Strangely, J. Johnson was a FA after being dropped, so he was immediately available, and I picked him up and dropped Lilly. There must be some rule under ESPN's add/drop system whereby short-term pickups are not sent to waivers when dropped.

Looking at the Cubs' schedule made me feel better about the roster move. During the last two weeks of September, the Cubs will play the Mets 4 times, the Brewers 6 times and the Cards 3 times. Maybe Lilly will do great or maybe he will get blown up. Regardless, there is not an insignificant amount of risk.

My last post got me thinking about the last two weeks of September. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself. Anyway, here are some things that I am noticing:

1. Oakland get to play Seattle 6 times. Too bad Oakland's staff is mostly unusable.

2. San Diego is at Colorado, at Washington, at LAD and finishes with Pittsburgh at home. Not especially helpful.

3. Washington gets Mets, then San Diego, then Florida at home and finishes at Philadelphia. Again, nothing comes immediately to mind in terms of H2H strategy.

4. Philadelphia plays Atlanta 6 times. Moyer might be worth consideration.

5. LAD has SF 6 times on the schedule. Maddux, Kershaw and Kuroda are probably all worth keeping in mind. SF ranks last in HRs and RBIs in all of MLB.

You can drop a player within 24 hours and they are immediately available.

Agreed on Lilly.



Eveland comes to mind.



Young comes to mind and LeBlanc has some marginal value.



I suppose on Moyer, just not a huge fan.



I'd agree with that.

Quick update as it is very late where I am. Plus, I have very little to say. I am up 9-1 in my semifinals matchup. At almost the 75% mark, I think that I have this thing won and can start to look forward to my finals matchup. The past few days, to be honest, have been boring, but that is a good problem to have.

1. I have been playing for most of this current week without anyone occupying my MI spot. Given the lead that I built up last week, this has not affected me negatively at all. The extra player that I am carrying right now is Wheeler. I had been concerned about Percival and the possibility of injuries and/or ineffectiveness. After tonight's game where Wheeler gave up runs, but Percival later came in and got the save, I have to say that I am slightly less nervous about dropping Wheeler when I have to fill in my MI spot again.

2. Notwithstanding the announcement that Carpenter will be closing games going forward for St. Louis, I have not dropped C. Perez. Yet. I do believe that he has lost the closer role, but I am not sure whether there is now a committee or whether Carpenter will get almost all of the save opportunities. By the way, my likely opponent for the finals matchup recently picked up Carpenter and Lindstrom. I am not thrilled to see what would have been a clear advantage get slowly eroded.

3. N. Cruz is occupying my UT spot at the moment. With B.J. Upton now injured, I looked at Cameron again, thinking that he could be a fair balance of power and speed. However, looking at the box score from tonight's game, I decided that I would be happier avoiding Cameron, especially considering that I already own Braun and Hart. What does that have to do with anything? I am not sure. I could say something about not wanting my players to be all on the same team in case there are nights when they face an ace and are all blanked. But I am not sure that would be my real reason. With absolutely no evidence or good reason, I just have a feeling that the Brewers are pressing a bit right now. It could be fatigue. It could be the pressure of chasing the Cubs or hanging on to the wild card spot. Anyway, I just have not gotten much from my Milwaukee players recently. Seems like a good time to diversify.

4. When my finals matchup begins, the plan is to play B. Wood at MI, though I could change my mind between now and then. N. Cruz could stay at UT, but I am also keeping an eye on Crisp, Milledge and Dukes.

Two developments worthy of quick note:

1. Lilly was picked up after I dropped him. This was expected, but I was happy to see it happen nonetheless because the team that picked him up tends to hold onto players. The less high K pitchers out there as FAs, the more difficult it will be to stream against me. Absent streaming, I generally like the chances of my staff (Lincecum, Kazmir, Billingsley, Baker and J. Johnson).

By the way, Lilly is 13-9 with 4 tough losses and no cheap wins. How differently would he be viewed today if his luck were neutral and he is 17-9 instead?

2. Rotoworld is reporting that Carpenter has been unable to pitch since being used on Tuesday. C. Perez still worth owning it seems.

If saves are in high demand, Wheeler should still be owned. Just on your bench, if your ratios are tenuous.


Carp's worth owning if you're vulturing for saves. Don't drop Perez.



That's a really excellent point about the Brewers. I've been seeing a bit of that too. Where the Rays seem the opposite. Whenever someone needs to step up (D. Johnson), they do.



I'd watch Milledge and Dukes closely.

You could always turn to Seattle pitching... And by that I mean Brandon Morrow, if he available. I picked him up even though I don't love his start this week (@LAA). But next week, he's slated for 2 starts (@KC, @Oak).


Jaime "Grey hasn't recommended me in 45 years" Moyer will get 2 starts against Atlanta. One of those starts comes at home, where I'd stay away. Moyer's Magic Wandy: 4.84 ERA at home and 2.61 ERA away.

Some of you may have wondered why I haven't said anything about my opponent's roster moves. Good question. The answer is that he hasn't made any during our entire semifinals matchup! Until today that is. I logged in this morning and was taken aback that he's finally adjusted his roster. His one move is . . . *drum roll* . . . dropping Fernando Tatis for Rajai Davis! Why? I don't know. It's only day 10 of our H2H series and he's only losing steals 19-6. Maybe he saw B.J. Upton get hurt and figured that he had an opening at last?

Anyway, I have no idea what he's thinking. He still has Carlos Quentin active every day. Wishful thinking? You decide!

I am still winning 9-1. I have to say that the quality of opponent play has taken a lot of fun out of this experience for me. There's not much pride in winning.

I should have more interesting things to say with my opponent for the finals matchup. (At this point, it is pretty clear who that will be.) The guy is a hyperactive roster manager-multiple moves everyday. I think that I generally have better players, but one downside is that I have limited ability to drop players. For example, I'm not going to start dropping Braun even if he goes ice cold. It will be interesting to see whether my next opponent's strategy of maximizing at bats and riding the hot bats - errr - will win over my more talented lineup. There certainly will be a puncher's chance, I think. But enough for now. Don't want to get too ahead of myself. 4 more days left of the semifinals matchup.

Here are some things on my mind:

1. I normally accept all the risk of running Brian Wilson out there every day, but today I blame Grey for the blown save. You have to use those powers more responsibly!

2. In the past 7 days - Braun (5 for 26, 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI) and Hart (4 for 27, 0 R, 0 HR and 1 RBI). I'll take the lack of performance this week if it means that I get their usual production back sometime during the next two weeks. Am very worried though.

3. Also in the past 7 days - Soto (4 for 17, 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI). Unlike Braun or Hart, there's actually a chance that I'll drop Soto during my finals matchup if things are not looking good. How much more production can I get from Soto anyway, compared to Sandoval, Teagarden or Olivo, all of whom are available? Over a two week span, probably not enough to justify holding onto him when the Cubs aren't playing or when Soto isn't active. If there is a good pitching matchup and I don't need offensive contribution, the catcher position is not a bad one to leave empty in order to stream an extra pitcher.

4. Brandon Wood has continued to fly under the radar a bit due to his very suppressed batting average, but I fully intend to drop Wheeler to use him at my now empty MI spot at the beginning of next week. In the past 7 days, he has had 4 Rs, 3 HRs, 5 RBIs and 1 steal. Tonight, he had another multihit game, including a double. There could be a power surge coming.

That's too bad your first opponent was lame. That takes some fun out of it.



Hehe



Hart was good last September so maybe he'll get hot, but I'd be most worried about him. The Brewers need to win and that may come at Hart's expense.


I'd seriously consider Sandoval and Teagarden.



He's looked really good and I'll be pumping Wood again in tonight's post.