Fantasy Baseball Question (actually 2)

[SewerRat22]

This is my first league with daily roster changes. Im in yahoo public league so its impossible to get any help from anyone.

First....If its the weekend and your down in your head2head league by a win (pitching) and no one is scheduled to make a start... would it be beneficial to leave a roster spot open and pick up someone who will make a start? Is this what you guys refer to as "streaming" or "spot starting"?

Second... is there anyway of knowing a teams starting lineup before game time? I had a few no shows this week and I could of started Freel last night and missed out on him going 5 for 5 which I needed.

Like I said this is my first season and im really not expecting much... I just want to learn all the ins and outs so next season I can be more competitive.

[mkultra]

1) Yes. Go for it, as long as your league doesn't limit transactions. When your opponent complains that you're not "being fair", tell him to suck it.

2) Watch the boards here, esp. the "Player Updates" and "Game Commentary" forums.

[bravo369]

This is only my 2nd year playing fantasy baseball and i was getting tired of the same thing. I have bonds and posednik on my team but neither plays every day. I started to notice that yahoo will have the lineups about an hour before the game so i usually check those out. It has saved me many times.

[bigh0rt]

1) Spot Starting is a not uncommon fantasy baseball strategy. In fact, the Cafe has it's own thread on the matter here thanks go perlick. My main advice would be not to abuse spot starting, as there comes a point where it becomes 'churning', and you can simply do a search on these forums for that word to see the verbal wars that have been waged over that 'strategy'.

2) The game links on Yahoo as well as MLB.com will have daily rosters posted generally 30 - 60 minutes prior to game time; basically after the manager submits them. Beyond that though, you can only speculate, really. However, understand that you're not going to field a full roster every day. For example, in a standard league, if my Catcher just isn't playing that day, well, I'm not playing a Catcher that day, because a roster spot is MUCH more valuable to me than to waste on a backup catcher, or more than 1-2 backup bats at all for that matter. In a standard 5x5 H2H league, I'd generally fill all my SP slots with starters, all my RP and P slots with closers and/or high K/low ratio relievers, and then stash my bench with more Starters.

I hope I've been some help to you. Good luck.

[Lofunzo]

1) Spot Starting is a not uncommon fantasy baseball strategy. In fact, the Cafe has it's own thread on the matter here thanks go perlick. My main advice would be not to abuse spot starting, as there comes a point where it becomes 'churning', and you can simply do a search on these forums for that word to see the verbal wars that have been waged over that 'strategy'.

2) The game links on Yahoo as well as MLB.com will have daily rosters posted generally 30 - 60 minutes prior to game time; basically after the manager submits them. Beyond that though, you can only speculate, really. However, understand that you're not going to field a full roster every day. For example, in a standard league, if my Catcher just isn't playing that day, well, I'm not playing a Catcher that day, because a roster spot is MUCH more valuable to me than to waste on a backup catcher, or more than 1-2 backup bats at all for that matter. In a standard 5x5 H2H league, I'd generally fill all my SP slots with starters, all my RP and P slots with closers and/or high K/low ratio relievers, and then stash my bench with more Starters.

I hope I've been some help to you. Good luck.

[SewerRat22]

Thanks guys! Big help as always!