Tricks of the Trade – Tips for the Stretch Run

In lieu of a focused piece this afternoon, let’s compile some tips and tricks for the remainder of the season. I’ll categorize everything by platform or scoring type where applicable. We can discuss more ideas in the comments, and I’ll continue to build this post until we have something approaching a complete guide to the “second half.” I’m going to make a few assumptions to keep the bloating minimal. For example, I assume if you’re interested in ottoneu advice then you know the rules and quirks of that particular platform.

General Roto

Pacing: You’re running out of time to effectively manage your pacing. Most leagues have a limit for games played or innings pitched. Usually, the constraint is pretty loose for position players and tight for pitchers. If you’re behind pace for position players, you’ll want to pick up guys with doubleheaders and do your best to start a full slate on Mondays and Thursdays. Managing the pitchers is easier (more below). If you’re ahead of pace, you might want to sit the occasional bad matchup.

Reliever Time #1: Some of you have an innings cap and you’re ahead of pace. It’s time to flip a starter for a good reliever before your rivals realize you’re going to have to cut somebody. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you can use relievers to defend your lead or make up ground in ERA, WHIP, and K/9. Reliever-centric strategies can expose you to low win totals, but you don’t have much choice if you’re ahead of pace.

Ghost Points: As part of pacing, your team could have ghost points (I think I just coined that term). If you’re ahead or behind pace on innings, then your current place in the standings might not reflect reality. Ghost points can be exploited. Say you’ve thrown way too many innings – some owners will give up or pass on opportunities to improve when presented with an apparently insurmountable deficit. They don’t know that you have 10 ghost points because you’re 100 innings ahead of pace. Conversely, competitive teams might take you less seriously if you’re way behind pace and offer you more beneficial trades.

General H2H

Playoffs? Playoffs!?: The playoffs create an interesting dynamic for most H2H leagues. You don’t need to have the best team to “win.” You just need to be good enough to reach the postseason and then get lucky for two to four weeks. Now is the time to start shaping your roster for the inevitable playoff showdown. If you’re in a keeper league, start flipping those marginal keeper starters for better pitching. Shore up your starting position players so you need to spend less time streaming them. Be prepared to act decisively to injuries. Acquire depth when possible. Basically, do more of the things you should have been doing all along.

Yahoo

The Soft Innings Cap: Sometime in September, you’re probably going to come up on your innings cap. If you time things right, you can get a bunch of extra innings. There are two types of innings caps – hard and soft. Yahoo uses the soft variety.

A hard cap cuts off all point scoring at the time of the last inning pitched. It could be the third inning of an eight inning outing. A soft cap counts all stats from the day when the threshold is crossed. If you’re just a few innings short and start six pitchers, you could easily exceed your cap by 35 innings and pick up some extra strikeouts and wins in the process. You’ll usually hurt your ERA and WHIP.

ESPN

Reliever Time #2: Anyone who follows my writing knows that I love using relievers to improve my rate stats. ESPN allows me to pursue my passion for relievers with vigor. While most platforms count innings pitched, ESPN has a games started cap as their default. An attentive owner can layer in a heavy volume of reliever innings without ever worrying about hitting their cap. This is an all-season activity, but if you find yourself ahead of pace on your games started and haven’t been streaming in a ton of relievers, now is a good time to do so. Unlike leagues with an innings cap, relievers in ESPN should help all five categories.

Starter Streaming: Specifically for 12 team leagues, I tend to find that ESPN owners are aware of the reliever dynamic. That puts a LOT of extra starting pitchers on the waiver wire. If you’re first to the wire, you can get starts from guys like Matt Garza, Phil Hughes, and Jason Hammel. If you pile those up when available, you can shift into a nine reliever strategy with a lot of time left in the season.

CBS

I’ve never played on the CBS platform, so I have no specific advice to offer. Anyone have any input?

Ottoneu

Scrounging for dollars: Most of the top owners across ottoneu are probably running a little short on dollars to spend on free agents. There are three ways you can acquire more money to spend – cut an expensive player, trade somebody for cash, or trade somebody for an expensive player to cut. Assuming you’ve already cut your Allen Craig’s, let’s look at the other two options.

The weak teams will often have additional budget AND a busted asset. If you offer them a marginal prospect for $10, they’ll probably ask themselves “couldn’t I just buy a similar prospect for $1?” Yes, they could. If you offer them your marginal prospect for a $30 Billy Butler plus offsetting cash, they might say “well, I’m not going to get better.” Then you can cut Butler for $15. It could be better for the team to just cut Butler themselves, but such owners usually have trouble finding a place to use their dollars. There’s no point bidding $8 for Kyle Schwarber just because they have the money; he’s not useful if you don’t win him for $1.