I'm playing in a rotisserie league for the first time ever this year. I'm used to simplified point system leagues where the strategy is simply to get the very best guys you can and put them out there.
My question is, how do you select a rotisserie team most effectively? Is it still a matter of getting the very best talent and letting each stat category take care of itself? Or is it a matter of finding a real stud for every category allowing you to win the categories more often and avoid the rush in the draft for the big names?
Any advice you guys have would help me immensely. I'm in an auto-draft on Yahoo and have a week or so to set up my rankings.
Thanks!
-TacoJohn
1
TacoJohn
ID: 591522417 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 16:15
Sorry, bonus question. :)
Do you feel it's better to try to flat-out win some of the less paid attention to categories (SBs) or finish high in all categories?
Thanks again!
-TacoJohn
2
biliruben Sustainer
ID: 5310281417 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 16:21
You shouldn't completely sack any category. You have to be getting at least some points in every category to have some hope of winning. If you can dominate a category or three while not getting destroyed in any others, that is usually a recipe for being competitive.
3
bmbags
ID: 351461217 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 16:30
I usually try to get the studs who produce well in many categories and then once the drafting gets a bit slimmer pick specialized players. The specialized players are usually still around at that point.
4
Guru
ID: 330592710 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 16:30
Balance is best. It's hard to finish on top with any really bad categories. It's also hard to get good balance.
SB is a difficult category to get without sacrificing power, and power is relatively easy to get if you don't care about speed. So I think it is helpful to emphasize guys with decent power who are also good for 15-25 steals per year. Here are some names that you should probably rank fairly highly (not necessarily listed in priority order):
Ths is not an exhaustive list, but these are all guys that can get you steals without torching your other categories. This way you don't have to take someone like Luis Castillo, or Juan Pierre, or Dave Roberts - guys who can makea a big impact in steals, but who will hurt you elsewhere.
Even then, it doesn't hurt to overload on speed in your draft, because those guys will make good trade bait.
Batting average is another category to be thinking about. Be wary of power hitters who hit for low average.
5
TacoJohn
ID: 591522417 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 16:35
Wow, 10 minutes later and I already have a better feel for how to go about this. :)
Thanks guys!
Whatever advice you've got, keep it comin'.
6
Hammer
ID: 590737 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 16:53
Don't forget to keep an eyeball on the closers and potential closers. Saves are usually at a premium and are great trade bait.
7
cancermoon
ID: 6002620 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 18:11
I agree with Guru so far, except I was very very off Aaron Boone because I figure he trashes the AVG too much.
I put the player list into my excel and set values for each stat group that i figured were indictive of a high score. Every batter that hit that mark or higher i gave one star, all players who were well above that mark got 2 stars. This way i could easily spot all the good 4-5 category guys, and especially spotted some smokies down the list that had 2 stars in more than one category. I also put a slash for any stat group the player was well under par on. I noticed Aaron Boone has a shocking AVG, and it was too bad for me to deal with.
8
biliruben Sustainer
ID: 5310281417 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 18:50
Cammy has the same issue.
9
Rogue Nine
ID: 1157242 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 20:01
Boone is a tough call, because if he brings that AVG up to career norms he could be a 30/30 man at SS or 3B, too tough positions to fill. (Especially SS, although there are very few SB's at 3B.)
For closers, try not to be the 1st to waste a pick on one. Let others start the run, and join in about halfway. I really don't see a huge difference amongst the top 10 RP's, and if it means you can grab one more slugger or ace SP before other teams its worth it. (Is Smoltz really that much better than a Benitez type that its worth misssing a 5th round pick for? Benitez has been going as late as round 8-9.)
Also, consider what is good for your team. Taking Luis Castillo can be rough on your team (as Guru aluded to) if your already short on power, but if by round 8-9 you already have 2-3 top HR guys and very little steals, grabbing Castillo just makes sense.
10
Rogue Nine
ID: 1157242 Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 20:02
lol, too tough positions to fill. That should be two of course...
11
TacoJohn
ID: 30132523 Wed, Feb 26, 2003, 00:09
cancermoon, where did you find a player/stat list easily uploaded to excel?
that would be a huge help in sorting all this out.
thanks!
12
biliruben Sustainer
ID: 589301110 Wed, Feb 26, 2003, 00:35
I just used the draft helper off the TSN baseball page, it is really good actually. All the stats you could possibly need, and all the players.
14
CanEHdian Pride Donor
ID: 48936413 Wed, Feb 26, 2003, 14:52
I find it very helpful in roto leagues to stock up on guys who have multiple position eligibility. This allows for creative roster juggling that can get certain specialty players in the lineup for short stretches without sacrificing the numbers of the player that you'd have to take out.
For example if I feel that I need to get an OF in my lineup that has better potential for steals than a current OF (who is eligible at 1B), but my current OF puts up superior numbers in AVG and RUNS then my current first basemen. I can then swap in my reserve OF for my current OF while at the same time moving my current OF to 1B and maximizing the effectiveness of my players over the most categories.
More scenarios like this present themselves and be as flexible as possible helps to beef up certain categories at specific points in the season without sacrificing the ones that don't need the extra attention.
15
Ref Donor
ID: 27016179 Wed, Feb 26, 2003, 16:16
castillo is valuabel too because of his avg. Boone was horrible last year but I took a flyer on him when he was cut and he went nuts. He and Andy Fox and castillo brought me up from last in steals toward the top. I got fox from waiver wire and castillo in a trade. I traded good players like chipper jones and other high profile names for relief pitchers as well to get my saves up. Basically, if you're poor in areas there may be times where you have to get a player that excels in a particular category to try and make up some ground.
16
Nerfherders
ID: 43818813 Wed, Feb 26, 2003, 22:00
I went after well-rounded players that excel at several categories. Ordonez, Abreu, Chipper, Edmonds, Nomar etc. While not the world beaters at any one category, together they get the avg, runs, and rbi's up. You may hurt at Steals with this approach, but sacrificing one stat for three is certainly a wise move. Look for the consistent 100-30-100-.300 guys. Those are the key.
Winning categories shouldnt be your goal. If you can get 6's and 7's across the board, or trade a 3 for a 10 somewhere, you'll be fine.
17
The Left Wings
ID: 486501617 Thu, Feb 27, 2003, 18:49
RE: post 14 That's why Pujols (1B,3B,OF), Kent (1B,2B, and soon 3B), Aaron Boone (3B,SS?, and soon 2B), Bellhorn (1B,2B,3B), Lo Duca (C,1B), Marrero (C,1B,OF) are so much more valuable. It is these players that can help you use up all your 162-game quota to ensure best results. You wouldn't want to drop a good player just to use up the 10 games remaining, would you?
Also, since C,2B and 3B have thin talents, it would be nice if you can fill up those positions with your top picks.
If you want to win a league, you'll usually need no fewer than 7 points in each category. That means that you want balance within the whole team. So as someone said earlier, go for the 5-category guys in early rounds, and then fill up the weak categories with one- or two-category guys late in the draft. I mean, guys like Dotel are actually more valuable than most would think.
18
Reds88
ID: 024759 Thu, Mar 06, 2003, 10:11
What do you guys think about when to draft pitchers vs. hitters? My feeling is go with the best all around hitters’ first (the people mentioned above), maybe 1-15 on my draft list, then go with pitchers 15-23. After that go best available. My thinking is that after RJ and Schilling there seems a lot of pitchers on the same level, whereas hitters seem to drop off more quickly after the top 10 or so guys. Any ideas?
19
Texas Flood
ID: 2729416 Thu, Mar 06, 2003, 10:27
i've been playing standard 5 x 5 rotisserie baseball for over 15 years. long before any of these ole computer on line games were invented. y we usedta cipher the numbers usin the sporting news and a pencil!
man i'm starting to show my age here. seriously don't over spend on closers. my thinking is grab 3-4 solid set up guys in your draft one of them may turn into a closer during the season and you surely won't finish last in saves. it's what i call semi-bagging a category. depending on your league this can save you anywhere from $25-$35 in salary which can be used to better advantage elsewhere.
watch batting average, whip & era. once you fall behind in these categories it's really hard to make up ground. try making a trade that will raise you team BA by 10 points!
good luck!
20
Reds88
ID: 024759 Fri, Mar 07, 2003, 13:00
Does anyone know how the autodraft for yahoo works? If a position is already filled, do they go to the next highest ranking player for a different position? How about for pitchers, do all spots have to be filled before a second pitcher will be drafted? Any info is appreacieated.
Strategy: So far i've gone with a strategy similiar to The Left Wings and went for 2nd base and SS as my top ranked picks. I then went for RJ, Schilling, Pedro b/c I feel like they are ahead of the rest of the pitchers. I then ranked all-around good players such as the ones listed on Guru's list above, most of which are outfielders. From here I think I'm going to rank some SPs next. It seems to me that 1st base is deep with players and 3rd base has no standouts, so I didn't make these positions a priority. Any comments or suggestions?
21
SupermanMC
ID: 40216618 Fri, Mar 07, 2003, 15:21
would you guys trade womack and buehrle, for eckstein and brian lawrence???
22
SupermanMC
ID: 40216618 Fri, Mar 07, 2003, 15:23
the way i see it i lose a little bit w/ the loss of buehrle, but i gain some w/ eckstein. i'm in a regular yahoo league my pitching staff is pedro, oswalt, percival, guardado, benson, lilly, rhodes, wakefield and contreras... thanks guys
23
biliruben Sustainer
ID: 49132614 Fri, Mar 07, 2003, 15:38
I might, rabbit. I might. It really depends on what you think of the pitcher's prospects. Both are quality, but predicting future success is difficult. Decent trade. Judgement call. Keep who you actually like.
24
Khahan
ID: 3127107 Fri, Mar 07, 2003, 16:08
Regarding post 20: Yahoo auto drafts simply based on highest available player. It has no regard for positional requirements or roster needs. For example, last year I had one league auto drafted. I had 6 OF, 0 catchers and 0 relievers.
25
biliruben Sustainer
ID: 49132614 Fri, Mar 07, 2003, 16:25
This isn't correct, I don't think:
The autopick system looks at both a player's position and ranking before making a selection. The computer looks to see which starting positions you need to fill, then selects the highest-rated player based on either our default ranking or your pre-rankings to fill one of those positions.
It is wise for all managers to pre-rank players. To do this, just go to your team page and select Edit Pre-Rankings.
Perhaps, Kahaan, you did something wierd editing your rankings?
26
Khahan @home
ID: 310231215 Sat, Mar 08, 2003, 00:04
Maybe that's something they changed this year, then. It was just a public league I hadn't cared much about. Didn't even do pre-rankings. Perhaps they realized it was messed up the way they had it and fixed it this year.
27
Reds88
ID: 337272915 Sun, Mar 09, 2003, 16:06
Let me make sure if I'm understanding this correctly. For example, let's say I have RJ, Schilling, and AROD ranked 1, 2, and 3 respectively on my draft list. I have the first pick and it selects RJ. In the second round Schilling and AROD are both still available. The auto-draft wouldn't select Schilling, it would select AROD because I already have one SP. It wouldn't draft another starting pitcher until I have at least one player at every position. is this correct?
28
SillySpheres at work
ID: 21302315 Sun, Mar 09, 2003, 16:14
Reds:
No, it will draft Schilling b/c you have room for more than 1 starting pitcher. It will draft your highest ranked player if there is room for him in your starting lineup or bench. If there isnt room, it will move to the next ranked player and continue until you draft a player.
29
SupermanMC
ID: 40216618 Mon, Mar 10, 2003, 23:41
hey guys, i got a quick question. in a 12 team yahoo league w/ 10 pitchers about how many starters and relief pitchers should you have? i currently have rhodes, guardado and percival as my RP's should i use the rest of my spots as starters or pick up embree type that might pick up some saves... thanks
30
Rogue Nine
ID: 4423421 Mon, Mar 10, 2003, 23:50
Assuming you have the standard 1250 IP limit, I like to use 250-300 for RP's and 950-1000 for SP's.
300 IP for relievers usually means 4 RP's at 75 IP each. (A guy like Dotel takes 100 though, so take a look at their history.) I'm a fan of the 'as many closers as you can get' philosophy, and try to go for 4 closers in a 12 team league.
At pitcher, I like to have 4 solid starters who get around 190-200 IP each (I aim for top ERA/WHIP and K pitchers over the top wins guys) and a few top potential guys who probably won't get 200 IP, but will give you great stats for the IP they do pitch. (Examples: Santana, Weaver, Contreras, Brown, Woody Williams, etc.) With 2 or 3 guys like that, you basically rotate the 5th rotation slot based on performance and injuries.
31
Rogue Nine
ID: 4423421 Mon, Mar 10, 2003, 23:51
Oops... third paragraph should read "At starting pitcher,"
32
SupermanMC
ID: 40216618 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 01:38
thanks rogue, my SP's are pedro, oswalt, wolf, oliver perez, wakefield, lilly and hopefully reuter. hopefully i can find one more RP...
33
SupermanMC
ID: 40216618 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 03:03
how many saves do you think it'll take to be near the top of the SAVES categorie? on average like 80?
34
The Left Wings
ID: 6142019 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 09:52
You'll probably need more than half the game quota for closers. That's about two 40-game savers. So your guess is close.
35
SillySpheres at work
ID: 21302315 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 13:20
Super:
Last year in a 12 team league, I had Kim and Isringhausen for the whole year, Benetiz for the half the year, and Irabu for a short stint. I finished 2nd in saves and I had about 110. It was a close save race to the end, but I was far in front of the 3rd team.
Not sure if that helps, but it can give you some prespective. Certainly having as many good closers is key, but you also need closers from solid teams- having closers from Tampa, KC, and Detroit will not help at all.
36
biliruben Sustainer
ID: 49132614 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 13:38
I disagree. I thrived off of closers from Florida, Montreal and Detroit last year. Of course, it helped that my first iffy closer was Gagne in the 9th round. ;)
But without the rag-tag fugitive fleet of low-end closers, I certainly wouldn't have had any chance of finishing first.
37
ChicagoTRS Sustainer
ID: 256101115 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 14:03
Last year I had almost all ragtag low end closers - Jimenez, DeJean, R.Hernandez and various other part time closers throughout the season Lloyd, Irabu, etc...and I managed to finish 2nd in saves. Problem with these type closers is they normally will be a negative on WHIP/ERA where good closer are a plus in WHIP/ERA/Ks.
38
SillySpheres at work
ID: 21302315 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 14:15
Ok, my mistake. Instead of "will not help at all," I should have said, will help less than the closers from good teams. In addition to the reasons Chicago mentioned, closers from weak teams also have less chances for saves.
39
Rogue Nine
ID: 58251015 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 14:30
Not allways. Williams in Pittsburgh had alot of saves (46?) for a terrible Pirates team. I also remember Urbina getting 40-something saves the year the Expos won only 60-something games. A good pitcher closing games for a bad team will still bag his share of saves, mainly because 1) he's a good pitcher, and 2) bad team's wins are usually close affairs. (Ex: The Yankees blowout TB 14-2, no save... Detroit sqeeks past Boston 3-2 one day, save for Anderson.)
Having one solid closer is always nice, but those 13-14 round mediocre closers easily can make or break your season.
40
SupermanMC
ID: 372201118 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 19:25
thanks guys...right now i have guardado, percival, embree, and rhodes...should i maybe pick up lance carter or some other guy who might pick up some saves, or should i save that spot for a SP? i have pedro, oswalt, lilly, wolf, wakefield and reuter. so i'd have to drop one of them...
41
Texas Flood
ID: 311039208 Tue, Mar 11, 2003, 19:34
i'm wondering if there is any good way to run an auction draft on line? we have a face to face auction draft comming up the week after the season opens. it's a hoot and about a 12 hour day. lots of good fellowship, beer and cigars.
i've never been much of a fan when it comes to straight drafts. i like to have a real shot at getting any player that i really want. just curious. TF
42
SupermanMC
ID: 40216618 Wed, Mar 12, 2003, 00:28
sorry for all the questions guys, but i really want to beat one of my friends in my league...should i have a back up for every position??? i was thinking maybe most, but not like catcher...thanks guys
43
SillySpheres
ID: 58512252 Wed, Mar 12, 2003, 00:49
Superman:
I think your pitchers are ok. Percival and Eddie are great, Embree will get some saves, but Rhodes will only get you K's and maybe ERA / WHIP, but not many S or W. I wouldnt change any of your starters as Pedro, Oswalt and Wolf are probably as good a starting 3 as anyone else has in the league. I guess you could move Reuter, but I wouldnt for Carter.
Regarding backups: Often you are limited to 3 or 4 bench players total so you cant back everyone up. It is a good idea to have a bunch of guys that play multiple positions so if you have an injury or a slump, you can easily rotate your lineup.
44
Rogue Nine
ID: 58251015 Wed, Mar 12, 2003, 01:59
I usually avoid backups, since they're usually waiver-wire quality anyway. If a guy gets injured I put him on the DL and pick up a replacement, who I drop when the regular is off the DL.
I too think your pitchers are alright. You have 4 RP's who will eat about 250-300 IP, and you should be ok in saves. (You basically have 2 1/2 closers, but Percival and Guadardo are top notch, so I'd push you back up to 3.) In the rotation, Pedro/Oswalt/Wolf are starters, with Lilly/Wakefield/Reuter rotating in the last two places based on matchups.
45
SupermanMC
ID: 40216618 Wed, Mar 12, 2003, 16:34
good luck to you guys and thanks for the help
46
ChicagoTRS Sustainer
ID: 58735170 Wed, Mar 12, 2003, 23:38
Your pitching staff seems solid...I would just stick with what you have for now.
Hang on to Rhodes...he is over a K an inning...great WHIP/ERA...he had 10 wins last year in only about 70 innings (don't expect him to repeat the 10 wins but he is solid and will not hurt you anywhere). Sasaki has had some physical problems so he may even get a chance at some saves. He is the best middle reliever not named Dotel.
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