Rule number one when preparing for draft day is to research, research, research. Gather all the info you can and know the players and the lineups. If you are reading this, you are obviously on the right track as you have taken the time to get more knowledge on this great game, in hopes of gaining an edge on your competitors.

You need to find different sources and take the info in, assess it, and draw your own conclusions. You may also wish to consider starting a notebook to keep all the little tidbits organized. Information found in box scores, local media, message boards, etc. etc. You get the point.

The next thing that must be done depends on the type of league you play in and the style of your draft. Regardless of the above mentioned items, step two is to assess the talent available for the draft along with the drafting order or the available auction budget. Almost all draft day values you'll find are created for single-season leagues with all players available. This can cause problems if you are in a league which retains players from season to season because now you must convert their figures to be in line with the expected draft day inflation.

Inflation kicks in when players are kept by teams under their normal value. This causes the pool of draftable players to shrink, but the money available per player to increase. It also allows for simple supply and demand principles to come into play. For example, the dollar values you found say that a speedster will be worth 20 dollars. However, in a league where players are kept, there may not be any other key stolen base figures left in the auction. Three teams may need stolen bases, and only one speed demon is up for grabs. The bidding wars begin, and that 20 dollar value will go out the window because the two teams that don't get him will be doomed to finish near the bottom of the SB category, making it much harder to reach that date with the traditional Yoo Hoo shower.

An owner now must forecast the freeze lists and see what talent will be available for the draft. This must now be cross-checked against the projected stats for the players you intend to keep. Once you get those stats, compare them against last season's final standings. You now must assess your strengths and weaknesses and then evaluate the pool of available players and begin to target players that you need to obtain in the draft to balance your team. If a balance appears unobtainable, then stock up in a category and try to trade some of the surplus for players that will help in areas where you are weak.

Today, you can get help in doing so by using draft software to help speed the process of locating your strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your opponents. Software can also help you generate dollar values based on draft day inflation, and can be a valuable tool in preparing for a draft. There are several products on the market and you can choose your favorite.

The above advice talks about keeper leagues. However, even in single-season formats, one needs to look at position scarcity and draft order like an keeper league owner needs to look at keepers. Know which positions have plenty of talent and which do not. Be prepared for the players that will go in between your picks in a draft. For example, if you have pick #11 in a twelve-team draft, you will have the 11th and 14th overall picks, after which you won't get to select a player again until pick #35. Twenty players will go off the board between your second and third picks. One must keep that in mind while drafting. If you are not aware of what players are left and who is likely to be taken in the next 20 picks, you can get left closed out of a position or category.

The final step is to then set a draft day plan. Start focusing on which players you want to get and in which round, or for what price, you expect them to be available. You can use various mock drafts you'll find in Section 5 of this site as a benchmark to get a ballpark estimate as to what players will go for in your draft. Then you can target players that fit your draft order or budget allotted for each position. Have some backup plans ready, because the draft never goes the way you plan it, and you never get all the players you put on your want list...