Full Disclosure: One Scott does in another

You're kidding me, right?

I had done it, fixed it, used every last one of my FAAB dollars on Mark DeRosa to give my NL-only Rotisserie league team the last big bat it needed following the trade for Brad Hawpe and Scott Hairston and the return of Aramis Ramirez from a dislocated shoulder. My team appeared fully equipped for a late-season run after lingering for three months in the bottom half of the standings.

And then the Padres went and traded Hairston to the Athletics.

Suddenly, I don't so much like the concept of adding or removing a player from the database when he changes leagues. It's great when you can exploit it, sure, but not so much when it catches you off guard.

Of course, you could argue it shouldn't have caught me off guard. You could argue Hairston seemed like an ideal trade candidate as a veteran on a non-contender with his value at its highest point ever. You could argue that, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with it.

But you can only discriminate so much. Certain players -- impending free agents like Matt Holliday who have big money in sight -- seem almost certain to change teams before the July 31 deadline, but when a low-cost player like Hairston can go, literally any non-prospect on a non-contender can go. Trading is hard enough already without eliminating so many of your possibilities. And you wouldn't completely safeguard yourself just by avoiding non-prospects on non-contenders. Look what happened to Casey Kotchman last year.

It's not always the names you'd expect, and even when it is, they don't always change leagues. So while I agree it's somewhat predictable, in most cases it's not nearly predictable enough to act or not act on it. No, I have to chalk this one up to a case of bad luck. The Fantasy gods giveth; the Fantasy gods taketh away.

But couldn't they have at least waited until the deadline?

12-team mixed Rotisserie (4th; 5x5 Score: 76.0)

One good week, and I'm right back in fourth place. That just shows how few points separate the middle four or five teams in this league. It also underscores my need to make a trade to help distance myself from the pack.

So I tried in earnest this week to turn two of my starting pitchers into one power hitter, targeting the four teams that, based on my own judgment, had the greatest need for starting pitching. In four separate proposals, I offered two-man combinations of Edwin Jackson, Jair Jurrjens and Ryan Dempster for Justin Upton, Lance Berkman, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez. I even threw in Aubrey Huff in the Rodriguez deal and Ryan Ludwick in the Ramirez deal. So far, well, nobody's turned me down. But nobody's said anything, quite frankly, which I always translate as lazy-man speak for "no, thank you."

But what if somebody accepts one of those trades? Wouldn't I have two holes in my pitching staff? Well, Scott Downs would fill one as soon as he comes off the DL, and I'd hope to have Randy Wolf fill the other, assuming I wrap up the deal before someone else claims him off the waiver wire. I couldn't tell you why one of those teams that needs starting pitching hasn't claimed him already. He's a must-own, even if the Dodgers offense has gypped him on the wins.

As a worst-case scenario, I wouldn't mind reclaiming Mike Gonzalez, who I recently cut when someone else dropped Andrew Bailey (welcome to the world of leagues without benches). Gonzalez still gets occasional saves and has improved his other numbers since becoming less than the full-time closer. He's even on pace for more than 100 strikeouts, which wouldn't put him too far behind Joe Saunders.

Anyway, I'll keep looking for that power bat, because it's really the last piece of the puzzle, especially when Jose B. Reyes gets his legs back in the lineup.

If Ludwick would show some signs of life, I'd breathe a little easier.

10-team mixed Head-to-Head (2nd; Record: 8-5)

This team keeps rolling with the most points in the league and a record now that looks halfway deserving.

I have a tough matchup this week, though, against another late bloomer who led the league in scoring last week, topping the next-best team (mine) by 89 points. Eep.

So did I change my approach for such an intimidating opponent? Not this time. In the past, I've sometimes opted to rely on luck when I knew I needed massive totals, starting some of my boom-or-bust players over some of the more consistent ones, but that strategy doesn't make sense considering the options I have. I could have started Andre Ethier and Denard Span over a slumping Ben Zobrist and a steady-but-unspectacular Todd Helton, but Helton plays seven games at Coors Field this week, and Zobrist probably has the highest week-to-week ceiling of all of them. If I want a best-case scenario, my current lineup stands the best chance of giving it to me.

And that goes for my pitching staff too. Granted, I probably would've started Kevin Slowey over Wandy Rodriguez if the Twins hadn't finally put him on the DL, but Rodriguez has more week-to-week upside. Hopefully he can build on the success of his last start, when he allowed one run in seven innings against the Padres. He is pitching at home, after all -- and against the Pirates, for that matter.

I didn't make any transactions this week, but I wanted to touch on a trade between two other owners. One capitalized on the recent success of Derrek Lee, packaging him and David Price for Cliff Lee. I certainly understand his reasoning: Lee is a reliable pitcher and has perhaps even underperformed a bit to date. But if Price starts pitching up to his capabilities and not so much like Rich J. Hill, that owner might end up down a hitter and with the lesser pitcher of the two.

It's a good trade for him if he wants to minimize risk and a good trade for the other owner if he wants to bank on upside. I can't complain about either side's involvement in the deal.

12-team AL-only Rotisserie (7th; 5x5 Score: 58.0)

Don't expect me to shell out for Scott Hairston in this league like I did for Mark DeRosa in my NL-only league last week. I like Hairston plenty, but I can't trust him to sustain his current numbers like I can DeRosa. Plus, I don't know if he'll steal as many bases with the risk averse Athletics as he did with the Padres.

That's not to say I wouldn't wager anything on Hairston. I have to place a bid -- a fraction of my full $100 -- just in case he goes for less than I suspect he will. If I was one of those owners with $70 or $80, though, you better believe I'd use it all on him. They don't stand a chance of getting any of the bigger-name guys anyway (assuming any bigger-name guys become available).

As for the players I actually do have, Mike Carp had to go back to the minor leagues after an encouraging, albeit short, stint with the big club. He'll be back, certainly if the Mariners fall out of contention and trade Russell Branyan.

I didn't have any major-league hitters on my bench, so I just stuck with Carp. I did add prospect Lars Anderson after the Blue Jays designated Russ Adams for assignment, but I don't honestly expect him to arrive before September, if even then. You'd have to see this waiver wire to understand: Nothing's out there.

I've begun to lose confidence in Pat Burrell and Jhonny Peralta, still waiting for a hot streak that, as of midseason, hasn't arrived. I actually tried shopping Peralta in a deal for Jason Kubel -- something I can afford to do now that Ty Wigginton qualifies at shortstop -- but it didn't take.

Meanwhile, my pitching staff has dwindled down to Jon Lester and a bunch of middle relievers, which doesn't bode well for me hanging on to the second spot in both wins and strikeouts. Funny how I couldn't give away starting pitching just a month ago, and now I don't have any myself. I obviously didn't count on injuries to Daisuke Matsuzaka, Koji Uehara and, most recently, Kevin Slowey. To make matters worse, I had to bench Rich J. Hill just because I couldn't stand his nonsense anymore. Everything my middle relievers do simply makes up for his damage.

Remember when I traded A.J. Burnett and Jeff Larish for Burrell and Trevor Crowe? The guy originally offered me Burrell and Brad Bergesen, and I turned it down. Whoops.

12-team NL-only Rotisserie (7th; 5x5 Score: 61.0)

I could handle the Scott Hairston trade a little better if I hadn't just acquired him in the Brad Hawpe trade. My faith in him honestly made all the difference, so when you consider I got only one week of stats from him, the move doesn't make much sense anymore. I basically dealt Yovani Gallardo and Garret Anderson for Hawpe and Hawpe alone, which sounds like a classic case of overpaying to me.

True, you could say I netted one bat during the week by adding Mark DeRosa and getting Aramis Ramirez back from injury, but I don't care. I expected to have all three at some point. Oh, and I also lost Elijah Dukes when the Nationals sent him to the minor leagues, leaving me with a collection of part-timers and reserves for my DH spot.

Yup, with Hairston and Dukes gone, one of Chad A. Tracy, Micah Hoffpauir and Greg Dobbs has to start. I have a clear hole in my lineup, and that's assuming everything goes right with everyone else. Does every team have a hole or two? Probably, but I started this run at the bottom of just about every category. I have to keep gaining ground, not just work my way up to the middle and stay there. The only way to gain ground is to develop an advantage over the people ahead of me, which I won't do by simply making my team as good as theirs.

Oh well. Maybe someone will make me a mean offer for Mike MacDougal. I have too much ground to make up in saves anyway.

I also have relievers to spare, particularly after I added Mike M. Adams off the waiver wire. He had surgery to repair a torn labrum in the offseason and didn't return until early June, but he had a 2.49 ERA and 1.04 WHIP with more than a strikeout per inning last year and looks the same so far this year. I cut Blake DeWitt, who I originally selected as my starting second baseman. I held on to him hoping Orlando Hudson would get injured like he always does, but DeWitt has struggled so much in the minors that the Dodgers would probably opt for Mark Loretta over him anyway.

To clear roster space for Ramirez and Tracy, who both just came off the DL, I cut Ryan Roberts and Chris Sampson. Roberts just got sent to the minors and was barely serviceable while in the majors. Sampson's ratios didn't thrill me even if his innings did.

Now my biggest problem is figuring out which relievers to start. And if Micah Owings keeps pitching well, he'll just add to the logjam. Maybe Jorge De La Rosa can go on a long enough roll for me to trade him for another Scott Hairston.

20-team mixed Head-to-Head (4th, NL-only side; Record: 7-6)
(10 teams NL-only, 10 teams AL-only)

Well, I managed to end my three-game losing streak even though I made the mistake of starting Felipe Paulino for his minus-23-point disaster against the Giants. I cut him for his opponent, Ryan Sadowski, before that game even ended and am better off for it.

Actually, I wouldn't go that far. I can't complain about Sadowski's two victories and 13 scoreless innings so far, but he doesn't have much of a track record. I don't actually feel like I can trust him.

Then again, I don't have much choice. Add Randy Johnson to my list of every-week starting pitchers on the DL, joining Brett Myers and Chris R. Young. I've never believed in targeting starting pitching early in drafts, but even I expected to have a better starting five than Ryan Dempster, J.A. Happ, Braden Looper, Todd Wellemeyer and Sadowski. Brutal, man.

But just how much should it bother me? Apparently, it could stand to a little bit more. Someone in the league marketed Cole Hamels for a big bat earlier this week, and I couldn't bring myself to offer Jayson Werth -- not even my biggest bat -- for him. I just couldn't justify it.

It sounds ludicrous given my supposed needs, but just look at the scoring breakdown. The minus-2 for earned runs negates so many pitching points that pitching becomes almost irrelevant compared to hitting. The team that ranks first in pitching has 1,494 pitching points. Meanwhile, the team that ranks last in hitting has 1,503 hitting points. Tell me which is more important.

Of course, the determining factor isn't as much total points as relative points. If every team has virtually the same amount of hitting points, then pitching makes all the difference even if it's not contributing as many total points. But approximately 700 points separates No. 1 and No. 20 in hitting, which is about the same as No.1 and No. 20 in pitching.

Obviously, better pitching helps -- better everything helps -- but if I improve mine at the detriment of my offense, what have I really gained?

So I'll just keep making improvements to my offense, which I feel like I did over the last week, adding Martin Prado to start at third base and Everth Cabrera to start at shortstop. Prado looks like another Asdrubal Cabrera now that he's playing every day for the Braves, which would be an obvious improvement over Pedro Feliz. Cabrera only got a look from me because David Eckstein went on the DL, but I think his potential for stolen bases will make him more valuable than Eckstein in the long run.

And at DH, I stuck with Nick Johnson over the much hotter Randy Winn. Hey, the guy plays three games at Colorado and four at Houston. If he wakes up, I don't want to miss it.

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