Season review: Misfits

Points, placing: 4545 points, 3rd place

Drafted team: 1B Ryan Howard; 2B Skip Schumaker; SS Yunel Escobar; 3B Pablo Sandoval; C ivan Rodriguez; OF Andre Ethier; OF Rick Ankiel; OF Ryan Spilborghs; SP Dan Haren; SP Roy Oswalt; SP Ryan Dempster; SP John Maine; RP Brad Lidge; B: Cameron Maybin, Todd Wellemeyer, Clint Barmes

Players added (17): SP Luis Castillo (W3), SP Braden Looper (W4), 3B Pedro Feliz (W5), OF Juan Pierre (W6), RP Trevor Hoffman (W7), OF Gary Sheffield (W9), OF Andrew McCutchen (W11), SP Aaron Cook (W11), SS Edgar Renteria (W13), SP Jonathan Sanchez (W15), OF Garrett Jones (W16), OF Eugenio Velez (W19), SP Livan Hernandez (W20), OF Jake Fox (W22), SP Vicente Padilla (W23), RP Carlos Marmol (W24), C Geovany Soto (W25)

Players dumped (16): SS Clint Barmes (W3), SP Todd Wellemeyer (W4), 2B Luis Castillo (W5), OF Cameron Maybin (W7), OF Ryan Spilborghs (W8), 3B Pedro Feliz (W9), RP Trevor Hoffman (W13), OF Juan Pierre (W13), OF Gary Sheffield (W16), OF Rick Ankiel (W18), SS Edgar Renteria (W19), SP Aaron Cook (W20), SP Livan Hernandez (W22), SP John Maine (W23), OF Jake Fox (W24), C Ivan Rodriguez (W25)

Players on DL: OF Rick Ankiel (W5-7), RP Brad Lidge (W10-12), SP John Maine (W11-22), SP Ryan Dempster (W14-17)

Time lost by players on DL: 22 weeks

Points/ranking by position: 1B-475/3; 2B-301/7; SS-334/6; 3B-396/2; C-228/6; OF-367/5; SP-367/4; RP-168/9.

Final analysis: If there was one team we thought would be best suited to challenge the Chuggers for the top spot in the second half, it was the Misfits. They were a picture of consistency. They finished third overall after having the third-best hitting and third-best pitching. And they had some shrewd moves like picking up Juan Pierre when Manny Ramirez was suspended and snatching up the Pirates Andrew McCutchen when Nate McLouth was traded to Atlanta. Yet the pitching strength they had in the first half of the season faded in the second half. Haren was not quite as good. Oswalt battled injuries. And Dempster and Maine had stints on the DL. Their inability to find suitable replacements kept the Misfits from taking advantage of the fact that their players spent a league-low 22 weeks on the DL. Still, they were able to reach the head-to-head finals for a second year in a row.