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My Draft
Is Over, Now What?
by Jonathan
Leshanski
April 14, 2006
Don’t
Panic!
Those are words to live by, especially in fantasy baseball, and
especially so early in the season. I am sure if you are like me
and much of the At Home Plate staff you are already watching the
live stat updates in your fantasy league and wondering if you should
pick up Eric Hinske, trying to figure out who the closer is in Los
Angeles and debating whether or not you should hold on to Alex Sanchez.
That’s just an ordinary day for most serious fantasy baseball
managers as we try to out-think, out-guess and out-maneuver every
other manager in our league. Between the statistics, projections
and differing expert opinions available through various websites
it sometimes seems almost imperative to make some early season moves.
Maybe you should make some moves, but most of the moves should be
minor at this point. Moves such as: shuttling guys onto the DL and
finding serviceable replacements, addressing major team flaws though
trades and keeping your eyes on the waiver wire waiting for someone
else to overreact so badly that they drop a Chipper Jones or someone
who’s started 0-16.
The one thing that you don’t want to do is place too much faith
in the numbers that your team has put up. You should trust in yourself
and don’t start worrying about that until 30-40 games into
the season. If you drafted good horses your team will shake out
ok. That’s not to say that you should avoid all trades and
pickups, but don’t make them out of desperation.
So, what should you be looking at?
My usual opening week checkup consists of several things:
1) Look at the offensive balance of my team. Do I have enough
steals? Do I have enough power? Do I have enough .300 hitters
to balance out the .240 guys in my lineup? If I do great, if not
then I add that to my checklist of areas to upgrade.
2) Look to see who on my team is expendable that another
team might want. Hey, I have got 3 top 10 shortstops or
5 closers, surely somebody will want to trade for those guys.
3) I also assess my pitching. Do I have enough
high quality starters? Do I have enough closers? If not, I add that
to my checklist of areas to upgrade.
4) Make a plan for backups. If one of your big
guys goes down do you have a backup plan? It’s good to know
that you can compensate for the loss of any key part of your team.
If you don’t have a backup for all positions don’t worry
because as long as you have talent to trade, you can always get
it.
Basically, I end up with a balance sheet that tells me where my
team is strong, where it is weak and what trade chips I can use
to address any problems.
Once you have that overview you can consider a little speculative
wheeling and dealing. Here are some actions to consider:
Watch for hot starts.
One of the biggest rules in fantasy baseball is buy low, sell high.
If you see someone with a great start and you have room for him
on your bench/roster pick him up and hold on to see what he does
as you can always use him as an extra chip in trading down the road.
If he doesn’t pan out then he hasn’t cost you anything.
Let people know that you are open to trade offers.
Hopefully they have a struggling superstar or two that
they are dying to part with after a disappointing opening to the
season. It might be a way to snare a top closer at a fraction of
their real value right now.
Try not to watch the scoreboards. At this
point the numbers are mostly meaningless on a player by player basis
or even a team basis at this point.
Read the daily updates on whatever news source you prefer.
This will keep you apprised of trades, injuries,
and other things that might affect your fantasy team.
You have a plan and you are on the right track so try to relax –
and enjoy the game.
Share your thoughts or comments in our forums.
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