Spot-Starting Against the Weak Teams

I am thoroughly convinced that the Giants' offense is going to be utterly pathetic this year. Look at the lineup they went with today against the Brewers, along with their career OPS in parentheses:

Roberts (.712)
Velez (Rookie - limited career #'s)
Winn (.768)
Molina (.718)
Rowand (.804)
Castillo (.677)
Aurilia (.768)
Bocock (Rookie - limited career #'s)

Only Rowand has a career OPS over .800 and he's on the wrong side of his career (that is, we should expect decline - not improvement). The others are all either getting a little old (Aurilia and Winn), never that good in the first place (Roberts, Molina, Castillo), or unproven rookies (Velez and Bocock).

The point is, you can take advantage of this by grabbing marginal pitchers who are going to face the Giants or other weak teams. If your league is deep enough that you can employ a strategy of picking up and dropping pitchers on a regular basis, this strategy can be very effective.

I would think about using this strategy with the Giants, Pirates, and Orioles. (I just singled out the Giants because I don't like them.) The Nationals, Marlins, and A's could be candidates, too, but I'd wait to see how their offenses pan out in the coming weeks.

Here are some upcoming matchups with these teams where you may be able to spot-start a pitcher:
April 5
Manny Parra vs. Giants
(You should probably own Parra, anyway)

April 6
Greg Maddux vs. Giants
Rick Vanden Hurk vs. Pirates

April 8
Randy Wolf vs. Giants
Jason Jennings vs. Orioles