Second year fantasy baseball help

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Bic44

Second year fantasy baseball help

#1 Post by Bic44 »

So, I received a little help last year, including using a trial rotowire draft kit (which was excellent, and I highly recommend it!). Still, I finished dead last in my league - which, to be fair, was composed of mostly experts and hardcore players. I learned a lot, had fun - but by the 3/4 point I was in dead last and not even close in most categories. So, as we're still a few months away from baseball drafts, I want to get an early start to see if I can make some headway this season. I don't have a ton of time to sit at home and examine numbers. However, I work for myself and mostly by myself. Between driving and working alone, I can fit in about 20 hours of podcasts.

The trouble is, I'm still quite new and most stuff I listen to is over my head - especially this time of year with a lot talking dynasty. I mean, I know the basics of HOW to draft. What I'm looking for (and searching for help on) is something that can help with draft strategies, and basic knowledge of players. There's a lot of guys in the middle-late rounds who I don't really know about (I know their names, but not much more). I find myself in a bit of a middle ground. I want to take that next step forward from novice to 'guy who knows quite a bit about fantasy baseball'. I did it with football, but baseball is such a beast to take on comparatively. Any suggestions as to what to listen to? Maybe some podcasts that might help? If they're talking strategy, they don't necessarily even need to be up to date. Thanks in advance!

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Todd Zola
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Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#2 Post by Todd Zola »

A couple questions to help frame the answer better...

1. What size/format league was it?

2. Is that what you'll be playing this season? If not, what will you play?

3. If you don't mind re-living the experience, can you post the team you bought at the auction last season?
Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

Bic44

Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#3 Post by Bic44 »

So, just on my way out to work -but to answer question 1 - standard 5x5 roto, except OBP instead of AVG, and WHIP instead of ERA. Auction draft, $260 budget

I plan on 2-3 leagues this year (one I’m commissione of - friends and family which will be basic - still trying to sort the details as it’s first year and they know less than I do(head to head categories 5x5 probably)). Probably auction/roto for the other 1 or 2....which is what I’ll be focused on.

I’ll see if I can get my original drafted team from Yahoo in a little bit! I’d love to learn from my mistakes

Edit - here's my team. Snowing hard here right now so I'm putting off the little job I have today. I'm a little embarrassed about being a big fat homer. Oh well, live and learn

To start, I was having sign in troubles and the computer nominated David Price for $20 for me - I was NOT happy. Without further ado-
1. (1) David Price (Bos - P) $20
2. (49) Josh Donaldson (Tor - 3B) $45
3. (68) Alex Bregman (Hou - 3B,SS) $15
4. (69) Yoenis Céspedes (NYM - OF) $21
5. (72) Khris Davis (Oak - OF) $14
6. (74) Carlos Santana (Phi - 1B,OF) $18
7. (78) Chris Carter (Oak - 1B) $4
8. (81) Matt Kemp (LAD - OF) $12
9. (95) Adam Eaton (Was - OF) $14
10. (99) Ian Kinsler (LAA - 2B) $17
11. (103) Matt Shoemaker (LAA - P) $9
12. (110) Troy Tulowitzki (Tor - SS) $9
13. (112) José Bautista (Tor - OF) $27
14. (117) Roberto Osuna (Tor - P) $13
15. (208) Austin Barnes (LAD - C,2B) $1
16. (217) Carter Capps (SD - P) $3
17. (223) Tyler Skaggs (LAA - P) $1
18. (238) Anthony DeSclafani (Cin - P) $1
19. (274) Tom Murphy (Col - C) $3
20. (276) Marco Estrada (Tor - P) $2
21. (284) Steve Pearce (Tor - 1B,2B,OF) $2
22. (298) Tyler Anderson (Col - P) $1
23. (313) Brandon Finnegan (Cin - P) $1
24. (327) Drew Pomeranz (Bos - P) $1
25. (339) Adam Frazier (Pit - 2B,OF) $1
26. (351) Orlando Arcia (Mil - SS) $1
27. (362) Wily Peralta (KC - P) $1
28. (372) Jorge Alfaro (Phi - C) $3
Last edited by Bic44 on December 30th, 2017, 10:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Todd Zola
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Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#4 Post by Todd Zola »

Two things that are true regardless of the specific answers are

1. Experience is the best teacher for auctions, especially if you're in a room with others that have done a bunch of auctions. It's more than knowing the players and goes a little deeper than just money management.

2. Even if you're doing an auction, the best way to learn the player pool is a mock/draft in a league of similar size

More when we narrow down more details of last season.
Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

Bic44

Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#5 Post by Bic44 »

Thanks for the help....I did probably about 4-5 mocks, but this year I'm planning on a lot more.

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Todd Zola
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Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#6 Post by Todd Zola »

Standard 5x5 has both ERA and WHIP -- what are the 5 pitching categories?

How many teams in the league?
Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

Bic44

Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#7 Post by Bic44 »

Oops :roll:
Quality starts instead of wins
Oh, and 15 team

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Todd Zola
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Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#8 Post by Todd Zola »

You've identified two issues - Price (not your fault) and chasing Blue Jays. Pretty sure you know you can root for your team independent of your fantasy team. Even if Donaldson and Bautista had normal years, $72 for both was maybe $20 too much.

I don't think you're as far away. You got burned by injuries (so did everyone) but if you can go easy on your home team, I bet this season will be much different.

Rotowire is a nice start (subscribing here wouldn't hurt 8-) ). I can point you to auction pieces on both sites.
Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

Bic44

Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#9 Post by Bic44 »

Thanks for the feedback. I think by mid season I felt out of my depth, but I think I could have paid better attention. So, for the rotowire subscription - does that include the draft kit? I’m assuming they’re the same thing?

Also, I noticed rotowire does multiple sports. Are other sports included, or is it just baseball? I haven’t looked into other sports on rotowire. As a follow up to that, can my wife use my subscription? She’s trying fantasy baseball this year, after destroying me in football haha. We doing a baseball draft together, so I’m curious.

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Todd Zola
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Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#10 Post by Todd Zola »

Not 100% sure, but I suspect what you're calling the draft kit is part of the Rotowire subscription and you have access to everything - and yes, they cover a ton of other sports.

Your wife should have no issue using the account, especially if it's mostly used from your home so it's the same ISP. The danger is when someone gives their credentials to a bunch of friends and it's observed multiple ISPs from all over the place are using that log-in. It's assumed the user may log on from work, etc., so a couple extra is fine.

Though, if she won, maybe she should pay for it ;)
Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

Bic44

Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#11 Post by Bic44 »

Thanks! And yeah, I wasn’t trying to do anything shady :D . I certainly wouldn’t help any of my friends either :lol: . Helping my wife, on the other hand, is probably a good idea. She enjoyed football, so that’s good. A huge Jays fan, but after football she swore off picking her favorite team. She even bought a book last week about the top 50 Jays prospects. So I’m sure she’ll enjoy fantasy baseball. Our anniversary is coming up, and I’ve hinted at the rotowire subscription today ;) .

So another question since I’m here with regards to being commish of a league. It’s a small 8 team league (unless I can convince a couple more friends to join). They loved football simply because of the comraderie/trash talking each week during matchups. Beating those they knew best seemed to be the biggest hit. I’ve decided to do a H2H league because of this. I know it’s not the best way, but I think it’ll help them stay interested. I’m thinking a categories league. The one where, if you’re in a 5x5 league you can go, for example, 6-4 or 2-8 on a given week. Do you think that’s a good set up? Do you have any suggestions since they don’t know a lot about baseball? Thank you so much for all your help! I really appreciate it

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Todd Zola
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Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#12 Post by Todd Zola »

I'm not a fan of head to head leagues but I am a fan of anything getting new blood interested.

The only suggestion is considering if you want 6-4 to be one win or six wins, four losses. That is, after Week 1, is that team 6-4 or 1-0?

The difference is there are some strategies designed to help achieve 6-4 or 7-3 by ignoring some categories while loading up on others. Some people like this aspect and that's fine. I'm not pushing one way or the other -- I'm just suggesting to think about it as there are strategy considerations.
Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

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Todd Zola
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Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#13 Post by Todd Zola »

Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

Bic44

Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#14 Post by Bic44 »

Excellent reads, thank you. For my last auction, I didn't leave anything on the table I don't think. Before it started (and it was my first non-mock auction) I got the estimated prices on 300 players for a $260 budget. I wrote them down, then put little marks on guys I targeted and Xs on guys I didn't want a stock in. I stuck within budget except Bautista-I got caught up in a bidding war. The guy was bidding fast, and I thought he'd go $1 more for sure :oops: . As for Donaldson, everyone seemed to be overpaying for 3rd basemen and I wanted a top 5 guy. Live and learn. It was a great learning experience, and I had a blast. You might know two of the guys in that auction, but I'm not sure - Nathan Dokken and Van Lee. Nathan won that league. I'm going to get a subscription to Rotowire, just haven't decided on 3 months or a year. I'll wait strategically until draft season starts ;) . But those articles will help this year. They're exactly what I was looking for.

As for the league I'm running, I know that head to head doesn't give the most accurate results. I'm also aware of the strategy of punting categories. But - I don't think anyone involved is going to look too deeply into strategy, maybe with the exception of my wife :lol: . And that'll just be to beat me. I also think it might keep things more interesting closer to the end of the season with the amount of wins on the table. Having an ability to be 10 'wins' behind a playoff spot with one week left may keep them more interested. My plan is to get them started this year, and refine it next year if they enjoy it and learn some of the nuances. I did it with a simple league in football (even allowing everyone to make the playoffs) and now they're excited about next year and are actually looking forward to changes like larger rosters(they were quite small) and fewer playoff teams. It's also the only reason I got them to do a baseball league. I tried last year, and they thought it sounded a little too boring/time intensive. After convincing them in football, all but two have agreed to baseball. Having those two keeps me in fantasy leagues almost year-round.

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Re: Second year fantasy baseball help

#15 Post by Todd Zola »

FWIW, if in-season management is a weakness, having Rotowire for the season is well worth it. The news is the industry standard and there's weekly pieces on FAAB pick-ups for all formats.
Catchers are like prostate exams -- comes a time where you can't put if off any longer, so you may as well get it over with and take it up the butt - The Forum Funklord

I'd rather be wrong for the right reasons than right for the wrong reasons - The Forum Funklord

Always remember, never forget, never say always or never. - The Forum Funklord

You know you have to seek therapy when you see one of your pitchers had a bad night and it takes you 15 minutes to find the team you have him on. - The Forum Funklord

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