Yahoo Fantasy Tips & Tricks

[jross]

Might be cool for newbies and even vets to compile a list of all the little things a manager can do to gain the competetive advatage in Yahoo pools (I'm sure most things will apply in ESPN pools too). Haven't seen this done before, hopefully everyone can add a little bit of their acumen!

- IR Manipulation: Many of the leagues I'm in show shocking misuse of the IR. Kesler was dropped in a 16-team, 19-man roster at the start of the year because her manager didn't know about the IR. I strongly believe all teams should fill their IR, because it's a no-lose situation. If the IR player (IE someone of Cam Atkinson's level) starts lighting it up when they return, you're already weeks ahead of the waiver rush to grab him. If they don't do much you just drop them.

- Moving your goalies to the bench when you know they aren't starting: This is actually a double-edged sword - a week ago I left Cam Ward in and for god knows what reason he came in and played like two minutes in the second period making one save. It counted as a game played for Ward with .01 fantasy points. Awesome. Earlier in the year, though, I had the same situation but my goalie came in in relief and actually won the game, coming back from a 3-0 deficit. This would be the exception rather than the norm of course.

- Trades based on games played. Nothing too severe in the league right now, but a manager acquiring top end talent from Boston (having only played 13 games so far) will gain the advantage on a manager trading for top end talent from the Philly (who have already played 17). It's only four games, but it's something.

- Two-For-One trades. You should factor in the waiver wire player who is joining/leaving in any two-for-one trade. You should factor in what you will lose/gain from the wire. Many managers foolishly assume the wire doesn't have anything of value.

- Use the new 'Evaluate Trade' option wisely. Many rookie managers in my leagues put wayyyy too much stock in this tool. Be aware of what your trades look like in the Evaluator and set-up juicy looking mirages of goodies as you see fit.

Anyone have anything else to add? I believe if you go into the last day of games with any available roster slots still to be played, say 1 left on LW, you can actually dress and collect from 3 LW's that night. Can someone clarify this?

[Gern Blansten]

I found this helpful last year: add /team_games to the end of your league page URL and you'll found out how many games a particular team has on the given week. Though I find Mr. McGoo's schedule page much easier to look at.