2020 Salary Cap Contest Strategy

by Doug Gruber

Salary cap contests are games where each MLB player is assigned a salary value and team owners must construct a roster within a defined salary limit, or cap. For this exercise who will use the long running CDM Sports Diamond Challenge (DC) as our example. The DC is a 5×5 rotisserie format with a salary cap. We thought it would be fun to take BABS with us on this adventure and ask her to help us formulate our DC team.

Here are the basic rules for the DC contest:

1) Rosters consist of 28 players (18 hitters and 10 pitchers) based on pre-determined player salaries and positions, with a $30M salary cap.  The full list of players and salaries can be found here (PDF).

2) Starting lineups for hitters include two at catcher and each infield position, six outfielders and two utility players who can play any position.

3) Starting lineups for pitchers include six starters, three relievers and one swing position…either a SP or RP.

4) Benches are comprised of 14 players from any position with any salary. The only restriction is that when a bench player is substituted into the starting lineup, the total team salary must remain under the $30M cap.

5) The scoring format is the traditional 5×5 rotisserie categories, with stats accumulating each week from your starters.

6) Lineups are set once each week on Mondays.

7) After your initial roster of 28 starters and 14 bench players are established, you are limited to 16 additional player purchases/drops throughout the season.

8) Teams are placed in 25-team leagues and compete against all participants for the overall prize.

Building our DC Roster

Using our BABS master spreadsheet and a blank roster grid, our goal is to accumulate as many  assets within the salary restrictions. For perspective, 28 starters for $30M equates to just under $1.1M per player. The player salaries range from a high of $1.7 million (Christian Yelich) to a low of $400K, which is cost of predominately bench players or minor leaguers.

Simple math…to include a high-priced player ($1.6M or higher) requires another player on the roster to have a salary below $600K. Our goal is to roster the lowest priced players who will receive full time opportunities and who possess the highest number of BABS assets.

The simplest way to locate the best values is to take our master spreadsheet and add a column for player salaries. I found it easiest to add that column to the left of the ADP column. The BABS spreadsheet is listed from highest ranked asset group to lowest, therefore it is logical to consider rostering full-time players from the top-rated asset groups with the lowest salary costs.

As an example, in the (P+,AV) asset group we have Mike Trout (salary $1.6M), JD Martinez ($1.29M) and Yordan Alvarez ($1.08M). Ideally, we would like to roster all three since this asset class is one of the most highly skilled groups. We may not be able to afford all three, so we need to prioritize. BABS says all players in asset groups have comparable skill sets, which means that Alvarez provides the most assets per dollar of salary from this group.

Some of the top valued hitters are Bo Bichette ($830K), Tommy Edman ($740K), David Dahl ($900K), Justin Turner ($940K), Tim Anderson ($920K) and Adam Eaton ($820K). Progressing further down the BABS asset groups we find very few full-time players with a salary below $700K. As such, it will be difficult to roster players with high salaries while staying within our salary cap.

Selecting our starting pitchers plays well into BABS’ wheelhouse as it is important to focus on SPs who best contribute to ERA, WHIP and strikeouts. As such, we should target SPs who have either extreme (E+,K+) or significant (ER,KK) skills. Unfortunately, we will have to pay up for starting pitchers as only a few possess the necessary skills while holding a below-average salary level. Players such as Blake Snell ($1.03M), Robbie Ray ($900K), Luis Castillo ($990K) and Lance Lynn ($1.01M) are the best pitcher values for the assets that they provide.

Regarding playing time, it is vitally important in this format to concentrate on full-time hitters, to maximize counting stats. It is not as critical for starting pitchers since each week we will be choosing from our total roster to find our best six or seven matchups, including two-start pitchers.

For relief pitchers, the goal would be to find a low-priced, highly skilled closer who has a firm hold on the ninth-inning role. Unfortunately, there are few closers projected for significant saves (SV) who are cheap options. Two of the best values with outstanding skills are Ken Giles ($1.18M) and Hector Neris ($1.15M). However, given that the highest priced closer (Kenley Jansen) is it $1.3M, there is not a big spread in salaries between the top closers and all others who have the job.

On the liability side, it is not as critical to avoid players with significant risk given that we have a bench of 14 players and the ability to add/drop players who are injured or not performing up to expectations. The entire player pool is available to us. While BABS does not recommend a roster plagued with risks, the maximum liability targets from standard 15 team leagues can certainly be relaxed.

The process has led us to our sample DC lineup:

SALARY BATTERS Pos Tm PT Pw Sp Av Pk Rg Av Inj Ex Nw Pk Ag Rg
1050 Realmuto,J.T. C PHI F p s AV inj-
780 Garver,Mitch C MIN M PW a * e
1070 Olson,Matt 1B OAK F P+ a inj-
1110 Bell,Josh 1B PIT F p AV *
740 Edman,Tommy 3B STL F p SB a EX
940 Turner,Justin 3B LAD F PW AV
1300 Albies,Ozzie 2B ATL F SB AV
1050 Hiura,Keston 2B MLW F PW a EX
830 Bichette,Bo SS TOR F p SB AV EX
1180 Tatis,Fernando SS SDP F PW S+ AV INJ EX Rg-
1230 Marte,Starling OF ARZ F S+ AV
1290 Martinez,J.D. OF BOS F P+ AV *
1080 Alvarez,Yordan OF HOU F P+ AV * EX
900 Dahl,David OF COL F PW AV inj- e Rg-
820 Eaton,Adam OF WAS F SB AV *
840 Laureano,Ramon OF OAK F p s a inj- e
960 Sano,Miguel UT MIN F P+ * INJ
750 Buxton,Byron UT MIN F S+ INJ
17920 Total 18 12 16 7 8
SALARY PITCHERS Pos Tm PT Er K Sv Pk Rg Er Inj Ex Nw Pk Ag Rg
1550 Cole,Gerrit P NYY F E+ K+ Nw
1480 DeGrom,Jacob SP NYM F E+ KK
1280 Buehler,Walker SP LAD F ER KK
1270 Hader,Josh RP MLW E+ K+ SV
1210 Bieber,Shane SP CLE F ER KK
1180 Giles,Ken RP TOR E+ K+ SV Rg-
1150 Neris,Hector RP PHI ER K+ SV
1030 Snell,Blake SP TBR M ER K+ Rg+ INJ
990 Castillo,Luis SP CIN F ER KK
800 Glasnow,Tyler SP TBR M ER k INJ e Rg-
11940 Total 11 12 3 2 1
29860
BENCH
840 Contreras,Willson C CHC F p a inj-
500 White,Evan 1B SEA M SB AV EX
1210 LeMahieu,D.J. 2B NYY F A+
1210 Baez,Javier SS CHC F p s a inj-
1340 Ramirez,Jose 3B CLE F p s AV inj-
1700 Yelich,Christian OF MLW F PW s A+ * inj-
520 Cordero,Franchy OF SDP P PW SB INJ EX
1630 Verlander,Justin SP HOU F ER K+ Ag
1250 Flaherty,Jack SP STL F ER KK
1230 Kershaw,Clayton SP LAD M ER KK inj-
1000 Anderson,Nick RP TBR ER K+ sv- Rg+ EX
900 Ray,Robbie SP ARZ M e K+ Rg+
780 Woodruff,Brandon SP MLW F ER k INJ e
500 James,Josh RP HOU P e K+ Rg+ inj- e
14610

This lineup accumulates 46 batting assets across our 18 starters, and 26 pitcher assets from our 10 pitchers. We are also well balanced across the categories, although we may be a tad light on batting average. With that in mind, our proposed bench players are tilted towards the AV assets. We may also tweak our Week 1 lineups once starters and pitching rotations are more defined and visible.

Total playing time is also maximized, with only one of our catchers carrying a mid-time designation. The bench is balanced between both low-priced and high-priced players, recognizing that we cannot insert high cost players unless we can also free up cap space. These low-priced options are placeholders for now, until we have a better view whether these players will begin the season in their respective starting lineups or rotations.

Overall, BABS is smiling! She served us nicely in this DC salary cap format to help construct our rosters.