Team: CBS Sports.com (Al Melchior)
Year in League - 1st
Projected 2010 Finish (Sportsline Projections): 4th (tie)
The Roster
Catchers: Chris Iannetta $8, Ryan Hanigan $1.
Corner Infield: Albert Pujols $50, Ian Stewart $19, Pedro Feliz $2, Neil Walker $1.
Middle Infield: Yunel Escobar $17, Felipe Lopez $1, Ronnie Belliard $1.
Outfield: Jay Bruce $19, Cody Ross $9, Cameron Maybin $5, Tony Gwynn $1, Chris Dickerson $1.
Pitchers: Dan Haren $33, Heath Bell $21, Huston Street $19, Carlos Zambrano $17, Ubaldo Jimenez $21, Barry Zito $7, Zach Duke $2, Clayton Richard $4, David Bush $1.
Reserves: Rafael Betancourt, Chien-Ming Wang, Brandon Moss, Jhoulys Chacin, Sammy Gervacio, Kevin Frandsen, Emmanuel Burriss.
Hitting/Pitching Split: $135/$125
Categorical Strengths: Wins, saves, strikeouts, WHIP.
Categorical Weaknesses: RBI, steals, runs, batting average.
I doubt that Al Melchior of CBS Sports intended to buy a pitching-heavy team. He bought Pujols in the first round at $50; teams dumping offensive categories typically don't spend 37% of their offensive budget on one hitter unless they're dumping power in a 4x4 and the hitter is a speed demon. The result is that while Melchior does have the strongest projected pitching staff in the league, his offense is weak across the board, except possibly in home runs.
After Pujols, he bought Stewart, then went on a pitching run before grabbing Bruce in the 8th round and Escobar in the 10th round, leaving himself with $44 and 12 holes to fill. Melchior made some decent value picks on offense in his endgame - Feliz and Belliard jump out at me - but there isn't enough value to fill in the offense. He's completely dead in steals, even with the extremely generous CBS Sports projection for Gwynn in that department.
On the other hand, the pitching projects out to 49 points out of a possible 60. Like most teams in the auction, Melchior eschewed middle relievers and went with seven starting pitchers and two closers. I'm wary of Street, but he backed him with Betancourt in the reserve round. Some of the prices here seem a little high to me, but none of them is out of line by more than $2-3 in my opinion. Zambrano and Zito seem like the keys to this staff. A bounce back by Zambrano/good health would make him worth this price, but another year like 2009 and he's a big stretch here. Zito simply needs to maintain on this staff, but a poor start/repeat of his 2008 season would be a disaster.
I think this team is OK, but it's difficult to see where the upside is. Trading into this much offense is difficult, unless every single starter auctioned here matches or exceeds expectations. While that's a possibility, it is a slim one, which is why I generally don't advocate spending over $100 on pitching. Fourth place seems like the upside for this team barring some aggressive trading, and this league is not a big trading league.
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