While it’s one of the most integral pieces to winning a fantasy baseball championship, waiver wire strategy always seems to be dismissed. Given its importance, it’s difficult to understand why. Maybe because it’s so basic to some – you pick up players you want, you drop the ones you don’t. Maybe people don’t understand that a well-thought out plan for adding and dropping players is important. Maybe some just don’t care. Whatever the case may be, true champions know, whether you’re talking about first-come, first-served, a waiver priority system or FAAB bidding, having a firm understanding of your league’s waiver wire system is one of the keys to your success.

Before we start talking strategies and tips, let’s go over the primary forms of waiver acquisitions.

First-Come, First-Served – This free-for-all waiver system is pure trash. Total amateur hour. You can pick up players daily and the only strategy to be implemented is be the first one to add the guy. The reason it gets its garbage status is because this system obviously favors those who are in front of a computer 24/7 or have absolutely nothing else going on in their lives. If a player gets hurt in the middle of the game, they immediately grab the replacement. If news breaks that a rookie is being called up, they immediately grab him. There are even people who will wait up until three or four in the morning so that they can be the first to grab a starter they want to stream the next day when the web site rolls overs. If your job doesn’t require you sit at a desk all day, how are you expected to compete? If you’re getting married and your player gets hurt while you’re at your wedding, how are you expected to compete? If your league uses this method for acquiring players, you need to petition your commissioner to make the change or find a new league.

Waiver Priority – This is a pretty basic system. Teams are assigned a priority number and submit their claims to the system. The web site then awards players based on the higher priority of the claiming teams. If one team has the No. 1 priority, another team has No. 3 and both put in a claim for the same player, the team with the No. 1 priority is awarded that player. That team’s priority number then goes to 12 (if a 12-team league, obviously) while everyone else moves up one spot. The process repeats as such until all claims are processed for the day/week. The one thing you will need to check for your specific league is whether these waivers run daily or weekly and if the waiver order resets for the new day/week. Some systems re-order teams for each new waiver period so that the team with the worst record or lowest points total ends up first at the start of each period. The overall system isn’t great to begin with, but if it’s forced on you, at least let it be without the re-order. No reason to try and shove waiver parity down our throats.

FAAB Bidding – This is the most-favored system, at least by those in the fantasy sports industry. Teams are given a budget – sometimes it’s $100 for the year, sometimes it’s $1,000 – and they submit blind-bids for players. When waivers are processed, if you are the highest bidder, you are awarded the player. If teams tie, the team with the worse record/lower points total, wins the tiebreaker. It is this system in which strategy is of the utmost of importance. Some like to be aggressive early and spend big bucks while some hoard their FAAB dollars so they have enough left for the second-half call-ups. We’ll cover that angle in a little bit. For now, we’re just identifying systems and understanding when claims are processed. Are your waivers once-a-week? Twice? If just once, does free agency open up to first come, first served afterwards? These are questions you need to ask ahead of time, so make sure you give a full read to those league rules.

Waiver Strategies

Timing is Everything

If your league does a first-come, first-served system, then you need to do one very important thing. Make sure you have the right app installed on your phone. Either that or make sure you have your league’s free agent list page bookmarked on your phone’s internet browser. You’re going to need quick access at all times. As soon as you hear news or rumors, you better jump on it immediately, especially if the player has some promise or has been getting some recent buzz.

If your league uses a priority system, the sense of urgency is only needed if, after waivers are processed, it opens up into a first-come, first-served system. If it does, then make sure you know at exactly what time waivers are processed and when the free-for-all opens. It usually happens when the site updates which tends to come around three or four in the morning (eastern time). Smart commissioners will set a specific time for the free-for-all so that players on either coast don’t have any advantage. Imaging going to sleep at 11pm, waking up at 6am and seeing a whole mess of players get taken off the free agent list while you were sleeping. Just keep in mind that not every commissioner thinks about this and it is likely something you will have to request at the start of the season if you have owners living in different time zones.

Be Aggressive Early

Obviously, for first-come, first-served, aggression is your ally, but for waiver priority, it’s just as important. Some people like to obtain the No. 1 waiver priority and then sit on it until a specific player they covet is available. It’s an understandable strategy once you near the trade deadline, especially for AL and NL-only leagues, but for the start of the season you need to be aggressive with your waiver claims. Injuries are abundant to start the season, job battles are still won and lost and managers are still tinkering with lineups and playing time. Hoarding your priority in the early part of the season will have you missing out on players who may be able to help you throughout the season.

 Be Proactive

If you want to get a jump on the rest of your competition, you need to plan some things out. If there’s a rookie in the minors and he is expected to be brought up once Super-2 Free Agent status passes, you’re going to have to grab him off your wire at least a week or two ahead of time. You might hate losing the bench spot if his arrival is delayed, but you’ll still have him before everyone else. If there is someone expected to come off the DL, you have to do the same. Waiting until they are announced as active will only give your competition added time to screw you over and steal your guy.

Stop Chasing Last Week’s Numbers

How many times have you seen someone drop a bench player for the Flavor of the Week only to watch their new acquisition stink it up while the player dropped goes bananacakes at the plate? Then, the owner drops the player they just added for the next hot bat or arm and the process just repeats. We preach sample size all the time. If you’re adding a player, you have to give him some time before declaring him a bust. Rotating the hot bat or the hot arm each week is only going to put you behind because you’re going to miss a lot more hot-streaks than you will hit.

Make Claims with Purpose

Far too many people make haphazard roster moves and their bench is a veritable revolving door all season. That’s fine if you’re doing it to be proactive with your roster, but don’t make moves just for the sake of making moves. If you have a need, then you make a claim. If there’s no one on the wire who you think is better than who you have, then don’t make a move. It’s really as simple as that.  

FAAB Strategies

Avoid Round Numbers

In a blind-bid, every dollar matters. If you have $1,000 to spend and you think a player is worth $100, you’re going to need to go the extra few dollars if you really want him. Bids of $101 or $106 are much more likely to win a player than just throwing in the round number. This usually reduces the risk of a tie and potential loss of the player if your team is doing better than your competition’s.

Think Percentages Over Actual Dollars

While it’s easy to say you’re willing to bid $50 on a guy, the real question is how much of that $50 is your remaining budget? Is it half? A quarter? You should always look at a player and think about what percentage of your remaining budget you should use rather than an actual dollar figure. A web site might tell you to bid $20 on a player, but if you have a $100 budget and already spent half of it, that $20 is actually 40-percent of your budget. Is the player really worth almost half your remaining FAAB dollars? If it’s August, well then maybe. If it’s June, you might want to consider a lower bid or alternative player.

Keep a FAAB log

This is a hardcore move. Yes, the web sites keep track of all the FAAB bidding, but there’s something different about having your own sheet in the order you want it and entering the numbers yourself each week. You’re not logging names. You’re logging positions and bids. Who spends the most on pitching? Does he need a starter this week? How many owners are chasing saves? You’ve spent more on middle infielders in the first two months of the season. Maybe it’s time to trade for someone more permanent so you can shuffle your FAAB dollars for a closer? The knowledge you accumulate on every team and every owner is immeasurable and if you do this in a keeper league that traditionally retains its ownership numbers, you’ll crush them in drafts too because you already know their tendencies.

Be Aggressive Early But Always Save for the Rainy Day

At the start of each season, I automatically commit 20-percent of my FAAB budget to “untouchable until August 1st.” You always want to have something for the trade deadline and for when numerous prospects get called up. The other 80-percent, I have four months to spend it and I don’t care if I do it in two. I try not to blow it all at once, but I do suggest being aggressive early on. Maybe there are guys who won jobs out of spring training that went undrafted in your league. You want to grab the full-timers. There are also plenty of situations that aren’t fully decided until late-April or even mid-May. Hot starts cool off and players get replaced all the time. Once we get into June and Super-2 passes, we may see some new hot-shot get the call. You can build up your bench nicely this way so that when the injury bug takes a bite of your ass, you have full-timers to plug in. Get ‘em while you can.

Be THAT guy

Never take a week off. Big weekend plans for Memorial Day weekend? Make sure you have internet access and set aside an hour on Sunday to make your moves. Throwing a 4th of July BBQ in the cul-de-sac? Don’t forget about your waiver bids. Got your niece’s Bat Mitvah next week? Take a moment away from the Hora and check your waiver wire. Holidays, long weekends and special occasions are an absolute killer. You miss a week, you fall behind. If you miss a crucial week when the wire is flush with strong value, you’re playing from way behind. If you know of these plans ahead of time, set yourself one hour aside to make sure you cover it. Those of you in multiple leagues will appreciate this in the end.