Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

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themiddle54
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Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by themiddle54 »

I found this on BtB last year, some friends and I played with the settings in a free league and had a lot of fun with it. Basically, it takes the weights of stuff that make up FIP for pitchers and WAR for position players, but without presenting it as such, keeping with simple counting stats so it's easy to digest if you're not a SABR-nerd.

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2010/3 ... nd-the-box

We're going to do it again this year, and will have a few openings. We're going to roll it out with a from-scratch auction draft, FAAB budget, and keepers. We might bump up the roster to include a handful more bench spots while only increasing the draft budget by $1/spot to give some more room for prospects, and run with a high # of keepers year-to-year. that's still TBD. It will be a pay league for $50, and we'll do the money via leaguesafe(dot)com so everyone has full confidence that their money is secure. (They handle fantasy money for no fees, and pay out as directed by the league commish, so you're not sending a check to someone you don't know personally or relying on strangers to do the same.) Entry for this year requires $100, you're paying this season plus next season, and each year you pay for the following season. This is to eliminate people tanking because they're behind this year, or playing for this-season-only and then dropping out the following year. We have 7 now, with a few maybes we are waiting for, and hoping to get the league to 12-14 teams, so there's room for a few if anyone wants to play. It's year-long points, no H2H, no playoffs. Payouts TBD based on how many teams we have, but certainly for the top 3 regardless of how many there are.

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2nd Timer
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by 2nd Timer »

No way, no how. I find myself insufferable when it comes to saber-stuff. 10+ people? [expletive] no.

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StatmanCrothers
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by StatmanCrothers »

I'm in.

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themiddle54
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by themiddle54 »

Three spots left, with two maybes that might make it just one if anyone else is interested.

Few guys from Columbus, few Chicago-area improvisers/comedians/writers like me so smack talk should at the very least be funny and creative, and yes GRB's own StatmanCrothers.

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Bo Hart
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by Bo Hart »

I'm not really a big fantasy baseball fan so I'm not interested in joining. Just wanted to comment that the format looks really novel and clever. I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever decide to play again.

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themiddle54
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

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I need to fill one spot in this league to get to 10 if anyone else is interested. If I get three, we will go with a 12-team league, but 10 is looking probable, with hopes to expand to 12 in Year 2.

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Swingingbunt
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by Swingingbunt »

Wish I had an extra Benjamin, Middle...sounds like fun. Maybe I can get 10 flowers cut out of the wedding...that should save $100, right?!

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mikechamp
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by mikechamp »

Looks a little like the league I've been running for 8 years, except mine is a points league that uses 15 hitting stats and 12 pitching stats. Since I use pitching wins as one of the categories, sabes would spew venom, but after all's said and done, our league has done a pretty good job of predicting CYA and MVP winners in both leagues (for at least 3 years running).

Disclaimer: Just like the league referenced in the original post, mine could easily reduce the number of hitting categories by simply using total bases instead of categorizing the type of hit.

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themiddle54
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by themiddle54 »

What are your 15 and 12 categories?

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mikechamp
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Re: Saber-slanted Fantasy Baseball

Post by mikechamp »

themiddle54 wrote:What are your 15 and 12 categories?
At the risk of ridicule from sabes, they are (point value in parentheses):

Hitters: R (2), 1B (2), 2B (4), 3B (6), HR (8), RBI (2), SH (1), SF (1), SB (3), CS (-3), BB (2), IBB (1), HBP (2), K (-2), GIDP (-4)

Pitchers: IP (6), W (10), L (-10), CG (5), SHO (10), SV (10), H (-2), ER (-4), BB (-2), IBB (-1), HBP (-2), K (2)

Yet, with these categories and point totals, for the last 3 seasons, no lower than our #2 point "earner" in each league has ultimately won his league's CYA or MVP. (I'd go back farther, but Yahoo's stats only go back 3 seasons.) I don't know how to explain it. Maybe someone here can tell me.

Ok, I'll now prepare for the sabermetric venom.

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