I have never run a marathon, although it has crossed my mind to participate one day. Preparing for a marathon is a process. I can't decide two weeks before a marathon to enter one. I won't be successful. It's similar in fantasy baseball. If you show up and do little research one week before your draft, you're likely in trouble. Preparation and research are key.

One of the best ways to prepare for the season is Draft and Hold leagues. There are a few platforms to play on and one of the most popular is the NFBC (National Fantasy Baseball Championship). They are 15-team leagues with a 50-round draft.

In a season-long league, players can be added off the waiver wire and trades can be made. No transactions are made in a Draft and Hold format. The team you draft is the one for the entire season and the only work to be done is setting a weekly lineup. The NFBC allows changes to the hitters for the period from Friday until Sunday. The pitchers are locked in on Monday.

Most people love to draft, but the time commitment to working the waiver wire each week is too much for some over multiple leagues. This is where a Draft and Hold league becomes appealing. The maintenance is minimal compared to season long leagues.

This is also a test of your drafting skills. Of course, luck plays a part. I tend to do three or four of these leagues and I already completed one on January 17. It's early to do one and there are still a lot of unsigned players. There is guess work when you do one this early, so the start of spring training might be an ideal time to do one for most people.

While there is a chance to win money, the goal of these for me is to familiarize myself with the player pool and draft value. The fees to enter the NFBC are $150, $400 and $1,000. In addition to individual league prizes, the overall champion gets $30,000. There are 750 players being drafted and that means doing a lot of research. By doing a few of these, you will be extremely well prepared for your season-long leagues.

The drafts are mostly slow drafts. The timer can be one minute, one hour, two hours, or four hours and for the NFBC, the timer is off from 2:00-8:00 a.m. ET. This gives you plenty of time to research while making picks. The scoring is 5x5 roto league with a 23-player starting lineup with two catchers and nine pitchers of your choosing. The bench has 27 players. Fantrax.com has a similar setup with lower entry fees of $50, $150 and $250 with the top three spots paid out and no overall prize. I have also participated in those and enjoy them, too. On Fantrax, you are allowed to make pitching changes on Friday, unlike the NFBC.

Since there are no moves, a multitude of injuries can ruin a season. I have had teams in which I couldn't fill the starting lineup with active players in a given week. It will happen. Draft and Hold leagues are becoming more popular because we love to draft. It's the best day of the season. When too many drafts are done, many don't have the time to commit to each league.

Acquiring players with multiple position eligibility is valuable. It is during a redraft league, but even more important in this format. Injuries are inevitable and the flexibility to move a player to two or three positions helps. Taking risks on injured players becomes more difficult in this format. In a redraft league, it's easier since you can always drop the player or place them in an Injured List slot. That can't be done here.

Taking a look at the Average Draft Position (ADP) is a guide. Try and sort it by recent dates, anywhere from the last two-to-three weeks. Anything before that might not be helpful. For example, Joe Musgrove has seen his ADP move up after the trade to the Padres. The ADP going back to December drafts won't capture the movement.

To win a Draft and Hold league, there are a combination of factors that need to happen from strategy, selecting the right players, setting the lineup correctly, identifying breakout players at below market value and some luck. Compiling at-bats and innings are crucial and being risk-averse in the first few rounds is important. Taking a player that has injury concerns early can harm your team. For example, there were indications last season that Chris Sale had an elbow issue. It made sense to avoid him. On the other hand, Noah Syndergaard tore his UCL in the spring and that was bad luck.

Be prepared for pitching to go earlier than usual. Since there are no waiver wire moves and adding pitchers that surprise isn't an option, most teams push pitching up the board. In the draft I recently did, four pitchers went in the first round. Ten starting pitchers went in the first 24 picks. That doesn't mean you have to take one. There was a team that didn't take a starting pitcher until round eight. There are several ways to win, but make sure you come in with a strategy and understand that starting pitchers fly off the board.

As for closers, the position is more unpredictable than ever. There are very few closers that are assured of production. Even the top tier closers people believed in last year disappointed. Only six closers went in the first six rounds of my first draft. Saves are more spread out than ever and there are numerous teams where we have no clue who will close, making it challenging in early drafts.

The price of the top tier closers will likely go up, especially if there are questions with many teams. Saves are a scarce commodity, but that doesn't mean to overpay. If I can get one solid closer, I look to add several relievers that could close, are second behind a perceived closer or a reliever with a good skill set that has a chance to close at some point. Examples of relievers I took are Jonathan Hernández , Rafael Dolis and J.B. Wendelken.

Playing time is crucial. There might be some unappealing players in the reserve rounds, but if they have a full-time job going into the season, consider them. They could have a stretch of good matchups at Coors Field or get to face a bad pitching staff. There's no set number of players to take at each position. I like to have 22-24 pitchers, three or four catchers, and 10-to-12 outfielders. 

It's January and it may seem early to some for baseball but getting involved in a Draft and Hold league will get the blood flowing and get you pumped up for baseball. Once you start drafting, you will want to do another. By the time your real drafts come around, you'll be extremely prepared. As for running a marathon, I'll keep you posted. I have another Draft and Hold league to join.