Fantasy Baseball Strategy: New Years Resolutions for 2014
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
As the new year is upon us it is time for New Year’s resolutions, a tradition that dates as far back to the Babylonians who made promises to their gods to pay their debts and return borrowed objects. I wish I had more Babylonian friends. Even Knights in the Medieval era participated in what they called the “peacock vow”. After the Christmas season had finished they would do this to reaffirm their commitment to chivalry. My wife told me about that one, she may be trying to imply something.
Anyway, the point of the New Year’s resolution is to improve oneself beginning with a fresh start of sorts in the new year. Well as we are embarking on a new season of fantasy baseball, it only makes sense that we should make new aeason resolutions of our own. So I came up with a few ideas for ways to improve ourselves as fantasy baseball managers:
1. I will finally come up with a good team name
On paper, this might not help you in the standings, but you would be surprised how a new team name can revive you beleaguered fake baseball team. No one will take a fantasy team named, “insert clever team name here” lightly, and when was the last time you saw “Team Smith” take home a fantasy championship? So, come up with something clever on your own. It doesn’t have to be trademark worthy. It can be something simple, like “Billy Beane Counters”. Do not underestimate your team’s identity.
2. I will not reach far for my fanboy picks this year in the draft
If it comes down to a decision between two guys at the top of the remaining players, it is fine to use your favorite team as a tiebreaker. However, if you are a guy that reaches 20-25 players away just to nab one of your faves, you are just weakening your team AND helping another team or two to draft guys that should not have fallen to them. Be patient and wait because if you are reaching that far down for your guy, then you need to realize he should still be there at your next pick!
3. I will respect people’s trade blocks. There is nothing worse than a guy that offers you two players that you have marked as “not interested in”, for a guy that is marked as one of your “untouchables”. Don’t be that guy. The trade block feature on fantasy sites exists to avoid offending and annoying people, and is a very good tool for figuring out trade possibilities that can make everyone happy.
3a. If I haven’t been running an active trade block, I will do so this year.
If nothing else, just write a note “I don’t have any trade interest right now.” Many fantasy players like to wheel and deal, so save them and yourself some time by giving them a sense of what you may or may not do.
4. I will refrain from the overuse of ALL CAPS on the league page.
Every league has a guy that seems to have his CAPS LOCK on ALL…THE…TIME…Unless this person’s last name is Costanza, then I highly doubt they are yelling every time they speak. So why do they feel compelled to type that way. Also let’s refrain from the overuse of exclamation points and multiple punctuation marks at the end of a sentence (i.e. ?!?!?) and that includes the ellipses (…), and yes, guilty as CHARGED!!!!
5. I will not be the deadbeat owner, again. Perhaps you check out once football season starts to rev up. Or worse yet, you stop caring at the All-Star break because you have zero chance at winning. Either way, make a commitment to finishing out the entire season strong. You don’t have to give it the same fervor as you do in before June, but at least make it a point to adjust your roster at the very minimum once a week.
6. Last but certainly not least, I will pay my league dues! (Yes the exclamation point was needed there).
Trust me, it is no fun to have to be the league dues police as an LM, so don’t make your LM resort to harassing bill collector type texts and emails. Just square up right away and save your LM the stress. And, NO, “I will wait to see if I win so I can save on the hassle of sending money just to get it back is not a reasonable excuse.” The hassle you save yourself adds 10x more hassle for you LM.
To me, the new fantasy season is always an exciting time, and as we are starting to turn the corner in this offseason and head towards a new season it is good to consider what changes you need to make to your strategy. Even if you have won your league once or twice, you should never settle into complacency. If nothing else, playing around with different strategies and such will help to create more of a challenge for yourself. Happy New Year everybody.