Viability of RP Strategy in the "Year of the Pitcher"

Hells Satans · Post by **Hells Satans** » Wed May 18, 2011 4:36 am

In most satellite leagues, you'll have a few teams that opt for the strategy of using 5 or 6 (or more) relief pitchers, essentially punting Wins and Ks and cheaply stealing WHIP, ERA, and saves, hoping to get 40-45 pitching points, while focusing on offense in the draft.

Does that work in current low-run/terrible closer environment? None of the teams in my leagues that opted this strategy are doing particularly well.

I don't have the evidence to support it, but intuitively it seems to me that the delta between starter ERA/WHIP and reliever ERA/WHIP decreases in lower run-scoring environments, and the closer those two get, the harder it gets to succeed in this strategy.