You can get a bonanza of fantasy baseball tips from a thousand different websites, but here at Deep League Roto, we want to offer you a different perspective.
Obey or disregard, it is entirely up to you, but we hope they give food for thought.
Deep League Roto Tip: Pay attention to spring training
Clear that dead weight in your roster at the keeper deadline. Look out for middling hitters on the verge of a breakout, pitchers likely to get the starting gigs, and relievers next in line for saves.
Deep League Roto Tip: Be flexible
This is a good rule with any draft/auction. If you suddenly get maxed out and lose your main target, be ready to spend elsewhere. Truly the worst feeling in an auction is ending up with unspent money. Dynasty leagues tend to have MUCH shallower player pools than a more standard keeper league, so if you miss the big fish, there honestly may not be any mid-range guys to spend your dollars on, so if you can’t get the position you need, buy yourself the next best thing and go from there.
Deep League Roto Tip: Don’t jump the gun. But also don’t wait too long
It can be easy to overreact to losing the first couple of weeks, but take an honest look at your roster. If you have a couple guys with April slumps, do a dive into their stats, both current and historical, and see if you think they can come back and push you up.
Deep League Roto Tip: Have conversations about trades
Talking to your league mates about who you are interested in may not get you an immediate deal, but you get to know each other better. They might just come back to you later because you’ve established a dialogue (happened to me in 2021) instead of being the idiot who insulted someone by offering $45 Miguel Rojas for their $5 Acuña. (disclaimer: I never ever did that)
Deep League Roto Tip: Play in fewer leagues
If you supported seven or eight different MLB teams, you are very likely to have a team to follow in the playoffs. It’s the same with fantasy baseball; if you play in 10, 15, or 20 leagues, you are likely to have a decent amount of success.
Look at it this way, who are you taking with the first overall pick this year? Soto, Tatis Jr., Turner, Guerrero Jr., Cole, Trout, Ramirez? If you play in one league, that decision is critical. If you play in a dozen, you can probably have a different one in each team.
You only support one MLB team. You enjoy their success, and you endure their failures. This is what fantasy baseball is. You should only draft one team (per format), and you will be more invested than your 10, 15, or 20 teams.
The ‘per format’ is important, as a shallow 10-team 5×5 is a completely different beast to a 24-team draft & hold.
Deep League Roto Tip: If you rate a player, draft him, regardless of his ADP
We are all hung up on ADP and ranking. In drafts, especially snake drafts, if you don’t grab the guy you want, you might miss the opportunity.
In my roto league (walks as a category) last season, I drafted Jesse Winker about 100 picks ahead of his 213 ADP. It was a gamble, but my research led me to believe he had MVP potential. This year he has an ADP of 103.
Deep League Roto Tip: Learn from mistakes but continue to be bold
Last year, I assisted with another roto team (OPS as a category). Using one of the projection systems, I calculated that Marcus Semien, Eugenio Suarez, and Joey Gallo were three of the non-kept free agents who we should go over-budget to acquire at the auction.
Having aggressively pursued and secured Gallo and Suarez, I became more cautious about overspending again. I watched as Semien went elsewhere for the same as our valuation.
Although disappointed it wasn’t on my roster, I am pleased that Semien had such a great season as it vindicated my process. However, it highlighted that the floor for players with such high strikeout tendencies as Gallo and Suarez is much lower than I planned.
Deep League Roto Tip: Don’t let anyone dissuade you from getting your deep sleeper
Deep-league sleepers are our specialty. Lane Thomas was one of our picks ahead of the 2021 season, and now look at him: an NFBC average draft position of 252 (between Mark Canha and Tommy Pham). No one was interested when we raved about Thomas’s potential – to be fair, he only hit .111 AVG in 2020 – but he had 1.093 OPS in a small sample in the majors in 2019, so he was still on our radar.
I’m trying to say that if there is a deep sleeper you like, grab him. What’s the worst that can happen?
Featured image photo by Greg Fiume
Deep League Roto 