Roster Doctor sells pitching low

12 Team Roto (5×5) ESPN…currently 3rd

Should I try to trade a SP for an outfielder or stay stand pat? When Utley and Mauer come off the DL I will have to drop two players. Any advice would be great!!!!

Marco

1B- Joey Votto
2nd- Howie Kendrick
3rd- David Wright
SS- Jimmy Rollins
Corner- Albert Pujols
Middle- Chone Figgins (Chase Utley on DL)
C- Chris Iannetta (Joe Mauer on DL)
OF- Carlos Beltran
OF- Bobby Abreu
OF- Corey Hart
OF- Nick Markakis
OF- Aubrey Huff
Util- Vladimir Guerrero
Util- Adam LaRoche
Res- Juan Pierre
Res- Nate McLouth
Res- Maicer Izturis

SP- Ubaldo Jimenez
SP- Mat Latos
SP- Max Scherzer
SP- Chad Billingsley
SP- Wandy Rodriguez
SP- Brett Anderson
SP- Gavin Floyd
SP- Jordan Zimmerman
SP- Michael Pineda
RP- Brian Wilson
RP- Andrew Bailey
RP- Ryan Madson
RP- Mike Adams

Marco –

My how things can change in a day. With news of David Wright’s back injury, you have another hole to fill on your roster. But now at least I think it will be easier to make some more daring moves, rather than just small ones. That said, I think a few small moves would be the better route.

Izturis will be your Wright replacement. Once Utley comes back, when/if he starts getting regular playing time, you’ll have the freedom to choose which of Izturis or Figgins you want to play at third. It may depend on which category you need help in—stolen bases or average—but I’d lean towards Izturis until Figgins shows us some good form.

Clearly Pujols and Votto are going to be the workhorses for your lineup—particularly the counting stats. Pujols has been a bit of letdown so far, but there’s not much to be done there.

You could certainly use a bit of an upgrade in your outfield; Hart is woeful and there’s not much sun behind his clouds. Only Beltran has helped in the counting stats. Maybe Markakis will come around. It’d be nice if Huff could hit a few more fly balls. You have a lot of mediocrity here, which makes it hard to trade. Trading someone decent for only a minor upgrade seems like a bit of a waste.

But who do you have that you could trade? I can’t tell if you’re league actually starts all those pitchers each week. If so, you have a great roster of pitchers. If not, then you have a good but not great roster. Shallower needs would make the lack of a true star a bit more of a problem. Guys like Anderson and Scherzer are capable of delivering top seasons, but thehy have more variance than the usual suspects like Josh Johnson and Cliff Lee.

Clearly you were hoping Jimenez would be your “ace.” It is tempting to say that, if he could only get his walk rate down (which is nearly double last year’s rate), he’d be fine—since his strikeout rate is about normal for him. He pitches in an offensively-challenged division, so if he could stop giving free passes maybe he’ll settle down.

I would trade him to an owner who thinks exactly that. I’m much less sanguine about Jimenez. In addition to the high walk rate, his ground ball rate has dropped and both his line drive and fly ball rates have climbed. So there are two, more or less, independent problems—he’s lost control, and when he does get a swing, he gets bad (for him) kinds of contact. Could he correct himself? Sure. But you don’t need him; he has Sell Low written all over him.

Interestingly enough, Latos is Jimenez-lite. He shows similar, but small, increases in walk and fly ball rates. He’s even gotten a bit lucky on his BABIP. I’d sell low on him as well.

So, see what you can get for them. Maybe target a team with a deep outfield that needs to take some risks on starters. You probably won’t get a Nelson Cruz or Josh Hamilton (though the latter would be great if his owner is getting tired of his injuries). Maybe you could get a Logan Morrison though. Or perhaps you could target a low batting average player, since players like Izturis and Markakis will help you there. Chris Young or Coco Crisp come to mind.


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