Fantasy Baseball 2012: First-Timer Rules for Handling Daily Leagues

Here are five basic rules to follow when navigating your way through a roto daily league for the first time.

1. Add a fourth 'S' to your morning ritual

Most men are familiar with the S**t, Shower, Shave agenda for starting their day, everyday. Well, now that baseball has arrived, fantasy owners should incorporate a fourth 'S'—Set lineup—into their morning to-do list. It's the best way to stay on top of what's going on in baseball—regarding breaking news, injuries, promotions, demotions or starting-pitching changes—without altering their workday lives too much.

2. Fill as many positional vacancies for that day as possible

Citing an example from Thursday, let's say Owner A has Derek Jeter as his/her regular starting shortstop and Cincinnati's Zack Cozart as the backup. Since the Yankees didn't start their season until Friday, Owner A should have swapped Jeter for Cozart in the "SS" slot, with the intention of reversing the switch before Friday's games. The same holds true for extraneous outfielders (like Pittsburgh's Jose Tabata) or first basemen: As healthy assets, they shouldn't be riding the bench with open spots in the starting lineup.

Now, others might argue that it's not wise to start someone of Tabata's ilk against Phillies starter Roy Halladay. But that rationale essentially has no basis in daily leagues. The roto owner's objective is to accumulate as many hard numbers as possible over the next six months; if Tabata should go 0-for-3 against Halladay, but score one run, then so be it. You can't nickel-and-dime your way to dominating all five categories. You have to take a leap of faith that your guys will produce on a regular basis. Otherwise, what's the point of rostering them in 12-team leagues?

3. Don't bench relievers in daily leagues

The day will come when six or seven starting pitchers from your squad are in action, prompting the benching of set-up relievers Tyler Clippard or Luke Gregerson. But for the most part, relievers should be given every chance to succeed in daily leagues.

To repeat, roto leagues are all about the accumulation of numbers for the season, and every one-inning appearance of zero runs, one hit and one strikeout goes a long way toward bolstering your pitching stats in late September.

4. Don't blow your FAAB budget in the month of April

For leagues that endorse blind-bidding auction for free agents, practice prudence with acquisitions in the first four weeks. Let's say each owner in a 12-team league has a seasonal budget of $125. That shouldn't be an open invitation to purchase new Red Sox closer Alfredo Aceves or interim Rays closer Joel Peralta for $38 on April 5; nor should it be a reason to spend $18 on the next reincarnation of Tuffy Rhodes the following day.

(For young readers, Rhodes famously belted three opening-day homers off Dwight Gooden and the Mets in 1994, but essentially disappeared after that.)

The best endorsement for saving FAAB money involves the big-league arrival of Milwaukee's Ryan Braun on May 25, 2007. On that day, fantasy owners were willing to spend a large chunk of money to acquire Braun. And what did the winner get? A four-month spree of 34 homers, 97 RBI, 91 runs, 15 steals and .324 batting average.

Moral of the story: Good things come to those who wait.

5. Please let your roster breathe until April 25 or so

This tenet has nothing to do with the incidental changes that occur with fantasy teams. It has everything to do with needlessly cutting stars who can't hit their weight in April, or submitting knee-jerk trade offers to counter someone of Felix Hernandez's caliber struggling out of the gate. Yes, you should never turn down a one-sided offer from a dullard owner...but April is not the best time to react harshly to individual numbers or team standings.

In fact, I'm begging you NOT to check your daily standings for at least two weeks. The wild shifts in momentum aren't worth the heartache.

Jay Clemons can be reached on Twitter, day or night, at @ATL_JayClemons.