Month: March 2017

Podhorzer and Schechter Lead Projected AL Standings! And the season doesn’t start until Sunday!

Using Clay Davenport’s projections applied to the Tout AL rosters, Mike Podhorzer is going to win Tout AL big this year, finishing 10 ahead of Larry Schechter and nearly 20 ahead of Rob Leibowitz. Here’re the projected results, thanks to onRoto.com‘s Toy Box.

But onRoto doesn’t project the standings based on rest of year projections using only one projection system. They also run them with the BaseballHQ rest of season projections. With BaseballHQ, Podhorzer and Schechter are closer, much closer, but there is also an alsoran, Patrick Davitt, who becomes a contender in a seriously tight race.

Guess we better let them play it out.

Mike Gianella Wins Tout Wars NL for the Second Time in Three Years!

That could be the headline if the final Tout NL standings at the end of the season are the same as the projected standings heading into the season. The projected standings are based on the players taken in the Tout NL auction using baseballHQ.com‘s projections.

onRoto.com, the Tout Wars stat service, offers projected standings based on rest of the year stats from two sources. In the other standings, based on Clay Davenport’s projections, onRoto owner Scott Wilderman is projected to finish first, with Gianella in second, but we should disregard those. Wilderman uses the Davenport projections to make up his bidding list.

Sign Up For Doubt Wars Is Now Closed!

This is the place. The rules are the same as last year. Put together a $260 team paying what the Touts paid, plus $1. Compete against other Doubt Wars players, and at the end of the year we’ll add in the real Touts, too.

Winners win some small but nice prizes, like the Fantasy Baseball Guide, a copy of the Baseball Forecaster from BaseballHQ and a platinum subscription to Mastersball.com. But the real goal is to beat the Touts.

The AL and NL leagues are full, and there are just a few remaining spots available in the Mixed league.

FIll in the form and we’ll start adding names to leagues tonight. When you log in to onRoto.com you should see your entry listed. Draft your team and you’re on your way.

NOTICE: Make sure you’re drafting 23 players, 14 hitters and 9 pitchers, for $260 or less, just as they do it in Tout Wars. Note: The software doesn’t enforce roster limits, and if you have too many players or spend too much money your rosters will be arbitrarily cut on Monday, when we go live. So please get it right!

Your team must be completely entered by Monday morning, April 3rd.

 

Using Tout Wars to Gain an Edge in Your League

Tout Wars weekend will find many roto players checking in on the festivities for two main reasons. First are dollar values in auctions, and when players are selected in drafts. Second are draft strategies. Tout Wars, however, has more to offer than just strategies and values. This column will share that information with you this season.

Below is a preview of some of the topics that will be featured in upcoming columns:

An analytical look of Tout Wars Leagues using the statistical history of Tout Wars auctions, drafts, and results and what the numbers reveal.

A look at draft software projected standings and evaluating your rank.

A post draft analysis of the 2017 Tout Drafts.

Tips and words of wisdom from the touts.

Your questions are also welcomed as well as requests and suggestions for future columns, just post in the comments section of the page.

I look forward to helping you gain an edge on your opponents this roto season.

R. Gregory Scalf

 

R. Gregory Scalf is former Division I college baseball player and full time baseball enthusiast. Greg has spent time as an associate scout for the Kansas City Royals and spent 10 years coaching high school and American Legion baseball. He was the owner and webmaster at Fantasy Baseball Central which operated from 1997-2003. Greg participated in seven Tout Wars league drafts from 1999-2003. He began playing roto baseball in 1991 and still participates in his original house league.

Besides running Fantasy Baseball Central, Greg has written articles for Rotoball, John Mosey’s Fantasy Baseball, The Sandlot Shrink, MajorLeagueBaseball.com, RotoNews, BaseballHQ, Mastersball, and Sandbox Sports to name a few. He has also been a guest on CBS Sportsline’s Fantasy Fever, Talking Baseball, Rotoradio, and Fantasy Sports Weekly radio shows. Fantasy Baseball Central was also featured in several newspaper columns around the country as well as books and magazines including USA Today’s Baseball Weekly. Greg has also been one of the commentators for the Commissioner.COM coverage of the LABR drafts in the past.

The Touts Talk About Their Drafts!

The (spreadsheet) with auction results is here. Use the tabs for each league.

Steve Gardner wrote a general piece about Tout Weekend. Jake Ceily with lessons learned from the Tout auctions. Howard Bender on strategy, and Sporer and Zinkie at Tout.

Tout Mixed Draft:  Gonos | Gamble | Ronis | White | Murphy (baseballHQ subscribers only)

Tout Head 2 Head: Bender | Ciely | Link | Bell (by Mason) | Kreutzer

Tout AL: Leibowitz | Erickson | Liss | Davitt | Michaels

Tout Mixed Auction: Zimmerman (previews Replacement Level | Player evaluations | Final Standings | League Tendencies) | Flowers | Zinkie and Steinhorn | Shandler | Melchior | VanRiper | Heaney/VanRiper Podcast | Sayre | Pianowski | Swanay

Tout NL: Gianella | Albright | Behrens | Cockcroft | Gardner | Walton

Tout Mixed Draft Winners! Preseason Style.

Our stat provider, onRoto.com, has a feature that allows us to apply two sets of projections to the current rosters, and see the year’s “final” standings before the season even starts.

Gary Davenport’s projections like Greg Ambrosius and Anthony Perri:

While the BaseballHQ projections tip to Anthony Perri and Greg Ambrosius, with a helping of Ray Murphy:

It’s probably a comfort to two-time defending champ Adam Ronis (and everyone other than Ambrosius, Perri and Murphy, that last year’s projected standings had him finishing 10th and ninth respectively. That’s why we let them play.

See you on Opening Day!

How To Follow Tout Wars Mixed Draft Tonight, March 7!

The live spreadsheet is here.

Colton and the Wolfman are covering the draft from 8pm to Midnight tonight on SiriusXM.

Rotoman will be talking about the draft live on the Tout Wars Facebook page.

Tim McLeod will be chatting from inside the draft room on his Facebook page.

Come join us!

Coming Up! Tout Wars Mixed Draft. Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm!

Yes, the gladiators are donning their cheat sheets, warming up their CPUs, making last minute checks on playing time. The Tout Wars Mixed Draft is this Tuesday night at 8pm.

You can follow along with Colton and the Wolfman, on SiriusXM at 8pm.

There will be a live spreadsheet link right here, to follow along, and join us on the Tout Wars Facebook page, for tracking and conversation.

You’ll find a list of this year’s players right here.

We look forward to seeing you!