What to do when you completely destroy your draft...

 

I love spring. Absolutely love it. The weather gets warmer, days get longer, pitchers and catchers report, and, most wonderful of all: the sound of fantasy draft boards assembling everywhere.

No one remembers 2007’s results but the champs. We’re all starting fresh. So you took Chris Carpenter, Jason Bay and B.J. Ryan with three of your first four picks. Who cares? So what if you passed on Matt Holliday for five rounds, and took Vernon Wells a spot earlier? Who wants to remember grabbing Ervin Santana five rounds early, and then guaranteeing the rest of the league a Cy Young campaign from the young hurler? All in the past. This year, you’re primed and ready to dominate. You’ve invested hours of research into hot rookies, comeback players, and HanRam versus Reyes. You know who you want and who you want to avoid, and you’re sure that 2008 is your year. History will be made in the draft.

But then, slowly at first, something terrible happens. In the first couple of rounds the guys you really wanted are snatched up one spot before you. You still end up with decent value, and yet you’re uneasy. This affects your next few picks as you start to grasp for players that probably would have been available a few rounds more. Recognizing this mistake, you now feel like you need stability, so you start taking sixth outfielders over super prospects “just to be safe.”

The draft ends, you look at your roster, and the taste of throw-up registers in your mouth. Experience says you blew it; all you can see ahead of you is six months of misery. Well, draft choker, I am here to help you. Just because your starting middle infield is Ryan Theriot and Tad Iguchi doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to miss the playoffs. With lots of work, humility, tenacity, and threats of bodily harm to your fellow league members, you can reclaim your season – but it has to start right away. Here are four concepts that will, if you get behind them today, guarantee a playoff spot and the loss of your soul. (Note: This blog in no way endorses threats of bodily harm to your fellow league members, nor does it endorse having Tad Iguchi anywhere near your starting middle infield).

#1: Propose 12 trades per week – minimum. Since you’re plain awful at drafting, the only way you’re going to land any kind of playoff-level talent is through trades. Before you start sending out offers in bulk, two things to keep in mind:

Always try to get the best player in the deal. If you can trade 2 or 3 for 1, but the one is a stud, do it. But don’t be satisfied when you’ve swapped your pupu platter for a filet mignon. Do it again.

No owner in his right mind is going to send you a stud for your junk – unless you wear him down. When they reject one package, send them three more. Keep at it until the other side agrees to your trade just to be rid of you, or until they threaten a restraining order. Hey. Do you want to be liked, or do you want to make the playoffs?

#2 Own the waiver wire. If a starter gets injured, grab his backup. Replacements always seem to get their name out there early in the fantasy world, but—in the off chance we’re looking at Lou Gehrig and Wally Pipp redux—you have to have them first. You also have to gamble on free agents who have had a hot three-game stretch, not just a solid couple of weeks. If a guy homers twice in a game or two, take the shot. Don’t be afraid to cut your decent players to gamble on hot performers. There will always be other decent players to replace them. Remember, when you’re trying to get lucky, “decent” won’t cut it.

#3: Youth. Whenever a prospect gets a mid-season call up, you have to get him. No excuses. If they don’t work out in the first couple of weeks, cut them and grab the next rookie. If they do pan out, TRADE THEM IMMEDIATELY. New faces, for whatever reason, are always overvalued somewhere. If you can get a consistent Top-5 performer at his position for the rookie of the month plus a scrub or two, pull the trigger as fast as you can.

#4: Rules. If you’re in a keeper league, move to change the league rules so that trading draft picks is allowed. With the same tenacity you show in trade proposals, make sure this rule gets passes ASAP. Once it’s in effect, give up as many of next year’s picks as you can to improve your club in the present. Don’t worry about next year. You shouldn’t be allowed within 500 yards of a draft, anyway, and you can always trade your 2010 picks next season.

Commit to these four philosophies and you will be playoff bound. You’ll also probably get kicked out of the league, fired from your job for playing fantasy baseball at work, and your dog will run away. But they can never take that championship away from you. Good luck. You’re gonna need it.