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Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 7:12 pm
by TheRunner77
New subscriber to this site.

I enjoy reading Todd and the others on the various sites where they offer their views for free. Hopefully, their best writing is saved for the pay section of this site. :mrgreen:

I particularly enjoyed write-ups such as "Early Staff Rankings" and the "Staff Picks and Pans". These were last updated on Dec. 3rd. How often can we expect to see more of these types of contributions? With several players being moved about via trades and signings, new playing opportunities are emerging, some of the new teams and environments may impact player performance in ways that are not immediately obvious.

Also, there are several interesting archived strategy pieces. Examples that are offered from the older pieces refer to trends that were prevalent in the early 2000s in some cases. The 5-year study on player pools extrapolates from the years 1998-2002. No reference to the now popular mixed 15-team format, which is a staple of the NFBC. Are there any plans to update the study and to freshen up some of the other very informative and practical early pieces so as to reflect the current state of fantasy play and strategy?

Talk about staples, how do you strategize in a format where you draft 50 players but where you can't trade nor make any free agent acquisitions?

Those of us who play the NFBC, how much space will we see dedicated to this? And just as important, how frequent will the updates be? Please keep up the great work. Your feedback would be greatly valued. :)

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 7:39 pm
by Todd Zola
TheRunner77 wrote:New subscriber to this site.

I enjoy reading Todd and the others on the various sites where they offer their views for free. Hopefully, their best writing is saved for the pay section of this site. :mrgreen:

I particularly enjoyed write-ups such as "Early Staff Rankings" and the "Staff Picks and Pans". These were last updated on Dec. 3rd. How often can we expect to see more of these types of contributions? With several players being moved about via trades and signings, new playing opportunities are emerging, some of the new teams and environments may impact player performance in ways that are not immediately obvious.
The majority of our actual writing is going to be available for free. There will be occasional pieces like what was posted for the Dec. launch. The next major writing is going to be a profile for every player we project, planned for Jan 15 release.

The projections will be updated twice a month (next update will be tomorrow). Starting with this update, a playing time review is going to be included. This may not be available until the weekend as I have been quite busy with just keeping up with the moves since Dec. 1.
Also, there are several interesting archived strategy pieces. Examples that are offered from the older pieces refer to trends that were prevalent in the early 2000s in some cases. The 5-year study on player pools extrapolates from the years 1998-2002. No reference to the now popular mixed 15-team format, which is a staple of the NFBC. Are there any plans to update the study and to freshen up some of the other very informative and practical early pieces so as to reflect the current state of fantasy play and strategy?
For several years, I did an NFBC primer. I am planning on doing one this season. I will see if I can dig up the previous studies and link them. Other than that, much of the strategy pieces will be available for free. The quality is just as good as Platinum.
Talk about staples, how do you strategize in a format where you draft 50 players but where you can't trade nor make any free agent acquisitions?
I am 99% sure we are going to enter a Mastersball Platinuim community team into the NFBC Slow Drafts, where we use the dedicated private forum (which I need to set up for 2012 subscribers) to discuss our upcoming pick. There is a good chance Perry and I offer some content previous to doing it.
Those of us who play the NFBC, how much space will we see dedicated to this? And just as important, how frequent will the updates be? Please keep up the great work. Your feedback would be greatly valued. :)
This is a somewhat slippery slope and I have been accused of being too NFBCentric in the past. On the other hand, we are obviously targeting the NFBC for subscribers, so I do need to be sensitive to that. I feel confident we will be able to strike the proper balance.

As for updates, the site is driven by the projections and Excel tools. These are updated twice a month through March 1, then every week until the first weekend of the season.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 14th, 2011, 8:08 pm
by TheRunner77
Todd, thanks for the prompt reply. This site looks great -- can't wait to read your offerings and links.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 3:15 pm
by TheRunner77
Todd Zola wrote: The majority of our actual writing is going to be available for free. (...) Other than that, much of the strategy pieces will be available for free. The quality is just as good as Platinum.
Todd, upon re-reading your answers, your above words are not exactly music to a paying subscriber. I have no qualms about paying for content nor having to pay more for quality and exclusive practical content that can't be found via a simple google search.

However, if the majority of your actual writing will be available for free and your strategy pieces also, is there really a point to paying for a Platinum membership? I am already paying for player projections on another site, so having more of them is not something I am particularly drawn to. I much prefer practical written analysis with concrete examples and proven winning strategy from a contingent of writers who continue to participate in competitive drafts. This is what I thought I was buying into by becoming a Platinum member. That, and more frequent updates (say weekly pieces in the off season preferably) available to Platinum subscribers only (rather than seeing write-ups that are dated Dec. 3rd and no other analysis since).

I thank you for your NFBC comments. While I understand not everyone likes to participate in their formats, they do have a huge following. I find value in how their drafts play out since their drafters typically are astute observers who have a lot to lose by being wrong -- a lot more than in your typical private league. And no disrespect meant to private leagues where little or no money is involved, I am sure there are many with a high level of competitiveness however, the rest of us are not privy to them. Because the NFBC is more of an open book and drafting repeatedly is what they do, I just thought there are a lot of lessons to learn from their collective experiences. And no, I am not personally involved in their operation.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 8:54 pm
by Todd Zola
I understand what you are saying and appreciate your comments and concerns. If it ends up we are not what you are looking for in a site, we will gladly refund your money.

While I will not claim our projections are better than you can find elsewhere, I am confident that no one else will be more willing to discuss first hand any question you might have about an individual projection or our philosophy in general. I think you will also find the player profiles to be quite unique and not a regurgitation of the player's biography and history. They are designed to be a companion to the projection, telling you something about the player perhaps not immediately recognizable from the raw projection. And this year, I have some new data to use to even further distinguish the profiles from other sites.

If you plan in a non-standard league format, I promise you that the attention you get here to make sure you have customized values exceeds that which you will get anywhere.

The bevy of Excel tools (granted, you have to be into that sort of thing) is also unique to Mastersball, and the arsenal is growing every day.

Quick comment about the NFBC -- like I said, I have had to catch myself at time, reminding myself there are about 1000 high stakes players but in the millions that play fantasy baseball. That said, the NFBC is obviously an ideal target audience, because a large percentage of those millions are not going to pay for information. We all play in the NFBC, either in the Main Event or satellite leagues. I won the NFBC Las Vegas NL only auction in back to back years but have been unable to defend my championship due to an inability to make it to Sin City the past couple of years. I hope to make it back this season, the Friday of the AL and NL auctions is my favorite day of the year, bar none. In February and March, there will be 3 or 4 research type essays for Platinum only, at least two will focus on the NFBC but will transcend to all leagues. I am able to ascertain some data from the NFBC so it is the perfect source for a couple of pieces I have in mind.

I think at the end of the day, if you are looking for a site with daily updates and news, we are not for you. What we are best at is providing you with some tools to make draft/auction day easier and personal, direct access to the site's principles. Those that purchase us for that reason are usually completely satisfied. If the return rate is indicative of the quality of the content, we must be doing pretty good since we have a refund rate of less that .5%, meaning fewer than 1 in 200 customers ask for their money back.

Again, we are happy to refund anyone's purchase if they decide we are not the site they are looking for.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 10:26 pm
by TheRunner77
Todd, I apologize. I didn't mean to infer that the content was below my expectations or that a refund was in order.

I feel like a lot of jittery drafters out there who like to scour over analytical write-ups in the off season when we have a little more time to decipher trends and recommendations. I was merely suggesting that a weekly article was highly desirable, not daily. I have seen the volume of contributions you graciously make on several other sites and I absolutely understand how solicited and well-read you are. Just thought I'd get more of your contributions by subscribing but hey, I'm absolutely happy with what you're providing. :D

I don't use Excel so I sense that I might be a little in trouble. Do you have any threads that could help a beginner like me?

I'll typically play conventional 5X5 mixed one year, 15-team leagues. I especially favor NFBC's 50 Round, no FAAB, slow draft model. Allows me to play multiple leagues on account of less demanding in-season management. I have ditched most of my non-paying leagues on account of boredom and my growing disatisfaction with owners who slack off when their teams are slipping in the standings, esp. in deep leagues -- have seen several owners entering into a coma almost simultaneously. Brutal.

I figure that owners who put their money down like at the NFBC, are more likely to stay focused throughout. I like the energy they bring and the level of competitiveness, the fact that they're mostly well-prepared, are playing several moves ahead and will eat you alive for every mistake you make. I'd be looking at this site to help me see the bigger picture, to hone some drafting skills, to make me a better player and to the extent that any of my experiences have any value, to try and help others.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 10:37 pm
by Todd Zola
For the record, at present, the only site I write for is Mastersball. We have a content share agreement with KFFL, we are both under the Big Lead umbrella so they are family. I do post on some forums (NFBC, Rotojunkie, BaseballHQ). In the past, I have written for mlb.com and si.com in the past.

All that said, I am probably going to be contributing to a major web site in the spring but it will not interfere at all with my stuff here, in fact, just the opposite. My relationship is going to actually going to augment content here.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 10:48 pm
by TheRunner77
Was referring to your contributions as a poster on NFBC and HQ. Am not as familiar with Rotojunkie but will now look into it. Thanks for the follow-up.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 10:53 pm
by Todd Zola
TheRunner77 wrote: I don't use Excel so I sense that I might be a little in trouble. Do you have any threads that could help a beginner like me?
My best suggestion here is to read what each tool does, and if it interests you, check it out and see if the instructions are enough,and if not, post on the Platinum-only forums (which I need to set up or 2012 subscribers) and I will work you through any speedbumps.

You don't need to know Excel, so to speak.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 15th, 2011, 10:56 pm
by Todd Zola
TheRunner77 wrote:Was referring to your contributions as a poster on NFBC and HQ. Am not as familiar with Rotojunkie but will now look into it. Thanks for the follow-up.
I'm kind of a forum junkie :mrgreen:

I don't post much on Rotojunkie, but they have a great community.

I've been absent from HQ, my subscription ran out and I have not renewed yet. I think part of that is "protection" from spending too much time there when I have work to do here 8-) :lol:

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 2:23 am
by TheRunner77
Todd Zola wrote: I've been absent from HQ, my subscription ran out and I have not renewed yet. I think part of that is "protection" from spending too much time there when I have work to do here 8-) :lol:
I was wondering where you had been lately.

Well, if you no longer posting on HQ means a little more time to do work here, then I'm all for it. ;)

And talk about valued insight, how would you tackle the following comment made on the NFBC boards about perceived limitations for sites like Mastersball:
You do a great job at Masterballs. But in the NFBC most of the time players really worth a pickup are long gone. The players you may be keying on to watch are being picked up the week before. Hey it's a tough contest and many a Pro has learned that lesson!
How does one uncover lower-on-the-radar gems in an era where there are a multiplicity of instaneous fantasy sources attempting to do just that, on a daily basis? Is the criticism levelled by the above quote, warranted in your view?

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 10:33 am
by Todd Zola
TheRunner77 wrote:
And talk about valued insight, how would you tackle the following comment made on the NFBC boards about perceived limitations for sites like Mastersball:
You do a great job at Masterballs. But in the NFBC most of the time players really worth a pickup are long gone. The players you may be keying on to watch are being picked up the week before. Hey it's a tough contest and many a Pro has learned that lesson!
How does one uncover lower-on-the-radar gems in an era where there are a multiplicity of instaneous fantasy sources attempting to do just that, on a daily basis? Is the criticism levelled by the above quote, warranted in your view?
Let's call it ironic the specific shortcoming cited is the exact piece of advice that I have talked about for years in the NFBC - being the person a step ahead. There is nothing like knowing your league mates are going to the free agent list to set up their bids, only to discover you snagged the guy they want last week.

It is not our job to see into the future and know exactly when to pick players up.

it is our job to familiarize you with players that are potentially useful down the road, be it Minor Leaguers, eventual closers, talented guys backing up an injury prone starter, etc. It is also our job to sometimes suggest a rough time or means for a player to make it to the Bigs.

If the timing is right, we can do our best to say "pick him up this week", but often, this is as much of a gut call as it is smart. If I have a guy that is droppable and there is no one available that would be particularly useful, I'll take the flier on one of these speculative plays. Perry, Ryan and I play in a couple of NFBC-like leagues that run FAAB on Saturday night, so often we have a feel for guys that may be picked up Sunday night in the NFBC.

The task of getting everyone familiar with the names is done in Platinum. We project and profile everyone we feel will make an impact that season so you will already have their names in the spring. We provide Minor League rankings in a couple of different forms so you are covered there.

The tricky part is keeping up with the in-season surprises, for lack of a better word. We produce "rest-of-season" projections, which are one means of keeping stock of possible in-season call-ups as I will add players to the projection, even if they have not been promoted yet, if I feel they will get the call at some point in the season. Getting the word out otherwise will be done in one of two ways - via the free site articles or the message board. Perhaps if the interest is high, we can set up a weekly thread in the Platinum-only forum to discuss free agents for the upcoming week. To piggyback on another point about the site, this is the sort of advantage we have over other sites -- the direct access to us and the fact we PLAY in tout Wars, LABR and the NFBC. You would not just be reading an article every Thursday entitled "Possible Guys to FAAB a Week Early" and not have any interaction with the author.

To me, one of the latent gems of the site is the message board. I yearn to have ours as vibrant as Rotojunkie or BaseballHQ - it once was actually. But times have changed and it is quite difficult to build up a community when there are so many other more modern means of social and Internet interaction. But that does not mean we should not still try to use the forums to our advantage and reading the boards is a great way for users to get additional content, past that from the daily articles. As you can probably tell, I much prefer spending my time answering questions on the forums as opposed to coming up with a topic the reader may or may not care about for my "Tuesday" piece or whatever. Like I said, I am a forum rat :)

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 6:08 pm
by Captain Hook
TheRunner77 wrote: I especially favor NFBC's 50 Round, no FAAB, slow draft model.
I read your post with questions about that format and I will be glad to discuss those in the Platinum only format - I say Platinum Forum because I think it does give added value to your Platinum Subscription when you can Todd or I or other writers here to answer your questions.

The other thing is that I plan on playing in those - have won and finished second in the format - and have some pretty specific answers/suggestions.....but I don't want to give those away.

Also as Todd said we are going to have a Mastersball entry in one where the drafting and all the decisions and questions involved in that draft will be discussed in the Platinum Forum

Hope that helps,


PVH

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 6:38 pm
by TheRunner77
Todd Zola wrote: If the timing is right, we can do our best to say "pick him up this week", but often, this is as much of a gut call as it is smart. If I have a guy that is droppable and there is no one available that would be particularly useful, I'll take the flier on one of these speculative plays. Perry, Ryan and I play in a couple of NFBC-like leagues that run FAAB on Saturday night, so often we have a feel for guys that may be picked up Sunday night in the NFBC.
First off, a big thanks for taking the time to provide a very detailed response. I am humbled by your generosity -- which only prompts me to want to contribute to this site even more, to what seems like a vibrant community.

Secondly, I have never played in a FAAB league before. Would like to try one out this year, for the hell of it. Saw a lot of material here for how to approach it. Kind of makes it less daunting knowing there is a lot of practical advice here.
Todd Zola wrote: The task of getting everyone familiar with the names is done in Platinum. We project and profile everyone we feel will make an impact that season so you will already have their names in the spring. We provide Minor League rankings in a couple of different forms so you are covered there.
I'm not totally familiar with all the tools and offerings of this site. Essentially, for now, what you're saying is that effort has been focused on providing rankings for Hitters and Pitchers, which represent the player population that we as drafters are most likely to target in our drafts right now (given the always tenuous state of info we have in the off season) and then these same players will each have a write-up come January? Don't know how to use the CVRC. Is it like HQ's value generating engine?
In the meantime then, are we to construct our rankings by joining the hitting and pitching lists ourselves or can the site currently generate a default ranking combining both?
Todd Zola wrote: The tricky part is keeping up with the in-season surprises, for lack of a better word. We produce "rest-of-season" projections, which are one means of keeping stock of possible in-season call-ups as I will add players to the projection, even if they have not been promoted yet, if I feel they will get the call at some point in the season. Getting the word out otherwise will be done in one of two ways - via the free site articles or the message board. Perhaps if the interest is high, we can set up a weekly thread in the Platinum-only forum to discuss free agents for the upcoming week. To piggyback on another point about the site, this is the sort of advantage we have over other sites -- the direct access to us and the fact we PLAY in tout Wars, LABR and the NFBC. You would not just be reading an article every Thursday entitled "Possible Guys to FAAB a Week Early" and not have any interaction with the author.
I’ve been reading you for a long time but never imagined you would take the time to interact with fantasy players online. I am sure everyone here is grateful that you’re taking the time to do this.
Todd Zola wrote: To me, one of the latent gems of the site is the message board. I yearn to have ours as vibrant as Rotojunkie or BaseballHQ - it once was actually. But times have changed and it is quite difficult to build up a community when there are so many other more modern means of social and Internet interaction. But that does not mean we should not still try to use the forums to our advantage and reading the boards is a great way for users to get additional content, past that from the daily articles. As you can probably tell, I much prefer spending my time answering questions on the forums as opposed to coming up with a topic the reader may or may not care about for my "Tuesday" piece or whatever. Like I said, I am a forum rat :)
Well, if this is the best way to get your views, so be it. This site operates from a totally different perspective than most other pay sites, where most or a lot of the best content is reserved for subscribers. There is a free flow of valuable information on the free areas of this site – so much of it in fact that I hope those who see value in it, will do the honorable thing and become subscribers.

By the way, have your software people provided instructions on how to get around that “invalid token” screen? It still creeps up now and again.

Also, another glitch for me is that whenever a reply text goes over a certain amount of characters, the reply box tends to become ‘jumpy’ and stops scrolling. For this post, I have had to write it up on a Word page and then cut and paste it here. Is that a common occurrence?

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 6:56 pm
by TheRunner77
Captain Hook wrote:
TheRunner77 wrote: I especially favor NFBC's 50 Round, no FAAB, slow draft model.
I read your post with questions about that format and I will be glad to discuss those in the Platinum only format - I say Platinum Forum because I think it does give added value to your Platinum Subscription when you can Todd or I or other writers here to answer your questions.

No question about it. I can't think of too many people who have shown as much in the way of practical advice, attention to detail and with as much thoughtfulness as Todd has in the views he has graciously offered over the past few days. By the way, Captain -- what is the "Platinum Forum"? Is that an area that is only visible to subscribers?
Captain Hook wrote:The other thing is that I plan on playing in those - have won and finished second in the format - and have some pretty specific answers/suggestions.....but I don't want to give those away.
Would love to have your views. I've finished 3rd last year but was mid-pack in several other slow leagues. As a first year player, lost some money but I didn’t finish lower than 8th. I know where I went wrong however I’m not 100% sure how to fix it. My disappointments were largely due to my lack of understanding of the NFBC drafter mindset and my failure to see trendlines within a larger context (trees are useful if you can climb them to see the forest). If there is a particular place where you might discuss your approach, please let me know where it might be and I'll gladly participate. Again, if I'm asking or stating the obvious, please forgive my lack of knowledge about this site. I assumed all forums were public here. I have 2 NFBC slow drafts coming up within days. I’d hate to go into it with another trial-and-error approach.
Captain Hook wrote:Also as Todd said we are going to have a Mastersball entry in one where the drafting and all the decisions and questions involved in that draft will be discussed in the Platinum Forum
Hope that helps,
PVH
Would love to contribute. I’ll await your instructions on how the Platinum Forum works. Thanks so much for taking the time to chime in as you have. I can’t wait to read you more in depth.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 7:10 pm
by Captain Hook
Todd is working on setting up new subscribers with access to the Platinum Forum which already exists (you just can't see it yet)

When does your draft start?

and I would love more explanation of this from your post......"My disappointments were largely due to my lack of understanding of the NFBC drafter mindset and my failure to see trendlines within a larger context (trees are useful if you can climb them to see the forest)."

Not sure what you think the NFBC mindset is - there are as many as there are players in the event.
Also the 50 round no FA, "draft & hold" if you will events are pretty similar to regular NFBC drafts for the first ten rounds or so.

Re: Platinum Area Questions

Posted: December 16th, 2011, 8:44 pm
by TheRunner77
Captain Hook wrote:Todd is working on setting up new subscribers with access to the Platinum Forum which already exists (you just can't see it yet)

When does your draft start?

and I would love more explanation of this from your post......"My disappointments were largely due to my lack of understanding of the NFBC drafter mindset and my failure to see trendlines within a larger context (trees are useful if you can climb them to see the forest)."

Not sure what you think the NFBC mindset is - there are as many as there are players in the event.
Also the 50 round no FA, "draft & hold" if you will events are pretty similar to regular NFBC drafts for the first ten rounds or so.
Perry, just saw this. Will answer in the Platinum Forum. Thx.