With the RCL sign ups in full bloom, we decided to take a look at what last year’s RCLs showed us. I.e., what it took to win these fantasy baseball leagues last year. Across nine 12 team leagues, you would think you’d have some wide variations, but it’s amazingly close what you need in each category to do average vs.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy
Last year, I did an analysis searching for indicators that can help predict which pitchers are most likely to miss extended time due to injuries or have a huge dropoff in performance. I followed that up with a post where I chose 20 Risky Pitchers for 2009 with the ambitious goal that 12 of the 20 would either fail to throw 2,000 pitches in the next season or see a FIP increase of 0.50 or higher (note: for the analysis, I’m switching to xFIP which is a new addition to FanGraphs and adjusts fly balls to the league average HR/FB rate).
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Jake Peavy limped away into the sunset with a walking cast and a .98 difference between his ERA and his FIP, which means his ERA could’ve been below a 3 when he went down. Pardon me as I cry into a bowl of beer-battered onion rings. Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and a frozen Ted Williams are standing on a cloud somewhere mocking us. Baseball gods, why didn’t you take Joe Blanton? Anyway, here’s a list of pitchers with the biggest difference between their actual ERAs and their FIPs. If your guy is on the list, there’s hope. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing. Some would even say you could go out and trade for some of these guys, you educated fantasy baseball owner you!
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Just to clear my head the other day, I threw on some bicycle shorts, jumped in my El Dorado and went for a spin. Cause that’s how guys with a ‘stache roll. If you didn’t know, know you do. Consider yourself informed. As I was rocking out to some Don Henley, I was thinking back on some guys that helped me win leagues last year. Xavier Nady – Thanks, X-Man! Jonathan Broxton, you da man! All She Wants To Do Is Dance DANCE!
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I went through my top 100 and top 300 for 2009 fantasy baseball and I chose a guy every 12 or so picks to make up my ideal team if I were in a Razzball Commenter League (so 12 team, 5×5, 5 OFs, etc.). Obviously this is a team I probably would never get, because each draft unfolds differently, but if a draft unfolded exactly how I wanted it, this is how my best 2009 fantasy baseball draft would turn out. But, and there’s always a but unless you’re an alien, I held myself to the false constraint of not being able to choose more than one guy every 12 picks, so I still didn’t get everyone I would’ve wanted.
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Want to keep your post-draft roster from being full of you-know-what? Work Razzball’s BRAN (Balanced Roster After Nine) strategy into your diet so your roster doesn’t turn out irregular!
I know I could spend an extra 20 minutes brainstorming an acronym that’s more alpha-male but combining power with our strategy’s high fiber content makes me flash back to the old SNL Colon Blow commercials.
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The other day I went over my fantasy baseball strategy for snake drafts. Lots of the strategy there also applies here. If you ask me — and you kinda did ask me by reading this shizz — auction drafts are where it’s at, yo! You get in a room with your best fantasy baseball buddies. The guys you haven’t seen since last year’s draft. The guys you don’t want to see until next year’s draft. One guy, and there’s always one, has his phone on vibrate just in case the missus calls about little Petey. He’s got the flu, ya know. Then you have the guy who will go the extra dollar for (fill-in favorite player from his favorite team). You have the guy who brings only Cheetos and then asks the host for some cola every 30 minutes. Then, finally, you have the guy who made plans at 5PM and begins to yell at everyone at 4PM that they’re taking too long. And, it always turns out, this day is the best day of the year. Auction draft day is better than your wedding day. As for online auction drafts, they’re not as fun. Anyway, here’s some tried and true tips to help you through your auction draft.
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With the 2009 fantasy baseball rankings in the bag, we turn to strategy. Did you know your very own mustachioed ‘pert has a fantasy baseball draft strategy? It’s called Performance Enhancing Draft Strategy or PEDS. As you can see from that link, it’s in its 2nd year of existence. With a new year comes some changes. The first big change, I lost the 2nd -ing. Not sure why I was dropping gerunds like they were “tic-tacs,” but I’m a changed man. I was younger then, almost a full year. Let’s face it, I was naïve. That draft strategy was like amateur hour. And this is the first time I’m admitting this to anyone, but my cousin wrote the whole thing. I’m not going to tell you my cousin’s name or why I had him write it. I was young and stupid. Not as young or as stupid as I was the day or weeks preceding that draft strategy post, but young and naïve and stupid nevertheless. Luckily, I got all of my young, amateur hour, stupidness out in that one post and I was able to go back to being a fantasy baseball blogger without the assistance of my cousin, Tom. Okay, I am telling you his name. But that’s the last you’re ever going to hear from him or me on him or him on me. We’re through, Tom and I. This is 100% my fantasy baseball draft strategy and some that I cribbed from other people. Enjoy.
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There is a fundamental divide amongst fantasy baseball drafters: those who hate drafting pitchers in the first 8 rounds and those who don’t.
I am the latter. I’m not saying I prefer to draft pitching over hitting. Much like Billy Beane at the Winter Meetings and Billy Bean at a Winter Sale, I’m always looking for a good deal. If people want to overvalue hitters and undervalue pitchers, I’ll draft some pitchers.
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Followers of Razzball know this site has a concise strategy when it comes to saves: SAGNOF. In short, 30 saves is 30 saves, so why pay Papelbon for the privilege of providing them, when you can get them on the cheap from Brian Wilson?
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