Punting Wins and K's in a 5x5

[Subes is at the bar]

I just tried this in a 12 team mock draft and here is the team I ended up with. Let me know if you would be happy with it. I was drafting from the 6th position:

C - Victor Martinez
1B - Todd Helton
2B - Robinson Cano
SS - Jose Reyes
3B - Chipper Jones
OF - Alfonso Soriano
OF - Manny Ramirez
OF - Aaron Rowand
UTI - Jeff Kent / Michael Cuddyer / Jermain Dye

P - Carlos Zambrano
P - AJ Burnett
RP - JJ Putz
RP - Takashi Saito
RP - Mariano Rivera
RP - Jason Isringhause
RP - Jonathon Broxton

You didn't try the strategy in it's purest sense... You drafted Zambrano which was probably a Top 3 round pick where you could have had another stud bat. You can easily find a Middle Reliever who qualifies as a SP for that spot and AJ Burnett is a complete waste also. Not to mention you don't need 4 closers either. Take a couple good closers and fill the rest of the spots with Middle Relievers that have good ratios. You can get "closers in waiting" and eventually end up with 5 or 6 closers to lock up saves as the season goes along. You don't need to waste top picks on top closers because you're winning your Saves with quantity and ratios with middle relievers.

And anyone who doesn't think that they can win the ratios with middle relievers and closers only has a permanent invitation to join any of my money leagues...

[Amazinz]

This absolutely does work. I've seen it work and work well. This is one of the reasons I hate Roto leagues that do not use IP minimums (like the Cafeholics league ). However, this isn't really the LIMA plan. You draft SP in that strategy and it's a game plan that is suited to ANY format of fantasy baseball. This strategy only works in a specific setup.

[Diggs]

I just tried this in a 12 team mock draft and here is the team I ended up with. Let me know if you would be happy with it. I was drafting from the 6th position:

C - Victor Martinez
1B - Todd Helton
2B - Robinson Cano
SS - Jose Reyes
3B - Chipper Jones
OF - Alfonso Soriano
OF - Manny Ramirez
OF - Aaron Rowand
UTI - Jeff Kent / Michael Cuddyer / Jermain Dye

P - Carlos Zambrano
P - AJ Burnett
RP - JJ Putz
RP - Takashi Saito
RP - Mariano Rivera
RP - Jason Isringhause
RP - Jonathon Broxton

You didn't try the strategy in it's purest sense... You drafted Zambrano which was probably a Top 3 round pick where you could have had another stud bat. You can easily find a Middle Reliever who qualifies as a SP for that spot and AJ Burnett is a complete waste also. Not to mention you don't need 4 closers either. Take a couple good closers and fill the rest of the spots with Middle Relievers that have good ratios. You can get "closers in waiting" and eventually end up with 5 or 6 closers to lock up saves as the season goes along. You don't need to waste top picks on top closers because you're winning your Saves with quantity and ratios with middle relievers.

And anyone who doesn't think that they can win the ratios with middle relievers and closers only has a permanent invitation to join any of my money leagues...

That is the thing, I didn't draft Z in the top of the 3rd. Not even close. I can't believe how late i got him. My order went:

Reyes
Soriano
VMart
Manny
Chipper
Putz

I got Zambrano in at least 7th round or later.

[Subes is at the bar]

Not that this thread is about evaluating who someone drafts but Chipper in the 5th round is a pretty shwag pick. Don't see much power in that lineup either... I'd definitely take Zambrano in round 7 however just for trade bait to someone who is going to want SPs... That's great value.

[rookies and cream]

I'm debating doing this in my money league. It's a 7 x 7 roto league with no innings pitched limit. Extra cats are OBP (1/2 point), SLG (1/2 point), Losses (1/2 point) and Quality Starts (1/2 point). Thus, I'd actually be punting 3 pitching categories and hopefully winning the other 4 quite easily.

I didn't intend on it, but SP's were going off the board way too early. For example, Felix, Dice-K, and Oswalt were drafted in the 5th. I never felt that I was getting remotely good value on the SP's available, so I let them slip. I ended up getting Lackey very late and made a slight reach for Pedro. After Pedro's injury last night, I'm thinking of employing this strategy, though before I commit to it, I need to see if I can work out a trade for a better closer (or 2). Right now, I have Street, Izzy, and Brian Wilson. I got excellent value on those 3 in the draft.

My offense is stacked!

VMart at C (hopefully not a significant injury)
DLee at 1B (5th round!)
Weeks at 2B
Atkins at 3B (late 4th)
MYoung at SS
Holliday, Sizemore, and Granderson in OF (Granderson in 6th!)
Butler/Ibanez at U (may need an upgrade)

I was also able to nab Lincecum and Francis (at decent value) as well. But overall my SP is EXTREMELY weak unfortunately.

I should add: This is a weekly line-up league and all quality MR'ers (except for Broxton and Betancourt) are available.

Thoughts?

[Yoda]

[rookies and cream]

Thanks Yoda. Makes me feel better about my chances. Do you think I have the right team for it?

[Yoda]

Thanks Yoda. Makes me feel better about my chances. Do you think I have the right team for it?

I don't think you have much of a choice. Is there an inning limit (min)? PM your team and I'll take a look.

[-Slap-]

I would never start the year with this strategy, but I did win a league after punting wins and strikeouts in July. I lost Carpenter to injury week one and my other SP were disappointing. It became evident that I was never going to catch up enough in wins or Ks to sratch out more than a couple points in each. I traded the SP who had any value and finished the year starting all closers and set up men with great ratios and strong K/9. I paired that with a Holliday/Fielder led offense and squeaked out first place.

I never purposely punt a category, but there are times when you need to recognize the handwriting on the wall and adopt a fallback strategy, even an extreme one.

Hardest category to punt and win is HRs. Back in the old days, when I still believed you could draft a lot of pitching early, I used to try and beat people by racking up 45 pitching points while winning SB, average and runs. Talk about a strategy that allows almost no room for error. Any gameplan that relies on you winning all the ratio categories is a risky one.

[rookies and cream]

Yeah. Wasn't my strategy but with my weak SP and the injury to Pedro, I don't think I have a choice. Plus, I really think I have a good enough offense to actually make this work.