Your
strategy shouldn’t stop at the conclusion of your draft sometime back in March.
Depending on the type of league you compete in, here’s a strategy to employ. By
the way, you know your hobby is on the map when you start using words like
“compete.” Hey, maybe we’ll even get fantasy baseball in as an Olympic sport in
the future. If curling is an Olympic sport, why not fantasy baseball?
5 x 5 Roto League Strategy — If you’re the guy in the league who
loaded up on stolen base threats early on and you’ve built a 20 to 30 something
SB lead in the category, it’s time to unload. Chances are, your power numbers
(RBI and HR) are suffering because of your infatuation with steals. I just
unloaded Ichiro Suzuki for Prince Fielder in a league where I was
a little too in favor of the SB. When I looked at the trade from a glance, I
noticed I really wasn’t killing myself by letting Ichiro go. I picked up
Fielder, who should provide a nice power boost to my roster the rest of the way,
and I still have the likes of Shane
Victorino, Willy Taveras, and Ian Kinsler, among other stolen base
threats. Yes, I too am concerned about Fielder swearing off meat and have recently
sent him a care package of Nebraska’s
finest beef products. But he’s still one of the few sluggers who can go off on
a hot streak and get you 10 homers on any given month. My only regret with the trade is I won’t reap
the benefits of Ichiro’s perennial high batting average, which I’m sure will
soar to its usual .330 average around August or September.
Head-to-Head Strategy — Something I try and do every week
is allow myself some roster flexibility and let my opponent leak out to the
early lead in games started by his pitching staff. I employ four to five
closers in a given week, so I know I’m usually going to trump my opponent in
the saves category. I like to allow my opponent to dictate what his ERA and
WHIP are going to look like for a given week before I make too many pitching
moves. The goal every week is to win 6-4 against my head-to-head opponent —
anything more is a bonus. I generally control the SB and Saves categories, and
always win at least three of the five pitching categories simply by being
patient and allowing my opponent to dictate my moves. Of course, this doesn’t
mean I don’t let my aces play early in the week. If Brandon Webb is tossing on a Monday or a Tuesday, he’s definitely
active. I’m just saying that I don’t dip into the free agent pool to try and boost
my games started early in the week. By keeping roster flexibility, I always try
and max out on starting players for Mondays and Thursdays (travel days) to get
a leg up on my opponent and it usually translates to about 40 additional at
bats over my counterpart. These extra at bats allow me to employ an additional stolen
base threat or two.
Yahoo! Standard Friends and Family
League Strategy —
Each week we do a piece on TIPS that mentions either the best or worst spot-start
of the week in our league. It’s highly likely that you won’t ever see me
receive credit for the best or worst spot-start in a given week simply because
I don’t do spot-starting. With only 1,250 innings to play with, I really don’t
see the need to branch out and grab a shot-in-the-dark spot-starter. Each week
I’m rolling out the guys I put faith in from the beginning of the season.
Either that, or if I’m making a play for someone on the free agent/waiver pool,
high upside pitchers that I’m banking on to become part of the long term
solution — such as my pick up of Chad
Billingsley, who was dropped by a frustrated owner a month into the season.
With a 162 game limit at each active offensive roster slot, it’s also important
to have a tad bit of roster flexibility to spot start on travel days. The category
I like the least in standard 5x5 leagues such as ours is the strikeout
category. But even though I’m trailing in that category, I’m not worried. I’ll simply
make gains in K’s down the stretch when people have to dial down the rate at
which they’re using their innings as their staffs approach the 1,250 IP mark.
Comments