Seeking Auction Advice (1 Viewer)

[ceo3west]

As the title states, I am joining an auction league for the first time. 14 teams, 28 players, $300 salary cap. Any vets have any tips or advice they can give? Im concerned mainly about overbidding and getting caught up in bidding wars. Also, very concerned about being left out in the cold on players and ending up with excess cash at the end. Generally speaking, I have done very well in snake drafts in baseball in the past, but this is a whole new thing for me. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[PIK95]

Don't leave $$ on the table at the end. #1 rule imo. Is it a keeper or re-draft?

 

[Captain Hook]

As the title states, I am joining an auction league for the first time. 14 teams, 28 players, $300 salary cap. Any vets have any tips or advice they can give? Im concerned mainly about overbidding and getting caught up in bidding wars. Also, very concerned about being left out in the cold on players and ending up with excess cash at the end. Generally speaking, I have done very well in snake drafts in baseball in the past, but this is a whole new thing for me. Any advice is appreciated.

I have a whole series on Auction Budgeting archived at fantasybaseball.com - and in addition there will be several new ones this year.

 

[ceo3west]

Don't leave $$ on the table at the end. #1 rule imo. Is it a keeper or re-draft?

Redraft..

 

[ceo3west]

As the title states, I am joining an auction league for the first time. 14 teams, 28 players, $300 salary cap. Any vets have any tips or advice they can give? Im concerned mainly about overbidding and getting caught up in bidding wars. Also, very concerned about being left out in the cold on players and ending up with excess cash at the end. Generally speaking, I have done very well in snake drafts in baseball in the past, but this is a whole new thing for me. Any advice is appreciated.

I have a whole series on Auction Budgeting archived at fantasybaseball.com - and in addition there will be several new ones this year.

Great, thanks - I'll take a look

 

[ceo3west]

As the title states, I am joining an auction league for the first time. 14 teams, 28 players, $300 salary cap. Any vets have any tips or advice they can give? Im concerned mainly about overbidding and getting caught up in bidding wars. Also, very concerned about being left out in the cold on players and ending up with excess cash at the end. Generally speaking, I have done very well in snake drafts in baseball in the past, but this is a whole new thing for me. Any advice is appreciated.

I have a whole series on Auction Budgeting archived at fantasybaseball.com - and in addition there will be several new ones this year.

Hook - Went to the site, could not find the Auction Budgeting articles, could you provide a link? Would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[Eephus]

There are some websites that post estimated auction values. You'll need to adjust these up a bit for the size of your league and salary cap. You should have a pretty good idea going in of your targeted batter/pitcher budget and rough player pricing.

If it's your first auction, I'd be cautious about overspending at first. This can ruin your whole year. Once the auction gets going, you should be able to tell how your pre-draft estimates are trending vs. actual prices.

I think tiered rankings work well for auctions. They can keep you from falling in love with players and overbidding for them. They can also be used to compare value.

Reading other owners is a subject unto itself. It's a lot of effort to track what other teams need but if you have the energy, it can help you in the middle and end game. At the very least, you should be able to get a feel for which teams are aggressive or conservative bidders.

 

[ceo3west]

There are some websites that post estimated auction values. You'll need to adjust these up a bit for the size of your league and salary cap. You should have a pretty good idea going in of your targeted batter/pitcher budget and rough player pricing.If it's your first auction, I'd be cautious about overspending at first. This can ruin your whole year. Once the auction gets going, you should be able to tell how your pre-draft estimates are trending vs. actual prices.I think tiered rankings work well for auctions. They can keep you from falling in love with players and overbidding for them. They can also be used to compare value.Reading other owners is a subject unto itself. It's a lot of effort to track what other teams need but if you have the energy, it can help you in the middle and end game. At the very least, you should be able to get a feel for which teams are aggressive or conservative bidders.

Thanks :( I am concerned about overspending, but Im also concerned with not landing any studs becuase Im afraid to overbid.Do you normally overbid for a few high priced studs and then just build around them with low cost players and sleepers, or will you pass on the studs if they are all being overbid according to your $ projections?

 

[Balco]

There are some websites that post estimated auction values. You'll need to adjust these up a bit for the size of your league and salary cap. You should have a pretty good idea going in of your targeted batter/pitcher budget and rough player pricing.If it's your first auction, I'd be cautious about overspending at first. This can ruin your whole year. Once the auction gets going, you should be able to tell how your pre-draft estimates are trending vs. actual prices.I think tiered rankings work well for auctions. They can keep you from falling in love with players and overbidding for them. They can also be used to compare value.Reading other owners is a subject unto itself. It's a lot of effort to track what other teams need but if you have the energy, it can help you in the middle and end game. At the very least, you should be able to get a feel for which teams are aggressive or conservative bidders.

Thanks I am concerned about overspending, but Im also concerned with not landing any studs becuase Im afraid to overbid.Do you normally overbid for a few high priced studs and then just build around them with low cost players and sleepers, or will you pass on the studs if they are all being overbid according to your $ projections?

I think a key thing is that you have to be willing to stop bidding if it gets crazy. My problem early one was targeting a player, whether it be a star or sleeper, and then continuing to get into bidding wars even when the salary got too high. One other thing, not sure about relievers, but in my experience, everyone thinks they are going to get bargains at the end of the draft on closers, but it only results in bidding wars for guys like Ryan Dempster. I got Nathan and Street early in the process last year, and paid pretty close to full value, and at the end, mediocre closers were going for about 5 bucks less.

 

[Knightro]

The first 2-3 players rarely go at full value because people are afraid to overspend. Do not be afraid to buy the first guy thrown out. It is often a good play to throw out a mid range player that you like to see if you can get him undervalue while people are thrown off. Also, keep a running tab on how the draft is going. If players are consistently going more than you have them valued at, there are bargains to be had later. If they're going for less than what you had valued, start buying otherwise you'll have money left over at the end for guys that are not worth it.

Have a budget for hitting, one for pitching, and allocate it by position. X for the OF, Y for your corners, Z for your middle infielders. Catching is pretty bad this year so expect to pay high value for V-Mart, Martin, etc., but don't be afraid to grab rookies like Soto and Towles who have power and speed upside respectively. In fact, either one of those two would be a great first toss - a rookie in a re-draft league would be a bugs-bunny changeup to a lot of guys

 

[Balco]

Just a note on outfield - this is where you can get a ton of bargains towards the end of the draft. I got Moises Alou for 2 bucks at the end of a draft. It seems like owners are petrified of age. Age means nothing in a redraft. I said in another post, another player who I think is going to be an unbelievable value is Jermaine Dye.

 

[Knightro]

good point Balco...in a redraft league, just hide the age column all together - even the name column for that matter, and just draft skills

 

[ceo3west]

Some very good advice here, thanks guys. One thing I definitely want to avoid is getting in a bidding war for mediocre closers. I figure I'll target some mid-level closers like Corpas, Chad Cordero, guys like that. I don't like spending early picks (or a lot of cash in this case) for guys like Nathan & Rivera.

 

[Eephus]

Some very good advice here, thanks guys. One thing I definitely want to avoid is getting in a bidding war for mediocre closers. I figure I'll target some mid-level closers like Corpas, Chad Cordero, guys like that. I don't like spending early picks (or a lot of cash in this case) for guys like Nathan & Rivera.

The order that closers are auctioned can be as important as their talent. It can be a good tactic to lock up a couple of average guys early if you can get them near your rated price. As someone mentioned earlier, bidding can get completely out of hand for the last couple of quality closers. I have rarely seen closers hang around until the end game of the auction.

 

[Howie]

There are some websites that post estimated auction values. You'll need to adjust these up a bit for the size of your league and salary cap.

Can someone tell me if the P.A.U.L. tool found at fantasybaseball.com enables one to do just that-- plug in the size of the league and the auction values are changed accordingly? Thanks,