Having completed C, the corners, and SP, we move back to the dirt to rank MI, starting with second base today and continuing with shortstop next week. The keystone is strange this year, as I really like a bunch of names at the top, but it falls off rather quickly. That said, you still need to fill out both 2B and MI in your Ottoneu leagues, so you may find yourself diving into the depths, whether you like it or not.
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In order to follow the same preview path as the Ottobot Podcast, we’re gonna pivot off of offensive ranks and jump to SP. I find this to be the most challenging list to create – there are so many relevant players, so many ways to evaluate them, and so little confidence in projections, at least compared to hitters. So in addition to my list, I am going to share a few notes on how to adjust rankings from your favorite pitching analyst.
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We’re onto the third installment in this series, which started with catchers and then 1B. Today, we move across the diamond and look at 3B.
We started this series last week with catchers and you can go there to see the basic methodology and some notes on how I am handling these rankings. First base, as always, is a position where there is a ton of production available. In Ottoneu, it is also a position where a lot of players qualify. As a result, the table for 1B is pretty long – 89 players, though the majority aren’t interesting 1B options.
With auction season upon us, it’s time to start looking closer at positional rankings and auction targets. Throughout February, I’ll be sharing my positional rankings for Ottoneu, focused on points leagues. We’re starting today with catchers, but first a few notes on my methodology and what to expect.
In a previous post, we looked at Ottoneu head-to-head (H2H) leagues and how starting pitching values shift due to different rules. Because season-long points leagues use an innings-pitched cap, innings pitched are the scarce resource you expend (and need to maximize) during the season, putting a premium on SP who post high points per IP. But because H2H leagues use a games-started-per-week cap instead of IP, IP are no longer a scarce resource and the premium is on pitchers who score a high number of points per start, regardless of their points per IP. Today, we’ll see if we can identify pitchers to target or avoid based on that.
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The standard pitching metric of production in Ottoneu points leagues is points per inning pitched. With a 1500 IP cap, innings are currency and you need to maximize the return for every inning pitched. But in head-to-head leagues, innings are no longer the scarce resource managers have to manage. Instead, each team can throw an unlimited number of innings, but there’s a limit on games started per week. For Ottoneu head-to-head, or any other league with a games-started cap for pitchers, the pitching metric that matters for SP is not points per inning pitched, but points per game started. And that can swing values. The question is, how much does it matter?
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In ottoneu (or really any keeper/dynasty format) you generally want to keep players with surplus – guys whose production will be worth more than the cost to keep them – and cut players without. Of course, it isn’t always that simple. With less than a week before the Ottoneu keeper deadline, we’ll look at three players who I am cutting or trading, despite their projected surplus.
Last time, I suggested three players who I would sell or cut in Ottoneu, despite seemingly having surplus. Today, we’ll look at three players who I would buy or keep, despite projections telling me they are over-priced.
“Part I with a question mark?” you ask.
“Yes,” I answer. Today, I am going through every trade I made in one ottoneu league. I have no idea how this will play out, if it will lead to interesting conversation, or if you will all hate it. If you enjoy it, I will do the same for other leagues and there will be subsequent parts. If not, I won’t, and there won’t.
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