VERY Cheap Roto Tactic - - Will it work?

[Donnie740]

Here's an idea I've had concerning my 12 team 5x5 roto keeper league...

Right now my ERA is 0.86 and WHIP is 0.52. There's no minimum IP so if I trade/drop/bench every pitcher I have, I'm guranteed to win both categories for a total of 24 points. Obviously finishing last in W, SV and K gives me 3 more points.

So 27 overall points for my pitching.

Then by trading off my best pitchers & closers I'll build my offence into a power house and go for something close to 60 points. I think 80+ points should win my league.

Any thoughts?

[Dan Lambskin]

seems like it's hard enough to win punting 1 cat, let alone 3. plus if people catch on to what you are doing they may not trade with you anyway, not to mention people will be unlikely to give up stud hitting for pitching

i give it a 1% chance of working

[MTUCache]

Not a chance you'll pull 60 points on offense in a 12-team 5x5. The offense you would have to have for that would be ridiculous. Even 55 would probably be out of reach.

If you lost even two spots in one category you're going to fall short of 85 points. Plus, even if you did, there's no guarantee that 80 points would get you the title. I think 85+ would be a more reasonable goal.

Punting one category is bad enough. Punting three is just plain dumb.

Last point. It's a keeper league. Do you really want to piss off the rest of your league like this and basically give up on all of your decent pitching just so you can have a 5% chance of a hollow victory this year? Are you really that un-confident in your ability to win this straight-up that you would be willing to throw a Hail Mary in the first week?

[The Mighty Trow]

doesn't the amount of innings pitched have some kind of effect on the scoring?

[Merrick65]

I would punch you in the face if you did this in my league.

<---- you

[great gretzky]

Sacrificing 30 percent of your scoring potential seems like a stretch to me. And remember, some other teams are going to have staffs that they feel are strong AND have some stud hitting. So then you will find yourself dealing with teams that are more pedestrian, but those teams will be loathe to ship you all their best bats. So you will be probably having to sell your arms at a major discount. And that is if people don't catch on, which they definitely will. The overall market of the league probably wouldn't support it -- you couldn't get enough "ACE" bats to offset the 30 percent lead you just gave everyone.

And sometimes the thing with punting is, some teams that felt they were weak in a certain category gain a bit of a comfort level in that they can nab a 2 or a 3 since once team is definitely getting the one. So it can help if they are willing to take a low score, they can turn around and trade their arms or closers or whatever, take the guaranteed three, and then cut off your plan too.

[MashinSpuds]

All it will take to beat you is for a more well rounded team to finish in the top 3 in most categories. Those 1's will really sink you, and has been mentioned before, you are not guaranteed a first place finish in each offensive category. For example:

You: 12*7 + 1*3 = 87
Them: 12*1 + 11*3 + 10*5 + 9*1 = 104

So alienation, high risk, and math are your enemies here.

[J35J]

I hate when people try to manipulate their rosters like this...it's aggrivating as hell and just lame. Seems people are more concerned with finding loop holes in the rules and just trying to find ways to manipulate different things than just putting together their best, complete, legal roster and beating everyone else with it. I'll be looking harder at playing in CBS leagues going forward as they don't allow illegal rosters.

[swyck]

I would punch you in the face if you did this in my league.

<---- you

No reason for that.

Nothing illegal or unethical about this, it's just another strategy, and I like seeing people try new strats rather than do the same old thing every time. I'd rather have people in my who try things than someone who's against all experimentation.

Still I doubt this would work. For strats like this I always see the reasoning "I'll win the hitting cats" but IMO that's unlikely.

[Merrick65]

I would punch you in the face if you did this in my league.

<---- you

No reason for that.

Nothing illegal or unethical about this, it's just another strategy, and I like seeing people try new strats rather than do the same old thing every time. I'd rather have people in my who try things than someone who's against all experimentation.

Still I doubt this would work. For strats like this I always see the reasoning "I'll win the hitting cats" but IMO that's unlikely.

You're kidding right? Illegal? No.. But I'm pretty sure his 11 other league mates would despise him for essentially cowarding out and trying to cheat the system... A move that doesn't sound very ethical to me.

New strategies ARE cool if you still go about it in an honorable way. I have a friend that spends all his money on pitching, runs and SB... Another guy spends $200 on 5 hitters... All somewhat unique, but not cheap.

Do what you want with your team. It has no affect on me. I'm merely warning you that your league mates are going to dog you for it and even if it does work those 11 other guys would put an asterisk on your league title. Just sayin.