2nd Half Strategies - Look Closely at the Numbers

Are you looking for ideas to pick up points in your Fantasy Baseball league?  Do any of these examples look familiar?

You have had your eye on that starting pitcher on the last place team in your league all year.  This might be the time to try and make that deal for him because you desperately need help in pitching. 

Or how about this scenario - You are struggling in runs, so you are going to try and go after a couple of leadoff type guys rotting on your opponents' teams at the bottom of the standings.  Offer them something decent and - voila! - you have yourself some significant points in the 'Runs' category.

Not so fast.  One thing a lot of guys do when making deals they think will help them is simply not look at the numbers close enough.  Not only numbers for the individual players you want but the numbers that tell the tale of where you are in the standings, as well.

First off let's look at the players.  For players you want, take a closer look at their recent trends.  Using the pitching example, try and look to see what their numbers have been over their last four or five starts.  If they started out well, but have been knocked around lately, that might be a red flag.  Is there an injury lurking that no one knows about?  Have they started to come back to reality? 

Remember, especially for pitchers, those early season numbers can be decieving.  They pitched a fair amount of starts in cold weather, which is an advantage.  One that I've used many times.  I've taken a decent pitcher, have him pitch well in the month of April and a little in May.  Ride that high to a trade.  Once the warm weather hits, the balls start flying a little more and those low E.R.A.'s and WHIP start to rise.

Look at players who started slow but who are on the rise.  Their overall numbers might be down, but perhaps they have started to find their groove.  These guys can sometimes be had for a cheaper price.  Eric Hosmer and Josh Hamilton are two examples of this.  So, instead of overpaying for a guy with gawdy numbers that may slow down in the 2nd half, try and take a closer look at some guys trending upward.

Lastly, look at the numbers in the standings.  Yes, you may need some pitching points, but where, exactly can you gain?  If you are light years away from gaining some meaningful points in E.R.A. and WHIP, then I might look in another direction.  For example, saves can be a category that you can gather points in rather quickly.  You might have guys at the very top running away with the category, but chances are this category is bunched up enought that picking up another save guy can gain you valuable points.

Also, look closely at each category and see how far behind you are from guys above you.  Looking closer can give you more insight into whether you can gain a bunch of points or not.  The HR category is really bunched up in our league.  Just the addition of one big power guy can add another 4 points.  However, ERA and WHIP are spread out.  Someone is not going to be able to pick up many points here.

Look at the numbers to make better decisions on what you need and who to try and go after.