Every team has potential.
Unless yours is 1-12 and needing to win out just to enter the playoff discussion, you have a chance of making a game out of it.
Granted, it might not be a quick fix. One move might not do the trick. You might need to make several to keep that engine from stalling again.
The question you have to ask yourself is this: Are you open to the idea of a roster reconstruction?
I'm in a 10-team Head-to-Head league, and my record is awful. My only bright spots this year have been Ryan Braun, Jason Heyward, Robinson Cano and David Price. My pitching staff is full of less-than-elite options like Andy Pettitte, Mike Pelfrey, Gavin Floyd and A.J. Burnett, and I'm the king of the underachiever on offense, with Mark Teixeira, Stephen Drew, Jason Bay, Carlos Quentin and Pablo Sandoval, the latest bane of my existence, all on my roster. This week, I started Troy Glaus at third, but he has suddenly taken a turn for the worse. Miguel Tejada, Aramis Ramirez and Ian Stewart are the best third basemen available on the waiver wire. My question is should I make a change at third, purge my entire lineup, or hunker down and weather what's looking less and less like a slow start? It's a long season, and I can suffer the shame of being in the basement if it will pay off come playoff time. -- Jason Buff, Woodbury, N.J.
SW: I grew up in a 10-team Head-to-Head league. It's my oldest and dearest format, so I know exactly what a bad team looks like. You shouldn't be sniffing the cellar with this one. Let's see where we can tighten up the screws.
Your pitching staff does have a legitimate ace in Price. You could stand to have someone just as dominant at the top with him, but you should be able to get by with the staff you currently have in place, especially since Floyd and Burnett have begun to right the ship lately.
As for your offense, some players, like Teixeira and Bay, are obvious candidates to turn their seasons around. Sandoval and Drew don't have as much history to fall back on, so at this point, you should probably readjust your expectations for them. An upgrade would make sense at either third base or shortstop, but you probably can't do both. Third base would be cheaper.
So if your targets are a starting pitcher and a third baseman, what do you have to offer? Well, you don't really need Sandoval anymore, and if Drew isn't doing anything for you, you could replace him with something off the waiver wire. Try shopping them first. You might wonder why somebody would want what you don't, but it's not like you just claimed these guys off the waiver wire. You paid a pretty penny for them on Draft Day, and both have enough upside that you can bet somebody still likes them and will value them more than you do.
Use Drew as a starting point. Look for somebody starting some pointless player like Cliff Pennington or Orlando Cabrera at shortstop. With all the injuries to middle infielders this year, you can probably find one, if not two. See who he has starting at third base. If it's somebody like Ryan Zimmerman or Michael Young -- either of whom would be clear upgrade for you -- try offering him Drew and Sandoval in exchange, hoping he'll see it as a chance to get some measure of potential at shortstop while not losing much a third base. You can be the one who resorts to starting Pennington or Cabrera at shortstop. It's an opportunity for you, not a concession, and it's not like you've been getting anything more at the position with Drew.
As for the starting pitcher, you have other pieces to trade. With Braun, Bay and Quentin, you don't really need Heyward and could get somebody to overpay for his potential. Throw in Mike Pelfrey, who's likely to cool off as his innings accumulate in the second half, and the Cliff Lees, CC Sabathias and Justin Verlanders of the world might not be so far out of reach, especially if you can find someone desperate for a third outfielder.
Granted, this isn't the easiest way to make a deal. It requires some trial and error, and you might risk "offending" someone with a lowball offer (which is always the case, really). But it's a legitimate way to make something out of nothing and keep your playoff hopes alive.
So the Mets are focusing on July 15 for Carlos Beltran's return, but he's going to have some rust to work through for sure. All I care about is what he will contribute in September during my Head-to-Head playoffs. Should I hold on to him and Scott Podsednik and shop Coco Crisp, or should I shop Beltran himself. Got anything in your crystal ball? -- Mike Rager, Savannah, Ga.
SW: You must play in a deep Head-to-Head league if Podsednik and Crisp have any value at all. They're owned in 61 and 26 percent of leagues, respectively, and most of those leagues are probably Rotisserie.
But let's assume you do play in a deep league and they do have some measure of value. If all you care about is September, Beltran is clearly your best choice because he's the only one of the three with the ability to perform at an elite capacity and give you any sort of advantage over your competition.
Granted, he might not be as valuable as Podsednik and Crisp when he first returns. He not only has to contend with rust, but also a red-hot Angel Pagan, who will likely spell Beltran as often as three times a week as the Mets ease their stud outfielder back into the lineup. Inconsistent playing time is killer in Fantasy, especially in Head-to-Head leagues. But eventually, once the Mets have eased Beltran to their liking, they'll make him a full-time starter again. His potential is simply too great.
Now, if you cared about more than just September, you might try trading Beltran to somebody a little more optimistic about his timetable. But by September, he should be full-go.
I'm in a 12-team Head-to-Head league that allows me to keep five players for up to three years at a one-round penalty each year. I'm currently the highest-scoring team in my league and recently traded Carlos Santana and Fausto Carmona (both with last-round keeper eligibility) to a team out of the playoff run for Justin Morneau. My league immediately vetoed it. Do you think my trade was fair, and do you think I should try doing the same sort of maneuver by trading Ike Davis (20th round) for someone like Matt Cain or Carl Crawford? -- Jason Rubenstein, Ronkonkoma, N.Y.
SW: Without going into my usual spiel about trade vetoes and how I'm typically against them, let me just say your first trade doesn't look too bad to me, given your league's specific keeper rules. Morneau might not have been worth keeping, but for the price of a late-round pick, Santana certainly is. He's already performing like a high-end Fantasy catcher, and given his elite pedigree, you can trust it to continue. I'm fully expecting him to go off the board in the first six or seven rounds next year. Carmona is barely rosterable in a 12-team mixed league, but hey, he's just a throw-in. That's the type of deal I hate to see one of my competitors make, which is likely why yours vetoed it, but it's justifiable on both ends.
That said, good luck getting that second trade to fly. While Davis does have power and could eventually develop into a worthwhile mixed-league option, he doesn't have quite the upside of Santana and plays a much, much deeper position. Right now, I'd be surprised to see him go as early as the 20th round next year, so acquiring him at that price doesn't really help a rebuilding team. And if you get an elite option like Crawford or a high-end guy like Cain in return for him, you probably won't find a commissioner to back you up on the deal.
I'm in a 12-team keeper league with four available keeper slots. Right now, my keepers would be Ryan Zimmerman, Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Kinsler and Tim Lincecum. I have been trying to trade Lincecum for a solid keeper hitter for the last month and half. I almost had a deal for Hanley Ramirez, but it fell through along with separate deals for Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz. Am I overvaluing Lincecum, or do people in my league just prefer hitters to pitchers? -- Ryan Lilly
SW: I don't think you're overvaluing Lincecum. He has taken a step back this year -- which is hard to avoid coming off consecutive Cy Young campaigns -- but his strikeout rate and ability to pitch deep into games show he's still one of the best starting pitchers in Fantasy.
But the fact is he has taken a step back this year. He's no longer the best, which means, barring a big turnaround in the second half, he's no longer going to be that one starting pitcher everybody targets in the first round.
Shooting for Ramirez is probably aiming too high. As the top shortstop in Fantasy, he's a clear first-round pick. Hamilton is fair game. He has the numbers of a first-round pick but probably won't be a first-rounder next year since he let so many people down in 2009 and still has the same durability issues. Cruz is less than a first-rounder, but you probably wouldn't want to ask for him knowing how many times he's been on the DL this year.
Maybe you can take advantage of a frustrated Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder or Mark Teixeira owner. Maybe you can buy low on an injured Victor Martinez or an underachieving Joe Mauer. Maybe you can land an early-rounder who isn't underachieving at all, like Justin Morneau or Evan Longoria.
But you shouldn't set your sights on the best of the best, such as Ramirez or Albert Pujols. Lincecum is still elite material and should fetch an elite return, but he isn't first-round material.
In a 10-team Head-to-Head League, I traded Corey Hart and Johnny Cueto for Adam Jones and Chase Utley. I currently have Kelly Johnson at second base. Good trade or not?
SW: Good trade, I'd say. Hart's iffy strikeout-to-walk ratio makes me think he hasn't changed all that much, which means he'll barely matter in leagues so shallow once he cools off a bit. And even if he doesn't, Jones is the hotter of the two right now.
Cueto might be a little harder to replace, but if you have a deep enough pitching staff -- which is certainly possible in a 10-team league -- you might not even miss him. His strikeouts haven't been good enough to make him an every-week option.
I realize Utley might not do anything for you until September, but in such a shallow league, your only real hope of winning is to have the best that money can buy at as many positions as possible. Hart and Cueto are far from the best, so if you can survive without them, Utley is the preferred choice.
I'm currently 7-6 in one of my leagues and am trying to keep myself in the race. I like my batters, but I only have confidence in four of my starting pitchers: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jered Weaver and John Lackey. Who should I use as my fifth starting pitcher: Tim Hudson, Javier Vazquez or Jair Jurrjens? -- Gary Snyder
SW: All three are All-Stars (wait, Weaver isn't?), and all three would be No. 1 options for most Fantasy teams (you sure your pitching staff is the problem?).
Looking at your other options, though, I don't know how you can consider Lackey your fourth-best. He isn't bad, but he clearly isn't the same pitcher who contended for Cy Young awards with the Angels. His strikeout rate of 5.5 per nine innings is pedestrian, and his WHIP of 1.54 is just plain bad.
If you want to lean on a fourth guy as an every-week option, lean on Vazquez, who pitches for perhaps an even a better team than Lackey and who has bounced back from a horrendous April, posting a 3.05 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP and 7.3 strikeouts per nine innings over his last 11 appearances, 10 of them starts. The Lackey of old couldn't even do that.
If you absolutely have to have the same five pitchers locked into your starting lineup every week, the fifth guy should be Hudson -- the actual third All-Star on your staff -- but his low strikeout rate makes me less than enthusiastic about him. Personally, I'd prefer to rotate Hudson, Lackey and Jurrjens based on matchups and two-start status, but that approach obviously gives you one more choice to make every week and therefore exposes you to the risk of choosing wrong.
I have another question. I currently own Edinson Volquez but have the option of picking up Brandon Webb or Erik Bedard off the waiver wire. All three should be coming off the DL pretty soon. Who do you think will make the biggest impact? -- Gary Snyder
SW: Greedy, greedy Gary robbing someone else of an opportunity to ask a question.
I have to admit it's a good question, though -- one that's especially pertinent to Fantasy owners at this point in the season. Since it appeals to a wide audience and doesn't just zero in on your one specific need, I'll endure the criticism and answer it. I hope you're happy.
Volquez to me is the easy call here. He has yet to reach the heights of Bedard and Webb, but he wasn't far off at the time of his injury last year. And he has by far the easiest path back to respectability.
We know exactly what Tommy John surgery is and exactly what it means for a pitcher. It means Volquez will miss his 12-18 months -- as he already has -- and come back as good as new. Pretty much every pitcher who ever had the procedure has, including Tim Hudson and Shaun Marcum this year. Volquez might need two or three weeks to shake off the rust, but he'll basically pick up where he left off in 2008 and 2009, when he was striking out nearly a batter per inning and working to improve his walk rate.
Bedard and Webb are both coming off shoulder surgery, which isn't nearly as predictable or successful as Tommy John surgery, and both have already suffered setbacks. Bedard, who was set to debut Tuesday, felt renewed stiffness in his shoulder on the eve of his return, and Webb hasn't even begun a minor-league rehab assignment yet. He's so frustrated with his recovery that he's talked at times about shutting down for the season.
At their best, Bedard and Webb have both been better than Volquez, but you have no idea what you're getting with either. You have some idea with Volquez, and it's probably something good.
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