New to Fantasy Baseball and Odd League Rules... (1 Viewer)

[Lehigh98]

Hey guys, thanks for checking this out and ay help you can provide.

I'm joining an "easy to manage" work league that has some odd rules to make it "easy to manage".

RULES SUMMARY

Format

Serpentine draft with players from both AL & NL leagues

Players

5 offensive players (any position)

3 starting pitchers

2 closers

Categories

Basic 8 plus K’s and Runs (a 5X5 format)

Reserve Team

Post draft (in March) the teams will participate in a supplemental on-line lottery draft to draft a four-player RESERVE team of two pitchers and two hitters. Teams must use their reserve players to replace a rostered player who is injured and on the MLB DL. If teams have depleted their reserve players due to injuries to their drafted ten players, then and only then can they claim free agents from the MBL FA pool of players as injury replacements. If a team elects to replace a non-injured rostered player with a reserve team player it must use a "free pass" to do so.

Moves

Add FAs only if players are on official MLB DL, are suspended, get sent to minors, on bereavement, etc. Drop players only when DLed players come off DL. Additionally, teams are granted TWO "free passes" that can be used to make discretionary, unrestricted FA moves. Reserve Moves as described in above rule change proposal. Also, if a RES player is promoted to the active roster to replace a DLed player, and the DLed player is subsequently activated from the DL by a MLB team, the owner must decide which of the two players is returned to the RES squad.

What's the best (VBDish) tool to use to check the overall values of players in this format?

Any suggestions for how to best strategize and approch the drafts and the league in general?

TIA!

 

[Captain Hook]

I think easy to participate (for non fantasy baseball players) is a better description

(they won't have to worry about catchers, relative values of positions etc)

There is no good VBD app for baseball....but

The pitchers is pretty simple - you don't say how many teams, but look at top 3xY SP and 2xY closers where Y is number of teams

For the hitters if you have one of those programs, you just put them all in the same bucket (position) and take 5xY plus some extras for your draft pool. If you have a draft tracking program you could just follow the category projections and the LAST hitter might be different depending on your needs.

In general I would take only hitters for the first three (at least rounds).

If you need more, you should know where to find me and get more information....................

 

[Eephus]

Hey guys, thanks for checking this out and ay help you can provide.

I'm joining an "easy to manage" work league that has some odd rules to make it "easy to manage".

RULES SUMMARY

Format

Serpentine draft with players from both AL & NL leagues

Players

5 offensive players (any position)

3 starting pitchers

2 closers

Categories

Basic 8 plus K’s and Runs (a 5X5 format)

Reserve Team

Post draft (in March) the teams will participate in a supplemental on-line lottery draft to draft a four-player RESERVE team of two pitchers and two hitters. Teams must use their reserve players to replace a rostered player who is injured and on the MLB DL. If teams have depleted their reserve players due to injuries to their drafted ten players, then and only then can they claim free agents from the MBL FA pool of players as injury replacements. If a team elects to replace a non-injured rostered player with a reserve team player it must use a "free pass" to do so.

Moves

Add FAs only if players are on official MLB DL, are suspended, get sent to minors, on bereavement, etc. Drop players only when DLed players come off DL. Additionally, teams are granted TWO "free passes" that can be used to make discretionary, unrestricted FA moves. Reserve Moves as described in above rule change proposal. Also, if a RES player is promoted to the active roster to replace a DLed player, and the DLed player is subsequently activated from the DL by a MLB team, the owner must decide which of the two players is returned to the RES squad.

What's the best (VBDish) tool to use to check the overall values of players in this format?

Any suggestions for how to best strategize and approch the drafts and the league in general?

TIA!

The small rosters and generic hitter slots eliminate position scarcity as a factor in drafting. If you use a cheatsheet, make sure it doesn't overvalue middle IF. Just go with pure stats.I don't like the format unless this league has 50+ teams.

 

[Lehigh98]

Sorry... 12 teams in the league.

Ok, other than "draft good hitters" who do you decide who to pick with regard to stat categories?

How much is a guy worth that steals 50 bases and hits 10 HRs vs a guy who steals 10 bases and hits 50 HR?

How do you decide to pick at each spot in regard to the stat categories?

How do you know to switch to picking pitchers by the remaining available hitter pool?

TIA

 

[Lehigh98]

...if you have one of those programs...

For example?

 

[Lehigh98]

The small rosters and generic hitter slots eliminate position scarcity as a factor in drafting. If you use a cheatsheet, make sure it doesn't overvalue middle IF. Just go with pure stats.I don't like the format unless this league has 50+ teams.

How do the cheatsheets rank the order of players within a position?Maybe if I better understood that I could do it in one big group w/o positions.

 

[Captain Hook]

Most cheatsheets for baseball value the player relative to others at the position (like a Dodd's weekly)

If you have a Top 200 type then the position should be irrelevant but it's total (five) category contributions - and that will work, but you might be too heavy in one category and light in another because of your unique rules.

IF you really want to win (are you playing for $$ or enough bragging rights to make it worthwhile) then go sign up at www.fantasybaseball.com (I might even be able to help during draft if you wanted)

If this is the only league and you just want basics - go to ESPN > Fantasy & Games > Baseball > Draft Kit > Projections > sortable projections

GL.....................and HAVE FUN

 

[Lehigh98]

Most cheatsheets for baseball value the player relative to others at the position (like a Dodd's weekly)

Yes, but how?

 

[Captain Hook]

Most cheatsheets for baseball value the player relative to others at the position (like a Dodd's weekly)

Yes, but how?

based on how much they contribute in each category

 

[Eephus]

Most cheatsheets for baseball value the player relative to others at the position (like a Dodd's weekly)

Yes, but how?

VORP varies by position

 

[Lehigh98]

Most cheatsheets for baseball value the player relative to others at the position (like a Dodd's weekly)

Yes, but how?

based on how much they contribute in each category

And here I thought it was by weight...

 

[Lehigh98]

Most cheatsheets for baseball value the player relative to others at the position (like a Dodd's weekly)

Yes, but how?

VORP varies by position

Looked it up, Value Over Replacement Player, but how do you determine a players overall value across 5 categories?How much should a HR be worth? How much should a SB be worth? Etc? How do you calculate that?TIA

 

[Captain Hook]

Most cheatsheets for baseball value the player relative to others at the position (like a Dodd's weekly)

Yes, but how?

VORP varies by position

Looked it up, Value Over Replacement Player, but how do you determine a players overall value across 5 categories?How much should a HR be worth? How much should a SB be worth? Etc? How do you calculate that?

TIA

Simple answer is you DON'T - this is rotisserie scoring right? Each of the ten categories get a "weight" of 1You just need to see how they contribute in each category since you are using short rosters - IOW you wouldn't put the team together exactly the same way, but the principles and overall values are the same

 

[Lehigh98]

Ok, so here's who I got...

Active Batters

Kinsler, Ian 2B TEX

Ramirez, Hanley SS FLA

Ibanez, Raul LF PHI

Lee, Carlos N. LF HOU

Markakis, Nick RF

Active Pitchers

Greinke, Zack SP KC

Hamels, Cole SP PHI

Shields, James SP TB

Fuentes, Brian RP ANA

Ryan, B.J. RP TOR

We have a reserve draft starting at 9am on Monday morning and I have the first pick.

In the draft we will be adding 2 additional batters and 2 additional pitchers (SP or RP).

Here's who's at the top of the available list...

Batters:

First Last TEAM AB R  HR  RBI  SB  BA 

Brian McCann ATL 498 64 23 90 3 0.296

Russell Martin LAD 503 82 14 71 16 0.282

Derrek Lee CHC 593 91 21 90 7 0.288

Joe Mauer MIN 501 91 10 82 3 0.32

Alexei Ramirez CHW 556 73 22 83 14 0.285

Derek Jeter NYY 611 96 12 75 13 0.299

Corey Hart MIL 552 80 22 88 22 0.273

Chris Davis TEX 525 88 31 100 2 0.276

Geovany Soto CHC 480 68 23 85 1 0.285

Torii Hunter LAA 556 86 23 85 17 0.275

Carlos Pena TB 521 84 34 105 1 0.257

Hunter Pence HOU 574 82 27 91 12 0.277

Stephen Drew ARI 603 88 20 72 5 0.281

Joey Votto CIN 563 74 25 92 7 0.295

Jay Bruce CIN 606 86 30 82 8 0.27

Michael Young TEX 625 89 11 83 9 0.291

Garrett Atkins COL 585 85 22 98 1 0.287

Vernon Wells TOR 594 82 24 91 7 0.286

Troy Tulowitzki COL 600 83 18 82 3 0.274

Robinson Cano NYY 592 79 16 84 2 0.293

Pitchers:

First Last TEAM AGE IP W  S  K  ERA  WHIP  K/9

Adam Wainwright STL 27.6 192 15 0 143 3.48 1.28 6.7

Scott Baker MIN 27.5 209.2 13 0 153 3.8 1.23 6.6

Derek Lowe ATL 35.9 204.2 14 0 138 3.58 1.23 6.1

Ted Lilly CHC 33.3 204.2 15 0 177 4.11 1.27 7.8

Kevin Slowey MIN 24.9 185 13 0 133 3.68 1.2 6.5

Matt Cain SF 24.5 202.2 11 0 182 3.7 1.3 8.1

Ricky Nolasco FLA 26.3 186.1 14 0 168 3.96 1.23 8.1

Matt Garza TB 25.4 189.1 14 0 149 3.8 1.32 7.1

Max Scherzer ARI 24.7 154 11 0 174 3.58 1.28 10.2

Josh Johnson FLA 25.2 187 12 0 138 3.53 1.34 6.6

Aaron Harang CIN 30.9 211.2 12 0 178 4.15 1.28 7.6

Gil Meche KC 30.6 210 12 0 174 3.91 1.36 7.5

Erik Bedard SEA 30.1 161 11 0 160 3.67 1.26 8.9

Randy Johnson SF 45.6 149.7 9 0 141 4.15 1.25

Hiroki Kuroda LAD 34.2 198.2 11 0 122 3.93 1.27 5.5

Clayton Kershaw LA 21 180 11 0 167 4 1.44 8.4

John Danks CHW 24 198.1 13 0 156 3.93 1.32 7.1

Mark Buehrle CHW 30 224 13 0 126 3.97 1.35 5.1

Jered Weaver LAA 26.5 181.1 13 0 154 3.85 1.27 7.7

So who do you think I should take with my first pick?

TIA!

 

[Oh Yes!]

tough call. let kershaw slide.

id tae chris davis. could be huge.

 

[Lehigh98]

Through the first three rounds I got...

Lilly, Ted (SP CHC)

Kershaw, Clayton (SP LA)

Davis, Chris (3B TEX)

Very happy so far, just need to round out the team with another hitter with the last pick of the draft...

Here's who's left as of now with about 10 picks to go, thoughts?...

First Last TEAM AB R  HR  RBI  SB  BA 

Hunter Pence HOU 574 82 27 91 12 0.277

Vernon Wells TOR 594 82 24 91 7 0.286

Jay Bruce CIN 606 86 30 82 8 0.27

Andre Ethier LAD 576 87 21 79 5 0.293

Chris Young ARI 84 24 82 20 0.252

Jhonny Peralta CLE 592 98 21 85 2 0.275

Mark Reynolds ARI 518 88 28 95 7 0.253

Michael Young TEX 625 89 11 83 9 0.291

Adrian Beltre SEA 596 80 25 82 9 0.27

Xavier Nady NYY 511 75 23 92 2 0.286

Conor Jackson ARI 538 84 16 78 8 0.292

Ryan Zimmerman WAS 552 80 20 85 2 0.285

Robinson Cano NYY 592 79 16 84 2 0.293

Stephen Drew ARI 603 88 20 72 5 0.281

J.J. Hardy MIL 605 81 26 78 3 0.274

Jose Lopez SEA 608 77 17 85 5 0.283

Lastings Milledge WAS 607 70 16 68 23 0.276

Mark DeRosa CLE 507 88 16 83 4 0.285

Shin-Soo Choo CLE 83 18 80 8 0.283

James Loney LAD 574 66 16 89 4 0.292

David DeJesus KC 83 12 74 9 0.29

Jorge Cantu FLA 74 24 84 2 0.275

Rick Ankiel STL 495 73 29 85 3 0.266

Placido Polanco DET 589 90 9 60 6 0.305

Jim Thome CHW 483 83 30 88 0 0.254

Troy Tulowitzki COL 600 83 18 82 3 0.274

 

[Captain Hook]

JAY BRUCE - no doubt about that one

 

[Lehigh98]

JAY BRUCE - no doubt about that one

Thanks for the advice but Jay Bruce was already gone when it got back to me.I was back and forth between Chris Young and Cano.I was a little light on SB's and looked to be ok on AVG with my starters.Was hoping to luck a few SB's out of Young and that his low AVG wouldn't hurt me too much in limited AB's.Hopefully the AVG might even improve a bit as evidently he's been working on his swing and timing.Guess we'll see.

 

[Lehigh98]

Here's the team...

Active Batters

Ramirez, Hanley SS FLA

Lee, Carlos N. LF HOU

Kinsler, Ian 2B TEX

Markakis, Nick RF BAL

Ibanez, Raul LF PHI

Reserve Batters

Davis, Chris 3B TEX

Young, Chris B. CF ARI

Active Pitchers

Hamels, Cole SP PHI

Shields, James SP TB

Greinke, Zack SP KC

Fuentes, Brian RP ANA

Ryan, B.J. RP TOR

Reserve Pitchers

Lilly, Ted SP CHC

Kershaw, Clayton SP LA

 

[Captain Hook]

so the question is how do you look vs the other teams?

With only four active batters per team it should be pretty easy to add up projections and get an idea

 

[Lehigh98]

Ok, we only get two (non-DL related) transactions per season and I have both left. (League rules in first post)

I added Chad Qualls when he was doing well and BJ Ryan was on the DL and I could drop him.

Chad has not gotten many save chances since then and has not done much with them.

I'm thinking of making a change and using one of my transactions to bolster my pen.

Only problem is if Fuentes or the new RP loses their job without being n the DL, I'd need to use the last transaction.

I'd like to pick up a RP who's poised to have a solid 2nd half and also has a secure grasp on the job.

What do you think about the guys that are available to pick up below?

Interested in a couple (Soriano?) but not sure if any are enough of an upgrade to waste one of my precious tranactions...

Full year stats...

Player INN GS QS CG W L S BS K BBI HA ERA WHIP Value

Soriano, Rafael RP ATL 43.7 0 0 0 1 1 13 1 60 15 23 1.44 0.87 52

Bailey, Andrew SP OAK 51.7 0 0 0 4 1 10 4 60 19 31 1.92 0.97 59

Aardsma, David RP SEA 41.3 0 0 0 2 3 20 2 51 24 27 1.96 1.23 60

Sherrill, George RP BAL 37.3 0 0 0 0 1 20 3 34 12 29 2.41 1.10 83

Gregg, Kevin RP CHC 41.7 0 0 0 3 2 16 3 41 17 36 3.46 1.27 127

Happ, J.A. SP PHI 87.0 10 7 1 6 0 0 0 61 32 70 2.90 1.17 131

Howell, J.P. RP TB 42.7 0 0 0 5 2 6 5 50 16 32 2.11 1.12 140

Wells, Randy RP CHC 76.0 12 9 0 4 4 0 0 53 17 68 2.72 1.12 153

Troncoso, Ramon RP LA 56.7 0 0 0 3 0 5 1 34 21 51 1.75 1.27 168

Downs, Scott RP TOR 28.3 0 0 0 1 0 9 1 30 5 21 1.91 0.92 175

Hawkins, LaTroy RP HOU 38.7 0 0 0 1 3 10 3 29 11 35 2.33 1.19 179

Last 28 days...

Player INN GS QS CG W L S BS K BBI HA ERA WHIP Value

Soriano, Rafael RP ATL 13.0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 20 4 4 1.38 0.62 11

Happ, J.A. SP PHI 36.0 5 5 1 2 0 0 0 24 8 32 2.00 1.11 30

Gregg, Kevin RP CHC 12.3 0 0 0 2 1 6 1 11 4 7 2.19 0.89 34

Gaudin, Chad SP SD 31.7 5 3 0 2 2 0 0 39 15 19 2.84 1.07 37

Wells, Randy RP CHC 33.7 5 4 0 4 1 0 0 21 7 30 2.94 1.10 38

Sherrill, George RP BAL 11.7 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 11 4 7 2.31 0.94 47

Aardsma, David RP SEA 10.0 0 0 0 0 1 8 1 15 4 9 2.70 1.30 60

Bailey, Andrew SP OAK 9.7 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 12 3 5 0.00 0.83 76

Valverde, Jose RP HOU 10.7 0 0 0 0 1 6 2 9 3 9 2.53 1.12 87

TIA!

 

[Mr. Know-It-All]

Soriano has all but established himself as THE closer in Atlanta. With that starting staff, he should get plenty of save opps in the second half. I would roll the dice here since you would still have one move left just in case.