Could this strategy work?????

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:54 am

I attempted to try out something a little different from the 7th slot in a satellite last night. I'm guessing if you look at this draft you will wonder what I was thinking. I know many feel one is doomed if they draft pitching early due to the lack of bats later in the draft.

If you would, take a look at my team to see if I was able to "make up" for taking P's so early. I realize I don't have the "mashers" and RBI producers, but I really feel my O is gonna surprise some people. Thoughts?? Opinions?? Please, tear it apart if need be!

C Victor Martinez

C Mike Piazza

1B Adam LaRoche

2B Chris Burke

3B Edwin Encarnacion

SS Hanley Ramirez

CI Wes Helms

MI Yuniesky Betancourt

UT Akinori Iwamura

OF Alexis Rios

OF Willy Taveras

OF Brad Hawpe

OF Luke Scott

OF Shane Victorino

P Johan Santana

P Jake Peavy

P Scott Kazmir

P Dan Haren

P Kei Igawa (Yes, could use more SP's but that's what FAAB is for.)

P Akinori Otsuka

P Jonathan Broxton

P Dan Wheeler

P Taylor Tankersley

B Jason Windsor

B Tim Lincecum

B James Loney

B Brandon Wood

B Wily Mo Pena

B Ryan Church

B Greg Norton(last pick, about drafted Votto instead.)

Thanks for any thoughts/constructive criticism/you're an idiot comments.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:00 pm

Sorry, but you didn't do it. Not enough offense. Taking santana is really a crushing blow. It's too tough to get the offense.

How many 100K champs had santana on their roster?

ALL-IN JD · Post by **ALL-IN JD** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:12 pm

Not only not enough offense but you didnt draft any #1 closers either. Not much of a chance even with being shrewd with your FAAB

Evil Empire · Post by **Evil Empire** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:18 pm

If your gonna go for pitchin you cannot forget closers. Your doomed...

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:35 pm

Hi, I actually like your offense a bit more than I would have guessed when I read the opening, that said, you really needed to get the closers to make this work

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:28 pm

Agree with others, if you're gonna go for only 3 hitting categories, you gotta get all 5 for pitching.

Diamond Dogs · Post by **Diamond Dogs** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:46 pm

I think that even if half of your offense performs over projections, (which is very possible), and the other half simply meets projections that your offense will have no chance to compete in any category. More simply put, there is just not much of any category anchors for the categories you are trying to compete in.

If your anchor pitching staff all win 20 games, you I believe you will still have a hard time competing in wins. When it comes to saves there is really no chance to compete unless FA and drafted prospects ALL perform well above projections.

Hindsight being 20-20 as usual and still trying to maintain your strategy however, you might have wanted to consider passing on Victor Marinez, (no power, no speed), and passing on Johan in the 1st round. IMO you probably would have able to secure a more potent offense earlier in the draft to go along with the pitching power, (which on the back end, still appears to be weak).

Just my opinion for what it's worth. Good Luck.

Edwards Kings · Post by **Edwards Kings** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:15 am

GLU,

You have Helms. You win.....

As you mention in your comments, you do not have enough SP. You certainly have four studs, but Igawa and some FAAB pick-ups (especially those you get the benefit of for 2/3 of the season or less) may leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Looks like you are counting on Gagne, Saito, or Lidge to take a nose dive. Could happen, but to help it will need to happen soon. If you were looking to dominate with SP (W/K's and potentially ERA) you may have stopped too short in order to get the set-up/closers in waiting (Otsuka, Broxton, Wheeler). Look to see what SP were available to you rather than say Wheeler and Tankersly if you want to refine the strategy. I can see this strategy working if the goal was to get more than 80% of the pitching points, but it is a BIG gamble to get enough to make up for intentially de-emphasizing up to three categories (S, HR, RBI).

Offense will be ok with speed (runs and SB). BA I am not too sure of (I honestly haven't checked), but power (HR/RBI) will leave you short if you were targeting to get close to 80% of the offense points. You can still get there, but you must challenge in BA (to go with SB) and do well enough in R, HR, RBI to get to the 55+ offensive points (assuming Pitching points make up some of the slack).

It is a roll of the dice, but you knew that...

eddiejag · Post by **eddiejag** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:59 am

I think this team is better than people think.

Great chance in winning whip and era,and those stud pitchers will get plenty of wins.Pitching is the one area you can get help with your free agent money every year.Last year i was able to grab JOSH JOHNSON, SUPPAN, BOONSER, PADILLAand SOWERS just to name some.Tankersley should close and you could have used one more , you will have to get lucky here.Power is low, i have you for 220 to 230 homers.You will need Iwamura,L Scott,Hawpe,and Piazza to have big power years.

Lot of guys i like on this team, probably if do over ,pass on Santana for the hitter.

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:49 am

I like the idea, but I don't think you carried it out to a full extent. It looks like you waffled after a few rounds and started settling on decent relievers instead of getting closers or #2 or 3 starters thus hurting your K,W, and S categories.

You're probably right about your hitting, it won't be as bad as one might think, probably middle of the pack. But by not following through on your strategy, your pitching will also be in the middle range.

[ March 02, 2007, 08:27 AM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]

bucks66 · Post by **bucks66** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:29 am

It was a bold move to try and hopefully only at the $100 level. I just don't see your offense doing enough to make the pitching strategy work. You'll be down in the power categories (RBI, HR) and not really sure about the average. In order for this to work, you needed top tier closers as well, in my opinion. You may be able to shore that up through FAAB but I'm not sure. I agree with Doughboys that had you not waffled (dang, now I'm hungry again) on the pitching, you might have had a shot at making it work but, I would think that 5-8 is where you'd end up. However, it's a long season and strange things can happen in that season. At least you'll be able to evaluate it over the course of a season, tweak it and when you hit it big time with your strategy, be written up in the magazines. Course, you could end up dead last if some of your P's go down with injury and then we can all have a big laugh about the GLU strategy next year.

Lost Sailor · Post by **Lost Sailor** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:50 am

I have to agree that I think you got halfway thru and said, "Oops - I need to get...".

Taking one masher in the first (ie. Ortiz) instead of Santana, and getting some of those good MRs real late instead of reaching for saves would have made a nice difference - at least visually.

I like the late picks of Encarnacion and Iwamura. They certainly could surprise a bit. I think you are better off hoping that the Boston OF get bit by the DL bug and Wily gets 500+ ABs......

Captain Hook · Post by **Captain Hook** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:31 pm

Patrick - enough of the bashers - you don't need more of that - but PLEASE tell us what your plan is/was?

I have no problem with taking Santana in the first, but you have to then catch up in offense (unless your league goes on a wild pitching run which you should join in), but what it cost you to get Peavy and Kazmir and Haren likely cost you some points - but again I would like to know what you were trying to accomplish.

I do not dis the lack of closers IF you had enough offense - one of those guys will end up closing, maybe two and you can pounce on new closer in FA bidding.

Josh R · Post by **Josh R** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:09 pm

It's late and I dont want to run any projections, but I maybe have an idea on how I would approach your team. With the big 4 pitchers, you should be able to dominate whip and era with some MR's in there. If Tank. ends up being the only closer all year, I would consider benching him when I dont think it will hurt/help me. The weeks I dont have him in there, I try to find a decent 2 SP off the waiver wire, which wont be much but I think ya gotta try. I think you have to finish 1st/2nd in whip and era. Finish top 4 in K's and Wins. Then finish with 1 or 2 in saves. I would bet at least one team punted saves or got only one. If Wheeler, Broxton, or Otsuka some how got the closer job, you could make some noise in pitching. You are going to have work and work and work that staff to maximize every possible point.

As far as hitting, you dont have many big guys but I think one thing people might possibly be looking over is the fact that I think you have 2 of the best catchers out there. Yes Mauer will hit for a big avg but I would bet Martinez/Piazza finish 1-2 in RBI/HR for catchers, this makes your other positional players not look so bad.

I wouldnt get too discouraged, every team has a weakness. Yours will take just a little more effort to overcome but you will have fun doing it!

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:56 pm

Originally posted by ?:

If your gonna go for pitchin you cannot forget closers. Your doomed... I would imagine my team will finish AT LEAST middle of pack for saves. I only had Street last season after a draft and ended up middle of the pack by using 8 different guys throughout the season to get saves.

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:57 pm

Originally posted by eddiejag:

I think this team is better than people Thanks Eddie, I agree! BTW, I think I might have a chance to catch you in the NFBBC now that you are without Odom again....now LSD and SHOW, they're a different story.

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:14 pm

Originally posted by Captain Hook:

Patrick - enough of the bashers - you don't need more of that - but PLEASE tell us what your plan is/was?

My plan went away when a closer run started in the middle of the 3rd and didn't stop, by the time it got back to me, I didn't like any of the closers available and I LOVE Peavy so that's why I took him. Same thing happened with Kazmir, I had 3-5 players ready to pick and they all went right before my pick, I LOVE Scotty so had to take him. Many of the players I coveted went WAY earlier than "normal"...Kendrick in the 6th(headscratcher) and Kinsler began the 7th..these are 2 examples that jump out at me and were quite unexpected.

Basically I decided to avoid players I didn't like and get players I did, which happened to be the 4 semi-stud pitchers. I take a liking/disliking to many players and go for the ones I like.

IMO Tank, Broxton, Wheeler, or Otsuka will get me a decent amount of saves, in fact they could get quite a few. With the 4 studs, Igawa and 4 good MR's I believe I can pick up many marginal 2 start pitchers to vulture some wins without hurting my teams ERA to much. Plus the rotations haven't been set in stone so a decent 4th/5th starter will be available in a few weeks.

When it comes to offense, I know it doesn't look pretty, but I think it will surprise many.

With the starters listed.....

HR's-255-270

RBI's-close to 1100

SB's-170+

I haven't calculated runs/avg but I know they are going to score a ton.

My figures have me at least in the middle of the pack offensively, with the potential to finish higher. Add in a HEALTHY dominace by the pitchers and shrewd FAAB, I think I'm gonna be all right. Thanks for the opinions everyone. This isn't what I set out to do, but just "went with it". I'll be sure to keep you guys updated since most feel my team is doomed. We shall see come September if the GLY strategy can work.

headhunters · Post by **headhunters** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:39 pm

god- i like that team better than most- but i like it for the pitching and stolen bases. you have 4 leadoff hitters, 3 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 4th- and piazza hasn't driven in 100 in a while, 1 5th, 2 6th, 1 7th and 1 9th. not a chance of you - or anyone else- getting 1100 rbis with those spots in the order. those 4 leadoff guys aren't soriano- and he didn't get 100 rbi.

Captain Hook · Post by **Captain Hook** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:50 pm

GLY - in a fun league or a low stakes league, go ahead and take your favorite players or players you like.

BUT please get rid of that tendency if you want to do well in the main event -you need to pick a team that will hit the category targets you need regardless of how you feel about them. You are not picking your friends - you are drafting your team.

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:42 pm

Originally posted by Captain Hook:

GLY - in a fun league or a low stakes league, go ahead and take your favorite players or players you like.

BUT please get rid of that tendency if you want to do well in the main event -you need to pick a team that will hit the category targets you need regardless of how you feel about them. You are not picking your friends - you are drafting your team. I don't know, Hook. From my point of view my favorite players are the ones who will most help my team this season (Tim Hudson the exception).

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 1:24 pm

Thought I would provide a 1st half update for all the naysayers . As of yesterday, my team has been in 1st place for 9+ weeks.

Currently 108 pts

Batting 42.5pts Pitching 65.5

Can't wait to see if it can hold on for the entire season!

headhunters · Post by **headhunters** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:04 am

dear gly- please note geckos response to your team on march 1- and his 1st pick this year. nuff said