Fantasy Reality: Three strategies for three fantasy teams in need of improvement

Photo credit: Game Face

Don't find yourself waiting for Ichiro's next 20-game hitting streak. Find ways to improve your team. (Getty Images)

By Kyle Stack

Special to amNewYork

Owners should always look to position their teams, whether it's attempting to conquer first place, joining the league's upper class or simply transforming the roster to out of last place.

Here are three such scenarios from three leagues in which I play (note: standard scoring is AVG, R, HR, RBI, SB, W, ERA, WHIP, K, SV):

The push to first place

Yahoo rotisserie, 12-team keeper, daily roster changes, standard scoring, 14 active players offense, 9 active pitching

Team: Frozen Rope, Tied for 2nd (83.5 points -- leader is at 97.5)

Strength: Starting pitching (Zack Greinke, Chad Billingsley, Yovani Gallardo), speed (B.J. Upton, Juan Pierre) and run production (Evan Longoria, Adam Dunn, Brad Hawpe) have enabled FR to dominate in most categories.

Weakness: It's undoubtedly been a lack of home run production (tied for last) and, to a lesser extent, batting average (seventh).

Makeover: It's too ambitious to try to win every category. FR, who is fourth or better in six of 10 categories, might have to live with a life at or near the HR cellar. He's 15 homers behind the next closest team, so it's more sensible to focus on improving batting average. Seven points separate third place from FR's seventh spot. Annual average killers Dunn and Mike Cameron should be offered to other power-hungry squads for more reliable hitters, such as James Loney or Johnny Damon. The point is to maximize the categories where you can gain the most ground.Gaining ground on the league's elite

CBS rotisserie, 12-team single-year, weekly roster changes, standard, 14 active offense, 9 active pitching

Team: RotoTommy, 5th place, 69.5 points (teams above him have 75, 82.5, 83 and 92.5 points)

Strength: Clearly hitting, as RT has 51 of his points from offense. A lineup core of Longoria, Dunn, Brian Roberts and Ryan Braun is quite imposing.

Weakness: Starting pitching. Despite holding third place in saves, RT is third or worse in the four other pitching categories.

Makeover: A simple balancing of the roster must be made. This is a perfect example of dealing from a strength, since a depth-challenged free-agent list makes trading a necessity. RT is fine with Mark Buehrle, Gil Meche and Edwin Jackson as the three through five starters, but he needs two frontline hurlers. He could trade Nate McLouth to outfielder-needy Fat Drunk Guys for Josh Johnson (2.76 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 7.6 K/9). Unless RT wants to offer one of his sluggers to hitting-deprived Rooting Rebels for Billingsley or Roy Halladay (temporarily sidelined with a strained right groin), he should propose Roberts and Andrew Miller (1.50 WHIP, 7.2 K/9) for Matt Garza (1.19 WHIP, 7.8 K/9) and Chris B. Young. To gain ground in pitching, RT needs to find good strikeout artists who won't harm his already poor pitching averages. Johnson and Garza are the solutions to his pitching problem.

A move from the league's cellar

ESPN head-to-head, 12-team keeper, daily roster changes, standard (except OPS instead of AVG), 9 active offense, 6 active pitching

Team: Catchers In The Rye, Last place in AL 35 GB

Strength: Looking forward to Ichiro's next 20-game hitting streak — that's it.

Weakness: His decision-making has been positively Brett Favre-like. He has five hitters riding the pine — all outfielders — with the minimum six pitchers.

Makeover: The first order of business is to transfer Ichiro and Matt Holliday from the bench to the starting lineup. Never sit your best players if they're healthy. From there, CITR should trade his leftover OFs (Nick Swisher, Rick Ankiel) for starters or simply drop all the excess hitters if there's no trade market. The bench should be cleared for free-agent starters Francisco Liriano (3.00 ERA, 1.17 WHIP last two starts), Randy Johnson (8.2 K/9) and Ricky Nolasco (2.77 ERA, 13/4 K/BB last two starts). Since position players are in the lineup every day, it's better to stock the bench with pitchers, who can provide continual wins and strikeouts. Furthermore, the catcher (free agent Chris Iannetta for Ryan Hanigan) and utility (Aubrey Huff, who hits better post-All-Star break, for Nyjer Morgan) spots must be upgraded.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Delicious
• Digg
• Stumble Upon