Tuesday, September 16, 2008

great leadoff hitters can do amazing things

Say you're in a fantasy baseball league with the following 12 categories: 6 pitching (W, L, SV, K, ERA, and WHIP) and 6 batting (R, RBI, SB, K, TB, and OBP). These are the categories we have meticulously chosen in my super competitive work league.

Anyway, say your fantasy baseball team is loaded with 4 or 5 great relief pitchers (perhaps you spent rounds 3 - 6 of your draft on closers). Your "bullpen" is able to win saves, ERA, WHIP, and losses (because you don't have any starting pitchers) every week. Given that you somehow were able to acquire 4 or 5 of the best 15 closers in baseball, what should your offensive strategy be to best insure that you win your matchup each week?

B.J. Upton, Grady Sizemore, Brian Roberts, and Hanley Ramirez are the only batters so far this year to amass over 30 stolen bases and have on base percentages above .375. They all kind of strike out a lot (all on pace for well over 100 this season). However, if you could acquire 2 of these guys you would be in great shape. Imagine you were able to get 2 or 3 of these guys in your first 3 rounds of a draft. You could then get your 4 closers and then pass on your next 15 picks. If you played 2 of those lead off hitters an no other batters, you would likely win SB, OBP, and K's every week. Even though the leadoff hitters I mentioned strikeout a lot, any 2 of them will strike out less than 9 other random players combined) A team of 6 players could dominate any other roster of ~20 players. Think about it!

P.S. In fantasy baseball playoffs, you don't even need to win 7 of 12 categories. If you tie 6-6, the tiebreaker is ERA, so with 4 great closers, you only need to win 2 offensive categories to advance. Just use 1 offensive player and go for OBP and low strikeouts. You could win with just 5 players...

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