+
= Greatest League (and Constitution) ever.Question: Would Porkins have been the best power-hitting catcher in the outer rim if he hadn't been called up for active duty? He's like an interstellar Ted Williams.
2.28.2007
2.26.2007
Constitution
BP Guinea Pigs League Constitution
Article 1 - Terms
(a) Managers in the league will henceforth be termed participants.
(b) Players in the MLB universe will henceforth be termed players.
(c) Commissioner will henceforth refer to the commissioner (currently Richard).
(d) Hosting website will henceforth refer to the website where the game is played (currently Yahoo!).
(e) FLB blog will henceforth refer to the league blog (currently located at http://bpguineapigs.blogspot.com/).
Article 2 - General Rules
(a) Participants will begin with 25 roster slots and must start players as follows: 1 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SS, 5 OF, 1 CI, 1 MI, 1 UTIL, 9 P. The final 3 slots will be bench slots that can be filled by any player. Once the season begins, an additional DL slot may be filled by an injured player as made eligible by the hosting website.
(b) Stat categories will be as follows: OFFENSE- R/ RBI/ HR/ SB/ OBP, PITCHING - W/ K/ ERA/ WHIP/ K:BB. Please note that in 2007 OBP replaced AVG and K:BB replaced SAVES.
(c) There is an innings pitched limit of 1500.
(d) There is an entry fee of $25 payable to the commissioner due on March 1. If this entry fee is not received by the deadline, the commissioner or his agents may find a replacement for the delinquent owner.
(e) There is a prize of $150 for 1st place, $75 for 2nd place, and $25 for 3rd place.
(f) In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker will be the order the teams are listed on the hosting website.
(g) The deadline for submitting keepers will be posted on the hosting website and the FLB blog. Submissions made after the deadline will be accepted solely at the commissioner's discretion. All finalized submissions must be emailed to the commissioner with the subject line - (Team Name) Keepers. Those emails will remain unopened until the deadline date, at which point all finalized keepers will be posted on the FLB blog. See Art. 4 for keeper rules.
(h) These rules are not exhaustive. Additional applicable rules and interpretative material may be found on the hosting website, the FLB blog, or elsewhere.
(i) Waiver priority at the start of the season shall be determined by the standings from the preceding year. The participant with the best record shall have top waiver priority, the participant with the poorest record shall have bottom waiver priority, etc.
(j) Rosters are frozen on the last day of the regular season until draft results are posted.
Article 3 - Auction Process
(a) The total budget for the auction will be $260. Dollar values for keeper player values (see Art. 4) will be subtracted from this total before the start of the auction.
(b) The auction will be comprised of as many rounds as necessary to fill up all participants' rosters.
(c) On draft day, participants will nominate players for bidding. The participant with poorest record the previous season will nominate the first player, and nominations will continue in a snake order thereafter until participants fill their rosters.
(d) A participant who nominates a player makes the initial bid on that player, which shall be not below $1. Another participant may bid a higher dollar amount in whole dollars. The highest final bid wins the player. Tying bids are not permitted.
(e) At no time may a participant bid more money than would be necessary to fill out all remaining empty roster spots on his team with $1 players.
(f) In the event that a participant bids an amount greater than his total remaining dollars as determined by (e) this bid will be disallowed at the time it is made. In the event that this error is not brought to the commissioner's attention until bidding has closed on that player, bidding shall be re-opened at the last acceptable bid if this violation is significant and noted in a timely fashion. If these conditions are not met, then the commissioner may fashion an appropriate remedy if necessary.
(g) The commissioner will give two warnings when the bidding slows down that bidding is about to conclude. If there are no additional bids after the second warning, the commissioner will call an end to the bidding (e.g. "going...going...gone."). The winning bidder will be awarded the player and his budget will be adjusted accordingly. No bids will be accepted after the commissioner concludes the bidding.
(h) Once a participant fills his roster with players he will be ineligible for subsequent nomination of or bidding on players.
Article 4 - Keepers
(a) Each participant may tag up to 4 players as keepers per year. A participant may tag as few keepers as desired. Keepers are not eligible for the auction.
(b) In general, keeper value is set at the value paid for player in the previous year's auction plus inflation. This means that each player kept in YEAR 1 shall cost his YEAR 1 value plus an additional $3 to keep in YEAR 2.
(c) In all cases, the minimum value for any player tagged as a keeper will be $15 notwithstanding a lesser auction day cost.
(d) Value may be adjusted downward by the amount of time that the player spent injured during the season and/or the player's acquisition status (i.e. having been released by the team that owned him at the start of the season and picked up on waivers or the FA market). See(e)-(g) for devaluation rules.
(e) A player's keeper value as determined by his auction day cost shall be reduced by $3 for the subsequent year if that player is picked up off of waivers or free agency. Only one such deduction can be claimed per year.
(f) For players who are hitters: A player’s initial keeper value as determined by auction day cost is reduced in price by $6 for the subsequent year if he plays in 81 or fewer games due to injury. A player’s keeper value is reduced in price by $3 for the subsequent year if he is limited to playing in fewer than 120 games, but more than 81 games due to injury. In no case shall a player’s keeper value be reduced below the floor value for keepers of $15.
(g) For players who are starting pitchers: A player’s initial keeper value as determined by auction day cost is reduced in price by $6 for the subsequent year if he starts 17 or fewer games due to injury. A player’s keeper value is reduced in price by $3 for the subsequent year if he is limited to starting fewer than 25 games, but more than 17 games due to injury. In no case shall a player’s keeper value be reduced below the floor value for keepers of $15.
- Based on the rules above, any necessary devaluation for relief pitchers/ swingmen will be made at the discretion of the commissioner.
(i) Young Player Inflation Adjustment (YPIA) - Any player whose age is less than or equal to 25 on opening day of the season YEAR 1 shall not be subject to inflation if tagged as a keeper for YEAR 2. Should such a player be retained beyond that season (i.e. into YEAR 3), standard inflation would apply. This allows for one inflation-free year and shall be known as Young Player Inflation Adjustment (YPIA). A player may only be tagged once in his career with this status.
(j) Special Rule for 2007 Keeper Player Value - All 2007 keeper values will be determined based on a player’s draft slot during the 2006 draft. Players drafted in the first round are worth $27, those draft in round 2 are worth $24, those drafted in round 3 are worth $20, those drafted in round 4 or later are worth $15. In this year, all the other valuation rules apply.
(k) In the unlikely event that a participant contests a player's value, the commissioner will consider the objection and determine whether or not a value adjustment is warranted, and, if so, in what amount.
(l) In the unlikely event that a keeper becomes injured or otherwise unavailable in the time between the deadline for keeper selection and the start of the auction draft, a participant may name a replacement keeper if so desired, but that replacement must be submitted to the commissioner prior to the start of the auction. This allows for replacement due to significant injury or other factors that will prevent a keeper from playing during the season. The commissioner reserves the right to review all replacement requests and will determine whether or not a replacement is allowable and warranted under this rule.
(m) When a participant submits his keepers to the commissioner, participant must provide the commissioner with a good faith valuation of the keeper based on the aforementioned rules. If any circumstances apply besides the general rule regarding inflation, the participant must explain which circumstance applies to deviate from the general rule. The commissioner shall take this information into consideration when assigning final keeper values.
(n) The commissioner's posting regarding final keeper values on the FLB blog shall be authoritative.
Article 5 - Commisioner's Powers
(a) The commissioner shall have the power to make any changes to the rules that he deems fit so long as he gives the league adequate notice.
(b) The commissioner shall have the power to veto any trades consummated during or after the season. The commissioner shall exercise his veto only if the trade is grossly unbalanced. Factors to be considered include but are not limited to: 1) present value of the players, 2) future value of the players, 3) team standings, and 4) potential keeper cost.
(c) The commissioner shall have the discretionary power to correct any injustices occurring during the draft in the draft room.
(d) The commissioner shall have the power to impose sanctions on participants that violate any rules.
(e) Before exercising rule, veto, or sanction power, the commissioner shall obtain the advice and consent of an executive committee consisting of at least two other participants.
(f) In regards to any of the aforementioned commissioner's executive actions, any participant may call for a vote on these actions to be conducted by the commissioner. 5 votes are required to strike the commissioner's actions.
Article 1 - Terms
(a) Managers in the league will henceforth be termed participants.
(b) Players in the MLB universe will henceforth be termed players.
(c) Commissioner will henceforth refer to the commissioner (currently Richard).
(d) Hosting website will henceforth refer to the website where the game is played (currently Yahoo!).
(e) FLB blog will henceforth refer to the league blog (currently located at http://bpguineapigs.blogspot.com/).
Article 2 - General Rules
(a) Participants will begin with 25 roster slots and must start players as follows: 1 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SS, 5 OF, 1 CI, 1 MI, 1 UTIL, 9 P. The final 3 slots will be bench slots that can be filled by any player. Once the season begins, an additional DL slot may be filled by an injured player as made eligible by the hosting website.
(b) Stat categories will be as follows: OFFENSE- R/ RBI/ HR/ SB/ OBP, PITCHING - W/ K/ ERA/ WHIP/ K:BB. Please note that in 2007 OBP replaced AVG and K:BB replaced SAVES.
(c) There is an innings pitched limit of 1500.
(d) There is an entry fee of $25 payable to the commissioner due on March 1. If this entry fee is not received by the deadline, the commissioner or his agents may find a replacement for the delinquent owner.
(e) There is a prize of $150 for 1st place, $75 for 2nd place, and $25 for 3rd place.
(f) In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker will be the order the teams are listed on the hosting website.
(g) The deadline for submitting keepers will be posted on the hosting website and the FLB blog. Submissions made after the deadline will be accepted solely at the commissioner's discretion. All finalized submissions must be emailed to the commissioner with the subject line - (Team Name) Keepers. Those emails will remain unopened until the deadline date, at which point all finalized keepers will be posted on the FLB blog. See Art. 4 for keeper rules.
(h) These rules are not exhaustive. Additional applicable rules and interpretative material may be found on the hosting website, the FLB blog, or elsewhere.
(i) Waiver priority at the start of the season shall be determined by the standings from the preceding year. The participant with the best record shall have top waiver priority, the participant with the poorest record shall have bottom waiver priority, etc.
(j) Rosters are frozen on the last day of the regular season until draft results are posted.
Article 3 - Auction Process
(a) The total budget for the auction will be $260. Dollar values for keeper player values (see Art. 4) will be subtracted from this total before the start of the auction.
(b) The auction will be comprised of as many rounds as necessary to fill up all participants' rosters.
(c) On draft day, participants will nominate players for bidding. The participant with poorest record the previous season will nominate the first player, and nominations will continue in a snake order thereafter until participants fill their rosters.
(d) A participant who nominates a player makes the initial bid on that player, which shall be not below $1. Another participant may bid a higher dollar amount in whole dollars. The highest final bid wins the player. Tying bids are not permitted.
(e) At no time may a participant bid more money than would be necessary to fill out all remaining empty roster spots on his team with $1 players.
(f) In the event that a participant bids an amount greater than his total remaining dollars as determined by (e) this bid will be disallowed at the time it is made. In the event that this error is not brought to the commissioner's attention until bidding has closed on that player, bidding shall be re-opened at the last acceptable bid if this violation is significant and noted in a timely fashion. If these conditions are not met, then the commissioner may fashion an appropriate remedy if necessary.
(g) The commissioner will give two warnings when the bidding slows down that bidding is about to conclude. If there are no additional bids after the second warning, the commissioner will call an end to the bidding (e.g. "going...going...gone."). The winning bidder will be awarded the player and his budget will be adjusted accordingly. No bids will be accepted after the commissioner concludes the bidding.
(h) Once a participant fills his roster with players he will be ineligible for subsequent nomination of or bidding on players.
Article 4 - Keepers
(a) Each participant may tag up to 4 players as keepers per year. A participant may tag as few keepers as desired. Keepers are not eligible for the auction.
(b) In general, keeper value is set at the value paid for player in the previous year's auction plus inflation. This means that each player kept in YEAR 1 shall cost his YEAR 1 value plus an additional $3 to keep in YEAR 2.
(c) In all cases, the minimum value for any player tagged as a keeper will be $15 notwithstanding a lesser auction day cost.
(d) Value may be adjusted downward by the amount of time that the player spent injured during the season and/or the player's acquisition status (i.e. having been released by the team that owned him at the start of the season and picked up on waivers or the FA market). See(e)-(g) for devaluation rules.
(e) A player's keeper value as determined by his auction day cost shall be reduced by $3 for the subsequent year if that player is picked up off of waivers or free agency. Only one such deduction can be claimed per year.
(f) For players who are hitters: A player’s initial keeper value as determined by auction day cost is reduced in price by $6 for the subsequent year if he plays in 81 or fewer games due to injury. A player’s keeper value is reduced in price by $3 for the subsequent year if he is limited to playing in fewer than 120 games, but more than 81 games due to injury. In no case shall a player’s keeper value be reduced below the floor value for keepers of $15.
(g) For players who are starting pitchers: A player’s initial keeper value as determined by auction day cost is reduced in price by $6 for the subsequent year if he starts 17 or fewer games due to injury. A player’s keeper value is reduced in price by $3 for the subsequent year if he is limited to starting fewer than 25 games, but more than 17 games due to injury. In no case shall a player’s keeper value be reduced below the floor value for keepers of $15.
- Based on the rules above, any necessary devaluation for relief pitchers/ swingmen will be made at the discretion of the commissioner.
(i) Young Player Inflation Adjustment (YPIA) - Any player whose age is less than or equal to 25 on opening day of the season YEAR 1 shall not be subject to inflation if tagged as a keeper for YEAR 2. Should such a player be retained beyond that season (i.e. into YEAR 3), standard inflation would apply. This allows for one inflation-free year and shall be known as Young Player Inflation Adjustment (YPIA). A player may only be tagged once in his career with this status.
(j) Special Rule for 2007 Keeper Player Value - All 2007 keeper values will be determined based on a player’s draft slot during the 2006 draft. Players drafted in the first round are worth $27, those draft in round 2 are worth $24, those drafted in round 3 are worth $20, those drafted in round 4 or later are worth $15. In this year, all the other valuation rules apply.
(k) In the unlikely event that a participant contests a player's value, the commissioner will consider the objection and determine whether or not a value adjustment is warranted, and, if so, in what amount.
(l) In the unlikely event that a keeper becomes injured or otherwise unavailable in the time between the deadline for keeper selection and the start of the auction draft, a participant may name a replacement keeper if so desired, but that replacement must be submitted to the commissioner prior to the start of the auction. This allows for replacement due to significant injury or other factors that will prevent a keeper from playing during the season. The commissioner reserves the right to review all replacement requests and will determine whether or not a replacement is allowable and warranted under this rule.
(m) When a participant submits his keepers to the commissioner, participant must provide the commissioner with a good faith valuation of the keeper based on the aforementioned rules. If any circumstances apply besides the general rule regarding inflation, the participant must explain which circumstance applies to deviate from the general rule. The commissioner shall take this information into consideration when assigning final keeper values.
(n) The commissioner's posting regarding final keeper values on the FLB blog shall be authoritative.
Article 5 - Commisioner's Powers
(a) The commissioner shall have the power to make any changes to the rules that he deems fit so long as he gives the league adequate notice.
(b) The commissioner shall have the power to veto any trades consummated during or after the season. The commissioner shall exercise his veto only if the trade is grossly unbalanced. Factors to be considered include but are not limited to: 1) present value of the players, 2) future value of the players, 3) team standings, and 4) potential keeper cost.
(c) The commissioner shall have the discretionary power to correct any injustices occurring during the draft in the draft room.
(d) The commissioner shall have the power to impose sanctions on participants that violate any rules.
(e) Before exercising rule, veto, or sanction power, the commissioner shall obtain the advice and consent of an executive committee consisting of at least two other participants.
(f) In regards to any of the aforementioned commissioner's executive actions, any participant may call for a vote on these actions to be conducted by the commissioner. 5 votes are required to strike the commissioner's actions.
2.22.2007
League Name Suggestions
I would like to solicit suggestions for a new name for our league. I am not sure everyone knows or cares about Baseball Prospectus. I don't like being compared to a"guinea pig" either.
2.20.2007
Closing in on a set of rules...
For anyone who is reading the blog and is not aware, we're getting close to finalizing the league. If anyone has any strong feelings about any contentious issue, now is the time to be heard.
2.17.2007
Epiphany on Keeper Values
So, I suddenly had an epiphany regarding a fair way to value keepers for this season (and I wasn't even on an epiphany toilet . . . anyone out there who watches Scrubs will know what I'm talking about). If you go into your personal yahoo fantasy sports profile, you can look at all your past teams and leagues. If you go into our league from last year, you can look at the draft results from last year's draft. My proposal is this. All players drafted in the 1st round last year should be valued at $30, all who were drafted in the 2nd round are valued at $25, all from the 3rd round valued at $20 and all from the 4th round or later valued at $15.
I think this is the best way to do it as, going forward, the way we're going to value keepers is based on what they were last year, plus inflation. This way, we get a better approximation of what was "paid" for the player in the straight draft last year by using rounds as a proxy for value. This method is also completely objective, avoiding some of the inherent messiness of any other method.
I think we can debate what price level each round should be set at, but by my reckoning the values I provided above are about as good as we're going to get. Anyway, does anybody object to this system for setting keeper values this year or can we put this issue behind us and move onto debating other issues?
I think this is the best way to do it as, going forward, the way we're going to value keepers is based on what they were last year, plus inflation. This way, we get a better approximation of what was "paid" for the player in the straight draft last year by using rounds as a proxy for value. This method is also completely objective, avoiding some of the inherent messiness of any other method.
I think we can debate what price level each round should be set at, but by my reckoning the values I provided above are about as good as we're going to get. Anyway, does anybody object to this system for setting keeper values this year or can we put this issue behind us and move onto debating other issues?
2.16.2007
Next Steps
First, see the comments in response to Justin's post below.
I think we need to move this from the theoretical to the concrete. There are two steps we can take immediately.
1. Decide on an overall budget- As I commented previously I think the actual number is somewhat irrelevant since all other prices and values will be relative to the total we select. I'm advocating for $260 because that seems to be an industry standard.
2. Have everyone list their keepers- This way we can move forward on placing a value on keepers, with whatever method we choose. If we elect to go with the tiered approach, I think it necessitates a vote, to make it as fair as possible everyone should vote on all players, but that won't happen. I think as a minimum, the three of us and justin should vote.
To these ends, I propose that Rich get in touch with non-responders to get them to list their keepers. Before everyone bitches about not being ready to make final keeper decisions, note that this would not be set in stone- if someone gets hurt and becomes a throwback to the draft pool, we can account for that by adding a new player in later. But the truth is that most of us should know who we're keeping. Either way, it's time to make some decisions and move forward.
Each team should list their keepers as a comment to this post. I'll start by listing mine today. I will then compile a list of keepers and we can arrange a method of valuation from there. We need buy-in on this, so please join in. The draft will be here before we know it.
I think we need to move this from the theoretical to the concrete. There are two steps we can take immediately.
1. Decide on an overall budget- As I commented previously I think the actual number is somewhat irrelevant since all other prices and values will be relative to the total we select. I'm advocating for $260 because that seems to be an industry standard.
2. Have everyone list their keepers- This way we can move forward on placing a value on keepers, with whatever method we choose. If we elect to go with the tiered approach, I think it necessitates a vote, to make it as fair as possible everyone should vote on all players, but that won't happen. I think as a minimum, the three of us and justin should vote.
To these ends, I propose that Rich get in touch with non-responders to get them to list their keepers. Before everyone bitches about not being ready to make final keeper decisions, note that this would not be set in stone- if someone gets hurt and becomes a throwback to the draft pool, we can account for that by adding a new player in later. But the truth is that most of us should know who we're keeping. Either way, it's time to make some decisions and move forward.
Each team should list their keepers as a comment to this post. I'll start by listing mine today. I will then compile a list of keepers and we can arrange a method of valuation from there. We need buy-in on this, so please join in. The draft will be here before we know it.
2.14.2007
ESPN League
I've set up an ESPN league to get things rolling in that arena. If we truly are going auction in Yahoo, then I'm even more relieved that ESPN now allows for a customizable league complete with useful stat categories (read: no more friggin' closers). See your emails for more info, and anyone who wants to be invited should let me know. There are no passwords/ league IDs now- I just invite.
2.13.2007
Participation Rates are Low
I think in order to get anywhere with our ideas, we need more input from the rest of the league. I suspect that we three are still the only ones reading and blogging. We could probably get Justin involved easily enough, but will others starting reading this as we get closer to the season?
Anyhoo, my preference would be to eventually do our ESPN league (prestige), our keeper league (money), and an auction league (progress). However, if you keep playing Babe Ruth, that would mean 4 for you, in which case I'd be willing to combine the keeper and auction leagues in one of several ways- either revoke the keeper theme and go straight redraft auction, or keep the keeper theme and assign values to keepers, or reduce the number of keepers and go from there. For this season, I still suggest we play sans auction and see how the implemented changes pan out.
In other news, I understand why Dave wants to quit even before we've begun. Losing the opportunity to draft Kris Benson has got to be eating you up inside.
Anyhoo, my preference would be to eventually do our ESPN league (prestige), our keeper league (money), and an auction league (progress). However, if you keep playing Babe Ruth, that would mean 4 for you, in which case I'd be willing to combine the keeper and auction leagues in one of several ways- either revoke the keeper theme and go straight redraft auction, or keep the keeper theme and assign values to keepers, or reduce the number of keepers and go from there. For this season, I still suggest we play sans auction and see how the implemented changes pan out.
In other news, I understand why Dave wants to quit even before we've begun. Losing the opportunity to draft Kris Benson has got to be eating you up inside.
2.07.2007
Auction League?
I would be interested in transitioning to an "Auction" league. I would like to get a discussion going about the feasibility of changing our format to an Auction league this year, or some time in the future. I think that the Auction format is more desirable in principle. However, there are concerns with actual execution and perhaps timing. Seeing as how we have to do our draft in a chat room anyway, I don't think it would take so much more time. What does everyone else think?
2.06.2007
Of Keepers
In looking over my team, I'm deciding whether to keep 3 or 4, and who those should be. I was curious what others think about the wisdom of a non-traditional keeper, such as a closer. I had arguably the top 2 relief pitchers in the game (Joe Nathan and B.J. Ryan).
Nathan: 68.1 IP, 7 W, 36 S, 95 K, 1.58 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 5.94 K:BB
Ryan: 72.1 IP, 2 W, 38 S, 86 K, 1.37 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 4.30 K:BB
Aside from a slightly higher ERA (in fewer innings), the edge clearly goes to Nathan. With saves now being irrelevant, is this performance still worthy of a keeper slot? The strikeout total alone approaches that of a mediocre starter and the peripherals are much better than any starter would be likely to have. So the question of the day is does that performance mean more to a team than the numbers posted by a third or fourth-rounder on offense, such as an Adam Dunn?
Nathan: 68.1 IP, 7 W, 36 S, 95 K, 1.58 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 5.94 K:BB
Ryan: 72.1 IP, 2 W, 38 S, 86 K, 1.37 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 4.30 K:BB
Aside from a slightly higher ERA (in fewer innings), the edge clearly goes to Nathan. With saves now being irrelevant, is this performance still worthy of a keeper slot? The strikeout total alone approaches that of a mediocre starter and the peripherals are much better than any starter would be likely to have. So the question of the day is does that performance mean more to a team than the numbers posted by a third or fourth-rounder on offense, such as an Adam Dunn?
ESPN Trades in Review
After all this discussion about team names, I decided to check my ESPN account. While I was looking at our ESPN league from last year, I started to contemplate what went wrong for my team - why the disappointing finish. I looked at the league trades and discovered that I was involved in all the trades that were completed. Maybe this was the source of my problems. Here is the log:
I send Raul Ibanez, Fausto Carmona for Eric Hinske, Francisco Rodriguez
I send Edgar Renteria for Akinori Otsuka
I send Scott Podsednik, Ambiorix Burgos for Eric Chavez
My general impression is that these trades didn't hurt my team. If anything, they helped my team overall. Is this correct reasoning? Or should I avoid trading like the plague in the future?
Actually, getting Chavez just triggered a bell in my head. Maybe I did poorly because I gave too many at-bats to 3Bs having bad seasons - Chavez and Blalock. I couldn't really control that - what are the odds that two young players like that would be bad all season long? Oh yeah, and I had my first round pick, Derek Lee, out all season. Hey, maybe I did a lot better than I should have done.
I send Raul Ibanez, Fausto Carmona for Eric Hinske, Francisco Rodriguez
I send Edgar Renteria for Akinori Otsuka
I send Scott Podsednik, Ambiorix Burgos for Eric Chavez
My general impression is that these trades didn't hurt my team. If anything, they helped my team overall. Is this correct reasoning? Or should I avoid trading like the plague in the future?
Actually, getting Chavez just triggered a bell in my head. Maybe I did poorly because I gave too many at-bats to 3Bs having bad seasons - Chavez and Blalock. I couldn't really control that - what are the odds that two young players like that would be bad all season long? Oh yeah, and I had my first round pick, Derek Lee, out all season. Hey, maybe I did a lot better than I should have done.
2.02.2007
"Replacement Levelers" Inspiration
ESPN posted a breezy article about the stat VORP, which is the inspiration for my team name, the Replacement Levelers.
Sweet, Sweet Loot & Giving Saves the Boot
I finally received my prize for winning the ESPN league, which took the form of a sweet T-shirt. I eschewed the pennant, which was the only other option I had given the fact that only won one league. Despite the lure of the long-sleeve tee, the sweatshirt, the fleece, or whatever other damn thing espn.com tries to bribe me with, I don't plan on playing in multiple leagues any time soon. Their rationale is pretty cagey: Spend hundreds of dollars on FLB teams, beat the long odds and win multiple times in one season, and we'll give you apparell valued at $50 or less! I can see why that would work. Maybe they prey on the same subset of dullards that are taken in by American Idol.
In unrelated news, is anyone outside of the three of us actually reading this blog? We need to make sure that people take the stat category changes into account when drafting. I'm eagerly awaiting the moment when someone becomes baffled as to why no one else is getting in on their "CLOSER RUN!".
In unrelated news, is anyone outside of the three of us actually reading this blog? We need to make sure that people take the stat category changes into account when drafting. I'm eagerly awaiting the moment when someone becomes baffled as to why no one else is getting in on their "CLOSER RUN!".
2.01.2007
I too have thought about the name issue, and have yet to reach a decision. It's like I'm a prisoner in my own mind. In an attempt to soothe myself and David, let's take a tally:
Addendum- In all good conscience, I have to admit that coming up with a new team name each year is a real highlight of FLB for me. As I look back over past Yahoo FLB seasons and read the old names we chose, I laugh inside. It's a historical record of our various interests over the years. The way we've gone from Dune to Porkins to Anna's ludicrous commentary to Bill James et. al. reflects our hilarious journey.
Side note: can you review old team names in ESPN?
I like the creative aspects of FLB- the draft, team names and colors, day-to-day adjustments, etc. I see the realism in keeping the same name from year to year, but if we end up electing that method, I will miss the good times I've struggled to choose between a delicious baseball-themed pun or a witticism perfectly capturing the zeitgeist of that particular season. Think about it.
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An auction league definitely interests me. I would prefer to just go ahead and fold the keeper league into an auction draft. Given that I've managed to place in the bottom quartile of every FLB league for the past few years, I am not a candidate for managing teams in different leagues with different rules. Beyond setting a ~$30 price for the four keepers everyone gets this year, perhaps we should mandate the 2006 holdovers get dumped back into the draft pool next year. Otherwise whomever has Pujols and a couple of other clearly great players will have them locked in at the still great price for several years.