Bradyard

Fantasy Advice for the Big Four Leagues: Intro

I've done fantasy football a couple times (once through CBS) but this is my first year doing fantasy baseball.  I was basically wondering what order the draft normally goes in.  What's your first round pick? A power hitter? What if he's a DH? Santana? An average hitter? A great fielder?  Just what order do you pick in?
Thanks

Fantasy Advice for the Big Four Leagues: Intro

Tricky question, because it depends on what kind of league you are in. If it is a Head-to-Head league you are building a team of 9 hitters (one at each position, plus a "utility" which can be someone of any position), 7 pitchers, and 5 reserve slots that can be taken by any player. If you are in a Roto league, you are building a team to compete for statistics. Best win/loss ratio, K/BB ratio, saves, holds, WHIP, ERA etc. for pitchers, and K/BB, hits, HRs, RBI, Runs, etc. for hitters. Roto leagues are usually done by people who been in Fantasy for awhile. H2H is easier and more fun (my opinion).

In these leagues you have a choice of an "Automated draft" or a "Live draft". In a "Live draft" you have to log in, enter your draft room at a pre-set date and time and you draft players to fill your needs at each position, order doesn't matter, you're really just picking the best player available for a roster spot you need to fill (because you need to have at least one player for each position, and at least 7 pitchers). In an "Automated draft" you need to rank each player at each position (there is a link on your fantasy page to "rank your players" you probably had to do it for football) then set what rounds you want what position to be drafted in. CBS will give a pre-set draft order that is usually pretty good, but if there is an area where you feel you want to get to earlier you can move it up in importance.

For example, Starting pitcher is usually the first round that CBS chooses to draft from. Since there are so many good starting pitchreees in MLB I usually choose to move that down to round 2-4 and move up a position like 2B, SS, or 3B where there are fewer impact players available. You have to draft 5 starting pitchers, 2 relief pitchers, and 5 reserve players. You have the flexibility to move what round you want each to be drafted in. Obviously reserves should be the last rounds, and then you have to go on what position you think is most important to pick early, and which have a lot of good players where you can wait until later to draft.

In Fantasy Baseball the basic stats go like this: Hitters- 1pt for RBI, Run scored, Walk, Single. 2pts for Double, Stolen Base. 3pts for Triple. 4pts for HR. So if your batter hits a HR with 2 guys on base you get 4pts for the HR and a point each for the 3rbis and 1pt for the run scored, making it 8 total points on that hit. This makes guys like Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, David Ortiz etc. extremely valueable hitters and usually some of the first people drafted. For Pitchers- 1pt for Strikeout, 2pts per inning pitched, 5pts for complete game, 10 pts for win, save, or shutout. With Pitchers you can also lose points, minus .5 for each hit or walk.

I hope some of that helps!

Fantasy Advice for the Big Four Leagues: Intro

As I'd expect, a very informed response from Bradyard, but I thought I'd add a couple of extra thoughts.

When drafting for fantasy baseball, make sure your first round pick is as safe a bet to contribute as you can.  If there's an injury doubt (Pujols could be one) then let someone else risk them flaming out.  Look at the roster positions in the league you'll be playing in.  Are there two active catchers?  Extra slots for middle infielders or maybe corner infielders?  Does the league differentiate between LF/CF/RF or just require OFs? 

Also look at the scoring categories, and figure out what sort of player gives you the most bang for your buck.  In rotisserie leagues, for example, I always think this tends to mean taking mostly hitters early - because they can contribute fully in all the standard categories, whereas starting pitchers won't get saves and relievers won't get many wins.  Also there is inherently more risk of a pitcher having an injury which keeps them out for most or all of the season. In head-to-head leagues it depends on the scoring system.  In both types you can make a case for Johan Santana being a first rounder, but not too many others - perhaps Peavy in a deep league.

Second top tip - don't overdraft closers, even if the top ones are starting to come off the board.  It's a very volatile position, and quite a few of last year's go-to guys end up as middle relievers by the All-Star Break.

Thirdly consider positional scarcity, but don't be scared by it.  If you've pre-ranked the players (and you should ALWAYS take the time to do this) you will have worked out which 2Bs, SSs etc you like best, but also spend some time thinking in terms of tiers.  Taking shortstops for example, your top three will be - in some order - Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins.  After that there will be a drop-off to the next tier of guys who are of similar fantasy value, so once those three have gone don't rush to draft a shortstop, you can afford to wait.  On the other hand once two have gone it might be a good time to grab the third one.

Fourthly think of projected stats.  Too many people draft teams that would have won last year, seemingly forgetting that you score points based on this year's performance.  Look for breakout guys, bounce-back guys, guys turning 27 (often the year when everything clicks), pitchers in their third season, guys who were dominant in the second half of 2007 but whose weaker first half numbers could put people off them.

Fifthly - have fun, and remember if in doubt - especially in the first 4 or 5 rounds - get the best player available.  You can always trade if you end up with too many 1Bs or whatever.