Well, the Red Sox ended their short-lived boycott and got on the plane to Japan. That means you only have 4 more days to get ready. If you haven’t made your gameplan for the coming season, you’d better get on it. Like I said before, my goal is to get as many of you into the top 100 as I can. In light of that, let’s get straight to strategizing.

RULES

Paul has said this a couple of times, but if you’re serious about doing well, go read the rules and then read them again. We hope that most of the game will be pretty intuitive, but you don’t want any surprises.

TRADING

RotoHog is a fantasy game, and fantasy skill is the most important thing, but having some extra cash can only help you. There are a few basic things to remember that will make your life easier when it comes to trading.

1) Forget about who you think is good… just for a little bit. Obviously, the key to making money is to buy low and sell high. Go find players that you think the great RotoHog masses will consider to be undervalued. Don’t worry if you end up carrying 5 outfielders, or if you buy a couple of guys that you personally think are washed up. You’re not asking them to marry you, you’re just holding them on your roster long enough to make some cash before you trade for the guys you really want.

2) Work on your timing. If Johan Santana is taking on the lowly Giants on Friday, you’ll get the same amount of points for using him whether you buy him on Wednesday morning or Friday afternoon. Take a guess at which one will yield you more profit. Look for hitters and pitchers who will be on the rise soon, and be the first in line to add them.

3) Focus on cheap guys initially. There is always a lot of demand for stars like A-Rod in the pre-season, but if history repeats itself, we’ll see the top guys fall and the lowest guys rise when prices go into motion on March 24th. It’s easy for the RotoHog masses to find room on their roster for a $5 guy, so look for some solid values with single-digit prices. Then again, things are completely different this year, so I make no promises about this strategy.

MONEY MANAGEMENT

Budgeting was covered in detail in my pre-season strategy guide, so go check that out if you haven’t already. The short story is that on most days you’ll want to be carrying 9 hitters, 2 relievers, and 4 to 5 starters (thanks to the new 5 day waiver lock on SPs). With a $300 budget that’s less than $20 per position. As I’ve said before, having A-Rod is a lot of fun, but it will take an awful lot of extra production at that one position to make up for the weaker players you’ll be using at several other spots. I’m a big proponent of a well-balanced lineup with an emphasis on match-ups.

Also, every team is given 3 bench spots to use however they please. You’ll have to use one sometimes for your 5th starter, but beyond that I’d strongly advise forgetting about them. Every dollar sitting on your bench is a dollar that’s not out hitting or pitching a baseball for you, and that means fewer points at the end of the year.

RotoHog is a pretty simple game once you break it down; make as much money as you can, and then spend it more wisely than the competition. You don’t have to be a q-max expert like our good friend Jocelyn to do well here (can you believe she bought that q-max stuff??). I’ll talk more about setting a strong lineup in the coming days, so get out to the trading floor and find some guys who are due for a sharp rise.