Welcome my friends to An Expert’s Audit – baseball edition!  I actually fired out the first edition at the beginning of August and I’m trying to get this edition out as soon as I can since the trade deadline is upon us in every league that I’ve seen.  This may be my last audit of the baseball season, but I still hope to present the occasional article over the offseason if I can convince my editor to give me a soapbox for doing so.  In the meantime you can still consider firing off emails or questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you’re so inclined. 

Let me introduce you to Marcel Laroche; I call him Celly.  He wrote in for an audit when the site debuted and he quickly went to the front of the line.  It turns out that I may’ve met Marcel before.  I’m an amateur umpire in Manitoba and I work baseball games in various leagues in the Winnipeg area.  Marcel had the 2^nd best ERA in the Sr Men’s league in Manitoba as a starter for the Winnipeg South Chiefs.  Now don’t going thinking that Celly is decrepit or anything, he’s actually a kid when compared to me but Senior ball just means that he doesn’t qualify for Junior baseball anymore.  In truth I don’t like umping in the Sr league, there’s way too much grief from guys who figure their draft date is still upcoming.  I just got tired of having to go nose to nose with another bad breath dude which always seemed to be the case in the Senior league.  As far as I know Celly and I have never had “words”. 

Celly plays in a 20 team 5x5 H2H (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP) and he found himself on the outside looking in at the playoffs with a month to try and make up the difference.  To reach the 6^th place playoff spot he’d need to make up 3 games in the standings but he’d also have to pass 3 teams. 

Let’s take a look at: 

Endangered Feces 

C Josh Bard SD – in a 20 team league you just want a catcher who’ll play 120 games.  If you have that then it doesn’t really matter that he sucks. 

1b Carlos Delgado NYM – he went through a hot streak in July and is a very reliable power source for your team this season.

2b Mike Fontenot CHC – as soon as Alfonso Soriano returned then De la Rosa got more AB’s at second and Fontenot disappeared from the scene.  You needed a change here … quickly.

3b Aramis Ramirez CHC – your most consistent offensive option.

SS Khalil Greene SD – there were no SS on the wire to speak of and although Greene has some power his avg is atrocious.  He went on the DL in early August anyway but you needed to change this up despite that anyway.

LF Jason Kubel MIN – if Delmon Young is healthy he’ll eat into Kubel’s AB’s a lot.  I like Young, Span and Gomez more than Kubel so I guess I’m saying that I expect fewer AB’s for him then the others if everyone is healthy.

CF Corey Hart MIL – dude’s going to go 20/20 this season, even with sunglasses on at night.

RF J.D. Drew BOS – remember him playing in the Independent Northern League with the St Paul Saints?  I do.  I went and saw him play.  He strikes me as enigmatic but when he’s healthy, he produces.

Util Magglio Ordonez DET – he’s got potential for 30 dingers, 100 ribbies perennially and he just plain mashes for avg.  Why this guy doesn’t get enough chatter for being elite I’ll never know.

BN Juan Rivera ANA – I wish the guy would play more because when he does of late he’s been producing.

BN Yuniesky Betancourt SEA – he became your only SS option once Greene went on the DL.  As a pitcher you must appreciate the importance of having a good SS behind you.  Betancourt is average glove and no stick so I don’t imagine you’d appreciate him all that much.

BN Carlos Gomez MIN – kid’s got speed to burn but he went all of July and a week of August without a single SB.  Not good.  He’s feeling much better now though with 4 steals since the 2^nd week of August.

BN Alexi Casilla MIN – this kid is going to be something special, keeper leagues take note.  He was going to be the solution to your 2b problem before checking out for the rest of the season with a hand injury. 

BN Jeff Clement SEA – Bard went on the DL and he became your starter.  I hear he can’t hit a major league breaking ball.

SP Roy Halladay TOR – if Cliff Lee doesn’t win the AL Cy Young then I want Doc to win it, and that’s even with knowing that Burnett has more K’s and more W’s.

SP Roy Oswalt HOU – 10 wins to lead the staff but the K’s are down and the ratios are up.  Pitchers don’t just lose it and I’ll still expect a nice bounce back, I just don’t know when it’ll happen.

RP George Sherrill BAL – well, he gets saves.  Ratios and opportunities stink but he gets saves.

RP B.J. Ryan TOR – I still get nervous when he’s closing but actually he has better stats than Sherrill does.

P Brandon Morrow SEA – at the time I came on the scene he had just given the closer’s job back to Putz.  They’ve sent him to the minors to be stretched out and become a starter.  I sure hope it works ‘cause I like this guy.

P Octavio Dotel CWS – he’ll get no saves but he’s got plenty of bullpen experience and even when Jenks was hurt he got zero shots at a save.  He’s still a decent reliever for a decent team.

P Scott Feldman TEX – you know to avoid Rockies pitchers right?  Well you should also avoid Ranger pitchers after May.  Seriously, the heat in Arlington hurts pitching.

BN Denny Bautista PIT – the Pirates bullpen is a bit messy and it doesn’t look like Bautista is getting any sort of a shot at saves.

BN Jered Weaver ANA – he’ll get plenty chances at wins playing with the offense that the Angels can put up, ratios are nothing to write home about but history says that may only be a blip.  He’ll be a decent hurler for a lot of years.

BN Randy Johnson ARI – Unit’s old but he’s still got skills.  His WHIP is actually ok this season.

BN Josh Johnson FLA – stud numbers during his only starts of the season during the last month.  Check out his stats from the last season he was healthy (2006) and just realize that he can return there again. 

The date was July 28^th when I first looked at your team, your trade deadline was two weeks away and you needed serious help at 2b, SS, and you had little speed to speak of.  Your starting pitching was decent and you had some depth and power at the corners that you could deal but there was a lot of work to be done.   

FA Adds 

Drop Mike Fontenot to add Joe Inglett – Fontenot won’t get playing time but it looks like Aaron Hill might be done for a career so Inglett might just have an open door at 2b for the Jays. 

Drop Scott Feldman to add Dan Wheeler – as you might be able to figure out there aren’t many good options for SP’s on a waiver wire in a 20 team league so you want to roster RP’s who’ll give good ratios, and the occasional save and win.  Wheeler is just plain a better option than Feldman is, by far. 

Drop Yuniesky Betancourt to add David Delucci – you couldn’t do this until you had made one of the trades listed below.  Looch is a decent bench OF for any fantasy squad but he’s rather valuable in a 20 team league. 

Drop Brendan Morrow to add Paul Byrd – Morrow can’t help you in the minors and Byrd went on a really nice run in July and August.  Now that Byrd’s a BoSox he’ll give more wins than he would’ve with the Tribe. 

Drop Denny Bautista to add Adam Everett – well, you need a backup SS after you turf Betancourt and Everett will get AB’s although he won’t do much with them.  I’m noticing a lot of Twins on your squad (you had Punto on your squad for a bit too), is this a trend or are you just a fan?  

Hey buddy can you spare a shortstop? 

Your trouble spot was at middle infield.  Casilla was supposed to solve your 2b problem for you and then the guy went out and tore a tendon in his thumb.  You needed viable options up the middle and you had to get some more speed in your lineup.  You made 2 significant deals both designed to get you some help at middle infield. 

Jason Kubel for Edgar Renteria – you had some depth in your OF and you needed to get a SS who could contribute more than Betancourt could give you.  Renteria is only hitting .262 this year but he’s a career .290 guy who can hit anywhere in the lineup and give you the occasional steal.  Kubel’s power was hard to give up but you had some depth in your OF and you could afford it. 

Corey Hart for Brian Roberts – Joe Inglett was your starting 2b until you made this deal but Roberts is a HUGE step up from him.  Inglett remains as a bench option for you and you can plug in the extra speed that Roberts brings to the table. 

Conclusions 

Well ok, you needed more speed and you absolutely had to make some changes at MI.  You had some OF depth to move and you had some deadwood sitting on your bench that you could change things up on your roster.   

When I showed on the scene you had just added Carlos Gomez to your roster.  That was a really nice move simply because there are few guys in the entire MLB who are faster than Gomez.  He sat on your bench for a long time but that was because he wasn’t running much.  He’s looking like he’ll be taking off more, just check out his speed stats since around Aug 6.  You’ll be pleased with that development.  I think that adding Inglett and Delucci solidify your bench stick options and adding Wheeler and Byrd will help your pitching too.  Byrd’s recent trade to Boston is a nice stroke of good luck for you. 

It’s the trades that have helped your team during the stretch run.  You went from rostering Fontenot and Greene to being able to put Brian Roberts and Edgar Renteria in there.  Renteria won’t turn the world on it’s ear but in a 20 team league, he’s more than pretty good.  Roberts is upper 2^nd tier in terms of 2b’s out there, particularly because he steals bases (which you need anyway).  And you made those trades without giving up pitching too, that’s significant.  You had been winning matchups because of decent pitching and some power and you changed your squad up by adding speed to the mix without sacrificing much power. 

Now of course you still have 3 teams to pass just to be able to qualify for a playoff spot but one of the great things about H2H is that once you have your ticket punched to the dance then all bets are off.  You could really surprise some teams if you can qualify for the playoffs, and I think you have a decent shot at the playoffs now. 

Y’know what?  I think that one of these times I may just request a Sr game where Celly is pitching.  If I have a good game then maybe Celly I’d introduce myself and we’d sit down to a barley beverage or something.  If I have a bad game then maybe he’ll never know who the jerk was behind the plate. 

Best of luck to you Celly and if you see some ump calling the generous outside black of the plate, ask around, it might be me.