I remember the day fairly clearly. It was springtime a few years ago and I was out taking the dog for a walk. That welcome and very bright March sun had started to melt away the snow, and I had downloaded one of the podcasts where the guys were talking about the Razzslam and its format. I remember thinking, “Well, that would be a really cool experience.” It sounded like a good chance to test your skills against a pretty formidable group of players to see just how good you are at navigating a team with some very strong competition throughout a season.
This spring, after I had purchased Rudy’s draft kit to help me with some online and home league drafts, I got the email from Steve Paulo that sent me into Roto-Exuberance.
Do you want in for this year’s Razzslam?
It didn’t take long for me to respond with a very emphatic, “YES!”
What happened next was a lengthy, and multi-faceted, strategy plan that led to a very excellent experience overall, despite a not-so-excellent finish. I was happy to find out there would only be two FAAB dates – April 12th and June 7th – and was intrigued that it would be a Best Ball format (something new to me this year).
It seemed simple enough – a points based format with around 20 leagues filled with 12 teams each. All managers would be from the world of industry pros and some average ‘Joes’ in an online slow draft.
I’ll add the link to the rules here if you want to have a peek.
At the risk of plunging headlong into the trap of making this a whining post about my bad luck and terrible team performance, I will attempt to break down my spring thinking and what, inevitably, went wrong in the 42 round draft.
But first, my strategy…
- Stick to ADP for at least the first 5-10 rounds.
- Don’t touch pitching until the 5th round. Get 3 SP in the first 10 rounds. (No closers).
- Try to identify positions that are shallow and plan for some extra help there.
- Look for players that are poised to get an increase in playing time (that haven’t been announced yet or may be up against inferior competition).
- Take a chance or two that could pay off in a big way – (no guts no glory).
- Jump ADP after about round 15 if there are players that you feel will outproduce their early draft positions or at least get that increase in playing time.
- Try not to take too many risks and pray to the Fantasy Gods for health.
My first 8 rounds looked good in February…
But I’m sure you can tell from that start just how successful the season was for me.
Instead of doing a full run down, I’ll list the HITS and MISSES from that draft and attach a photo of the draft board in the comments if you want to have a look. I’ll recap some particulars from each of my ‘strategy’ points from above.
HITS (round in parentheses)
Dylan Cease (7)
Shane McClanahan (10)
Adolis Garcia (14)
Alejandro Kirk (16)
Andrew Vaughn (18)
Craig Kimbrel (22)
Tony Gonsolin (26)
Cal Raleigh … kind of … (33)
Christian Walker (34)
MISSES (round in parentheses)
Juan Soto (1)
Luis Robert (2)
Matt Olson (3)
Wander Franco (4)
Lucas Giolito (5)
Jonathan India (6)
Adalberto Mondesi (8)
Franmil Reyes (9)
Sean Manaea (12)
… and more!
- Stick to ADP for at least the first 5-10 rounds
My draft slot was 5. I assumed the top 4 picks were probably set in stone. They most certainly were not. 1 through 4 went Fernando Tatis Jr. (ouch), Trea Turner, Shohei Ohtani, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. I figured that Juan Soto would be long gone by the time my draft chime rang, so I took what I figured was an easy early pick. On the way back up, Luis Robert was still on the board so I took my second OF thinking I could not pass on another potential superstar. In hindsight, it was not a good play to load up on two OF this early.
Sticking with ADP against managers who research and write about this kind of thing for a living seemed to be the best strategy. And that start seemed to be a good one!
I was lucky enough to spike Dylan Cease in the 7th round (someone I had projected as a top pitcher if I had to go there), as well as Shane McClanahan in the 10th.
Outside of that, all else that could go wrong did go wrong.
- Don’t touch pitching until the 5th round. Get 3 SP in the first 10 rounds.
Anyone that reads Razzball on the regular probably follows the ‘no early pitching’ mantra that is repeated by our fantasy master lothario. And I was all in on that to start my draft. I had planned on taking an SP around the 5th round, so when Lucas Giolito was there (along with a few others below him that I liked), I jumped. I’m not a huge Giolito fan, but I figured he would be the ace that I could rely on at a pretty decent 5th round price. I got lucky with my next two SP picks as both Dylan Cease and Shane McClanahan were available in the 7th and 10th rounds – both ahead of ADP but close enough that I wouldn’t be making a terrible reach to grab them.
- Try to identify positions that are shallow and plan for extra help there.
3B dried up VERY early and I was left staring at an old trap for far too long. Do I take Adalberto Mondesi for the absolutely FEAST or FAMINE pick, or do I go with someone much less exciting but more durable? I bit the bullet on risk with Mondesi in the 8th, but planned to insure it with another 3B a few rounds later just in case Mondesi ended up injured halfway through the season yet again. If Mondesi had a big year, I would definitely be in a good spot to finish close to the top in the $50 side pot. If I didn’t take him, (or if he came up lame again), I would need to get a 3B sooner than later or at least protect the risk. Thus, the Luis Urias pick in the 11th. If you paid attention at all, the ‘out for the season’ Mondesi announcement came before May 1st.
Catchers were one position that dried up quickly too, so again, the gut instinct and Grey’s anti-catcher sentiment kicked in. I dodged taking a backstop until the 16th round where I took the hometown boy Alejandro Kirk a bit earlier than ADP. My thoughts were that he showed enough skill as a pure hitter last year that it should pay off at least in some DH time and split C duty with Danny Jansen. I got squeezed and took Stassi in the 20th, James McCann in the 25th and Cal Raleigh in the 33rd. Note: I did fall prey to the shiny new toy in FAAB 2 when I dropped a less-than-productive Raleigh (and a broken James McCann) and replaced them with Brian Serven – Colorado for the win?! (no).
- Look for players that are poised to get an increase in playing time (that haven’t been announced yet).
As I said before, I tried to stick as close as I could to ADP through 15 rounds and spiked a good pick in the 14th with Adolis Garcia. An up-and-coming OF with speed and power and only Leodys Taveras/Willie Calhoun to push past for playing time? Sign me up.
The guess was that either Jo Adell or Brandon Marsh was also due for a breakout and it was only a matter of time before the Angels had to make a decision with Justin Upton. I suppose I was half right there but both of those guys did not pan out at all. There was also the gut decision to draft then White Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel in the 22nd round thinking he would be dealt to someone that needed a closer. Luckily, he landed in LA.
- Take a chance or two that could pay off in a big way – no guts no glory. Jump ADP after round 15 if you feel it’s warranted.
Mondesi in the 8th was the ultimate big payoff or huge letdown pick. Even Luis Urias as insurance backfired here. Other picks I had that I hoped would play out well fell flat. Adell, Marsh, Kyle Lewis, Spencer Torkelson, Franmil Reyes, Sean Manaea, Mike Clevinger, Stephen Strasburg, etc.
Only a few ADP jumps paid off – Adolis (14th), Whitlock (23rd), Gonsolin (26th).
- Try not to take too many risks and pray to the Fantasy Gods for health.
This one was tough against this kind of competition. This isn’t a home league, so the other people in a group like this are bound to not miss much. I was constantly losing out on guys in the queue in rounds 10-15 so my plan of jumping ADP after round 15 started to happen before I wanted it to be in place. Like most competitive leagues, there were no ‘sleepers’ here, especially in our league where a lot of the April 12th FAAB #1 adds in the other leagues were already rostered in ours.
And, of course, injuries and poor production hit this list like the plague. Soto and Robert in the first two rounds? Ugh. Taking Matt Olson over Pete Alonso in the 3rd round coin flip? Oof. Wander Franco, Jonathan India, and Mondesi injuries? Yep. Franmil, Giolito, Manaea, Stroman underperformance? Uh huh.
It really was a comedy of errors by the end of April.
But … I was one of the only teams that spiked a $1 Michael Harris in FAAB 2!
And … at one point I can say that I did stand close to the mountaintop!
Alas, by next Wednesday I think I’m doomed for a 200ish finish.
“We get it! Your team sucked and you’re whining about it.”
Yes, but I did want to pass on some of the learning that I did this season on my maiden voyage through the waters that are the Razzslam (and any larger league in general). I know this isn’t a big-money league but it was really exciting to draft with some very well-known names.
- Having a strategy is important, and hashing out a plan is still the best way to compete. As many have said before, trust the process. If you know you have drafted good players at ADP or at good values, try to ride it out as best you can. Everyone has bad injury luck or underperforming players.
- Trusting your gut and taking some chances when you can are things that a lot of analysts will tell you makes the difference between finishing in the top half of a league and winning a league.
- In a league that incorporates a FAAB component, be active for each Free Agent pickup opportunity and make sure to plan out many situations with multiple drops for certain adds. There were some analysts that played in even more high-profile industry leagues that bailed on their teams early and didn’t even field an active roster for some weeks. If you sign up to compete, don’t abandon your team no matter how bad it gets, whether that means continuing with weekly moves, participating in regular FAAB runs, or even making trades to improve your team (if your league allows that).
- In a league like this that has only two FAAB runs, be prepared to cut bait on injured players or underperformers EARLY. You need healthy bodies that are contributing. You can’t afford to wait on a ‘maybe’ until June. I made sure to make a thorough contingency plan for each FAAB run here, something I can share if you’re interested in a later article or even in a DM if you want some tips.
Bottom line :
Looking back, I think I did take too many chances and hoped for the best-case scenario from far too many players – especially the ones I reached a bit for in those 20th-30th round slots. Next time out, a more conservative approach and a better grasp of when to divert from ADP is probably a strategy to pay closer attention to … or at least try to add into my main plan a bit more, especially against some pretty knowledgeable opponents.
Overall, this was a great experience and I can’t thank the guys enough for the invite. Not only did I have a great time drafting and setting up the FAAB runs to try to claw my way back into relevance, but it gave me a push to contact Truss about writing for the DFS side of things. I even unknowingly drafted against @DerekFavret in our league who I would later write alongside this summer!
Hopefully, they’ll have me back next year to try to piece together a more competitive squad. But no matter what, I do know one thing for certain: I will never… draft … Adalberto Mondesi … ever … again!…….(probably?)
Drop me a line @MarmosDad if you have any questions about the process or leave a comment below!
