Ron Shandler in USA Today surveys the history of rules changes in Tout Wars.
Category: Rules
Lord Zola’s Knights Take on Tout Wars Mixed’s New OBP Rule
The merry band (and Rotoman) joust about improving the fantasy game, aggressively, passively, or just right, pleasing the average fantasy player, and incorporating better metrics, at KFFL.
Derek Carty says, Not so fast!
Rotoman agrees with Derek, and thinks he’s wrong.
In a group email list among Tout Warriors, a spirited discussion breaks out. Steve Gardner’s story in USA Today does a good job of explaining some of the issues involved.
Rotoman takes a look at what hitters would gain most in value by the change to OBP.
Tristan Cockcroft doesn’t mention Tout Wars, but he does propose changing the roto categories. His idea? 6×6 roto, with OBP and SLG replacing BA, IP and K/9 replacing Strikeouts, and Quality Starts replacing Wins. You can disagree and appreciate his thoughtfulness on the subject.
In a story that may be behind the paywall at Rotowire, Jason Collette looks at the game’s declining Batting Averages in recent years, and the fantasy implications. In the comments a spirited discussion breaks out about the pros and cons of replacing BA with OBP. In sum, lots of support for the idea of it. Some skepticism about the receptiveness of the general fantasy public to the change.
2013 Rule Changes in Tout Wars
Two rules are being changed in Tout Wars this year:
1) The threshold below which the FAAB Bidding is not treated using the Vickrey rules (winning bid is reduced to $1 more than the second-highest bid) has been reduced from $10 to $5.
2) In Mixed League only this year, the BA (batting average) hitting category is being changed to OBP (on-base percentage).
The general consensus is that Vickrey is a good thing when there is real competition for a player, but in the week-to-week FAAB contests too often one team will really value a player and no one else will. Reducing the price down to $1 is like a gift to those teams. The $10 threshold has worked well to force thoughtful bids, but it is the goal to find the best balance, and so we’re trying $5 this year. If there are no other bids than the winning bid of more than $5, the winning bid will be reduced to $5.
Sabermetrics tells us that a walk is nearly as good as a hit, and many leagues are using OBP rather than BA because it values the base on balls. One of Tout Wars’ mission is to adopt new rules that improve the game. The member of the LLC have all played with OBP as a category for 10 years now in the XFL, and can honestly say: Try it, you’ll like it!
Should non-contenders make trades at this point in the season with contenders?
Todd “Lord” Zola asked the experts in Tout Wars and LABR about their approaches in non-keeper leagues, and got an earful.
Read all about it at KFFL.com, here.
We took a look at last year’s August trades in Tout AL and NL, just to see what actually happened.
In the NL there were seven trades:
(6) traded Coghlan and U Jimenez to (9) Carlos Lee and Lannan Continue reading “Should non-contenders make trades at this point in the season with contenders?”
Considering the Swingman…
Baseball Prospectus’s Derek Carty takes a look at how the Swingman has been used in Tout NL this year, and he likes it.
MLB Adds Swingman!
Following Tout Wars lead, MLB—via the new collective bargaining agreement—has added the Swingman. Here’s the story, from Deadspin.
Meanwhile, Brian Walton sings praise to the virtues of a limited reserve list and the swingman at KFFL.
Rotowire on Sirius XM: Vickery and Hector Santiago in Tout AL
Jeff Erickson (85), Andy Behrens (51) and Chris Liss (45) talk about their bids this week on Hector Santiago, how Vickery changed them, and just how good Santiago might be. Plus a bonus: A theory that other White Sox closers manque have lost all their lustre.
The Bidmeister!
Tout Wars uses the onRoto stat service, and you can follow along with each league via the public page links in the right navbar here at toutwars.com.
At onRoto you’ll find the standings and rosters for each league and all team. You’ll also find the weekly Bidmeister logs, under Transactions Logs in the League Pages.
The Bidmeister is onRoto’s exemplary automated FAAB system. Each week team owner’s enter blocks of bids, starting each by designating a player on the active roster to reserve, release or disable, then listing free agents and bid prices for each. Of particular interest this week was Jeff Erickson’s approach in Tout AL. Of his $100 annual FAAB budget Jeff bid $85 in block 1 and $15 in block 2.
Because Tout Wars uses a modified Vickery bidding system, Jeff actually paid $52 for Hector Santiago ($1 more than Andy Behrens’ bid), and $10 for Vicente Padilla (the floor for bids of more than $10 that aren’t challenged by a bid of $9 or more.) Jeff now has a bullpen.
Lawr Michaels snuck through Fernando Rodney for $16.
Jeff Erickson:
- dis DMcGowan Tor:
- pur HSantiago CWS 85
- pur FRodney TB 23
- pur VPadilla Bos 15
- pur FMorales Bos 5
- pur LMendoza KC 1
- pur TWilhelmsen Sea 1
- pur JHowell TB 1
- pur JMcGee TB 0
- rel CRuffin Sea:
- pur FRodney TB 15
- pur VPadilla Bos 15
- pur FMorales Bos 5
- pur LMendoza KC 1
- pur TWilhelmsen Sea 0
- pur JHowell TB 0
- pur JMcGee TB 0
- res KFukudome CWS:
- pur JHannahan Cle 0
- pur RBrignac TB 0