1. Stay current:  This rule is self-evident to the serious fantasy player. Spend the time each day to check the box scores, keep on top of who is injured, slumping, surging, or platooning. Especially in leagues with weekly changes, this is a key component to succeeding, as you never want to have "empty holes" in your lineup at any position. It also is key to be aware in which parks your players will be playing. This becomes especially important when your players will be playing games in hitters parks or known pitching meccas. Only the most foolish fantasy owner leaves their pitchers in to endure the trauma of Coors Field. At the same time, parks like Safeco, Comerica, and Chavez Ravine are all especially friendly to pitchers and can be a detriment to your hitters.

2. Know your opponents:  In roto leagues, it is important to know where other team's strengths and weaknesses lie to give you an idea of potential trades you may be able to pull off. If an opponent is hurting in saves, they might be more willing to part with a power hitter for a good reliever than they would be otherwise. Knowing your opponents can also be an advantage in salary based leagues (such as CDM). For instance, if its getting late in the season and you realize you need to make up some ground, it would be wise to look at options who the teams in front of you don't have on their rosters. Also, knowing your competitors may help you in determining whether you need to "punt" a category if it's apparent that you'll never make up enough ground to make a difference. In that case, the wise move would be to use your moves and salary to help yourself in other categories.

3.  Conservative, then knowledge:  How many times have we seen a rookie pitcher breeze through April unhittable then fall quickly back down to earth? Too many times. Though it is important to be aware of early season successes, the best bet is to take a more conservative approach before using pick-ups or making trades to acquire these early bloomers. Of course, the question that is open to debate is at what point you jump in and make a move. A good rule of thumb is to look for a knowledge or fact base to back up your decision. Looking back at Albert Pujol's breakout season in 2001, nobody expected him to perform like he did. But if you looked closer at his minor league numbers, you would have seen that he had demolished the ball through all of his minor league spots, and a huge season was a definite possibility. However, if you see a player excel in April who is already 27 and has toiled in mediocrity his whole career until this particular month, then you have nothing to base his performance on and it would be wiser to avoid him and let other owners take a gamble and slip when he gives up 9 earned runs in 2 straight games.

4. Use your purchases wisely:  This tip is for salary leagues where you are given a certain amount of free agents to use throughout the year. While the overwhelming temptation is to use them as you need them, you must be more astute in stretching your moves throughout the season. For example, if you are allowed 10 free agent pick-ups and end up using up 8 of them by the end of May, your chances of winning your league will be hurt. When the final stretch run comes down in September and you are jockeying for your league lead, a few timely moves could be what puts you over the top. Of course, like many aspects of fantasy baseball, you need to look at the flip side. You don't want to get so stingy with your moves that you hurt your team by leaving a horribly underperforming or injured player in your lineup. Your best bet is to set up an average, say you can make 2 moves each month (that would be 12 on the year), and try to stay close to that average. You still have flexibility: if you need 3 roster moves in April, then go ahead and take them and cut back in a later month.

5. Familiarize yourself with individual trends:  As far as individual trends, this goes beyond just being aware of which players are on hot streaks and which are ice cold. Know the histories of your players. Who on your team is a traditionally cold starter in April and who usually ends up fading as the dog days begin setting in. An interesting positional quirk within this is at the catcher position. Because of the wear and tear they take on thier bodies throughout the season, many catchers tend to slip and be less productive the final month of the season. And how can you use this to your benefit? Well, maybe if you're riding the season with one of a handful of slugging backstops, you might be more willing to part with your stud as the year winds down. In other words, in the eyes of those who pay no attention to inter-season trends, the value of your catcher would be higher in their opinion entering September than yours would be.