Brian Walton broke out to a big lead in Tout NL this summer, but recently dropped into third place, well behind leader Nate Ravitz. He writes here about his season, so far, and notes that Chipper Jones’ injury and K-Rod’s meltdown haven’t helped.
Month: August 2010
Tout Mixed: Steve Gardner Makes a Race of It
Or maybe you could blame Andy Behren’s bad luck with Kevin Youkilis. In any case, there is a race for first.
In this week’s Fantasy Insider column writes about how he’s shaped his Tout Mixed team, and also takes a look at his other teams and the different ways their fortunes have been shaped by his moves and Lady Luck. Most readers will see their teams in one of his scenarios.
FAAB Rules! Or, the Rules of FAAB.
Mike Gianella takes a look at how the Tout FAAB rules played a part in how Tout teams bid on the Biggest Day of the Year!
To add some context, we implemented the rule change for the transaction period following the ML interleague trading deadline because we wanted teams to be able to bid more than they had in their budget, including contingent bids. The Aug 2 rules allowed that.
In every other Tout Wars week, teams aren’t allowed to bid, for their main bid plus contingent bids, more than they have, total.
What is interesting is that in every other week of the year, nobody notices the contingent bid restriction. Also of note is that some owners this year asked us to simplify the rules and play like other leagues play.
I’m interested in hearing about how other leagues play. In the variety of leagues I play in there is a variety of ways FAAB or Waiver Dollars are dealt with. I’m of the opinion that whatever you all decide upon is fine, but there is a real virtue to restricting the total bids any team can make, actual and contingent, to the total amount of FAAB (Waiver Dollars) they have.
Why? I think it’s more strategic. Mid tier teams can strategize and capitalize on their analysis of other team’s needs. In a system that allows teams to stack contingent bids using all their available Waiver Dollars, mid level teams don’t have a chance.
But it’s okay if think they don’t deserve a chance. I agree to disagree.
Todd Zola Has Dough!
Todd plays in Tout NL, but his advice in this story about FAAB applies to any league.
Tout AL: Jason Collette’s Draft Day Accounting
In this story for RotoTimes, Jason Collette takes inventory on how each Tout AL team’s draft day roster has performed.
This approach has the virtue of isolating what it was that teams did right (and wrong) on draft day, whether these things were in their control or not.
Most interestingly, only Jason Grey’s runaway leading team has posted a positive value since draft day, and that is just +$2.
Also of interest is the big draft day hit Mike Siano’s team has taken, in large part by paying $29 for Grady Sizemore on draft day. But, as Jason points out, Mike dealt Sizemore to Jeff Erickson the day before Sizemore crashed and burned for the season (for Cliff Lee–ouch), so it was Erickson who who paid most of the price. That doesn’t show in these numbers.
There are a lot of components to a fantasy baseball season. Draft day is one part. Jason’s survey gives some idea how important a good draft is to fielding a winning team. And how tough it is to overcome cataclysmic injury, unless you’re Mike Siano.