Random Roto Thoughts and Some Guys to Think About

The Red Sox staff is already depleted with Dice K down. Look for Justin Masterson to move into the rotation to replace him.

The injury to Alex Gordon moves Teahen to third base indefinitely. It opens up a slot for Mitch Maier to prove that he can play major league baseball and make it in the KC outfield. He is no Nelson Cruz but has never gotten a fair shot. This could be his time. Many guys like that.

The Red Sox need a SS. Don’t be surprised if they deal. Gil Velazquez and Travis Denker are not the answer. Neither is Julio Lugo anymore but they seem to have a false reliance on him.

Cameron Maybin is showing signs of being overmatched. Looks like super utilityman Alfredo Amezaga may be more useful than originally anticipated. Don’t blame Maybin yet. Batting a free swinger eighth in the order was not bright. But then who can fault the Marlins for anything right now?

No surprise to see ageless Doug Mienkevichski go down for LA, on a base hit no less, but it opens up the door for Blake DeWitt to come back to the majors. Speaking of which, kick myself surely, I had Eric Stults as a reserve in every league, and released him before the season when he was torched in his last Spring start and LA sent him down.

Then Kuroda gets hurt, and Stults shows up on the early morning roto news as his replacement, and is swooped up in every league. He is 2-0 already and a good pickup to grab and deal. His history suggests a lack of dominance and while steady, you might get more for him now then he is actually worth. Or if you need pitching, you scored a free agent steal.

Then there is the entire softball team of outfielders on the Nationals. Someone go get Willingham. He has to wind up playing everyday somewhere. Too good a HR hitter to ride pine all summer. But the way they have been going down, it may be in Washington.
I see Dukes already pissed off the team and Bernadina ran into a wall and Justin Maxwell is beckoning.

Also surprised to see that the Angels went with Izturis at DH last nite over Gary Matthews when Vladdy went down. How does that happen? What does that say about how little the manager likes Matthews? He has got to play more now.These are how one dollar reserve pick stars are born. Doors open up that you would never anticipate.

No one is surprised Glaus is out but everybody assumed that David Freeze would be handed third base by LaRussa. Don’t ever. He is totally unpredictable. The early running suddenly has one time Dodger phenom, Joey Baseball, AKA Thurston, playing everywhere everyday and performing ever so well. And with La Russa, it does not matter if like Ludwick, you hit two homers on Tuesday, he sits you on Wednesday. So is Ryan Franklin the new closer? Yes, until tomorrow.

You see, picking players for your roto teams means knowing who the managers are as well. You pick a player for a Pinella team and you are better off with Reed Johnson then Felix Pie because you knew last season the rookie just was not going to get a fair chance. Same with Dusty Baker, who was fine managing septogenarians in San Francisco. Some managers prefer the vets they can count on for the mental part of the game. They value it more than the physical.

Ronnie Paulino is 8 for 16 to open the season and before you know it this twice traded afterthought who was a fantasy dream two years ago could suddenly become a full time one dollar platoon catcher on a winning team. And you spent fifteen dollars on AJ Persnickety. Playing roto ball means more than drafting the stars. It means playing the waiver wire when the season begins to see who is moving into a 7th inning hold role, and who is the backup behind the closer whose manager has a job on the line when the dude loses two or three saves in a row. So prudent guys hold on to a Corpas or Lyon, but many leagues limit reserves, so your task is to be the quickest with the finger on the add button in first come first serve leagues.

If you are not so intense, and play in weekly leagues, you have time to cruise, pick, select, and drop. The difference is like the guy who plays softball once a week as compared to the guy in three leagues five nites a week. The intense warrior is better for the battle than the couch potato.

So here is some specific advice:

Check out teams off to slow starts who typically do not win. Their patience will be less. Look at their minor leaguers.

Look at the guys who got cut on March 30; like Erich Stults, last cut, first up.

Looking for pitching, don’t be afraid to track Double AA guys with dominance. More teams are using Triple A for retreads and older players without ceilings, and promoting kids from double AA.

Anyone who thinks a part time DH player can’t help a deep league ought to see what Jason Kubel did last nite. Wow, Hudson, Kinsler and Kubel have all hit for the cycle in April. No such thing as pitchers being ahead of the hitters anymore in April.

Do you think the Angels are regretting losing KRod? How many saves have Shields, Arrreondo and Fuentes blown already?

That’s all for now. Gotta go.