Saxmania
01-10-03, 04:43 PM
NYYFans.com Fantasy League 2002
Structural Blueprint – Draft 1
Note – this is just a brain dump; I’m not trying to pretend that all of these ideas are going to be adopted or liked. I was simply hoping to kickstart some discussion and decision-making around here. Bear in mind here also that I’m not the most experienced fantasy player in the world, so less of the snotty comments. If you do disagree with me strongly, read the rationale behind a proposal before dismissing it. Ta.
League Structure
The League will be made up of 18 teams, organised into three divisions of six. Each team will play teams in other divisions once, and teams in their own division twice. Teams will be organised into divisions randomly, with the exception that any franchise in existence from the 2002 season will remain in its previous division.
The season’s timetable will progress as follows:
Week 1 – Week 14 - rotating intra- and inter-divisional matches
Week 15 – All-Star Break
Week 16 – Week 18 - rotating intra- and inter-divisional matches
Week 19 – Week 23 – intra-divisional matches
Week 24 – Divisional Series
Week 25 – Championship Series
Week 26 – League ends
18 teams seems like a good balance between participation and roster quality. Last year worked well, but bye weeks pissed off a lot of owners, and really made the commissioner’s job awkward. Additionally, I felt that the rosters were a little rarified – I picked up several players from waivers that I would expect to see starting in a fantasy league, if only as gambles. Alternatives are 16 teams in 4 divisions of 4, or 20 in 4 divisions of 5. These would give us two leagues of two divisions rather than one of three, but I’d prefer to keep the Wild Card if possible (it’s much more fun IMHO) and I like having continuity with last season.
Roster Structure
Each roster will consist of the following:
1 Catcher
1 1st baseman
1 2nd baseman
1 3rd baseman
1 Shortstop
3 Outfielders
1 Utility player
5 Starting pitchers
3 Relief pitchers
Up to 4 bench players, distributed freely between pitchers and position players
Optionally, a farm team of up to 4 players may also be included. The roster of an active team will therefore contain up to 21 players (with no farm team) or 25 players (with a farm team). Further details of the proposed farm system are available below.
Thought that it was pointless to include the neutral ‘P’ slot, as clearly starters are worth more. I honestly think that relievers were severely undervalued in the last game, and adding one more will mean that it’s not just closers who get drafted. It seems nuts to me to exclude an entire swathe of players that are, in real life, essential. An extra slot should encourage use of an actual bullpen, rather than just a closer and a spot starter. Rationale: teams need a bullpen. You can’t get by without one. Even if they don’t win you games, they help you avoid losing. Not glamorous, but essential, and so fantasy teams should be forced to have one.
Draft System
Drafting will take place in a serpentine system. A random draw will be established before the draft begins, and the first team drawn will have first choice of draft position. They may choose any of the first 18 positions, and the system continues with the next-drawn player choosing their position in the draft until all are filled. Owners may draft any player currently on a major-league 25-man roster. Owners may choose not to draft in any round, but must draft a minimum of 17 players during the draft.
This is just an idea, but I thought it would be fun to introduce a tactical element in the draft order. Do you want to go 18th and 19th or 6th and 31sf? This may well get dumped if no-one’s interested, but it seemed like fun to me. Ho-hum.
Scoring System
Points are awarded to teams according to the following guide:
Walk: 1 points
Single: 1 point
Double: 2 points
Triple: 3 points
Home run: 4 points
RBI: 1 point
Run scored: 1 point
Stolen base: 1 point
Caught stealing: -1 point
Ground into double play: -1 point
Win: 10 points
Loss: -5 points
Save: 10 points
Blown save: -5 points
Hold: 2 points
Complete game: 10 points
Out recorded: 1 point
Walk allowed: -1 point
Hit allowed: -1 point
Run allowed: -2 points
Strikeout recorded: 0.5 points
Hear me out.
I think that the hitting statistics worked very nicely. Sluggers were the most valuable by a long way, but you could still rack up quite a few points with a gap hitter notching doubles and triples, and runs scored helped to elevate low-power hitters just a bit. Ideally, I’d like to value speed more highly, but scoring 2 for an SB wouldn’t conceptually work (it’s not worth two bases), and rewarding speed from first-to-third isn’t really statistically possible. It may have a bigger impact in the game than 1 point, but how can you measure it? Penalizing errors just encourages a team of DHs, and hard positions to field such as short will get penalised more than, say, left field, even if the actual player is better defensively, because of the more difficult plays to make. Finally, I toyed with 0.5 points for a sacrifice, since bunts aren’t worth anything at the moment, but couldn’t convince myself of the need. Thoughts?
Pitchers were much harder. Strikeouts were clearly too valuable previously (they’re not worth as much as an out), so I had to introduce a half-point. Not altogether happy with doing it, but it’s the only way I could think of to balance the game. I think starters were overvalued slightly, in that they would rack up points through innings and the odd win no matter what – bad starters would still average 10 or higher. Penalising for a loss would help limit this, and reduce the phenomenon where all the top-scoring players are starters.
Relievers were even tougher. A save is important – perhaps not as important as a win, but remember, you don’t get one with every win, and it’s a different set of skills; arguably in even shorter supply. Who’s been more important to the Yankees’ dynasty – Pettitte or Rivera? Exactly. Saves are vital to a real-life team, and I think they should at least be highly important to a fantasy team. Plenty of teams last year got by with hardly any. Penalising blown saves helps add some balance (prevents mediocre relievers from being better than good starters). Remember, a reliever who blows a save will probably get a loss, too, saddling him with a –10 penalty rather than the –5 a starter would get for losing a game. This reflects (rather well, I think) the added pressure on a reliever. When he blows up, it hurts more than when a starter has a bad outing. In this context, clearly a hold is an important function – moving the value to 2 prevents a bullpen being save-obssessed. Holding down a chasing team in a close position is worth more in my book than getting one out. I hope you agree.
Postseason Structure
At the end of the regular season games, the first-place teams in each division progress to the postseason, as does the second-placed team with the best record (the ‘Wild Card’). In the event of a tie for any position, the winner will be decided a) by record head-to-head during the regular season; b) by points average over the whole season; c) by points average head-to-head.
In the Divisional Series, the Wild Card will play the team with the best record (including the above tie-breakers if necessary), while the other two teams are matched up. Home advantage will again be determined by best record. The winners of the Divisional Series games will meet in the Championship Series, with the same rules regarding home advantage. The winner of this series is the winner of the League in 2003.
Fairly obvious, I thought. I did like the idea of having day-by-day scores during the postseason – in other words, whoever scores higher each day wins the day, and first to four wins the matchup – but I doubt many here agree. It was just so neat – seven days to a week; seven games in a series . . .
Thus ends the basic league structure. The following is an outline for a keeper league and farm system. I think these additions would improve the league a great deal, at relatively little cost, but the league can function without them, and I know that some are opposed. Take a gander and see what you think:
Keeper League Rules
Before the draft commences for the following year’s fantasy season, each owner of a team that intends to take part in the season may submit players from their last season’s final rosters to be withheld from the draft process as ‘keepers’. These players will automatically be added to their respective owners for the new season. However, this process will require the use of a higher draft pick. The available players to be designated as ‘keepers’ are as follows:
All teams: Up to 3 players at a cost of a draft pick 2 rounds higher than the player’s draft level the previous year
Any playoff team: Up to 4 players at a cost of a draft pick 2 rounds higher than the player’s draft level the previous year
Championship holders: Up to 4 players at a cost of a draft pick 1 rounds higher than the player’s draft level the previous year
Example:
The Kidderminster Kings wish to keep Denny Neagle on their roster from the previous season. Neagle was drafted in the 12th round last year. As the Kings did not make the playoffs last year, Neagle must be drafted in the 10th round or higher this year to be a ‘keeper’, and will use up one of the Kings’ 3 ‘keeper’ slots. If the Kings had made the playoffs, they would have 4 playoff slots. If the Kings had won the championship, they would have had to draft Neagle in only the 11th round or higher.
If a team does not draft a player designated as a ‘keeper’ by the required round (e.g. due to a change in draft strategy), then the player may be drafter by any team in subsequent rounds. His former team may not then specify a replacement ‘keeper’ during the draft.
I really like this one. We need to reward teams that do well, but 4 players isn’t really enough to dominate a league year-in, year-out, especially with the escalating draft round. Remember, under this draft system every first-round pick from the last year will be available for the next year’s draft, as well as all but one of the second-round picks at a minimum. Therefore, each draft should be fairly fresh, without mediocre players being pushed up the ladder. But the system will reward drafting young (imagine drafting Pujols in the 15th round and having him available for year after year in the later rounds . . . ) without allowing teams to dominate perennially. We need continuity without stagnation, and I think this system provides it.
Farm Team rules
Remember, these rules can be implemented without forcing teams to use them. You can win the championship without a farm team; you can draft a winner without any keepers. It’s just another level/
On the Saturday evening before the youth draft in MLB, owners may enter the fantasy farm team draft. Teams will be placed in the draft in reverse order of the previous year’s record, with new teams assumed to have a record of .500 (their current year’s record will be used as a tie-breaker, followed by their points average). Any players in an MLB farm team who still qualifies as a rookie may be drafted. The draft will progress in a regular (NOT serpentine) order, with the first-placed drafting team picking first in every round.
When a player on a farm team is promoted to the majors, the owner of that player must choose to either place him on his roster, or to release him, at which point he becomes a free agent like any other. No other owner may sign a player who has been on another player’s farm team until he has played at least a full week in the major leagues.
Players in a farm team may not be dropped and hired at will. Instead, roster moves for the farm team may be made during the following weeks:
The week before Opening Day
The week of the All-Star Break
The week of the youth draft
The week after the Championship Series
Players in a farm team are automatically designated ‘keepers’, and do not count towards their team’s ‘keeper’ limit. If a franchise with a farm system does not continue into the following year, the youth players from that franchise first become available to draft on the week before Opening Day, unless they have since been promoted to a major-league roster, in which case they are submitted to the normal draft.
Youth players may be included in any trade deal, and will be transferred by the commissioner as soon as all trade parties notify the necessity. Trades including youth players are not subject to the restriction concerning roster moves.
I’m going to propose that a Youth Commissioner would administer the farm teams – there wouldn’t be that much work to do except during the specified weeks. This feature might seem fiddly, but I think it could add another dimension to a keeper league, encouraging owners to do their research while promoting a long-term approach to the game. Teams with little hope after the All-Star Break can choose to trade superstars for superprospects, or hold onto them as ‘keepers’ for next year.
Well, there you go. I like it – I’d play it – but I’d like to hear what you think. Too silly? Too complex? Too simple? Too British?
Other points to consider:
1) Fee? $10? $20? Only for keeper owners? Higher for keeper owners?
2) Site? Yahoo again, or can we find something better? Are we prepared to pay for one?
3) Should existing teams have precedence in membership this year?
4) What is the sound of one hand clapping? “Cl-“?
Thanks for watching – you’ve been a great audience. Ciao!
Be seeing you,
Saxmania
Structural Blueprint – Draft 1
Note – this is just a brain dump; I’m not trying to pretend that all of these ideas are going to be adopted or liked. I was simply hoping to kickstart some discussion and decision-making around here. Bear in mind here also that I’m not the most experienced fantasy player in the world, so less of the snotty comments. If you do disagree with me strongly, read the rationale behind a proposal before dismissing it. Ta.
League Structure
The League will be made up of 18 teams, organised into three divisions of six. Each team will play teams in other divisions once, and teams in their own division twice. Teams will be organised into divisions randomly, with the exception that any franchise in existence from the 2002 season will remain in its previous division.
The season’s timetable will progress as follows:
Week 1 – Week 14 - rotating intra- and inter-divisional matches
Week 15 – All-Star Break
Week 16 – Week 18 - rotating intra- and inter-divisional matches
Week 19 – Week 23 – intra-divisional matches
Week 24 – Divisional Series
Week 25 – Championship Series
Week 26 – League ends
18 teams seems like a good balance between participation and roster quality. Last year worked well, but bye weeks pissed off a lot of owners, and really made the commissioner’s job awkward. Additionally, I felt that the rosters were a little rarified – I picked up several players from waivers that I would expect to see starting in a fantasy league, if only as gambles. Alternatives are 16 teams in 4 divisions of 4, or 20 in 4 divisions of 5. These would give us two leagues of two divisions rather than one of three, but I’d prefer to keep the Wild Card if possible (it’s much more fun IMHO) and I like having continuity with last season.
Roster Structure
Each roster will consist of the following:
1 Catcher
1 1st baseman
1 2nd baseman
1 3rd baseman
1 Shortstop
3 Outfielders
1 Utility player
5 Starting pitchers
3 Relief pitchers
Up to 4 bench players, distributed freely between pitchers and position players
Optionally, a farm team of up to 4 players may also be included. The roster of an active team will therefore contain up to 21 players (with no farm team) or 25 players (with a farm team). Further details of the proposed farm system are available below.
Thought that it was pointless to include the neutral ‘P’ slot, as clearly starters are worth more. I honestly think that relievers were severely undervalued in the last game, and adding one more will mean that it’s not just closers who get drafted. It seems nuts to me to exclude an entire swathe of players that are, in real life, essential. An extra slot should encourage use of an actual bullpen, rather than just a closer and a spot starter. Rationale: teams need a bullpen. You can’t get by without one. Even if they don’t win you games, they help you avoid losing. Not glamorous, but essential, and so fantasy teams should be forced to have one.
Draft System
Drafting will take place in a serpentine system. A random draw will be established before the draft begins, and the first team drawn will have first choice of draft position. They may choose any of the first 18 positions, and the system continues with the next-drawn player choosing their position in the draft until all are filled. Owners may draft any player currently on a major-league 25-man roster. Owners may choose not to draft in any round, but must draft a minimum of 17 players during the draft.
This is just an idea, but I thought it would be fun to introduce a tactical element in the draft order. Do you want to go 18th and 19th or 6th and 31sf? This may well get dumped if no-one’s interested, but it seemed like fun to me. Ho-hum.
Scoring System
Points are awarded to teams according to the following guide:
Walk: 1 points
Single: 1 point
Double: 2 points
Triple: 3 points
Home run: 4 points
RBI: 1 point
Run scored: 1 point
Stolen base: 1 point
Caught stealing: -1 point
Ground into double play: -1 point
Win: 10 points
Loss: -5 points
Save: 10 points
Blown save: -5 points
Hold: 2 points
Complete game: 10 points
Out recorded: 1 point
Walk allowed: -1 point
Hit allowed: -1 point
Run allowed: -2 points
Strikeout recorded: 0.5 points
Hear me out.
I think that the hitting statistics worked very nicely. Sluggers were the most valuable by a long way, but you could still rack up quite a few points with a gap hitter notching doubles and triples, and runs scored helped to elevate low-power hitters just a bit. Ideally, I’d like to value speed more highly, but scoring 2 for an SB wouldn’t conceptually work (it’s not worth two bases), and rewarding speed from first-to-third isn’t really statistically possible. It may have a bigger impact in the game than 1 point, but how can you measure it? Penalizing errors just encourages a team of DHs, and hard positions to field such as short will get penalised more than, say, left field, even if the actual player is better defensively, because of the more difficult plays to make. Finally, I toyed with 0.5 points for a sacrifice, since bunts aren’t worth anything at the moment, but couldn’t convince myself of the need. Thoughts?
Pitchers were much harder. Strikeouts were clearly too valuable previously (they’re not worth as much as an out), so I had to introduce a half-point. Not altogether happy with doing it, but it’s the only way I could think of to balance the game. I think starters were overvalued slightly, in that they would rack up points through innings and the odd win no matter what – bad starters would still average 10 or higher. Penalising for a loss would help limit this, and reduce the phenomenon where all the top-scoring players are starters.
Relievers were even tougher. A save is important – perhaps not as important as a win, but remember, you don’t get one with every win, and it’s a different set of skills; arguably in even shorter supply. Who’s been more important to the Yankees’ dynasty – Pettitte or Rivera? Exactly. Saves are vital to a real-life team, and I think they should at least be highly important to a fantasy team. Plenty of teams last year got by with hardly any. Penalising blown saves helps add some balance (prevents mediocre relievers from being better than good starters). Remember, a reliever who blows a save will probably get a loss, too, saddling him with a –10 penalty rather than the –5 a starter would get for losing a game. This reflects (rather well, I think) the added pressure on a reliever. When he blows up, it hurts more than when a starter has a bad outing. In this context, clearly a hold is an important function – moving the value to 2 prevents a bullpen being save-obssessed. Holding down a chasing team in a close position is worth more in my book than getting one out. I hope you agree.
Postseason Structure
At the end of the regular season games, the first-place teams in each division progress to the postseason, as does the second-placed team with the best record (the ‘Wild Card’). In the event of a tie for any position, the winner will be decided a) by record head-to-head during the regular season; b) by points average over the whole season; c) by points average head-to-head.
In the Divisional Series, the Wild Card will play the team with the best record (including the above tie-breakers if necessary), while the other two teams are matched up. Home advantage will again be determined by best record. The winners of the Divisional Series games will meet in the Championship Series, with the same rules regarding home advantage. The winner of this series is the winner of the League in 2003.
Fairly obvious, I thought. I did like the idea of having day-by-day scores during the postseason – in other words, whoever scores higher each day wins the day, and first to four wins the matchup – but I doubt many here agree. It was just so neat – seven days to a week; seven games in a series . . .
Thus ends the basic league structure. The following is an outline for a keeper league and farm system. I think these additions would improve the league a great deal, at relatively little cost, but the league can function without them, and I know that some are opposed. Take a gander and see what you think:
Keeper League Rules
Before the draft commences for the following year’s fantasy season, each owner of a team that intends to take part in the season may submit players from their last season’s final rosters to be withheld from the draft process as ‘keepers’. These players will automatically be added to their respective owners for the new season. However, this process will require the use of a higher draft pick. The available players to be designated as ‘keepers’ are as follows:
All teams: Up to 3 players at a cost of a draft pick 2 rounds higher than the player’s draft level the previous year
Any playoff team: Up to 4 players at a cost of a draft pick 2 rounds higher than the player’s draft level the previous year
Championship holders: Up to 4 players at a cost of a draft pick 1 rounds higher than the player’s draft level the previous year
Example:
The Kidderminster Kings wish to keep Denny Neagle on their roster from the previous season. Neagle was drafted in the 12th round last year. As the Kings did not make the playoffs last year, Neagle must be drafted in the 10th round or higher this year to be a ‘keeper’, and will use up one of the Kings’ 3 ‘keeper’ slots. If the Kings had made the playoffs, they would have 4 playoff slots. If the Kings had won the championship, they would have had to draft Neagle in only the 11th round or higher.
If a team does not draft a player designated as a ‘keeper’ by the required round (e.g. due to a change in draft strategy), then the player may be drafter by any team in subsequent rounds. His former team may not then specify a replacement ‘keeper’ during the draft.
I really like this one. We need to reward teams that do well, but 4 players isn’t really enough to dominate a league year-in, year-out, especially with the escalating draft round. Remember, under this draft system every first-round pick from the last year will be available for the next year’s draft, as well as all but one of the second-round picks at a minimum. Therefore, each draft should be fairly fresh, without mediocre players being pushed up the ladder. But the system will reward drafting young (imagine drafting Pujols in the 15th round and having him available for year after year in the later rounds . . . ) without allowing teams to dominate perennially. We need continuity without stagnation, and I think this system provides it.
Farm Team rules
Remember, these rules can be implemented without forcing teams to use them. You can win the championship without a farm team; you can draft a winner without any keepers. It’s just another level/
On the Saturday evening before the youth draft in MLB, owners may enter the fantasy farm team draft. Teams will be placed in the draft in reverse order of the previous year’s record, with new teams assumed to have a record of .500 (their current year’s record will be used as a tie-breaker, followed by their points average). Any players in an MLB farm team who still qualifies as a rookie may be drafted. The draft will progress in a regular (NOT serpentine) order, with the first-placed drafting team picking first in every round.
When a player on a farm team is promoted to the majors, the owner of that player must choose to either place him on his roster, or to release him, at which point he becomes a free agent like any other. No other owner may sign a player who has been on another player’s farm team until he has played at least a full week in the major leagues.
Players in a farm team may not be dropped and hired at will. Instead, roster moves for the farm team may be made during the following weeks:
The week before Opening Day
The week of the All-Star Break
The week of the youth draft
The week after the Championship Series
Players in a farm team are automatically designated ‘keepers’, and do not count towards their team’s ‘keeper’ limit. If a franchise with a farm system does not continue into the following year, the youth players from that franchise first become available to draft on the week before Opening Day, unless they have since been promoted to a major-league roster, in which case they are submitted to the normal draft.
Youth players may be included in any trade deal, and will be transferred by the commissioner as soon as all trade parties notify the necessity. Trades including youth players are not subject to the restriction concerning roster moves.
I’m going to propose that a Youth Commissioner would administer the farm teams – there wouldn’t be that much work to do except during the specified weeks. This feature might seem fiddly, but I think it could add another dimension to a keeper league, encouraging owners to do their research while promoting a long-term approach to the game. Teams with little hope after the All-Star Break can choose to trade superstars for superprospects, or hold onto them as ‘keepers’ for next year.
Well, there you go. I like it – I’d play it – but I’d like to hear what you think. Too silly? Too complex? Too simple? Too British?
Other points to consider:
1) Fee? $10? $20? Only for keeper owners? Higher for keeper owners?
2) Site? Yahoo again, or can we find something better? Are we prepared to pay for one?
3) Should existing teams have precedence in membership this year?
4) What is the sound of one hand clapping? “Cl-“?
Thanks for watching – you’ve been a great audience. Ciao!
Be seeing you,
Saxmania