Interesting Auction Strategy

[bahamamike]

Ok, so I was involved in a yahoo auction yesterday and one of the owners employed the most unorthodox strategy I have seen and I am very intriguied to see how it works out in the long run and was wondering if anyone has done this before, or seen it done. THis is a regular 5x5 H2H, and I have always heard, spend, spend spend on Hitting and get pitching on the cheap. So this guy bought the most reliable SP the top closers out there and spent cheap on hitting, focusing on steals. He and I were talking through the auction, and he was swearing by this method, saying that it has worked in the past. On a normal week with this lineup he should be able to win, K's SV, W, SBs, good weeks throw in ERA and Whip. I just can't see him ever winning HR, RBIs.

Ended up with
Roy Halladay
CC Sabathia
Ubaldo Jiminez
Justin Verlandar
Matt Cain
Mariano Rivera
Papelbon
Brian Wilson
Soria
K-Rod
Heath Bell

His hitting
Kendrick
Posada
Huff
Corey Hart
Elsbury
Michael Bourn
Brent Garnder
Angel Pagan
Chris Young
Elvis Andrus

[Todd Zola]

Viable strategy in head to head.

I'll say this though.

In today's game ANY strategy will work IF your players stay HEALTHY

[Guest]

Head to Head is a completely different animal than Roto. It simply doesn't matter by how much you lose in a category. So it makes perfect sense to throw the two power cats.

[viper]

Is the a WIN/LOSE league or a 10-point-a-week league?

[deansdaddy]

IF trades are allowed he also has a commodities that will be in high demand in sb's and saves - so he can likely trade for power later on if he chooses and still be dominant in those categories.

[viper]

in H2H when you commit to a strategy this extreme, you really cannot change horses in the middle of the stream. You live or die with your plan.

[bahamamike]

Viable strategy in head to head.

I'll say this though.

In today's game ANY strategy will work IF your players stay HEALTHY

this is a very good point.

[crhense]

Sounds like the Sweeney Plan which punts HRs and RBIs and focus on SBs, Average, Runs and Pitching Stats, works sometimes in H2H Leagues, but not as effective for Roto Leagues.

[Todd Zola]

Sweeney was okay in 4x4, but not so much in 5x5. I'm not a huge fan of gimmick strategies, so I would not have used it, but it was effective in 4x4.

[alleyoops]

I'm employing the same strategy in a 16-team h2h (draft, not auction). I read about it somewhere, and it intrigued me. This is a slow-draft league, and we're in round 18. Obviously with 16 teams I'm not going to be as strong as the team at the start of the thread. I found it challenging to balance the need to have the best or near-best pitching with the need to have good stats in SB, R, and AVG. We start 11 on offense and 8 pitchers (1C, 2 UT, no CI, no MI, 4 OF).

By round, drafting 4th:
Crawford
Cliff Lee
Jered Weaver
Hanson
N Feliz
Andrus
KRod
BRoberts
Pagan
AJackson
Bailey (hope he's OK)
KSuzuki
Nishioka
Polanco
Cueto
Lowe
DelaRosa

1B will be a challenge, and I'm a little nervous about saves. If Bailey's OK, I'll be fine there, but that's a big if right now. The starting pitching isn't as dominant as I would have hoped. Will be helped if Feliz is a starter. I still need a 4th OF, but one of the good things about this approach is there are still a few useful guys out there.

I've never done a "gimmick" strategy before, but think this will be a lot of fun.

[alleyoops]

I'm employing the same strategy in a 16-team h2h (draft, not auction). I read about it somewhere, and it intrigued me. This is a slow-draft league, and we're in round 18. Obviously with 16 teams I'm not going to be as strong as the team at the start of the thread. I found it challenging to balance the need to have the best or near-best pitching with the need to have good stats in SB, R, and AVG. We start 11 on offense and 8 pitchers (1C, 2 UT, no CI, no MI, 4 OF).

By round, drafting 4th:
Crawford
Cliff Lee
Jered Weaver
Hanson
N Feliz
Andrus
KRod
BRoberts
Pagan
AJackson
Bailey (hope he's OK)
KSuzuki
Nishioka
Polanco
Cueto
Lowe
DelaRosa

1B will be a challenge, and I'm a little nervous about saves. If Bailey's OK, I'll be fine there, but that's a big if right now. The starting pitching isn't as dominant as I would have hoped. Will be helped if Feliz is a starter. I still need a 4th OF, but one of the good things about this approach is there are still a few useful guys out there.

I've never done a "gimmick" strategy before, but think this will be a lot of fun.

So far, so good with this strategy, and I'm really enjoying the "different" aspect of it. Since my values for guys on offense are very different from the rest, I've found it a bit easier than in the past to do trades to improve my team (I hope), and have found a few decent FA values in this large league.

Trades completed so far: DHudson for ABailey (to get an extra SP as I'd drafted Feliz expecting him to start). And just today JPierre and Bumgarner for Pineda and Cueto (pitching has been dominating, but not doing quite as well as I hoped in SB, R, and AVG). I hope Pierre soon remembers how to SUCCESSFULLY steal a base, and Bumgarner soon remembers how to win. Pretty happy with the trade, though, as I think it's good for the strategy I'm employing, and a potentially a classic sell high/buy low.

Decent FA adds: Damon, AEscobar, MIzturis, Melancon. Melancon was the only one with a sizable FA bid.

Currently in 2nd place (out of 16) at 21-5-4, 1.5 games back. Top 6 go to playoffs, top 2 get byes. I've been very lucky on the pitching side (Pineda, Lowe, Weaver, no busts), but not so on offense (Crawford, Pagan, Gomez, Jackson). Only significant injury has been Pagan, unless you count Bailey, who I knew about when drafted in round 11.

I know it's early, but at this point I'm thinking this is an effective strategy, and I'm really enjoying the differences between this league (h2h) and my other 5x5 roto leagues.

Curious how your friend's team is doing in his league, bahamamike? I'd guess very well, as most of his guys have performed as expected or better, and not a lot of injury issues.