For those rare few of you who follow me personally, you may have noticed that I’ve written an ottoneu topic about once a week. This is, in fact, by design. Presently, the topic du jour is “arbitration,” which ends on Friday, November 14.

However, I appear to have exhausted all topics related to arbitration – at least those that interest me. Fortunately, I am a fan of omnibuses (omnibi?), and it seems like the perfect time to create one for ottoneu arbitration. If you still need to make or tinker with your arbitration choices, the following content should prove educational.

There are two systems of arbitration: voting and allocation. Most leagues use allocations. An asterisk indicates that the article is intending for voting leagues. I’ve organized the omnibus into sections: intro, intermediate, and advanced.

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Ottoneu arbitration ends on November 14. We’re edging closer to the conclusion of voting season and the beginning of trading season. In FanGraphs Staff Two, 10 out of 12 teams have submitted their allocations. Now makes for a good time to tinker with my initial picks. You can read about my first pass through arbitration here.

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We’ll talk about two separate tactical topics today, because neither is really sufficient to carry a post by itself.
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We’re almost half-way through ottoneu arbitration and, at least across my leagues, some patterns are forming. A Cleveland pitcher and two Chicago first basemen are proving to be the most targeted players.

That probably is not much of a surprise, but does it make sense? And who else is near the top of that list?

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The arbitration season of ottoneu is upon us and will last through November 14. Often, the best way to teach is via example. Today I’m going to provide my list of bids and the thought process behind a few notable selections. In some cases, I’ll discuss non-selections as well. Remember, these picks can be changed at any time and aren’t finalized until the conclusion of the arbitration season.

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It’s time to dust off those ottoneu rosters. Offseason arbitration begins today and will run through November 15. While you don’t need to make your selections immediately, it’s never too early to start formulating your plan of attack.

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Arbitration allocations and voting off players in ottoneu leagues start this Wednesday. Brad Johnson and I have both shared guides to the process in the past (both for arbitration allocations and vote offs), but this year I want to focus on one point.

Prospects. Every year I touch on this briefly and every year a couple prospects are among the most allocated-to. So this year, I want to explore allocations to prospects/rookies a bit deeper.

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Philosophers keep their minds sharp by posing ethical dilemmas. Naturally, it follows that fantasizers like me should pose fantasy dilemmas. Yesterday, we talked over some ottoneu keeper conundrums. I’ll also use ottoneu for today’s puzzle. If you’re not familiar with the platform, fear not! You don’t need a working knowledge of ottoneu to participate today – I’ll explain everything. Today’s subject is:

How would you allocate $3 across these eight players?

Paul Goldschmidt $31
Edwin Encarnacion $25
Yasiel Puig $14
Corey Kluber $10
Greg Holland $10
Evan Gattis $4
George Springer $4
Dellin Betances $3

IMPORTANT: Ottoneu has unique parameters. This is a 40 man roster with a $400 budget. A top player like Goldschmidt could be worth $60. In this case, all eight players appear to have substantial surplus value, although not all are created equal.

UPDATE: The point of your allocation is to increase the cost of these players for the current owner. You are not bidding to win a player in this puzzle.

Rules

1. You may allocate your $3 in any way. You can bid $3 on one player, split the money $2 to $1, or drop $1 on three different players.
2. You may imagine that 10 other owners are also allocating $3. As such, your decision may be conditional on the actions of others.
3. There is no limit to years a player can be kept. In other words, your actions can be felt in future seasons.
4. I may cut any player. That has both positive and negative implications.

I’m not going to offer any additional guidance, at least not today (you can however, read up on ottoneu arbitration). There is no right answer, so be as creative and spiteful as the parameters allow. To the comments!

It is my intention to focus on an ottoneu topic once a week. The next milestone in the ottoneu offseason is arbitration, which will run from October 15 to November 15. I have arbitration specific content planned, and I’m sure Chad Young does too. However, with over a week before the process even begins, let’s focus our attention on other topics.

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With the trade deadline passed in ottoneu, the only way to improve your roster – for now or the future – through free agent auctions and waiver claims, which means cutting players, rather than trading them. In some cases, this is easy. That $37 Allen Craig you picked up at auction last spring, expecting a bounce back (one which I, myself, expected) is probably not hard to cut loose right now.

But what about the overpriced stars you plan to cut in the off-season but who are still productive? The problem here is that while a $60 Giancarlo Stanton might not be worth a keeping at $62 next year, if you cut him, another owner can start an auction and someone could end up paying him as little as $32 next year.

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