How to Win Your Fantasy Baseball League Without Watching a Single Game, Part Two

Written by TiVo on March 23, 2005

As explained in How to Win Your Fantasy Baseball League Without Watching a Single Game, Part One, I fielded some terrible teams last season, and went back to the drawing board to remind myself how not to suck, without having to start watching baseball every night.

Here's part two of that list:

Don't get attached
One way to sandbag yourself is to fall in love with certain players. If their production matches your affection, a la Albert Pujols, you're excused. But, depending on where you are in the season and the standings, you may want to jettison good players who are slumping or injured. This is especially helpful late in the season in keeper leagues. Don't be afraid to downgrade your long-term prospects for a shot at winning. For some, a chance at a championship doesn't come every season.

If you make a hot pickup, perhaps when filling in for an injury, and you get a few great weeks followed by a few terrible ones, to hell with him. Move on. In just about every league there's someone with upside waiting on the free agent wire. At worst, he'll sit on your bench and suck too. But maybe you'll have pounced on the next hot pickup.

Use your bench wisely
One key to beating the diamond nerds is jumping the gun on talent. Nothing's worse than signing on thinking you're going to grab a guy who's just been made closer, and some other chump's already grabbed him and is bragging about it on the message board. You've got to make quick decisions, not just about free agents, but about the guys on your bench that you're cutting. Are there players of comparable quality on the wire you could grab should needs arise later? If so, chop that guy.

If you aren't watching games, you aren't forming your own opinions on players and won't know who the next-big-things are unless you make frequent trips to the free agent wire, even when you're not planning on making moves. Keep an eye on the performance of free agents, and if you see something you feel will help you, you might as well stash a player on your bench until he's ready to crack your lineup. Dilly-dally too long, and your pickup might help someone else win.

Don't waste time with prospects whose time is too far off
That being said, don't get giddy after reading a sleepers column. You don't read Baseball America, and you don't need to to win your league.

Concern yourself with players likely to make an impact this season, even late in the year in a keeper league. Unless you keep entire rosters, these guys generally aren't going to help you win now. One Rotogod tried to sell me on Chin Hui Tsao as part of a late trade two seasons ago, saying he might be worth keeping "because he's the next Prior." Maybe in 2009 when he's not in Colorado. Tsao is still only a mid-to-late round pick.

Look at other teams
This is especially important when offering trades. You'd be surprised how many people, myself included sometimes, just send out offers for guys they want to get rid of, not at all taking into account the other team's needs.

In head-to-head leagues, looking at your next opponent can reveal deficiencies. If you're ahead of the game, you can use the free agent wire to bolster your team where he's weak, not just where you are.

It never hurts to watch the winning teams in your league and emulate, either.

Watch for category-killers
If you play in leagues like the Rotogods do, where turnovers in basketball and strikeouts and errors in baseball are categories you don't want to have the most in, make sure you aren't blinded from terrible numbers in one category by the gaudy ones in another. Even in standard Roto, you might like a guy's power and not notice that what the long ball giveth, the .250 average taketh away.

Don’t be afraid to spot-start
It's easy to build a lineup, like it and leave it. But look around your league. The best owners are probably the most active. And those guys don't just make a ton of add-drops, they use spot starts.

What it means in daily-moves rotisserie leagues may simply be using Colorado pitchers on the road but not at home. Or it could be benching a hitter who is miserable against lefties when Randy Johnson is on the hill.

In head-to-head weekly leagues, it's often finding a pitcher making two starts in one week or a comparable batter with seven games instead of six.

If you have players eligible at multiple positions, use them to entertain the possibilities for spot starts.

Be sure to think outside the box when looking at your team. There are often hidden advantages available to the quick thinkers.

In the Rotogods' most serious baseball league, for example, the SP/RP loophole is exploited to the maximum. There are only two slots for relievers, but a starter-turned-closer can sit in an SP spot and rack up the saves for the team savvy enough to snag him.

Don't forget to set your lineup in weekly leagues
Getting stuck with last week's lineup can be a real bummer, especially if you can't adjust for injuries, demotions or your opponent's roster.

Try setting your lineup on Wednesday of the previous week, keeping in mind the ability to tinker with it anytime between then and your weekly deadline. That way if you're coming back from out of town, hungover or kicked it with Tina the night before and ended up staying over, you won't be scrambling to get yourself in front of a computer.

You'll likely be taking a summer vacation at some point too, so remember to plan for that. No point in giving away a head-to-head matchup you might need when the playoff spots are decided. If you have a trustworthy friend, give him your password. If not, just plan ahead.

Even in daily leagues, it's good practice to set your lineup a few days in advance, in case of day games or unexpectedly not being able to access your lineup. Check back later if possible, but if you can't, at least you're not totally stuck.

Don't spread yourself too thin
Set a limit on the number of leagues you'll be in. Too many scoring systems to memorize, and you won't remember if that singles hitter is helping or hurting you.

You want to be able to devote a certain amount of time to running your team. It doesn't necessarily have to be every day, but if you have too many teams -- and it's easy for fantasy junkies to say yes to everyone -- all of them will suffer.

Don't lose interest
This may seem like an easy one, but remember that baseball season is long. I mean hella long. If you're not a purist or a stat geek, or you're playing to bridge the gap between fantasy football seasons, it can really start to drag by late summer. But you don't want to fade late, regardless of whether you're playing for pride or money. Commit to play until the last day. In rotisserie, use all of your position players' games and pitchers’ innings.

Thanks for riding along on my list of reminders. Feel free to watch baseball for enjoyment, of course, but don't feel compelled to watch just to salvage your fantasy team. You can win without watching if you manage your team right. I'll leave you with a bonus 16th tip:

Tune your dumb-ass friends out
Make moves with confidence. We all win some and lose some.

Your fellow owners are going to hate on your trade, either because they didn't think of it first, or just because it's easy to point and laugh, especially from behind a computer screen. But they have their own teams to mismanage, so make sure they stay away from yours. In the end, if you finish DFL, they aren't going to volunteer to take some of that responsibility.

Remember too that it's just a game. No need to let that trade veto ruin your personal life. Fight for what you believe, but at the end of the day, drop it.

Trust your gut, play for fun and never, ever, let a friend draft your team for you. Right, Fool?

-- Written by TiVo on March 23, 2005