Strategy - Never draft a top tier SP

[PacmanJr]

I always try to have a strong hitting and RP team. The SPs points can be manipulated b/c of no cap on innings or starts. So, I usually draft late and then watch the WW like a hawk. Worked last year in EVERY(all two of them) league. I went two for two my first year trying that strategy out.

[Robert DeNiro]

I try and do that as well, find some relievers that qualify as starters, play 3 closers every day, and wind up with just as many innings as my opponent. I don't see any sense in having the SP roster spots just sit there when your pitchers are not starting.

[kcs261]

As for having one strategy going into the drafts - I think is a bit presumptious. Drafts are ever-evolving. To say you would continue to pass on SP regardless of how far they fall is silly - "I dont care that Schilling dropped to the 4th rd - Ive gotta get that C." - cmon now.

The best strategy is best available IMO - there are good sleepers at every position this yr.

Regardless - Ive read that this strategy may work in roto better than H2H - and I cant disagree more. It is much more important to land top notch SPs in roto than H2H. Because of inning limits, you cant substitute in SPs daily like you can in H2H. You need to make each inning count - thus the importance of good SPs in roto.

You make the assumption that you can substitute SPs daily in all h2h leagues. I don't know what h2h system you are talking about, but in the old Sandbox system, and my league, you set your roster twice a week ONLY. In other words, h2h games are mon-thurs and friday-sun. And you set your lineup monday morning and friday morning and cannot change it.

In addition, in every mon-thur and fri-sunday series, you are starting 4/5 SPs and 1/2 RPs (to fill your six slots). So, in essence, you need to fill 8-10 SP starts per week. And if you only carry 5 or 6 decent pitchers, you will be throwing a lot of junk on the mound each week and/or will be unable to fill all your slots each week. On the other hand, if you have 9 or 10 good SPs, you can always find goot matchups to fill those SP starts -- which is why SPs are so valuable.

I could labor on about this kind of h2h league, but the point is really for the new fantasy owners out there. Contrary to the thread title, you can't accept one rule (like mentioned in the thread title) and apply it to every league format uniformally. If you do, you could get screwed very badly.

It's also the perfect reason why the fantasy mags in the store can cause you more harm than good, if you rely on their rankings without accounting for the point structure in your league.

Every league format calls for a different strategy -- and you need to know your league's rules inside and out prior to draft day.

[thetongueofire]

this is my second year. i like drafting awesome starters or either A-Rod, Soriano, or Beltran as my 1st round pick.... the kinda guys i usually try to avoid in the first few round (unless im getting a steal which rarely happens considering my bad luck ) are slow OF and 1B due to the amount of talent available at those positions. obviously there are no relievers worth drafting in the first round (not even Gagne- i have no freakin idea why Yahoo has Gagne ranked #4). this usually makes it possible for me to draft a more balanced team