I would like to hear arguements for and against this strateg

[ebrage]

Taking a pitcher in the first or second round, the reason I ask is in my league we start 5 sp's and if you have say 2 or even 3 top notch pitchers, but your other two are incosistent, they can put your era and whip out of whack. Whereas if you have more top notch hitters, if some of them have good weeks your other weeker hitter's do not "take away" their stats. The reason I ask is: last year I tried to have a balanced team and I always had 1 or 2 pitchers that stunk it up. I see alot of cases made for and against these strategy's and would like to hear more.

[KolbSaves]

Well, the hitters do "take away" stats, in that they take away the potential of the cumulative stats. For example, if you have Mondesi in at Of and he hits 4 bombs in a month when you could have had Gibbons and he hits 8, then you lose 4 home runs. It's an implicit cost of choosing Mondesi, which you didn't consider in your argument. Remember, every pick you make has an opportunity cost. You gain the skills of the player you take, but lose the skills of the players you could have taken. Pitchers and hitters both are affected by this.

[xeifrank]

You are talking about good and bad weeks. Is this Roto or H2H? What are your league settings, 5x5? positions? etc...

vr,

Xeifrank

[Zen Boy]

I generally focus on accumulating good hitting in the early rounds. I feel like stud pitchers always crawl out of the woodwork during the season but not so much for hitters. Plus, good pitchers seem to go bust out of the blue moreso than good hitters.

I usually lock up one stud pitcher early and then wait to the mid to late rounds to draft a ton of young speculative pitchers, playing the odds that at least a few of them will work out. And then if I come up short on pitching, I can usually find someone willing to trade pitching for hitting.

[Guest]

You are talking about good and bad weeks. Is this Roto or H2H? What are your league settings, 5x5? positions? etc...

vr,

Xeifrank

5X5 roto, we start 5 sp and 1 closer, or 4 sp and 2 closers

[Arlo]

I don't see any reason not to take a pitcher early. If Prior falls to you in the second, would you pass?

[Guest]

I don't see any reason not to take a pitcher early. If Prior falls to you in the second, would you pass?

I guess not, but then at that point I guess I would try more for a strong pitching staff and hope nobody's arm falls off.

[jrad32]

A stud pitcher, Prior, Pedro, Schilling, Unit (before last year) can take you a long way. I think it's OK to go after a stud, but then you want to make sure you don't get anyone who is going to explode your Whip or ERA. Draft a stud or two, but then draft safe starters who aren't going to post mammoth ERA's or Whips. No Russ Ortiz's or Freddy Garcia's.