How to get your fantasy team unstuck in the middle
As Memorial Day has just passed, we’ve reached the turning point of fantasy baseball season. Earlier in the season, I laid out a month-by-month strategy and approach. It’s time to take action! Where you are in the standings will dictate what those actions are, but this is where you make or break your season. To help, I will release three pieces to lay out what those moves are. You’re either in the money (near the top of the standings and in a playoff spot), stuck in the middle (self explanatory), or bottom feeding (“Oh $#!+” mode).
As the second chapter of our installment, we’ll discuss how to get unstuck in the middle of the pack. Not everything has been bad for you so far, but you have some distinct weaknesses on your roster. It’s time to stop being patient and start making tough choices. You need to rebalance things.
Trim the fat
You have injured players. You have under-performing players. You probably have guys who fall into both categories. Looking at you Austin Nola! Whatever the case, every player you have needs to be identified now and you must decide who stays and who goes. Take all of your highly ranked, high performing players and put them to the side. You want to keep your core intact. After all, your team isn’t a total dumpster fire. You have a good baseline to build on. Maybe you will need to include a couple of these guys in trades to entice your leaguemates to take a struggling player in a deal, but you must look to get a player of similar value back. I’m not leading with one of my top performers in trade talks. I’m looking to sell players other owners view as buy-lows.
If you have IL spots, give them to the most valuable players you have and prepare to move on from the others. All of them. Guys who don’t help you win now are expendable. Cut them today for players on hot streaks.
I would say give the buy-low trades a week or so to take shape. If I can’t move a struggling player or he has shown no signs of turnaround in the next week, he has to just be cut and moved on from. No regrets
Place premiums on players who address your biggest weaknesses in trades
At this stage of the game, you still want to shoot for categorical balance if you can get there. I don’t advise punting on categories… yet. That’s for players in panic mode. You’re not there. Similar to how you would play from the top of the standings, look to sell players whose primary contributions are to your strong areas and in return, get a player who addresses your biggest weakness. For example, if I have a strong foundation across my pitching categories and I desperately need batting average and a decent boost in homeruns and RBI, I would gladly trade Zack Wheeler for Justin Turner. Is it a fair trade? Yes, within reason. Is it a clear win for one side? Definitely, Wheeler is a much better and more valuable overall player. Is my team better afterwards? Most likely yes. Remember, the point of making trades is to improve your team, not to “win” the trade. Also, reference a rankings sheet or trade value chart to guide you. To be clear, don’t just blindly make trades with questionable value. You may be setting yourself up for disaster. My main point is to be willing to pay more than you may want to for players who fill in big holes for you. Again, you still want to pursue categorical balance in trades.
Focus your lineup each day on maximizing output
In other words, it’s time to really micromanage. In head to head, play matchups. Check each hitters career numbers against an opposing pitcher and start the guys you feel are most likely to produce each day. Don’t over index on starting pitching matchups either by the way. Most starters only pitch five innings these days, so make sure to consider the strength of the opposing bullpen as well.
In roto, the equivalent here is over-indexing on areas you are failing to produce. So, maybe consider sitting that slugger against a good pitcher to play your higher batting average guys and make up ground in that category. You will need to watch the standings like a hawk and make sure you are crafting your lineup to accommodate the categories you A. Need the most and B. Think you can accumulate each day.
If it sounds tough, that’s because it is. Winning a fantasy baseball league isn’t easy. But, this is your path to break free from the pack. Other owners will give up soon, or they simply misunderstood this game to be fantasy football with baseball players. Or in other words, they brought red and black checkers to your chess match. This is the time where refining your approach and making every single decision you make grounded in the categories you need most will get you back in this thing.
Good luck and see you in the winners circle this fall
