Flags Fly Forever and RotoGraphs prob my 2 favorites.

Also like Pitcher List and Launch Angle.

Baseball HQ is also interesting.

Yeah, I stumbled across that one this morning after I posted and listened to a couple, will definitely listen to the rest. I tend to stay away from ESPN always and forever.

Thanks will check out.

Sleeper and the bust is good from fangraphs

I’ll listen to the pitcher list ones if nick pollack is on then. Listened to razzball one today and confirmed WOAT. Think Rudy gamble is smart on that site and the other guys seem kind of dumb. I can’t listen to fantasy pros as I think Bobby Sylvester is a moron. Jake Cieley from the Athletic is pretty annoying to me but seems to get results in fantasy football and baseball that are tough to argue with so I listen to him e eye omce in a while I think it’s called all in sports podcast

Random aside here but that Nando guy on the Athletic has to have some of the stupidest takes/rankings I have ever read just complete nonsense with horrific reasoning lol. I hope they get rid of him


Edit- also I’m in a h2h cats league all standard 5x5 except k/9 instead of total strikeouts. I was shocked at how much the elite relievers went up in value in this format. I ended up trading Rendon for Edwin Diaz after looking at the numbers which I would have thought is a pretty bad trade until I looked at the values in the auction calculator on fsngraphs . I’m still wondering if this was dumb but choosing to trust the calculator here as the values weren’t particularly close. I have Arenado and Vlad too at 3b I guess even tho I like Rendon a lot

Double edit- okay I think its because of the minimum innings requirement the more you move it up the closer the values converge ofc. Not really sure a good way to input it we have only 27 innings minimum a week. Think all this goes out the window in a h2h cats league anyway as strategies change so much depending on your opponent in playoffs. Oh well. Might have been a bad trade but **** it’s nice to have one of these closers it can’t be too awful

In 7x7 format with standard 5x5 plus K and OPS for hitters, who do you guys think has more value, Trout or Betts?

My 6x6 league (4th year running), has at least one opening this year. $100 buy-in.

The categories are:
OBP, SB, RBI, R, XBH, TB
QS, IP, ERA, WHIP, K/9, SV (6 starts min, 12 starts max)

http://fantasy.espn.com/baseball/lea...&seasonId=2019

I think Trouts standard season is about Mookie's ceiling so Im going with him pretty easily.
And I dont think a 50/25 season from Trout would really shock anyone, but there's no way Betts can ever do that.
They both have extremely high floors as well.

I would take Trout if I had #1 pick, but they are pretty comparable across the board except Betts has an elite K% and Trout is average.

I agree Trout’s ceiling is higher and he’s my favorite player by a mile.

I hesitate to put this year since most of you think I am misguided in my thinking and strategy. But what the hell, I love talking about and discussing fantasy baseball. And besides I absolutely crush YPL rotos every year so that takes the sting out of you guys thinking I am misguided.

Tired of mocking I did a cheapo $20 YPL roto yesterday just to get the feel of a live draft. I will do some heftier YPLs in the next couple of weeks. As always closers flew off of the board fast and furiously. There were also 2 autodrafters in this draft. I was in the 3 hole and had my usual strategy of 2 hitters and 2 ace starters in the first 4 rounds and then see what falls. I was happyish with it but would have liked one more solid closer although the closer situation is murkier than ever this year and it looks like lots of committees and unproven guys so I am hoping the pool is fluid as it usually is.

Here goes:

1. Arenado 3B(3) 3 is where you have to choose? I typically like a 5 tool guy here but he's just too good at the other 4 sans steals and I had a plan to address that.

2. Verlander SP(22) Ace number 1
3. Cole SP (27) Ace number 2

4. Mondesi 2B/SS (46) Either a huge stretch or a huge steal. Not much track record but with what we have seen could be awesome. Wanted to pair a SB guy to address Arenado shortcoming. I think KC will run all day long and be fun to watch.

5. Bellinger 1B/OF (51) Was thinking I would get Votto or Abreu here but he fell and I love the power speed combo plus 2 position eligibility.

6. Ozuna OF (70)
7. Rosario OF (75) With these 2 I got a couple of decent power/average guys and Rosario cab steal a few. I like both of them and would like to see Ozuna break out (again!).

8. Yates RP (94) Like I said closer run was on at this point. Yates was 10th closer off the board and unlike most here this is a category I like to address aggressively.

9. Knebel RP (99) Committee? maybe but I still think he gets the lions share plus Jeffries hurt a little and Hader too valuable in setup. Nothing better at the RP slot really better here and there is a major run.

10. Anderson SS (118) Really was hoping Peraza would fall to me but went a couple before he got back to me. I do like Anderson as a solid 20/20 guy and I think his approach has gotten better and could up his average. As a White Sox fan I see this guy all the time and he has been steadily improving.

11. Hendricks SP (123) Wanted a decent ratio type starter to compliment the aces. He is low K but solid ratio and should get some W's.

12. Bradley RP (145) Is he the closer? Maybe probably? Who knows but he is a solid RP in any event. May also grab Holland of wire just in case?

13. Grandal C (147) Catcher sucks but I like him and the move to MIL and he should show decent power and play. He is my target catcher this season. Realmuto went in 3rd!!!!!

14. Pivetta SP (166) Everyone says he pitched much better than his numbers last season? We'll see After my top 3 my SPs are generally a fluid situation.

15. Moncada 2B 171) High upside post hype type guy. If he cuts down the K's could be an absolute steal with good power/speed combo. Plus will get 3B eligibility this year.

16. DeJong SS (190) Seems to be going too late? Good power and good lineup for counting stats.

17. Meadows OF (195) Small sample but looks solid. Big, strong. fast. Gonna get his chance and could easily be a 15/15 decent average guy.

18. Braun 1B/OF (214) An injury waiting to happen? Claims he did some work offseason and hitting better than ever. If healthy could be a stud but generally a big if.

19. Skaggs SP (219) Hearing lots of good things. We'll see.

20. L. Guriel 2B/SS (238) Utility guy I like a lot, was tearing it up last year before hurt.

21. Santana OF (243) Bounce back to 2017? He gets to play all the time and has a good power/speed combo.

22. Hughes RP (262) If Inglasias gets put in the Hader type role he could get some SV's.

23. Cishek RP (267) Probably just a good ratio setup guy but Cubs closer role could be very fluid with Morrow out who knows.

So that was my thought process. Hate away haters I am mostly happy with the team but as always the draft is only step one there will be 100s of moves throughout the season.

My 12-team deep roster keeper league turned out like this:

C Austudillo
1B Miggy
2B Baez
3B Suarez
SS Machado
MI Story
CI Franco
INF Torres
OF Bellinger
OF Ozuna
OF Schwarber
OF Meadows
OF Winker
Util Amed Roasrio
Bench Franmil Reyes, Kiermaier, Franchy Cordero

SP: Scherzer, Paxton, Corbin, Ray, Stripling, Maeda, Whitley
RP: Chapman, Robertson, Strop, May, Strickland

Drafting out of the #2 slot, passed up Mookie for Scherzer because most of the top 30 SPs were already off the board and my offensive keepers were stacked. OF is my obvious weakness; hopefully my IF can make up for it. Missed a lot of the SP depth I was going for.

I think I should be a contender.

you missed on all of your first four picks

I figured that you above all would hate it. I know I am an the right track then

According to Fantasy Pros ECR I took Arenado 1 pick too early, Verlander on the screws, Cole I beat by 2 picks and Mondesi 4 picks too early. So close enough to ECR that it cannot really be called egregious. But as everyone knows drafting is not a perfect science. They might all miss or all might be top 10 players, time will tell. That can be said of absolutely anyone at the top of the draft.

I like Mondesi

Mondesi 4th round lol

Anyone have any roto leagues around 100$ with spots?

I've seen a lot more of your strategy being used throughout the early draft season by a lot of fantasy experts.

I had a draft this weekend where I drafted out of the 3 hole as well and we ended up with a lot of the same players. Of course I didn't take a pitcher until the 9th round.

I am much more pitcher centric than most players and especially all of the "experts" on this forum But my goal is to be very competitive on the pitcher side of the equation since most others are all trying to dominate the hitting half of the equation. I think hitting is much deeper than pitching and feel I can find reasonably effective hitters later in the draft and on the wire.

I play primarily ROTO YPLs. Closers are always at a premium and it is very tempting to wait on starters since I can make a case (in my own mind anyway!) for later round starters. But the reality is most starters after the ace types will be a drain on ratios. In YPLs you have a 1400 inning max. With the current state of starters going fewer innings per start it gets more challenging to fill out those 1400 innings which is needed to get your W's and K's. Typically I like to have a big enough ratio lead and then stream every day in the final month to get my innings. But you need a solid ratio base before then because it will take a hit with the streamers. But by that point half of the league has given up usually meaning less competition for the good looking starts and more guys will have emerged by that point who are actually pretty good. But I typically crush these leagues and I feel the that you must draft the things you can't get off of the wire which are ace starters and solid closers. More closers than aces will emerge but it is hard to count on and there is a lot of competition in trying to grab emerging closers off of the wire. There are plenty of hitters that go real late or undrafted that will be extremely useful. Pitching is much more of a crapshoot.

I’d be interested in starting one.

1400 innings is an awful lot of innings. If you want to concentrate on the aces early why not take Scherzer in the first and then Cole/Nola/Verlander etc when you come back in the 3rd or in the 2nd? If you are going to go for it why not commit to the guy with the best chance to get the most innings and most ks.

Interesting stat I saw earlier this winter was that on average 5 out of the top 15 preseason will finish in the top 15 at the end of the season.

I thought about Scherzer at 3 and probably would have gone for him if picking later and he was still there. Just think Arenado is the safest pick at 3+ and barring injury will perform in his 4 categories. I have questions about the rest of the first round hitters after Trout and Betts.

Yeah pitchers underperform or get hurt all of the time. That is why I like 2 aces because there is a better chance at least one of them does what you want. But even an underperforming ace is usually better than the typical pitcher. My goal is to do no harm. Most pitchers will be a detriment to ratios. Guys chasing K's and W's typically do great harm to their ratios. I will carry lots of good ratio bullpen guys and try to get as many of those good innings as I can. I love the decent SP/RP guys that only pitch relief and plug them in an SP slot but there aren't many available this year but some will emerge.

MLB Changes coming, no major changes that matter to Fantasy this year other than hard Trade Deadline July 31st.
Some bigger ones for 2020 (1 more roster slot, Injured List back to 15 days, optional assignments to minors increased to 15 days, and max number of "Designated Pitchers" on a roster)
Major one for 2020: Pitchers required to face 3 batters, or reach the end of an inning

3 batter minimum is the worst thing ive ever heard of

Mrbaseball FWIW I think you had a decent draft especially snagging Braun that late. But don't understand the Archie Bradley in the 12th at all. With two closers after 11 rounds I would be curious what other players were available at that point.

Archie is not bad but his projections aren't all that special if he's not getting the saves .. 3.50/1.20 and right at a strikeout per inning. He's been their best reliever over the course of the last two years and 4 saves to show for it.

Glad they are eliminating the ridiculous 40-man roster limits in September. I like all the changes including the 3 batter rule (my personal preference was just do a 2 batter rule but whatever) but can totally understand the other side of it. I guess DH will be part of next CBA.

Also the 10 -> 15 day stuff for DL and minor league options only applies to pitchers. Should just call it the damn Friedman rule.

Also if nothing else it looks like they are having very early stage labor discussions.

Closers are at a huge premium in these YPL roto leagues. When I took Bradley there were no real closers available and personally put a huge value on closers and it was a dice roll he gets the job. In this particular format saves are very important and hard to get outside of the draft. Plus I believe there are tons of hitters available late that will produce. There is rarely anyone I draft after round 7 or 8 I wouldn't trade in season for a really solid closer but nobody ever trades solid closers since they are such a limited commodity. But I do keep a close eye on the wire and try to snag whatever emerges. I have a couple of bigger drafts this weekend and I will take my closers earlier, I want 3 or 4 by round 11. Once the run starts they are gone in these leagues and I like to have 2 really solid ones and 2 more fringish ones but this year there are only maybe 12 solids and solids can go soft due to injury or performance.

But each format is different. In H2H I would punt either saves or starts. In points I would put little effort into closers but in YPL rotos they are crucial and cost a lot on draft day. The two smallest pools in fantasy are ace starters and solid closers so I put a priority on drafting those 2 positions.