Roster Thoughts

Five days into the new season and my team is doing about what I'd expect at this point. The offense is putting up some great numbers all around in particular Pujols, Aramis, and the hot pick-up of Bonifacio. I love having Pujols on my team because it means I get to sweat one of the best hitters ever on MLB.TV. Watching him hit HRs is a beautiful thing; he has the sickest swing out there.

After taking a quick lead in the power categories I have begun starting Bonifacio over either Thome or Ortiz depending on the matchup to try and nab some more steals. A player like Bonifacio, who steals a lot but has potentially poor OBP, is something I like to have on my bench to sub in when I am in need of speed during the week. Bonifacio has been a hit machine this week so he is all around great to have, but all indicators suggest he will come back down to earth soon when it comes to getting on base.

Of course the pitching side has been a little sketchy...my ERA and WHIP is pretty atrocious, but its better than my current opponent. This is mainly a result of some horrific pick-ups/starts by Cook, Wellemeyer, and Motte's implosion in his first save appearance. Wellemeyer had great numbers against the Pirates last year going 3-0 with a solid ERA, but he had a poor spring and probably isn't fully ready yet. Fortunately I got fantastic starts out of Grienke and Jurrjens which is keeping my ERA/WHIP in a competitive zone. I am counting on big things from Joba this weekend to put me over the top, but I also have picked up Purcey and Edwin Jackson as guys who had great starts already this week and have potential full season upside.

My closers have been getting the job done, aside from Motte, as I have five saves going into Friday which is tied for the league lead at this point. I watched Ziegler's two saves and I love how he pitches. Very deceptive and made most of the Angels hitters look pretty silly. He gave up one run but it was on a solid pitch. Villaneuva looked like he has been saving games his whole life. Didn't catch Street or Sherrill's appearances but they had clean innings.

I have had a few trade offers come my way but they have been for players I am not really interested in trading at this point, Roberts and Wieters. While I need SP, I can't really sacrifice an entire position like 2B or Catcher for one who isn't really elite. If Bonifacio shows he can have a decent OBP over a longer period of time then Roberts might be a trade candidate for me, but I'd probably rather trade Bonifacio. I feel like Wieters value will go way up once he is called up and starts putting up numbers so I can't really trade him at even value right now.

While I would love to get one more anchor for my staff, I am feeling better about it at this point. If I can just avoid some of the sketchy spot starts I'd be fine in ERA/WHIP right now. If Weaver and Joba prove to be effective I will be much less inclined to make a drastic trade. The best situation for me would be to trade some saves for a decent SP because I feel like I probably have 1-2 too many closers at the moment, especially if Motte can turn it around.

A final note on my roster is that I'm currently running without a Catcher while Wieters is still in the minors. My current matchup doesn't really require extra R/RBI/HR from the catcher spot...if there was a catcher out there who could steal I'd pick him up but they don't really exist. Also most catchers available on waivers have bad OBP's that would needlessly hurt me. I may still pick one up in future weeks if it looks to be a closer matchup in the power categories. For the moment the roster slot is better served for auditioning SP's and giving me some innings to combat the runs I gave up earlier in the week.