Are Component Pitching Measures Leading Indicators?

I don’t want to dwell on this too much right now, because it will take a lot more work to tease out more meaningful results. And lots of work has been done elsewhere (this is a good place to start), that does a far more comprehensive job than I’m taking (more…)

Top 10 Most Misunderstood Fantasy Baseball Misconceptions: Leading Indicators

When I think of a Leading Indicator I think of something that changes ahead of a change in results. Like when a player reports to spring training in the best shape of his life. Kidding, at least some of the time. One of the first of these I looked at (more…)

Park Factors and Handedness 2013

I’ve been meaning to take a look at special Park Factor situations. Park factors are of interest, of course, because they help us understand which ballparks are easier to hit in (and worse for pitchers) or easiest to pitch in (and worse for hitters). Take the stats of a team and (more…)

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…)