Jeepers, Keepers: Time to Find Some Ottoneu Sleepers (pt 1)

The deadline to keep players in Ottoneu passed Thursday evening at midnight, and today I thought it might be fun to run my roster through the wringer. After all, I’m eagerly trying to gain the acceptance of my readers! But seriously, I sort of am.

So here’s the Fangraphs Staff League II. My team name is “Bang the Woodrum”, and we are in a 12 team league — I just noticed Woodrum named his team “I am Warneing You” — with FanGraphs points (linear weights) scoring. The budget is $400, and I’ve filled 31 roster spots with $344. Last year, I led down the stretch until innings limits sabotaged me at the last second, leaving me in third place.

Consider:

C- Joe Mauer $24
C- Wilin Rosario $5
1B- Joey Votto $52
2B- Jose Altuve $7
SS- Andrelton Simmons $4
3B- Chase Headley $12
MI- Open
OF- Jay Bruce $28
OF- Yoenis Cespedes $16
OF- Josh Willingham $13
OF- Jason Kubel $10
OF- Bryce Harper $33
UTIL- Ben Revere $5
Bench – Lonnie Chisenhall $6
Bench – Lorenzo Cain $5
Minors- Xander Bogaerts $3
Minors- Miguel Sano $6
Minors- Oscar Taveras $2

So if I could do it over, I might cut Chisenhall, but honestly he’s going to start at third for the Indians, and I am still a believer he could be an asset at third for me. Even if not, I have Headley at a pretty awesome price. I really like the pricing I have on Headley, Willingham, Kubel, and all my minors guys except Sano (homer), and think I was pretty financially responsible overall. My remaining budget will go toward middle infield (I cut Jose Reyes at $40ish bucks, I believe), and probably to starting pitching, which I shall now unveil.

SP- Anibal Sanchez $16
SP- Jon Niese $11
SP- Shaun Marcum $10
SP- Homer Bailey $10
SP- Johan Santana $8
SP- A.J. Burnett $7
SP- Michael Fiers $5
SP- Ivan Nova $4
RP- Craig Kimbrel $15
RP- Rafael Soriano $7
RP- Huston Street $6
RP- Glen Perkins $5
RP- Steve Cishek $3
RP- Drew Storen $6

With a do-over, I’d cut Marcum for sure. With pitching volatility what it is, I don’t like spending big dollars on higher-tier pitchers, rather preferring to go low and slow with a handful of guys who I can replace and not ruin my budget with in the event of an injury. I really, really like my bullpen, and even though I don’t like the price on Storen, I think he’s good Soriano insurance at that price but probably not a penny more.

So what do you think? Have I got a good chance to at least replicate my third place showing?