Punting Categories
By Pete in Jordan
League 6
I’ll never forget my first experience with punting categories. There I was, playing fantasy baseball for only the second year in my life (I don’t remember the exact year, but I recall that Piazza was a slam-dunk, must-have, first-rounder … to give you an idea). I was in a great league with my buddies. I was still living in the NY Metro area. We held live drafts with plenty of pizza and beverage. Now, here I am in my sandy tent. Give me a minute while I wipe a tear from my eye …
Where was I? Oh, yes, my old basement … sorry. I had won the league in my first year. Here I was, in year two, sitting in first place again, wondering if the sophomore jinx was gonna get me. There was only one month left in the season, and then they came … the team came charging at me. They, eventually, passed by me in the final week of the season, leaving me in second place. My YooHoo shower was theirs.
You have heard of “punting a category”? This team punted two categories from day one! How did they do it? I will tell you, but, first, let’s talk about punting categories in general.
The premise of punting a category is that you feel confident that if you can just go through the season without having to worry about a category, you can succeed in dominating the other nine categories … and thus win the league. Technically, in a 12 team league, if you finish in first place in 9 categories — and in last place in the tenth, you are left with 109 points. This total would win a league almost every time.
Of course, the reason why punting a category usually does not pay off is that punting just one category in no way guarantees success in the other nine. What are some ”punting” strategies? Even if we don’t employ them, we might be able to learn something from them.
Punting Saves
Saves can be expensive. You have to invest a draft pick on a player that specializes in just one category. The best argument for punting saves is, “Why should I spend my pick on a player that will give me one category? Wouldn’t it be a more efficient use of a draft pick to draft a quality offensive player or starting pitcher who contributes in more categories?”
This argument makes punting saves the most common punting category. With this logic, a player can “load up” on quality offense and starting pitching, and he will only forfeit one category. In theory, you are strengthening nine categories and only weakening one.
The reason why this strategy usually fails is that you only need two or three closers to compete, and they don’t all have to be drafted in high rounds. The three picks you use on closers at rounds 5, 13, and 17 won’t kill the rest of your team. More importantly, having the extra picks at those rounds, if you punt saves, is hardly a guarantee of success in the other categories. So, in reality, instead of insuring success in nine of your categories, you still need to draft well to compete, and you are putting yourself ”behind the 8-ball” because all you did was insure total failure in one of the categories.
Punting Steals
Honestly, I have never seen this strategy intentionally employed. I actually think this one could work in rare cases, because some power/average guys may come at a discount due to lack of speed. The problem is, you are likely hurting both your steals and your runs, with this strategy, as most guys who produce many runs … um … run.
Punting Average
This is actually something that I do unintentionally … a lot. I get caught up in HR’s and SB’s and forget about average. In a perfect world, with no average, Adam Dunn would be greater than Miggi Cabrera! You can win with this method, too, but you might as well spend one or two picks on a guy with higher average and not have to scramble to compensate for a lost category. In other words, the price for average is not so high, so you might as well pay it and not dig a hole for yourself in that category.
Punting K’s and Wins
This is what the team that chased me down did. At the draft, I was new, and I was wondering how this team intended to survive without drafting a single pitcher before the 14th round! Then, when it came time for pitchers, they took nine unknown closers and middle relievers.
Our league was a weekly league, in it’s infancy, with no innings restrictions. These guys simply decided that, if they didn’t pick any pitchers, they should be able to dominate on offense … and even their pitchers will be above average because they will dominate in WHIP, ERA, and Saves.
This method might be the most likely to work, because not drafting any starters or closers really opens up roster spots for offense … to the point where you just might dominate every offensive category. Not only that, but you are also almost sure to have an above average pitching staff because category wins in WHIP, ERA, and Saves would be nearly guaranteed.
Not only that, middle relievers have been known to have high K rates, and vulture some wins as well, so those categories might surprise you by not being total punts. Of course, this strategy is so effective that there are rules against it in the form of an innings minimum which forces you to get some starters into your rotation.
Conclusion
On the whole, I think punting is not advisable. In order to win your league, you need a lot of things to break right for you in both pitching and hitting. Whatever edge you gain by punting a category does not guarantee success in the other categories, and it leaves you with less margin for error in the categories that you are competing in. Trying to be competitive in every category spreads your risk and keeps your roster flexible enough to recover from whatever challenges come your way during the season.
Finally, keep in mind these two lessons learned from punting strategies:
1. The value of fine middle relief can help solidify your WHIP and ERA.
2. Make every draft pick count.
Punting would never even be discussed if ignoring a category did not offer you a real edge in other categories. That should highlight for you how important being mindful of categories is when you are drafting.
I can’t wait for “kickoff”!!