2013 GWJ Fantasy Baseball League Catch-All

FSeven wrote:

Anyone have any issues if I create the league with ESPN instead of Yahoo?

None at all. Just tell me where the party is and I'll show up.

Their mobile app works very well too.

FSeven wrote:

Anyone have any issues if I create the league with ESPN instead of Yahoo?

I personally prefer it to be ESPN, since my other league is there too. I don't mind either way though.

ESPN it is!

I've always preferred yahoo to espn. ESPNs interface for both the draft and managing the team have always bugged me. Also, the last time i checked, you couldn't do custom playoff formats like say 1 week rounds for the first and second, and a two week final. I think that is how yahoo has it. On ESPN, it's either 1 week for all or 2 weeks for all.

FSeven wrote:

ESPN it is!

Sounds good to me.

ukickmydog wrote:

I've always preferred Yahoo to espn. ESPNs interface for both the draft and managing the team have always bugged me. Also, the last time i checked, you couldn't do custom playoff formats like say 1 week rounds for the first and second, and a two week final. I think that is how yahoo has it. On ESPN, it's either 1 week for all or 2 weeks for all.

That must be baseball specific. What's the logic behind a playoff setup like that? It lacks continuity. Personally, I like a two week playoff, it minimizes the "lucky" week in favor of consistency.

ukickmydog wrote:

I've always preferred yahoo to espn. ESPNs interface for both the draft and managing the team have always bugged me. Also, the last time i checked, you couldn't do custom playoff formats like say 1 week rounds for the first and second, and a two week final. I think that is how yahoo has it. On ESPN, it's either 1 week for all or 2 weeks for all.

They might have fixed that last year. Our league commish last year had to tell us going into the playoffs that the championship was going to be 1 week instead of the 2 that were scheduled by the site.

I've only played traditional roto style baseball with auction drafts but if there's an odd number I'm willing to try my luck. Since I've never played in an H2H league, how many batters/pitchers do you start and how many are on your bench?

sr_malo wrote:

Personally, I like a two week playoff, it minimizes the "lucky" week in favor of consistency.

I like 2 week finals for that reason, but adding an extra week to the first 2 rounds of playoffs cuts the regular season too short.

Carlbear95 wrote:

I've only played traditional roto style baseball with auction drafts but if there's an odd number I'm willing to try my luck. Since I've never played in an H2H league, how many batters/pitchers do you start and how many are on your bench?

C
1B
2B
3B
SS
2B/SS
1B/3B
5x OF
UTIL

Pitchers:
9 pitching slots

Bench slots are shared between pitchers and position players. Basically, think of it as you get a 25-player roster. All your bench slots could be pitchers, position players, or a mix of the two. How you build your roster is up to you. You have 25 roster slots to work with.

For the 9 pitching slots, use them how you like. You could have 5 starters and 4 relievers, 7 starters and 2 relievers, etc.

UTIL slot holds any position player.

Any interest in 2 starting catchers?

Kush15 wrote:

Any interest in 2 starting catchers?

I'd be willing to put it up for vote. I personally would vote no. IMO the UTIL slot is sufficient for a second catcher should the owner want one.

Would love to get 2 more teams to make it 12. Whether we have 10 or 12 teams come February 15th, I will lock the league and then put up the following votes for owners:

-2nd Catcher or not? (Yes or No
-How many transactions per week? (4, 5, or 6)

Anyone have any other options they want voted on?

FSeven wrote:
Kush15 wrote:

Any interest in 2 starting catchers?

Would love to get 2 more teams to make it 12. Whether we have 10 or 12 teams come February 15th, I will lock the league and then put up the following votes for owners:

-2nd Catcher or not? (Yes or No
-How many transactions per week? (4, 5, or 6)

Anyone have any other options they want voted on?

I would like to get in on this league if I can, but if there is an uneven number of teams, then I will respectfully not join in on the fun. I'd rather not see uneven fantasy leagues.

FSeven wrote:
Carlbear95 wrote:

I've only played traditional roto style baseball with auction drafts but if there's an odd number I'm willing to try my luck. Since I've never played in an H2H league, how many batters/pitchers do you start and how many are on your bench?

C
1B
2B
3B
SS
2B/SS
1B/3B
5x OF
UTIL

Pitchers:
9 pitching slots

Bench slots are shared between pitchers and position players. Basically, think of it as you get a 25-player roster. All your bench slots could be pitchers, position players, or a mix of the two. How you build your roster is up to you. You have 25 roster slots to work with.

For the 9 pitching slots, use them how you like. You could have 5 starters and 4 relievers, 7 starters and 2 relievers, etc.

UTIL slot holds any position player.

That is a crap load of starting spots. I've always done:

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Util, Util, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL

FSeven wrote:

C
1B
2B
3B
SS
2B/SS
1B/3B
5x OF
UTIL

Pitchers:
9 pitching slots

Bench slots are shared between pitchers and position players. Basically, think of it as you get a 25-player roster. All your bench slots could be pitchers, position players, or a mix of the two. How you build your roster is up to you. You have 25 roster slots to work with.

For the 9 pitching slots, use them how you like. You could have 5 starters and 4 relievers, 7 starters and 2 relievers, etc.

UTIL slot holds any position player.

IIRC, the above is what ESPN considers a "Standard League": 13 starters, 9 pitchers, 3 bench spots, and a DL. A player on the DL doesn't count against your roster since they are inactive.

Also, the default playoff schedule is a two week semi-final and a two week final. There isn't a "Wild Card" series.

Finally, I'd vote no on two catchers. There are never enough good ones to go around.

ukickmydog wrote:

That is a crap load of starting spots.

It's only 3 more starting position slots than your format and 1 more pitching slot.

I prefer this format as it tends to pull evenly across all major league positions. Assuming your CI and MI are equally divided amongst 1B/3B and 2B/SS, this format nets out to the following per team (before you start filling up UTIL and Bench spots): 1.5 1B, 1.5 2B, 1.5 SS, 1.5 3B, 5 OF. If you divided this against a real team’s starting lineup, you get 1.5 for all the infield spots and 1.66 for OF. The one UTIL spot will generally pull from 1B and OF to drive those positions’ replacement level close to 2B/SS/3B.

Your format (which I believe is the Yahoo default format which has no CI/MI, 3 OF, and 2 UTIL) is also proportional but I find it’s too shallow. You’re basically losing 4 hitters per team (2 OF, CI, MI) and adding one UTIL. This inflates the available free agents. I would only suggest that if there are 14-16 teams but the players are very novice.

As for bench and DL, I recommend sticking with 3 bench and 1 DL for shallow leagues and 5-7 bench spots/1 DL for deeper leagues. For deep leagues, it’s fun to use the bench for both necessary filler (e.g., a Brooks Conrad type that might give you something when your starter gets hurt) and prospect speculation. In shallow leagues, the free agency pool is so rich that deep benches only serve to frustrate active owners. There is nothing worse than seeing potential free agent targets languishing on the bench of someone who checked out of the league.

FSeven wrote:

-2nd Catcher or not? (Yes or No
-How many transactions per week? (4, 5, or 6)

Anyone have any other options they want voted on?

How about # of playoff teams and playoff matchup length? If we have 10 teams, I'd say 4 in playoffs with 2 week matchups of semis and finals. If we have 12 teams, I'd say 6 in playoffs with 1 and 2 seed getting a bye. "Wild card" round would be 1 week, then semis and finals 2 weeks.

Edit: I also like bigger benches than 3. 5 usually works well, but I don't want more than 25 man rosters... so that gets back to my reduced # of active players.

Looked like there was an odd number so if I can join to make it 12 let me know.

As far as # of players go, I always liked more players. My leagues have almost always been 15 batters (+1 catcher and utility more than this league) and 10 pitchers starting with 5 additional bench spots. IMHO a mixed league with less than 14 teams should have more players on rosters.

Anyway that's my 2 cents, and if I get invited into the league I plan on making it worth a nickel.

I am willing as well if the league is not full.

Added shag and Carlbear to fill out the 12 teams. Gizmo is #1 should someone drop out or there garners enough interest for a second league. If gizmo and only 1 other decides to play, perhaps we can try a 14 team league.

So here are the rules for ESPN's playoffs.

If I create a custom league I should be able to allow 6 teams in the playoffs.

The other option, should anyone want to go that route, would be to use Rotisserie scoring.

I'm easy-going, so I'd still play if we went rotisserie, but I do prefer H2H.

absurddoctor wrote:

I'm easy-going, so I'd still play if we went rotisserie, but I do prefer H2H.

Ditto for me. I'd very much prefer H2H, but if everyone decided on rotisserie instead, I wouldn't bail.

I vote H2H, but also do not mind Roto

I like H2H as well, not that it looks like my vote is needed at this point.

I've only played roto, so if I have to vote I'd say go that way.. but I've never played H2H so wouldn't mind giving it a shot. In other words, it doesn't matter to me.

Also roto you can get away with weekly lineups as opposed to daily if there is still concern regarding that.

I play in both types of leagues but I'd vote for H2H in this one.

Looks like so far it's pretty much unanimous for H2H.

FSeven wrote:

Looks like so far it's pretty much unanimous for H2H.

I say H2H.

I vote HGH, we all roid out before the draft

ESPN Leagues are now available to set up