The 2016 season is in the books. Ben and Colin are now married (not to eachother) and I think Richie might be too, but I'm not sure. That brings us to 40%. Much like any strong relationship, we must learn from the past. Otherwise, history tends to repeat itself. As my season ended quite a while ago, I have used this off time to analyze the league and share what I have learned.
Speaking of history repeating itself, congratulations to Jarrett on joining the elite group of Back2Back winners. He had elite keepers, drafted well and managed a great team. With that out of the way, let us take a moment to diminish his accomplishments with some things we have learned from 2016.
Bring Back the Two Week Championship
Let me start by saying that Richie did everything right.
Identify a problem.
Clearly state our available options.
Discuss those options.
Send out an anonymous survey to vote on what to do.
As always, we voted and hoped for the best. As always, worst case scenario showed up at the most inopportune time. The imbalance of pitching tends to work itself out in the regular season, but in a one week finals it proved to be a massive advantage. Colin used all his spot starts, Jarrett saved his moves to pick up highly touted players from the waiver wire to try and lock people out of keeper options, and Jarrett still had the innings advantage on Colin, sealing a victory with one Win and one Save. Not for nothing, Jarrett's pitching staff is the better pitching staff, without question. But Colin's pitched admirably, spot starts included, and he took WHIP from this matchup. It would have been stressful for those two, but a real treat for us spectators, to have this elite matchup of superstar managers continue for one more week. If you haven't already, be sure to email Brandon Funston and tell him that we want the option for two week championships back.
Richie's Strategy Doesn't Work (as well as his last one)
In 2013 Richie's record was horrible. He was out of it at the deadline and sold everything, loading up on picks along the way. He turned those picks into a solid regular season, turned some future picks into reinforcements and that proved to be the recipe for his first Chalice. The following season he decided to get greedy. Trade the future for a mediocre present and its resulted in first round losses this season and last. The strategy is flawed and here's why:
Richie basically guarantees himself to be in the lower tier of the league come deadline time with no picks in the draft. Trading to make the playoffs, he ends up with no byes and does not have the tiebreaker with any relevant teams. Since 2003 there have been 14 champions.
8 of those 14 champions had bye weeks.
3 of those 8 won on ties.
4 of the 6 managers without bye weeks won a matchup on a tiebreaker.
1 of the other two won the league the year Jarrett was Yahoo champion but lost on a first round tiebreaker to the eventual finals loser.
I looked up these statistics to tell Richie in a blog post prior to the trade deadline, but I waited. Patience is a virtue that nets you a first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth and tenth rounder.
Keepers are Important (and Jarrett has the best ones)
Unfortunately one of those just passed away. RIP Jose. It's tremendously sad. Baseball fans the world over are left wondering what could have been. As someone who's bet the over on the Marlins win total the past two seasons, it was always a joy to watch you pitch.
The Importance of Keepers has Lengthened the Rebuilding Process
Adrian went the unconventional tank route last year. Rather than loading up on picks, he attempted to improve his keeper situation at the trade deadline. It was a bold strategy. Some may argue he should have accumulated picks then used those to get keepers before the draft. His strategy, however, proved that its important to have both picks and keepers in a rebuild. And if you want to go from first to last, you may be better off with draft picks. Depth is important. If a Giancarlo Stanton gets injured, or a Chris Archer just isn't good, its better to have more picks to build that depth. Just look at Alex, who proved that...
The Division Draft is a Success, and (although only one drafted a good team) Both Managers Drafted Divisions Correctly
The latest addition to the Diamond Dynasty's fun rules was divisions and the division draft. Jarrett won his division, but his last pick finished second. Kurt lost his division, but his last pick finished first. Before Kurt went in the tank, his division was in the exact order in which he drafted it. Only once he received the best players on a terrible team did Richie move ahead of anyone not named Kurt.
The Draft is Still Important (but not as important)
You can't win without drafting a good team. However, it all rests on keepers and your ability to keep the right ones. This leads to a larger problem. It's not about who you have. It's about who everyone else has. Unfortunately, some things are simply out of our control. I was going to post something about how we should have less keepers but I stopped here a few weeks ago and never came back so I forget my point.
