Monthly Archives: February 2014

Mixed League Free Loot: A look at 2013 Tout Wars Mixed Auction

When putting together the recent series about how many stats the teams of last year’s NL Tout Wars league added after the auction, it occurred to me that I’ve never seen the same issue looked at for mixed leagues. So, I ran the hypothetical standings for last year’s Tout Wars (more…)

Comparing a Mixed Auction to a Mixed Draft

I’ve always counseled that a draft list should be ordered by auction prices, but also pointed out that in a draft you don’t have the opportunity to get any player you need if you have the money to spend. Timing is key in the draft game. So that each pick (more…)

Top 10 Most Misunderstood Fantasy Baseball Concepts: #3. Saves and Steals

We obsess about Saves and Steals. The Closers chart is a staple of fantasy baseball sites, and while no one lusts after one-dimensional speed guys, like Rajai Davis, our special roto-sense keeps us on the lookout for these hidden gems who can help us make a move in steals. But (more…)

BASICS: How To Calculate Draft Inflation

A reader asked about this at Ask Rotoman today. The link gives you his question and the full answer. Here’re the basics: In a keeper league (4×4 or 5×5 doesn’t matter), where inexpensive players are carried over from one year to the next, you need to adjust the startup prices (more…)

Top 10 Most Misunderstood Fantasy Baseball Concepts: #4. FAAB

A close look at how much of a year’s stats were acquired by FAAB in Tout Wars NL (hitting and pitching) and how they affected the fortunes of specific teams should be enough to convince anyone of the importance of FAAB. As will a recap of how much of each stat (more…)

BASICS: How To Value A Counting Category

An Ask Rotoman reader asked how to value some of the new categories his league is adopting. Rather than cruft up the answer to his post with technical stuff, I’m laying the basic steps out here for reference. All quantitative categories that value more work the same way, though it (more…)

You Look Very Very FAABulous! (Part 3, Tradeoffs of Mike and Phil)

Slicing the Hypothetical Standings Another Way. Looking at one league and drawing conclusions is obviously fraught with issues. An N=1 is inherently unreliable as evidence, but digging deep into the stories in one league can help us identify issues that deserve further exploration. For instance, at the end of Part (more…)

You Look Very FAABulous! (Part 2, pitching)

The Pitching side of the Tout Wars NL 2013 Hypothetical Standings In the first part of this comparison of the Hypothetical Draft Day Standings and the End of Season Standings in Tout Wars NL, we saw that Tristan Cockcroft finished in first place, even though he bought the fourth-best team (more…)

You Look FAABulous! (Part 1, hitting)

Counting Last Year’s Free Loot in Tout Wars NL On March 25, 2013, the Tout Wars NL draft was held in the studios of SiriusXM radio in New York City. Nationally-known fantasy writers and experts auctioned teams for a roto-style league that has been running since 1998. If all the (more…)