matmat wrote:
I have some questions/comments about what was written above.
1) preshabib -- are you against spot-starting hitters in roto leagues with game limits? (or just in H2H)
I am not against spot starting hitters in roto leagues with game limits. Everybody is set to reach the same amount of games so if someone wants to waste their games on free agents while their studs are sitting, so be it. I think the relative ineffectiveness of a strategy is enough to offset the fact that I don't particularly care for it. I.e. if someone wants to start omar vizquel on the days Miguel Tejada has off, terrfic, one less game played by Miguel Tejada for my opponent is fantastic news for me!
I suppose I should also say that, though I still don't think its a good strategy, spot starting in innings limit roto leagues isn't too bad either, for the same reason. My starters include Schillng, Beckett, Beurhle, Harden, and a few others. Those guys start all the time and they, along with my relievers and my other starters (who are always on my roster but only play when the matchup is good) shuold carry me up to my innings limit just fine. So, if someone else had my staff and they decided that none of their guys were starting and they wanted to pick up Crappy McCraperson to get a start, they would be sacrificing innings that would be thrown by the likes of Schilling and Beckett...if everybody has the same amount of innings to throw and everybody will get that limit (i.e. its not 4000) then I believe its up to the owner to decide how to spend them. I'll just make my charge in September when the other guys can't pitch anymore
I suppose I need to re-affix my objection to spot-starting/quantity over quality. In roto leagues with limits everybody has the same number of innings and game starts...if someone wants to use those early and be done by late august early september, power to them...i knew all season I had X-hundred innings to throw and if I choose not to, thats my own stupid fault. At the same time, somebody throwing all those innings early HURTS them (or should) because they prevent their staff aces from getting 30 starts and they fall behind others in the league who used all of their innings on good/great pitchers. In head to head leagues I do not like it because it's almost impossible to compete with a guy who has significantly more innings (20-30) than you do. Even with ratios, unless all my guys pitch well, one 4 run in 6 inning performance can annhialate me in ERA, likewise for WHIP. So I don't like it in H2H because it gives you an advantage, while in an innings limit roto league it does not.
matmat wrote: 4) I would think if you start a private league with your friends (and if they are reasonable people) then things like this would not happen...
I agree, this is what I do. I know everybody, I like everybody, or I at least know somebody in the league who knows the other people so that nothing shady goes down. I also think its more fun because half of the fun I'm having in my roto league is because I had all my friends do it who have never done fantasy baseball before so they're always askin me questions like should I trade this guy, should I pick up that guy. We talk about it all the time and a have a good time with it, the advantage to the private league
I like the minimum IP/week solution. My friend and I were talking about possible solutions to avoid this threads three strategies in question (and to ensure also that a guy getting good scheduling and having all his pitchers go twice didn't screw you either). The min/IP/week solution was something we came up with, but we also said to put a max/IP/week too. Haha, the only problem with your minimum of 50, federo, is that I didn't have fifty IP in my H2H league last week

Wood got hurt, Miller left early, and I had some bad matchups (Brown vs. Anaheim, check out his splits against Vlad/Glaus, etc

) so i only wound up with like 43 innings this week. Still, something like everybody throwing at least 45 innings but no more than 57 or 58 should be pretty effective

I too appreciate the tone of this thread and I'm enjoying discussing this stuff. I'm happy to agree to disagree throughout this debate despite how against the strategy I am. This is all great stuff

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Rest in peace Mitch Hedberg. I name my fantasy team "Buoyancy of Citrus", in your honor.
1968-2005