Daily Fantasy Strategy — June 6 — For Draftstreet
Let’s talk a little about league settings today. I’m assuming a few of you still play in standard leagues. Different settings have begun to take hold, though. For the first time in my life, I’m not in one league that uses batting average or wins.
I’m in five leagues this year; one keeper and one dynasty. Three of the leagues have the following settings: R, HR, RBI, SB, OBP x QS, ERA, WHIP, K, SV+HLD. One other league has the same settings, except SLG replaces HR and SV replaces SV+HLD. And my final league, here on Fangraphs (shameless company plug), is points based; Fangraphs points, specifically.
I like portions of each league. I love OBP – sure would be nice if ESPN offered wOBA, though – and I like giving credit for saves and holds, because as we all know, sometimes the “closer” isn’t anywhere near the best reliever on the team.
So far, my favorite setup is the Ottoneu league. Admittedly, it took a little while to come around to it. Some plays that have positive value in other leagues (RBI, etc.) don’t do anything for you in Ottoneu. I’ve come around quickly, though. It’s isolation at it’s finest. Player hits a double? Gets credit for it. Teammates don’t drive him in, though? No harm done. The league’s settings don’t punish players for having weaker teammates. Nor do they help out mediocre hitters who happen to be in the right place at the right time – cough, 2013 Brandon Phillips, cough.
So, what are your favorite settings?
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Probables Chart
Eddie Butler is making his debut tonight. He’s done a good job keeping the ball on the ground throughout the minors. He’ll need to do it tonight, too. Brandon Cumpton isn’t highlighted above, but I like the Brewers’ lineup today.
Lance Lynn is facing the Blue Jays tonight. His struggles with left handed batters are well documented, so Adam Lind, Jose Reyes, and Juan Francisco could be nice plays today. Andre Rienzo is facing off with the Angels in Anaheim. Rienzo has struggled with nearly everyone during his career, so there are some options there.
The Athletics are paying Baltimore a visit. Josh Donaldson, Yoenis Cespedes, and Derek Norris is my favorite stack in that game, depending on how the lineup shakes out. Orioles’ batters could also be stacked against A’s starter Tommy Milone, though.
Finally, Rubby de la Rosa was awesome last time out. He’ll get a stiffer test in Detroit, though.
The Daily Five
Blue Jays stack
Jose Reyes – $7,622
Melky Cabrera – $6,703
Adam Lind – $6,342
Juan Francisco – $6,509 (fourth option)
Lynn has really good stuff; the type of stuff it can be risky to pick against. However, the Blue Jays’ lineup has been on fire lately and Lynn’s struggles versus left handed batters can’t be ignored. If the lineup breaks right, we’ll have Toronto’s 1, 2, and 4 hitters.
Kyle Blanks – $4,937
I mentioned the Athletics’ matchup above. Add Blanks to the list of Oakland players that I am intrigued by today. Blanks is on Oakland’s roster for one reason: to hit lefties. At under $5,000, I like him a lot, especially in Camden Yards.
Brandon McCarthy – $13,995
Admittedly, I’m a little nervous typing this. McCarthy’s peripherals are good. He hasn’t been very good keeping the ball in the yard, though. The Braves’ offense has the ability to hit homers, but they also haven’t been very good all season, especially against right handed pitching. Their 77 wRC+ mark versus righties ranks 29th in the majors – there are 30 teams. It feels risky, but maybe it’s not quite as risky as it feels.
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Landon is a senior writer at The Fantasy Fix. You can follow and interact with him on Twitter (@joneslandon).
I don’t think Holds should be valued equally with Saves.
The 9th is a much more stressful pressure situation. Sure a 7th or 8th inning lead is still important to maintain, but the 9th its the final enchiladas. Have you seen RPs who got Holds fine but couldnt handle Save situations?
I probably could have worded that a little better. Personally, I don’t much stock in either of them when I evaluate pitchers in real life. I don’t fully believe in “closer mentality.” Mainly because these guys have been under pressure their entire careers.
For fantasy purposes, I prefer leagues that allow the best talent to be rosterable. In a standard leagues John Axford (when he had the “closer” job) might send a league into a frenzy of waiver claims if he was dropped, while someone like Dellin Betances or Wade Davis is out there. I like having holds, because it gives those guys value instead of just only focusing on closers that might not actually be that good.
Since you asked…
I’m commissoner of a H2H, custom points, keeper league. I also designed the scoring system and roster format.
Pitcher scoring is based on successful innings pitched. No emphasis on wins, losses, and saves. We have a weekly start limit; therefore the combination of the roster settings and scoring requires you (if you want to compete successfully) to get a bullpen to fill the active lineup.
There’s a max limit for # pitchers but no designated slots of SP’s or RP’s.
This wasn’t done in a vacuum. The guys in the league wanted their rosters to look and feel like an actual ML team.
Players like Betances and Wade Davis are long gone. I’ve got Clippard, Melancon, Cody Allen, Ziegler, Soria, and DL’d Casilla on my team.
Pitching points are working as intended.
I’d really like to go to an Ottoneu type system for offense; however, the “expert” opinions easily available use all the counting stats. We don’t have enough statheads in the league to make it feasible. It’s still supposed to be fun. I had to weigh the time factor for research vs. using some outdated scoring, e.g. R, RBI.
Maybe some day it will be practical to make the switch.
(No hyperbole: This could be the most unique league in fantasy baseball based on the demographics/locations of team owners, the extra “activites”, and communication.)
It’s pretty damn unique. I agree on the “still fun” part. My home league (easily involves the most trash talk, personal interaction, etc.) is still H2H – which I hate. It’s that way, though, because the majority of the league wants it that way, for the purposes mentioned above.
Only one guy in the league cares about stats as much as I do, so I just let it be, although the categories are at least better than the standard. The majority of the guys in that league want nothing to do with 40 man rosters, so Ottoneu tides me over in that department.
Most of the league is on the nightly chatboard while watching the games and the trash talk is hilarious.
I would really like to eliminate H2H (I hate it, too), go to 40 man rosters, etc, but it’s not going to happen with this group.
The interaction is what drives the league.
Although the majority are based throughout the US we do have 3 “international” team owners. The age range is 25-65. I’m the only female.
We are in our 4th year and the way we “found each other” to start the league is also off-the-wall.
Most of us have now met in person. We have an annual league meeting at a ballpark….so it is unique.
I’ve never tried Ottoneu. Can you summarize how it works?
This link tells it better than I can (http://ottoneu.fangraphs.com/support), but, I’ll give you the TL:DR version.
Every league is an auction ($400); 40 man rosters; full access to minor leaguers; dynasty (keep however many players off of your team you want); pitchers have designated spots (RP or SP) and must be in your lineup how they are used in real life, in order to stop people from just loading up on relievers; 4 types of scoring: standard, 4×4 (OBP, SLG, HR, R x ERA, WHIP, HR/9, K), Fangraphs points, and SABR points.
First year I`m try a 6*6 setting of:
R,HR,RBI,NSB,OBP,SLG & QS, NSVH, K/9, BB/9, ERA, WHIP.
So far, I`ve liked it a lot. The pitching categories really require some research as they separate the talent far more than the traditional 5*5.
*trying
I like it, especially the ratio categories. The “net” categories are also a neat quirk; makes it a little more like real life.