2K14 Free Agent League

[virgonomic]

My outfield is a real weak spot on my AFA team. I've currently got Springer, Willingham, Polanco, and Taveras.

There are some real nice platoon options out there every night -- guys like Murphy, Arcia, Dickerson, and Byrd. Should I dump Taveras and stream that final OF slot, or will I regret that?

I'm debating dropping Taveres but am worried he will pull a Springer. I noticed Arcia on the FA list in my league, too. With Taveras' talent level I think you need to give him another couple weeks.

[BuckyBuckner]

My team sucks. Plain and simple.

C - Gomes
1B - Morales, Lind, Butler
2B - Espinosa (had Walker)
SS - Peralta
3B - Seager
OF - Kemp, Gardner, Bourn, Blackmon, Polanco, Revere

SP - Cobb, Cain, Kluber, Estrada, Eovaldi, Lackey, Haren, Latos (DL)
RP - Hawkins, Qualls, Allen

I'd say Butler and Revere can probably be dropped but there really isn't much available.

Aaron Hill is on waivers and I assume he will clear waivers, I'll probably pick him up for Espinosa.

I just don't keep up with it enough, for example just now I noticed that Peralta isn't hitting at all lately.

[joncarlos]

I'm debating dropping Taveres but am worried he will pull a Springer. I noticed Arcia on the FA list in my league, too. With Taveras' talent level I think you need to give him another couple weeks.

Adams' return is imminent. I dropped Oscar in my league to pick up Dickerson. I figure I can play him vR and mostly at home since I have a lot of middling OFs to play the matchups.

[red]

Mauer was dropped. Rosario is my catcher. I wouldn't drop Rosario, but is Mauer worth using a roster slot on in our AFA format? Maybe I'd platoon him against righties. Would you drop Butler or Lind for him?

[joncarlos]

I'd probably take him over Butler at this point.

[Davros]

Time to evaluate at the All-Star break. My team has surged in recent weeks, climbing to 4th place (75 points). I'm only 2 points out of 3rd place right now, but lots of work will be needed to challenge the top two teams (18.5 and 16 points ahead of me). Pitching categories are my strong areas (2nd place in W and WHIP, 4th in SV, 5th in K). Slipped to 2nd place in SB, but have surged to 3rd place in R. Still near the bottom in HR and RBI, which I continue to try and fix (Singleton was to cold to use on the active lineup, so I recently let him go to pick Calhoun back up). 82 moves in total so far.

C: C.Santana
1B: LaRoche
2B: Rendon, Alcantara
3B: McGehee, Holt
SS: D.Gordon, A.Escobar
OF: K.Calhoun, G.Polanco, G.Springer, M.Cabrera, Revere

SP: Kazmir, Roark, Latos, G.Richards, A.Wood, Lackey
RP: Soria, Casilla, Qualls, J.Smith

Bold = Kept all season

[joncarlos]

Power numbers are the hardest to fix. It's getting late in the season to make a big push. Can you deal Gordon without completely collapsing in SB? I would try to do that if you can. It might be worthwhile to see if you can sell high on Polanco or Springer too.

[red]

I've made 128 moves and am in 2nd place - 10 points back. Here's my squad:

Rosario
Laroche
Rendon
Betts
Sandoval
Springer
Polanco
Dickerson
Holt
Calhoun
Pearce

SP: C. Lee, A. Sanchez, Gio Gonzalez, Hamels, Kluber, Kennedy, Lackey
RP: Doolittle, Allen, McGee, Ramirez, W. Davis, Betances

I'm getting 8 points or higher in every pitching category, but only 2 in AVG and 5 or 6 in HR and RBIs.

I find the real struggle is trying to recover my K-rate from some early-season screwing around. If I don't fix that, some teams will pass me in Ks after I reach the IP limit.

Would you pounce on Starlin Marte or Allen Craig? I'd drop Steve Pearce for one of them.

[red]

My AFA league has four teams within 4 points of 1st. If I can gain about 4 HRs and 15 RBIs these last thirteen days, I might have a chance at victory. If only I hadn't wasted so many at bats on Everth Cabrera!

[red]

As late as two days ago, I was in 1st place. But I ended up 3rd -- 3 points behind the winner. The top four teams were within four points of 1st. There were a bunch of categories where I could have eked out another point, but I just couldn't pull the right strings on those last two days.

It's amazing that this game can last for six whole months and yet the margin of victory ends up so small.

Just like last year, I found plenty of free agent pitching available. I finished 2nd in Wins, 1st in Ks, 1st in ERA, 3rd in WHIP, and 4th in Saves.

Dickerson and Rendon were my offensive breakouts. Traded for Kluber and picked up Hamels off waivers.

[virgonomic]

I finished third. I picked up 3 SP Sat who pitched yesterday to go with the 2 I had and got 2 W to leapfrog an owner (5th overall) who had maxed out his IP. I had leapfrogged him in SV the day before. I actually could have dropped all my closers as I ended up a couple wins back of the leader in that category.

SB, W, SV were my strong categories. I improved from the bottom in HR/RBI. ERA/WHIP were weaknesses this year but I gained several points in them during the past few weeks.

Not sure I will do it next year, but the 3rd place finish is decent. I was 12 back of second and 16 back of 1st.

[Davros]

Third place for me as well (barely, was 0.5 and 1.5 points better than my next competition). 6 points out of 2nd place, 17 points out of 1st place. I made some modest improvements on my HR and RBI totals over the final few months, but my once-stable rotation imploded in August (mainly Lackey and Kazmir) or got hurt (G. Richards). I was able to correct some of the ERA and WHIP hits that they caused by grabbing Haren, Arrieta, and Holland down the stretch, but that hole created in August kept me from being able to push the 2nd place team. Finished on top in SB, second in R, W, and WHIP. I'm happy to have finished 5th in saves given the amount of closer turnover I had (13 different guys notched saves over the season). I'll need to do better on Ks next year (6th) by not leaning on guys like Lackey and Roark even if their ERA and WHIP totals were helping.

Anthony Rendon finished as the only player who stayed on my team all year. I finished with 116 moves (sadly only 4 more than last year despite wanting to be more active this year).

[red]

I finished with 116 moves (sadly only 4 more than last year despite wanting to be more active this year).

I had 249 moves. I wonder what the other owners think when they see that number. I wonder how many notice that I didn't have any drafted players.

[virgonomic]

I think I had 168.

My status was "Drafting is overrated".