In the Middle of the Flock

The Kiwis are flying in the middle of the Peck em Owls Fantasy Baseball League flock going into the All-Star Break. We're #6 in the field of 10 teams, with 53 points.

I'm definitely not happy with the 1st half performance of my team but I'm cautiously optimistic going into the 2nd half. The main source of disappointment to date has been injury, particularly among my top draft picks. Six of my first eight draft picks have spent time on the DL (injury list) this season. All of the my top three picks, Jimmy Rollins, Alfonso Soriano & Carlos Pena have spent substantial time on the DL and they've all put up weak numbers when they have been playing. I've had to be pretty scrappy with my lineup which resulted in a league-leading 56 player changes (mainly picking up players from the free agency list), well above the 2nd most active team which had 19 player changes.

Right now I'm shooting for a 3rd place finish which I figure will require me to pick up 15-20 points. If my top three draft picks can stay healthy (Soriano is still on the DL but should be back in the lineup in a week; Rollins & Pena both currently healthy and were playing well going into the break) and can just get their production back up to their historical averages, then I think I can close much of the gap with the head of the flock. My pitching numbers will also have to improve a lot but right now I have quite a bit more remaining starts from my starters than all of the competitors above me, allowing me to close the gap in strikeouts & wins and improve my ERA & WHIP.

Go Kiwis!