Do you play in a deep dynasty league? Perhaps you’ve noticed something. Judging by your rival’s (and perhaps your own) behavior, it often feels like the point of the game isn’t to win the league. Instead, it’s a race to the bottom to see which owner can compile the youngest roster with the most “value.” While value can win leagues, first one must convert that value into production.

This race to the bottom mentality can make it easier to contend than rebuild. As most of your rivals fight for every scrap of youth, fringy prospects may return legitimately decent major league performers. This process of cycling iffy minor leaguers for established veterans can help to extend a competitive window for many years.

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I’m not above “borrowing” a good idea from a colleague. Yesterday, Paul Sporer wrote about five players he’d give a second chance in 2019. These were names with a little helium attached who failed to deliver value for various reasons. I especially agree with Jorge Polanco who improved throughout his PED-shortened season.

Shall we get to it? To quote Paul, “the hype is gone, their price has tanked, and now is the time to buy!”

Five More Buyback Candidates

Bradley Zimmer | Cleveland Indians | ADP 512

By ADP, Zimmer has fallen straight off the face of the earth. After a mixed debut in 2017 which included decent power, surprising speed, and not nearly enough contact, a shoulder injury limited Zimmer to just 114 plate appearances in 2018. When he did play, he performed poorly. Even with only a 63 wRC+, he was on pace for a 1.5 WAR season. He’s a quality defender which will help ensure he plays.

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When last we met practically a year ago (ahem, December 19), we discussed trade negotiations – specifically one of my standard processes. Although I think a forthright and (semi) honest conversation is the surest approach to building a mutually beneficial swap, not everybody likes the way I conduct my trade talks. Common complaints include that I’m asking the other owner to do all the work while giving up their leverage.

To the former point, um, no. To the latter point, also no.

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Yesterday, I spent a decent chunk of my afternoon arguing with another writer on Twitter about trade etiquette. A part of me wonders why I engage in these online debates. In some ways, it’s very natural. As a teenager, arguing in an online baseball forum is how I developed the writing skills I need for my trade. Arguing online is almost a compulsion reinforced over half my life.

In other ways, have you ever stopped to wonder how weird it is to use the incredibly advanced technology of the internet to seek out and engage in an argument with a stranger? So weird, right? I don’t go around eavesdropping on people in Target, waiting for a hot take with which I disagree. Although… that sounds like a fun YouTube series.

Anyway, I digress. Today we’re going to discuss my standard process for engaging in trade negotiations. I find this is the easiest way for everybody to get what they want in a minimal amount of time. Some of you may disagree. That’s fine. I don’t understand it, but that’s fine.

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Below is the transcript to today’s chat.

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This is the fifth installment of the Highly Custom League series. Previous entries covered 2×2 Roto, Split Auctions, Roto-to-Head, and Rotating Divisions. Today we’ll discuss a format I once tested three or four seasons ago.

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The Major League Rule 5 draft kicked off at noon today and finished a few minutes later. In typical rapid fire, 14 unprotected players were selected to go join new teams. Inevitably, some of them will be traded before the start of the season. Others will be returned to their original club.

The beauty of the Rule 5 draft is that the worst teams pick first. These are the clubs that are 1. most likely to keep their selection and 2. most likely to play their picks. You don’t find Odubel Herrera or Brad Keller by hiding them under the dankest corner of the bench. In fact, the 11 teams with the best record in 2018 made a total of zero selections. This likely reflects their intentions to continue competing at a high level – they don’t have the flexibility to nurse the types of players usually selected in the Rule 5 draft.

That said, a few of the 14 selected players could have a fantasy impact in 2019.

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We talked a lot about Andrew McCutchen and various Mets/Yankees/Marlins rumors. Then we talked about other topics. Here’s the transcript.

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A good dynasty league requires a constitution – a set of rules and clauses to govern the league above and beyond those stipulated by your fantasy vendor of choice. I recently designed such a league which I named Dynasty To Be Named Later or DTBNL for short. The constitution – a 1,800 word whopper – includes every custom rule plus just about anything from the FanTrax rule page I thought might be the slightest bit important to know.

Today’s post has two purposes. First, to enumerate certain details that must be included in a successful constitution. Second, to highlight some of the custom rules I’ve baked into this particular dynasty league.

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On Tuesday, I let slip a little secret I’ve been nursing for a few months – namely that replacement level middle infielders appear to be one WAR players. The incongruity of that statement – that replacement level equals one – has led to some public misadventures in player analysis. That’s a real world problem.

From a fantasy perspective, my conclusion was simple: don’t go out of your way to draft middle infielders. For somebody completely new to fantasy baseball, that seems like a big ol’ DUH! However, for most of my life, fantasy gospel stated that middle infield is scarce and therefore production up the middle is worth more than the same production at another position. Now it has flipped, although not enough to bother over-drafting other positions.

My advice for 2019: draft the best statistical fits for your roster. Don’t worry about position. And for Ruth’s sake, don’t worry about catchers. Now, let’s peek at replacement level for catcher, first base, and third base.

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