Is this guys strategy fair!??!

[Sledge]

I play Fantasy Baseball on CBS Sportsline, in a 10 team H2H league.

I'm sure some of you play there as well and know you can start 7 pitchers per week.

Well this guy in TWO of my leagues (same guy) didn't draft any pitchers. He just stacked his offense.

What he does is about 2-3 days before you have to have your final roster for the week he finds out which pitchers are having 2 starts that week and picks them up. Which gives him usually 14 starts to everyone elses 7-10 or less if they start closers.

This guy is KILLING everyone by 200+ points whenever he plays. Is this crap fair? It's pissing me off!

[Bukoski77]

I play in sportsline leagues as well. I'm currently in private commissioner leagues and no public leagues. A few years ago, I played sportsline's public leagues. Thay had draft requirement to fullfill all roster positions. How did that owner get away without drafting any pitchers?

Aside from that, sad but true, it is a fair strategy. Its annoying, but within the constraints of the rules so its also legal. There is light at the end of the tunnel though. Unless he holds on to the good arms he manages to stumble on, bye the 2nd half of the season he will have next to no decent starting pitching options to roster churn the FA list with.

I've seen several owners try that tactic over the past years and end up with decent teams in the top 5. I have never seen an owner win a league with that tactic though as after pitchers that are on their way to a good year seperate themselves from the mediocre pitchers, other owners end up grabbing them. That usually bye around the all-star break leaves the owners like the one you brought up screwed big time.

Unless your league has several inactive owners, he wont keep seperateing fom the pack too much longer.

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

just beat him to it... go through and pick up the two starts then drop them (one at a time) that way they'll all be on waivers and he won't be able to get them in time. fight dirty.

[PacBellParker]

In my HTH league, we had the same problem. It was so common that we actually had a name for the strategy -- the "human wave" theory. We corrected it this year by imposing a 15 point penalty for each start after the tenth for the week (7 starters on the roster). 15 points was determined to be slightly better than what an average pitcher would score in any given start. This way, you could start up to 3 pitchers who had two starts that week with no penalty. If you happened to have 4 or more studs with two-start weeks, you could start them anyway because you figure that they'll score enough to outweigh the penalty. But you won't want to start 7 two-start scrubs because you will get hammered by the penalty.

Just one league's solution.

[Pogotheostrich]

There is nothing in the rules stopping him so it is fair. But as other people have said there are ways to stop it.

[Leiter Fan]

just beat him to it... go through and pick up the two starts then drop them (one at a time) that way they'll all be on waivers and he won't be able to get them in time. fight dirty.

Hey!!! That IS illegal. Its called roster churning and he can be barred from the league for doing it!!!

That's not fighting dirty - that's cheating, pure and simple!!

[Lofunzo]

Keep this civil, guys. Everyone should agree that any measures put in to combat this practice should be voted on before the season starts.

[DaQ]

There are ways to beat it:

1.) What happens when all these "OK-at best" pitchers get cold? They'll lose points.

2.) Take a starter you feel will blossom in the second half and happen to take him right before this guy. Some owners get mad over this and hurry to take a pitcher that ends up performing poorly.

[KolbSaves]

just beat him to it... go through and pick up the two starts then drop them (one at a time) that way they'll all be on waivers and he won't be able to get them in time. fight dirty.

Hey!!! That IS illegal. Its called roster churning and he can be barred from the league for doing it!!!

That's not fighting dirty - that's cheating, pure and simple!!

agreed

[Arlo]

Everyone should agree that any measures put in to combat this practice should be voted on before the season starts.

True words indeed!