June - Time for Action and Not Reaction

The calendar is just about to turn a page and with some players on your fantasy team(s), maybe you should too.

The keys to both trading and cut/add decisions in weekly transaction leagues are knowledge and patience. But with one-third of the season now already in the scorebooks, patience is no longer a virtue if you drafted a furry caterpillar unless they have or are emerging with useful wings.

You should know about those players by now but you might have added some in May that are on the line and those require care in handling lest you drop a player who is about to blossom. A key here will be projected playing time. As we have said in many articles over the years, the key to AL or NL-only leagues is having as many everyday players as you can. Maximize your at-bats. Let’s take a look at LABR’s AL auction league that I reported on back in March. I have the second-best pitching points in the league but am probably sixth/seventh in hitting points. So let’s view the at-bats accumulated by each team through yesterday (5/28).

You can see that two of the top three teams – Nick Minnix of KFFL and Larry Schechter, whose upcoming book will be titled Winning Fantasy Baseball, have a lot of at-bats in their lineup and thus 44 and 38 hitting points respectively. And, my team is suffering with just 31 hitting points – actually higher than might be presumed from having less than 2000 at-bats after a third of the games have been played.

So who are my fringe players and what can I do with them?

Well, let’s take a look at my lineup and you can spot the problems:

C – Pierzynski & Doumit

CI – Butler, Seager & Moreland

MI – Altuve, Andrus & Y. Navarro

OF – Cespedes, L. Martin, Nava, Endy Chavez & Jeff Baker

UT – Gillaspie

Pretty clear that I have a poor collection of outfielders as far as producing counting stats. Injuries to Cespedes, who is now back, and Justin Maxwell, still resting somewhere, were the major culprits. Leonys Martin, who had really developed last year and was having a terrific spring, did not seize the CF job for the Rangers and shares at-bats with Craig Gentry. The other two-thirds drafted were Juan Rivera, who looked like he was going to be starting for the Yankees, and Casper Wells, who was in the rotation in the Seattle pasture.

Fortunately, I drafted Daniel Nava and Cole Gillaspie in the reserve rounds as they have at least filled in. But what I really need to do is find a way to trade one of my starting pitchers for an outfielder who will gain more points than Chavez or Baker. I could try and package Gillaspie there for a team weak at either 3B or CI or pray that he will get at least part time at-bats when Gordon Beckham returns in the next week or two or deal one of my first basemen for an outfielder with the same hope.

Another alternative would be to trade my only closer, Joe Nathan. I currently have seven points in saves with 17 but I would lose immediate points to the two teams with 16 and eventually to Brandon Funston/Yahoo, who has 12 and Tom Wilhelmsen. In addition, Nathan might well get me two more points with an 18 and 19 just barely in front of me. It seems to me penny wise and pound foolish to deal one of my Aces – Chris Sale or Alex Cobb - as that will drastically weaken the other four pitching categories. The flip side is that it is hard to get much of an outfielder for the likes of Mark Buehrle (although he has pitched much better in his last few starts), Jason Hammel, Dylan Axelrod, Jerome Williams or Jose Quintana.

But Pierzynski has just returned from a DL stint. Baker is getting more at-bats for the Rangers (and if they are at Moreland’s expense they are still on my team). Cespedes still isn’t 100% but is improving. Nava at least until/if Victorino is back is getting more at-bats.

So unless a perfect trade arrives in my e-mail, it may well be that the best course of action is to wait and see.

See what happens with Gillaspie.

See how fast Maxwell returns to the Astros.

Because in this particular case, trading from my strength will likely cost me more pitching points than I can make up on offense. And, the emergence of Mitch Moreland this year should soon be accompanied by the return to form of Billy Butler. My best course of action may be to see if I can get more at-bats without sacrificing pitching. {jcomments on}