Thread: Newbie tips
View Single Post
Old 01-05-2010, 11:58 AM   #9
gonelong
Score Early, Score Often
 
gonelong's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 4,127
Re: Newbie tips

I always found it helpful to create a spread-sheet with the position players in clear tiers. (you define the tiers based on your scoring). That way you can quickly tell that there are only 1 tier level SS available, while there are still 6 tier 1 level OF available. Scarcity at the position level is important at both the top and the bottom. You can sink yourself pretty quickly with a guy that gets 400 ABs and hits .220 or gets 25 starts and puts up a 6.75 ERA.

For each player I calculated a number for each of the categories, plus an overall number. This allowed me to quickly determine, in the middle rounds, where I was deficient/strong and who would be the best fit.. You might have 2 guys ranked the same, but one can help you out quite a bit more with WHIP at the expense of Ks, etc.

Next I'd look at each guy and determine if I though his numbers would be better than last season, worse, or roughly equal ... and then note that by each total score (-, +, =) - another way to distinguish between 2 guys of roughly the "same value"

If you have last years final stats for the league, then you can kinda figure out what a K or HR is worth in your league. Then you can tell if 1 HR or 10 Ks or 2 SB is worth more. Use this info to calculate a score for each player for each individual category, and overall. Use these numbers to set your tiers by position. I usually divided up the scores by 5ths and then used 5 colors to denote the tiers, making some adjustments if the drop off from the 2nd last guy in a tier and the last guy was a huge gap.

If you are going to be in the league on an annual basis, take notes during each draft. You'll soon find out that Bob likes HR hitters, Steve wants players from team x and y, John doesn't take any west coast players because he wants to check his scores before bedtime, and Nick likes to load up on starting pitching. You can use this info combined with your draft order to determine which players you need to pick now if you want them, and which you can let slide another round. Guys will also tend to draft players that did well for them the previous year, and avoid any that didn't do so well. This can be exploited as well.

A supplemental sheet for those guys without a starting position, or starting the year in the minors or on the bench is handy as well.

This sucks a bit the first year, but once you have the sheet set up, it's not bad to update. I always tended to update the sheet for the next year while watching the playoffs. Then you only had to make adjustments for FA, injuries, etc. in the spring.

... or you can download something from one of the million sites available and have the same info as most of the other guys drafting.



GL

Last edited by gonelong; 01-05-2010 at 12:34 PM.
gonelong is offline   Reply With Quote