How do you play fantasy baseball?

Ledbetterman10

I've played fantasy football since 2002, the same year the Houston Texans entered the league. Much like them, I've sucked every year until last year when I actually finished with the best overall record in my league (but I got trounced in my first playoff game). Still, despite my lack of success, I at least know how to play fantasy football. I have no idea how to play fantasy baseball...but I joined my buddy's league as the last guy and the draft is Monday. So if there's any draft tips or pointers anybody would like to throw out there I'd appreciate it. Like, what type of guy do you take with your first pick? How valuable are starting pitchers? They obviously don't play every day...so when do you spring for one in the draft? Do you hop on a Verlander or Halladay early cause they're so consistently good? Or do you fill your team with position players before even bothering with pitchers?

uninnocent-

You take Doc first overall then you watch as you're pitching destroys everyone else. You may want a few home run hitters, some good average hitters and a few relievers (and closers), too, for the game that he won't win in his own

DS1119

Blindfold and a dart board.

polaris_x

it depends on how your league is set up and what categories count for what ... if you signed up for yahoo - i think it preranks the players based on your scoring system ... so, what i would do is take the best player available according to the rankings and go from there ... obviously, if you go deep into the draft and you don't have positions filled - you will need to get the best available at that position ...

so much of it is dependent on your scoring system ... for instance my keeper league treats holds as a category the same as closers so guys like jonny venters is just as big as mariano rivera ...

post your scoring system and we can try to help you target guys ... and who to avoid ...

also ... yahoo, espn, etc. all have preseason ranks by position ... you can use it as a primer ...

lukinsdad

Is it rotisserie or head to head, auction or snake draft. That's the first couple big questions, then scoring and categories. In general pitching is deep so you can wait on it. Some take a stud like Halladay, maybe a second then wait until the very end. Make sure you get plenty of good bats. Late in the draft go with upside, veterans coming off bad years or injuries can be cheap and safer options than the hot prospects that may not even make the bigs until June or may be in a platoon and only get a couple hundred at bats. I like Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz on the Fantasy Focus baseball podcast. They are funny at the least. It runs everyday right now. It's worth the download on iTunes, or ESPN podcenter. But there are lots of good sites and smaller guys as well.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/pod ... id=2544461

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/espn/ ... mpt=uo%3D6

Ledbetterman10

lukinsdad wrote:

Is it rotisserie or head to head, auction or snake draft. That's the first couple big questions, then scoring and categories. In general pitching is deep so you can wait on it. Some take a stud like Halladay, maybe a second then wait until the very end. Make sure you get plenty of good bats. Late in the draft go with upside, veterans coming off bad years or injuries can be cheap and safer options than the hot prospects that may not even make the bigs until June or may be in a platoon and only get a couple hundred at bats. I like Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz on the Fantasy Focus baseball podcast. They are funny at the least. It runs everyday right now. It's worth the download on iTunes, or ESPN podcenter. But there are lots of good sites and smaller guys as well.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/pod ... id=2544461

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/espn/ ... mpt=uo%3D6

I actually just loaded up Matthew Barry on the BS Report and was gonna check that out.

uninnocent- wrote:

You take Doc first overall then you watch as you're pitching destroys everyone else.

Sounds like a plan. I'm a Phillies fan with a (very hetero) man-crush on Halladay.

polaris_x wrote:

it depends on how your league is set up and what categories count for what ... if you signed up for yahoo - i think it preranks the players based on your scoring system ... so, what i would do is take the best player available according to the rankings and go from there ... obviously, if you go deep into the draft and you don't have positions filled - you will need to get the best available at that position ...

so much of it is dependent on your scoring system ... for instance my keeper league treats holds as a category the same as closers so guys like jonny venters is just as big as mariano rivera ...

post your scoring system and we can try to help you target guys ... and who to avoid ...

also ... yahoo, espn, etc. all have preseason ranks by position ... you can use it as a primer ...

Here's the scoring..and I'm actually a little skeptical of it because they're not all default settings, so let me know what ya think. It's on ESPN.com:

Single: 1
Double: 2
Triple: 3
Homerun: 4
RBI: 1
Run scored: 1
Walk: 1
Stolen Base: 2
Hitting For the Cycle: 5
Caught Stealing: -0.5

Inning pitched: 3
Win: 7
Save: 7
Strikeout: 1
Shut out: 3
Complete Game: 5
No-Hitter: 5
Perfect Game: 5
Walk: -1
Hit allowed: -1
Earned Run allowed: -2
Loss: -5

Empty Glass

You do what I did a few years back.

Wake up
Look in the mirror and say
"should male athletes be in my fantasy anything?"

Start your own fantasy league of women then sit back enjoy your sports

Ledbetterman10

So I think I actually did pretty well:

Infield: Votto, Ben Zoberist, Adrian Beltre, Alexi Ramierz, Carlos Pena, Kurt Suzuki, Billy Butler
Outfield: Brett Gardner, Lance Berkman, Nelson Cruz, Melkey Cabrea, Carlos Beltran
Starting Pitchers: Roy Halladay, C.C. Sabbathia, Matt Graza, Evrin Santana, Hiroki Kuroda, Sean Marshall
Relief Pitchers: Mariano Rivera, Jose Valverde, Kyle Farnsworth

It's a 10-team league