Auction Drafts (1 Viewer)

[Macdaddy_2004]

First year doing auction boyz...........

Just wondering if anyone has tips or tricks they would like to share - I have a feeling for the most part my league is going to be conservative and sit back on some of the studs.

I've decided to dedicate 90% of my budget to my starters since we have small rosters - at least a few WW gems will show up this year.

How do you manage your budget before/during the auction - I am guessing you have to be way more flexible and do a lot of in-auction adjustments.

 

[VaTerp]

First year doing auction boyz...........Just wondering if anyone has tips or tricks they would like to share - I have a feeling for the most part my league is going to be conservative and sit back on some of the studs.I've decided to dedicate 90% of my budget to my starters since we have small rosters - at least a few WW gems will show up this year.How do you manage your budget before/during the auction - I am guessing you have to be way more flexible and do a lot of in-auction adjustments.

Aggressive but smart- Don't get caught going after the last guy in your tier. You'll likely end up overpaying.Generally speaking, being aggressive early but leaving some room for deals later is the way to go IMO.

 

[Run It Up]

I try to find a balance, both strategies can result in a terrible draft.

I almost never nominate player I want until late in the draft, in the early rounds I nominate players I believe people will overpay for early.

 

[butcher boy]

Balance is good, but being aggressive is better than being passive.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

First year doing auction boyz...........Just wondering if anyone has tips or tricks they would like to share - I have a feeling for the most part my league is going to be conservative and sit back on some of the studs.I've decided to dedicate 90% of my budget to my starters since we have small rosters - at least a few WW gems will show up this year.How do you manage your budget before/during the auction - I am guessing you have to be way more flexible and do a lot of in-auction adjustments.

Watch what others are doing. If they're overpaying, sit back and wait. If everyone is waiting, buy early.

 

[butcher boy]

First year doing auction boyz...........Just wondering if anyone has tips or tricks they would like to share - I have a feeling for the most part my league is going to be conservative and sit back on some of the studs.I've decided to dedicate 90% of my budget to my starters since we have small rosters - at least a few WW gems will show up this year.How do you manage your budget before/during the auction - I am guessing you have to be way more flexible and do a lot of in-auction adjustments.

Watch what others are doing. If they're overpaying, sit back and wait. If everyone is waiting, buy early.

Except dont wait so long that you miss out on studs. It's easy to do this, and then you look back and the best guy on your team ends up being Shonn Greene. If "everybody" is overpaying, that means the prices you set as budgets are probably too low.

 

[Macdaddy_2004]

What about the 90% on starters?

 

[FantasyTrader]

What about the 90% on starters?

It's high. But like you said, your league has short benches so 90% may be fine. I'd shoot closer to 80%.

 

[butcher boy]

What about the 90% on starters?

I never like to hold myself to set numbers like that because of the fluidity of auctions, but that doesnt sound like a bad number. Last year I spent 89.8% of my budget on starters.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

I definitely recommend doing some mocktions.

I ran out of money pretty quick in the first ones I did, and there are all kinds of guys that can be had cheap later in the draft.

 

[rizzler]

Throw Ben Tate out to auction ASAP.

 

[fightingillini]

Really pay attention to the winning bids, especially early in the draft......Auctions are a zero sum game......if RBs are going for more than what you thought, that means another position will be going for less. Adjust your values on the fly.

Agree with an earlier poster in that don't get caught bidding on the last player in a tier....they usually go for more than they should.

But you have to win some studs, so get in there and bid. I see some owners that try and build a very deep team of 2nd and 3rd tier guys......these owners generally will never win the title. IMO, there are 9 or so elite fantasy players......Foster, Rice, McCoy, Rodgers, Brady, Brees, Calvin, Graham and Gronkowski. Make sure one of these guys is on your team.....2 of them even better.

Run it Up suggests never nominating a player you want early. I disagree. I like to mix it up so my leaguemates can't read my true feelings on a player. I sometimes like to put up a mid tier player that I really like up for bid very early. Say you really like Matt Ryan this year (many do) and you think he's worth $5 more than his "market" price. Nominate him early and see if you can steal him at a discount, since many owners want to save their cash for the stars.

I like to get in there and bid on a lot of players, up to a certain amount, even if I truly don't really want the player. I never want my leaguemates to know that when I get in the bidding that I REALLY want that player.....but.......be careful when running up the bid for players that you don't really want. I saw a guy who drafted Drew Brees run up the bid for Eli Manning and got stuck with him when the other two bidders bailed. He wasted $15 of his cap which he could have used on RBs/WRs. Key is, if you really know your leaguemates well, you can make then overspend for players that they really want.

My key trick to doing well in an auction is to budget EVERY roster spot. I don't think it's enough to just say I want to spend 40% on RBs, 20% on QBs, and so on. I look at my projections and the "market" rates for each player (use mock auctions). Then I put together a strategy that optimizes my team. Then put together a budget for each spot.....$15 for QB1, $30 for RB1, $15 for RB2, and so on. Make sure that you have at least 3 options at each roster spot, to give yourself the best chance of executing that strategy. So for QB1 my list may be Ryan, Rivers, Romo...while for RB1 it's McFadden, Forte, and Chris Johnson. So if I have a 17 player roster, I generally targeting my team coming from a list of about 50-60 players. Now that doesn't mean that I won't buy a player not on this short list if the price is right......you have to be very flexible in an auction. But you can eliminate a lot of players simply because they are overpriced to your expectations.

And last but not least.......try and save some $$$ at the end. If you have some cash left when others can only bid $1, you can steal the good sleepers. There are always some good players that slip through the cracks that you can pick up for cheap since you have the money to spend. In one draft Brandon Marshall was the 120th or so player to be nominated......most owners had very little money but I had enough to snag him for only $6 in a $200 cap.

 

[fightingillini]

What about the 90% on starters?

It's high. But like you said, your league has short benches so 90% may be fine. I'd shoot closer to 80%.

I would also start with a % in the low 80s and adjust if player prices are going for more than you think. Spending too much on your starters will prevent you from being able to steal good players at the end of the draft that slip through the cracks.

 

[butcher boy]

But you have to win some studs, so get in there and bid. I see some owners that try and build a very deep team of 2nd and 3rd tier guys......these owners generally will never win the title. IMO, there are 9 or so elite fantasy players......Foster, Rice, McCoy, Rodgers, Brady, Brees, Calvin, Graham and Gronkowski. Make sure one of these guys is on your team.....2 of them even better.

I made the mistake last year of drafting a deep roster where the best guy I had was Romo or Mendenhall. I even knew it during the draft. I knew there were guys I should've tried harder to get. This year I want 2 truly elite players.

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

What about the 90% on starters?

I never like to hold myself to set numbers like that because of the fluidity of auctions, but that doesnt sound like a bad number. Last year I spent 89.8% of my budget on starters.

This is in line with what I've seen for years now. You don't have to try to hit 90%, it'll be close to it naturally. If auction is new to everyone in your league, you have some huge opportunities that come up throughout the draft even with tier 1 players. Once everyone gets the hang of it (in future years that is), overpaying becomes part of the strategy. Planning your auction strategy is undervalued, it's definitely harder than planning for a regular draft. I think people set value on individual players for auctions. I use to do that when I first got into auctions, but I found that this isn't a good strategy. Values are no more than indexes to say one player is better than the other, it is probably next to impossible to give an actual dollar value for a player where if we had a way of checking every auction ever done it actually falls close to that number. It's not like adp, there are too many factors outside of intrinsic football valuation.Instead set value on each position you have to fill and stick to it best you can. This becomes more complicated for keeper or dynasty auctions, but the idea is the same. If you end up with a good sleeper that you can keep for years, you end up with more money to spend for other positions next year.People will overpay for top half of tier 1 players in each position except kickers and defense. This isn't necessarily because people are dumb, though that could be a part of it. If you want one or more of those guys plan your dollars accordingly and do more research on sleeper types that you'll have to buy rather than random leftovers.Overpaying for a player or two isn't a bad thing as long as it isn't done at the spur of the moment. Have a value in mind and only go over if you are okay with losing that amount from another position. On the flip side, if you just bought a top tier player really cheap, I would splurge on the next best player assuming that player is tier 1 or tier 1 possibility.Leaving money on the table at the end of an auction is lost opportunity. Always. Well, probably always.Low end tier 2 and tier 3 players who are fantasy starter material but not elite--RB2, WR3 types--are the guys you'll get a bargain on. Having two RB2 types starting for you is just as good as a RB1 + a RB3/RB4, for example. Wherever the chips land for your first couple of picks, overpay for elites or find these bargains. If you can do both, buy one or two elites and somehow come out with tier 2 types everywhere else on your starting roster, that is a great draft result. Paying less for a player in auction is not the same as waiting on a player till later in the draft, like waiting on a QB. It seems you can always find values in QB's and WR's, but you still don't want to end up with a lower end guy if you can help it. This probably goes without saying, pay the minimum + 1 for what you consider top tier defense or kicker. There are about two or three of each position worth the extra dollar. Pay the minimum for everyone else in those two positions, no real exceptions unless you are full at all other spots and have extra money.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

another problem I had doing mocktions is that your roster space isn't budgeted for you, like in a regular draft, so I'd find myself snapping up 'bargains' and find I was running out of roster space for guys I really liked that hadn't been nominated yet.

 

[butcher boy]

I think the biggest problem with "mocktions" is that you aren't doing them with your actual leaguemates. League tendencies are a huge part of an auction.

 

[Jasonb]

I've done a lot of auctions and there is no one way or best way to do it. Every auction is a fluid constantly changing thing. In leagues with deeper rosters, I would be patient... sacrifice the studs for the quality team model. Still attempt to get them at value, but the team that over pays will find their team unbalanced... they got that elite QB, but their RB/WR are lacking. In more shallow leagues like 1QB, 2RB, 3WR types... be more aggressive. Get your WR and QB... in dynasty leagues... they have longer careers than RBs. For RB target younger guys on teams with older RBs.

I personally make a list of all the players I want. Then I use the basic projected auction values for pricing. Then start adding it up... which players can I afford. I cross out the ones that aren't worth the the price tag, and target the rest. If a player goes for too much, I move on to the next... but don't fall into the trap of not getting the guys you want. You will find that you over pay for a few and under pay for a few. It balances out. Don't lock yourself up with a set number (no more than $57). Sometimes that extra $1 was all it would have taken to win the guy.

Save at least 15-20% for the end... and have a list of those sleeper players that you won't start early, but could turn out to be fantasy monsters. R. Cobb, R. Jennings, J. Rodgers, and so forth. If this is a keeper or dynasty and the salaries go up each year... be careful not to overspend. You won't be able to keep your studs if they are too expensive.

Good luck and mock as much as you can. ESPN has a good mock auction setup.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Generally speaking, being aggressive early but leaving some room for deals later is the way to go IMO.

I do this most of the time in auctions and, at the risk of being immodest, my auctions teams are almost always in contention for the championship (vs. my draft teams, which are more hit and miss). There are usually a few studs I want, and I make sure I get some of them early on, while still leaving myself enough money to play around with for sleepers and depth later on. Also, nominating a guy you want right away can really work, as many will be hesitant to spend too much too quickly, so you can sometimes get a player for a bit cheaper at the very start.

 

[flc735]

the thing i dont like about waiting is that there will always be 1-2 other teams that are doing the same.

so when someone like kendall wright comes up, there will be 9 teams that won't be bidding on him but if its late in the auction, you and those 2 other teams will be in a bidding war, and that could result in a bigger overpayment then what would have been if wright was nominated earlier in the auction.

also, if you sit back, your going to miss out on the studs. if you miss out on them, you won't be able to compete.

i say go after the guys you want and don't be afraid to pay 5-10% more than you were expecting and at the same time, only nominate the players you do not want.

 

[SelenaCat]

In our league, the first few players nominated can come at significant bargains, especially if the players nominated are the #2 or #3's in their position. You definitely don't want to wait too late to grab a player at a particular position, however, especially at RB as the scarcity will either force you to overpay, or to slough the position and then have to scramble to make up for it at other positions.