Meme Drafts

Fantasy baseball is about having fun. One of my leagues is a head-to-head format against my former college teammates. I use this league as an opportunity to be (a little) less competitive.

My first few seasons – about a decade ago – were frustrating. My attempt to build balanced rosters led to a consistent top two roto score and a sub-.500 H2H score. Apparently, being good-but-not-great in every category is an excellent way to consistently lose over half the categories per week. Then, completely by accident, I stumbled upon a strategy I’ve been successfully using for the last half decade.

One year, I happened to get lucky with some pitcher picks. I combined a few heavy investments with breakouts from Corey Kluber and others. By dominating the six pitcher categories (we add K/BB) and continuing to split the hitter categories, I was able to charge from middle of the pack to a consistent top-of-the-league position.

We held our auction last night, and this season’s roster is my most extreme, memeiest build to date. Behold.

The offense obviously isn’t ideal, especially early in the season. It cost $25 of my $260 budget – a 10/90 hitter/pitcher split. I kept just one player, the ever-versatile Chris Taylor.

The goal here is to have just enough to compete in every category during a lucky week. I think this club accomplishes that goal. They produce home runs, steals, runs, and even contribute to average and OPS. With the exception of Grandal and whoever I pick up to play third base, every single player has $10 potential.

By saving my tiny war chest until late in the draft – I started with a $12 max bid – I was able to become the king of dollar days, securing many of these values in the process. If there’s an issue, it’s that too many of these players are platoony.

Mmmm, the top four pitchers plus Carrasco. And also three other good pitchers. Cheap closers. An injured “ace” as a trade chip. This club will dominate five of six pitching stats while remaining competitive in saves. Even a reliever-heavy roster won’t challenge me for rate stats most weeks.

To be entirely honest, I botched this pretty badly. By cutting Kershaw, Scherzer, and Sale, I probably could have saved between $15 and $20. You never really know how your leaguemates will behave in the auction until it happens. In the past, I’ve been surprised by how unwilling they’ve been to expend huge amounts on aces. The trend continued this year – Stephen Strasburg cost $37 in a market where he was the only available stud (besides an unhealthy Madison Bumgarner). It wasn’t an issue of budget either, everybody (except me) took at least $150 into the auction.

Epic fails aside, I’m still pumped to be running the quin-ace for a second consecutive season. Last year, I finished second in the regular season before getting bounced from the playoffs by the seventh place team (the first place team also struggled in the playoffs).

And with most of my rotation set to be unkeepable next winter, it may be time to hunt for a new meme! I’m looking at you: Kingery, Rosario, Robles, and Conforto.