Draft Ramblings-gambling on Puig

I am involved in my first APBA draft after playing fantasy baseball through Yahoo since 1998, and I see that APBA requires a new approach.

I inherited a decent team from a previous owner (a huge Astros fan from the looks of it) and I am rebuilding. I needed to make some cuts and took a few chances already.  We have a limited pool of new available players so the choices get thin quickly.

We have a 30 man roster with 25 active.  To me, that means you can hide a few players on the protected 5.  Who do I hide there?

1.  Rookies.  The players need to be carded so I can take a few chances.  Herrerra from Philly is a good choice, he looks to be a close to .300 hitter in 2016 but I dislike those K's. I hope to see him still available into the 5th round.

2.  Vets injured in 2015.  I have two, and that seems like one too many for a 5 player pool.  I held Hunter Pence and Yasiel Puig in the pool.  Both seem to have future potential in 2016 and I would hate to lose them if they return to form.  They also give me about 80 games combined.  However, they take up roster space gambling that they will produce in 2016 for next year.  Pence seems more stable in terms of production for 2016 and Puig a gamble.  Both are getting to the end of their high-production years but they are better bets than some rookies at this time.

3.  Pitching strategy.  I need 162 starts and enough innings to cover.  1,134 innings if my starters average 7.  That seems logical as APBA teams tend to have stacked pens, and I do.  So, 7 innings for starters but I need all of that for sure, so I will hide a starter in the pool to bring up if needed. I have no A starting pitching, but a rotation of B's with a few letters.  This may be a weak-spot but I really needed to fill Left Field as I had nobody there and chose to fill that well rather than chase an A or A/C starter. I now have Cain.

That covers my 5-one rookie, two veterans, and one starter.

I already made one mistake in the draft-Bartolo Colon.  He has a 30+ starts and close to 200 innings, but I could have done better.  I hope to replace him with my 5th round pick and drop or trade him to a team that has overlooked starting pitching.


I like the APBA system for leagues as you must pay attention to innings pitched and be aware that players get injured.  It is not a free-wheeling as a standard fantasy game and you have some statistical data to make choices on as it is based in 2015.

If you are interested look around for openings, they appear on Facebook occasionally.  It is a new way to play others when you don't have a local face-to-face league.