In a nutshell – the salaries that I am tracking is Josh Hamilton, Waino, and Scherzer (he has a $8 million estimate in 2014).

Of note, all of these rookies salaries’ increase year-over-year, starting at $400,000 to as high as $1,000,000 or more (i.e. Taillon).

The other guy that I would consider dropping (and I would hate to drop him because he has been on my roster since last year) is Teheran. I don’t know what the deal is with Teheran outside of his pitching delivery flaw and his tendency to be a fly ball pitcher but if you look at his season, it is considerably underwhelming.

Also, my train of thought is that if I can re-draft Waino in the 2nd round of a 3-round draft then I could do that as well if HanRam does not get to 5 starts at shortstop.

One other thing, I am scheduling Josh Hamilton at $17 million in the first year of his next contract which I admit may be a tad low. I think, and I certainly could be wrong, that there is no way Josh Hamilton gets more than $20 million a year.

Wanted to provide you with a quick update on my ever-developing 22-man, salary cap keeper ($123 million).

So, I made a pretty significant deal a couple of weeks ago.

I traded Goldschmidt, Ackley and Carl Crawford along with Hiroki Kuroda (I picked up Crawford and Kuroda as free agent pickups primarily because of their salaries).

I was handed Fielder, Singleton, Hanson and Prado.

I followed up that trade by picking up Jedd Gyorko, Chris Carter (A’s), and Jean Segura (possible 2013 shortstop in case HanRam doesn’t start 5 games at short) and dropped Chisenhall, Chris Archer, and Alexei Ramirez.

Additionally, I traded Prado for Jose Altuve (starting 2B in 2013 in case Gyorko isn’t starting at 2B for the Padres in 2013) while saving $6.5 million in salary.

So – as of right now, here is my complete roster: C – Myers, Mesoraco, Ramos; 1B – Fielder, Carter, VMart; 2B – Altuve, Segura; SS – HanRam, Profar, Billy Hamilton; 3B – Middlebrooks; LF – Josh Hamilton, Singleton; CF – Austin Jackson, Brett Jackson; RF – Ethier; SP – Sabathia, Wainwright, Scherzer, Hanson, Ian Kennedy, Cole, Taillon, Teheran, Skaggs. There is a starting OF and IF as a part of the everyday lineup.

If you were to chose 22 keepers from this list of guys, who would it be based on a $123 million salary cap with an eye on making sure that your roster was under the cap?

I am thinking that Ramos, VMart, Brett Jackson, Gyroko and Wainwright are guys that are not going to be on this team next year. This would give me a 2013 starting lineup of:

C – Mesoraco
1B – Fielder
2B – Altuve/Gyorko (if he qualifies at 2B for the Pads; if not he may be off of the roster)
SS – HanRam (if he qualifies)/Segura
3B – Middlebrooks
IF – Chris Carter (possible backup behind HanRam/Middlebrooks if HanRam is not SS eligible in 2013)
LF – Josh Hamilton
CF – Austin Jackson
RF – Ethier
OF – Myers (once he is OF eligible)
Bench – Singleton, Profar, Billy Hamilton

2013 Rotation – Sabathia, Scherzer, Kennedy, Hanson, Teheran/Skaggs (hopefully one or both are in a 2013 rotation due to minimum 30 IP a season), Cole/Taillon/Taijuan Walker (I will have the 1st pick in the draft next year).

Scott – I would be interested in your thoughts. Much appreciated.

Hultzen
Bauer
Skaggs

Thx

Thanks again,
Mike

Advice?

(By the way, this is Mike – thanks for the help guys!)

Also, I tried to trade for Strasburg today, in case you cared.

IT’S ME, Mike, AGAIN! JUST WANTED TO POST FOR A 5TH TIME ABOUT MY 2 FOR 1 TRADE FOR STRASBURG.

IN CASE ANYONE MISSED IT. SO GOOD DEAL?

Anyway onto important matters. Im still top in my 10 team keeper and looking to make a splash to consolidate my place in the standings, and more importantly my pitching staff. Question is can I trust Mat Latos enough to do this deal? Would be giving up Castellanos for Latos to a seller. My staff’s currently: Bum, NatGio, Cain, Adverb, Garza, Sheets, E-Jax, but could use some work particularly in the ERA front. Make the deal?