Drafting a DH

[viper]

Consider a league without a bench. Drafting a DH only player can significantly hurt your flexibility when injuries occur. In my AL-only league, the discount for a DH was huge.

Vlad went for $12
Ortiz for $6
Hafner for $1
Ruiz was undrafted.

I have another AL-only draft with many of the same people next Friday. Any thoughts on possible approaches.

[Trav The Ump]

Guerrero $27
Ortiz $16
Hafner was protected
I got Ruiz for a $1

Pretty scary, two guys with cash ended up chasing Guerrero but still. That money came off the table. Jones and Griffey went unbought. What did Julio Borbon go for? He qualifies at DH and might be a sneaky pick to slide in there.

[da_big_kid_94]

It's a tough year for DH on an AL only - especially with a 20 game eligibility - my father and I were looking at this two weeks ago and didn't like what we saw:

Baltimore (DH Eligible) - Wiggington, Scott
Boston - Ortiz
Chicago - Jones
Cleveland - Hafner
Detroit - Ordonez, Guillen
KC - Pena
LA - Matsui
Minnesota - Kubel, Thome
Yankees - none
A's - Cust
Mariners - Griffey
Rays - Aybar, Burrell
Rangers - Vlad, Borbon
Blue Jays - Ruiz, Lind

That's it - our 12 team is going to be a bloodbath for that position (Bold indicates DH only qualification) - so a lot of the DH's can be slotted somewhere else in the lineup ...hoo boy..

[viper]

My league has the UT slot BUT there are several players of value that only qualify there. I suspect most leagues are that way - but not all.

The question is how important is flexibility to adjust your rosters when injuries occur. If my league had a bench, I would not consider this to be a problem but, without a bench, it can be critical. I would much rather be able to acquire any available free agent rather than be limited to a corner, a middle or an outfielder.

My thread was intended to ask how I should handle this position in my league given the discount these singularly UT-eligible players went for in my first AL-only auction of the season. The unmentioned kicker in this topic is my league has one-game eligibility. I don't see anyone but Ruiz gaining a position as none of these guys really qualify as late inning defense replacements.

[JP Kastner]

This discussion does bring up an interesting strategy idea for auction leagues. It is something Lawr did in the Tout Wars AL and I did in the Mixed Tout. We called up DH only players very early to fill up opponents DH or UT spots. This works ideally in the inflationary phase of the auction where players go for more than their listed salary.

[da_big_kid_94]

This discussion does bring up an interesting strategy idea for auction leagues. It is something Lawr did in the Tout Wars AL and I did in the Mixed Tout. We called up DH only players very early to fill up opponents DH or UT spots. This works ideally in the inflationary phase of the auction where players go for more than their listed salary.

It is a strategy we may wind up employing as well, since Jones, Scott, Matsui, Lind, Kubel, Borbon, Ordonez and Guillen were kept. Multiple position qualification here are a real dilemma.