i have a question. in one of my leagues which should start soon, I have 2006 mark derosa and 1981 rickey henderson. for some reason the reconmended lineup has derosa starting in the outfield instead of henderson, despite henderson having much better overall stats and costing 2.5 mil more. can anyone explain why this is and whether i should leave derosa as my starter?

Better question.. Why is one of them available to stay on your bench.. Seems like a waste of money.

i got derosa for two reasons: i wanted a good pinch hitter because my league doesn't use a DH, and i wanted someone who could play more than one position.

WIS's default settings are horrible. In fact, I recently started a thread called "Why are default settings so horrible?".

This one is particularly baffling, since WIS will usually put the player with more PA in the lineup (in my experience, at least). And Henderson not only has more PA, his $/PA is higher too, so he should clearly be the favorite to start.

By the way, in a league with usable AAA batters, I think a player like DeRosa (okay defensively at 4 positions) is a good player to have around. Let him plug the holes, wherever they may be. (I'm assuming you haven't drafted a full-season's worth of PA at all the positions DeRosa's eligible to play?)

mainly 3b, where I have george bret, who normally begins to tire a little bit and needs to sit every so often. i may also want to spell derosa in some of the other spots if certain players don't perform well. I like having derosa on the bench because it gives me some double switch potential when i use him as a pinch hitter.

Well, he has a lot of PA for PH'er/spot-starter. If this is a league with a salary cap, you're going to want to make sure you use up all those PA or you'll have wasted money on him.

are there any cheaper players you would recommend who could fill the same role?

You have to look at your lineup and estimate how many PA someone in that role would be getting. Then go from there.

The 2006 DeRosa has 572 PA/162 and fields well at 1B, 2B, 3B, and OF. that being said, and since you're spending $5mm on him, he is good for starts in about 145 games without suffering fatigue. If you're taking him as a role player , it might make sense to draft other players at those 4 positions with appropirate (fewer) PAs and then micromanage DeRosa around the field. I'd have to know what the rest of your team's composition is before offering more thoughts