With the start of the 2016 Fantasy Baseball season upon us many have begun to formulate their draft strategy.  A popular strategy deployed by some is to flat out punt a category, whether it be categories such as stolen bases, saves or even batting average as these individualized statistics are just one category that will count towards the standings.  Now most of us head into the draft with the idea of building out a well-rounded team but as well all know your draft strategy is dictated by the flow of the draft but the question remains, does punting a category make sense?  Let’s take a look at how Howard Bender tackles this issue in the Fantasy Alarm 2016 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide.

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2016 MLB Draft Guide: Does “Punting” Make Sense?

By Howard Bender

While I believe a topic such as this should have both sides’ argument presented, I’ll throw a little bias into the mix right now and tell you that I hate the idea of punting categories. I get why people do it – wait. Let me rephrase that. I get why people think they should do it, but in truth, I believe that it actually puts the fantasy owner who does it at a distinct disadvantage.

Let’s start with the obvious reason which is that, by punting a category, you are taking a zero. Zip. Zilch. Nil. Nada. Nein. Bupkus. However you want to put it. You ain’t gettin’ squat. While technically, if you are in a standard rotisserie league, you get one point in the category, but it’s essentially still a zero. It’s like scoring points on the SATs for filling in your name. In a head-to-head league with category scoring, you’re automatically conceding a point you may not have even had to try too hard to win. Points leagues work a little differently so the impact may not be immediately noticeable, however, in the end you’re still giving away an opportunity to edge out your opponent. Sure, you can change your mind at any point during the season, but depending on when you decide to wake up, in most cases, you’ve fallen so far behind that catching up becomes more work than is usually worth the effort.

But the disadvantage doesn’t end there. Let’s say you decide to punt saves, the category most often punted in the fantasy kingdom. Not only are you gaining nothing in the saves category, but you’re also foregoing any potential help you could be getting in both WHIP and ERA. Closers do a significant amount of work to help your ratios and by not having them, you’re forcing yourself to pay up for starting pitching because the ratios you need to win, whether it’s roto or head-to-head, are not helped by most fourth or fifth starters. You could use middle relievers to help you out there, but then we’re now talking about sacrificing strikeouts, wins and quality starts.

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