A Down Year for the Bashi Baseball Teams

The Yahoo League is hyper-competitive. I could see this at the beginning of the year, when I looked at manager performance history. Sometimes "winner's league" is a meaningless phrase, but with everyone battling in September, this league feels like a winner. Closers were hard to come by most of the year, though now I am up to five. It is possible that I might still end up in the middle of the saves category. First base was also difficult when Kendry Morales went down for the year. I filled in with Troy Glaus and Mike Lowell, then more recently with Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman. Second base was challenging as Howie Kendrick did not start out strong. I added Gordon Beckham and then decided on Brian Roberts. The current offense is solid top-to bottom with Berkman, Roberts, Reyes, Wright, Posey, B.J. Upton, Quentin, Heyward, Stanton, Lee, and Bruce. Juan Uribe and Jim Thome are current injury fill-ins.

Lincecum and Hudson lead the pitching staff. Jamie Garcia was dropped because I was reaching the innings limit. Phil Hughes was dropped because he faces a tough schedule. I still have Johan Santana, and hope he can pitch a few more games. (I wish I had kept Garcia.) Closers are Gutierrez (Ari), Lyon (Hou), Uehara (Bal), Rodney (Ana) and Hanrahan (Pit). Putz will be my sixth reliever.

There are many points within easy range in most categories. The team is in third at this moment, with the first place team 13 points up. How close? Teams 1, 2, and 3 have 181 HRs a piece. ERA's are 3.48, 3.43 and 3.46. The 7th place team is 4.5 points behind.

The CBS team is most likely out of the money, currently in 7th, 14.5 points behind 5th, 15.5 points behind 4th. These positions do not pay so much anyway, so the question is which 7 keepers to keep, or is there trade value to obtain better keepers?

Looking at FIP and K/9, Francisco Liriano (at $18) looks like a great pitcher for 2011. Tommy Hanson, looking at these same peripheral stats looks almost as good. Clay Buchholz at $6 must be kept.
Considering where he plays, and the possibility of a trade (does Boston keep David Ortiz?), Adrian Gonzalez feels like a keeper, a notch below Pujols and Cabrera.
Jason Heyward ($6 next year) is a no brainer.
Eric Young, Jr. ($6 next year) is a tougher call.
Mike Stanton, age 20, at book value (TBD) feels worth the risk as he seems to have as much power as anyone, even if book value is $15 or $18.
Jamie Garcia, also at book value (TBD) may be rookie of the year, but does not make the cut, even though he has been more good than lucky.
Brandon Morrow ($6 next year) has dominated at times, e.g., the 100 game score and leads everyone in K/IP.
Neftali Feliz ($9 next year) has been dominating as a reliever. Like Morrow, he is a 100+ mph fireballer, though unlike Morrow, his control has been exceptional.
Chris Perez ($9 next year) has also been an excellent closer, and unlike Feliz, is certain to close next year. Joel Hanrahan and Koji Uehara are also protectable closers.
Madison Bumgarner is available at $6. James Loney is available at $6.
Domonic Brown is available at book value.
One could consider Carlos Quentin at $21, but Felix Hernandez at $36 is more tempting.
Pablo Sandoval, at $10 will be set free based on his down year of 2010. I imagine his auction value will be about $10.