Seeking 1 intrepid soul to join stat-geek fantasy baseball league

by teb7 on Mar 6, 2009 11:36 AM EST

Howdy. This is an open invitation to join a Yahoo fantasy league my friend is running. We have four open spots. League parameters: 12 team mixed, points-only scoring. Max games per position: 162. Max innings: 1375. The scoring is based on linear runs, so the idea is to draft players who are actually good at baseball. Live draft, currently scheduled for Thurs. March 26 at 9pm.

Here are the positions:

C,C,1B,2B,SS,3B,CI,MI,CF,OF,OF,OF,OF,UT,UT,P,P,P,P,P,P,P,P

7 bench spots, 2 DL spots.

Notice that we do not distinguish between starting and relief pitchers. Drafting all starters won't help you beacuse of the innings limit. It's up to you to find the right balance of starters and relievers. The main idea is to reflect the fact that a 100 ERA+ starter is far more valuable than a 100 ERA+ closer.

Here are the points values:

AB	-.26
H	.26
1B	.47
2B	.85
3B	1.02
HR	1.4
SB	.22
CS	-.38
BB	.33
HBP	.33
OUT	.29
ER	-.74
HR	-.7
BB	-.165
HBP	-.165
1BA	-.235
2BA	-.425
3BA	-.51

The pitching stats start with OUT. As you can see, there is no K category. The categories are essentially the components of OBP and SLG. Also note that we penalize for CS.

If you're interested, reply to this thread and I will send you the league info. Some of us in the league already are more competitive than others, but in general, it's just a group of laid-back SABR-minded dudes. If you sign up though, please plan on sticking with the league at least through the August 16 trade deadline.

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Comments

Keeper League?

by sledridge on Mar 6, 2009 8:49 PM EST reply actions

Nope

And seriously, don’t everyone bust the door down

by teb7 on Mar 6, 2009 9:41 PM EST reply actions

sorry man

I’m already in a similar league, and mine is way cooler than yours because I’m in it.

"How big IS your magic wand?"

by Slyde on Mar 6, 2009 9:43 PM EST up reply actions

I would

but slyde told me it’s not very cool to join your league

Made from 100% recycled awesome,

by chandrathan on Mar 6, 2009 9:55 PM EST up reply actions

I'm in Slyde's league.

And he won’t let me out.

"I accidently put the night light in the washing machine."

by Fat Vegas Alan on Mar 6, 2009 10:08 PM EST up reply actions

ButterCreamers are 4 life!

My millions are unconventional!

by Charlie Scrabbles on Mar 6, 2009 10:31 PM EST up reply actions

to be honest

ive never done fantasy baseball. i think i might give it go this season, but this league sounds like it would drown me.

My millions are unconventional!

by Charlie Scrabbles on Mar 6, 2009 10:41 PM EST up reply actions

giggity

my brain hurt reading all those numbers. What does hbp -.165 mean? beer league!!!

"Hey! Look at the kid in the sombrero!"

by obc2 on Mar 6, 2009 11:11 PM EST up reply actions

Fantasy Baseball is not about stats

It’s about grit, hustle, heart and determination. Have “stats” ever won a fantasy title?

by Red Menace on Mar 7, 2009 12:36 AM EST up reply actions

Yeah Beer league!!!

Is Caleb gonna be comish?
What’s up w/Rotisserie league?
Where do i sign up?
This is the year for the Mighty Monks!!!
Go Monks Go

Perhaps a a flatbed truck loaded with cadavers will explode in front of a Star Trek convention. One can only dream and hope.

by Madville on Mar 7, 2009 8:02 AM EST up reply actions

sounds like fun

but the trouble with playing fantasy with stats geeks is that you have to actually work at it. I skipped my old fantasy league last year, and I was amazed at how much time it had swallowed. Plus, my elaborate pre-draft spreadsheets are out of date and need a lot of work.

Looks like fun, though — I love the scoring system. Maybe when my kids are older…

by bbjones on Mar 7, 2009 10:49 AM EST reply actions

scoring

I think that by “based on linear runs” you mean that’s where you got the weights. Do you have an insight as to why they are what they are?

For example, a batter drawing a walk is +0.33, but the pitcher giving up that walk gets -0.165, exactly half. Why aren’t those equal? In fact, I would almost say that the pitcher has more control (ha! control!) over whether or not a walk is issued than the batter.

In fact, all of the hit statistics have the pitcher getting (-1/2)*batter. That’s interesting. Maybe because there is a penalty for ER, but no bonus for R? But I wouldn’t expect that to cause a factor of exactly 1/2….

On the other hand, a batter is penalized -0.26 for making an out, while the pitcher gets 0.29 for getting him out. Much closer to matching, to be sure, but again why aren’t they the same?

I realize this is a linear runs question not a fantasy question, really. If there’s a good reference, feel free to point me to it and I’ll go read that and stop asking pesky questions.

by bbjones on Mar 7, 2009 10:58 AM EST reply actions

I'll get back to you on that

I’m not even going to pretend that I know why the scoring is the way it is. I’m gonna contact the dude who does and post his explanation here. I’m sure we’ll be doing it again next year, as well so no worries about this year.

by teb7 on Mar 7, 2009 12:47 PM EST up reply actions

Further scoring explanation

————————————
http://www.tangotiger.net/wiki/index.php?title=Batting_Runs

Hitter component values are twice pitcher component values because pitchers are scored half on batting runs and half on ER. The ER component is (arbitrarily) targeted toward 0 points for a 5.50 ERA.

Out values are set so that:

1) The dregs of the expected draft pool among hitters scored close to 0 points last season.

2) The top 25 or so pitchers have roughly the same point distribution as the top 25 or so hitters.

—————————-

By the way, there’s only 1 spot left.

by teb7 on Mar 7, 2009 2:10 PM EST reply actions