My Draft Strategy that has won me two straight championships

[kaveman]

Thanks for posting. I've always wondered how to win 10 team shallow leagues.

[BALCO All-Stars]

First, congrats on winning your league back to back...every team is going to be stacked in a shallow league but that doesn't mean that your championship is diminished.

On the other hand...HOW THE H.E. DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS WERE YOU ABLE TO PICK UP KEMP, MCLOUTH, AND VICTORINO off of the WW? I guess I could see McLouth since it's only a 10 team league, but there's no way that Kemp and Victorino should've been available.

How about this year you play with different people or increase the depth in your league? Why not try a new challenge?

[Yoda]

every team is going to be stacked in a shallow league but that doesn't mean that your championship is diminished.

It's definitely more luck than skill to win in shallow leagues because the draft day's importance is so diminished. You can pick up stars off waivers and replace your entire roster. I guess you still need to be diligent about picking up players but whatever...

[Neato Torpedo]

You seemed to skip over the most important part of your strategy and instead focus on your draft. What seems to have won it for you is that you were active in your league, not necessarily your drafting techniques.

On another note.. shouldn't have Victorino and Kemp been on teams anyway, even in a shallow league? Victorino's 2007 line was .281/12/46/78/37, and Kemp went crazy in half a seasons ABs in '07 .342/10/42/47/10.

Eh, I played in a 12 teamer with guys decently knowledgeable about baseball and both Kemp and Bills were dropped by impatient owners in April. Kemp dropped to me at #7 waiver, and Bills actually cleared waivers. The key is most definitely being active, especially when you have a bunch of guys waiting 4-5 days in between checking their teams. If you're the #7 waiver and the 6 guys above you don't check their team more than once a week (lol fantasy footballers), then you get to capitalize on dumb mistakes both by the guy that dropped the player as well as the inactive owners. If you're in a smaller league there's a greater chance of that happening more than once, since you'll only have to deal with 7-9 guys being stupid.

Crap, what was that old line about 8-10 teamers that was used often back in the day?

[jcde7ago]

I hope you didn't get scared into never posting again, but after playing in a 10-team league with some close friends a few years back because we couldn't fill the last 2 spots, I have to say that it got extremely boring...there was no incentive for any of us to really keep track of our teams or pay attention to the wire, just cause we knew there was so much talent left that couldn't fit on teams that were already so loaded.

Part of the fun of fantasy sports is having to do your homework, crunch numbers, take risks, follow games closely, keep track of prospects, stay active (visit the cafe!), and a myriad of other things and none of this is really present in leagues that are shallow enough to "set and forget" like a Foreman. I would suggest moving up to at least a 12 teamer, even at that the challenge grows exponentially, especially if you play with people who are knowledgeable about the game as you claim...you might not win back-to-back championships with any sort of ease whatsoever again, but you'll also enjoy fantasy baseball a whole lot more

[Yoda]

Eh, I played in a 12 teamer with guys decently knowledgeable about baseball and both Kemp and Bills were dropped by impatient owners in April.

Sorry but Kemp/Bills getting dropped by two different owners speaks volume about the quality of the owners.

[Neato Torpedo]

Eh, I played in a 12 teamer with guys decently knowledgeable about baseball and both Kemp and Bills were dropped by impatient owners in April.

Sorry but Kemp/Bills getting dropped by two different owners speaks volume about the quality of the owners.

Yeah, I won't pretend that league was much of anything. The only reasons I participated were for the prize money and out of tradition.

[CubsFan7724]

12 teams, 20-21 roster spots is about the lowest I do. Part of the fun is finding those late round guys or WW guys that pan out for you when you need it most.


Like when your third baseman gets caught doing steroids, having sex with a New York madam, and then injures his hip.

[BronXBombers51]

I play a 10-teamer but with 2 extra UTL spots. There is still some decent talent on FA but it does put some added importance on the draft.

And I agree about the market inefficiencies. That is what it's all about. I wound up with 6 outfielders in my first 11 rounds this year because the value was just too good to pass up.

[Kingctb27]

Agree with the value comment, but the whole recognizing "value" part comes when you have excellent knowledge of the player pool. Not so much what player x is projected to do, but more so the skills that he has already, his age, floor, ceiling, durability, trade value, spot in the line up, etc.

One thing I always try to do as well is if I am stuck between player b and player c I try to gauge what next year's draft will look like and ultimately pick the player who will be taken higher in that draft... hence the player with more upside.