Last week I outlined my strategy from the initial draft to the waiver draft. My goal was to pick up a #2 starter and a hammer third baseman, then use the free-for-all period to tweak my bullpen. My targets were John Lackey and Miguel Cabrera. I had $4.13 unspent.
I got Lackey but not Cabrera, and I got a honey-do list a mile long, so I joined the free-for-all a bit late. .. Damn wife! She just doesn't have my priorities!
Instead of Cabrera at $8.13 million, I chose Garrett Atkins at $7.25 million. That allowed me to improve my designated hitter from Billy Hall to Carlos Lee. Yes, I lose some injury flexibility, but Lee's card is better and he is +3 in the clutch, something useful for a #5 hitter.
I also spent some of the money upgrading my closer. I acquired J.J. Putz and kept my original closer, Fernando Rodney, to be my setup man. I traded in emergency starter Tim Hudson for Jason Marquis. Hudson was $900,000 and Marquis was $500,000. Hopefully Marquis will never be used and I can spend the $400,000 elsewhere. I upgraded Kenny Rodgers to Randy Johnson. I also upgraded my bullpen to include Will Ohman and Roberto Hernandez.
On the hitter side, I replaced my #2 catcher with Miguel Ojeda, a $500,000 player. He is a good hitter at the league minimum price. Hopefully with Ramon Hernandez, I won't need to use him. (That is the advantage of Strat. I know Hernandez will stay healthy in Strat because we use last year's stats.)
I acquired Jerry Hairston Jr. for Nelson Cruz. Hairston can play all infield and outfield positions. He is also a *2-5,11,12/- (16-12) and a 1-15 runner, so he will be my pinch runner.
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We've started the season and after 12 games, I'm 6-6. I'm tied for third in runs given up but tied for last in runs scored. Twelve games are much too few to judge a season by. My #2 hitter is hitting .064. I've given up an error a game. Three relievers haven't even appeared in a game yet.
I suspect that I'll end up making another move sometime during the season. My competition has learned much. I will have to use some new tricks this year.
JP Kastner is the Commissioner of the Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online Experts’ League and plays in three other Strat-O-Matic leagues. He is also a second year member of Tout Wars in the Mixed League.