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Welcome to the kickoff of BP Scoresheet! The “cuts” deadline for most leagues is coming up soon, and the Scoresheet forums are buzzing with titles including the words “protect” and “keeper” and “draft”. And with only 13 keepers available in most leagues, these are some tough decisions.

But first, what is Scoresheet Baseball, why is it included under “BP Fantasy”, and how can insights into Scoresheet help in other fantasy baseball contexts?

Scoresheet baseball is a simulation baseball game. The company's web site is: http://www.scoresheet.com and the introduction there reads:

Our fantasy baseball leagues play real head-to-head, inning-by-inning baseball, rather than just accumulating 'points'. Your managerial decisions really count

Welcome to Scoresheet Fantasy Baseball, the ultimate fantasy baseball simulation game. Like other fantasy baseball games, you draft players before the baseball season starts, and then your team wins or loses based on how your players do throughout the major league baseball season. But, rather than just adding up stats, Scoresheet Fantasy Baseball leagues play real baseball games — a complete 162 game schedule — going head-to-head against the other teams in your league. Unlike other simulations that use statistics from past seasons, Scoresheet Fantasy Baseball games are played each week of the upcoming major league baseball season, using each player's stats from the current week.

If that sounds new and exciting – but still somewhat cryptic – there's a short introductory video on their site.

Some other mentions of Scoresheet baseball have been made in the past, with fielding ratings and platoon ratings for players included in some fantasy articles (extracted from the graphics in Heater Magazine and the Graphical Player 2011 book). And last season, a 2-part series on draft preparation was run here and here.

One of the biggest draws to Scoresheet baseball is the fact that the leagues are persistent, with some going on for many years with much the same membership. For the first (preseason) draft, each team is allotted 35 “slots”, to be used as follows:

  • Up to 13* players who no longer qualify as “rookies” can be retained (keepers). Retaining these players uses slots 1-13*.

  • As many players who qualify as “rookies” can be retained as desired, with one “slot” being used for each rookie retained, starting with the 35th “slot” and decreasing.

  • “Slots” can be traded. Slots in the top 13* which are traded are considered extra “keepers” for the team receiving them.

  • “Slots” not used for any of the above purposes – keepers, rookie keepers, or trades – can be used to draft players cut by other teams or newly transferred to the league from the other league**.

(*) 13 is for Standard Scoresheet leagues. Many private leagues use alternate numbers of keepers, and some with varied rules. Be sure to fully review keeper rules for any non-Standard league.

(**) Some Scoresheet leagues include players from both the AL and NL, though the majority are segregated, with a limited number (2 is Standard) of “crossover” players allowed among each team's keeper list.

 

If you're new to Scoresheet Baseball (keeper leagues) from a fantasy baseball background, here are some basic tactical and strategic tips:

  • The games are simulated. There is no point system or scoring categories, as in Rotisserie.

  • Keeper league owners tend to look long-term, so the value of “Blue Chip” prospects is huge, as there's no salary to worry about.

  • You can set lefty and righty lineups. This can often make marginal players quite good as a member of a platoon. There are even settings for defensive replacements.

  • The computer Artificial Intelligence manages the teams. One outgrowth of this is that stolen bases aren't just worth less than they are in fantasy baseball, but conventional wisdom among Score sheet experts is that they are significantly less impactful than in real-life, as well. This may come as a (welcome) revelation to fantasy baseball veterans who are sick of over-valuing the speed players.

  • Saves, like steals, are much less important in Scoresheet. A pitcher who puts up good stats (ERA, WHIP, K/9 for example) is a good pitcher in Scoresheet.

  • Defensive range (as determined by the company-provided list) matters. Errors matter. The actual games are played out, play-by-play, so winning real-life players tend to also be winning Scoresheet players, with much more consistency than most fantasy formats. With that in mind, be sure to use Scoresheet defense for Scoresheet valuations, as the ratings will vary from other defensive metrics, usually showing a somewhat lessened variation between the best and worst defenders at a position. When looking at the various ranges on the player list, the conventional wisdom is 5.5 points of OPS [ed – changed – thanks to a reader for catching this typo] for each .01 range rating delta.

It's not perfect, but if you add 1.62 singles (.01 x 162 games) to a 687-PA player, their OPS actually goes up by about 4.9-5.0 points. Obviously, some failed range factor rolls are more costly than a single, so 5.5 isn't a bad starting point.

  • The computer will promote fictional AAA players if a team can't fill a position. This is helpful to rebuilding teams, who would prefer to have more prospects, even if they aren't full-time, and something to be avoided at almost all costs for contenders, as these “AAA” players are awful.

  • Remember that every time a draft pick is traded away, the roster “slot” goes with it. Trading too many roster slots can really undermine a team's farm system, as those extra slots are needed to keep “next gen” talent.

So, those should get you started. Now, the timing of this article was designed to help people with keeper questions. The most help is likely going to be in response to comments left here, so feel free to use that resource. But here are some general guidelines:

  • Conventional wisdom is to only keep more than four rookies if the others are just too good, or if a team is in a deep rebuild. This is one point where I think convention is a bit too conservative, though it's crucial to keep in mind that almost always these players are non-contributors, so you are going to win or lose without them. And those 35 roster spots get used up fast!

  • The Scoresheet forums are a very helpful resource. And even if you don't want to receive emails, the annual mock draft (several expert forum participants hold it) is worth using as reference for keeper decisions. Following it slavishly would be a mistake, as would following any mock fantasy draft, but it's good to get a starting point for values.

  • 12-team NL leagues: 156 players kept; 10-team AL leagues: 130 players kept.

  • If a continuing league has been around for a while (maybe as little as 1-2 years), numerous keeper-level “crossover” players may be retained. For such leagues, the number of in-league players being kept is reduced to as little as: 12-team NL leagues (with 26 crossovers): 130 players kept; 10-team AL leagues (with 20 crossovers): 110 players kept.

  • It's important to keep the above number in mind for your league settings: 156, 130, 130, or 110. Players below this threshold are worth essentially nil as keepers. If your last couple of keepers are below these thresholds, trading a keeper slot (designated within Scoresheet Baseball as a pick in the 1-13 range) for an early draft pick is the way to go!

    This ability to trade keeper slots for draft picks (or good players) is somewhat novel in Scoresheet, and it takes a while to come to terms with the ramifications. But in general, a keeper slot is considered to be worth a typical 15th-round (2nd round of drafting) pick. Clearly, needs may vary. For a rebuilding team, having an extra roster spot and getting two later picks might be the way to go, for instance.

  • Pitching wins in Scoresheet. Bad hitting weeks can only produce an 0-fer. Bad pitching weeks can light up the scoreboard. And ace pitchers fetch top values in trades, much as top pitchers fetch top dollars in real life. For a contending run, at least 6 durable starting pitchers (or equivalent) are recommended, to avoid hemorrhaging runs due to a AAA Pitcher on the mound. With that in mind, some starters are still available in the draft.

    In a league I ended up winning last year, I got Barry Zito with the 9th pick in the 15th round and Mike Leake in the 23rd round and another team got Ian Kennedy in round 17. So, keeping bad starters just because they have innings isn't the answer, either.

  • Even if a reliever is shown highly on the mock draft, they make terrible keepers… there will invariably be much high-value reliever talent available later than you expect. Remember, very few relievers are kept, and only the contending teams are thinking about drafting them (generally).

  • Unless you are certain that your league-mates won't trade, don't worry too much about keeping an intact team with keepers. Other than catchers, most positions have nearly full-time players available for several draft rounds. Ian Desmond and Edgar Renteria were taken in the 17th round of the aforementioned NL league. Juan Uribe, Cristian Guzman, and Ryan Hanigan lasted to the 19th (so there was some value at catcher left, but they do tend to go quickly). You're (usually) better off trading a keeper slot and cutting a 17th-round talent than in keeping him to make sure the position is covered.

  • Look at some past drafts to remind yourself just how much talent is available in the draft. Scoresheet has links to previous seasons from the various leagues (P-NL300, for example).

  • If you're dissatisfied with your keepers, scan the rosters – maybe someone else in the league has too many good keepers, and would trade for something as petty as a draft pick upgrade (DON'T trade away picks outright unless the deal is too good to be true). I traded away two players for very little from that same team last year that I ended up regretting – Chris Young and Carlos Ruiz.

  • The last, and possibly more important, point is that positions are far more important than in fantasy baseball. Playing players out of position in Scoresheet can have a dire defensive impact. This means, for example, that there are only 12 slots for first basemen to play in a 12-team NL league. In the P-NL300 league, the following first baseman are taken (among others):

  1. Adrian Gonzalez
  2. Albert Pujols
  3. Joey Votto
  4. Ike Davis
  5. Aubrey Huff
  6. Ryan Howard
  7. Mark Teixeira
  8. Miguel Cabrera
  9. Prince Fielder
  10. Freddie Freeman
  11. Lance Berkman
  12. Derrek Lee

 

  • … and only 6-8 teams are likely to view themselves as contenders. So, there's always going to be excess talent available at first base. A team with D-Lee or Berkman or Huff (or LaRoche or Loney) is very likely to take whatever offer they can get, if they have a better first baseman or are in a complete rebuild. That's not to say that the great first basemen shouldn't be kept, but be aware that even good major leaguers like Ike Davis are only marginal players in an NL Scoresheet league. It's like positional values in fantasy baseball, but magnified, since only 8 batters are in the lineup at a time, and only 6-8 teams are contending, and there are crossover players as well. When in doubt, don't worry about cutting (not keeping) a borderline player at first base or corner outfield.

In short, have fun. When in doubt, use sound baseball strategies and/or ask for help. We're always happy to answer comments left here. For those wondering what's next, most of the preseason will consist of draft advice, and then during the season, strategy articles including some in-depth Sabermetrically oriented – but Scoresheet specific – analysis, and we're always open to suggested topics, too.

Thank you for reading

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jrmayne
1/28
Looking forward to the coverage. Scoresheet rocks; I joined a league started by BP via draft organizer Gary "Majerus" Huckabay eight years ago, and it's been a terrific experience.

I don't know how many of my reprehensible leaguemates will read your columns and take your advice, but I'd appreciate it if you'd explain that they want to take Jeff Mathis, anyway.

[Note: Reprehensibility of leaguemates is due to their persistent efforts to defeat me. I hate them all.]

--JRM, who is pretty sure Gary is listening to his vast collection of Creed songs right now.
geofflong
1/28
After reading, I'm considering Scoresheet for the first time. Two questions: (1) Any sense of how much time it takes to be a contender, in comparison to what it would take to do well in a competitive roto league? (2) Also, is the knowledge level of a BP subscriber and fantasy player sufficient to not look like a fool, or is this for true experts?
rawagman
1/28
I joined a long-running scoresheet league (AL only) at the behest of another BP reader two seasons ago. I took over a doormat franchise and got them to within 1-2 games of the playoffs in my first year with (I believe) astute drafting and trading. While my team had no real prospects to speak of then, I hoped to build up with high-end guys, and I think I've succeeded in doing so. Last year, my team collapsed as - as Rob had warned - I had no tangible catching depth and went for weeks at a time with nothing but AAA players behind the plate. That's what happens when all of my real players were actually in AAA or nailed to the bench. My honour roll of shame included: Lou Marson, Rob Johnson, Taylor Teagarden, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Dusty Ryan. I won't make that mistake again.

In summary, if you know your sh!t, you should be able to do alright. How good is alright will depend on your competition.
mcquown
1/29
Hi geoff,

I will say this - a lot of people play Scoresheet, with a wide variety of skill levels. And I think the skill level required to compete in a public league will vary from league to league. I do think that understanding even 50% of the stuff that's posted at BP and treating a Scoresheet like it was a baseball team (as opposed to trying to min-max the Scoresheet system) will allow for a competitive situation that should be enjoyable.

That being said, if you're playing for blood, here are some things to keep in mind to become a "shark":

1. Get a good orphaned team! It's first-come, first-served from the list on the Scoresheet site.
a) Some teams are so bad that Scoresheet will offer a discount - the process of turning these around is enjoyable for some people (like myself), but not everyone's cup of tea.
b) New continuing leagues form each year, and cost a little more, but if you don't like the available selection of orphans, this puts you on even footing at least.

2. Get into an active league, if you want to trade your way to the top quickly. The orphaned teams currently have links back to 2010 season, and you can see how many transactions took place.

3. Being a successful fantasy owner on top of understanding baseball should make for a very successful run. A lot of the traditional fantasy concepts apply, as you're still trying to collect a better set of players than your competitors.

4. I think that even the worst team should be able to compete after 2 years of building. Yes, that's a "long view" compared to traditional fantasy, and - as noted above - building up a dog team isn't for everyone, but if an owner relentlessly spins off assets to get extra draft picks (and hence roster spots), and amasses as many high-upside rookies as possible (read those Future Shock articles), the edge of having the high draft picks for all those drafts should be enough after 2 off years.

5. Usually, after building for 2 years, you have a team which is molded into something you really like. That's the reward for having the patience to build across multiple years.
jeffbarton
1/30
Hi Geoff: Couple things.
1) Scoresheet also starts brand new leagues every year - you do not have to take over an orphan.

2) In addition to keeper leagues, there are also many new single seasonleagues started every year. So 9especially if yuo are new to Scorehseet) you can just do a single season leauge your first year to 'get your feet wet' and learn the ropes. And some folks just do single season leagues every year, as many folks enjoy drafting whole new teams every year.

3) Scoresheet is definitely not for experts only. While (as is true in any fantasy game) folks with more baseball knowledge will of course do better, in some ways scoresheet is easier to master than rotisserie games. For one, you do not have to learn the intricacies of winning 'categories' - in Scoresheet you can get by very well with simply picking the same players that you would like to see your favorite major league team pick up.
jrmayne
1/28
geoff and similarly situated others:

1. I walked into the draft with almost no idea how Scoresheet worked in 2003. I was competitive in 2003, made a challenge trade of draft picks at the start of 2004, and ripped off a couple of championships in a field of BPer's and other sorts. I've been a contender every year. Full disclosure: I'm pretty good at this.

1a. If you start with a bad team, Scoresheet's keeper system makes most bad teams turn-aroundable in a couple of years.

1b. You can always start with a one-year league to test-drive it. I recommend it. There are first-time discounts.

2. There are hundreds of Scoresheet Leagues. In 90+% of them, a typical BP subscriber and fantasy player is going to do just fine. There are a handful of scarier leagues out there.

Check out the Scoresheet Talk page:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/scoresheet-talk/messages

Tons of helpful people there.

I got in on a fluke, and I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it. But it turned out to be a marvelous experience, not just from the game playing, but also in meeting more people who enjoy this kind of thing.

--JRM
geofflong
1/28
Thanks to both of you for the replies. I was unclear, but my original question about time had to do with the actual hours required to keep the team functioning during the season. I have maybe an average of 20 minutes per day to put toward fantasy (a bit more to keep apprised of baseball in general), and wanted to know whether that's realistic. Once the early season work is over, of course -- I assume that takes more time.

I'll take a look at the yahoo group. Thanks again.
rawagman
1/28
In season, you just need to set your lineups once a week - I think by a set time every Sunday. You get the boxscores of the previous week's games the next day. However long you want to spend on that is up to you.
Clemente
1/28
Once your team is drafted, and lineups set up, it can just work itself. If you took an hour a week you could keep your team 'going'. If you want to build it up, then researching trades and the three mid-season drafts (for prospects) might take some more time. On the other hand, you can be fantatical about it, too, and adjust things every week. I tend to do alot for the first few weeks as players and roles settle out, then let it ride until I need to--usually because of trade or draft acquisitions, or noticeable playing time change.

I love Scoresheet and dropped all other fantasy formats to do it. If you are a regular BP reader, you know enough. I also recommend Baseball HQ (Ron Schandler's site) for some specific Scoresheet stuff, but also analysis that tends to look at the player 'in real life' more than many fantasy sites, and Scoresheet is that way.

You can never overdraft starting pitching.
mcquown
1/29
I was going through replies in order, and I see that I could have saved some time, but I'm glad that my comment agrees for the most part with JRM's comments here; he *is* good at this stuff. And very helpful to others.

As far as time/week, I'd say that running a Scoresheet team takes much less constant interaction than a weekly-move fantasy league (with a waiver queue, not first-come/first-served). Like a weekly-move league, there's a deadline each week when you enter lineup and pitching changes. And getting the email with the box scores of the games played that week becomes something to anticipate, as looking through the box scores is an enjoyable aspect of the game. Player distribution is done in 3 in-season drafts (of 3 rounds per team), and those require some preparation. So, the weekly time spent (in traditional fantasy leagues) on the waiver wire is instead focused into 3 drafts.
hotstatrat
1/28
Go to the www.scoresheetwiz.com Strategies section (http://scoresheetwiz.tripod.com/id60.html) for a fixed list of commonaly and some not-so-commonaly used Scoresheet strategies. As its author, I must confess to getting a bit lax in keeping it state-of-art. For example, the most up-to-date Depth Charts I've found this winter belong to MLB.com not the CBSSports ones which were the best to use last winter. I promise to get on that, but I'm busy figuring out my own preferences for now!

http://www.attheplate.com/notes/ss_notes.htm also has some nice tips.
mcquown
1/29
For BP subscribers, expect the PFM / Depth Chart information to be much better this season than in past years, for a variety of reasons - not the least of which is Marc Normandin's oversight of BP Fantasy.

I handled depth charts during spring training for another site last year, and for two teams in Heater Magazine throughout the season (the Chicago teams). It's sort of complicated to make good playing time and depth chart estimates, and I am not sure that MLB.com always has the best information - they do tend to go off latest quotes from managers, but sometimes things don't get said. For instance, as I type this, MLB.com has Melky Cabrera listed as the starting CF in KC. This may happen, but my understanding (without doing hours of investigation) is that Cain will have every shot to win that job in spring training, with Melky becoming the 4th OF.

Anyway, we'll try to have the best depth chart information possible here at BP. And I do think that the links cited here by hotstatrat are worth keeping in mind for Scoresheet players.
mbodell
1/28
As someone who was relatively new to scoresheet (I'm about to start my third year) I'd also advise that depth is more challenging than you at first think.

In the majors when your starting player goes down, your backup gets more playing time. In scoresheet if they aren't on the same team then if you have the best starting C and the best backup C in the league (who are on different teams) when your starting C is injured in real life, your backup C is still a backup and still only playing 1 or 2 games a week. The same thing is true for 4th outfielders, backup 1b, etc.
klambie
1/28
Appreciate the piece, looking forward to more SS content.

A minor quibble, I believe the rule of thumb is .01 of defense = 5.5 OPS (as you demonstrated with your math), not OBP. Others use .01 of defense = 3.5 OBP. I believe they are equivalent, just the difference between adding them as walks or singles.
mcquown
1/29
I'm going to change this now. I - of course - meant this, and just made a typo, thanks for catching it, and it does indeed make a world of difference. My apologies to anyone I misled.
murber74
1/29
This will be my 3rd full season of NL Scoresheet, and I'm really looking forward to the articles this year. A buddy of mine got me started, and I've been addicted ever since. Maybe too addicted with rookies, which killed me last year...I'm in a league that trades a lot, so there's always a way to right the ship. Like someone said earlier: if you know baseball, you'll be alright.
hotstatrat
1/29
Responding to mbodell (Post Reply doesn't work on my computer): That's quite so. Hence, it is good to organize your team to have a full time back-up no matter who goes down. That means having someone else on the team who can act as a full time shortstop (or CF or C), besides your starting SS. It could be two guys. It could be your second-baseman who also qualifies as a shortstop. If you have that is far less important to have a back-up plan for secondbase (unless your 2B starter is your SS back-up), because a shortstop won't hurt you defensively playing 2B nearly as much as having your secondbaseman play SS.

Likewise, you can skip having a back-up firstbaseman if you have a good 2nd thirdbaseman. Having a shortstop play third is more of a stretch, because he would likely hurt you with his lack of hitting. I'm not saying to don't draft a back-up 2B or 1B, but if you are loaded up on rookies or relievers, you can get by comfortably without them - assuming you don't have a team like the 2010 Red Sox where everyone gets hurt.

Real teams do not have a back-up at every position - especially nowadays. Playing Scoresheet drives that point home very clearly as it is nearly impossible to draft your starter's "back-up" as teams only carry four man benches (5 in the N.L.). That leaves room for a back-up catcher, maybe a 4th outfielder, and two utility infielders - one better suited for the corners and one better suited for the middle infield, although, the corner guy would have to be able to play up the middle in a pinch. And one of those back-up infielders has to be the 5th outfielder. If a starter gets injured, they don't play those versitile benchmates, they call up the guy in AAA they have kept surpressed down there to avoid having the arbitration and free agent clocks ticking on him.

Yes, you might be better off having the AAA guy on your bench, but those things are difficult to predict.

Trading to fill a hole is an option. However, early in the season most teams don't have enough depth to patch up someone else's problem. After the first week of September, the trading dead has passed and no more deals are made.
hotstatrat
1/29
Rob - I am eager to hear why you think more than four prospects is a good idea even for a contender. I see all but 6 star prospects (the best of the 5 star) and a few outstanding relief prospects who are up in the Majors, but will not pitch enough innings to blow their prospect status - as trade fodder. Yes, with the recently liberalized prospect playing time limits, you could have two prospects you really like, two relievers to carry over for next year, and two or three more guys as trade bait. However, those four star prospects only have value as trade bait, if enough other managers in your league value them as keepers.
mcquown
1/29
Hey, that's a great topic, possibly for a future article itself. While I sort of dislike the concepts of "competition cycle" and "windows of competition", I do think the team's status enters into the equation in terms of rookie keeper decisions. My main point with that quip was to suggest that an owner shouldn't feel compelled to shed their 5th (and subsequent) rookies.

It's clearly of diminishing returns to keep more rookies, as each one costs a better pick. But it's important to always keep in mind that the odds of finding a keeper-level MLB player late in a draft are very low. And some sub-5-star prospects have pretty good long-term Scoresheet outlooks. E.g. I think Wilmer Flores got a 3-star rating, for example, and many think he'll be a middle-of-lineup type hitter. I agree that a lot of it depends on how easily traded prospects are in a given league - if a prospect has a hot April and May, and still can't be traded to a rebuilding team, then it's right to go along with market pressures in the league and not overpay for prospects (by keeping too many of them, for example).

Musing on this topic... Looking back at my P-NL300 league and the top team on the orphans list (to give an NL and AL example), here are the round 31 picks from last year:

Round 31 NL:
SS Tommy Manzella
P Bryan Augenstein
1B Gaby Sanchez (with team 6's pick)
SS Augie Ojeda
P Lance Lynn
2B Anderson Hernandez
C Jason LaRue
Tony Abreu

Round 31 AL:
OF David Murphy
C Brayan Pena
P Chien-Ming Wang
C Rob Johnson
SR J.J. Putz
3B Bill Hall
P Jason Vargas

... That AL draft would tend to undermine the suggestion to keep more than 4 rookies (as that's a pretty strong group), and my team was the one drafting Gaby Sanchez in the NL, but I'd also traded for some extra picks. There wasn't much else in that NL draft even worth a roster spot.

dantroy
1/31
I'm a believer in drafting talent. Last year, I drafted Kyle Gibson in a late round of the preseason draft. Later in the season, I was able to swap him and some draft pick considerations to an out of contention team for Matt Thornton when I needed a RP. In the round before I took Gibson, I drafted Scot Shields because I "needed" a reliever. Nobody needs Scot Shields (he was awful). Another of my late-round gems was Gabe Kapler.

I guess you can't be too cavalier - and it depends on how active owners in your league are - but I'm not one who thinks it's a bad idea to draft high-potential prospects over low-rent roster filler.
hotstatrat
1/29
OK, at least, I've added a new article. Here is my analysis on the top cross-over to the N.L. this year Cliff Lee or Zack Greinke: www.scoresheetwiz.com
touchstone033
1/29
I'd love to hear people's strategies on setting up the pitching staff, especially the bullpen.

My first year in Scoresheet, I inherited a team that made it to the finals, which I lost thanks to the computer who exhumed the corpse of Jon Garland from deep in my bullpen to protect a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth of the seventh game. Two singes and a home run later, my season was over. (Have I mentioned I've come to loathe the computer?) I suspect it was because the innings allotted to my good relievers were maxed out during the previous 6 8/9 games...

So, what's the best way to set up a bullpen? I've noticed relying on the lefty/righty matchups isn't terribly useful, because Scoresheet keeps pitchers in until they've reached their runs allowed limit, regardless of the kind of batter. Or do you set a specialist's runs limit extremely low? Like to 0.5 runs?

I've also had some success putting in decent starters in the bullpen, because they can pitch so many innings and lessen the need to draft a ton of pitchers.

In any case, playing Scoresheet has made me a middle relief and prospect nerd. After all, the best players are all taken, so most my research concentrates on the borderline players, the up-and-comers, and relievers...
dsher84
1/29
Touchstone - I have a 24-team BL team that ended up facing the team with the best record in the finals. We got to game 7, and the series was decided by two pitchers who were making their first appearances of the playoffs. Ogando clinched it for me beating Purcey. I came away from that the experience with the idea that I should always acquire more relievers than I used to think were enough.

The relievers used in that series (in order of their 1st appearance in the series):

Mine - B. Wagner, Venters, O'Day, Feliciano, Romo, Axford, Ogando (game 7)

Opponents - A. Bailey, Putz, Marshall, Balfour, Camp, Fuentes (game 7), Purcey (game 7)

In my leagues, there has historically been an active market for set-up guys late in the season. I guess my advice is you should do whatever you need to do to get through the season, and then invest as needed to increase the count of set-up guys on your roster before the playoffs. It will cost you, but you'll be able to acquire guys with the good banked stats that count so much towards playoff stats.
mcquown
2/04
Next article coming Monday. I just submitted keepers for P-NL300, and kept far more than the 4 suggested minor-leagues... let's hope it works out.

MLB keepers:
Halladay,Ro
Bumgarner,Ma
Strasburg,St
Votto,Jo
Gonzalez,Ca
Heyward,Ja
Rasmus,Co
Alvarez,Pe
Zambrano,Ca
Polanco,Pl
Hardy,J.
Leake,Mi
Hanigan,Ry

MiLB keepers:
Miller,Sh
Castro,Si
McNutt,Tr
Norris,De
Sanchez,To
Mesoraco,De
Belt,Br

Best cuts:
MLB: Hundley,Ni; Zito,Ba; Saltalamac,Ja; Wallace,Br; Adams,Mi

MiLB: Cumberland,An; Vizcaino,Ar