Now, Wonderfully, Taken For Granted

[DOUGHBOYS]

I posted this in my section, but thought it worthy for more eyes and a reminder of how lucky we all are today....

'Just a time out to reflect while seeing this blurb....

'Rangers' manager Chris Woodward officially announced Friday that Jose Leclerc will begin the 2019 season as the team's closer.

Woodward indicated that it was important for Leclerc to know his role heading into spring training. The 25-year-old was phenomenal during the 2018 season, registering a 1.56 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 85/25 K/BB ratio across 57 2/3 innings. Fantasy owners have certainly taken notice, as Leclerc has been the 12th closer selected on average in early mixed league drafts.'

I don't care anything about LeClerc. If you like him, draft him.
What I love is the last sentence.
Years ago we nagged, begged, and pleaded with Greg for earlier and earlier drafts.
He found it hard to believe that there were die hards who would want to draft during the winter months.
But Greg listened and now, not only the NFBC, but other sites have baseball drafts in the dead of Winter.
The persistence of rabid fantasy baseball drafters and the listening leader who was eager to please was sublime.
It makes me smile that years later, there are already hundreds of leagues in the books.
It's been like a locomotive gaining more momentum each year.
Awesome, really awesome.
And now we have a blurb that mentions the NFBC ADP...IN JANUARY.
The best.

[skmetz51]

Hey Dan,

Agree, but wonder what has changed over the last few weeks that made TX manager change his mind...

As per 12/10 Rotoblurb:

Rangers manager Chris Woodward said Monday that Jose Leclerc isn't necessarily locked into the closer role.
Woodward sees Leclerc with the ability to pitch two or three innings if needed as well as other high-leverage situations. It sounds like he's mostly keeping an open mind on things. Coming off a dominant 2018, Leclerc should still be considered at the top of the depth chart for fantasy owners. Mon, Dec 10, 2018 02:46:00 PM

Why wasn't it important a month ago that Jose knew his role, but now it is? What this tells me is that TX may have a new manager, but he still might be as annoying as his predecessor. What say you?

[DOUGHBOYS]

Hi Steve,
I'll give him a break because he is new on the job and may have talked to a few important people that have swayed him.
Analytics have made a lot of folks more hesitant in 'saying stuff'.
Especially proclaiming jobs or what a player will do on the field for his team.
New Managers even more so

A fella I know says that his friend has already drafted in 30 drafts.
Incredible.
Fantasy baseball has become a year round enterprise.
Some folks loving the drafting experience as much or more than teams followed during the season.
Who knew, even as early as 10 years ago that it would be like this.
Good stuff!

[Darik B]

The only true goal we have moving forward is that we have the drafts open early enough to accommodate the Premature drafts so that I don't get carpel tunnel entering 750 picks

[Greg Ambrosius]

I agree completely with you Dan, it's just fantastic to see baseball drafts starting and filling in November, and even better to see nightly drafts filling in January. We've already had three Online Championship drafts by January 25th when we didn't even offer them until late February years ago. The DC Express Leagues also fill now -- one filled last night thanks to 12 signups yesterday alone -- which is great.

As Darik said, the goal is to get the draft room open right after the World Series going forward, and maybe even sooner. We will have the football site up shortly after the Super Bowl this year, a full two months earlier than last year or in previous years. We know that this die-hard season-long audience wants to draft as often as possible and we're finally capable of making that happen.

I think another decision that has helped a lot is our decision to make our ADP lists available to the public. We used to make those available only to owners who had current year NFBC teams. Our thinking was that those players made the ADP lists with their early drafts, and thus they should have this valuable information. But what we've learned is that the entire industry is learning about the NFBC today because of the ADPs that you folks help to generate. I believe they are the Gold Standard of the industry and I know writers and players look to them for trends and content. It's a fabulous promotional tool for the NFBC, but an even better resource tool for serious players.

This is shaping up as a record-setting year once again for the NFBC and the early drafting trends give us hope that the next two months will be crazier than ever before. It's hard to believe that two months from Monday the MLB season starts. Can't wait to watch all 15 games in Las Vegas on that Thursday with fellow NFBC owners who stick around. Enjoy the early drafts everyone and thanks for pushing us to always draft earlier and earlier. We're old, but we can be taught new tricks.

[Thurman15]

Yes things are excellent in the NFBC. I'm sure the NFBC could sell a lot of hats and shirts if we tried. What do you think Greg ?

[Likewhat17]

Whew.. I'll be honest Dan, when you highlight particular blurbs on here, good or bad, I always worry that they may be mine. This one finally was something I wrote, and it came through in a positive light

[DOUGHBOYS]

Well done, Dave. Well done.