We talk a lot about avoiding draft day mistakes, but what about when the draft is over and the games start to count, what do you do then?

Be hyper vigilant on waivers early on. Don’t rest on a great draft. The time to rest is in October. In April make sure you are following every bit of information you can find. This is the time to shore up a weak draft or just bolster a squad. Players often emerge early in the year seizing roles, and you want to make sure you’re aware of the changes that are occurring before your leaguemates are so that you can jump on the right players. 

Know your league rules. How many games does it take to qualify at a spot? How do waivers work? Understand what the baselines are and you will have a much better chance of success. 

Don’t make dumb trades. Of course this one is arbitrary, but you get the point. Be thoughtful when it comes to dealing away a player or adding one. Don’t do a transaction willy nilly. I love that phrase by the way. Read The Art of the Deal. Understand your place in the standings and what will be needed to improve. So many times people make trades that they “win.” However, even though they won the deal they don’t improve much in the standings. The reason is that they didn’t take into account the standings. I’m speaking to those of you in roto leagues now. If you can gain points in steals, add a speedster. If you need power add a basher. If you need strikeouts get yourself an ace. At the same time be wary of the loses you are taking on when make the move. You might gain in steals but will you lose in batting average? You might gain in strikeouts but lose saves. Factor in what you are getting as well as what you’re giving up when you make a move.

Use your ratios as an indicator of how your team is performing and understand how those numbers can or can’t be manipulated. ERA and WHIP might not be perfect, we’ve touched on that idea all throughout the Guide, but they are used and they need to be managed. You don’t want to fall drastically behind early on because high ratios aren’t always easy to erase. At the same time, ratio categories like ERA and WHIP are often tightly grouped. You will see some team that is 85 steals behind in the standings. You won’t see a team with an ERA that’s a 1.25 runs higher. Given the tightly grouped nature of the ratio categories you don’t want to give up on them. If you do, you could easily lose points in the standings. Offensively, batting average isn’t a great indicator of the overall performance of a player, but it’s what we’ve got (better to look at things like OBP, SLG etc.). If your club has high batting average and low counting numbers perhaps you should tweak your roster. Conversely, if the average is low and the counting categories are solid, you might have yourself a solid offense there.

Reassess your team at the end of every month. It’s easy to remember to check your squad, the standings and the waiver-wire on the first of every month. You want to be #1 so check your team on day number one each month. Also, take a look at the other teams in your league. Has anyone been active on waivers continually picking up outfielders? If you got an extra one maybe you can send one to the other club. Check the message boards. Is someone looking for a middle infielder? Be aware of what is going on with your team as well as the others in your league by continually checking in.

Don’t give up an any category in the first half of the season. I don’t believe in punting categories unless you’re in head-to-head league (see Does Punting Categories Make Sense?), but that talk usually revolves around draft day and roster construction. Let’s talk in season. You lose a closer to injury, and your second guy is demoted cause of struggles. It’s May 29th but you’ve just lost your two closers so you punt on the category. Why would you do that? You can still make a trade. You can still grab a guy off waivers. There are still chances for you to gain points in the saves category. This situation is the same for all 10 fantasy categories. I would suggest you wait at least until the All-Star break to completely give up on an entire category. Even then, I would be extremely diligent in determining if it would be a good idea to do it. In nearly every instance you can still gain standings points.

Keep an eye on playing time and don’t underestimate players who are out there every day. I get it. Melky Cabrera is a nobody. He’s boring. Still, he plays every day. Last season he saw 151 games and that led to a .296-14-86-70 season. Not sexy, but that’s really productive, ain’t it? This is the type of player you shouldn’t overlook the value of. Injuries are everywhere, all the time, so getting those guys who are in the lineup consistently is a good “get.” Also, don’t underestimate the counting category success of players who play daily. Note that we’re talking about established players here. Look for guys who have been in the league for a few seasons who have a long-term contract. Those are solid indicators of continued playing time.

Don’t keep your eyes on March once the games start. You got a great value on Matt Moore at the draft table. Good for you. Pat on the back earned. Now that the games are going that means absolutely nothing. I could care less if you got Moore in the 18th round or the 13th round. All that matters once the games start is his performance. Look forward not backwards.