I have received several requests for the “rate my team” style of posts. So let’s check out Ryan’s team in his 14-team league. He wrote:

I’m in the second year of a 6-keeper league with a straight draft system (no auction). It’s a 6×6 H2H league, with the following categories: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OPS, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP, K/9

Coming into this season, I had too many keeper-worthy guys, so I traded Matt Holliday, Garrett Atkins, Scott Kazmir, and Brett Myers for Alfonso Soriano. It was a hefty price to pay, but three of those guys would have hit the draft otherwise, and I’d much rather have a top-five performer than to let that value drift into the open draft. (The one sad circumstance of this deal is that I made one more opponent into a possible fantasy monster, but there wasn’t much else that could be done…)

That trade left my keepers going into the draft as follows:

A. Soriano (OF)
C. Utley (2B)
M. Teixeira (1B)
J. Mauer (C)
J. Morneau (1B/Util)
J. Rollins (SS)

Not bad, right? Anyway, here’s my draft:

7. (96) Aaron Harang SP
8. (101) Matt Cain SP
9. (124) Dan Haren SP
10. (129) Michael Cuddyer 1B,OF
11. (152) Brian Fuentes RP
12. (157) Jason Isringhausen RP
13. (180) Chad Tracy 3B
14. (185) Coco Crisp OF
15. (208) Octavio Dotel RP
16. (213) Scott Olsen SP
17. (236) Matt Garza SP
18. (241) Anthony Reyes SP
19. (264) Kevin Kouzmanoff Util
20. (269) Corey Hart OF
21. (292) J.J. Hardy SS
22. (297) Tim Lincecum SP
23. (320) Chris Reitsma RP
24. (325) Dustin Pedroia 2B,SS
25. (348) Rod Barajas C

I took Barajas only because I wasn’t sure if Mauer would be ready for opening day… Since then I’ve swapped him for Edgar Gonzalez (Ari - SP,RP); I also dropped Reitsma to pick up Dave Duncan reclamation project Kip Wells.

With all that in mind, rate my team!

You had the keeper problem that all of us fantasy baseball owners wish we had. I have one league that kept 2 players, and I had to keep Johan Santana and Ichiro. I really had no other players to keep, because I had to dump Manny during the playoffs when he was being “Manny”. I think you did the right thing to acquire Soriano, but I would have sent Mauer instead of Holliday. Decent catchers can be found in the middle of drafts, especially ones that can hit for more power then Mauer. Because of that, I believe your outfield is a bit weak. The top of your rotation is extremely solid, especially with Harang, but the bottom of it is a bit too young and risky. I am a big fan of Reyes, Olsen, and especially Garza, but you have no pitcher that has pitched over 200 innings for 3 consecutive years. The bullpen has only one question mark; injuries. If Isringhausen and Dotel stay healthy, then you have no worries.

Overall, (without knowing the other keepers) I think this team would do well in a head-to-head style league. Pitch and Ditch may be a very good strategy if some of your back end starters struggle at the start of the year. Hopefully everyone stays healthy, and you don’t spend most of the year fishing for replacements from the waiver wire.