5x5 plus OBP and XBH for batters, K/BB and Holds for pitchers.

C- Doumit (195)
1B- Votto (27)
2B- Pedrioa (30)
3B- Stewart (111)
SS- Hanley (2)
IF- Adam LaRoche (198)
OF-Lind (55)
OF- Quentin (114)
OF- Borbon (139)
OF- Bruce (170)
UTIL- JD Drew (226)
BN- Alcides Escobar (307)
BN-Nick Johnson (251)
BN-Milton Bradley (310)
BN- Chase Headley (335)

SP- Beckett (58)
SP- Nolasco (83)
RP- Broxton (86)
RP- Wagner (167)
RP-Gonzalez (254)
RP- Capps (279)
P- Slowey (142)
P- Lilly (223)
P- Colby Lewis (282)
BN- Saito (338)
BN- Ian Kennedy (363)

Preemptive justifications-

Pedrioa's value jumps considerably due to the additional stats...although, more accurately, its the other top 2Bs whose value plummets. For example, CHONE projects Phillips' OBP to be .324, so he drops out of the top 100.

And just generally, anyone who hits with a high OBP and power is more valuable than a normal league. But I may have overdone my picks based on these background assumptions, at least compared to the other teams in the league.

I don't want to have so many bench hitters, but it seems that, 1. The high OBP and/or power guys should be owned in this league; and 2. I need Escobar to compete when I am up against a speedier lineup.

Regarding pitching, I focused on high K/BB pitchers. Because someone with a high K/9 and a high K/BB rate is necessarily a top pitcher, I felt I had to reach somewhat to grab Beckett. I also felt that the inclusion of K/BB justified grabbing Broxton. I think Nolasco could be a top 5 pitcher in this league, and Lilly and Slowey could be top 20, so I think I made out well here.

Marcum, Chris Young (SD), Morales, Masterson, and Norris are on the wire.

For batters, Cust, Everth, Maybin, Kouz, Iannetta, LaPorta, Ian Desmond, Conor and Austin Jackson, Snider and Gaby Sanchez are as well.

Anyhow, sorry for the epic essay, but how do you think I'll fare? And should I own any of the aforementioned dudes?

Overall, not bad to my relatively untrained eye. Light on speed, but in H2H, that's less of a problem.

4 bench bats to 2 bench P, though? I'd kick at least 2 of the bats to the curb and grab a couple more RP, especially since as it stands you're punting holds. I'd probably lose Lewis for Masterson, too.

I wouldn't say I'm punting holds just yet... I just don't want to grab another MR until I get a good feel for who will be in line for holds. Also, unless a team I'm up against has 2 MR, I'm hoping Saito will do.

Regarding Colby Lewis or Masterson, because we are counting K/BB, I think Lewis could be very valuable. Before going to Japan, Lewis clearly had problems with his location. In Japan, his K/BB was 7.15 in 2008 and 9.5 in 2009. So far this Spring he has 16 K and 3 BB. Masterson has also been impressive this Spring (22/4) but I'd rather not have to drop a P for a P. Now that I look at Masterson's Spring numbers I'm beginning to think that I need to drop someone for him though...

Thanks for the input.

My team has changed to:

C- Doumit
1B- Votto
2B- Pedrioa
3B- Stewart
IF- Adam LaRoche
OF- Quentin
OF-Lind
OF-Abreu
OF- Headley
UTIL- Bruce
BN- Bradley
BN-Conor Jackson
BN- Borbon
BN- Nick Johnson
BN- Carlos Santana
DL- Branyan

SP- Beckett
SP- Nolasco
RP- Broxton
RP- Capps
RP- Gregg
RP- Rauch
P- Slowey
P- Colby Lewis
P- Jaime Garcia
BN- Ian Kennedy
DL- Lilly

I won the first two weeks 10-2 and 8-5.

Should I try to trade Ian Stewart for Verlander? I would move Headley to third, and try to move a lower tier SP or RP plus an OF for an OF upgrade.

I'd make that move if you could. Your hitting certainly looks good enough to withstand the hit.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! Turn and face the strange:

C- Doumit
1B-Votto
2B- Pedrioa
3B- Stewart
SS- Hanley
IF- Adam Laroche
OF- Lind
OF- Quentin
OF- Abreu
OF- Headley
UTIL- Bruce
BN- Smoak
BN- Borbon
BN- Gardner
BN- Nick Johnson

SP- Beckett
SP-Nolasco
RP- Broxton
RP- Capps
RP- Rauch
RP- Gregg
P- Slowey
P- Jaime Garcia
P- Colby Lewis
BN- Kennedy
BN- Fister
DL- Chris Young
DL- Lilly

A lot of typing for a simple question... who gets the boot when Lilly comes back?

The bench batters enable me to compete against speedy as well as power teams (some teams seem to have already punted SB, which made some of the other teams very speedy).

I have been trying to chump dump for weeks... Seriously, it's getting painful how much I need a chump dump. I have also been trying 1 for 1 trades with no luck.

I need some opinions from fresh eyes regarding my team's value going forward. Last week, I finally got knocked out of 1st, moving down to 4th, after losing for my 5th consecutive week (I had a really great start to the year). At this point, I'm really just wondering if my team's just suffered an extended bout of horrible luck (led by Pedrioa, I think), or if I am going to have to make major changes to compete for the rest of the year.

Okay, so stats are 5x5 plus OBP and XBH for hitters, Holds and K/BB for pitchers.

My team:

C- Doumit
1B- Votto
2B- Pedroia
3B- Stewart
SS- Hanley
IF- Smoak
OF- Abreu
OF- Gardner
OF- Stanton
OF- Markakis
UTIL- Bruce
BN- Andrus
BN- Headley
BN- Quentin
BN- Adam LaRoche

SP- Nolasco
SP-Lilly
RP- Broxton
RP- Rauch
RP- Capps
RP- Liriano
P- Colby Lewis
P- Ely
P- Slowey
BN- Wandy
BN- Kennedy
DL- Mike Gonzalez
DL- Beckett

So in a 14 team league, should I really be doing so poorly?

I've been trying to move one or both of Andrus and Gardner, with no luck. I couldn't even interest Swisher's owner in trading him for Gardner, which I don't know if I would have done anyway. Heyward's owner scoffed at the idea of trading him for Andrus, even though he desperately needs a SS. (I feel like the other owners have conspired to not trade with me after my strong start.)

So, whaddya think? Time to hit the panic button, or have I just been the victim of bad luck? My next step will be to shop Hanley, and I don't know if I'll be able to get anywhere near his full value, so I'd really like the answer to be bad luck.

How do you have so many bench bats? That's insane, man. You might be a hoarder. Emoticon. Andrus is a top 5 SS right now. Trade someone Hanley and just play Andrus. Obviously you need a SP.

BTW, I didn't read your last paragraph until after I wrote the above and thought the same thing about Hanley. So that's a good sign.

As of today, my team looks like this:

C- Arencibia
1B- Votto
2B- Wigginton
SS- Asdrubal
3B- Longoria
IF- Adam LaRoche
OF- Markakis
OF- Quentin
OF- Gardner
OF- Stanton
UTIL- Butler
BN- Kalish
BN- Andrus
DL- Pedroia

SP- Liriano
SP- Beckett
RP- Broxton
RP- Storen
RP- Hanrahan
RP- Colby Lewis
P- Anderson
P- Nolasco
P- Dempster
BN- Hellickson
BN- Hammel
BN- Lilly
BN- Myers

...which basically shows that I've gone from hoarding bats to hoarding pitchers. I think this is the better strategy for weekly h2h.

What I'm wondering now is if I should drop Kalish for Daniel Hudson, who projects to have two starts next week (v. CIN and COL). Other decent OF fliers are available on the wire- Murphy, JD Drew, Burrell, Morrison, Cain, Pie, Sean Rodriguez.

My other possible two starters for next week are Nolasco (@ PIT and HOU- yes, please!) and Hellickson (its unclear if he'll pitch Sunday or Monday, but if Monday, it'd be v. TEX and @ OAK). I think my opponent should have 3 SP starting twice- Garza, Braden and Cueto.

I'd go with Hudson.