I feel like I’ve drafted a decent team, but I’m starting off terribly in my 5X5 Roto league. I’ve got an outfield of Sosa, Pierre, Alou, and Dunn, Torii Hunter as backups, I’ve also got McGriff, Piazza, Tony Clark, Vina, Mike Lowell, Sean Burroughs, Pokey Reese, and Rafael Furcal. I thought this would be decent, but my average is the worst, and other things are bad too.
I thought my weakness would be pitching, and it isn’t so great. I have Wood, Juan Cruz, Beckett, Jarrod Washburn as starters, and Foulke, Matt Anderson, Byung Hung Kim, Eric Gagne and Julio Jorge.
Am I panicking too early?
Yes, you are panicking too soon. I can’t tell how good a team you have without knowing how many teams there are in your league, but it doesn’t look like you have a bad offense. And your pitching could be okay, though in a mixed league it is certainly an Ace short.
What should you be looking at right now?
Compare what you’re guys have done with what you expected them to do and see how they measure up. If, for instance, your hitters are hitting .193 and you projected them to hit .271, you can expect things to get better.
At this point, multiply a player’s quantitative stats by 13 to get a rough idea of how they project out for the whole year. Barry Bonds projects to 65 homers and 156 RBI. Sounds good to me, though he probably won’t hit .428. I doubt Eli Marrero will hit .611, but 13 homers and 65 RBI aren’t far out of whack. You get the idea. The point isn’t to be hard and fast about any of it (the real multiplier, based on games played, is closer to 15, but two weeks equals 1/13th of the season), but to be able to quickly judge how you’re actually doing.
Then, when you really know, you’ll be able to panic with impunity.
Oh, and it’s Jorge Julio.