2008 Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy

Here's the 2008 fantasy baseball draft strategy for a 5x5 roto league. The categories are R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA, and WHIP. League configurations are C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF, Util, 2 SP, 2 RP, 3 P, and 5 bench spots.

Rounds 1-5: I would aim for getting one premium RP (one of the top 4 -- Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan, J J Putz, and Francisco Rodriguez), someone with excellent SB (a Jose Reyes or a Hanley Ramirez, or even someone like Eric Byrnes), as well as 3 power hitters, not necessarily in that order.

Rounds 6-10: Here's where I start load up on SP. I'd aim for 3 SP here, and then 2 power hitters.

Rounds 11-15: Here's where you start taking chances. Here I'll go with someone who had a good 2006, and was a bust (injury or otherwise) in 2007. Players like Francisco Liriano, Troy Glaus or Chris Carpenter (remember him?) would be perfect here.

Rounds 16-21: You are rounding out your position players. At this stage, you are reaching for potential. Any rookie who has had a good last month, or even a good last couple of weeks, of 2007 is worth considering here. Power is also still available here (for example, Rick Ankiel), so is premium speed (Jerry Owens, 32 SB in 356 AB in 2007). You'll want to grab a second RP who can provide some saves (players like Todd Jones and Brian Wilson can still be had here). Once all the closers are gone, you can start to aim for an RP who is not a closer now but who can become a closer should something happen to the incumbent closer, someone like a Joel Zumaya, or one of the San Diego middle relievers (doesn't it seem like every year SD comes up with a couple of RP's with great ERA, WHIP, and K numbers?) would be a wise choice here.