Roto strategy

[Donkingsfro]

I have always played head to head leagues and have never taken part in a roto league. However, this year I am joining a 12 team 7x7 roto keeper league and was wondering if you guys had any strategies you could offer me. Is there any change in draft strategy when you are playing in a roto league as opposed to a h2h? Thanks a lot. All help is appreciated

[ayebatter]

I have always played head to head leagues and have never taken part in a roto league. However, this year I am joining a 12 team 7x7 roto keeper league and was wondering if you guys had any strategies you could offer me. Is there any change in draft strategy when you are playing in a roto league as opposed to a h2h? Thanks a lot. All help is appreciated

There will be no lucky weeks to get you thru to the playoffs and thru the playoffs. Holes in your roster are glaring after a full season of stats, draft accordingly.

[wkelly91]

Your draft will be half the battle. Know your stats going into the draft, don't reach. Don't panic if your team starts slow and drop otherwise valuable players. Watchout for experienced owners who will try to take advantage of your inexperience with crappy tade offers. Have fun! Roto is so much better than pts....

[fast dogs]

ERA & WHIP are very important in roto, you don't want to fall behind too much in those cats.They are hard to make up if they get out of hand early. Generally h2h leagues draft more hitters early than roto, but with the glut of acceptable SP options, that might not be quite as big of a factor this year. Be sure you leave the draft with some decent sb guys...

[Y`s Guy]

In roto the season is a long grind and if you don't forget this then you will see that a deficit in May can be made up by September. Don't make trades to try and erase a deficit in a few weeks.

[Kingctb27]

Do not forget to draft speed and saves. In roto they are very important categories that are very easy to win my friend. I have never seen a team that was not in the top 3 in at least one of the cats go on to win the league. What I do is draft power early, speed in my middle infield and one guy in the OF who is going to get 35+ (Victorino was that guy last year, Milledge will be nice this year...) I also take a top closer like Nathen or Papelbon and then draft one of the mid teir guys like Valverde. Then grab a few starters around round 10-12 and then take all the closers I can get at the end of the draft. These guys are usually the difference makers.

Hell, here is one of my drafts from last year that I was lucky enough to win.

1. (9) Ryan Howard
2. (16) Carl Crawford
3. (33) Brian Roberts
4. (40) Garrett Atkins
5. (57) Joe Mauer
6. (64) Jonathan Papelbon
7. (81) Miguel Tejada
8. (88) Shane Victorino
9. (105) Josh Hamilton
10. (112) Matt Cain
11. (129) Chad Billingsley
12. (136) Joakim Soria
13. (153) Jermaine Dye
14. (160) Dustin McGowan
15. (177) Joe Borowski
16. (184) Adam Wainwright
17. (201) Plácido Polanco
18. (208) Jarrod Saltalamacchia
19. (225) Lastings Milledge
20. (232) Peter Moylan
21. (249) Edinson Vólquez
22. (256) Jason Kubel
23. (273) Jon Rauch
24. (280) Chuck James
25. (297) Elijah Dukes

Draft accordingly.

[RugbyD]

Draft for balance. You don't get bonus points for having 50 more SB than the #2 in that category.

Don't be afraid to punt SBs or SVs mid-season, especially in a 7x7. If you know you're going to finish bottom-3 in one of those categories, there's no sense in putting any resources towards them b/c they don't contribute to other stats for which you can't find a cheaper substitute, like solid MRs. I've finished in the money punting one or the other on more than one occassion in a 6x6. 5x5 would be very tough to win with a punt though.

Don't get married to your draft, but don't give up on a proven vet for this year's Jeff DaVanon.

Always use subs when your regular starters have days off. Exceeding your max GP per position is tougher than you think.

[Triplec223]

Toward the end of the trade deadline, if you see that you're definitely running away with a category, don't be afraid to trade some of those stats. For example, if you have a commanding lead in SB and have Hanley Ramirez, Brian Roberts, Shane Victorino and Jacoby Ellsbury on your roster, try and trade away one of those guys for a player who can help you in other areas. Like the above poster said, you don't get any bonus points for having 500 more SB than the next closest guy.

[Montana168]

biggest difference between h2h and roto is in roto there is usually a MAXIMUM innings pitched limit. that means if you go over the max, all stats don't count after you reach that limit. that means you don't want to go over it..but you do want hit it at the end of the season. that means you have better control on matchups (you can pick and choose) throughout the season and you want to draft a lot more closers than usual. i always draft 5 relievers (3-4 closers and 1-2 middle guys with great k/9 and low ERA/WHIP) in roto and 5, maybe 6 starters. also an important thing to note about that is if your playing in yahoo, when you are close to innings pitched limit (about 5 IP away) wait until you have a day where you have 3-4 good starters pitching on one day and start them all. when you reach your limit on one day, yahoo counts all the innings pitched THAT DAY. so you could end the season with more than the Innings pitched limit if you play it right. that means usually you can get an extra 10-20 IP than everyone else. this helps in saves, wins, and K's tremendously.