Need feedback on Drafting Strategy regarding CLOSERS!

[icemansa1]

I am in a 7x7 league. The pitching categories are INN,ERA,WHIP,W,BAA,K,S

We start 6 Starting Pitchers and 2 Relief Pitchers.

Our P eligibility rules are 10 games last year at the position or 5 games this year at the position.

We are therefore allowed to start, for example, Jeremy Affeldt
or Jose Contreras in the RP positions. I have a friend that did not draft a "closer" and is going to effectively start a total of 8 starting pitchers including the 2 above RPs.

I have a draft tonight in another league. Is throwing away Saves smart in this case? Does it give you a serious advantage or disadvantage?

Thanks.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

is it h2h or roto?

[icemansa1]

It is Roto with 13 owners....sorry 'bout that!

[TheRawDAWG]

Roto or H2H is huge. In H2H I don't see a problem punting a category but Roto is much tougher to win getting only 1 point in any stat. I'd say don't go with that strategy in roto. Get some closers. And in a 13 team league closers are even more valuable cause there's one more team to take from the pile. Of course there are always closers that end up coming out of nowhere and having good seasons too. So my advice would be to not punt a stat but also don't go grabbing up closers before they should be grabbed. I mean if Smoltz or Rivera is there in the 4th round go for it but don't reach for them. There are plenty of closers that can be had later in the draft, Nathan, Kolb, Nen, Izzy, Julio, Biddle Borowski, etc... Of course most of these type of guys don't have for sure jobs so they are more risky. But you don't win FBB without taking risks.

[KolbSaves]

You also have to consider that your friend is going to get an extra 2-3 starts a week. This translates into dominating ip, and significantly helping both w and k. By punting 1 cat he could be winning 3 cats for himself. I wouldn't punt saves completely, but an extra start or two a week would be very nice with those scoring catagories.

This is assuming there's no ip limit, of course.

[TheRawDAWG]

Well that would be nice. But there usually is an inning limit to deal with. Thats why I say don't do it in roto and think about it for H2H. Cause h2h doesn't have inning limits.

[icemansa1]

Just an FYI, there is no inning limit. Still, I am not sure this is the way to go. You finish with 1 point in Saves, Dominate Innings. Do well in K's, but if your pitchers struggle, you might get killed in ERA and WHIP, right? Closers generally contribute to lowering your ERA and WHIP.

Thoughts?

[frog99]

closers are helping in 2 catigories in this case. most closers have very good BAA, so i probably wouldn't punt svaes just for a guy like contreras who is going to drag down ERA, and whip.

[LBJackal]

With innings as a stat, and most of the cats focused around SP's, I really hope you have a transactions limit, or people will be churning pitchers like crazy.

I think that you should wait to get closers until guys like Julio, Chacon, and Graves are around. That way you aren't losing much for your SP's, but you still have at least some saves. So target the guys who might have a bad ERA/WHIP but will still get you the saves. With so many IP flying around, the small amount of ER's that your closers give up won't matter as much.

[jbuk]

I agree with you , iceman, having 7 starters will hurt him in 4 categories (S,BAA,ERA,WHIP) and help him in 3. Even the mid teir closers do much better in the ratio cats than guys who are 4th - 7th starters like Contreras