Stanley Spadowski
Footballguy
This has been my strategy the past 12 years:
*Rounds 1-4: Sure Things aka first ballot Hall of Famers.
Your first picks should be Ichiro, Gasman, Jeff Kent, Hideo Nomo, and Reuben Sierra, in that order. Kent, Nomo, and Sierra may be retired now, so you'll have to come up with your own strategy for rounds 3 and 4. Basically you want guys you know you can count on. Possible replacements on my draft board are Ken Griffey Jr, Pedro Martinez, Jim Thome, and Chipper Jones.
*Rounds 5-10: Funny Names.
The 5th-10th round - think Funny. The funnier the name, the better the pick. Consider the great ones: Coco Crisp, Milton Bradley, Chone Figgens, JJ Putz, Byung Young Kim, Shin-Soo Choo, or Ubaldo Jaminez. There's this reliever out in Detroit named Fu-Te Ni. He's been shooting up my list. There's a lot of depth in this range, so don't panic if you don't get one of your top targets. And remember: asain names are a dime a dozen in today's MLB. I used to be able to sleepwalk through these rounds, grabbing Chan Ho Park and every Matsui and Kim available. Things have gotten tougher, but don't worry. Think first names... think Joba, Jair, Bud, Gil, Neftali, Jessie, and Kenshin. Lots of value to be had here; many great guys slipping under the radar. You'll be pretty loaded with pitching after these rounds.
*Round 11-13: Evaluate
Time to evaluate your team. Did you get your 4 guaranteed studs? Do you have a good assortment of funny names, both Asain and non-Asian? If so, you're doing great. Spend the next three picks on guys who could very well be in your list of top four picks next year. I'm talking about Ben Sheets, Derrick Jeter, Tori Hunter, Vlad Gurerrero, Scott Rolen, and Lyle Overbay. These are top 10, top 20 picks that people seem to forget about. Keep them in the back of your mind when you're having trouble finding that perfect pick. If not, continue to grab silly names. Guys who are likely to be available at this stage include Buster Posey, Gorkys Hernandez, and Jesus Flores.
*Round 14 - End: Strategize
By now you should have pretty much the team you've dreamed of. You should be a pretty good lock for the playoffs, if not the championship. You need to remember, though, that even the best plans can falter. Guys get hurt. They get old. Very often they can get cut or retire. Sometimes they elect to go play in Japan. You need to have a backup plan. No worries though, I can walk you through it.
You need to have a plan in mind. Picking guys on an ad-hoc basis at this stage can get you in trouble. I've seen plenty of solid teams cost themselves a championship because their end-draft strategy lacked the cohesiveness and planned direction needed to succeed. Consider these well thought out strategies:
Backup plan 1: Grab guys with initials as their first name. In the late rounds, consider grabbing JJ Hardy, JD Drew, JA Happ, or JR Towles. You should have picked up JJ Putz in the mid-rounds, so the transition into this type of strategy should be seamless.
Backup plan 2: Grab guys with the same last name. One of my greatest teams featured a bench consisting of all guys named Gonzalez. I had Luis, Adrian, Alex, Mike, and Edgar. Needless to say I was ready in case any of my studs failed me. I've got my eye on The Bakers this year, John and Scott. There's a lot of useful ways to use guys named The Bakers. Bonus points if you get two guys with the same last name with obviously different nationalities. My all-time favorite combination was when I grabbed Chin Feng-Chen, then followed it with Bruce Chen a round later. The results were fantastic. Keep an eye out for furture Japanese imports who you can pair with Travis Ishikawa, as this Asain/Non-Asain name combo would be spectacular.
Backup plan 3: Grab guys with the same last name as really good players, then tell people you thought it was the good player. Some good plays here include Scott Sizemore (instead of Grady), Milky Cabrara (instead of Miquel) (**Also a good candidate for rounds 5-10), or anybody named Rodriguez (A-Rod).
I didn't want to include this, but since you're new to this I thought I should. A strategy I plan on implementing this year is to draft Ryan Raburn, Tiger's outfielder, and then claim I thought it was Ryan Braun. I will then go into a tirade about how it's unfortunate that there is a bias against dyslexic owners, and that I should get Ryan Braun because that is how my brain read it. Gold, Jerry!
That should help your draft strategy. Here are a couple of tips you'll want to remember during the draft:
1 - Don't worry if people tell you you're drafting the worst team ever. They're stupid. I can't tell you how many times I've heard " Trevor Hoffman in the second round? Are you ######ed?" You'll be the one laughing in the end, so don't get discouraged - stick to the plan.
2 - Deception is key. If you utilize backup plan 3, make sure you say something like, "How come Grady Sizemore is on Detroit and is an infielder?" You, of course, have Scott Sizemore, not Grady. You know this, but others will think you're so stupid they'll spend precious minutes berating you for how stupid you are and miss the opportunity to improve their team. Sun Tzu, in his epic The Art of War, wrote, "All warfare is based on deception." The same holds true in a fantasy baseball draft. You're wise. You have a winning strategy. Let them think you're an idiot. Let them waste time telling you how stupid you are. When they're not thinking about improving their team, they're improving yours .
Bonus - talk about how stupid ESPN is for listing Tony Gwynn as a draftable player. Add, "The guy has been retired for at least 3 years now."
3 - Talk about the upcoming season as if it is 2004. "Griffey hit 20+ homers last year. Better watch out." "I can't believe Jason Kendall slipped this far - the guy is an elite catcher!" "Scott Podsednik is a shoe-in for another 70 steals season."
Follow this advice and you'll do fine.
*Rounds 1-4: Sure Things aka first ballot Hall of Famers.
Your first picks should be Ichiro, Gasman, Jeff Kent, Hideo Nomo, and Reuben Sierra, in that order. Kent, Nomo, and Sierra may be retired now, so you'll have to come up with your own strategy for rounds 3 and 4. Basically you want guys you know you can count on. Possible replacements on my draft board are Ken Griffey Jr, Pedro Martinez, Jim Thome, and Chipper Jones.
*Rounds 5-10: Funny Names.
The 5th-10th round - think Funny. The funnier the name, the better the pick. Consider the great ones: Coco Crisp, Milton Bradley, Chone Figgens, JJ Putz, Byung Young Kim, Shin-Soo Choo, or Ubaldo Jaminez. There's this reliever out in Detroit named Fu-Te Ni. He's been shooting up my list. There's a lot of depth in this range, so don't panic if you don't get one of your top targets. And remember: asain names are a dime a dozen in today's MLB. I used to be able to sleepwalk through these rounds, grabbing Chan Ho Park and every Matsui and Kim available. Things have gotten tougher, but don't worry. Think first names... think Joba, Jair, Bud, Gil, Neftali, Jessie, and Kenshin. Lots of value to be had here; many great guys slipping under the radar. You'll be pretty loaded with pitching after these rounds.
*Round 11-13: Evaluate
Time to evaluate your team. Did you get your 4 guaranteed studs? Do you have a good assortment of funny names, both Asain and non-Asian? If so, you're doing great. Spend the next three picks on guys who could very well be in your list of top four picks next year. I'm talking about Ben Sheets, Derrick Jeter, Tori Hunter, Vlad Gurerrero, Scott Rolen, and Lyle Overbay. These are top 10, top 20 picks that people seem to forget about. Keep them in the back of your mind when you're having trouble finding that perfect pick. If not, continue to grab silly names. Guys who are likely to be available at this stage include Buster Posey, Gorkys Hernandez, and Jesus Flores.
*Round 14 - End: Strategize
By now you should have pretty much the team you've dreamed of. You should be a pretty good lock for the playoffs, if not the championship. You need to remember, though, that even the best plans can falter. Guys get hurt. They get old. Very often they can get cut or retire. Sometimes they elect to go play in Japan. You need to have a backup plan. No worries though, I can walk you through it.
You need to have a plan in mind. Picking guys on an ad-hoc basis at this stage can get you in trouble. I've seen plenty of solid teams cost themselves a championship because their end-draft strategy lacked the cohesiveness and planned direction needed to succeed. Consider these well thought out strategies:
Backup plan 1: Grab guys with initials as their first name. In the late rounds, consider grabbing JJ Hardy, JD Drew, JA Happ, or JR Towles. You should have picked up JJ Putz in the mid-rounds, so the transition into this type of strategy should be seamless.
Backup plan 2: Grab guys with the same last name. One of my greatest teams featured a bench consisting of all guys named Gonzalez. I had Luis, Adrian, Alex, Mike, and Edgar. Needless to say I was ready in case any of my studs failed me. I've got my eye on The Bakers this year, John and Scott. There's a lot of useful ways to use guys named The Bakers. Bonus points if you get two guys with the same last name with obviously different nationalities. My all-time favorite combination was when I grabbed Chin Feng-Chen, then followed it with Bruce Chen a round later. The results were fantastic. Keep an eye out for furture Japanese imports who you can pair with Travis Ishikawa, as this Asain/Non-Asain name combo would be spectacular.
Backup plan 3: Grab guys with the same last name as really good players, then tell people you thought it was the good player. Some good plays here include Scott Sizemore (instead of Grady), Milky Cabrara (instead of Miquel) (**Also a good candidate for rounds 5-10), or anybody named Rodriguez (A-Rod).
I didn't want to include this, but since you're new to this I thought I should. A strategy I plan on implementing this year is to draft Ryan Raburn, Tiger's outfielder, and then claim I thought it was Ryan Braun. I will then go into a tirade about how it's unfortunate that there is a bias against dyslexic owners, and that I should get Ryan Braun because that is how my brain read it. Gold, Jerry!
That should help your draft strategy. Here are a couple of tips you'll want to remember during the draft:
1 - Don't worry if people tell you you're drafting the worst team ever. They're stupid. I can't tell you how many times I've heard " Trevor Hoffman in the second round? Are you ######ed?" You'll be the one laughing in the end, so don't get discouraged - stick to the plan.
2 - Deception is key. If you utilize backup plan 3, make sure you say something like, "How come Grady Sizemore is on Detroit and is an infielder?" You, of course, have Scott Sizemore, not Grady. You know this, but others will think you're so stupid they'll spend precious minutes berating you for how stupid you are and miss the opportunity to improve their team. Sun Tzu, in his epic The Art of War, wrote, "All warfare is based on deception." The same holds true in a fantasy baseball draft. You're wise. You have a winning strategy. Let them think you're an idiot. Let them waste time telling you how stupid you are. When they're not thinking about improving their team, they're improving yours .
Bonus - talk about how stupid ESPN is for listing Tony Gwynn as a draftable player. Add, "The guy has been retired for at least 3 years now."
3 - Talk about the upcoming season as if it is 2004. "Griffey hit 20+ homers last year. Better watch out." "I can't believe Jason Kendall slipped this far - the guy is an elite catcher!" "Scott Podsednik is a shoe-in for another 70 steals season."
Follow this advice and you'll do fine.
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