How many times have you said to yourself “I should have picked him up”?  

What made you not pull the trigger?

Not having enough confidence in your decision making can and will hold you back from winning.  Those who believe in only luck are equally as likely to fail.  I’d be lying if I told you luck had no influence on your success, but you can create your own luck.  There are calculated methods I use in my leagues that have proven reliable time and time again. Now the complexity of predictability cannot be explained simply, so I will address them over the season.

First, depending on the scoring system of the league, I evaluate my needs.  Unless you’re using Roto scoring with 10-12 teams and you’re up over 20 points or in a H2H league in first by 20 categories then you have needs.

Typically, the first players I look too are the top players in deep slumps.  They are the ones most likely to break out.  Next, and the less obvious answer, are the streaky players who have shown flashes stardom in the past, but have yet to put it together.   Look for starting players that were just given a few mental days off to regroup.  Surprisingly, more often than not it helps.  Keep your eyes on:

                                                       Avg.        Runs      HR      RBIs       SB      
·         Jhonny Peralta                .229          13            1           10           0

·         Alexei Rameriz                .198            7             1           11           6

·         JJ Hardy                             .208          12           5            17          0

·         Orlando Cabrera             .223           12          0             6            1

In some leagues these players may be sitting right in the free agent pool.  If they are not you can definitely get them for peanuts in a trade.  

These are just a few players that I scouted.  Keeping your eyes open for players that fall into this category is easy, and another weapon for you to use.