PSBL Notes

This page is for use in keeping notes about my PSBL simulation baseball league team. Rather than setting up another wiki, I figured this was a better way to do it.

Roster

The following players are the ones that matter, Im skipping the scrubs. Each player in this heading is either slated to be protected, on the bubble or worthy of inclusion in some trade or another. Eventually I might make individual player pages for increased discussion ability.

St Louis Cardinals

1B Albert Pujols
2B Tadahito Iguchi
3B Corey Koskie
SS Orlando Cabrera
LF Moises Alou
RF JD Drew
CF Coco Crisp
DH Travis Hafner
OF Aaron Rowand
P Scott Kazmir
P Greg Maddux
P Pedro Martinez
P Josh Beckett
P Brian Fuentes
P Joe Nathan

Reserve Roster
OF Sammy Sosa
C Humberto Quintero
P Chris George
OF Tim Raines Jr

Positions and Needs

The primary need is pitching. Kazmir is the only starter that could be considered dominant, and Maddux is the only other that is even above average this year. Beckett and Penny both have good future value, and Penny is relatively usable this year as well. Nathan is probably the best closer in baseball this year, and is in his prime.

Besides pitching third base and center field are mild needs, along with catcher. Crisp is good defensively but had an injury plagued year and has an anemic .702 OPS (worse vs R). His speed is nice and he is young enough to still have excellent value. At third base Bell is great defensively and has a respectible .337 OB, but has no slugging to speak of, he also brings a lot of plate apps to the table. Koskie is a thumper vs R, and solid defensively, for about half a season. He can be conserved by batting him low in the lineup and subbing Bell in when possible. Lieberthal is solid all around but only good for about half a season and could retire.

The tertiary need is young talent. The team has an acceptable amount of young players, but it is quite possible many could be dealt to increase this years title potential. If that doesnt happen, this team is a playoff also-ran.

Trades

I have already made some offers to other teams that would need to be honored if accepted. Barring that, everything here is to be discussed.

Old Proposed Deals

I have moved all the old trade discussion to: Pre-deadline Deals

Post-deadline Deals

What follows is my plan for deals going forward.

Kelvim Escobar

I spoke to the new Dodgers manager on the phone today and he assured me that while he isnt ready to make any deals yet, he will be. I would like to try and get Kelvim Escobar and Curtis Granderson from him, hopefully for Scott Kazmir and Coco Crisp or Aaron Rowand.

Dan Haren

If the Escobar deal cant happen, the Haren one is a good option. I dont know if I really want to trade Rowand for Patterson, but I do like Haren quite a bit.

Marcus Thames

I am considering offering Rowand for Thames. Thats a tough choice for me.

Juan Rivera

I would rather have Rivera than Thames, they have similar bats and Rivera plays CF. That EX arm should stop a lot of would be baserunners too.

Direction

Unless someone offers a really enticing package of great young players, this is a season to go for it all.

Plan

The protected list sits at 15, and the needs are many, but manageable. Right now the plan is pretty straight-forward:

Use 1st rounder on a C (current order: Martin, Johjima, Paulino, Napoli, Alfonzo)

In picks 5-10 get a 3B (Bell or better), a prospect, and 3 relievers

Use remaining picks to fill needs as appropriate Before the draft a couple of well placed trades could help a lot. If a C can be acquired beforehand that would help immensely, then a best athlete available pick can be utilized. I spoke on the phone to the Dodgers manager and he said he will be ready to make some deals in about a month. He has the right kind of talent to turn everything around for us.

Team Building Philosophy

Since we had that mini-discussion about team stuff, I figured it might be good to get my thoughts written. This way we can find where we differ, and then bridge that gap and hopefully improve our ability to field a great team and win games.

Offense

I prefer to have a lot of speed at the top of the lineup, but OBP is more important. I prefer no more than 3-4 right handed hitters if possible. The #4 hitter should be a RH with a lot of power and good OBP, Pujols is the ideal #4 in my opinion. The #3 hitter should have great OBP, good average and good power and be a switch hitter or LH. The #5 hitter should be a LH batter with great power and OBP. I prefer not to stack more than 2 RH batters in a row, there are so many relievers that get them out, make the opponent either have a guy who is good vs both sides or use 2 relievers.

Defense

I prefer range over sure-handedness. I dont mind some errors if it means the guy gets to a lot of balls. In the OF I really like guys who can throw. With as much value as I place on taking an extra base for free, having an OF who can prevent it is a nice bonus, and often isnt too expensive. I really prefer a C who can throw, if he cant the pitching staff needs to be tailored.

Pitching

I prefer to have one left handed starter and one left handed reliever. Its crucial that both be good vs both sides, because they are so easy to min-max. The #1 starter must be right handed and dominant both ways. The closer must not blow games, those are wins thrown away. A bad start can be overcome, but a blown save is very difficult (less innings to work with) to beat.

Bench

I prefer to only carry 2 C so there are enough spaces to platoon a couple of guys and have some bats when needed. No more than one of the reserve OF should be veterans, and all of the reserve OF should have big bats vs at least one side. Its great to have a real fast pinch runner too.

Overall Philosophy

I prefer a well rounded approach to a team with one big strength. It seems to be much more difficult to stop a team that does a lot of things, than one that concentrates on one.