Strategy for Odd 6x6 H2H League

[Kelly_Leak]

A couple of old college friends have put together a 12 team mixed H2H league with weekly transactions (limit 10 per week). Seeing as I have not seen or talked to these guys in a couple years I thought it would be fun to reconnect by talking trash on the message board!

First the 6x6 categories:
- Hitting: Rs, RBIs, SBs, OPS, TBs, and Fielding Pct
- Pitching: ERA, WHIP, Ws, Svs, Holds, and K/9
I plan to treat this league as a 5x5 and completely ignore Fielding Pct and Holds when doing my valuations.

Team Composition:
C - 1
1B - 1
2B - 1
3B - 1
SS - 1
MI - 1
CI - 1
OF - 4
Util - 1
SP - 6
RP - 6
Bench - 4
DL - 2
Total of 12 hitters, 12 pitchers, 4 bench spots, and 2 DL spots

Using the hitting CVRC I will replace the HR column on the projection tab with TBs and the BA column on the projection tab with OPS (calculated by adding OBP and SLG). I will also select "CUSTOMIZE" and fill in the appropriate numbers for each hitting position. Additionally, in the pitching CVRC, I will select K/9 from the dropdown and change the number of pitchers to 12. I think this will cover the 10 hitting and pitching categories as well as the roster requirements I need to value. Is this correct? I am fairly proficient at Excel (and VBA), so if I need to do anything further just let me know.

Do you have any initial reactions to this kind of league setup? I am thinking bats, an elite closer, and a tier 2 SP within the first 10 or so rounds (not set in stone). Overall, I would target 3 closers (1 from tier 1, 1 from tier 2, and 1 in the tier 4 or 5 range). I think I could get by with 3 SPs that I play virtually every week and use the other 3 spots for matchups. I'm not sure how to attack the holds or Fielding Pct categories.

Thoughts and/or comments?

[Kelly_Leak]

Looks like I need to input an OPS baseline. Does 0.750 make sense?

Also, I figure I need to adjust my category weights, how do the following look?
TB: 1.3
RBI: 1.0
SB: 0.7
OPS: 1.0
R: 1.0

W: 0.9
Sv: 1.0
ERA: 1.0
WHIP: 1.0
K/9: 1.1

[david_hume]

i know next to nothing about H2H, but if this were a roto league i would get daniel bard (or luke gregerson, or mike wuertz, or sergio romo, or david robertson, etc.) plus 11 single-A pitchers and spend the rest of my money on hitters. this strategy is designed to win ERA, WHIP, and K/9, and with all the money you have left for hitting, you should finish top 2 in each of those categories. since holds are a category, you could modify the above slightly by picking up a bunch of guys like the ones I mentioned and compete in holds as well. if you're not interested in pursuing this strategy, be aware that your opponents may think of it.

instead of totally ignoring fielding pct., i would get an idea of which guys tend to be the top and bottom performers in the category and add or subtract a couple of bucks from those guys.

switching to k/9 and adding holds gives a lot of value to the good, high-K middle relievers, and strongly devalues all SP except the elite guys. you don't have to add holds to your valuations, but be aware of the guys who are likely to excel in the category and bump them up in your rankings.

[Kelly_Leak]

Rats...somewhere alone the lines of proofreading my first post I cut and did not re-paste that there is a 30 inning minimum per week.

[david_hume]

well, ignore my first paragraph then, but the second two still apply.

[Kelly_Leak]

Ok, so this is not as easy as just swapping columns in the CVRC. I think I need to somehow change the replacement level of the TBs too.

For example, I've noticed a sizeable difference between Ryan Braun (363 TBs) and Albert Pujols's (358 TBs) TB dollar amounts. Braun is at $10.07, while Pujols (with only 5 less TBs) is at $8.59!

[Todd Zola]

Couple things, more later...

1. If you are using separate positions, that is the difference with Braun and Pujols. I would recommend sticking with 2 pools though.

2. The H2H part may negate this, but with 3 extra pitchers, you may want to change the split.

3. With respect to Fielding percentage, if you get Youk to play 3B, use a 1B at CI and an OF at UT, you may be covered and not have to worry about factoring it in at all. Or maybe an OF with 1B eligibility to play 1B. I would need to look at typical FPCT and chances for each position. Point is, I think you can take advantage of the better % of a 1st baseman over a ton of chances.

[Kelly_Leak]

Ok, I want to confirm I have made the appropriate changes in both the hitting and pitching CVRCs.
- Copied the TB column and pasted it over the HR column
- Calculated OBP + SLG to get OPS and then copied those values over the BA column
- Set the OPS baseline to 0.750 in the BA baseline cell ... will research this value further
- Customized the 12 player hitting requirements
- Used 2 pools of hitters: Cs and OFs
- Hit category weights of TB=1.3; RBI=1.0; SB=0.7; OPS=1.0; R=1.0 ... will research these weights further
- Updated to K/9 in dropdown
- Updated the number of pitchers to 12
- Pitch category weights of Wins=0.9; Saves=1.0; ERA=1.0; WHIP=1.0; K/9=1.1 ... will research these weights further
- Changed the hit/pitch split to 60/40 ... will research this further

Additional observations from David and Todd
- MR with high K/9 are important. It would be great to draft a Papelbon/Bard or Bell/Adams combo as you get an elite MR that also backs up your closer.
- SP value is a bit diminished as only 72 should be in the positive player pool -- there will probably be more, so be aware.
- Ideally you want a 1Bman as your CI. Also, if there are any fulltime 1B that also qualify at other positions they are worth a few extra$ (Youk at 3B, Dunn in OF). The idea is to "bully" Fielding% with more total chances.

Thanks. Let me know if you think I have missed anything.

[50 Desert Eagles]

Wow, I thought I was a half-smart guy at H2H, but you totally lost me with all that talk about % and numbers and such...I do a 20 team 7x7 mixed, with hlds, but obp is the other....my instructions from TZ is skip rp's all together and look toward Mr's late in the draft. I will say...I live for trades....last yr we had NO innings min...and I used drafted no sp's until like round 15....had 9 pitchers.....1 sp, 3 rp's 5 mr's.....this yr the league got smart and put in a 20 inning min. So I need sp's this season. I figure though, I can still wait on a ton of SP talent and trade a 4th-5th round player for a 2nd round sp about 4 weeks into the season. If your 6x6 is going to be a keeper, then watch out after the mid season....players will be flying in trades, so you want to get in on it if you are in the chase.