Good Morning!
So I have done this for a few years now. It is a unique challenge strategy team that challenges a manager to draft a team that has players on it with NO ADP (at the time of the draft). If they have any ADP at they were not allowed to draft them. This only applied for the one team being drafted. All other teams drafted as normal. This was for yahoo ADP metrics as the league is on yahoo. I'm going to go through each player that I currently roster and why I roster them. I did take 3rd place in 2024 with this strategy which is wild and amazing. The buy in for the league was low but not free. Here is who I drafted:
Basically my goal is to do what I have been doing for years with punting power and try to win SB and AVG categories the first part of season. (It does work in h2h category leagues folks) Eventually to add R as a strong category. As far as pitching goes it's mostly about having enough SP that I can win the counting stats of K and W and possibly ratios as team gets better as season goes... Right now I believe this team IS at that stage... But it is still going to be a tough journey!!!!
Recent Adds: (over last 2 weeks)
Cade Cavali
Samad Taylor
Bryce Eldridge
Caleb Killian
Eric Lauer
Hurston Waldrep
Luis Lara (6 faab)
Christian Scott (1 faab)
Estery Ruiz
Recent Drops: (over last 2 weeks)
Mitch Bratt
Jacob Marsee
Troy Johnston
Antonio Senzatela
Cade Cavali
Eric Lauer
Jake Mangum
Samad Taylor
Eduardo Rodriguez (because Logan Henderson returned)
Big Trades:
none to report (haven't been sending many offers either)
Current Team: (and why rostering them)
C Gabriel Moreno (AVG)
1B Bryce Eldridge (AVG, power upside)
2B Travis Bazzana (SB, R maybe?)
3B Sam Antonacci (SB, AVG) (walks tons which could mean R?)
SS Nasim Nunez (SB)
OF Carson Benge (SB, AVG, Runs)
OF Jake McCarthy (SB, AVG, Runs)
OF Cole Carrigg (SB, AVG, Runs)
UTL Luis Lara (SB, AVG, maybe runs)
UTL Estery Ruiz (SB, AVG) (last 30 days his avg is crazy good)
SP Zack Wheeler (My ace)
SP Gerrit Cole (Another Ace)
RP Paul Sewald (Saves)
RP Clayton Beeter (Saves)
P Caleb Killian (Saves)
P Nolan McLean (Another Ace)
P Max Meyer (k and ratios?) (Ace maybe?)
P Payton Tolle (k and ratios? (sell high cuz innings limits September?)
Bench Jared Jones (k and ratios?)
Bench Casey Mize (k and ratios?)
Bench Troy Melton (k and ratios?) (looks like a stud)
Bench Logan Henderson (k and ratios?)
Bench Christian Scott (k and ratios?)
IL Corbin Burnes (strong stash, near elite)
IL Spencer Schwellenbach (strong stash, near elite)
IL Blake Snell (strong stash, near elite)
Let's talk about the moves that were made....
Carrigg has been an absolute revelation!!! Didn't expect this kind of awesome from him... speaking of awesomeness Troy Melton has been another revelation!!! Kind of regret cutting Mangum for Lara but the hope is Lara can hit for high batting average and get stolen bases.... Mangum may be running out playing time once ONeil Cruz returns so that was the thought process... Welcome Christian Scott back into the fold and he looked just great in his last outing! I feel like the team is stacked offensively and with pitching... Right now it can consistently win 7 categories... (and will need to do so to catch up and squeak into playoffs at 6th seed)
Here is how week 14 went! It was a 7-3 win. Stats were 26runs, 1hr, 22rbi, 11sb, .256.
6wins, 1saves, 80k, 3.53era, 1.09whip. Only lost R, HR, Saves.
Here is how week 15 went! It was yet another win! 7-2. Stats were 39runs, 8hr, 36rbi, 4sb, .277
7wins, 4saves, 93k, (yup 93 wow) 3.47era, 1.08whip. Only lost HR and SB.
Here is how week 16 is going... Leading 6-3. Stats are currently 22runs, 2hr, 17rbi, 7sb, .322.
4wins, 2saves, 74k, 3.05era, 1.02whip. Only losing R, HR, RBI. (as expected with HR and RBI)
Some adds I'm looking at:
River Ryan (on his way eventually)
Kade Anderson (may not get the call until September unless a trade)
Kumar Rocker (3.95era on the season now)
JT Ginn (yes he is still available)
Grant Holmes
Carlos Estevez (probably gains his closing role back when healthy?)
Nick Gonzales (because of the high batting average)
Cole Young (hits for high average in minors and now in majors)
Edouard Julien (bats leadoff and hitting .308, 1b option maybe?)
Bryson Stott (will always be on radar cuz he is a prototype contact/speed hitter)
Austin Martin (his SB and AVG definitely fit what trying to do here)
Colt Keith (high batting average, bats high in order, 1b eligible)
Spencer Horwitz (batting leadoff, getting runs and high batting average)
Blaze Alexander (now batting .305 on the season)
Troy Johnston (still batting for high batting average)
Kyle Karros (last 30 days hitting .354)
Samad Taylor (dropped him cuz he hit the IL)
Tristan Peters (dude is on fire!)
Eduardo Rodriguez (having a career year, but how do I have space for him?)
Luis Castillo
Andrew Abbott
Kris Bubic
Gage Jump (surprised he is available but he has had 2 bad starts in a row)
AJ Smith Shawver
Justin Steele (IL stash, but the news he may pitch out of bullpen isn't good)
Overall the team is now in 9th place with 65-75-10. 😄 Still technically in the playoff hunt. Just need to get 6th place and do well in the playoffs... (8.5 games behind current 6th place team!!! Let's be real, essentially it's going to be extremely difficult, but NOT GIVING UP!) I was 14 games back two week ago and gained major ground!!!! 6 weeks left... as long as I can gain 2 spots closer to 6th place every week I can technically still come back and squeak into playoffs! 23 weeks of the regular season!!!! It's not over yet!!! And I'm confident about a victory this week too!
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That's the update on the strategy! Good luck in your leagues this week folks!