Hi guys,
I just recently converted to H2H weekly roto, and am still wrapping my head around all the strategies. Please see my team in the sig.
The league I'm in is a 7x7 H2H roto 10 team keeper league, with the pitching categories as follows:
Wins, Losses, K's, BB's, ERA, WHIP, Saves
I noticed after doing the draft that many of the owners that have been in the league for a while adopted a strategy of drafting 4-5 closers and teaming them with just a Tier 1 Starter (Verlander, Kershaw, Strasburg types) and a Tier 2 starter (Lee, Sabathia, Greinke types). The rest of their pitchers all come from the WW in the form of weekly stream starts against weak offenses (e.g. Fiers vs MIA, Beckett vs CHC)
The more I think about it, the more I'm realizing that with these kind of leagues favor closers with low ratios and high k/9. All you need to do is pair them with a frontline starter and you can stream pitchers to meet the minimum 25 IP limit. This way you are set up to have a low ERA/WHIP, low BBs, low Ls and high Saves. You win 4 out of 7 pitching categories most weeks.
Closers and frontline starters (Stras/Verlander/Kershaw/Felix) have naturally low WHIP/ERAs, and they most likely will have low BB numbers and L's. 4-5 closers means you likely win saves too.
Now here's my question: I drafted 4 closers (Papelbon, Frieri, Janssen and Veras), but they aren't as strong as other teams' closer committees. Some guys have Rivera/Soriano/Grilli/Boggs/Coke as their RPs. I focused my pitching on mainly starters: high K guys with breakout potential (Scherzer, Samardzija, Moore, Morrow).
Am I at a natural disadvantage in the BBs, Saves, ERA, WHIP, L categories by going more SP heavy than RP heavy? I figure on most weeks, I will win K's and W's for sure, far exceeding the minimum IP limit. But teams with Verlander and Kimbrel/Motte/Soriano and some SPs off the WW will more than likely beat me in ERA, WHIP, BBs, and L's.
Should I retool my pitching to include more relievers and upgrade my staff to just 2-3 elite No 1/2 starters? I actually think that with any luck, Scherzer/Moore/Morrow/Samardzija will have great seasons and far exceed expectatiions, and that I can actually compete in ERA/WHIP against these types of teams. Papelbon, Frieri, Janssen and Veras should keep me atleast somewhat competitive in ERA/WHIP/Saves/BBs on a weekly basis.
Do I need to competely overhaul my team or just be selective about which starts I choose to play my 6 starters? I can certainly win K's and W's by just playing all my starters every week and meeting the minimum IP limit. But I'm afraid that will have me losing ERA/WHIP, BB, and L on a consistent basis.
I figure that most teams with 4-5 RPs can expect about 2 innings each week from their relievers, so that's 10 IP, and their 2 quality starters will give them about 12-14 IP every week, so they most likely need to stream atleast one pitcher every week. If that one pitcher they stream turns out disastrous (8 ER, 2 IP), I could end up winning ERA/WHIP, and almost assuredly winning K's and W's.
Should I retool my team or stick with what I've got? Any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!