Tiers

[viper]

There is a lot of talk about tiers but very little details on how we actually set them up. I am curious yellow.

FOR HITTING
I have tiers for OF/DH, 1B, 3B, 2B, SS & CA.

I break tiers by projected dollar amount with a $6 range for each tier. I draw a line in each tier at the dollar midpoint of each tier. For example, the $12 to $7 tier is divided at the $9/$8 point.

Information for each player is positions eligible, my personal power/speed/average codes, projected ABs & MB $ projection.

I am thinking of eliminating the $ amount but adding the slow draft ADP round.

FOR PITCHING
I have two lists, one for starters and one for relievers. The are ranked by MB dollar amount but the actual dollars are not shown. For starters I draw a line where I feel there are breaks. I'm in the process of having two color codes for some pitchers. One will be a black square for pitchers I really do not want to take unless he slips way way to far. The other will be red for injury risks on players I'm willing to draft. This would include someone like Webb. I also want to have an easy way to find K-type pitchers but I have never found anything I truly like

The other list is relievers. All 30 closers are at the top with lines grouping them. After those 30 are setup men pretty much based on likelihood of gaining the job. This entire list is only about 75 players deep.

I'm curious how others set up their tiers.

[AllstonRockCity]

Well, since I've been a big fan of your 'tiers theory' for a while mine are quite similar to yours, but there are some differences.

For Hitters: 5 colums (OF/DH, OF/DA/CI/MI/CA). For each player I have the team name, pos, $value, then my avg, hr, and sb grading. My tier divisions have changed a couple times as I've mocked more and currently break down as; 27+, 21-26, 14-20, 9-13, 4-8, 0-3.

For Pitchers: 3 colums (RP, SP, SP). Name, team, $value. I also have whip and K grades beside them. I have no breaks in my list, just the top 70ish relievers, top 70 SPs, bottom 70 SPs. I know by the names of the guys being taken when a 'tier' is starting to dry up. after the top 60 or so starters go, its more about the guys you like and what kind of stats they can contribute rather than their 'value'.

[Black Sox]

I too have learned a lot from Viper as to Tier construction, but like Allston, mine differ too. I only draft and don't do auctions by my Tier sheets are set up as follows...

1. Rank C 1b 2B SS 3b OF DH SP RP and include MB $$ figures. I want to know during a draft how many SS or 2B have been taken and how many players are left in every tier at a glance. I never worry which teams have which players. I use the $$ figures to help me compare players at the same and across positions when on the clock. I also use the $$ to help set up my tiers. Since I don't need the $$ for bidding purposes I use the $$ to move players between tiers, especially players on the cut line.

2. Next I use color coding for 3 tier levels. Green is any player valued over $20 Yellow is any player $10 or more and pink is anyone left with $0 or more. Again if someone is at $9 and I like them I'll add a $1 and move them to yellow. If there are negative value players I feel are sleepers or players I'll want in the end game, I'll change their value to $0 to move them up the list and get them color coded.

3. For pitchers, every starter that K's 150 or more, I make their $$ value color coded in red.

4. Normally the biggest tier is yellow, especialy in OF and SP, and I'll create some break lines within the yellow tier, having more to do with who I like and don't like, since they are all relativley close in value.

I know Vipers is more complicated than mine and he codes players based on their level of catagory contribution. I've found I know the player pool well enough, that whether or not someone hits 20 or 25 HR is not needed ( although I'm rethinking and probably will ID SP based on Whip, since in my most recent draft I took some good pitchers but didn't pay close enough attention to thier WHIP). Also I use the MB draft tracker to input my selections to quickly total up my stats. I've tried tracking the whole draft before and it was too distracting, I rightfully figure that if I concentrate on drafting the best team I can, my place in the standings will take care of itself. I will say I do try to pay attention to what other teams are doing at the closer position ( ie what their SP/RP mix will be ).