Feb. 19th $150 Fast/Slow Draft League Draft Order

[ToddZ]

Bad news fellas, I have brought on a partner...Marcel!!!



You know, as in Marcel projections, so simple even a monkey can do them?

Who did you think I meant?!?!?!?!?

[Gekko]

webcam pic of a couple of you today...

[ToddZ]

sure would have been funnier if I posted in the right thread,

[Gekko]

for the most part, nice job everyone!

i think we were done in 4hr and 20min. that included a 20minute SNAFU and two breaks. this one was quicker than the first one

[Spartacus]

Agree Mark, it went off pretty well despite the snafu which occurred on my turn (and no I don't want to discuss it ) A cautionary note though for those who intend to participate in a fast/slow draft for the first time, don't try and use a hard copy road map (personal boards) to keep track of player selections. There's a 'gentlemen's agreement' in this format to make one's picks within 30 seconds, which we all tried to adhere to and it goes much too fast to enable you to take your eyes off the screen and cross players off of your boards. By the 11th round, the snafu round, I discarded mine and relied exclusively on the eligibility lists in the draft room for the remaining 39 rounds. I admit it created some structural/team formatting problems for me and my partner (yes, there were two of us being overwhelmed by the speed) the rest of the way. No, I'm not making any excuses here as I've had my share of teams that have sucked even under the most ideal circumstances. This is just an FYI, load your queue and get prepared for a fast, fun ride.

[BK METS]

Agree - Very fast draft considering the issue.. Everyone kept up the pace. It was my 2nd "fast 50" and I used a lot of what I learned in the first draft to my advantage and I love my team. (I am sure everyone feels the same about their team). We had the typical closer run and luckily I was on the front side of that one. Some very interesting drafts... With the speed of the draft, there were many players who were drafted much later (and earlier) than they should have... which you would hardly ever see in a "slow" draft. Good draft - Good luck to everyone! Alan

[RobG]

Agree, great draft. After doing a few of the slow drafts, this one actually felt much more like the Main than those have.

Even with the glitch, I thought everyone had a good command of the player pool and the drafted moved quite well.

[Outlaw]

This too was my second fast 50. Much different than the first one. Picks were all over the place after the first 10 rounds or so. This one was actually at a faster pace too. A lot of picks were less than 10 seconds so you definatley have to have your que setup before hand. Also having the roster page and draft board page open in separate pages can lend you some help. Some waited on closers, some on catchers and prospects seemed to go earliar too. Hitting is generally gone by rounds 25-30, but there is plenty of pitching after round 30, which bodes well for the FAAB pools in the main and 12 teamers that will be starting. All in all it was lots of fun and a big Thanks To Tom K for being there throughout!

[Ryan C]

Agree with everything said previously. It was a fun draft - but FAST was the key word. Without the snafu - we would have finished in under 4 hours. Tom did a great job getting us back on track. You absolutely have to have players in your queue - cause you don't want to get caught searching. Looking forward to playing this one out. Like my team a lot.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I'm glad to hear that these Fast/Slow drafts are going well, but I hope there's not too much pressure to try and set a speed record in these drafts. I mean, by Fast I hope everyone wants these done in under 5 hours. You don't have to do them in under 4 hours to prove a point. Make sure you get every player you want, relax and enjoy the draft, but please make sure you're getting the players you want. You don't have to average 15 seconds per pick, which is the pace you guys were on yesterday.

Now on Friday night, okay.......10 seconds per pick!!!

[Rog]

Hearing all this makes me think that the slow draft overall championship is going to come out of 1 of these 2 fast/slow drafts?It sounds like somebody with a little practice and a little knowledge of the player pool has an extreme advantage.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Hearing all this makes me think that the slow draft overall championship is going to come out of 1 of these 2 fast/slow drafts?It sounds like somebody with a little practice and a little knowledge of the player pool has an extreme advantage.

Roger, these two leagues each had 15 NFBC veterans in them, likely much more than any other NFBC Slow Draft League. Now if you think the speed killed the knowledge of these guys, then maybe that will happen. But I have a feeling the "complaint" you are seeing was more of a "warning" for future drafters. Bob always thinks he leaves the draft table with too many holes and all he does is win one NFBC league after another. Have no fear, I have a strong feeling that all 15 owners knew what they were doing with each pick they made. The Slow Draft overall championship won't be decided by too much time or too little time that everyone has had in the format they signed up for.

[Rog]

Dont want to make the wrong impression here, wasn't upset about it(just upset that I cant join one on sundays). From the early email league ,to the early drafts that came out right before xmas,to the slows going on now and the slow /fast drafts. They all have their own different characteristics,the news on braun,hanson,hudson,vmart just to name a few things.The amount of time and prep put into a draft in dec. was half of the amount of time most people are putting in now as the adp shows.That is why I love the slow draft format.So many different factors come in to play over a 3-4 month period. I was just making a silly guess by the way they were talking, and I do have a window if there is 1 on the first nascar sunday(the wife would be working an extra shift)Instead of sunday family day it would be me loading up a few dvds for my daughter and me in front of the computer.

[Gekko]

1. Be prepared
2. Be able to pick in less than 30 sec
3. Do not try and keep track of others picks (unless you are very very fast)
4. Fill up your draft queue as others are picking

It's really that simple. I've been in two of the Fast50's and they are the absolute best rush I've ever had doing an online draft. Hell Greg, if you can get one of these in person LIVE in NYC for the 2nd weekend. I'd join that as well. 30 second clock for everyone. Get done in 4 hours. Make it happen!!

[BK METS]

I mentioned this in the other thread... I believe the same player was picked twice in this draft. Not a big deal but, I think it needs to be dealt with.

Zachary Wheeler of the SF Giants was taken in the 46th round by MTM and Zack Wheeler of the NY Mets was taken in the 48th round by my team. I don't know if there is another Zack/Zachary Wheeler on the Giants... but I know he was traded to the Mets from the Giants, so I think they might be the same player. How are we going to fix this? I saw him there and didn't notice the other pick by MTM, and my guy is on his actual team, but if you guys want to change my pick, thats fine too.. not a big deal. He probably wont play this year anyways.

I see both players are available in my other slow... so its definitely a player pool issue.

[RobG]

1. Be prepared
2. Be able to pick in less than 30 sec
3. Do not try and keep track of others picks (unless you are very very fast)
4. Fill up your draft queue as others are picking

It's really that simple.

That is pretty much it. With the sharks that were circling in this draft, you had to have that queue ready and loaded.

[Captain Hook]

Wondering if any of you had this happen - searching list for players to add to queue and then someone picks and the list resets? I know it happened to me but I wonder if that is a browser issue or one for Greg to refer to the IT jockeys

[Outlaw]

Wondering if any of you had this happen - searching list for players to add to queue and then someone picks and the list resets? I know it happened to me but I wonder if that is a browser issue or one for Greg to refer to the IT jockeys

It happens all the time for me too. Does'nt matter whether its fast draft or slow one. The Database they use is that quick and obviuosly resets as soon as a player is picked. it can be a pian in butt and cost you some time having to try and go back to where you were. It will be an issue too in the main online drafts. Not sure what can be done either, since it is a live database they are using. the positive thing is the players are removed, imagine if they were not.

[Ryan C]

I'm glad to hear that these Fast/Slow drafts are going well, but I hope there's not too much pressure to try and set a speed record in these drafts. I mean, by Fast I hope everyone wants these done in under 5 hours. You don't have to do them in under 4 hours to prove a point. Make sure you get every player you want, relax and enjoy the draft, but please make sure you're getting the players you want. You don't have to average 15 seconds per pick, which is the pace you guys were on yesterday.

Now on Friday night, okay.......10 seconds per pick!!!

I will say this - aside from a couple comments early on - No one was rushed to make picks - you have the 1:30 IF you need it. A lot of times my time was spent re-searching for guys I had already found - or trying to get the system to take a pick I was trying to make. But - if you had a pick - guys were making it and throwing the pressure onto the next guys - there were points in the draft where you picked and then had to pick again very quickly. I was fun. Also - this league was tough - guys knew the pool and their stuff. There were no guppies in here.

[Gekko]

i heard trumbo really got pushed down in this league

[Baseball Furies]

I'm glad to hear that these Fast/Slow drafts are going well, but I hope there's not too much pressure to try and set a speed record in these drafts. I mean, by Fast I hope everyone wants these done in under 5 hours. You don't have to do them in under 4 hours to prove a point. Make sure you get every player you want, relax and enjoy the draft, but please make sure you're getting the players you want. You don't have to average 15 seconds per pick, which is the pace you guys were on yesterday.

Now on Friday night, okay.......10 seconds per pick!!!

I will say this - aside from a couple comments early on - No one was rushed to make picks - you have the 1:30 IF you need it. A lot of times my time was spent re-searching for guys I had already found - or trying to get the system to take a pick I was trying to make. But - if you had a pick - guys were making it and throwing the pressure onto the next guys - there were points in the draft where you picked and then had to pick again very quickly. I was fun. Also - this league was tough - guys knew the pool and their stuff. There were no guppies in here.

Well said. Top-notch competition true, but no matter how much of a veteran you are, make sure that you fill your queue and keep it filled. You are dead if you get caught searching for players. Tiering players really helped out, and stacking the end of your queue for the last 10 rounds with speculative picks, rookies, deep sleepers, injury bounce-back candidates,etc. especially pitching (because hitting will be gone) is a good idea. Keep referencing those depth charts late between picks, too. Just a few strategies. After doing two of these, drafting at the live events with a minute for each pick will seem like an eternity, so good prep for those who are a bit skittish at the draft table...which is not me of course.

And one more thing, highly advise keeping a draft tracker with the rounds you made the picks in just in case of another roll-back snafu. And no matter how good the competition, everyone will make at least a mistake or two at this speed over 50 rounds. So you will find that a bunch of guys may go much earlier or later than expected, so plan accordingly.

[Gekko]

And no matter how good the competition, everyone will make at least a mistake or two at this speed over 50 rounds. So you will find that a bunch of guys may go much earlier or later than expected, so plan accordingly.

i have all of my players on two sheets of paper (font size 8 and reduced further to fit to 2 pages). i cross off players as they are picked for the first 35 rounds or so. with the speed of the draft and the small font i wasn't able to notice james shield still on the board in the 7th. it sucked to see someone else lock him up in the 8th round

[BK METS]

Personally, I thought Carl Crawford in the 5th round and Chad Billingsley in the 20th round were both chosen very late.

[Outlaw]

I saw that too with Shields, there were a few others too... DArvish in the 6th, Crawford at 4-15, AROD at 4-4, Strasburg 5th round, Oswalt, Cahill, billingsly in the 20th, Most decent catcting options went bewtween rounds 12-19. no catchers taken at all between rounds 6 and 11. Almsot all closers went in rounds 9 and 10, 16 of them.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I mentioned this in the other thread... I believe the same player was picked twice in this draft. Not a big deal but, I think it needs to be dealt with.

Zachary Wheeler of the SF Giants was taken in the 46th round by MTM and Zack Wheeler of the NY Mets was taken in the 48th round by my team. I don't know if there is another Zack/Zachary Wheeler on the Giants... but I know he was traded to the Mets from the Giants, so I think they might be the same player. How are we going to fix this? I saw him there and didn't notice the other pick by MTM, and my guy is on his actual team, but if you guys want to change my pick, thats fine too.. not a big deal. He probably wont play this year anyways.

I see both players are available in my other slow... so its definitely a player pool issue.

Thanks. We need to update that right now. Thanks for the heads up.