Here is the wrap-up for Week two of the 2008 fantasy baseball season as it applies to the seven leagues I am trying to win. The big question right now is whether or not I need to begin adjusting via trade or sitting players I had counted on for better efforts.
Yahoo! Public League, 6th of 12: My "struggles" can be traced to having the wrong OFers starting. Hunter Pence and Delmon Young stink in the starting line-up while Corey Patterson, Lastings Milledge and Michael Bourn do better on the bench. How do you time this?
My pitching is also lagging. Depsite the presence of three closers, I have four saves through the first two weeks of the 2008 season. I do not believe this will continue.
Fake Teams H2H, 7-2-1 for the week, 12-7-1 overall: I was fortunate to have Astros' SP Wandy Rodriguez pitch two excellent games along with a gem from Giants' lefty Jonathan Sanchez. Can I really expect that kind of efforts every week? Orioles' OF Adam Jones is a concern right now. Is he better than Milton Bradley or David DeJesus right now?
Fake Teams NL-Only 4x4, 1st of 10: I am concerned about this perch as I have been fortunate to have Kyle Lohse pitching well, and he is amongst a group of punted-starting-pitching arms like Oliver Perez and Manny Parra. I think it may be time to deal some hitting for a decent SP, no?
Blogger Expert League, 1st of 12: I am sitting in 1st place with Scott Kazmir and Yovanni Gallardo on my DL, but still have 12 points in Wins and ERA and 11 in WHIP. All can still be attrributed to luck, but my top four starters are Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Tim Lincecum and Chein-Ming Wang. The question is how much I believe in fill-in SPs Wandy Rodriguez and Brian Bannister. If it is enough, then I have some trade bait to try to improve my hitting.
Mixed League, 8th of 12: This one is tough as it is the shallowest of all my leagues. How do I worry about the standings when I can't find starting roles for players like Milledge, Pence, Patterson, Butler and Longoria? Would you sit Holliday, Markakis, Chris B Young, Justin Upton or Ryan Zimmerman to get those guys in?
AL-Only 4x4 Keeper, 10th of 12: It would be too easy to blame Eric O'Flaherty and his 15 ER in 6.2 IP, but I can't say it would matter if Dave Ortiz (3-43) and Jose Guillen (6-49) don't pick-up the pace.
NL-Only 4x4 Keeper, 5th of 12 : Not too much beyond less-than-stellar pitching (Oliver Perez) and other teams having better weeks to explian the drop from 1st to 5th. Is it easier to be able to pinpoint a reason for a drop like my AL-Only or is it better to see no glaring explanation?