Unique strategies

Jon_Ashton · Post by **Jon_Ashton** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:41 pm

I agree about there's no way to sacrifice 3 categories in the NFBC. Who was even considering that? That = almost no way to win! Sacrificing 2 is hard enough! Wins and K's are ok to lose, maybe, but no more! Urbina looks to have a team today, Baez will save plenty, Herges is a semi-closer now, Damaso Marte is the only good closer option for CHW, etc. I shouldn't have much difficulty competing well in saves, despite only drafting for saves after my first 11 picks when pretty much all the closers were off the board.

Jon_Ashton · Post by **Jon_Ashton** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:15 pm

Lineup:

C -- C. Wilson (9th), J. LaRue (17th)

1B -- Delgado (1st -- 9th pick, missed Helton by one pick)

2B -- Relaford (15th)

SS -- J. Lugo (10th)

3B -- B. Mueller (8th)

1/3 -- A. Huff (4th)

2/3 -- D. Eckstein (16th)

OF1 -- J. Pierre (3rd)

OF2 -- R. Baldelli (5th)

OF3 -- S. Podsednik (6th)

OF4 -- A. Kearns (7th)

OF5 -- P. Burrell (11th)

UT -- J. Thome (2nd, I was hoping to get him in the 3rd, but couldn't resist in the 2nd)

Drafting a team to place at the top in all 5 offensive categories is kinda tough (getting both the speed and power is not easy).

Bench:

M. Olivo (21st), T. Sledge (22nd), B. Grieve (27th), B. Larkin (28th), R. Freel (29th).

Pitchers:

D. Baez (12th)

D. Marte (13th)

U. Urbina (14th)

B. Donnelly (18th)

K-Rod (19th)

M. Herges (20th)

A. Otsuka, L. Ayala, J. Mateo, C. Reitsma (23rd-26th)

Would the character who stated that I contributed $1200 to the pot kindly post his roster, so we can see who's more likely to take the other's money. (Not that I expect to win, but I think I might have a chance, and it should be interesating.)

Thanks,

Jon

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:38 pm

Sorry Jon. Baldelli & Mueller are reaches. Kearns is a question mark as well. Don't see it.

If I spent the first 11 picks on offense, I'd have better players. Of course, I don't know how your league drafted.

Interesting strategy though. Good luck!

[ March 25, 2004, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: Gordon Gekko ]

Jon_Ashton · Post by **Jon_Ashton** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:50 pm

Thanks for the best wishes Gekko. Why are you still so afraid to show us all your roster? We all know you have no chance of winning, so why not confirm it by showing us?

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 12:56 am

Originally posted by Jon_Ashton:

Thanks for the best wishes Gekko. Urbina just moved your team up a bunch in the overall standings. Same will go with Herges, I suspect. Nice job getting them. BUT, taking Urbina that early negates some of his upside, esp pitching for the Tigers.

heisman · Post by **heisman** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 3:39 am

I-Rod

Larue

Palmeiro

Hill

Hairston

A-Rod

M. Cabrera

Feliz

Edmonds

Sanders

Guillen

Grissom

Lofton

Nix

Unit

Miller

Lowe

Hampton

Redman

Redding

Foulke

Guardado

Mesa

Jon_Ashton · Post by **Jon_Ashton** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 11:13 am

Your team looks good, Heisman. Maybe you'll win a trophy

But you went from declaring that NO punting strategy could possibly work here to quickly admitting that punting TWO whole categories could lead to success, but saying that punting a third category would lead to sure failure (but no one here is even considering punting 3 categories). With that kind of well-thought-out insight and analysis, you may want to stick to managing your own team and curtail the comments on who has donated money to the pot.

heisman · Post by **heisman** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:25 pm

Let me clarify. First of all, I'm not managing anyone's team. Next, it's an open discussion on a particular strategy. Correct? Also, I said punting even 1 category would lead to doom considering the overall prize (100,000). I don't consider punting 2 categories a good idea, but it could win an individual league, especially if another owner or two also tried a similar punting strategy.

Finally, it seems some of the posts were about an all closer strategy designed to guarantee winning saves, ERA, and WHIP. I was just pointing out that the team in question is not doing any one of those three things with that collection of pitchers (mostly middle relievers).

Dyv · Post by **Dyv** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 2:14 pm

Originally posted by heisman:

Let me clarify. First of all, I'm not managing anyone's team. Next, it's an open discussion on a particular strategy. Correct? Also, I said punting even 1 category would lead to doom considering the overall prize (100,000). I don't consider punting 2 categories a good idea, but it could win an individual league, especially if another owner or two also tried a similar punting strategy.

Finally, it seems some of the posts were about an all closer strategy designed to guarantee winning saves, ERA, and WHIP. I was just pointing out that the team in question is not doing any one of those three things with that collection of pitchers (mostly middle relievers). We had a team in our league who punted power... no HR and no RBI production? Another punted SP, still another punted saves.

Good luck to 'em is all I have to say. It just strikes me that this is a strategy (IF done correctly) that forces you into the top half of your league and then you need some luck.

The upshot of the crazy strategies is that it doesn't JUST affect one team screwing themselves. It lets everone else in the league gain more in the overall categories they ignored by making those stats 'cheap' in a given league.

Just my opinion - I'd love to be in a league where someone so fixated on winning their league that they left the door open a little wider for me to have a shot at the overall while they make their delicate move.

We didn't have that last year in the WCOFB in my league - we fought each other in every category the whole season. The upshot was the other leagues won the overall money.

Thankfully, I got lucky enough to land in a league with some brilliant thinkers this year. They may well bury me, but perhaps the grass will be greener for the overall

Dyv

hankstr · Post by **hankstr** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:01 pm

Dyv, I think your logic is flawed here. If a team is punting a category, then they are going after another category. So I disagree about other leagues being necessarily disadvantaged. If better starting pitching is available due to a team that punts wins/k's, then HR's and rbis are correspondingly less available. Physics can't be denied.

kgrady · Post by **kgrady** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 2:50 pm

As a general rule I don't advocate punting any categories, although I found myself unintentionally punting saves in my draft. I chose not to spend any early picks on closers, because I think there are better values elsewhere. Closers went fast and furious in our league. Each time I figured the merry-go-round for closers would slow down, it did not. I could have rolled the dice on the likes of Mike MacDougal, Jose Mesa or Fernando Rodney, but I didn't like any of their chances for holding onto the job for very long. I would have probably been wasting middle-round draft picks and decided I was better off fishing for closers-in-waiting like Curtis Leskanic and Lance Carter in the late rounds. Not the plan from the outset, but strange things happen sometimes. :rolleyes:

Kevin

Dyv · Post by **Dyv** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 3:36 pm

Originally posted by hankstr:

Dyv, I think your logic is flawed here. If a team is punting a category, then they are going after another category. So I disagree about other leagues being necessarily disadvantaged. If better starting pitching is available due to a team that punts wins/k's, then HR's and rbis are correspondingly less available. Physics can't be denied. I don't think it's physics that allocates an array of statistics into a fantasy baseball league

Still, your assumption here is that the punting affects all teams equally. I'm not sure that's the case as certain players can more readily 'bust' the punt.

(i.e. It was dumb luck that landed me Renteria... and yet his speed will help me bust the power punter along with Alex Sanchez, etc - so his punt isn't really affecting me negatively?)

We'll find out - that's the fun of the contest

Dyv