(*) MASTER NOTES: Sometimes you have to try the crazy

I spent the All-Star break trashing my pitching staff in the NL-only Tout Wars league. During the course of four days, I divested myself of Tom Koehler, Wandy Rodriguez, Jeff Samardzija, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Villanueva and Taylor Jordan (as well as Todd Helton and Luis Valbuena). My acquisitions were Drew Storen, Brad Ziegler, Ronald Belisario, and Luis Avilán (as well as Anthony Rendon, Jose Constanza and 36 FAAB).

Based on that flurry of moves, readers could reasonably scratch your heads and wonder why you should ever pay attention in the future to anything I would ever suggest, assuming of course you’ve ever paid any attention to my advice. Allow me to try to explain. 

As many of you know, Tout Wars is one the preeminent fantasy expert leagues.  Tout-NL has very deep player pool penetration with 12 teams rostering 23 active players, four reserve players and an unlimited number of disabled players. It also does away with the fifth outfielder and replaces him with a “Swingman” who can be either a hitter (regardless of position) or a tenth pitcher.  Like all expert leagues (except for the XFL) it is a re-draft league.

When things paused for the All-Star break, I was in third place, being held back by pitching deficiencies centered on wins and strikeouts. My pitching problems began with the auction. I came out of the March draft light on starting pitching. I had Wandy Rodriguez, Villanueva, Jon Niese, Nathan Eovaldi, Julio Teheran and speculative picks Gerrit Cole and Zach Wheeler.  Eovaldi was placed on the DL before opening day; Villanueva lost his rotation spot by May; and both Niese and Rodriguez are now on the DL (and have spent weeks there). So even though I was able to acquire Samardzija and eventually activate Cole and Wheeler, by June I was last in wins and next to last in strikeouts.  I spent the next six weeks taking advantage of the Swingman rule to keep 10 pitchers, including 7 starters, active in hopes of making up some ground. 

That six week experience netted me one point in wins – and cost me four points in ERA and WHIP, not to mention losing ground in the hitting counting categories due to having one less bat active.  I actually had fallen further behind the field in strikeouts, despite the extra active pitcher.

Just before the All-Star break, I assessed all the categories and decided that I should give up the effort to gain points in strikeouts and wins, and instead concentrate on maintaining and hopefully improving my standing in ERA and WHIP.  As I was already in a 3-way race for first in Saves, my goal was to get a few more saves in my deals, but primarily look to obtain a bit of a hitting boost.

Unfortunately my timing was not optimal.  Aside from Samardzija, most of my starters were fungible commodities, and Samardzija’s effectiveness had been on the downswing for the last few weeks.  Nevertheless, I was concerned that waiting could actually diminish his value – I was cognizant at the time of the All-Star break that his next start would be at Coors (although that turned out well for the Cub pitcher).  And once I started making the deals, it was pretty obvious to the rest of the league what I was trying to accomplish, making it a little harder to drive a good bargain.

Nevertheless, I did improve my team a little in the areas I was seeking. By acquiring Ziegler and Storen, I’ve hopefully acquired the handful of saves that will secure that category. Rendon is an upgrade over Villanueva, perhaps a big upgrade if the Cubs decide to try younger guys.  Helton was not even starting for me.  And the 36 FAAB dollars might help me get some key pieces down the stretch.

I also removed two temptations:  acquiring more mediocre starters and then starting them after one good outing. How many times have you decided to start a Tom Koehler-type pitcher after a couple of good outings because of a favorable match-up, and then paid the price when the guy can’t keep it up? I have insulated myself from that trap.

Is blowing off two categories “crazy”? While it is often a recipe for disaster, this is not the first time I’ve tried this ploy.  A year ago, I did virtually the same thing; that is, trading virtually all of my starting pitching.   How did that turn out? A year ago at this time I was ninth in the NL-only league, and I finished second on the strength of this tactic.  Will this work as well? We'll find out in about 10 weeks. But I’m already having second thoughts.

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