Strategic September moves can help bring home a fantasy baseball title

More than any other sport, fantasy baseball requires owners to make adjustments throughout the season.

At no time are those adjustments more important than in September.

First of all, baseball is the only professional sport that uses different rules for the final one-sixth of the regular season.

On Sept. 1, MLB teams can expand their active rosters from the 25 players they’ve used for the first five months up to a maximum of 40. The two primary effects are deeper bullpens — which help save the best relievers for the most important situations — and more minor league call-ups available for spot duty.

But some teams have begun elevating their prospects ahead of the official roster expansion date.

Early promotions

SS Trea Turner, Washington Nationals. Turner is owned in most keeper leagues, but his surprise promotion last week might be an indication of how desperate the Nationals are for offense. He posted an overall .322/.370/.458 slash line with eight homers and 29 stolen bases between Classes AA and AAA.

“I want to be a complete hitter, and I feel like you’ve got to be a line-drive hitter to do that,” Turner told reporters at this year’s All-Star Futures Game, where he had a double, triple and two RBI in two at-bats. “No matter what level you’re at, the game can speed up on you. You just have to do your best to slow it down and relax and let your game play out and not try to force anything.”

Likely to be the Nationals’ shortstop after Ian Desmond’s contract runs out after this season, Turner, 22, recently started to see action at second base in the minors. Considering the number of players the Nationals have deployed there this season, that could be a way he finds his way into the lineup down the stretch.

OF Domingo Santana, Milwaukee Brewers. One of the key components in the Carlos Gomez trade to the Houston Astros, 23-year-old Santana got the call to Milwaukee on Aug. 21 and promptly hit a home run in his first game as a Brewer.

He posted excellent numbers in the minors (.333/.426/.573 with 18 homers and 77 RBI at Class AAA), where he played mostly corner outfield. But the Gomez-less Brewers have an opening in center field, and his success offensively could give him an extended look with Khris Davis and Ryan Braun as fixtures in left and right.

OF Travis Jankowski, San Diego Padres. With Will Venable traded to the Texas Rangers, the Padres have room for an outfielder. Jankowski, 24, hit .335 at Class AA and AAA — and produced a pair of two-hit games in his first two games with San Diego.

He has an excellent batting eye (.413 OBP, 49 walks, 50 strikeouts in 434 minor league plate appearances) and good speed (32 stolen bases in 43 attempts). As a left-handed hitter, he could be an effective platoon partner for Melvin Upton Jr.

SP Jerad Eickhoff, Philadelphia Phillies. The first prospect the Phillies acquired from Texas in the Cole Hamels trade to reach the majors, he picked up a win his new team before Hamels did.

Eickhoff, 25, tossed six shutout innings and struck out five Friday in winning his big-league debut at the Miami Marlins. The 6-4, 240-pound right-hander was 12-5 in the minors this season with a 3.85 ERA and strikeout rate of 8.5 batters per nine innings.

September staples

In preparation for the season’s final month, here are a few things to remember to make your September as successful as possible.

1. Know where you stand in each statistical category.

In Rotisserie leagues, category management becomes paramount down the stretch. Not only do owners need to maximize their own team’s production, but they also need to keep an eye on where their closest competitors are in the standings.

Don’t worry about the categories where you have little room to move up or down. Focus instead on the areas where points are up for grabs.

Saves and steals in particular are particularly volatile — and any new sources of either are highly prized down the stretch.

2. Protect your ratios first.

It’s human nature for fantasy owners to stop paying close attention and making roster moves once it’s clear their team doesn’t have a chance to win — especially with fantasy football season on the horizon.

When that happens, players who should be benched or put on the disabled list often remain active — with the major impact coming in the counting categories. If you’re looking to move up in the standings, that’s where you can make up the most ground.

Ratio categories such as batting average, ERA and WHIP are affected far less by team owners going on autopilot. If you’ve built a solid base in those categories, any incremental moves to gain home runs, wins or strikeouts through additional at-bats or innings likely won’t cost you standings points elsewhere.

3. Make sure you know exactly how your league handles transactions.

Some leagues eliminate trading in September. Some freeze the player pool over the final month so that owners can’t abuse the add/drop process. Others make players who are cut after a certain date ineligible to be picked up again for the rest of the season.

With rosters and the fantasy player pool expanded in September, it doesn’t seem fair to have other active players put off limits at the same time.

But I remember an instance many years ago playing in a league that had daily transactions. Down the stretch, there were several teams with a shot at the title — and every day over the final few weeks turned into a constant stream of pitchers.

It was utterly exhausting. And I promised myself I’d never play in another league that had daily transactions.

4. The disabled list is useless.

With the expanded rosters, major league teams don’t have any reason to put injured players on the official disabled list. While it has no impact on the field, it becomes a big deal for fantasy owners who are looking to replace those injured players.

If a player isn’t on the DL, he’s taking up a roster spot that could be used for someone who’s even the slightest bit productive.

The best solution to this issue is one adopted by my all-keeper dynasty league: Anyone who doesn’t play for 15 consecutive days in September can be declared “on the DL” for league record-keeping purposes. If he happens to come back and play a game before his owner activates him, a player on the roster must be cut immediately.

5. Finish on a high note by playing daily fantasy baseball.

Even if your season-long teams are all out of the running by the time September rolls around, there’s a way to make the season a success.

The lessons you learned while taking it on the chin for the first five months can be put to good use. Capitalize on the hot hitting of that player you never should have traded in May by picking him for your daily fantasy team.

(Full disclosure: USA TODAY Sports has its own fantasy game, FantasyScore, which offers daily baseball contests, even during the postseason. Go to FantasyScore.com.)

And no matter what format you play, September is a great time to try out new strategies that you can put into practice next season.