USA Today BB Weekly Diamond Challenge

by Bob Radl, staff writer

March 3, 2002

Spring training camps have opened in Arizona and Florida with Cactus League and Grapefruit League play already underway. Major league baseball teams are busy preparing for the 2002 season. Fantasy fans have also begun to prepare in earnest for the upcoming 2002 baseball season. Although there are many different types of fantasy or rotisserie leagues available for the avid fan to participate in, one of the largest and best known fantasy baseball competitions is USA Today Baseball Weekly Diamond Challenge. The purpose of this article will be to serve as a guide to fantasy fans for the 2002 Baseball Weekly Diamond Challenge. The 2002 version of this contest will have thousands of skilled managers vying for the ultimate prize of $25,000.00.

OVERVIEW

All entries are randomly placed into 25 team leagues with ten leagues then comprising a division of 250 teams. All entries compete for prizes at the league and division level as well as the grand prize of $25,000.00. Each team has a 28-player starting roster comprised of eighteen (18) position players and ten pitchers. You must have six starters and four relief pitchers. Players are assigned a salary and a position by CDM at the beginning of the year. These do not change even though a player may be used by his team at several different positions. The combined salary of the 28 starters cannot exceed $30M. The players' salaries are based on a three-year average, called the Precise Ranking Method or PRM. In addition, each team has a twelve-player taxi squad.

The salaries of the taxi squad do not count against the salary cap. However, if a player is activated and placed into the starting lineup, the team owner must insure that the combined salary of all 28 starters does not exceed $30M.

SCORING

Each team is ranked within its individual league, division and against all other entries in ten statistical categories, five batting categories and five pitching categories. The batting categories are batting average, home runs, RBIs, run scored and stolen bases. The pitching categories are : Earned Run Average (ERA), Wins, Saves, Strike Outs and WHIP (Walks+Hits/Innings). Teams are ranked from first to last within the league, the division and also against all of the entries. Points are assigned based on these rankings. A team that finishes first within a 25-team league in a given category earns or receives twenty-five (25) points. The second place team in a category receives 24 points and so on down to the last place team that earns one point. This scoring system applies to all categories with each category being considered of equal value.

The most points that a team could earn in theory in a 25-team league would be 250 points if the team was first in each of the ten statistical categories. This scoring system also applies to the division ranking where a team could earn from 1 point to 250 points in each of the eight statistical categories. If a team won every category in a 250-team division, the most points that it could earn would be 2,000 or 10 x 250 = 2,500 points. The number of possible points in the overall ranking is based upon the total number of entries. Thus, the maximum number of possible points changes from year to year based on the number of entries. Points are re-calculated each week to determine league, division and overall standings.

SCORING CATEGORY CONSIDERATIONS

Batting Average. The composite batting average (BA) of your players for the year must be at least .290 or better to be competitive. To be honest, an average of closer to .300 will more than likely be needed. 24 of the top 25 teams from last year had an average over .300.

Runs Scored. You better figure on a total of 1,700 runs to be competitive in your league or division. The number of runs scored last year (2001) was down slightly from 2000. This was attributed to the new enlarged strike zone that benefited power pitchers. Another way of computing this is to figure on approximately 100 runs per starter on your team.

Runs Batted In. Your fantasy team better prepared to have 1,700 RBI’s to be competitive. Once again, you can use a rough figure of approximately 100 RBIs per starter. The elite teams in 2001 all had between 1,700 and 1,790 RBI's.

Home Runs. You need power hitters! ‘Nuff said. It will be very difficult for you to be competitive at any level with less then 500 homers. All of the Top 25 teams from 2001 slammed about 500 dingers. Home run totals in this contest were also down from the previous year. This translates into an average of about 27 to 30 dingers per starter on your team. Just a friendly reminder that every dinger also gives you a run scored and a RBI. You have now taken care of three of the five offensive categories! One of the first things that I learned about fantasy baseball from Dennis LePore, the head "Shrink," is that "you can never go wrong with power." Thank you, Dennis. Truer words were never spoken.

Stolen Bases. Your team will need close to 250 to 275 stolen bases to be competitive in its respective league. However, if you want to be competitive at the division level or higher, you will need to be in the vicinity of 280+ stolen bases. This averages out at about 15 steals per starter. Several of your power hitters will steal very few, if any bases, while others will steal more then their fair share. The middle infield slots, especially second base have good potential for "cheap" steals in 2001.

Wins. Your composite pitching staff will need to win at least 100 to 110 games to be competitive at the league level. 120 to 125 wins from your staff will probably be the rule to be competitive at a higher level, such as the division or the overall prize. Before you go and faint, remember that you will be shuttling your starters in and out of the lineup each week to maximize the most starts. Think of it this way, 120 wins in 26 weeks equals 4.6 wins a week. You may be able to get 10 to 12 starts from your starters in many of the weeks.

ERA. Just figure on an ERA of 3.15 to be competitive at your league level and possibly 3.00 to be competitive with the more elite teams. The ERA numbers for the 2001 had several of the Top 25 teams hovering at around 3.00 with the overall winner having an unbelievable low ERA of 2.9732.

Strike Outs. You will need somewhere between 1,800 and 1,900 K’s from your staff to be competitive. The season is 26 weeks long so this equates to about 70 K’s per week from your staff. If your staff is really "on" in any given week, you could easily hit 100 or more K’s when your aces pitch twice. Once again, the fact that you can rotate your starters in and out of the lineup can help you maximize your strike out totals.

WHIP. The ‘ole WHIP can really throw managers for a loop. Your team needs to be in the range of 1.12 to 1.20 to be in the hunt. This is a very competitive category where the smallest move up or down can have large ramifications on your standings.

Saves. Although generally considered the least important of the pitching categories, saves cannot be ignored. Figure on a minimum of 125 saves for your team to have a chance. Once again, that is a low figure. I would venture that between 140 saves or more is probably more realistic for a manager to finish in the money, especially if you have your hopes on a high national finish.

Planning both your offense and pitching is critical. The smart money is on the managers that have projected the stats for each of their every day batters and pitchers. You can use the projections from the SHRINK web site to assist you in this detail. Please bear in mind that most projections are a tad on the conservative side to prevent fantasy managers from becoming overly optimistic about their players.

STRATEGY

Draft Well. Nothing like overstating the obvious, right? Since you are able to choose from literally hundreds of Major League baseball players, a solid draft is the key to preparation for this contest as well as any other fantasy contest. I always like to draft a few stars that have been proven players over the years and deliver good value for the money at their respective salary. Household names such as ARod, Pudge Rodriguez, Todd Helton, Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez, Barry Bonds, Vladimir Guerrero, Juan Gonzalez, Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi, Lance Berkman, Pedro Matrtinez, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, Curt Schilling and Gregg Maddux easily come to mind as players to be given strong consideration for a spot on your roster.

After you have drafted your stars at certain positions, you then fill your remaining roster slots with players that will help you and allow you to stay under the $30M salary cap. Do not have your team come in right at $30M or you will experience major problems trying to stay under the salary cap as the season progresses. A little “wiggle room” is well advised. The taxi squad is also a good place to “stash” a few of the higher priced stars that you were not able to work into your lineup. You can work these players into the lineup as the season progresses and as “bargains” or cheaper players begin to appear.

Balance Amongst the Position Players. You are only as strong as your weakest link. If you score too low in any one of the five categories for the batters, this will cost you dearly as the season progresses. The eighteen position players consist of two players at each infield position, two catchers, six outfielders and two Designated hitters or DHs. These eighteen players will account for half of the statistics each week. You will need to find a proper mix of players to help you in each of the scoring categories for the batters. Thus, you will need a mix of batters that can help in all categories.

Pitching Important Element. Although your pitchers cannot win the Diamond Challenge for you, they could easily lose it. You are required to have six starting pitchers each and every week. The stats from these six starters will weigh heavily on for four of the five pitching categories as well as four or 40% out of all ten categories. Stop and think about this for a moment. Your six starters or less than 25% of the active roster make up 40% of the scoring categories. Therefore, it is imperative that you have good solid starting pitchers. You cannot afford to have poor players in this category. Your pitching cannot win the title by itself, but it can sink your chances. It is worth spending a little extra to insure that you have quality starters. You will also need to watch the rotations of the starters each week to make sure that you have your best starters in the active lineup when they pitch twice.

As a general rule, NL pitchers tend to have more value in this challenge than AL pitchers because they do not face DH’s. This creates for lower ERA’s and lower WHIP for NL pitchers. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, such Pedro Martinez. Most managers also bench starters when they play in fields like Coors Field. One bad outing there can really hammer away at the old ERA and WHIP. A quick review of the pitching stats for the past few years would confirm this. Once again, be prepared to spend a little extra money on quality starters, as it is much easier to absorb below average stats from one hitter out of eighteen than it is to do so for one starter out of six.

Role of the Closers. The Diamond Challenge requires each owner to have four relief pitchers or closers active each week. I have found that it is best not to overspend too much in this category as closers essentially help you only in the saves category. Their effect over the course of all a whole season in the other pitching categories is quite minimal. The closers will get a few wins and K’s but nothing like the starters. On the other hand, owners cannot totally neglect this category. CDM has narrowed the salary gap between the elite closers and the averages closers. A low dollar closer will eventually emerge as the season progresses. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

Use Purchases/Free Agents Wisely. The rules allow each owner to purchase twelve new players at of cost of $10.00 each during the season and also to acquire four free agents at no cost during the season. Managers are able to purchase all twelve "burns" in advance this year at a discount. The available free agents are posted each week in the USA Today Baseball Weekly. Each owner is also allowed to acquire two additional free agents in August (19 to 25 August for this year) as call-ups to his taxi squad. This is along the lines of September call-ups for the Major league teams. Do not use your moves to quickly as players will be hurt throughout the course of the season. Reserve a few moves for late in the year. (Refer back to the section on drafting wisely). If you use all of your allotted moves early in the year, you will pay the price later in the year.

If you follow these general guidelines and are a shrewd fantasy manager, you should do well in the upcoming season. Smart managers will also take advantage of the Sandlot Shrink’s superior Web Site and information that is posted there throughout the entire season. Wishing you a world of success in 2002!