What is my strategy for getting my team out of mediocrity and climbing back into the pennant race? First off, I play in a league with about nine other teams. All the owners pretty much are friends and we actually have formed two leagues (one AL and one NL).

They are both carry-over leagues. In other words, we keep the same players from year to year. We have 25 players on our active rosters and 15 in the minors. We also have salary caps for minors and majors.

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Moises Alou is Mr. Gigliotti's best player. (Allsport)

My strategy for teams in the lower half of the league (where I am in both leagues) is to give up. Both my teams suck. My best NL player is Moises Alou and my best AL player is Tom Goodwin. It's really pathetic, although surprisingly, I am not in last in either league. There are actually teams worse off than I. The talent level from team to team is very lopsided. Yes, I said, "give up at least on this year."

In our type of league, the last place team picks first in the draft next year, so if you know you are not finishing in the money, try to finish last. There is also the possibility of trading position players for prospects, especially to those teams in contention. However, in my league most of the owners are sharks when it comes to trading so I generally steer clear of any trading.

I probably should just quit the league and start in with a new one so I can once again be on a level playing field. Catching up in this league is very difficult. One alternative is to scour the minors relentlessly for hot young prospects. Many of them are taken but there is always someone. In the AL league I was able to pick up Calvin Pickering and Jose Ortiz recently and in the NL I was able to pick up Peter Bergeron and Randy Wolf. This may help a little, but I feel at this point I am throwing away good money year after year.