2021 MLB PreDraft - Know your League Settings

 Fantasy Sportsaholic MLB Draft Prep

My first 2021 draft is set on Yahoo for Saturday, March 6

Remember I said it was important to “know” the league settings. 

This league has what I consider a pretty basic lineup - C 1B 2B 3B SS OF OF OF and 2 Utility Players.   They also allow for 5 bench players and importantly 4 Injured.  Last year with Covid I felt at times I didn’t have enough IL spots.  4 is good.  2 is iffy.  0 is a nightmare.

Now go to settings (under League Tab) and check the scoring and other information.

The league is head to head with daily lineups - I prefer daily lineups.

No Maximum for acquisitions on the season BUT there is a weekly maximum of 6 - that will allow some weekly changes but not full streaming of pitchers for example.  

Note also that the pitching requirement of 20 minimum innings pitched each week.  That means you probably need a couple of pitchers each week who start and pitch 5 innings each.  Plan for 3 Starting pitchers minimum is better.  

Note the “allow injured players from waivers to go directly to IL” is NO.  That means IF I want to add an IL eligible player to my roster (stash them for later), I need an empty spot on my roster first.  I may have another player who is IL eligible whom I can move to IL first and then add the new player, and then move them to IL or I may have to drop a player first.  Some Team Managers will drop very good players to waivers when they go on IL.  Some I will take knowing they will make a difference for my team after coming off IL.

 

Now notice the Scoring - again this is now 5x5 scoring that is more or common (but not every league follows it so always check your scoring).  R+HR+RBIs+SBs form the core of the hitter stats along with Avg.  

Pitching is also 5 - W, S, Ks, ERA and WHIP.

So now as I consider players to draft I am looking at my combined 4 (R+HRS+RBIS+SBS) as my tool.  I want players who give me the highest total BUT also need to keep an eye open for SBs and Avg.  For Pitching I am watching WHIP and K/9 while keeping ERA in mind but if their WHIP is good the ERA should also be good.  I don’t focus on Wins but try to draft a couple of SP1 (Pitchers who are the first tier pitcher for their team) plus 3 closers then get high k/9 low Whip pitchers even if they are not SPs or Closers.  Often a relief pitcher who gets 2 or 3 innings or even a setup pitcher who just pitches 1 inning will pick up wins while giving you Ks and low WHIP.  If yo have 3 good closers on your pitching staff, you can win 4 of the 5 Pitching stats each week and win your league.

Now you know your League Settings, it’s time to arrange your Draft List - Do NOT rely on the Default setting.

Next Blog - setting your Pre-Draft Rankings.

Brett Favre buyout

Can the Packers do anything else to shoot themselves in the foot? Offering Brett 20 million dollars to stay retired? Stupid. The Packers have put themselves into a corner. If they do not take Brett back now and do worse this year than last year, fans will crucify the GM and Head Coach. And rightly so. Favre took the Packers to the AFC finals and lost a close one. Anything less than that this year without Brett will rebound upon the Packers business people. And honestly, I do not see Rodgers getting the Packers that far. He may have the talent, but he doesn't have the experience. And that lack of experience will keep the Packers from excelling this year. With Favre the Packers are legitimate Superbowl contenders this year. Without him, they position themselves to contend in a few years. Will Packer fans be happy with that?

On another point, I think it would be hilarious if Brett was to offer the Packers a buyout. The Packers offered him $20 million to stay retired. How would they respond if Brett offered them $2 million or so to be released? That would be a $14 million deal for the Packers - they get cash plus don't have to pay Brett his $12 million.

And what about the Red Socks paying to get rid of their best player - Manny Ramirez? I wish some of these people with money to burn would send some to me. For a mere million dollars I would write blogs that praised such bone headed moves by management. Boston just wrote off this year and probably the next few. They now become a rebuilding team. Yes they got Jason Bay, but Bay is no Manny.

In one respect the trade does help me in my fantasy leagues. I have Broxton as one of my closers in several leagues and Manny helps him a lot.

If you haven't visited my fantasy Sports pages, take a gander http://timnew.com/fantasy_sports. I have now added even more Fantasy Football information including my subjective sleeper list and list of undervalued players as I follow the training camps.

I have also added twitter. It's a fun addition to the Internet. My id is timdnew

Time for Fantasy Football again

When the NFL season kicks off I will officially be in my sophomore year as a fantasy sports manager. Last year I began playing fantasy sports when my church started a league on ESPN. I quickly became hooked and now have played Fantasy basketball, fantasy baseball, fantasy hockey and already have a half-dozen fantasy football teams drafted this year with another draft planned for this Thursday on Sporting News. That will leave me with ESPN to draft.

I plan to play fantasy football on ESPN (again), NFL.com, Yahoo, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, and Sporting News just so I can experience and compare the features each has to offer. I have teams on 4 of the 6 already drafted. I am also playing in a couple of IDP leagues this year plus one with return yardage.

If you want a one stop site for Fantasy Resources, check out my website: http://timnew.com/fantasy_sports as I seek to collect a wealth of resources for the fantasy sports fan. I am doing it for myself but it should be a valuable "portal" for any fantasy sports player. I am currently collecting Training Camp resources and adding them to the site. Come visit and comment.

It's not too Late - you can be a sportsaholic too!

This is my first year at playing fantasy sports and I am loving it!

Maybe your interest is piqued over fantasy sports but you haven't yet made the move to actually play. It isn't too late! Or maybe you have been playing fantasy baseball or fantasy football but haven't joined any fantasy league on basketball or hockey or Nascar. It isn't too late!

And don't feel that you have to be an expert to play fantasy sports. If that was a requirement I would not be having the fun I am now having. I certainly was no expert in fantasy football when I made the decision to play this year. The Pastor of our church is a sports fan and he wanted to start a league this year in our church. I knew nothing about fantasy sports. Nada. I didn't even watch a lot of NFL football on television. When I historically watched football on television it was usually college football or it was playoff games in the NFL. But I decided to play. And I have been having a lot of fun ever since I did.

Beginning a couple of weeks ago I joined in 3 NBA drafts and 1 hockey draft. If I didn't know much about NFL football, my knowledge of the NBA was no better. Again I tended to watch college games rather than professional games when I watched basketball. As for hockey, I live in the southern US. Hockey is not a well known sport here although there are teams in some of the larger cities such as Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Dallas, St Louis and Nashville. I had been to a couple of Calgary Flames matches several years ago but I really knew very little about the sport. And that is why I joined a fantasy hockey league.

If you want to know more about a sport, join a fantasy league for that sport. You will learn more about the sport than you ever though possible. It provides a perfect learning atmosphere. You will be motivated to learn because you will not want to lose. You will be safe learning because the other team owners probably are strangers and you won't fear appearing foolish. You are somewhat anonymous so can relax and ask those questions you are afraid to ask because others might think them stupid (by the way the only stupid question is the one that goes unasked). You will learn by seeing what the better teams are doing.

And you will be surprised how fun it all can be. The more you participate, the more fun you have.

If you have questions on a fantasy sport, ask. I'll be happy to try and address your question in a blog or email if you prefer.

Some places to play fantasy basketball are NBA.com and Yahoo Sports. Yahoo Sports also has fantasy Hockey and Nascar and Golf ....