What to do with Masterson - not as simple as it seems

[viper]

For several weeks I have been trying to decided what to do and now I am throwing this out to the Mastersball family.

Ten team AL only league with nearly standard 5x5 categories. I'm in 4th but feel I can improve on hitting as I just traded for Teixeira and Cahill dealing away Lester and Simon. I am in 4th but not all that far out as we near Memorial Day.

My current staff is Masterson, Westbrook, Lewis, Braden, Guthrie, Wilson, Cahill, Valverde & Thornton. My question is should I release Masterson who is essentially inept but who is still starting games and therefore accumulating innings. No wins yet however.

The category status is:

Wins: 40, 31, 24, 24, 24, 22, 19. I have 6½ points with a 24.
IP (not K): 527, 451, 434, 431, 427, 422, 407. I have 9 points at 451.
SV: 36, 21, 20, 13, 13, 13, 12, 10, 8. I have 4 points at 12.
ERA: 3.01, 3.65, 4,11, 4.29, 4.34, 4.49. I have 9 points at 3.65.
WHIP: 1.148, 1.224, 1.356, 1.357, 1.372. I have 9 points at 1.224.

The ONLY pitchers in free agency who have any starts this season are Sergio Mitre, Brad Thomas, Mark Hendrickson & Vince Mazzaro. Hard to believe that is the list but this league really likes SPs with IP as a category. There are a number of high quality MR and setup men on the wire.

My FAAB is low so if any SP is traded over, I will assuredly not get him.

By releasing Masterson, I will definitely drop in IP with a pretty substantial downside. Right now, the upside of replacing him with a top flight ERA/WHIP pitcher is minimal. I could gain in saves if I got a setup man who became a closer but not as much as I would surely lose in IP.

Do I ride Masterson's bad numbers as long as he has a job or speculate on a potential closer. I have been riding him mostly because of the gap I have in ERA & WHIP compared to the team's immediately below me in those categories. But that is not guaranteed to last.

[Todd Zola]

Until Masterson develops a pitch to neutralize lefties, he will be quite incendiary. Teams are obviously stacking the lineup against him as he has faced more lefties than righties.

Code: Select all

R/L 	AB 	R 	H 	2B 	3B 	HR 	RBI 	BB 	HBP 	SO 	SB 	CS 	AVG 	OBP 	SLG 	OPS
vs. Left	101	16	39	7	0	3	15	18	1	14	2	0	.386	.475	.545	1.020
vs. Right	95	21	24	3	1	1	17	8	3	32	2	1	.253	.327	.337	.664

[viper]

I totally agree that Masterson is "quite incendiary" but the mantra of "bully hitting, manage pitching" really deals with the best way to managing your staff to MAXIMIZE your pitching category points. I can improve my two ratio category number by replacing him but will I maximize my potential category points? How to do that is the real question.

[Todd Zola]

With Lester no longer around to anchor, I personally would look for a placeholder middle guy and keep my eye open for a better starter than are currently available. You may very well have your closer in Thornton.

And if your offense indeed kicks in, you can deal later for the innings.

Basically saying Masterson is going to hurt in 2 cats and only help in 1. I don't even think you can say he will help in wins -- a decent middle guy is going to get the same 5 W as he is the rest of the season.

[Captain Hook]

Not sure if you have minor leaguers in that league Mike but Chris Tillman will be activated for the start tomorrow

[viper]

that eye will be open. It may be hard to find a worse option actually. My best bet will be when currently disabled starters get healthy. In order to activate them, someone will have to be released. FAAB in mid-week so I cannot do anything until June. Is it possible that Masterson will have an epiphany and see the light? Equally likely that I will break par.

[viper]

Tillman is not on anyone's DL/Minor list. The league does not allow you to draft anyone who is not on an active roster. If a player is sent down before the final rosters are set, your options are to release/replace him or keep him active. There are 12 pitchers on the disabled/minor reserves. I see a few of them should be activated in the next 30 days - Anderson tomorrow maybe. Tallet, Litsch & Rzep... may be back in June. I should have options in addition to Tillman.

[Tampa Bob]

Mike,
It sounds like Cleveland won't be trotting him out there too much longer. He'll either go down to look for another pitch or be sent to the bullpen to blow up games from there. Laffey is the 1st option to replace him.

Laffey has been in a relief role so his IPs won't be very high for a while either.

Tillman or a strong MR like Bard/Thornton, etc (if they exist).

Bon chance!