Full Disclosure: Be stingy with your roster spots

Let me guess: Some of your sleepers didn't pan out, but you can't bring yourself to release them.

You've already committed. You've made your bed, sold your soul and faxed them a copy of your driver's license. If they don't come through for you now, you've royally hexed yourself. So you have to stick with them, right?

Wrong!

If you want to maximize your roster, you have to let go of those underachieving favorites -- not give up on them, just let go of them.

Think of the waiver wire as less a removal from your roster and more an extension of it. Granted, everybody in your league has access to anybody you cut, but if you cut one of those borderline guys who hasn't gotten off to a hot start, you can feel pretty confident nobody in your league will rush to pick him up.

So why protect him?

That's half of what your roster does, the half that often goes unspoken. It provides you with points, yes, but it also protects players from other teams. So why bother protecting a player other teams aren't watching?

When you see a guy breaking out on the waiver wire, you might not have foreseen him breaking out, you might not have really thought about it, but you know if it happens, you want it to happen for you and not for somebody else. The guys making noise attract the attention, and the guys attracting attention need your protection.

So grab them. Drop Ryan Spilborghs for Jason Kubel -- I don't care if you don't like him nearly as much. Everybody has his eye on Kubel right now, so you might have only a day or two more to grab him. Spilborghs, on the other hand, would probably need a whole week of recovery before he got back on anybody's radar.

So many Fantasy owners seem to think of their rosters as permanent. They don't last forever, people. You have the freedom to ride the waves of public perception. I can't tell you the number of times I ended up adding a game-changing player "just in case he keeps this going," and he did keep it going, and I had him.

Win for me.

Obviously, the process takes some discretion. You can't grab everybody making an early-season splash, so you should prioritize an up-and-comer like Edwin Jackson over a past-his-prime player like Kevin Millwood.

But at some point, if he keeps this going, even Millwood will deserve a look. Give him a month.

I also don't mean to suggest you should cut an underachieving stud or middle-rounder. Obviously, good players go cold and almost always heat back up. But if a sleeper hasn't given your opponents reason to open their eyes and look, they'll keep sleeping on him whether he sits on your bench or on the waiver wire.

Let's look at a few examples here.

12-team mixed Rotisserie (Standing: 4th; 5x5 Score: 71.5)

Well, that's certainly progress.

After biding my time in the bottom half of the league for most of the first two weeks, I suddenly shot up the standings this weekend, thanks in large part to Edwin Jackson's brilliant pitching performance Saturday night. I like the former teenage phenom to break out this year, enough that I actually added him for struggling Chien-Ming Wang in one league, though not one featured in this column. I should emphasize, though, that that league, like this one, does not provide a bench. If you have a bench, you obviously want to hold on to Wang. He'll come around eventually.

But getting back to this team, I made only two transactions this week -- one early in the week and one about five minutes ago. I picked up Nick Swisher just before the Xavier Nady news broke, dropping Ryan Spilborghs for him, which should help with that much-publicized shortage of power. (Does it still even exist?)

By cutting him, I haven't exactly given up on Spilborghs, but he, like all of the Rockies, has struggled away from Coors Field this week. I don't want to hold a team-wide slump against him, but his 14 strikeouts compared to only two walks don't inspire much confidence. He's not that bad, but people didn't exactly line up to claim him off the waiver wire after I cut him. Someone eventually did add him a few days later, but only because he had a desperate need for an outfielder getting full-time at-bats after drafting Delmon Young. I still think I have a reasonable chance of getting Spilborghs back if he comes through for me and lives up to hype I heaped on him this spring.

My second move I could actually see myself undoing as soon as Monday. After his second so-so outing this week, I cut Kyle Davies for Nationals prospect Jordan Zimmermann, who will make his major-league debut Monday and potentially get two starts. I still like Davies, but because he hasn't had a lights-out performance recently, I have a feeling nobody will pick him up, at least right away. Meanwhile, everyone will have a close eye on Zimmermann for his first start, and if he blows away the Braves, I've already beaten the rush to him. If not, or if he stinks, I can cut him right away for Davies -- no harm done, except maybe to my stats for this week.

Other than that, my lineup remains the same, though I should mention my opinion has changed on one player. Jeff Francoeur, who I said was on thin ice before when I initially added him for Denard Span, has found firm footing on my roster as far as I'm concerned. I don't know why his ownership has decreased since opening day. He has done everything you could possibly want from him, other than having only one home run.

He's hitting .333, a marked improvement over his .239 batting average last year, is on pace for 135 RBI and has a higher slugging percentage, even with just the one home run, than at any point since his rookie season. Plus, he has struck out only five times in 48 at-bats. I give him the benefit of any remaining doubt, and I never liked him in the first place, at least not as a Fantasy player.

10-team mixed Head-to-Head (Standing: 1st; Record: 2-0)

Another week, another big win for the team that looks like it'll require the least intervention from me this year.

My infatuation with Kendry Morales didn't last long, not in a league this shallow. I dropped him for Dexter Fowler, who I then dropped for Nick Swisher -- again, before the Xavier Nady news broke. I wouldn't say I totally trust Swisher. But his approach at the plate had impressed before his three strikeouts Sunday, and he has too much potential to ignore. I've even decided to start him over Denard Span, who slowed down a little this past week and has only five games upcoming.

With that move, my lineup appeared good and settled until B.J Upton had to go and pull his quadriceps Sunday. The Rays think he'll miss only a few days, but in a league this shallow, I can't afford to lose any days. He hasn't really done anything to contribute to my two victories, so I won't have a significant void in my lineup if I bench him one more week. I just wish I had a clear choice to start in his place. Milton Bradley still hasn't returned from a groin injury, so I'd be sitting one injury risk for another. Span plays only five games. Ditto for Jason Kubel, who I added in place of Ryan Spilborghs after he hit for the cycle Friday. I guess I have to go with him. He's just too hot to sit.

Besides, my only other choice is Todd Helton, he of the .200 batting average who I added earlier in the week in place of David Purcey. I don't like the idea of starting him, especially since someone else cut him earlier in the week, but I want to give him a good, long homestand before I give up on him. You can't ignore the buzz he generated this spring, and I mean from every media outlet, not just silly me looking at box scores.

As for my pitching staff, I still have no reason to change anything. No one -- not in my lineup or on my bench -- makes two starts this week, so I might as well stick with the studs over the scrubs. I recently added Chris Volstad in place of Micah Owings and certainly like the potential he, Wandy Rodriguez and Kyle Davies offer, but none have quite reached the level of my top five -- not even Rodriguez after his 10-strikeout performance Saturday.

Oh, and just in case you wonder why I continue to stick with Troy Percival even though he has only two saves so far, my choices on the waiver wire have narrowed down to Ryan Franklin and Manny Corpas, neither of whom has a firm grasp on his team's ninth-inning duties. The Rays have a team built for pitching, so once they start winning -- and they will -- Percival will get plenty of saves ... and then get injured.

Clearly, I expect Carlos Marmol to take over as my second closer eventually.

12-team AL-only Rotisserie (Standing: 9th; 5x5 Score: 54.0)

This is bad.

Two weeks into the season, and my team has six home runs. Six! Carlos Quentin has more. The next closest team has 11, nearly twice as many as me, and as you might expect, being dead last in home runs also makes me dead last in RBI.

Clearly, I need a power hitter.

Unfortunately, so do my competitors, or at least they all seem to think so. Looking over the "on the block" page, everyone wants the same thing: hitting for pitching.

I've made a huge mistake.

I don't know why I veered from a strategy that worked, thinking I could have my cake and eat it too. Hitting over pitching, always. Even if you don't get enough of the latter, middle relievers can bail you out in the ERA and WHIP categories.

But it's too late now. I have to move forward with what I have, so I went to the only person asking for pitching and offered Jon Lester for the best hitter he put on the block: Victor Martinez. I don't usually like to invest in catchers, but at least the ability to play first base keeps Martinez from losing at-bats. I hesitated a bit because I consider Lester my best starting pitcher but figured I couldn't afford to lose A.J. Burnett's strikeouts.

Then, Lester struck out nine batters in seven innings in his first win of the season Sunday, compelling me to pull back the trade offer. I aimed my sights a little lower, offering Koji Uehara for Kendry Morales, but Uehara threw a gem of his own. Had to pull that one back too.

I might make these same offers again later. I just want a little time to think about them first. I realize I might have to take a less-than-favorable trade just to get me over this hump, but both Lester and Uehara could stand to improve their value a little. And in a Rotisserie league, I can afford to wait a little longer because I'm not racking up losses along the way. Only the final tally matters.

Of course, no trade would help me as much as a healthy return of Alex Rodriguez would. Still crossing my fingers on that one.

I foolishly decided to bench Tim Wakefield for his near no-hitter this past week. No chance I'm letting that happen again. He moves into my lineup for the injured Daisuke Matsuzaka, who I probably won't even miss that much considering my surplus of starting pitching. I brought back Russ Springer to take Matsuzaka's roster spot and immediately moved him into my starting lineup for Joe Smith, who the Indians don't seem to trust against left-handed batters. Finally, I benched Uehara for Jeff Niemann. Both pitchers fared well in their last starts, but I like Niemann's matchup (at Seattle) better than Uehara's (vs. Texas).

12-team NL-only Rotisserie (Standing: 10th; 5x5 Score: 43.0)

I'm somewhat at a loss here. I have two or three studs, above-average options at middle and corner infield and no real holes other than catcher and second base. I shouldn't trail in the offensive categories by as much as I am, and I certainly shouldn't have a lower score here than I do in my AL-only league.

But I do, and if it continues, I'll have to address it. For now, I think I should take a wait-and-see approach. Three of my four most expensive hitters -- Hanley Ramirez, Carlos Lee and Stephen Drew -- have yet to get rolling, and Garrett Anderson and Travis Ishikawa have underperformed as well. Once they all get up to speed, I should move up the rankings pretty quickly.

I've had just about enough of Nate Schierholtz, who has gotten only four at-bats so far. I expected him to at least platoon with somebody -- he certainly deserves to -- but since the Giants seem to use him as only a pinch hitter, he doesn't deserve a spot in my starting lineup. I'll start Craig Monroe in his place even though the Pirates face only one left-handed pitcher this week. After Monroe's two-homer game Saturday, I have a feeling they'll get him into the lineup more.

I actually have another dilemma with Micah Hoffpauir and Alfredo Amezaga, who I added this past week in place of Darnell McDonald. He might not offer much statistically, but he gets two or three starts each week and can steal a few bases. Hoffpauir has recently started for Milton Bradley and played well, but if Bradley returns this week, Hoffpauir will become another Schierholtz. I guess I'll stick with him and hope for a timely home run. Besides, I mostly added Amezaga in anticipation of him gaining second-base eligibility.

I hope it happens soon. Blake DeWitt is killing me.

I also added Nick Evans in place of Jonny Gomes in a move that I don't expect to pay immediate dividends. I just like Evans' upside more.

20-team mixed Head-to-Head (Standing: 5th (NL-only side); Record: 1-1)
(10 teams NL-only, 10 teams AL-only)

I hate this league. I hate it. The small roster sizes tie me to the players I already have, virtually eliminating any maneuvering on the waiver wire.

I can't cut anybody, so when somebody like Felipe Paulino has a breakout performance, striking out six batters in six scoreless innings Sunday, I can only watch in frustration as someone else picks him up instead of me. What choice do I have? I could try making a two-for-one trade of some sort, but if somebody else picks up Paulino at just the wrong time in the negotiations, I could end up in an even bigger mess. Smaller rosters also means less depth, so any loss leaves a significant hole.

Maybe I'd feel better if I had pulled out a victory this week, but the rainout of Todd Wellemeyer's second start Sunday night pretty much ended any hopes of that. It's a shame, too. I had made a nice comeback.

But I also had one of the lowest scores in the league, which potentially gives me cause for concern. Then again, three of my first four picks -- Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Brandon Phillips -- have done virtually nothing so far. Jose Reyes started to come around over the weekend, but even he hasn't played up to his full capabilities. I see no reason to panic ... yet.

With Pedro Feliz at third base quite obviously the biggest hole in my lineup, I've considered buying low on Pablo Sandoval, especially since his versatility should come in handy if somebody gets injured. His owner already has two third basemen and could use some extra starting pitching. Maybe if I could add Paulino, I could afford to trade one of mine. Maybe if my roster was bigger ...

This has honestly ruined my Sunday.

Moving on ... now that Elijah Dukes has a starting job, I can start him instead of Randy Winn. I probably won't do it often, not until I know Dukes has definitively broken out, but the Giants play only five games this week.

At least Sunday's rainout makes Wellemeyer a two-start pitcher this week. Otherwise, I'd have none. Next week looks like a doozey, though, with all of Chris R. Young, Braden Looper, Anibal Sanchez and Franklin Morales lining up for two starts. I need to get these people on different cycles.

Paulino!

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