Article:The Best Pick vs The Best Fit

From www.thebaseballfix.com

The Best Pick Vs The Best Fit


Whenever you are in a fantasy draft, whether football or baseball you will find everyone with there cheat sheets. Some from magazines, some printed off the web. The problem with this? Well most cheat sheets grade out the same within one to two players in different spots. So if everyone has the same information how do we as Fantasy GM’s build a team to win without everything falling in our lap? It is simple, forget what pick you have and do not lock yourself in to pre draft auction prices. People forget that you are building a team, not filling out an all star ballot.

A perfect example of building a team vs. picking the best player came up yesterday in a mock I did. I had pick(s) 11 and 13 in a 12 team standard 5x5, with those not familiar you fill out a roster that consist of 1b,2b,3b,SS,2C,1CI,1MI,U/DH,5OF and 9P. Ok so with that out of the way, here is how my first two picks came about and the implications it had on my fourth round. I assessed based on early ADP reports who I could reasonably expect with the 11 th pick and I started to look at what strategy I could use. I realized if Ryan Howard was there at 11 th I could turn right back around and grab Prince Fielder with the 13 th pick. These two alone would give me a huge leg up on HR over pretty much any other combo in the league that could be built. Fast forward to round four, a round in which I had the second pick and there was a ton of front line starters, infielders and lights out closers left. It would have been easy to take a Beckett, Papelbon or Jeter. However looking at what I had in HR with Howard and Fielder I decided the best fit for my team to pretty much win HR was to pick Adam Dunn. Now this is not a huge leap based on his ADP spot, it was however some what shocking to those who can not look beyond who their list tells them to pick. I know Dunn was not the best player left on the board. In fact he was probably not in the top ten remaining players on the board. But you must ask yourself two questions before you make a pick. One, what am I building and what suits that best now. And then will player X(e.g. Dunn) still be there when I pick again? After you answer these two questions pick accordingly, even if it goes against what some so called “expert” says. Just keep in mind through out the draft that you are building a team to win categories not filling out an all star team to win games.