Over the years I have been a participant of several fantasy baseball leagues and over the past three years have been participating in multiple leagues. One of the problems of playing multiple teams is confusing your players from roster to roster. I’ve never really sat down to figure out how common my rosters are, partially because there are variations in the different leagues, ranging from roster sizes to scoring systems. This year, I did sit down and using a spreadsheet plotted by roster selections. So here were some facts that come from the analysis:
– Overall my teams are varied with a good mix in the roster. I do have favorite players when it comes to drafting though. Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Mike Trout, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Carpenter, Jonathan Papelbon, Brandon Morrow, Adrian Gonzalez, Yu Darvish are the players who pop up most often on my roster.
– I drafted Matt Carpenter in every league I am in. I like Carpenter’s position eligibility (3B, 1B, OF and soon 2B) and the ability to make contact with the ball. Carpenter can hit and could potentially be a top 10 2B this year;
– My teams tend to be pitching heavy (even in rotissarie formats). A solid number of my rotations include 3 aces and then pitchers considered to be 3-5 SPs on their respective rosters;
– My teams trend towards young players with high upside. Specifically, players like Julio Teheran, Matt Carpenter, Shelby Miller, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout have been targetted during my drafts. I think I prefer having the potential there rather than being disappointed by proven players who fail to meet expectations;
– I dislike catchers. Victor Martinez is the exception, but for the most part my teams do not have a premier catcher. I think catch may have the most parity among the positional players. Buster Posey is the standout, with a thin second tier. The third tier is big and includes players who could break out.
– I’m not scared to reach in the early rounds. In several drafts I grabbed Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper well ahead of their ADP and with solid, proven players left on the board. One of the reasons I reached is that I had specific targets and I determined that the player targetted would not be on the board for my next pick. Strasburg and Harper fall into this range and in most cases were my first and second picks respectively.
– The positional players I selected are all players I think can and have hit for high averages. I’m aiming for my team to maintain a team batting average of around .280 – .290 which should keep me competitive in rotissaire leagues while equating to points in head to head/point leagues. Most players also have some speed, and I’m hoping the combination of high average and speed will result in solid positional standing in rotissaire and SB (2 point value) and double/triple points (2 and 3 points) in point based leagues.
– I overpaid for closers. There are many experts who claim that they don’t care about saves and don’t want to overpay for closers. I tried that last season and honestly, I got screwed in almost every format because of closing pitching. This year, I overpaid for guys like Jonathon Papelbon and Greg Kimbrel. I also ensured that most of my teams have 3-4 closers, even in leagues with restrictions on relief pitching.
– Justin Verlander now has the righthander locked in with the Detroit Tigers until 2019, when he turns 36. Verlander has definately earned his new contract. He has two no hittters, and a record of 124-65 record since entering the majors in 2006. He even posted video-game like numbers in 2011 when he went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA. I fully acknowledge that I rode Verlander to a Championship title that year. Verlander is probably the most reliable pitcher in fantasy baseball right now. His durability and consistency has been proven year after year. While Strasburg may soon unseat Verlander as baseball’s best pitcher, he may never match Verlander’s level of consistency.
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