Cleveland Indians - Rate my fantasy draft!

[Silent Nature]

I chose Cleveland Indians and I have the 1st pick overall. I'm using KG's latest update (April 6th, 2007) on PS2.

My goal was to build a very strong pitching staff and young defensive fielders. I think I achieved that very well.

Indians' Rotation
1 - Johan Santana
2 - C.C. Sabathia
3 - Justin Verlander
4 - Derek Lowe
5 - Livan Hernandez

Indians' Bullpen
LR - Josh Beckett
LR - Brandon Duckworth
LR - Scott Linebrink
MR- Jonathan Papelbon
MR - Luis Ayala
SU - Billy Wagner
Closer - Scot Shields

Indians' Batting Order
2B - Luis Rivas
1B - Kevin Youkilis
RF - Ryan Spilborghs
LF - Terrmel Sledge
DH - Josh Phelps
3B - David Bell
SS - Juan Castro
C - Brian Schneider
CF - Carlos Gomez

Indians' Bench
C - Corky Miller
LF - Todd Hollandsworth
CF - Willie Harris
RF - Corey Patterson

[Bobolini]

Solid pitching but Beckett is a reliever? Ratings must be off on this roster file. Shields your closer and not Papelbon? Your pitching will be strong maybe too strong because your lineup wouldn't strike fear in some Triple A teams. I might have tried to pick up Crawford early as a good young batter and he's excellent defensively. Not bad and achieved what you wanted.

[Silent Nature]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bobolini

Solid pitching but Beckett is a reliever? Ratings must be off on this roster file. Shields your closer and not Papelbon? Your pitching will be strong maybe too strong because your lineup wouldn't strike fear in some Triple A teams. I might have tried to pick up Crawford early as a good young batter and he's excellent defensively. Not bad and achieved what you wanted.

This was made in April before Beckett showed a sign of life, after a lackluster year in his first year at Boston.

I know that Beckett is great now, but at the beginning, it wasn't expected. Livan Hernandez and Josh Beckett are close in ratings, but right now, Josh Beckett is outperforming Livan so I might switch them up.

Shields got better closing pitches, but Papelbon can be effective as well, but not as good as Shields right now.

So far, my batting isn't scoring much runs, but Santana is still 2-0 with 30th rated overall lineup. He won two games, (3-2) and (1-0) with amazing 25 K's to 0 walks.

Yes, I'm using Pared's All Star sliders. Having great pitchers will get you plenty of K's.

[Silent Nature]

I just traded Justin Verlander to St. Louis Cardinals in return for LF - Carl Crawford and 1B - Travis Lee.

I moved up Josh Beckett to 3rd spot in the rotation over Derek Lowe and Livan Hernandez because his amazing relief appearances impressed me enough to take it.

Beckett's first game as a starter, he pitched a 2 hitter in 7 innings, striking out 3 and walking none. Apparently, the lineup wasn't able to give in any run support and the game was still tied 0-0 at the end of ninth.

My solid relievers was able to hold them down for only 4 hits to win the game on a solo homer by a pinch hitter, Alexa Casilla in the bottom of 13th.

The amazing thing is that Alexa Casilla only had a power of 38 and still came through with a clutch homer as a 9th batter in the lineup over the divison leader, White Sox.

[skitch]

I'm not sure I like the Verlander deal. Sure, you got Crawford, who turns into an absolute animal in this game... but could you not have given up a few of your average position players instead? Maybe I'm just sore from seeing you depart with one of the best young pitchers in the game...

[Silent Nature]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kredit

I'm not sure I like the Verlander deal. Sure, you got Crawford, who turns into an absolute animal in this game... but could you not have given up a few of your average position players instead? Maybe I'm just sore from seeing you depart with one of the best young pitchers in the game...

I've tried many deals with young position prospects, but they are deeply looking for starting pitchers. Besides, as you can see my strength with pitching staff, losing Verlander is not a bad move for a young hitter who can help out a lot as a daily lead off hitter and stealing bases.

Josh Beckett came up and took his spot and actually performed better so it's all good.

[knowledge24]

what sliders do you use?