Starters or Relievers?

[briangoodbeat]

Hi, I am new to Fantasy Baseball, and pretty new to Baseball itself, so please be gentle...

I am in a Yahoo! Fantasy Points League in which we play two SP, two RP, and can carry 4 other pitchers on the bench.

Question: How many starters and how many relievers should I draft? I'm thinking 5 starters and three relievers. Should I go 6 and 2? (one DL slot available)

Thanks! --Brian

[RDD15]

In general, I don't carry relievers on the bench in most leagues. I have one league with incredibly deep bench spots, so I might carry one or two in that league. Most leagues, I carry mostly SP on my bench.

[AKhomebrewer]

Depends on the size of the league and your scoring setup.

In general terms, you want to stock up on guys that give you the best peripherals (not only ERA and WHIP, but stuff like K/9 and K/BB). In deep leagues and/or holds leagues, even top middle-relievers can give you a nice boost. If you're in a straight 5x5 stat setup and plan to carry eight pitchers, a 6-2 or 5-3 split (heavier on starters) is a reasonable default. Be prepared to adjust based on how you stack up as the season progresses.

[benirv2]

I have the same question, starters or relievers.

In the league that I am in, lineups are set once at the start of each week. Positions are: 2 - C; 1 of each 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI; 5 - OF; 1 - U and 9 - P. Makeup of the team is 23 starters and 6 reserves.
Scoring for Batting Categories are: BA - Batting Average, HR - Home Runs, RBI - Runs Batted In, SB - Stolen Bases.
Scoring for Pitching Categories are: ERA - Earned Run Average, S - Saves, W - Wins, WHIP - Walks + Hits / Inning.
It's a Rotisserie League.

I drafted 10 pitchers, 5 starters and 5 relievers. I can only play 9 each week so 1 of the relievers is a reserve player. Is this a good strategy or should I change the mix of starters and relievers? Should I drop some of my reserve position players and add more pitchers?

Thank you in advance for your opinion

Steve C.

[Fenris-77]

In general I think you should err on the side of more starters than relievers. If a team is going to carry 8 pitchers in a 5x5 scoring league I'd probably go 6-2 (or even 7-1 depending on how my draft went), for teams that carry 10 pitchers I'd probably aim for 7-3. You need a few more relievers in leagues that count Hs, but not so much in 5x5. You have to let the talent come to you though, so if the WW tosses up a couple of peachy closer candidates, or a great K/9 and ratio MR type, then you grab them even if it throws your SP-RP ratios off a little.

benirv2-
For a roto league with 6 reserves I'm going to want to carry at least 4 bench pitchers, maybe 5. Sometimes you need to take a scatter shot approach to unearth those gems (especially when it comes to speculating on closers).