Think Roy was peeved at John Gibbons? Roy's fantasy owners were.

I received a request from a reader recently who suggested that I should discuss how I put together my roster in some of the leagues that I belonged to this year.  Fair enough, I thought, and so I will dedicate most of the rest of this column to that endeavor.  However, before I begin, I must bring to light a terrible decision by Toronto manager John Gibbons yesterday that cost his team an opportunity (and Roy Halladay) for a victory.

Toronto was up on Detroit by a score of 4 – 1 in the 9th inning.  After Halladay gave up a single to Mike Rabelo to start the ninth, that base runner was eliminated on a double play grounder.  After two more singles, Halladay’s night was done (he was at 123 pitches).  Let me set the scene now:  runners on first and third, the score is 4 -1, there are two out and Curtis Granderson is coming up to bat.  Just the other day, manager John Gibbons has gone away from using Jeremy Accardo exclusively as the closer and mentioned that he would use different guys, depending on the situation.  Sounds reasonable.  He named Brian Wolfe, Scott Downs and Casey Janssen.  So, if you have Curtis Granderson up, who are you going bring in?  Let me give you a hint:  Granderson, despite his tremendous season this year, is batting 0.157 in 115 at bats against left-handed pitching.  Does John Gibbons bring in the lefty Scott Downs, against whom opponents are hitting 0.188 in 96 at bats?  Nope, he gets Casey Janssen.  Well, needless to say, Janssen didn’t record an out to any of the four batters he faced and the Tigers won 5 – 4.  Now, I know Janssen has had a fine season and I would not have a problem if he was brought in to face any of the right handed hitters.  Heck, even a left-handed hitter with no platoon split probably would not have bothered me as much.  But the reason Scott Downs is on your roster is to face Granderson.  Otherwise, why is he there?  A lot of writers make mention to the fact that managers do not have a big outcome on whether a team wins or loses.  Well, here is an instance where it did matter.  I just don’t understand this decision. I am pretty sure Roy Halladay is not a happy camper right now.  Not because the guy blew the game, but because the manager made the wrong decision.   At any rate, let me discuss my roster philosophy for some of my expert leagues before I get more ajita.

CBSSports.com Analysts League (12 team, 5x5)

This was my first year in this league (I was asked if I could participate by Mark Haverty, only partly due to a flexible drafting schedule) and it was filled with people and sites you have heard of (click here for SportsLine's coverage of the draft). The auction was done via a conference call and moved along swiftly.  My strategy was, first, not to embarrass myself.  This is accomplished by drafting a balanced roster, complete with speed, an ace starter (with strikeouts) and a closer.  I also wanted guys who were safe with respect to playing time, especially in the early rounds.  Here was my draft, given in the table below.

I achieved that goal as I was adding solid contributors to round 11.  One steal for me was getting Jose Guillen as late as I did.  Guillen was a player I wanted in multiple leagues since he was young enough to regroup from playing in Washington to have a solid season for Seattle (which he did).  Also, with the Yankee lineup as it is, getting Melky Cabrera in round 18 was a steal.  Finally, I took a chance on Sammy Sosa (remember, this draft was held on January 24th!) since he had an upside that few players do that late in the draft (recall this is a 12-team draft)

Looking at this roster now (and then, actually), I came away with the opinion that I had a lot of at bats, but power was going to be an issue.  Also, I would need to be aggressive in the free agent pitching market.  With seven reserve spots taken (and a disabled list), the free agent pool was very, very shallow.  Thus, I had to take chances.  One chance I took early was getting Fausto Carmona during the first day that we could acquire free agents (March 13th).  I also have benefited by getting Chad Gaudin and Dustin McGowan in early April as well as getting Shawn Marcum in May when he was just a middle reliever.  Obviously my philosophy is to draft free agent pitchers a day (or a month) early.

As it stands now, my offense does have power issues (I am in 6th), but all of those at bats have landed me in first in both runs scored and RBI.  Anchored by John Lackey, my starters have put me in first in strikeouts and in wins as well.  All totaled, I have 100 points and I have a lead of over 10 points.  With just under three weeks to go, I like my chances.

So what did we learn from that exercise?  You have to draft at bats and guys whose playing time is not in jeopardy.  Also, draft really good pitchers, and/or or just wait and pick up guys who are reasonable later.  You can also always FAAB pitchers out of the pool so don’t waste your time in the middle of the draft picking a 4th/5th starter.

The Ultimate American League Challenge (10 team, H2H)

This is an expert head-to-head league that I am involved in that has analysts from a variety of outlets.  I have been in the league five years (including this year) and have made the playoffs in each season.  This year’s H2H draft, in my opinion, was the best draft I have ever had in any league (and I’ve been playing rotisserie baseball since 1991).  I was far away (in draft position) from one of the really good players in the league so it seemed as though whatever player I was hoping to get, I always did.  That leaves you with a feeling that you have a strong team.

At any rate, since one does have a reserve list here and you play against a different opponent each week, my goal is to maximize the production per week.  Here, one needs to focus on guys (especially later in the draft) who are productive when they are healthy.  Often times you’ll find a player (like Jose Guillen) who was ineffective/hurt a previous year, but is productive when healthy.  Also, unlike rotisserie formats, I find it extremely important to have a few solid pitchers that I draft (especially those who can rack up the strikeouts.)  Thus, I focused on John Lackey and Javier Vazquez as well as Tim Wakefield and Jake Westbrook.  Also, in H2H leagues like this, I won’t draft a closer unless he is just so far ahead of the other players available.  One needs at least two relief pitchers in your starting lineup at all times and I’d rather just use middle relievers who have good K-rates than have to draft a mediocre closer early (and get bummed out when they are demoted from their job or are injured).

In this league, I have made it to the championship round and we’ll see how it goes over the next two weeks.  I am not optimistic (I am already down 10 points…and he has 12 starts this week to my eight starts), but I’ll keep you posted.

Ice Storm AL Only (12 team, 5x5)

I am reluctant to call this an expert’s league as it is made up of various writers somehow affiliated with Mark Haverty in some way, shape or form.  At any rate, this was a keeper league and I had a lot of high-priced keeper decisions to make.  I wanted to make this easy on myself so I just decided to keep all of my high-priced guys and some of my dollar players (especially on the pitching staff).  Mark Teixeira at $47?  Why not!  Alex Rodriguez at $55?  Sure.  Carl Crawford at $55?  Giddy up.  Magglio Ordonez at $29?  Yep.  Needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of money available at the draft.  However, that didn’t matter much as I was able to make the proper pitching pickups during the season to help the cause. Chad Gaudin, Joakim Soria and Dustin McGowan were all picked up earlier in the season out of the free agent pool.  This, coupled with the great seasons out of Ordonez and A-Rod (did I mention I kept Jorge Posada at $11!) have pushed me to 95 points on the season and a 15+ point cushion.

Questions and comments may be sent to donvisco@sportsgrumblings.com