So now you've looked at your team and decided who your freezes are. Or, at least who your likely freezes are, who's on your borderline, and who you're going to either throw back or try to trade to any sucker who wants him.
Once you've figured this out, two questions should immediately come to mind:
1) What are my strengths and weaknesses?
2) How does my team stack up compared to the opposition?
I'm going to deal with the first question today, and address a few common perceptions and misperceptions about freeze lists.
I will assume, for a moment, that your league is like mine and allows up to 15 freezes. I've also been in leagues that have cut down the freeze requirements, but I haven't seen someone in my league keep the full 15 in a few years...the other rules make it very hard to keep 15 undervalued or par-valued players.
Let's look at my freeze list today, assuming I did nothing:
SS Juan Uribe $8
OF Gary Matthews $4*
3B Mark Teahen $2*
SP Johan Santana $47
SP Mike Mussina $14
CL Todd Jones $12
*player due a contract (I'll discuss contracts another time)
Um, yeah, my freeze list kind of sucks. That's what happens when you go for it two years in a row. I wish I could report I had won it all in at least one of those years.
My own self-flagellation aside, this list tells me a few things:
1) I'm going to need to draft a bunch of offense. Matthews and Teahen are nice bargains, even if they both get contracts, but I'll still need a ton of hitting.
2) Santana is probably worth it with inflation, but my hands are going to be kind of tied on the pitching side.
3) Given that Todd Jones is in the lower half of closers (in my opinion), he will make for trade bait. I will have to keep in mind that no one wanted him last year, even though he had a solid if not spectacular season.
A six man freeze list makes for some easy decisions and not much observation. But this is also why I want to look at my opponents and see what they look like. And I'll do that next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment