My Pitching Strategy for my Yahoo! 5x5 Roto League

[fantasynick]

My strategy is based on closers

My Starters
Roy Halladay (start every time)
Kerry Wood (start every time)
Wade Miller (start every time)
Randy Wolf (favorable matchup)
Joel Piniero (favorable matchup)

My Relievers
John Smoltz
Mariano Rivera (I'm subbing in Acevedo until he's off the DL)
Jorge Julio
Danys Baez

I can start 2 SPs, 2 RPs, and 3 Ps. My strategy is to start as many closers as possible(4-5) and take the saves category. I'm also hoping to pick up a few cheap wins. My innings limit is 1250. Do you think I'll hit it with my relievers strategy.

I don't see any drawback to this strategy. Starters are worthless when they're not starting. Why not plug in as many relievers as possible while also racking up some decent innings with your stud starters?

[Arlo]

Nope, no drawbacks to that strategy. And reaching 1250 innings shouldn't be a problem, either.

[Siege1386]

You should do fine with that strategy.

[Pogotheostrich]

I'm kinda doing the same thing. Pedro, Morris, Wood and Millwood starting. Foulke, Williamson, Acevedo, Dejean for the saves. I did it last year with five SP but hit the innings limit about 3 weeks early. So I got Contreras since he will probally work his way into starting sometime this year.

[Egregious]

It looks like a good staff and a good strategy. You might want to watch your innings carefully, though - I played in a league with a 1500 inning limit (that's max - not min), and I ended up using up my innings more than 3 weeks before the season ended. I still ended up in the top third in all the pitching categories except Ks, though.

[Payne Dailey]

Thats the strategy I've been using for a few years now, except for that one last year when I tried to punt saves , I usually draft lower closers late in the draft . It works like a charm so far, never been less than 10th out of 12 teams yet.

[sinicalypse]

that's pretty much the best strategy there is. i always get the mental image of snagging saves.. like they're out there, they're bound to happen, and its just a matter of getting them.

typically, i make a read on the league to determine how many closers i start with. usually 2 or 3. then throughout the course of the year, there's always something like 5 closers who come out of nowhere (see juan acevedo in '02), so the key is to keep your ear to the ground, catch some baseball tonight, then figure out who's going to materialize... typically, the best strategy is to be able to have all of your starters going for that given day, then use the rest of the slots to catch as many saves as possible.

btw, inning limits are a godsend. last year on yahoo my friend's gf, coincidentally the league comissioner's GF, had a total juggernaught of an offense, but absolutely no pitching. so midway through, or early on, when he realized he was going to lose and i was going to catch his GF with my balanced team, he cut off the innings limit... oh the horror of watching this. she'd pick 6 joe schmoe starters each and every day, start themn.. invariably, she took the lead in wins and Ks by quite some margin, held on to her offensive juggernaught status, and then squeezed me out into second place within the last two weeks of the season. naturally, i threw a fit because it was cheap, the people told me to shut up, i told them to procreate themselves, and now they'll never play fantasy with me again.

hasta

[Payne Dailey]

sinicalypse thats one of the better horror stories I've heard, procreate themselves ..... classic

[Talos]

It works like a charm so far, never been less than 10th out of 12 teams yet.

Do I have things ass backwards, or does that sound like a less the ringing endorsement

[Payne Dailey]

Do I have things ass backwards, or does that sound like a less the ringing endorsement

I've been known to trade from my strengths to improve a weakness now and again