Shields + Linebrink = 1 Ace?

[bklmu]

I'm in a Yahoo H2H league with 8x8. Check out my Pitching Staff:

SP-Liriano
SP-Papelbon
RP-Gordon
RP-Valverede
P-Duscherer
P-Linebrink
P-Rincon
BN-Zambrano
BN-F. Garcia
BN-Clemens
BN-C. Young
BN-F. Cordero
DL-K. Wood

We have a 14 IP minimum in my Yahoo League. The pitching cats are IP, Wins, Saves, HR against, K's, ERA, WHIP, K/BB. So far I've been winning every pitching cat except for IP, Wins, and sometimes K's. So I'm taking down 5 out of 8 cats at least, and sometimes 6 (k's). Hopefully once Clemens and Wood come back, I can compete in Wins and IP as well.

[DK]

Does anyone know if relievers average less or more Wins per innings pitched than do starters?

In 2005 starters averaged 0.537 wins per nine innings.
Relievers averaged 0.44 wins per nine innings.

Over the span of a roto season (Say, 1250 innings) that's a difference of about 14 wins. Granted, this is only the averages being compared; the best/worst relievers may be different.

[George Costanza]

Thanks for the great stat information on the win average by starter/reliever!!! I was very interested in that info.....

I agree with the earlier post regarding this to be a sound strategy as long as you can pick the right Bullpen guys. I had Crain and Politte last year and it worked out great, even in the win category. Obviously, the same cannot be said of these two this year.

I think Shields is a must, while Dush and Linebrink are definitely solid enough to get you great ERA and WHIP, and over the course of the season, benefit you with the occasional stolen win and save.....

[EugeneStyles]

Before the season, I had Shields projected to about 9 wins and 9 saves - this may be too high (I mostly took my projections from Sportsline and didn't have time to fully adjust the values - I only adjusted certain players that I thought were way out of line). With those stats, he came up in value to approximately the 15th best pitcher, and that's ignoring inning limits (his W/IP has been higher than most if not all SP's the last 2 years).

Obviously, I wouldn't take him as the 15th pitcher in the draft, but a lot of people significantly undervalue Shields and other elite MR's. In my 20-team league, I missed out on all the stud starters, and filled in with MR's (Shields went 204th in this league, about 16 picks before I was going to nab him). Until about a week ago, I was in the top 5 in all pitching categories (top 3 in all but K's). I'm still doing pretty well in pitching (71 out of a possible 100 points), considering that my pitchers were almost all bottom-of-the-barrel, picked late in the draft.

You can definitely get some nice numbers out of MR's in a roto league, particularly a deep one where you miss out on stud starters.

[CharlatanSin]

Hrm. I really like this idea. I already have Shields, and adding Linebrink should help my woeful WHIP, which is all that's holding me down in second place.

[stlcardsfan]

It does take up more roster spots, but my original thinking was that 2 top MRs, like Linebrink and Shields, are probably better than a good pitcher on a bad team, like Dontrelle Willis. Using those two as compared to a good pitcher on a bad team, you'll probably end up with comparable ratios, a few more Ks and about the same number of (if not more) wins. The advantage being you can usually pick them up pretty late in a draft or even off of waivers.