roster strategy - # of pitchers vs hitters on my roster

[Nemo]

I think I had a very good auto draft (though it's anyone's guess). Except for the fact that I ended up with John Burkett, isn't he retired?

My league is a 12 team H2H league, with daily lineup changes. I'm trying to figure out how many bench hitters vs how many bench pitchers to have. There are 5 bench spots.

Scoring is W/L/T format with categories:

Hitting - R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB AVG
Pitching - W SV HR BB K HLD ERA WHIP K/BB

Currently I have 3 bench hitters and 2 bench pitchers. Is it better to have more pitchers on the bench since they are not every day guys? Or is it just better to make sure you have every hitting position filled in as many days as possible?

[DEF]

Unless there's an innings limit, I always like to go pitcher-heavy on my bench in a head-to-head league. Many teams have the same off days, so often your bench hitters will be off the same days as your starters so you can't guarantee being able to grab extra stats that way. But as long as all your starters aren't scheduled for the same day, you can rotate them in when they're scheduled to go and maximize your shot at wins, Ks, etc. (and you can always keep them on your bench if there's a bad matchup and you don't want to risk your ERA, WHIP, etc.). Also, you might want to carry some extra relievers as your league counts both saves and holds.

If you do keep any bench hitters, try for players that are eligible at several positions (a guy like Desi Relaford is a great guy to have on your bench because he can fill in for a bunch of different spots) or go for a backup catcher because catchers always have more days off to rest (it's tough to know when they'll be off sometimes, but you can usually bank on a day game after a night game or watch if a certain starter has a personal catcher, etc.) or get a guy that plays the same position as someone on your roster with an injury history (an OF if you drafted Jenkins or Griffey, etc.). Overall, with five bench spots, I'd leave at least three (if not four) for pitchers, with the 1-2 hitters fitting into one of the categories mentioned above.

Of course, these are general rules of thumb. It all depends on who is available in your league. Don't hold onto three extra mediocre pitchers just to have extra pitching if there are great hitters still available. But chances are, you'll be able to find pitching on the waiver wire easier than finding hitting, and surprising pitchers generally crop up more often as the season wears on than do surprising hitters, so keep an active eye on your waiver wire and don't be afraid to shake up that bench when necessary. Hope that helps (unless you're in one of my leagues, in which case please ignore all of the above LOL).

[Nemo]

thanks DEF, sound like reasonable logic.

[Arlo]

Good advice from DEF. With daily changes, I'd also go with 3-4 bench pitchers. Probably four, actually...

[j_d_mcnugent]

in head to head i generally like to stack the bench with pitchers. in this case most of your starting pitching categories (HR, BB, ERA, WHIP, K/BB) are quality rather than quantity stats so i dont think it is as important to have starting pitching on the bench as in a 5x5 setup. given those categories you probably want to minimize the number of questionable starters you use. like DEF said, either avoid the questionable starts (like guys in coors or against the yankees or whatever) or load up on some good middle relievers like lidge, mota, hawkins, soriano, etc.