Benchwarmer Baseball

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pioneer98
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Benchwarmer Baseball

Post by pioneer98 »

Anyone ever heard of "Robot Baseball"? Yes, it had the geekiest name of any fantasy baseball outfit ever, but it was also my favorite one I've ever played. It died out in the 1990s when the internet exploded and ESPN and Yahoo! and a number of others took over. This "Benchwarmer Baseball" looks like it still getting off the ground, but it uses most of the same basic rules and formulas from the old Robot Baseball. In fact, it looks like they stole 90% of the Robot Baseball rulebook.

There were a number of reasons I liked Robot Baseball, but the main reason was the scheduling and scoring. It would take a long time to explain it all in detail, but the gist of it is that you play a 150 game head to head fantasy schedule. If you have Carlos Beltran and he goes 4 for 4 in the Cardinals 54th game, then that means he goes 4 for 4 in your fantasy team's 54th game, also. They create a box score for each game, and calculate runs scored based on how your team's hitters performed for game #54, and how well the opposing pitchers did that day (then they do the opposite for the opposing team's hitters + your pitchers). It's actually quite complicated, you can read another guy's description of it here. The rule section on the web site also explains everything in detail:
http://www.benchwarmerbaseball.net/

It's not too late to sign up because there are a number of "orphan" teams out there being operated by the league you could take over. To make the schedule work, each league needs 16 teams.

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pioneer98
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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

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It's taken some time to learn this again after all these years, but I really do recommend this one. Here are a few things I really like about it, aside from the 150 game head to head schedule.

It takes into account walks and total bases. So things like OBP and OPS do come into play in this league, unlike a lot of the simpler leagues.

There is such a thing as a "cost-controlled player" in this league. All rookie salaries are $100,000. You can extend rookie contracts for next season for just $250,000. By contrast, the salary cap is around $40 million, and the top salaries are around $7 million. You can also sign them for even longer than that but there is an upward scale. Veteran players can be extended at their current salary.

This aspect adds an interesting element to the strategy. I am trying to gauge it still, but I think young talent like this might be a bit overvalued by some people in this league. That is the poker game we play.

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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

Post by pioneer98 »

You can take over an "orphan" team in Benchwarmer Baseball for $10 (normally is $45) if you act today.

https://twitter.com/benchwarmerBB/statu ... 5616002049

It would be a way to try it out to see if you like it for very little risk.

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pioneer98
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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

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I had a team that was 69-63 and in first place two weeks ago....they have since gone on a 12 game losing streak and are now in 3rd. Basically the losing streak correlates to Miggy Cabrera going cold (playing hurt?), and my starting pitchers vanishing at the same time. Heckuva time for it. Wainwright is the best pitcher and he's gotten lit up a couple times lately as I'm sure you are aware. Then add in a little bad luck of course and it equates to an epic meltdown. The team now in first is on an absolute tear. They have Werth and HanRam and other hot bats.

Can't complain too much because this was the team that came into the last game of the season last year tied with their opponent in that game...and then won that game by 0.1 runs to clinch the division...Karma coming back to bite me.

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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

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Seems intriguing, and I enjoyed reading about your experience (and would continue to). But I'm not a fan of H2H. Too much luck involved for my taste.

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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

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Offseason dilemma I've been kicking around for a while already. Should I sell high on Hosmer?

His salary went up a lot after his good season and I'm really short on cash. I have Wacha, Profar, Matt Adams, Christian Yelich, Nate Eovaldi and even Addison Russell that are all going to get real expensive in about a year. If I extend them now, they are a lot cheaper, but I lack cash.

The risk is I'm losing depth. I'd need one of Matt Adams or Will Middlebrooks to be a solid everyday player next year. All indications are that Adams will play every day. I think I talked myself into it. Thoughts?

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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

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mikechamp wrote:Seems intriguing, and I enjoyed reading about your experience (and would continue to). But I'm not a fan of H2H. Too much luck involved for my taste.
Thanks. I like it because it is realistic but yeah, it can also be maddening at times.

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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

Post by mikechamp »

I'm not sold on Middlebrooks, and I don't know if the Sawx are, either.

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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

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I have 3 teams, and they are all in vastly different places this offseason.

One team was terrible last year, decimated by injuries (Granderson, Kemp, Howard, Ramirez, etc). Its probably not wise to build a team around these injury-prone guys, but the flip side is their salaries all got real cheap this year. So this team is swimming in money now, while most other teams are needing to shed salary. With that team, I can just sit back and see who the free agents are that shake loose. If I can land a couple good ones AND these injured players rebound, this team could possibly go worst to first.

Another team is totally stuck in the middle-of-the-pack. Lots of pretty good (not great) players, not many great prospects, not a lot of cash. I've made a couple trades, but nothing big. I don't know how to break them out of being stuck at .500 forever. I'm considering cutting a high-priced player or two to bank some money for contract extensions and to kinda suck on purpose to make sure I get high draft picks to rebuild.

Then the last team is a year or two away from being ridiculously good. They have Wacha, Profar, Yelich, Middlebrooks, Matt Adams, Addison Russell, Kaleb Cowart, Courtney Hawkins, etc. Absolutely stacked with blue chip prospects. That team also has Miguel Cabrera. But the team seriously lacks cash. So I've decided that I'm going to let some free agents walk so that I have cash to sign all these young guys to cheap contract extensions. Then next season that will free up a ton of money to go after free agents to fill holes at that time. This year, I'm just going to have to live with a few holes. Everyone wants to trade for my prospects, but they want to trade me more expensive players which I can't afford.

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Re: Benchwarmer Baseball

Post by pioneer98 »

My biggest annoyance with this league is how they handle minor leaguers. They only make available players that were selected in the 1st round, or if they are on the 40 man roster. Otherwise they do not become available until they appear in an MLB game. So an international signee like Tanaka is just now available for the first time. He had to have been named to the 40 man long before opening day, so whatever. He's finally available to sign.

What killed me though was I missed out on getting Oscar Taveras. Taveras is so well-known I had forgotten he had not appeared in an MLB game yet and had not made the 40 man before, and that he was an international signee and not a draft pick. I just assumed he was not available because someone else already had him. I wasn't paying close enough attention the week he was named to the 40 man. I have 3 teams and it only mattered for 1 of them, but still. Frustrating.

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