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Dynasty leagues with extensive minor-league rosters have become more popular in recent years. It’s one of the greatest ways to keep all owners engaged throughout the season, as the action never quits. However, such intensive and deep leagues can be intimidating for first-time owners. For example, I joined my first dynasty league in 2014, and it wasn’t with a bunch of amateurs. I jumped into the deep end and participated in TDGX—a 20-team, 40-man roster dynasty league with fantasy experts from across the internet baseball landscape.

It was my first dynasty draft and my first attempt at fielding my own team. Needless to say, it didn’t go smoothly. I made rookie mistakes in the draft. Grabbing elite prospects is important because the league includes a 10-man minor-league roster, but I erred and drafted prospects too early. That made my big-league roster far too shallow.

Due to mistakes in the draft, injuries to key players, and severe underperformance in April, I fell out of legitimate contention. I recognized the flaws in my approach and decided to engage in a rebuild. After all, it’s not a 10-team league. If you fall out of contention, you have 18-to-19 teams to jump to vie for a pennant.

I want to talk about the best way to engage in a complete rebuild. To do this, I will utilize my TDGX squad, as I believe it offers a concrete way to visualize something rather theoretical. My rebuild hasn’t gone perfectly; however, the goal isn’t just to rebuild the roster. It’s to do it as quickly as possible. Engaging in a three-or-four year rebuild in dynasty leagues isn’t enjoyable. The end-goal is to fast forward what should take several years into a season or two.

First, here is the flawed roster with which I began the season:

Pos.

Player

Pos.

Player

C

Wilin Rosario

SS

Javier Baez

1B

Chris Carter

3B

Joey Gallo

2B

Kolten Wong

OF

Josh Bell

SS

Jose Reyes

2B

Tommy La Stella

3B

David Freese

SP

Jesse Biddle

MI

Zack Cozart

SP

Jenrry Mejia

CI

Ryan Raburn

OF

Domingo Santana

OF

Carlos Gonzalez

SP

Vincent Velazquez

OF

Wil Myers

SP

Brandon McCarthy

OF

Adam Eaton

RP

Heath Hembree

OF

Marcell Ozuna

RP

Will Smith

OF

Chris Denorfia

SP

Jimmy Nelson

U

Henry Urrutia

SS

Eduardo Nunez

U

John Jaso

OF

Daniel Fields

P

Homer Bailey

SP

Bobby Wahl

P

Gio Gonzalez

1B

Ronald Guzman

P

Kevin Gausman

RP

Dane De La Rosa

P

Francisco Liriano

P

Andrew Heaney

P

Bobby Parnell

P

Rex Brothers

P

Ricky Nolasco

P

Wade Miley

It’s not difficult to see what happened. Bobby Parnell, Wil Myers, and Jose Reyes hit the DL early. Carlos Gonzalez experienced a down year, as did Homer Bailey and Gio Gonzalez. I banked on Rex Brothers assuming the closer’s role, and it belly-flopped. Most of all, though, I invested heavily into guys who didn’t begin the year in the big leagues, such as Javier Baez, Kevin Gausman, Andrew Heaney, Joey Gallo, etc. It just put me at a disadvantage.

In short, my team had no chance to compete in 2014, so let’s talk about some suggestions to put your dynasty league rebuild into hyperdrive.

CORNER THE HIGH-MINORS MARKET
When rebuilding in a deep, 20-team dynasty league, it’s important to remember two things: (1) you don’t want A-ball prospects who may not have an impact in the majors for three or four years, and (2) only a small number of worthwhile prospects in the high minors exist.

This means you have to sell early. You do not want to compete with other owners who are trying to rebuild, so if you can sell early in the year, you have your pick of the litter. You can target which high-minors prospects to buy. For example, I traded Carlos Gonzalez for Jon Singleton, Oswaldo Arcia, Luis Sardinas, Trevor Bauer, and a second-round draft pick. While my return carried inherent risk and lacked upside, my goal was to obtain numerous high-minors players.

That leads me into the second reason why owners want to sell early and amass depth in the high minors. Once other owners decide to sell in June and July, they are forced to either trade for A-ball players—which increases the length of their rebuild—or they have to come to you. This puts you in a position to selectively sell from your amassed depth and grab players who can help immediately. After I made a flurry of trades in late-April and May, I ended up trading for guys like Ian Kinsler, Ian Desmond, and Alex Wood. It’s about selectively choosing your spots to make upgrades from places of depth—but you can’t trade from depth that you don’t have.

Don’t lull yourself into rebuilding through Low-A and rookie-ball talent. You’re just resigning yourself to a half-decade rebuild. Target the high minors, do it early, and you’ll set yourself on the path to competing in just a year or two.

TARGET INJURED PLAYERS
Perhaps this seems obvious, but players with significant injuries have little appeal to fantasy owners who are competing for a league championship. This leads to discrepancies in value. Of course, it must be noted that targeting injured players isn’t all sunshine and roses. You’re paying for broken property, and there’s a legitimate chance it never materializes.

For example, I grabbed Matt Wieters, Jarrod Parker, and Martin Perez. They all came extremely cheap; however, Parker is on his second Tommy John surgery. Perez won’t be available until mid-2015. And Wieters could experience a severe power outage as he attempts to return from elbow surgery. I’m betting on upside. If they can return to their prior form, I acquired young mid-rotation starters and a top-10 catcher for pennies on the dollar.

The added benefit is that injured players can be stashed on the DL, which increases the possible number of players on your roster. TDGX has three DL spots, which allowed me to carry Wieters, Parker, and Perez without impacting my overall 40-man roster. That’s crucial for amassing depth and increases your flexibility throughout the year.

FOCUS ON POSITION PLAYERS
Here’s the one message that every rebuilding owner sent the team over the summer: “Veterans available for young bats.”

Everyone desperately wanted young position players. Part of that is due to the roster distribution of 14-position-player starters and 9-pitching starters. The other aspect is that pitching has become more readily available due to the decreased offensive environment, and it seems that more pitchers appear out of nowhere on the fantasy radar. Not the same thing can be said for position players, at least anecdotally.

If you truly want competing owners coming to you midseason, you need to amass position-player depth.

In the end, here is my team at the end of the year:

Pos.

Player

Pos.

Player

C

Wilin Rosario

C

Matt Wieters

1B

Chris Carter

3B

Joey Gallo

2B

Ian Kinsler

OF

Josh Bell

SS

Ian Desmond

SS

Hunter Dozier

3B

David Freese

OF

Albert Almora

MI

Javier Baez

OF

Gabriel Guerrero

CI

Jon Singleton

2B

Jorge Polanco

OF

Oswaldo Arcia

OF

Yorman Rodriguez

OF

Wil Myers

OF

Jorge Bonifacio

OF

Adam Eaton

3B

Ryan McMahon

OF

Lorenzo Cain

OF

Mitch Haniger

OF

Abraham Almonte

RP

Mike Foltynewicz

U

Jose Iglesias

SP

Andrew Heaney

U

Luis Sardinas

SP

Alex Meyer

P

Chase Anderson

SP

Jarrod Parker

P

Jonathan Broxton

SP

Martin Perez

P

Gio Gonzalez

RP

Will Smith

P

Kevin Gausman

SP

Jesse Biddle

P

Jimmy Nelson

SP

Roberto Ozuna

P

Shane Greene

SP

Devin Williams

P

Jenrry Mejia

P

Alex Wood

P

Eddie Butler

The pitching staff needs upgrading and I’m clearly speculating on saves with Mejia, Smith, and Broxton; however, my squad started finishing in the 6th-to-10th range over the final two months. In essence, even though I finished in 19th position, my TDGX team is on the road to recovery. I’m already dreaming about competing in 2015, and it’s because I was able to avoid falling in love with A-ball players, grabbed injured players, and focused on acquiring bats. If you follow the same advice in your rebuilding project—if necessary!—I’m confident that you can be on the road to a championship much more quickly than otherwise possible.

Thank you for reading

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Muboshgu
12/12
Great ideas and examples. It's not always so easy to target high minors prospects though. I took over a dynasty team in 2012 when an owner was "convicted" of tanking. And believe me, the roster I inherited was horrendous. All of the worthwhile high minors talent was taken, and I didn't have any pieces to acquire it, so I had to go diving in the high upside rookie and short season leagues. I did balance that with selective adds of high minors players as they popped up, and that led me to guys like Corey Dickerson while he was slugging over .500 in the Texas League. But others amounted to nothing. My team is starting to turn around as some of these low level prospects build trade value.
kcshankd
12/12
If anyone wants to take on a similar project, I'm in a 24-team league with 225-man roster that has two openings.
ppppfffft
12/12
what kind of scoring system do you use?
indianacardinal
12/13
I would have interest. Contact me at indianacardinal@comcast.net
Shauntell
12/14
If there's still a spot left: shauntell47@gmail.com
kcshankd
12/14
Message sent.
kcshankd
12/13
Message sent.
Head-to-head weekly. 115 Million salary cap.
Scoring: R, RBI, SB, OBP, TB, Pitching: K, ERA, WHIP, 3*W+2*QS, 3*SV+2*HD
ppppfffft
12/13
I'm interested as well, email is ppppfffft@hotmail.com
kcshankd
12/13
sent you an email