talk to josh

Yeah PM me if you're interested. There's a few spots left

lisfranc anything is an easy do not touch

For running backs and wide receivers I agree

For outfielders I think he'll be fine when he gets back

Made a couple changes on my teams, what are your current thoughts regarding each of them?

BlackDragons


Flying Eagles

Damn, it is REALLY hard to fill a fantasy baseball league this year. Last year I was able to fill one in 48 hours, this is a grind

Try reddit if you haven't already

Milwaukee 1b situation probably worth keeping an eye on. Jesus Aguilar has been utterly unconscious

Anxiously awaiting my first roto draft later today and have my strategy pretty much set. Do you guys have a definite draft strategy? I do for sure and I know it's probably far different from average.

I only play roto and put a huge premium on ace type starters and top level closers. I also put premium on steals. I am happy with middling power and find most hitters after round 4 way overvalued.

My first round pick must be a power/speed combo guy meaning I want a Trout/Betts/Goldy/Altuve/Blackmon type and will ignore a Arrenado/Machado/Donaldson/Rizzo type and want nothing to do with them

Round 2 is the absolute best starter available. Round 3 is hopefully Villar and if gone the next best starter. If Villar success then round 4 another starter so by this point I have 2 quality offensive players and 2 aces.

Then it depends as I throw ADP out the window but 5 and 6 are where I generally address power. In 7/8 I start adding closers and I want 4 locked in closers before it is over. After round 8 I want to just stockpile closers and take longshotish players and am happy filling in the back end of my lineup late with the Carlos Beltrans and Melky Cabreras of the world as they aren't really much different in my mind to the guys who get picked in round 5 through 12.

Unless I get one early I typically ignore outfielders for the most part and figure you can put together a reasonable waiver wire outfield if you have to. But nothing is set in stone at this point.

I put more emphasis on multi-positional player as they can add tons of flexibility.

ive been hitting up reddit and rotoworld forums. i think mots ive gotten from the latter. 2 slots unpaid and draft is in 5 hours - cutting it close!

How has this strategy worked out for you in the past? Because it seems absolutely terrible.

Personally I'd much rather have a player like Kyle Seager than Yasmany Thomas but to each his own

Yes it has worked in the past but remember this is roto. I think there is a vast strategic difference between roto and head to head. Head to head is 26 week long sprints and roto is a season long marathon. Bad pitching will destroy any roto team. In H2H streaming middling starters is a fine strategy. In roto this will kill you. Bad innings need to be avoided at all costs and good innings need to be accumulated. There is an inning cap and a games played at position cap. So inserting scrubs on off days can be detrimental. Balance is very important. Having a bunch of closers and quality setup men is much better than any non-ace type starter.

If villar makes it to round 3 of a roto that league is bad and should feel bad

First Fantasy baseball league in a few years - 12 team H2H categories: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, / W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, UT, UT / SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P then 5 bench slots and 2 DL spots

1. (9) Bryce Harper (Was - OF)
2. (16) Max Scherzer (Was - SP)
3. (33) Freddie Freeman (Atl - 1B)
4. (40) Jon Lester (ChC - SP)
5. (57) Christian Yelich (Mia - OF)
6. (64) Buster Posey (SF - C,1B)
7. (81) Mark Trumbo (Bal - OF)
8. (88) Anthony Rendón (Was - 3B)
9. (105) Eric Hosmer (KC - 1B)
10. (112) Lorenzo Cain (KC - OF)
11. (129) Aledmys Diaz (StL - SS)
12. (136) Andrew Miller (Cle - RP)
13. (153) Ben Zobrist (ChC - 2B,OF)
14. (160) Dellin Betances (NYY - RP)
15. (177) Jake Odorizzi (TB - SP)
16. (184) Raisel Iglesias (Cin - SP,RP)
17. (201) J.A. Happ (Tor - SP)
18. (208) Marco Estrada (Tor - SP)
19. (225) Brad Miller (TB - 1B,SS)
20. (232) Nomar Mazara (Tex - OF)
21. (249) Ender Inciarte (Atl - OF)
22. (256) Héctor Rondón (ChC - RP)
23. (273) Ryan Schimpf (SD - 2B,3B)

Thoughts?? I know I'm weak on closers. Aside from that, how bad is this team?

It is where he has been going in mocks (adp 30ish) but mocks are mocks. I think it all depends on draft position as to getting him or not.

Using 70% of your first 10 picks on pitching is going to leave your offense average at best. I really how you missed on drafting price, strass, darvish, archer, greinke, cole etc at that round 4 pick last season

Some glaringly bad picks are Lester in round 4 when you already have scherzer. Get another bat there. Posey at 6, getting 80% max ABs from your 6 round pick is bad and there are plenty other solid hitters available right there (DJL type comes to mind).

Cain at 11 is horrendous considering you already have 3 solid OF and no closers. Would have grabbed one of the middle tier guys although since it's H2H cats you can always just punt saves and roll out Miller and betances which is solid

Iglesias has a ton of value and great pick there with his SP/RP designation so you can slot him into your SP spot on most days and hold an extra closer if you can make some trades which will give an advantage

This is why they make both chocolate and vanilla The rotation on my winning team last year was Sale/Syndergard/Hendicks/Quintana/Lackey with 3/4 solid closers and some solid undrafted type setups and I demolished the pitching half of the equation. My hitting was good enough and I think it is much easier/safer to roll the dice on hitters than pitchers. Sure I got lucky that Quintana and Hendricks over achieved but I feel you can always find a 30HR guy on the wire but not a solid closer or low whip/era starter. If you want real quality pitching (and I do) you have to pay up for it in the draft.

full

There are a few guys across my leagues that try to get a 2nd place average in the pitching categories and steals, and then only need 10-14 points across average, r, rbi, and hr.

I generally take the opposite view that it's easier to find cheap pitching options than position players, but I'll almost always try to get 2 starters in the first 5 rounds in a roto league, whereas I often don't draft any by that time in a h2h.

Out of curiosity, were Hendricks, Quintana, and Lackey guys you were drafting in the first 10-12 rounds last year? Quintana was probably the only top 50 pitcher of the 3 heading into the season.

Those 3 if I remember right were taken around rounds 10 to 13 but know I didn't take them early as I already had my 2 aces (Sale/Syndergard) and I had a few other later round SPs who I dropped after I saw what was working and what wasn't.

Yeah, that's interesting to me. This year was the first time that I can remember the 50th SP going in the 10th round of one my 12-team drafts, but there were two guys playing a strategy somewhat similar to yours.

I can see how your stacked pitching strat can work in roto, but that comment is just weird to me because its the exact opposite of what ive found in every league I ever played in. Closers pop up all season long in my experience, and power hitters almost never do.

I do mostly agree with the second part though. If you want safe quality pitching you have to pay for it.

Yeah that part is pretty mind boggling to me too. How many closers popped up throughout last year? I'd venture to say at least 15. Power hitters outside of the top 200 that hit 30? Khris davis? Bruce? Duvall?

And I don't even agree with the paying for quality pitching. This year obvi if you want to use this strat you need one of kersh bum scherzer but last year if you did this and had any two of

Strass
Cole
Price
Harvey
Keuchel
Gray
Waino
Salazar
Degrom
Arreita
Stroman
Richards
Ross

You're ****ed. And all those guys ADPs were top 120 on espn last season too. Pitching is just so volatile from year to year and there aren't many guys who are consistently good. Meanwhile you've got 4 players who finished top 10 with ADPs over 200 (Sanchez Roark porcello Hendricks). Happ terehan and Duffy also finished top 20 with high ADPs

Closers do pop up but you have to be quick and vigilant. But there is almost always reasonable power available. Draft almost done and closers went fast and furiously! One guy cornered the market just about. I am unhappy with my closer situation because of it. Will post the draft when done.