Baseball Keeper League Question

[Qwikshot]

It's that time again...I got till the end of Feb.

2nd year of the ESPN keeper league (next year will be my last). I was unavailable during the initial draft which made things rough and it only got worse from there.

It's a 12 team league 5x5 (Runs, RBI, Avg, Steals, HRs; Wins, ERA, Ks, WHIP and Saves) (Both AL and NL)

I get five to keep and I'm late in this years draft.

Any help would be nice...I figure I may take the plunge in keeping as best an offense as possible and rotate whatever favorable matchups pitching there are.

Chris Young, SD
Derek Lowe, LA
Brett Myers, Phi
Tim Hudson, Atl
Pat Neshek, Min
Cole Hamels, Phi
Matt Cain, SF
Jason Jennings, Hou
Jose Valverde, Ari
Aaron Harang, Cin
Mike Maroth, Det

I like Young, Myers, Hamels, Harang and Cain, but I'm not sure if I should keep any pitchers.

Josh Willingham, Fla
Mark Teixeira, Tex
Tadahito Iguchi, ChW
Ryan Zimmerman, Was
Alfredo Amezaga, Fla
Juan RiveraD , Ana
Carlos Lee, Hou
Barry Bonds, SF
Alexis Rios, Tor
Austin Kearns, Was
Brandon Phillips, Cin
Justin Morneau, Min
Richie Sexson, Sea
Jhonny Peralta, Cle
B.J. Upton, TB

Morneau and Lee seem like givens in keeping. Zimmerman is a good 3b (a bad team though). Brandon Phillips could be playing shortstop this year. Rios was doing really well (until the injury) and while Teixeria didn't hit his stride till late in the season, do you risk dropping him in the redraft pool?

Any help would be great.

Thanks.

[rowech]

Phillips won't end up playing shortstop to start for the Reds. Of your pitchers, I think Harang is a solid keeper. He's just hitting his prime and has been getting better each year.

I'd keep him and 4 of your hitters...there are some good guys to keep there so I'm not sure which ones I'd go with.

[Toddzilla]

Hamels and Cain are very good young starters - if you have 1 more year after this one, I'd strongly consider holding onto both of those guys. I'd keep either over Harang regardless.

Valverde is a lower-tier closer, so if there are better ones going to be available in the draft, consider dropping him.

Teixiera is a top-10 fantasy player, so he's a no-question no-doubt keeper. Especially at 3B.

Morneau would be on my list as well - great fantasy stats.

So my 5 would be....

Hamels
Cain
Valverde/Harang
Teixiera
Morneau

[Lathum]

just curious, why only 1 more year?

[ntndeacon]

with only keeping 5 there is gonna be a lot of players in the redraft. The ones that stick out to me are:
Rios
Zimmerman
Morneau
Texiera
and either Lee/ Harang as a 5th...

If Lee you have 2 OF , 1 3B, and 2 1B
if Harang you have 1 OF, 13B,2 1B, and a SP

[SuperGrover]

Teixiera
Morneau
Harang
Young
Lee

[lynchjm24]

Matt Cain, SF
Mark Teixeira, Tex
Ryan Zimmerman, Was
Carlos Lee, Hou
Justin Morneau, Min

EDIT: I might keep Young over Lee.

[Qwikshot]

just curious, why only 1 more year?

1st off, thanks for the replies...I need some guidance.

Why one year...espn keeper leagues are 3 year affairs...I'm in the 2nd year, next year will be the last year.

I'll be picking 7th, ESPN feels that celler dweller teams shouldn't get the 1st overall pick...I'm actually picking at the bottom swing. If you think about it (and I don't rightly know which team is keeping which) but 60 players are already off the list (even dead teams are protected because ESPN will protected the highest ranked players of last year and keep them).

At 7th, I feel that if I went all offensive I could still get a decent pitcher, I'm more worried about the infield positions because teams will keep high end infielders (Utley, shortstops (shortstops for me last year was a horrible position)).

I really miss being in a league indefinately...but ESPN will have to do for now.

Still I appreciate your help...I still have time, but I think going will all batters is promising. I think I may gamble with Harang and Myers in the pool.

[Toddzilla]

Um....1B, hasn't played a game at 3B since '03 when he only played 15 there. He's a top 20-25 guy probably, but he's not higher than that since he's a 1B.Well, I did get the position wrong, but he's still top-10. I dare you to make a case for 20 guys in MLB being a better fantasy plater than Teixiera. You don't dock Pujolz, Howard for being a 1B, or Ortiz for being a DH (all top 10 IMO), and Teixeira is right there. Top 10 without question.

[Toddzilla]

Rios - No no no. There are much better OF options than this guy, and you'll be able to find 5-7 in the draft, even after the top 60 are gone. Please not Alexis Rios.
Zimmerman - he's good, and certainly plays 3rd base :), but while the top tier 3B's are going to be protected (Arod, Cabrera, Wright, Ramirez), you can probably do better. Garret Atkins and Alex Gordon are better options, and likely available.
Lee - He's a better option that Rios to be sure, but there will be better OFs available. OF isn't a scarce position, so keep the better hitting options and pass on Lee.
Chris Young - I don't see why you'd keep Young over Myers, Hamels, Harang, or Cain, unless you think Greg Maddux is going to positively influence his stats in a big way. He's barely the 5th best stzrter on your list. Pass.

[Sublime 2]

Maybe I can get some help here as well. Same thing as Qwikshot, 2nd year of 3 yr keeper league. Need to keep 5 of these guys. I'll be picking 6th in the re-draft.

Pitchers

Carlos Zambrano
Chris Carpenter
Jose Contreras
Andy Pettite
Jon Papelbon
AJ Burnett
Trevor Hoffman
Bob Wickman
Rafael Soriano
Scot Shields
Chris Ray

Batters

Kenji Johjima
Carlos Delgado
Marcus Giles
Morgan Ensberg
Michael Young
Carl Crawford
Geoff Jenkins
Craig Monroe
Moises Alou
Torii Hunter
Ryan Freel
Shea Hillenbrand
Jack Wilson
Josh Barfield

[Fighter of Foo]

Maybe I can get some help here as well. Same thing as Qwikshot, 2nd year of 3 yr keeper league. Need to keep 5 of these guys. I'll be picking 6th in the re-draft.

Pitchers

Carlos Zambrano
Chris Carpenter
Jose Contreras
Andy Pettite
Jon Papelbon
AJ Burnett
Trevor Hoffman
Bob Wickman
Rafael Soriano
Scot Shields
Chris Ray

Batters

Kenji Johjima
Carlos Delgado
Marcus Giles
Morgan Ensberg
Michael Young
Carl Crawford
Geoff Jenkins
Craig Monroe
Moises Alou
Torii Hunter
Ryan Freel
Shea Hillenbrand
Jack Wilson
Josh Barfield

Yours is much easier...

Zambrano, Carp, Crawford, Young. Kenji, Delgado or a pitcher you like for your 5th.


Regarding the 1st list Myers is much, much better than Harang who had a good year but still sucks. You can get Hamels back in the draft if you want him. Cain, Myers, Morneau, Zimmerman if there's not going to be many 3B left and Lee or Tex.

Young and Jennings are better picks than Harang.

[Toddzilla]

Keeping Zimmerman or Lee over Teixiera is absolute and complete madness.

And I'd like to see the projections that have Jason Jennings with a better fantasy year than Harang, who had a pretty good 2005 on a bad Reds team. That's crazy talk. Young could be good - real good - but he'll have to break through to be a viable keeper. Even with the better ballpark (Petco) and better team (SD), I'd still be inclined to take Harang over Young.

[Qwikshot]

I think the big thing, is while there is depth in OF and 3b, you must realize that 60 players are off the market immediately, along with 6 picks before me, that's 66 players (including my own).

I think I could look at the top 100 list and figure out who would be gone and who would stay.

The challenge is that I won't know who stays on opponent's teams until after the fact.

I think that Hamels will be around...I think all my pitcher's are easily redraftable.

I'm going to evaluate and come back, some homework to be done on this. I think that if I do keep all hitters, I will draft best position available (save closers, I hate closers until late or FA) with a leaning towards pitchers. 10 picks after mine, I get on the backswing. If I do keep the hitters that I have, I may need to decide on a basestealler or runs producing hitter (generally they are one in the same) or I continue to acquire high RBI/HR guys (while avoiding the pitfallers like Adam Dunn who kill points or slow started Richie Sexson and Bonds killed me last year, I wouldn't have drafted either, or not at the selections they were picked).

Damn shame I had a trade vetoed last season that would have netted me Utley and Howard plus Bonderman (because the league felt I was giving too much away - Tex was part of it and I think Beltran (who I traded later for multiple players)).