Punting Saves In a 5x5

[rotoquest]

I've never really tried to punt saves before, but SP is deep this year, and thought it might be worth a try. With a typical roster of 9 pitchers where 2 or 3 must be relievers, I was hoping some experienced people might share their experiences on winning leagues while punting saves.

[bigh0rt]

Punting saves (or any category) will significantly decrease the chances of you winning your league.

[BronXBombers51]

Punting saves (or any category) will significantly decrease the chances of you winning your league.

Yup.

[Chadgo5]

FWIW - The teams who have won our league the past five years have finished in the top 5 in saves (13 teams 6 x 6, IP and OBP added).

The category that seems puntable in our league is SB as the last three winners have finished 11th, 12th and 11th in that category.

[The Artful Dodger]

I don't think you want to enter a league with the intent of punting saves, even though saves could be easier to punt in H2H, but even then, you'll need to put your team in prime position to win 9 categories each week. I punted saves in 12 Angry Men last year (and heading into this year, I have no closer) and won, but would still want a closer or two even if it's not a priority at all. What's important is building enough value to move for a closer in sacrificing as little as humanly possible.

[RJ24VC15]

Saves are easy to find off the waiver wire during the season, it's the easiest catagory to do well in without spending early draft picks.

[MentalPowerHouse]

Not sure I've ever seen someone punt saves and win a league. In fact, I prefer the opposite strategy of loading up on good closers and MR guys filling out my RP, P positions with them. Its too hard to have enough SP depth to do well in ERA/WHIP without good RP's.

[LukeW9027]

Saves are easy to find off the waiver wire during the season, it's the easiest catagory to do well in without spending early draft picks.

Great Point. Because you dont need to spend alot of $ or early draft picks on saves, and there are always new closers emerging during the season that are available, theres no need to punt saves. In 5X5 roto leagues, punting a category and winning the league would be very difficult.

[rotoquest]

Not sure I've ever seen someone punt saves and win a league. In fact, I prefer the opposite strategy of loading up on good closers and MR guys filling out my RP, P positions with them. Its too hard to have enough SP depth to do well in ERA/WHIP without good RP's.

The Idea, whether wrong or right, is to draft 6 or 7 starting pitchers out of 9, and then be able to save my last 2 or 3 draft choices for setup men like bell, broxtan, betancourt. These pitchers have high k's, low whip & Low ERA's and also collect wins. This way in rounds like 8 - 13 where I would be picking closers, I can still take very good hitters and dominate alot of the hitting categories. The remaining 4 pitching categories besides saves would still do very well. But this is just a theory, and I've only successfully done it in mock drafts over at MDC. I appreciate all the input, and I'm still curious to see if anyone else has won without saves.

[GotowarMissAgnes]

I'd like to know what leagues you guys play in where saves are easy to pick up off the FA/waiver. It's not that they are not there, but every league I've played in, you had better be quicker than mercury to have any hope of being competitive in saves based on that.