Reposted from 3/27/2015: Ok, I am going to admit it.  Going to admit it in front of all my colleagues here at Fantasy Alarm.  Yep.  You betcha.  Jeff Mans, Ray Flowers and John Desantis are going to be pissed.  I want to be honest so here it goes.

I played hooky for more than three hours yesterday making cheatsheets and lineups on RotoDerby.  

It started like any other day as I was organizing, delegating and executing the business that is Fantasy Alarm when I decided to check on RotoDerby.  Like John & Anthony over there and well, for full disclosure, I owe them for an awesome bottle of Italian wine that they gave me at the holidays that my wife and I shared.  As I went there, I started day dreaming that I was Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) in The Natural using the Wonderboy bat to crush the game winning home run, being mobbed by my team and then of course, my son catching the ball and throwing it back.  In my dream sequence, Glenn Close turns into a young Cindy Crawford and her love for me is blooming while I am bringing home a championship.  The final scene is like the last scene of Basic Instinct with me and Cindy Crawford.  An alternate ending that is much different than this one. 

“…when I walked down the street people would’ve looked and they would’ve said there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in the game”

How do we get to being the best there ever was?  WE CHEAT. That is what I do anyway and the first step to creating lineups in RotoDerby.  So for the first hour or so, I created consensus projections from a couple of sources waited heavily towards Todd Zola’s projections.  Then I added in the RotoDerby salaries and created RotoDerby points per dollar.  This is not the catch-all.  It is just another tool in the creation of lineups.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE CHEAT SHEET THAT WILL HELP YOU WIN.

RotoDerby is sooooo simple.  Take six infielders including catchers and four outfielders under a 210 Home Run cap.  The cost of each player is the number of home runs that they hit last year.  What I do is find the overlays and combine that with the players who are over 100 points.  Now it didn’t work perfectly this year because outfield is so scarce for players who have value in this game and infielders are plentiful.  Take a look at the chart below.  It is all players projected for 100 or more RotoDerby points sorted by points per dollar.

PlayerTMHRRBIKRD PtsRD $Pts/$
Cano, RobinsonSEA208576109147.79
Trumbo, MarkARI33102165102147.29
Beltre, AdrianTEX258076129196.79
Tulowitzki, TroyCOL287580135216.43
Cabrera, MiguelDET30108109149255.96
Pujols, AlbertLAA289671165285.89
Encarnacion, EdwinTOR3610282200345.88
Posey, BusterSFG228471123225.59
Cespedes, YoenisDET28103129114225.18
Gattis, EvanHOU3084123111225.05
Rizzo, AnthonyCHC3691122149324.66
Ortiz, DavidBOS329593162354.63
McCutchen, AndrewPIT2986118113254.52
Bautista, JoseTOR329196155354.43
Donaldson, JoshTOR3298130128294.41
LaRoche, AdamCHW3288135113264.35
Jones, AdamBAL3294132122294.21
Seager, KyleSEA2787117105254.20
Gonzalez, AdrianLAD23105108112274.15
Stanton, GiancarloMIA42108175143373.86
Martinez, VictorDET197850123323.84
Abreu, JoseCHW3397138124363.44
Trout, MikeLAA3499155114363.17

Now, I submitted many lineups each with a different strategy.  Take all the highest players and all the bargains.  Take a couple of bargains and then take middle level bargains and take one high priced sure thing.  If you look at the chart, you can see that Edwin Encarnacion is projected for 200 points.  The only player and no other player is with 35 points plus most players are over 80 points below him.  He is a MUST HAVE.  Then there are a number of other bargains and below is a sample lineup.

LINEUPPOSTMHRRBIKRD PtsRD $Pts/$
Cano, RobinsonIFSEA208576109147.79
Trumbo, MarkOFARI33102165102147.29
Beltre, AdrianIFTEX258076129196.79
Tulowitzki, TroyIFCOL287580135216.43
Pujols, AlbertIFLAA289671165285.89
Encarnacion, EdwinIFTOR3610282200345.88
Bautista, JoseOFTOR329196155354.43
Ramirez, HanleyIFBOS20809288136.77
Braun, RyanOFMIL228311776194.00
Reddick, JoshOFOAK207411163125.25

So jump in and play some hooky.  It will make you feel like Roy Hobbs in The Natural only Glenn Close will be Cindy Crawford or Jennifer Lawerence or Megan Fox or Jessica Alba.  Take your pick.  Whatever you do make sure that in the words of Hobbs to the batboy who made the Wonderboy bat…

“Pick me out a winner Bobby”