All-Purpose Fantasy Baseball 2018 thread

Agreed. You have to be ready to jump when a player on the wire shows something. That means scouting the wire constantly rather than just waiting until you have an injury or a player who is struggling. I tend to have a list of guys I'm watching, ready to pick them up if they show too much production to ignore or if I find myself ready to DL or dump a player.

In one league last year, I grabbed Felipe Rivero, Domingo Santana, Byron Buxton, Matt Olson, Alex Wood and Mike Clevinger from the wire. The result was a second place finish with a keeper-league team that finished eighth out of 10 teams the year before. There was a good reason for every one of those guys to be a free agent, but there was also reason to think they could produce. It's just a matter of jumping at the right time.

 

How are fantasy leagues handling Ohtani? He's listed in my CBS league as SP/U, so I'm guessing he'll be able to get slotted into the DH or SP slots. Never seen a pitcher able to be put into a hitting slot before.

 

It depends on the stat service you use. That is CBS's approach. I've seen others that list him as two players, Ohtani the pitcher and Ohtani the hitter.

Personally, I don't think it matters. I doubt he is going to be useful in anything but the deepest of AL-only leagues as a hitter. I own him in a CBS league, but I doubt I'd use him as an offensive player.

 

I have no plans to draft him in any league, but he's interesting dilemma for fantasy purposes.

 

I need to get my list in soon, which means 3 of these 8. Some of you commented above. Any last minute thoughts?

 

Berrios is a must-keep, I think. DeJong could be a stud at a historically weak offensive position(s). I'd keep those two. Sano may be too big of a risk for you, but his upside is pretty high. Olson or Merrifield are both solid candidates (FWIW, a few fantasy writers I've seen have been talking up Merrifield quite a bit and he helped me to the finals last season, so I'm targeting him).

 

Had my first draft last night. Picked ninth and came away with the following lineup:
C Posey
1B Sano
2B Albies
3B Machado
SS Story
OF Bruce
OF Buxton
OF Zimmer
UTIL Moustakas
BN Bird
BN I. Happ
BN Brinson
BN Acuna
BN Andujar

SP Sale
SP Severino
SP L. Castillo
SP Snell
SP Giolito
SP Faria
SP G. Richards
RP Chapman
RP Robertson
RP Hader
RP Leone

I like a lot of my guys but, ultimately, I think this team is too young. I've got some guys who may turn into stars, but I don't they'll be strong enough this season to carry me to a title.

Draft #2 is tomorrow. Auction draft for my dynasty league.

 

Very young, but if it's a shallow-ish leage, you can cash in some of the lottery tickets as needed. Do you have NA slots?

 

We don't have NA slots mostly because we have pretty deep rosters at 25. Gives some leeway to stash some young guys. My bench, though, doesn't have any sure contributors on it right now. If two or three of them can produce at a high level, I'm in decent shape, but that might be asking a lot considering two of them will start the year in the minors.

 

There is definitely some serious risk on that team. Happ is the safe bet on that bench and he's not a sure thing yet, either. Zimmer is also a risk. I would try to find one safe bat, but I tend to be rookie-averse.

 

And yet, I have yet to see a league where any of these players were taken before Cabrera or McCutchen, or even Sano or Segura.

 

Olson went ahead of all of those guys in Fantasy Addicts.

Of course, undervaluing those veterans may be why I don't have Sano, Cabrera, McCutchen or Segura in any leagues.