furcal are Felipe Lopez and Derek Jeter. Lopez is on a team that made a trade earlier this year and I fought with him telling him that the trade was too lopsided and now that owner won't trade with me. I could possibly get Jeter, but would have to give up Furcal and another player. Can't figure out which second player I should give up, and he can't figure out what 2nd player he should give up, and he doesn't want to do a 1-1 of Jeter and Furcal. As for the OF, I can't figure out a way to get a good OF. I've offered Bonderman + Holliday for H. Matsui, V. Wells, C. Beltran, etc, etc with no takers at all. Nobody wants Holliday it seems. Same with Hawpe. Not sure what to do there.

So players I want to or could give up and not have any problems with it: Furcal, Holliday, Hawpe, Bonderman, and Gordon.

Players I'd want to get back: Jeter or Lopez; and 2 decent OF's.


Any thoughts or ideas on how I can do this?

[westofyou]

I'd offer Bonderman & Furcal AND Holladay straight up for Jeter.

[Heath]

at least you don't play in an NL-only league like I do.

Which, I must admit, is actually a lot more challenging .. and fun.

[Red Leader]

Originally Posted by westofyou

I'd offer Bonderman & Furcal AND Holladay straight up for Jeter.

3-1?

Bonderman, Furcal and Holliday for Jeter? Yikes, that's a steep price to pay.

I'm pretty sure I could get away with offering Bonderman + Furcal, or Holliday + Furcal for Jeter.

He was thinking about doing Bonderman + Furcal for Jeter + Pierre. I hate Juan Pierre, but it doesn't really matter to me.

He also has Cliff Lee. I was thinking maybe Bonderman, Holliday and Furcal for Jeter and Cliff Lee.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Red Leader

3-1?

Bonderman, Furcal and Holliday for Jeter? Yikes, that's a steep price to pay.

Maybe, but Bonderman has experienced arm pains this spring, Furcal has had some health problems and will take an offensive hit in LA, and jeter is a stud in the middle of an offensive team, he'll rack up more points alone then those three.

If you hate your team then a bold move might help... that gives you some great up the middle power.. Bay/Utley/Martinez/Jeter is way sexier than Furcal in there, with Bonderman on the bench.

The real gamble is whether Holliday increases his BB totals or hits .300

[Handofdeath]

You might not like to do it but the best way to get what you want is to trade Harden, perhaps package him with another player or two. But why trade Furcal? He's a .280 lifetime hitter and most importantly he steals bases. 46 last year if I'm not mistaken. Most owners won't trade you a good stolen base guy without getting one in return. Furcal always starts a little slow. Don't trade those stolen bases away because you won't get them back. Hawpe is raking right now too. Four homers last week and he wasn't playing at Coors Field. Calm down, pour yourself a drink and put some Pink Floyd on. It's going to be okay. Good pitching, believe it or not, can always be had on the waiver wire. Especially early in the season. If he's not taken see if you can pick up Clemens. This time of the year there are pitchers on the waiver wire who were either hurt last year or just had a bad year and no one wants to take a chance. Also it might not be a bad thing to check out that rookie player on the wire who you have never heard of but who's playing pretty good right now. Be patient and educated but be ready to take chances. Keep Martinez, Furcal, Bay, Utley, and Ryan because the chances of getting equal players in a trade is nil. Build the rest of your team around them.

[westofyou]

Calm down, pour yourself a drink and put some Pink Floyd on.

But make sure it's not The Final Cut unless the cutterley in the home has been removed.

[Red Leader]

Originally Posted by westofyou

But make sure it's not The Final Cut unless the cutterley in the home has been removed.

Thanks for the help and advice, guys.

[IowaRed]

RL, in my opinion it's way too early to give up on Holliday, I think he's going to end up with some good numbers. I like your team but I think you're going to need Furcal's SB's. Somebody will come calling for a closer at some point

[Red Leader]

What makes me mad is that I've either won or come in 2nd place in this league each of the last 5 years by punting the SB category. Not really punting it, but I never drafted a SB guy. I'd get guys like Vlad, Jeter, etc that would give me a handful of SB's, maybe 1 a week and stay competitive in that category. This year, I screwed up in the draft and the computer auto-selected Furcal for me. I'm trying to undo that and get a roster closer to what I've had in the past, and no one wants these SB guys, they all want power guys. I can't make an offer to someone without them countering it asking for V.Martinez, Bay, Utley, or Harden in return.

I just don't like Furcal. Don't even like watching him play. If I could just trade him and Hawpe for a decent SS, I'd be fine with that.

Everybody in my league acts like Bonderman pitches for the Royals. No one wants him. I'm amazed. He's a pretty good pitcher. Gets decent K's, wins 10+ games and his ERA is pretty respectable. He should be worth something.

[Johnny Footstool]

Your team is very solid, top to bottom. Slow starts from Sexson, Utley, and Furcal are nothing to worry about. The only place your lineup isn't strong is at the two OF positions, and those are the easiest to fill via the waiver wire.

Don't sweat it.

[Red Leader]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

Your team is very solid, top to bottom. Slow starts from Sexson, Utley, and Furcal are nothing to worry about. The only place your lineup isn't strong is at the two OF positions, and those are the easiest to fill via the waiver wire.

Don't sweat it.

Would you drop Hawpe and pick up Alexis Rios, who is really starting to come into his own in Toronto?

Also, discussing a deal where I would send SS Furcal, OF Hawpe, and SP Penny and get SS Jeter and SP Cliff Lee. I could then use the extra spot on Rios, or another player. In the end is that better for my team. Sure, I'll be down SB's, but I think Jeter is better than Furcal, and I think Lee is better than Penny. Hawpe as I mentioned before was a waiver pickup for me and I have no problems losing him one way or another. I think I've been too impatient with Matt Holliday. His bat should come around, and he's leading my team in RBI despite hitting like .220 and not drawing a walk all year.

[Johnny Footstool]

Personally, I don't like Cliff Lee. His K/9 is too low for my taste. Penny's problem is and always will be his health, but when he's healthy, he's very good.

I like Hawpe better than Rios, thanks to the Coors factor.

That said, if you have a chance to get Jeter for Furcal, I'd take it. With Michael Young still not knowing the strike zone and with Tejada going through steroid withdrawal, I think Jeter is the game's top SS this season.

[Red Leader]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

Personally, I don't like Cliff Lee. His K/9 is too low for my taste. Penny's problem is and always will be his health, but when he's healthy, he's very good.

I like Hawpe better than Rios, thanks to the Coors factor.

That said, if you have a chance to get Jeter for Furcal, I'd take it. With Michael Young still not knowing the strike zone and with Tejada going through steroid withdrawal, I think Jeter is the game's top SS this season.

He won't do Furcal for Jeter straight up, We've already talked about that ad nauseum.

I kind of felt the same way about Cliff Lee and since K's and K/9 are stats in our league, that's a legit argument.

I guess I could just offer Furcal and Hawpe for Jeter by himself and forget about the pitchers, but if he really wants Penny or Bonderman and really wants to include Lee, I'd probably still take it.

My main concern all along is to get Jeter. I'm just not sure which other players to kick into this deal on my side, or which other players on his side to try and get back.

His current roster:

C - J. Lopez
1B - L. Overbay
2B - B. Roberts
3B - A. Rodriguez
SS - D. Jeter
OF - G. Sheffield
OF - C. Crawford
OF - J. Damon
UT - R. Freel
UT - J. Pierre
BN - B. Wilkerson

SP - B. Webb
SP - K. Millwood
SP - M. Cain
SP - T. Glavine
RP - B. Wickman
RP - D. Baez
P - C. Lee
P - M. Batista
DL - M. Prior
DL - E. Gagne


He's got tons of Yankees, and doesn't really like the Yankees. He's also got tons of "speed guys", Crawford, Pierre, Roberts, Freel, Jeter, Damon, A-Rod, etc. So if he traded Jeter for Furcal, he should NEVER lose the SB category any given week. He needs another bat to drive in runs and he could use Penny or Bonderman to help his rotation down the road.

[Reds Nd2]

Originally Posted by Red Leader

I can't stand Furcal, Holliday or Hawpe.

I just picked up Hawpe from the free agent wire about a two weeks ago. I was wondering why you don't like him, or more importantly, am I missing something with him?