Biggest New Owner Mistakes?

[Slow Pitch]

Like I said

I won my 6X5 12 team league last year by punting on saves.

I think I had 2 Saves all year from long relief appearences.

[ramble2]

Ive read on this thread a lot of guys warning you away from veteran players, and I just want to counter that by saying be careful of jumping on the bandwagon of no name guys or youngsters that start off hot. I wonder how many teams traded for Dontrelle Willis after his initial start - or Runelvys Hernandez for that matter.

The point is you have to do your homework on specific players - not just look at their stats from last yr, but actually ask why something happened. A players situation directly influences his production - for example hitting 2nd instead of 8th is huge, or being injured, or pitchers adjusting to a new environment, etc...

Do your homework.

That's good advice too. As a complement to the mistake new guys make of acquiring old guys with name recognition is the mistake made by veteran fantasy players (okay, by me at least) of going overboard on rookie and 2nd year MLBers. It's very easy to jump the gun on these guys (fast start or not) and get caught up in all the hype surrounding them. Especially in a non-keeper league.

Check out the stats that qualify as top three ROY candidate. Then check out the stats of your average veteran OF or SP. Not that different, and the veteran has the added bonus of several years of MLB stats that greatly aid in projecting performance.

That said, I'm still a sucker for drafting young players. It's just a lot of fun to watch them develop on your team. And that's what fantasy baseball is ultimately about (for me): enhancing the enjoyment of baseball and having fun.