Trying something different for fun. Will it work? *UPDATED*

[raysfan4life]

Hey shmolex...it's funny, I just posted this same strategy idea, not realizing yours was already posted. However, gotta say I reviewed your team and mine, and I think I did better. Could be because you didn't have same opportunities (glad I picked 8th instead of 1st), or some other reason.

Main difference is my squad has 2 stud closers (Papelbon and Nathan), and 2 other top-tier closers (Broxton and Wood).

I'm also going to keep everyone updated re: how I do. I can tell you this - the people in my league aren't happy I drafted this way, then predicted I would win the league.

I will take issue with one of the replies from someone to you saying you should have gone after more balance, that you already had saves wrapped up - I completely disagree. If you are trying to leverage a category, and are willing to sacrifice other categories to accomplish your goal, you don't half-assed into it. You get as far ahead of the competition as you can. I'll make the opposite argument he made - if you would have sacrificed steals to get a few extra HR's, you would have diluted your strategy, while likely still not being competitive most weeks against the teams with lumber. No, you don't water-down your strength - you build on it.

There's what, 26 weeks in the season? Even if you've got 100 more steals than the next best team, that's less than 4 steals per week. That's not a slam dunk, and you damn sure don't give those up to add a few HR's. My team is 219 ahead of the next team in steals - I will not lose in that category this year - guaranteed.

Others may disagree with me, but that's what makes this fun!!!

[raysfan4life]

Let's stay in touch this season - what league are you in / league ID? Mine is ESPN, league is called SCOTCH CHUG.

I've got my eye on the following players as FA's who might provide some bags - let's see how they do in Spring Training:

A Casilla (MIN 2B)
E Burriss (SF MI)
E Velez (SF OF)
D Span (MIN OF)
J Owens (CWS OF)
B Gardner (NY OF - tearing it up in Spring so far)
R Davis (OAK OF)
N Morgan (PIT OF)
J Gathright (CHC OF)

[shmolex]

Thought I would give an update as to how this is going.

I'm currently 21-18 and in fourth place. Started bad at first, but with Lee and lincecum turning it around, I've been able to win the last 2 weeks. Just need Hamels to get it going. On a lighter note, I actually manage to win HR this week with my team somehow managing 6 dingers.



On another note, i tried doing this in another league but focusing even more on pitching. I didn't draft a hitter until the 7th round with victorino. This team is in 3rd place going 23-15.

Here's the result of that:

C John Baker
1B Conor Jackson
2B Kazuo Matsui
3B Chone Figgins
SS Marco Scutaro
OF Johnny Damon
OF Willy Taveras
OF Dexter Fowler
Util Michael Bourn
BN Shane Victorino

SP Dan Haren
SP Phil Hughes
RP Joakim Soria
RP Jonathan Broxton
P Matt Capps
P Ryan Franklin
P David Aardsma
BN Jake Peavy
BN Johan Santana
BN Erik Bedard
BN Cole Hamels
DL John Lackey

Looks like everything is going well so far

[shmolex]

updated again on the first post

[quiksilver]

I have been tooling around with this for a few seasons. This year I drafted yet another team using a "Six-Four" strategy I made up (sort of, I'm sure others did before me), and planned on doing constant write-ups to track its' progress. I got out of the habit of writing about it real early, but let me say I'm enjoying *great success*.

I entered the playoffs as the #2 seed (127-86-7). I only lost 4 regular season matchups outright, out of 22. Won my first playoff draw, and now I'm winning in the championship matchup. And, the team who is doing this all?.......

C - empty
1B - empty
2B - Adam Kennedy (Oak - 2B,3B,OF)
3B - Chone Figgins (LAA - 2B,3B)
SS - Jimmy Rollins (Phi - SS)
OF - Scott Podsednik (CWS - OF)
OF - Rajai Davis (Oak - OF)
OF - Michael Bourn (Hou - OF)
Util - Julio Borbon (Tex - OF)
BN - empty

SP - Tim Lincecum (SF - SP)
SP - Dan Haren (Ari - SP)
RP - Joe Nathan (Min - RP)
RP - Jonathan Broxton (LAD - RP)
P - Francisco Rodriguez (NYM - RP)
P - Rafael Soriano (Atl - RP)
P - Neftali Feliz (Tex - SP,RP)
BN - Felix Hernandez (Sea - SP)
BN - Matt Cain (SF - SP)
BN - Jered Weaver (LAA - SP)
BN - Carlos Zambrano (CHC - SP)
BN - Brett Anderson (Oak - SP)
BN - Clay Buchholz (Bos - SP)
BN - Bronson Arroyo (Cin - SP) *****Spot Starting***** Just replaced with Hiroki Kuroda (LAD - SP) in anticipation of start against pirates

It's an effective strategy if done right, and it's a ton of fun to manage--constantly checking the wire for the hot hands in pitching and base-stealing.

If anyone is interested, you can read this: Six-Four Strategy

[shmolex]

Well, after it's all said and done, I ended up losing in the finals in both leagues where I tried this. Cole Hamels really screwed me over along with blowups from my closers. Figgins not stealing a single base in 2 weeks also hurts.

It was fun though. Defenitely going to try this again next year.

[quiksilver]

Not bad, man. Two second place finishes...

I'm going to win my league based on the ERA tie-break, but I can't say it was an easy final. My opponent dropped sluggers like Manny in order to add the likes of Dexter Fowler and Juan Pierre. He also spot started 14 pitchers throughout the finals... Strangest week result of the season--I'm going to lose in Wins, Saves, and Strikeouts--but I'm going to grab Runs and AVG on offense.

Strategy is definitely vulnerable if somebody catches on.