Reflection of 07 Strategy AND Early 08 Strategy!!

Take The Fantasy Man League The Superior Mendoza Swingers for instance. Like thousands of other fantasy managers, i did my homework. I came up with a clear strategy. I knew the players i wanted to target. I got most of them. Again,like thousands of other fantasy players i wound up in 5th place. Out of the money. A less than desirable finishing.

In 2007 i used a variation of the BaseballHQ LIMA plan. I focussed on dominating the offense, and picked high skill (ERA/WHIP/K) pitchers in the later rounds. I did not focus on these pitchers current roles on their teams. I knew that they had good skills, and i just hoped that they would work out. Funny thing. They did.

Here is a look at my 2007 draft (keeper league)
1. Jose Reyes
2. Matt Holiday
3. Andruw Jones
4. Chone Figgins
5. Jim Thome
6. Adam Laroche
7. Delmon Young
8. Torri Hunter
9. Edgar Rentaria
10. Jeff Kent
11. Javier Vazquez
12. Jose VAlverde
13. Aj Burnett
14. Jonathan Broxton
15. Scott Shields
16. Kelvin Escobar
17. Ivan Rodriguez
18. Josh Willingham
19. Kenny Lofton
20. Taylor Tankersly
21. Manny Corpas
22. Mike Jacobs
23. Scott Linenbrink
24. Kiko Calero
25. Omar Vizquel
26. Rafael Soriano
27.Dutin Pedrioia
28. Jeremy Accardo
29.Manny Delcamen
30. Craig Bigio.

Let me point out a few things about my team in this draft that exemplify the strategy on waiting on high skill pitchers.

1. Without drafting a pitcher until round 11 i was able to have the 4th highest scoring pitching staff in an ultra competitive league.

2. While drafting one closer with a job (The overlooked Jose Valverde) and relying on the extremley undervalued guys who got oppurtunities (Accardo/Corpas)i scored 11 points in Saves.

3. Although i finished in the cellar of the wins category (Which i expected to) by only drafting 3 starters Vazquez Escobar and Burnett (Who all had great years)i gained 11 points in ERA and WHIP.

-- As far as pitching goes i would continue to endorse LIMA guys (High skills maybe not jobs)to make up the majority of your staff. Dont worry i will get to the LIMA guys for this year soon enough. As for closers go, i think my team in the Superior Mendoza Swingers perfectly exemplifies where you're team can go without spending a top pick on a closer. To be more competitive in W/K i realized that i need to get either a true staff anchor or a couple more starters.

So how did i finish in 5th place with this underrated pitching staff?

My Offense.

Although by implimenting my strategy i hoped to dominate the offensive categories, i most certainly did not. In fact for spending my first 10 picks on offense, it was atrocious.

To be fair, i will admit that i was wrong and was unlucky enough to have:

1. Andruw Jones
2. Adam Laroche
3. Chone Figgins
4. Delmon Young
5. Jeff Kent

produce less than i expected.



So you would think i would learn from my mistakes. Not at all! This year i will focus even harder on building an impenatrbale hitting unit and continue to focus on LIMA pitchers. With a year of this strategy under my belt, 08 is the year that i think i can get it to work the way i want it to.