Riding Out Storms

One thing that inevitably comes up in any season is injuries. Now, if they're season-ending injuries, there's not a whole lot that you can do. But in baseball, you have a lot of visits to the 15-day DL that you have to manage. In our league, we can have 2 DL slots, effectively expanding our rosters. But what how do you manage that process?

Of course, the answer is, "it depends." It depends on what your team needs are, what your competitive landscape is, and what your options are.

First of all, I'm a firm believer that both DL slots should be filled at all times. This gives you a free lottery ticket, essentially. Worst case scenario, you just drop the player after they come off of the DL.

So, assuming that your DL slots are already full, the two obvious thoughts are to 1) make a trade, or 2) pick up someone from free agency. The trade can be hard to swing, but if you can afford to move parts around, then it could be a good move. Free agency is a bit tougher. Some positions are deeper, like OF or 1B, and you can pick up a pretty good player who will still help you stay on pace with your cumulative stats, though may hurt you a bit with the rate stats. However, some positions, like C, SS, or 2B, are tough to fill. If you have a solid player at one of those positions, the replacement that's available in free agency may not be worth picking up.

A few years ago, I had I-Rod (when he was still a very good offensive player), and he got hurt for like 3 weeks. I was doing alright with my R, HR, and RBI, so I actually went without a catcher for those 3 weeks, rather than pick up someone like Brent Mayne, who may chip in with 10 runs/RBI, and maybe a HR or two, but would hurt your OBP and SLG by a couple points during that time. But more importantly, they also take up a roster spot. Carrying an extra player makes life a little more difficult. You can't take chances on players, who may get hot.

Flash forward this year, and my C (Ryan Doumit) and my SS (Rafael Furcal) both go down.

So, my options at C were virtually nonexistent. Maybe Miguel Olivio (who's got some pop, it appears) - I could take the hit in OBP, and fight for some RBI and R. But the downside, was that I wouldn't be able to take chances on guys like prospects like Max Scherzer or other pitchers that have gotten hot, like Andrew Miller, both of whom are currently on my roster. So, I've gone w/out a C since Doumit got hurt. He'll be back soon, so I'll get some production back.

In retrospect, I think that I screwed up my move at SS. My original move was to just pick up Jeff Keppinger, and hope that he kept hitting. Then he broke his knee. I thought about picking up Jerry Hairston, and hope that he'd get SB for me. But he started off bad, and the Reds were playing awful then, so I passed. Then I thought that maybe Felipe Lopez would be able to get me some SB. But that didn't work out, and I got bored of him. So, since then, I've gone w/out a SS. If I would've stuck w/ the Hairston idea, I would have 6 more SB right now. Or, if I would have picked up Ramon Vazquez, I would have gotten some solid offense.

Essentially, I've given up on about 15 R and 15 RBI, which cost me 3 points in the standings, and either those 6 SB w/ Hairston, or a few more R and RBI w/ Vasquez. But I've been able to make up for it by figuring out my pitching staff, and setting myself up for a better run at the championship, to the point where I literally have more points from my pitching than I do from my hitting (which I still plan on getting about 62 points from this year). Additionally, the extra flexibility let me go after Juan Pierre, who has become a regular starter (even before Andruw Jones hurt himself), seems to be hitting reasonably well, in additional stealing bases.

So, my assumption was that the extra roster slot was worth temporarily giving up a few points in the standings, that I would get back once my guys came back. And in the meantime, I'm still maintaining a healthy working margin on the rest of the league, so it seems that my plan has worked out this time. Now, I just need my guys to get back before I continue to lose ground :-)

-Chairman (aka O.N. Thugs)