[Fantasy Baseball] Need Advice.

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endGame

Veteran X
I haven't watched baseball since the late 80s and know absolutely nothing about fantasy baseball. A buddy of mine got me into a league, though, so now I want to find a way to do well.

The draft was last night (10 player Rotisserie, standard ESPN rules). Which areas do I need to improve on?

C Jorge Posada, NYY C
1B Adam LaRoche, Pit 1B
2B Tadahito Iguchi, CWS 2B
3B Chipper Jones, Atl 3B DTD
SS Jose Reyes, NYM SS
OF Vernon Wells, Tor OF
OF Jermaine Dye, CWS OF
OF Hideki Matsui, NYY OF
UTIL Travis Hafner, Cle DH
P Chris Carpenter, StL SP
P John Smoltz, Atl SP
P Aaron Harang, Cin SP
P Dan Haren, Oak SP
P Justin Verlander, Det SP
P Brad Penny, LAD SP DTD
Bench Michael Cuddyer, Min OF
Bench Raul Ibanez, Sea OF
Bench Edwin Encarnacion, Cin 3B
Bench Chris Capuano, Mil SP
Bench Shane Victorino, Phi OF
 
Yeah you did pretty good. Chipper will get hurt, but you have Edwin to back him up.

The biggest thing about fantasy baseball is to watch the numbers. Forget if a player is a "big name star" or not. Everyone is drafting Sammy Sosa when there are way better younger hitters out there with much more upside.

It is funny, but sometimes in fantasy sports the people who follow the sport least in real life tend to do better. They don't focus as much on the names but stick to the numbers.

Anyway, is that 5x5 scoring? (runs, batting avg, HR, RBI, steals & wins, saves, k's, WHIP and ERA)? If so, watch your percentage categories, especially with pitchers. Your ERA and WHIP can get out of control in a hurry and you may never recover.

Watch the waiver wire for hot young players and pitchers. Every year there are lots of "no name" guys who have huge years.
 
Kerosene31 said:
Anyway, is that 5x5 scoring? (runs, batting avg, HR, RBI, steals & wins, saves, k's, WHIP and ERA)? If so, watch your percentage categories, especially with pitchers. Your ERA and WHIP can get out of control in a hurry and you may never recover.
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Yes, you're correct on the scoring system. How do you monitor the the values? I assume they'll be presented to me, but is there a 'benchmark' you try to stay near for each?

Kerosene31 said:
Watch the waiver wire for hot young players and pitchers. Every year there are lots of "no name" guys who have huge years.
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Thanks, will do.
 
endGame said:
I assume they'll be presented to me, but is there a 'benchmark' you try to stay near for each?
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Ah, I just saw that it ranks you compared to the other players in the league. That makes it easy.

Is my pitching staff screwed in regards to Saves? All I drafted was starting pitching.
 
endGame said:
Yes, you're correct on the scoring system. How do you monitor the the values? I assume they'll be presented to me, but is there a 'benchmark' you try to stay near for each?
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I play on Yahoo, but I'm sure ESPN has something similar. Once the season gets going, Yahoo shows you a grid with all the teams and all the numbers in the relevant categories. Keep watching that regularly and see where you can gain ground easily.

For example, say in June you can catch two people in the home run categoty by only getting 5 more HRs. However in steals, you need 20 more to catch the next person above you. Obviously you can easily find 5 Hrs easier than 20 steals.

The whole thing comes down to balance. You probably can't win every category, but to win the league you need to be at the top of some and near the top in almost all.

Speaking of balance, I totally spaced out and just saw that you have no relief pitchers? That is something you are going to need to fix in a hurry.
 
According to these sheets, the best available RPs are:

Salomon Torres
Ryan Dempster
Joe Borowski
Adam Wainwright
 
endGame said:
According to these sheets, the best available RPs are:

Salomon Torres
Ryan Dempster
Joe Borowski
Adam Wainwright
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Those guys are available in your league? Grab at least a few of them.

Torres is the closer in Pittsburgh for now, but has competition from others. Plus the Pirates blow, but I actually have him on my team. Dempster is ok and should close for the Cubs for now. That can change in a second.

Wainwright is probably going to start now with Isringhousen to close. Until he gets hurt again...
 
Kerosene31 said:
Those guys are available in your league? Grab at least a few of them.

Torres is the closer in Pittsburgh for now, but has competition from others. Plus the Pirates blow, but I actually have him on my team. Dempster is ok and should close for the Cubs for now. That can change in a second.
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So if I pick up Torres and Dempster, are Capuano and Penny the right guys to drop for them?
 
Well, I don't even know who Victorino is so you might want to dump him (unless this is some hot rookie I missed or something). Ibanez might be expendable too. I doubt he cracks your lineup unless there is an injury. In a 10 team league, there will be guys like him out there.

Don't drop Capuano. He might be good. Penny is tough. He might come back and be good, or he might not. You never really know with pitchers.

However if those 4 guys are out on waivers, the people in your league are simply not very good.

You have to look out on waivers and see what kind of players are already out there. Good starters will be harder to find, while there should be ok OF guys out there most of the time with only 10 teams I would think.
 
Kerosene31 said:
Well, I don't even know who Victorino is so you might want to dump him (unless this is some hot rookie I missed or something).
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I don't know who he is either, I was just looking for a sleeper with the last pick. Here's what I read on him:

FoxSports said:
Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies
Victorino ascended to full-time status with the departure of Bobby Abreu to the Yankees and responded with a .313 batting average over August and September with 27 RBI and 42 runs scored. He has the potential to deliver double-digit home runs and thefts while pushing toward 100 runs and a .300 batting average.
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Kerosene31 said:
Ibanez might be expendable too. I doubt he cracks your lineup unless there is an injury. In a 10 team league, there will be guys like him out there.
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Awesome, thanks. This is the sort of things that's so hard to know when you've never played before. The 'Joey Galloway' players from fantasy football.

Kerosene31 said:
Don't drop Capuano. He might be good. Penny is tough. He might come back and be good, or he might not. You never really know with pitchers.
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Okay, thanks - I'll hang on to them.
 
twiztid said:
honestly either there are 6 teams in your league or you're playing with total f'n morons
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More than a few guys weren't there for the live draft, so they were put on autopick. It's likely these guys will get snatched up when people realize how imbalance the autopicked rosters are in terms of multiple players for a single position.
 
The thing with closers too is that if you are quick on the wire you can get great closers for free. All it takes is an injury or a demotion, and a relatively worthless 8th inning guy all of a sudden becomes a saves monster.

In my 12 team league with people who really know their stuff, I drafted a good number of middle relievers. They help with whip, ks and era, and can even get some wins here and there. However with 10 teams in your league, it might not be worth it to grab these guys.
 
endGame said:
Appreciate the guidance, Kerosene. How do you determine how many SP to start vs. RP?
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Well, early on there is no easy answer. As the season goes on, watch the league standings and see which stats you need.

If you have closers, you should always start them unless they are pitching terribly. You never know when a save will come so just keep them in all the time.

With starters, look at the matchup. What park is he pitching in? Against what team? Who is he pitching against?

Obviously, you want to consider sitting your starters against the powerhouse teams, unless he is an ace. Your guy starting in NY or Boston? Sit them most likely. Also, the park factor comes into play too. Colorado is known as a home run park because of the altitude, so many people won't start their pitchers there. Also, who he is up against is important. Is your guy pitching against Johan Santana, or some team's 5th starter? Of course the thing with the other pitcher is it really only impacts your chance at a win.

There is no perfect formula for pitching. I try to simply look at the matchup and also how well that guy has done lately. If a guy is 2-0 with great numbers in his past two starts, I'll be more likely to start him while he is hot. On the other hand if a guy gets rocked (and they all get rocked), I might sit a guy to wait until he turns things around.

It is a long season and all you can do is play the percentages over the long haul. There is no easy answer for the day to day moves.
 
Interesting. Fantasy Baseball seems a lot more complex than Fantasy Football. Should be a fun ride.

Incidentally, I'm considering offering Ibanez to the guy that has Saito. One of his starting OF is Delwyn Young and his only OF on the bench is Preston Wilson. Atm he's starting 5 RP (Joe Nathan, Trevor Hoffman, Saito, Francisco Cordero and Brian Fuentes) - so perhaps he'll feel like making a move.
 
yes, imho baseball is the best fantasy sport. The biggest thing is the length of the season. A few hits here or there in April still matter down the line. The roto format also makes things interesting. It isn't nearly as simple as head to head and/or points. In football, you really don't care if you get points from your RB, WR, QB or whatever. In roto baseball, you need balance across the whole roster.

Trades are also more fun as you can actually find "win-win" deals. Like that deal you mention, a guy needs an OF and you need an RP. He has 5 RP so dealing one would not hurt him much.

Certainly shop Ibanez and see if there is any interest. If a lot of guys auto-drafted, then there should be lots of deals to be made.
 
So I've been doing more reading. Based on the fact that I have no decent RP, why not just give up on the SV category and be content with having a great shot at W and K? I should still have a decent shot at ERA and WHIP.
 
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