Welcome to An Expert’s Audit – baseball edition.  In this article we take a look at the fantasy team of a reader to see if there are areas we can improve so that we’re moving down a winning road.  If you’re interested in getting your baseball team audited you can begin the procedure by emailing your league and team particulars to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  I’m looking for next month’s victim … er, candidate, so fire off an email.

I’d like to introduce you to Jer Robbins.  He’s in a keeper league and his initial question asked who he should be keeping in his 14-team league.  He was permitted to keep 10 guys regardless of position.

Ok, so let’s take a look.

Adrian Gonzalez, SD – Petco is a cavern but Gonzo still got 40 dingers last year, nobody else got over 20 for the Pads.  Someone like Blanks has the upside to get 30 with the opportunity that he’ll get this season but the lack of power in San Diego just means a lot of heavy lifting for Gonzo in general.  No matter, he’ll do that heavy lifting and he’s an easy keep decision.

Carl Crawford, TB – he’s elite speed who’ll also chip in some HR’s somewhere in the teens.  In multi-cat leagues speed guys get ignored way too long, to most people’s detriment.  Give me the 30/30 option over most 50 HR guys in roto and it’ll be hard to catch me over the course of a season.  A speed guy like Craw solidifies your SB’s but he also contributes big in Runs, AVG and OBP.

B.J. Upton, TB – see Carl Crawford except less steals and more HR.  Why do I say that?  Because 3 seasons ago BJ went 20/20 with a .300 avg.  Yes please.

Felix Hernandez, SEA – many are touting him as the 2^nd SP to come off the board in standard drafts.  That’s too early for me but I can certainly see him challenging all of MLB for putting up stats this season.  I’m most concerned about the number of W’s he’ll put up with that offense in Seattle but that’s the only worry I have for him.

Cole Hamels, PHI – having Doc Halladay around is really going to have a huge impact on Hamels for the next couple seasons.  In many respects I think that Hamels can be a mirror-imaged Roy Halladay with a little bit of attention to detail.  If the Ks go back up to where they were in 2008 then there’s all that more reason to be a Phillie fan this season.  I really think that there are some big things in store for Cole this season.

Tommy Hanson, ATL – man those Braves keep coming up with pitching gems eh?  They drafted Hanson in the 22^nd round and if he had put in 30 starts for them last season he could’ve challenged 200 Ks.  He’ll get the right amount of starts this season and he’ll also get those 200 Ks.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see him jump up the depth chart to challenge Lowe by season’s end.

Joe Nathan, MIN – this is my favorite save guy in fantasy baseball.  He gets the job done, doesn’t implode and is rarely injured.  I confidently lock 40 saves into the ledger when he anchors the team.

Joakim Soria, KC – he has the skill set to be among the best closers in the game and I love that because you can often draft him after the top options have been reached for too early.  I have some concerns for his ongoing health but if he can make 60 appearances and come close to 70 IP then you can lock in another 40 saves.

Well, that isn’t enough sticks for my taste so I don’t know that I’ll be suggesting arms for the last couple slots.  Then again, we haven’t discussed the options available for the last two slots yet.

Options for the last couple slots

Billy Butler, KC – this is the only real power option in KC so you just know that he’ll get plenty of opportunity in the middle of that lineup.  You already have a 1b option that you’re keeping but you have a UTIL slot that he’ll slide into nicely.

Nolan Reimold, BAL – some are pegging him in a time share with Felix Pie for the O’s but I’m not one of those folks.  I see solid stats for this soph that could get up past 20 dingers and 80 RBI.

Chris Coghlan, FLA – if he were eligible at 2B in your league then I’d bump him up as a solid keep option but unfortunately he’s listed as a LF where you already have Crawford kept.  His best value is in packaging him together with someone else for an upgrade, preferably for an infielder who doesn’t play 1B.

Rick Porcello DET – I like him.  He should get decent wins although I don’t expect the Ks will be enough to satisfy me this season.  He’s still a kid though so the upside is pretty big.

Clay Bucholz BOS – he’ll beat Tim Wakefield for the 5^th slot on the BoSox and that’ll be enough to get exposure and be insulated at the bottom of that staff.  He’s a solid option in a keeper no matter how you dissect it.

Keep Billy Butler.  I can see 30 and 100 for him this season and he’ll get loads of power opportunity in the middle of the lineup.  You seem to have a dearth of power so I’d like to see you trade for more power if you can.

Trading Options

At this stage you have one keeper slot to figure out.  I would prefer you not keep another pitcher but also we have to consider that Buchholz has more value than someone like Reimold if you have to keep Reimold on your bench.  So that means you either have to trade one or more of your guys for a keeper that you can start  (and I’d want that guy to be eligible at 2B, 3B or RF) or you should just keep Buchholz.

The list of trade targets I fired at you included: Ian Stewart, Jose Lopez, Denard Span, Gordon Beckham, Hunter Pence, Howie Kendrick, and Asdrubal Cabrera and you came back with the most interest in Gordon Beckham and Ian Stewart.  I would think that an offer of Reimold for Beckham starts to come close and from there general tweaking can be manoeuvred.

Conclusions

That’s actually as far as we’ve been able to go.  If you can make a deal for someone like Beckham then we both agree that he’s your last keep.  Unfortunately time has been short so we couldn’t really proceed much further.  I have high hopes for you though, I’d love to see you go right after Beckham and add him to your roster.  Failing that, keep Buchholz.  I’m not “thrilled” with that idea but it’s better than rostering Reimold who you can’t start.  If Coghlan were eligible at 2B then that’d be pretty sweet but unfortunately that’s not an option.

You have a really good start with those keeps.  If you were in a draft and those were your first 10 picks then I’d probably say you were drafting from the 14 hole in your 14 team league.  That has no real bearing on the conversation except to say that you look to be right on the money for what a team should look like through 10 picks.  Good luck from here.

Again, boys and girls if you think you might want a little help with your upcoming draft then why not see if there’s some assistance that Expert’s Audit can provide.  I’ll choose my next audit in the first week of March and then we’ll work together until the article is due at the end of March.  Fire off an email and let’s get to work.

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