Direction and Help please.

[MartyFan]

Hey gang! As many of you know I know little too nothing about statistical analysis and it sort of bothers me. So, in an effort too become more familiar with it I would like to join a FREE fantasy league to learn the ropes.

Any suggestions?

[Cyclone792]

Well ... if you're looking for a type of league/game, then you might want to check out Out of the Park Baseball. As of a month ago, Out of the Park 5 is now free as the developer is trying to widen the market in hopes that this spring's release of Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006 (basically v7) draws more sales. The Out of the Park series is a text simulation game, and v5 was released in March of 2003.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/article.php?newsid=396

The main website for the game series is http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp

I first purchased OOTP back in 2002 with v4, and purchased each subsequent versions upon their release. My guess is you'll either love it, or you'll be overwhelmed and won't enjoy it, but it might be worth a look for ya since v5 is now free.

One thing you will notice if you download the game is the "default" roster set is fictional players. That is because the game isn't licensed with MLBPA so it cannot legally include real players upon its release (that is a good thing as it keeps the game's cost down). Fans of the game then create roster sets to download which do contain the real teams and real players. If you want I can try to dig up an old OOTP5 real player roster set, though it may be difficult as all the current roster sets are for v6/6.5 and not compatible with v5. If I am able to find a v5 roster set, it will most likely be updated through the 2003 season.

[RedsManRick]

There is a major divide between wanting to become more familiar with statistical analysis and playing fantasy baseball. Typical fantasy leagues rely on the standard statistics that any casual baseball fan is already familiar with. The most standard setup being "5x5"

Avg, R, HR, RBI, SB for hitters
ERA, W, K, SV, WHIP for pitchers.

While this can be a great entry point for application of statistical analysis, fantasy baseball and real baseball value things quite differently. Whereas Adam Dunn is a monster in real life, his low average and relatively low RBI totals for a major slugger, drag down his fantasy value.

I would suggest you check out yahoo for a basic public 5x5 rotissere league. I prefer roto over Head-2-head, especially for beginners, as you don't have to worry so much about matchups and manipulating the waiver wire. Try and make sure you get in a standard public league, as the private leagues can have all sorts of weird variations and scoring systems.

As for the statistical analysis stuff, check out www.baseballprospectus.com and www.hardballtimes.com for a lot of great content.

[Johnny Footstool]

If you want to learn more about stats, don't play a traditional roto league. Play a points-based league or a non-traditional roto league instead. Several people on RedsZone run non-traditional leagues that use OPS, Total Bases, or other semi-obscure stats to measure players.