HELP!!! Will Rep

[saucelife90]

I'm reluctantly joining a baseball league that a bunch of buddies are starting, and have minimal clue about players/stats/strategies when it comes to baseball/fantasy baseball.

It's a 10 team league - 24 man rosters - KEEP 14

Starting the following positions.
C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3xOF, 2xUtility
SPx2, RPx2, Px5

Scoring Group	Scoring Category	Points
Hitting	Hits (H)	0.25
Hitting	Home Runs (HR)	2
Hitting	Runs Batted In (RBI)	1
Hitting	Runs Scored (R)	1
Hitting	Stolen Bases (SB)	1
Hitting	Walks (BB)	0.25
Pitching	Earned Runs Allowed (ER)	-0.5
Pitching	Innings Pitched (IP)	0.5
Pitching	Losses (L)	-1
Pitching	Saves (SV)	2
Pitching	Strikeouts Pitched (K)	1
Pitching	Wins (W)	2

I know we're a couple months out from the start of the season, but I figure if I start some prep/research now I MIGHT have a fighting chance

Are there any basic strategies when picking positions?
Any good sources for exporting stats to excel?
Any good sources for keeper rankings?

Will rep for any helpful advice!

Thanks in advance.

[PenguinHunter]

CBS has a system I really like for fantasy baseball dynasty rankings. (https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/ba...-100-rankings/)

It breaks it down into 3 categories - Immediate Value, Long-Term Value, Confidence Rating. I think this is a great start for picking your keepers and doing some research.

At first glance of the scoring for pitchers, I would say Pitchers are going to be even more valuable in your league that in other baseball leagues. There are significant negative points for a loss and for runs against. There are no negative stats for a batter. So I would suggest going after pitchers early, cause there is no concern if you get an Upton late because his 300 strikeouts will not hurt you. But a pitcher who goes 10-10 is only going to net you 10 points for win/loss (not taking other stats into account) .


Another great asset to learn about the minor leaguers before they make it is MLB Top Prospect Watch - http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=3b

[bpdono12]

I similarly got into fantasy baseball with my buddies without much background in it a few years ago. The thing that helped me the most was finding tiers lists and compiling my own. CBS usually comes out with good ones for each position, though they're not out yet for 2019. They're usually a good place to start I entered their tiers into an excel spreadsheet, then listened to a bunch of podcasts and bumped players up or down based on what I heard.

That was a fair amount of work, and to avoid all that, the best fantasy baseball resource I've found to date is Mr. Cheatsheet:
http://mrcheatsheet.com/
It's one guy who used stats and a combination of multiple site's projections to create a comprehensive projection spreadsheet that is the most helpful I've used. He also does a few articles on stats-supported sleepers and his own positional tier list. He doesn't start publishing stuff on his website til around March though, so this is another one you'll have to keep in your back pocket to cram with as you get closer to your draft.

[hockeyrobot]

Nice! Welcome to the best fantasy sport there is!

A league like that I want a lot of hitters early. Maybe a 4-2 split in the first 6 rounds IF a stud happens to fall to you. Otherwise I would go 5-1 hitter/pitcher.

[saucelife90]

Thanks gentlemen, that gets me off to a good start!

From your feedback it seemed like something was off about hitter's scoring (not having negative points for strikeouts) and I contacted the commish who said he forgot to add that cat!

I'm being told that strikeouts for batters will be -0.25 pt.

With that info, does that change your thoughts on going as heavy on hitters? (I have no clue what most league setups look like)
PH mentioned in a setup without (-) for strikeouts, to gun for guys late who may have 300 Strikeouts, which makes sense. However, with this new info... -75 points seems like it could drastically change the value of a player, but again, I have no clue!

[Joker]

With homeruns only being 2 points, I’d look for higher batting avg and base stealers, guys you’d find at the top of the order.

[saucelife90]

Hey guys, I'm about a week out from my draft and I've created a spreadsheet using a couple of the sites that were suggested in this thread (Mr. Cheetsheet hasn't released his rankings, but his twitter feed said it should be out tomorrow morning). From reading some of the 2019 Baseball thread on here, it seems like there are a few more sources that people are using and I was wondering how many different sources you guys are using when creating your own lists? I don't want TOO much info, but I feel like the more I have the better off I'll be considering I have ZERO knowledge going into this...

What positions should I target early on? The only thing I've gathered so far is, Catchers are like Kickers.. wait till the later rounds to find one. So I'm still struggling with valuing positions.

This might be a stupid question, but from my understanding, NL pitchers also have to bat, so does that make them more/less valuable (A Center with wing eligibility getting FOW from the wing position) than AL pitchers? Or do their batting stats not count in fantasy since they're pitchers!?

[Eskimo Brother]

Pitcher batting stats don't count, and they're usually awful anyways.

I missed this thread initially, otherwise I would have had a little input.

Generally I like to get the infield set first, as there are always OF and pitchers around. 3B has some solid depth this year, but after Baez/Story, the SS depth falls off, so I want one of those in the first two rounds. If you miss, Seager is probably your best bet around round 4.
I like Ramirez and his 2B eligibility as the second best guy in the first round after Trout. Others disagree, but tough to go wrong in the first round, don't overthink it. 1B is generally easier to find as well, so don't sweat that. I like HR's thought of starting out 4/2 of 5/1 for hitters/SP. Relief pitchers don't bother with until the runs start (IE don't reach for a top one) because they're so variable anyways.
Also curious if it's a H2H points league, or total points on the season?

Definitely wait on catcher. The difference between the 4-6 catchers may be zero in comparison to catchers 10-12. Espcially in a 10-team league, I may not even draft one, and just pick one up when someone goes on the DL (inevitably you will draft someone DL eligible).

When evaluating pitchers, focus less on ERA, and more on strikeout totals and if they are on a good team or not. They're generally more predictable that way.

As for resources, I don't really do much research outside of hockey.

[saucelife90]

Pitcher batting stats don't count, and they're usually awful anyways.

I missed this thread initially, otherwise I would have had a little input.

Generally I like to get the infield set first, as there are always OF and pitchers around. 3B has some solid depth this year, but after Baez/Story, the SS depth falls off, so I want one of those in the first two rounds. If you miss, Seager is probably your best bet around round 4.
I like Ramirez and his 2B eligibility as the second best guy in the first round after Trout. Others disagree, but tough to go wrong in the first round, don't overthink it. 1B is generally easier to find as well, so don't sweat that. I like HR's thought of starting out 4/2 of 5/1 for hitters/SP. Relief pitchers don't bother with until the runs start (IE don't reach for a top one) because they're so variable anyways.
Also curious if it's a H2H points league, or total points on the season?

Definitely wait on catcher. The difference between the 4-6 catchers may be zero in comparison to catchers 10-12. Espcially in a 10-team league, I may not even draft one, and just pick one up when someone goes on the DL (inevitably you will draft someone DL eligible).

When evaluating pitchers, focus less on ERA, and more on strikeout totals and if they are on a good team or not. They're generally more predictable that way.

As for resources, I don't really do much research outside of hockey.

It's a H2H weekly points league.

I'm not sure how close my settings are to the league that you guys are slow drafting right now is, but I've been using that as a sort of mock draft. The big difference obviously being mine will be a keeper league, vs your 1 year league.

FWIW, I broke down the first 6 rounds of the slow draft and these were the # of selections by position.

1B: 6
2B: 6
SS: 7
3B: 10
OF: 18
C: 1
SP: 23
RP: 0

Based off that, I determined C/RP are positions I should probably stream, and OF/SP are most important due to the amount of spots to fill.. Everything else in between I think I'll lean toward best available at the time of my draft, and hope for the best lol.

[Eskimo Brother]

OF I wouldn't call important, just because there's so much depth to the position. It's like if you had a fantasy hockey league with 4C, 2LW, 2RW. Still easy to fill the C slots, so don't reach.

RP isn't exactly a stream position, but draft it later.

SP is where you stream.

[2014olympicgold]

With homeruns only being 2 points, I’d look for higher batting avg and base stealers, guys you’d find at the top of the order.

A Homer run is actually:
HR - 2pts
RBI - 1pt
Run - 1pt
Hit - 0.25pts

add that up for 4.25pts.

There's a emphasis on power in this league for hitters.
JD Martinez - 397.25pts last yr
Ramirez - 392.50pts last yr
Trout - 349.25pts last yr
Cruz - 289pts (avg 317.75 the last 2yrs) He's being drafted based on history that's why I add 2017 as well.

There's an emphasis on K's and IP for pitchers
Scherzer - 408.1pts
Sale - 321.5pts
Kluber - 328pts
Verlander - 390pts
Edwin Diaz - 262.55pts
Corbin - 326pts

Edwin Diaz is ranked 65 (262.55)
Nelson Cruz is ranked 66 (289)
Patrick Corbin is ranked 67 (326)


This league is heavily basing their players on workhorse pitchers, and power hitters.

[saucelife90]

Well, this is what I ended up with. In a 10 team league & the minimal research I did, I think it's not bad... but I honestly have no clue!

C Salvador Perez
1B Jesus Aguilar
2B ScooterGennett
3B Anthony Rendon
SS Trea Turner
OF Marcel Ozuna
OF Lorenzo Cain
OF Mookie Betts
UT Eugenio Suarez
UF Carlos Correa
B Eric Hosmer
B Victor Robles
B Mallex Smith
B Hunter Renfroe

SP Chris Sale
SP Blake Snell
RP Craig Kimbrel
RP Blake Treinen
P Robbie Ray
P Luis Severino
P Stephen Strasburg
P Kenley Jansen
B Carlos Martinez
B Alex Reyes

[2014olympicgold]

Notes:
- Your catcher is out the yr with TJS
- Severino is out till May with shoulder issues
- How did you get Betts, Turner, Sale, Correa, and Snell? That's a sick top 5
- Cain, Ozuna, Rendon, Suarez, Aguilar, and Renfroe is a sick secondary group of people
- You don't really need a lot of batters on your bench, but you can figure out who you need and pick up more pitchers throughout the year.

[saucelife90]

Notes:
- Your catcher is out the yr with TJS
- Severino is out till May with shoulder issues
- How did you get Betts, Turner, Sale, Correa, and Snell? That's a sick top 5
- Cain, Ozuna, Rendon, Suarez, Aguilar, and Renfroe is a sick secondary group of people
- You don't really need a lot of batters on your bench, but you can figure out who you need and pick up more pitchers throughout the year.

That's for the feedback 2014OG.

I waited too long on catchers and once the trend started I was too late so I waited till the end of the draft. I tossed Perez on IR and grabbed Chirinos Robinson.
Chances are I'll move Turner or Correa for help at another position if I can get a nice enough return. If not, I'm fine with using one at SS and the other as a utility.

[2014olympicgold]

Seriously though, how did you get those 11 players?
Betts - 2nd overall
Turner - 8th overall
Sale - 12th overall
Snell - 31st overall
Correa - 37th overall
Rendon - 44th overall
Severino - 52nd overall
Cain - 53rd overall
Suarez - 58th overall
Ozuna - 63rd overall
Strasburg - 65th overall

That's a really strong (probably easy) first 11 rounds.