By far the biggest unmentioned part of success in fantasy baseball is complete knowledge of your league rules. Every league is different and every draft plan should be tailored around these differences. Here are some different strategies that can be caused by league changes.
Know Your Categories: Strikeouts for batters a big negative downgrade Adam Dunn or Mike Cameron, Double Plays a problem don't pick up Piazza, Holds a category grab some middle relievers. Every league has different categories know them and help them shape your personal draft rankings.
Money per Move: In my main league we pay an initial fee of 135 dollars, which is a decent amount to start but these totals go up significantly because we attach a dollar amount per move. 5 bucks to DL or activate a player, 10 bucks to add a player. Thus on draft day injury risk players need to be downgraded a bit. For instance last year I had Kerry Wood, not only did he not contribute at all due to his injury but he cost me a total of 30 bucks throughout the season. If never had him on my roster I would have ended up winning money, instead I lost a couple of bucks.
Steals Strategy - In Roto leagues steals are vital. If you finish last in a category your chances of securing that championship are almost zero. Thus throughout the draft you will have to increase the values of the weaker guys like Dave Roberts, Willy Taveras etc. if you are desperate for steals. However, in H2H category leagues you could sacrifice that category without much issue and focus on increasing your production at other stats. Furthermore in H2H point leagues you can ignore this all together.
Total Position Players - If you are forced to play 2 catchers or 2 2B than the values of players like Mauer or Utley are vastly increased. With one player per position perhaps the 12th available catcher or 2nd baseman won't be completely terrible. But if you're searching for the 20th catcher, know you're getting squat.
Keeper or Non Keeper - In a keeper league did you just keep a few aging stars that perhaps you won't want to keep in 2008, then try to find that rookie prospect this year that could blossom. Think the McCann or Zimmerman of 06. Non Keeper league? Than forget about the future prospect and focus in on guys with potential for this season and this season alone.
Bench Players - Some leagues have weekly rosters with no bench players others have day to day roster changes with a large bench. With bench players it might be advisable to load up on starting pitching so you can rotate guys in every day in hopes of picking up Ks or Ws.
Innings Pitched Max - However, in leagues with an Innings Pitch Maximum you might not want to load up on marginal starting pitchers and you should rather focus on maximizing the potential of your innings by focusing on Closers and upper-tier starters.
Moral of the Story
Know your Rules prior to setting up your draft strategy it will give you a big time advantage over those who overlooked them.
Know Your Categories: Strikeouts for batters a big negative downgrade Adam Dunn or Mike Cameron, Double Plays a problem don't pick up Piazza, Holds a category grab some middle relievers. Every league has different categories know them and help them shape your personal draft rankings.Money per Move: In my main league we pay an initial fee of 135 dollars, which is a decent amount to start but these totals go up significantly because we attach a dollar amount per move. 5 bucks to DL or activate a player, 10 bucks to add a player. Thus on draft day injury risk players need to be downgraded a bit. For instance last year I had Kerry Wood, not only did he not contribute at all due to his injury but he cost me a total of 30 bucks throughout the season. If never had him on my roster I would have ended up winning money, instead I lost a couple of bucks.
Steals Strategy - In Roto leagues steals are vital. If you finish last in a category your chances of securing that championship are almost zero. Thus throughout the draft you will have to increase the values of the weaker guys like Dave Roberts, Willy Taveras etc. if you are desperate for steals. However, in H2H category leagues you could sacrifice that category without much issue and focus on increasing your production at other stats. Furthermore in H2H point leagues you can ignore this all together.
Total Position Players - If you are forced to play 2 catchers or 2 2B than the values of players like Mauer or Utley are vastly increased. With one player per position perhaps the 12th available catcher or 2nd baseman won't be completely terrible. But if you're searching for the 20th catcher, know you're getting squat.
Keeper or Non Keeper - In a keeper league did you just keep a few aging stars that perhaps you won't want to keep in 2008, then try to find that rookie prospect this year that could blossom. Think the McCann or Zimmerman of 06. Non Keeper league? Than forget about the future prospect and focus in on guys with potential for this season and this season alone.Bench Players - Some leagues have weekly rosters with no bench players others have day to day roster changes with a large bench. With bench players it might be advisable to load up on starting pitching so you can rotate guys in every day in hopes of picking up Ks or Ws.
Innings Pitched Max - However, in leagues with an Innings Pitch Maximum you might not want to load up on marginal starting pitchers and you should rather focus on maximizing the potential of your innings by focusing on Closers and upper-tier starters.
Moral of the Story
Know your Rules prior to setting up your draft strategy it will give you a big time advantage over those who overlooked them.
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