Fantasy Baseball Strategy:

I Got 99 Problems, But A Closer Ain’t One (2013)

By Muntradamus

BEAST DOME NATION.

The days are ticking by ever so slowly as we get closer to Day 1 of the 2013 Fantasy Baseball Season.  The article today will talk about the advantages of having closers, and the amount of closers that are right for your Fantasy Baseball team in 2013 depending on the situation of your league.

While I would like to give you my Full Draft Strategy, there are too many VIP members who are getting the 1-on-1 benefits of this secret and have told me they only signed up because they want to hear what I have to say.  The V.I.P #1 and #3 programs last a season and there is easy ways to make your money back instantly on the Packages as you get Bet Picks to go along with the great Fantasy Baseball advice.

BEAST DOME V.I.P. 

TOO MANY CLOSERS?

Weekly Lineup Roto Leagues

If you are in a Weekly Lineup rotisserie league, there is such a thing as too many closers.  Just think about, if you have 5 Closers who combine for 150 Saves, what good is that going to do when you give up so much ground in Wins and Ks?  Yes you will have a lower ERA and WHIP, but do you really want to Punt two categories in Wins and Strikeouts?  The answer is no.  You cannot Punt 40% of Pitching to come on Top of Three Categories.  Out of a possible 12 Roto Points in each category, assuming it is a 12 team league, with a possible 5 Pitching Categories, which means 60 Total Roto Points.  It is important to eat up at least 40 Pitching Roto Points.  Which is barely cutting it.

Verdict: You can have too many closers.

Weekly Lineup H-2-H Leagues

In a H-2-H league, everything resets each week.  Brandon League could save 4 games the first week, then 0 games the next.  Since Total Saves for the entire season does not matter in H-2-H leagues, and you are only competing against one opponent each week.  Then why not do a nice trade off of winning Saves/ERA/WHIP, while losing in K’s and Wins.  Yes you will lose 2 Categories, but you will win in 3.  In Fantasy Baseball or even in life, if you could trade 2 Equal Things, for 3 Equal Things.  You want to be the person on the side who receives 3 equal things.  Keep in mind though, you must fully commit to the plan of going with all closers and zero starters.  There is no point in going after 1-2 wins and ruining your WHIP or ERA, when you will definitely get those categories on lockdown, as well as the Save situation.

Verdict: Get as many closers as you can.

Daily Lineup H-2-H/Roto Leagues

If you can switch your lineup everyday.  Having too many closers is never a problem.  There will always be days where your starters will not pitch, and there will always be days where your closers could get saves on any day of the week.

Therefore if you can have a balance of great starting pitchers, as well as great relievers.  Your team will be nearly unbeatable every week as you can clobber all 5 Pitching Categories with your eyes closed.  On top of that there will always be teams that are desperate for Saves.  Unlike every other position in Fantasy Baseball where you can plug-n-play a player to get stats that help in all categories.  There are very few times you will ever find a closer on your waiver wire, unless you are on top of the Fantasy Baseball game every single night of the week.  There have been times where I traded Matt Capps when he closed for the Twins for Paul Konerko back in 2011.  Capps ended up losing his job, Konerko ended up playing like a Top 15 1B option.  The only reason that team made that trade was because of their desperate need of saves.

Verdict: You can never have too many closers.

CONCLUSION

Closers are a rare breed.  While you can always find a 3B option on your wire who may or may not get a HR during the week, or pickup a starting pitcher any day of the week who may get a win.  There are very few opportunities all season long to add any closer who has the chance of locking down any save situations since there are only 32 in the game.  Of those 32 closers, only 17 of them are Rock Solid.  If you find yourself on the wrong end of that 17, saves will be a struggle all season and you may end up giving up a great hitters for a Closer who is on the cusp of losing his job.

Or you could find yourself with a plethora of closers in the Top 17, which could lead to some very nice trade negotiations in your favor.  As Jay-Z continues to tell us everyday.  You may have 99 Problems, but A Closer Ain’t One.  That is unless you forgot to grab a few quality ones.  I aim for 3 on Draft Day in a Weekly Roto League.

Muntradamus is a Fantasy Sports Expert who specializes in Fantasy Football/Baseball/Basketball. He is currently in his second season as a Pro on FantasyPros coming off of an impressive Rookie Campaign where he landed the #10 Overall In-Season Fantasy Football Rankings Expert.  Which also included #1 WR of all Expert Sites.  He is also one of two people to qualify for all DRAFTSTREET CHAMPIONSHIPS in 2012. Most Historically, Muntradamus was the #1 Fantasy Football Expert of IDP & Overall Rankings in One Week, first time in Fantasy Sports History.