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Bleacher Features - 'Cellar Dwellers'
CBS SportsLine Fantasy Baseball
'There's Always Football' June 4, 1998

Dan Keston plays in a 12-team, auction, NL and AL league. He is currently winning and plans on not ever using his advice below. His favorite player will always be Kirby Puckett.

Only one-third of the season has gone by and already the first place manager of your Fantasy League is calling the Cigar shop for a price estimate on Cubans, while you slowly lose strategic focus as your squad slips into last place. Stop wallowing in the dungeons of sub-mediocrity. With these ten minor adjustments you could easily take yourself from worst to first:
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  1. Don't be afraid to give up on one category. If your team is fifth in all pitching categories but tenth in saves, trade Trevor Hoffman for another quality starting pitcher.
  2. Never give up on the free-agent market. Just because run producers like Brant Brown were eating at coffee shops in towns like Pawtucket on draft day doesn't mean that they aren't better than 80% of major leaguers today.
  3. Give up on big name players that aren't producing. Yeah, you thought that Brady Anderson would be a steal but now he's hitting .184. It isn't 1996 anymore.
  4. Get rid of injured players. A common misstep in Fantasy leagues is to hold on to a Todd Greene all season, planning for the rise of your squad with a home run-hitting catcher.
  5. Trade your biggest star at his peak. I know how much you love watching Mark McGwire hit home runs, but if you can generate a bidding war for him, you can fill three large holes on your team and get rid of two liabilities.
  6. Bench your one-dimensional players. An extra stolen base per week doesn't help as much as a .200 average, and no run production hurts.
  7. Make sure you have everyday players in your starting line-up. Stay away from places like the Cincinnati outfield; its like a big game of musical chairs out there.
  8. Start following pitching rotations more closely. If you have a pitcher that will start on Tuesday then he'll probably get a second start that week. Bench him the following week for a different pitcher who is likely to get two starts. This will definitely help improve your win and strikeout totals.
  9. Don't bench a player due to one bad week. You can't time the stock market either.
  10. If none of the above works, well, football is around the corner.
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