and the winner is...

Well, another year has come and gone, and another year I have failed to meet my self-imposed expectations.

But, here who won:


Full standings:


(You can click on it to make it larger. But all you really need to know is that I finished in 7th place.)

Now, there was previously some talk about a "keepers" league. And the thought was, that, since we didn't want to pay for the Yahoo plus league, we would somehow keep track of our our teams and our players, then each choose who we want to keep (I think we previously decided on 3) and somehow preserve our lineups for that purpose.

So... um... someone get on that. Thanks.

Draft Done!

It looks like we now have teams. Check it out.

2007 Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball

Autodraft: Ready

We finally got a 10th player and I set the autodraft to "ready." According to Yahoo!, According to Yahoo!,: "auto draft will be completed between now and 11:59 PM PT on Wednesday, Apr 4."

Let's hope it is sooner rather than later.

Draft - Tomorrow

We currently have 9 teams signed-up. If you have friends that want to join, tell them to do it quick.

I will set the draft to ready on Saturday (that's tomorrow!) at 3 p.m. Eastern, Noon Pacific. (If you're in one of the in-between time zones, you're going to have to figure it out for yourself.)

Good luck, and play nice,
Blondie

Get Ready for the Unavoidable

Blonde Justice: "If tax day is approaching, that must mean Opening Day is also approaching. Right now we have just 7 teams signed up. That's less than previous years. So, umm, if you're just procrastinating, email me for the info and sign-up. Because, unlike death and taxes, you can't get an extension on fantasy baseball.

And, if you've already created a team, go set your player rankings for the draft. Because the draft is going to be soon. So, get ready."

Slightly Off-Topic. But Only Slightly.

Just giving it a mention here. The Second Annual Blawgers Women's Tournament Challenge is up and running. It's just like a March Madness Bracket, but with just a tiny bit more estrogen.

Girl Power!

The Password Is...

Alright, I've set up the Blawgers Baseball League.

Please email me for a password. We also have our own URL, for easy bookmarking.

There are a few things that we didn't discuss that need to be decided before the season opens.

First, do we want to keep going head-to-head? I like head-to-head, and I didn't hear anyone else complain about it... but if I hear any strong objections, I'll open up another blogpoll on the issue.

And, then there's the issue of stat categories. I took Gideon's comments on statistical categories into account and mashed with some of my favorites. So, here's what I'm thinking: A 6x6 with the following categories:
Batting
Average
OPS
Runs Scored
RBI
HR
Stolen Bases

Pitching
ERA
WHIP
Wins
Saves
Ks
K/BB aka SOWR or Strike Out Walk Ratio

I think this is a happy mixture of the old school stats that we've all come to know and love (i.e. average and ERA), plus the new school more "reliable" statistics that those crazy kids are so into these days (i.e. OPS and K/BB).

Other random crap:
I made the maximum number of teams 16. (I think we had 12 last year.) We don't have to fill all 16, but we do need an even number before we open the draft.

No maximums on trades or acquisitions. Because I like to see people mix it up a bit.

I made our trade deadline 8/12, because I like having it after the real trade deadline, which I think is late July.

Dropped players will be on waivers for one day.

The minimum innings per team per week is 14. I'd be willing to go higher but probably not lower.

I made 2 DL spots. I think that's what we had last year, and I think it means you have to carefully evaluate whether or not you want to hold onto your injured players. (And you can always use one of your 5 bench spots for short-term injuries.)

And roster changes will appear the next day.

Finally, we decided on the keeper league. As of this year, Yahoo! only allows keeper leagues in their "PLUS" (paid) features. So, I guess if we want to do this, what I could do is: at the end of the year, I could save everyone's roster. Then, at the beginning of next year, we could decide whether we want to pay to do "PLUS" (as of this year, the fee is $24.99 for the first team, additional teams at a 50% discount OR $124.99 to purchase a Custom League of up to 20 teams.) If we do, then I would just let everyone choose their 3 players they want to save, and enter them before the draft. So, I guess it's really a decision we'll need to make next year.

So, I think that's all. Leave a comment and let me know if you're happy and you know it...

I'll Go Tally The Votes

The team managers have voted and voting is now officially closed.

And the results are...

The draft: We got 7 votes for auto, and 2 votes for live. Now, I don't know if Gideon even re-voted, but even if we assume he didn't, then we're at 6-3, so we're still going auto draft. Settled.

Keeper: We got 7 votes for keeper and 1 vote for no keeper (which is what makes me think that Gideon did re-vote, since we have 8 votes here and 9 on the other poll, but whatever.) So, we're going keeper league. Settled.

I think that I have enough info now to set up the league (because I think I can always change categories later).

So, I'm going to go check that out now, and I'll let you know what I figure out.

I'm Here, And I Want Answers

Thanks to Gideon (and no thanks to the stupid "new" blogger), I have finally figured out how to post here.

I need answers, and I need them now.

What kind of league are we going to have? And what kind of draft are we going to have?

I don't think I can start the league (that's right, even start the league!) until I know these things.

I, personally, feel like I'm flexible on the categories but I have too much of a "life" (as lame as it is) for a live draft.

So, I've said it before and I'll say it again, unless someone feels REEEEALLLLY strongly about a live draft (and I guess you do, Gideon? Anyone else?), I'd rather stick with autodraft.

Ok, vote below. One vote per team manager, please.


Now, you can also vote for or against having a keeper league.


Let's say that I'll keep these polls open until Friday and then make a decision based on your votes. Fair? Fair.

MLB.com fantasy preview

To whet our appetites, here's MLB.com's Fantasy Preview. Click on the link for "Fantasy Preview" on the right and then click on the main link. It'll open up a popup that has great info for drafts.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fantasy/index.jsp

On the question of drafts

I see from some comments on the Commish's blog that I'm not the only one excited about the upcoming season. What are everyone's thoughts on the type of draft? Live or auto?

Statistical categories

Yahoo FBB is now open and we can finally see the statistical categories available.

Statistical Categories:

Batting

Games Played; Games Started; Batting Average (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); Slugging Percentage (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); On-Base Percentage (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); On-base + Slugging Percentage (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); Fielding Percentage (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); At Bats; Runs Scored; Hits; Singles; Doubles; Triples; Home Runs; Runs Batted In; Sacrifice Hits; Sacrifice Flys; Stolen Bases; Caught Stealing; Walks; Intentional Walks; Strikeouts; Ground Into Double Play; Total Bases; Putouts; Assists; Errors

Pitching

Pitching Appearances; Games Started; Earned Run Average (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); WHIP Ratio (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); Strikeouts per Nine Innings (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); Strikeout to Walk Ratio (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only); Wins; Losses; Complete Games; Shutouts; Saves; Outs; Hits; Total Batters Faced; Runs; Earned Runs; Home Runs; Walks; Intentional Walks; Hit Batters; Strikeouts; Wild Pitches; Balks; Stolen Bases Allowed; Batters Grounded Into Double Plays; Save Chances; Holds; Total Bases Allowed; Innings Pitched

I've highlighted the most common and most appealing. This is me, not the Commish. Final decision making rests in the hands of the Commish. Commish has given me permission (I think) to engage in this discussion, so please contribute and let's see if we can sway her ;)

My personal opinion follows:

I've highlighted to common but quickly becoming controversial stats: Batting Average and Wins.

Both are now considered (by the statistical world) to be poor indicators of performance. Wins is pretty obvious. It's a team stat and the pitcher has only so much control over the outcome of the game. He still needs the offense to score runs for him. W-L records are considered poor determinants of a pitcher's performance.

Batting Average is not as bad, but it doesn't capture a hitter's true capability. For that, I'd prefer something like OBP or OPS. OBP is Hits+Walks - basically the number of times a batter gets on base.

Any thoughts? Too much new mumbo jumbo?

Registration starts tomorrow

Just a reminder that Yahoo! will open registration tomorrow! Stay tuned for more updates.

League settings

Since the start of the season is just days away, it's time to start thinking about the league, the draft and other related items.

First on the agenda are the categories. In case you forgot, last year we had a 6x6 league:

R, HR, RBI, SB, FPCT, AVG
IP, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP


What should this year's categories be? Do we keep them the same, do we add new ones and remove old ones? Post your thoughts here.

Other popular options for hitting categories are: OBP, OPS, SLG. For pitching: Holds.

Next on the agenda is the question of the draft. Normally, we've done an auto-draft where you pre-rank your choices and Yahoo! drafts automatically in a snake draft.

An option, to change things up, is a live draft. Don't worry, we don't have to meet in a room. All you have to do is log on to Yahoo! before the draft starts and you have one and a half minute to make your pick. All in all takes about an hour and a half to two, depending on the number of teams.

Finally - and a little more involved - is the question of keepers. Seeing as how this would be the third year of the league and most of our owners return, I proposed to our dear Commish that we should turn our league into a keeper league. A keeper league is the same as a normal league, except you get to "keep" a predetermined number of players from one year to the next. So if you get 3 keepers, you can keep 3 players from your roster going into next year; the rest of the players go back into the draft pool.

Thoughts on any or all?

Yahoo! reopening February 15th

Our Commissioner just checked in to provide the good news: Yahoo! will start registration for FBB leagues on Thursday, February 15th!

The season is upon us, my friends. Get your managerial thinking cap on!In the coming weeks, I'll try to provide links to FBB articles in preparation for the draft.

Banners available

If you want the above image in a more manageable size to display on your blawg, please let me know and I'll be only too happy to provide it. If someone out there can come up with something better, let me know and I'll showcase that instead!

The new season is almost upon us!

As the 2005 champion of Blawgers Baseball and not a finalist last year, I have taken it upon myself to create this blog to discuss the upcoming season and for people to trash-talk. Leave a comment if you were in the league last year and plan on returning and I will add you as a blogger.