TheAthletic Subscribers Free NFBC Contest

[joncarlos]

So how do you figure the hitting depth you need in something best ball like this?

Example: I have my whole starting lineup filled and Khris Davis is sitting out there way too long. Do I grab him now?

I assume this league is deep enough that I'll eventually have at least 2 guys at every position. But how many 'starter' level bats do you need, beyond the 14 you "plan" to start? I would think at least 2... that's kind of what I did in the RJ Mock.

[Pauly]

So how do you figure the hitting depth you need in something best ball like this?

Example: I have my whole starting lineup filled and Khris Davis is sitting out there way too long. Do I grab him now?

I assume this league is deep enough that I'll eventually have at least 2 guys at every position. But how many 'starter' level bats do you need, beyond the 14 you "plan" to start? I would think at least 2... that's kind of what I did in the RJ Mock.

First of all, Davis is still there because those DH-only types seem really limited in this format, as he can only be used in your one Util slot, so he really has to outperform your entire bench for you to ever use him. Full disclosure - I drafted Alvarez, which looking back I think was probably misguided.

I am planning on using 5-6 bench guys (hopefully all multi-eligible outside of catcher) and all the rest SP. Seems to give enough leeway for down weeks. Plus there are a couple of waiver periods in the case of a major injury.

[joncarlos]

First of all, Davis is still there because those DH-only types seem really limited in this format, as he can only be used in your one Util slot, so he really has to outperform your entire bench for you to ever use him. Full disclosure - I drafted Alvarez, which looking back I think was probably misguided.

I am planning on using 5-6 bench guys (hopefully all multi-eligible outside of catcher) and all the rest SP. Seems to give enough leeway for down weeks. Plus there are a couple of waiver periods in the case of a major injury.

Good points. Right now I have Voit as my UT since I needed a 2nd good hitter at 1B anyway.... and I probably won't have a lot of bench guys that Krush needs to outperform, but still.

[Pauly]

Pretty happy with how the waiting on pitching strategy has played out thru 21 rounds (I drafted every offensive player except Dozier before taking a pitcher). Pitching looks pretty decent considering and having so many multi-eligibles I feel will maximize my offensive potential. I also have a feeling that if I actually entered the cutline I would never get a squad this good.

C- Narvaez
1B/CI - Bell, H.Dozier
2B/MI- LeMahieu, McNeil
SS- Tatis
3B- Rendon
OF- Yelich, Meadows, Soler, E.Rosario, Schwarber
U- Alvarez
P- Montas, Wheeler, Bumgarner, Price, Foltynewicz, C.Martinez, Heaney, C.Smith

[BuckyBuckner]

I find it so hard to tell if these are good teams because a 10 team mixed league is so different than the 12 team only leagues I'm used to. But that looks pretty good.

Here's what I have so far through 23 rounds:

C - Sanchez, Kelly
1B/3B - Bell, Devers, Hoskins, Walker
2B/SS - Hiura, Tatis, Escoabr, McMahon
OF - Trout, Soler, Dahl, Pederson

SP - Castillo, Kershaw, Woodruff, SGray, Gallan, Weaver, CMartinez
RP - Colome, Workman

I didn't get as many multiple eligibility players as I wanted but I am still happy with the team. Pretty much ignored steals and grabbed a few saves when it seemed like there wasn't anything else obvious to draft. I am eyeing Renfroe for my last OF spot. I think this format cold be good for someone like him. He's pretty streaky and when he sucks someone else will just take his spot and when he's hot he'll be in my lineup.

[Ken]

I find it so hard to tell if these are good teams because a 10 team mixed league is so different than the 12 team only leagues I'm used to. But that looks pretty good.

I dont think these pitching staffs look good enough for a 10 team mixed. And I'm not convinced its worth going all in on hitting.

[Pauly]

I dont think these pitching staffs look good enough for a 10 team mixed. And I'm not convinced its worth going all in on hitting.

It's all relative. What you arent seeing are the teams who are drafting guys like Mallex Smith, Chavis, Hampson etc as key starting offensive players.

[Ken]

It's all relative. What you arent seeing are the teams who are drafting guys like Mallex Smith, Chavis, Hampson etc as key starting offensive players.

True, I'm not seeing them, but I do see these teams, which have staffs that don't look good enough to compete in pitching points in a 10 team mixed. I get the concept of pushing more resources into hitting since you can stream your pitching, but IMO you've taken it too far. I think a more balanced approach with a lean towards hitting rather than all in was the way to go.

[BuckyBuckner]

I dont think these pitching staffs look good enough for a 10 team mixed. And I'm not convinced its worth going all in on hitting.

I think in conventional 5x5 or 6x6 leagues you could be right. But when it's just a points based league, with optimized rosters, I think they should be good enough.

I just looked at the other teams in my league and one team has Cole, Osuna and Soroka for their pitchers so far. So I won't have the worst staff. Another team's best pitcher is Lynn.

I tried to attach an image with the pitching staffs but it's so small and I can't figure out how to remove it.

[Ken]

FYI - the point system was designed so rankings mimicked 5x5 as closely as possible - I was one of the people developing it. The NFBC felt they could sell the Cutline easier if you could use the same ADP as the other drafts.

The first year, (2016 or 2017, I forget) hitting points correlated about 95%, pitching about 85%. With the increase in power and drop in steals, hitting correlation has dropped, but it's still strong.

I think in conventional 5x5 or 6x6 leagues you could be right. But when it's just a points based league, with optimized rosters, I think they should be good enough.

These two don't really align and I tend to trust Todd, but who knows.

[BuckyBuckner]

These two don't really align and I tend to trust Todd, but who knows.

I definitely trust Todd more than me. Looking at the other teams, I don't think my top 4 is that much worse than the other teams.

[joncarlos]

My team through 23 rounds. Can't say I love it. Tried to go for some upside picks.

C - T Murphy and TBD
CI - Olson, Vlad, Devers, Voit
MI - Tatis, Merrifield, C Seager
OF - Acuna, E Rosario, Schwarber, Franimal, K Tucker, Pederson, Canha

SP - Darvish, Berrios, Woodruff, G Marquez, D Price, McCullers, Musgrove
RP - Nick Anderson

[Big Tymer]

Yeah - no idea either here, just loading up on multi-position guys and a ton of SPs. Final 42-round roster here:

C - Grandal (C/1B), Garver, Zunino
CI - Gurriel (1B/3B), Bryant (3B/OF), Y. Diaz (1B/3B), Longoria (3B), M. Gonzales (1B/3B/OF)
MI - Bogaerts (SS), Escobar (2B/3B), A. Rosario (SS), LeMahieu (1B/3B/2B), Segura (eventually SS/3B), Goodrum (2B/SS/OF)
OF - Harper, Jimenez, Stanton, Upton, Eaton, Peralta, Akiyama, G. Polanco, W. Myers, Céspedes

SP - Cole, Corbin, Glasnow, Ray, Paxton, Tanaka, Urquidy, Yarbrough, Keuchel, Quintana, Happ, M. Gonzales, Y. Kikuchi, R. Hill, Fiers, Bailey
RP - Rogers, Giles

[cleo]

I signed up to theathletic as a first time subscriber about a week ago. Their draft day user guide and cheat sheets are very disappointing.

[joncarlos]

We're finally making some progress in my draft, up to round 37. I'm trying to get a lot of SPs so that I can wind up with lots of potential 2-start guys every week. To that end, I'm trying to load up on AL Central starters when I can. Also trying to get at least 1 good backup for each hitting position.

C - Tom Murphy, Posey, K Suzuki
1B - Matt Olson, Luke Voit, Daniel Murphy
2B - Whit Merrifield, Cesar Hernandez
SS - Fernando Tatis Jr, Corey Seager, Nick Ahmed
3B - Rafael Devers, Vlad Guerrero Jr
OF- Acuna, Eddie Rosario, Schwarber, Franmil Reyes, Kyle Tucker, Joc Pederson, Mark Canha
UT only - Miguel Andujar

SP - Darvish, Berrios, Woodruff, Price, Marquez, McCullers, Musgrove, Civale, Eovaldi, Freddy Peralta, Anibal Sanchez, Marco Gonzalez, Zach Plesac, Homer Bailey
RP - Nick Anderson, Melancon