Archive for fantasy baseball drafts

It’s still early in fantasy baseball drafting season, but I’m already noticing a trend in my initial drafts and auctions. Maybe this is more perception than reality, but it seems that I am at odds with ADP more often than I can remember being in the past.

Throughout my still-in-progress TGFBI draft, it feels like, more often than not, I am having to decide whether to hold back on drafting a player who I value much more than other drafters do. My rankings tell me it’s time to take the plunge, but NFBC ADP tells me to pump the brakes. In comparing my rankings to NFBC ADPs for each player I have drafted through the first 17 rounds, I realize it doesn’t just seem that I’m drafting a lot of players I am especially bullish on — I have already picked 11 players who I am ranking well above ADP.
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It never fails. Every year, just before the season begins, my job description changes from fantasy writer to crisis negotiator. I go from offering breakouts, busts and strategic draft plans to talking fantasy owners off a ledge as their anxiety, impatience and insecurities push them closer and closer to idiotic trades that will decimate their team in the long run. Like Crash Davis taking young Ebby Calvin under his wing, I attempt to subdue their panic with trite cliches of, “patience is a virtue” and “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Some I am able to help. Others are too far gone. If you’re reading this right now, step away from the panic button. It’s going to be okay. Read the rest of this entry »

Damn you, social media. I’ve tweeted and Facebook’d this league so much in the last two weeks, that I can’t even write the name of it without the stupid hashtag.

While the name of the league would probably have you thinking that Cameron Maybin was the first overall selection (too soon, Ray?) the word BAD is simply an acronym for Baseball Analysis Draft. The league, brought to you by the folks over at KFFL, is a 15-team (just expanded from 12 for this season) standard 5×5 roto league that has some of the finest fantasy baseball minds competing for the title and some serious bragging rights. It’s a two-catcher league with a middle and corner infielder, one utility player, five outfielders and nine pitchers. We do a slow snake-draft where every pick has a two hour limit and the clock shuts down during the late evening hours and over the weekend. After every pick we submit a small write-up detailing our thought process behind each selection, hence the BAD acronym.

It is not a mock draft. We play this one out. To use a phrase that always makes you want to slam Bud Selig upside the head with a tire iron, this time it counts. Read the rest of this entry »

Come on, people. Take a moment here. Take a breath. Take a Xanax for all I care. You need to relax. We’re not even a week into the season and I’ve already seen more panic here than I did when Phish announced they were breaking up and the dirty, spun hippies woke up and  realized they had no place to go. I’ve seen roster moves galore, bad impulse trades, people giving up on some players already and far too much faith being put into others who are undeserving. I truly wish this was just some strawman I decided to make up and treat like a punching bag for a while, but this is truth I’m speaking here and those of you who are guilty of this early obsession with the panic button need to pay attention. Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t drafted your fantasy team yet, then sit back and enjoy the fact that there simply isn’t enough time for you to be the moron at whom I am directing this post. If you have, then I implore you…DON’T BE THAT GUY!

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Obviously, we’d all like to do our fantasy drafts the day before the MLB season opens, but more often than not, someone in your league has some ill-timed commitment to fulfill and the league is then forced into some madcap, Keystone Kop-like struggle to try and settle on a draft date that works for everyone. Calendars are opened, spreadsheets are created and Google docs are distributed. Finally, after an annoying round of emails where you are forced to learn of children’s birthday parties, visits from in-laws and how some idiot in your league thinks that his life is more important than that of anyone else, you settle in on a date three weeks before Opening Day. The date, while convenient for everyone, is certainly not ideal. Read the rest of this entry »

Come on, man.  It’s one day out of the year.  That’s all we’re asking for here.  We’re not asking you to split the atom or anything; just give us your undivided attention for only a few hours on one day out of the year.  You better have one hell of an excuse for your absence because even just one team on autodraft messes with the draft strategy of everyone else.

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Well, since the last installment received so much attention — both positive and negative — I figured we should have another go-around here.  Only this time, in an effort to create more dialogue and draw even more of your ire, I took the advice from some of you and looked more towards the upper rounds of the draft.  Personally, I think telling you not to waste your time with a particular player in the lower rounds is a bit more helpful than this — sure, there’s less risk in the 19th round and you don’t care if you eventually drop the guy, but why waste the pick in the first place?  But alas, this is what you asked for my dear RotoGraphs readers and this is what you get… Read the rest of this entry »

Tracking average draft position (ADP) can be an incredibly useful tool in preparing for your upcoming fantasy drafts.  It’s most helpful in standard snake-style drafts as you’re able to see, on average, where a particular player is taken; whether you can wait a few rounds to grab him or if you have to act quicker than you thought to pick him up.  Obviously it’s less helpful if you’re in an auction, but it does help you see which players are, for the most part, off people’s radars and can be stolen late in your auction for a cheaper price tag.

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Over the last week or so we’ve done plenty of articles discussing the impending move of the Houston Astros to the American League and how it will impact those in the fantasy baseball community.  But no matter how many times we attempt to look on the bright side and find the silver lining in it all, there’s one common thing that seems to come through in every piece.  It’s like that early montage in the movie Major League where the Indians’ fan base is looking at their 40 man roster in disbelief — from some guy asking who Mitchell Friedman is to the groundskeepers’ claims that “these guys are sh*tty”.  There’s almost no love for the 2012 Astros and very little hope for the club moving forward.  However, just like the old fantasy adage (is there such a thing?) that states that even closers on bad teams can be good and helpful, the same can be said about everyday players from Houston.  Just because the team is in relative shambles, doesn’t mean that you can’t find some helpful players at a bargain cost.

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