NFBC Message Boards

Happy New Year Everyone!! I hope everyone is safe and warm to start the New Year. Here in Wisconsin, the forecast is calling for a high of minus 15 degrees on Monday and possibly sub-zero weather for the Packers' home game on Sunday, too. Amazing.

Thanks to everyone for kicking the baseball season off early with the November and December Draft Champions Leagues. We've tried our best to stay active on the baseball boards with you and to provide you with draft results, but now it's really time to crank up the NFBC Message Boards. We're here to help and hopefully keep things humming.

Let's start it out with a Q&A for Tom and myself. I have a Rotoworld.com Industry Draft tonight with 13 other folks and I'll bring those results with me tomorrow. At the very least, it will be additional content to talk about. But feel free to ask any questions about the NFBC contests this year, our site or more and hopefully this will help get everyone on the same page. We have a lot of good things going here this year, so let's have regular Live Chats and get things rolling.

Okay, feel free to post any and all questions today and we'll continue to answer them as we have time. Then we'll be on the Message Boards live tomorrow afternoon for an hour and give you every answer your hearts desire. Sound good? Thanks all.

Before we get rolling with the question, let me say that after meeting with the IT department, I can say that:

** We will have faster Live Scoring this year. We looked at the way we were grabbing the information internally and sending it through to the site and feel we can route this in a better way and get it live faster on the NFBC site. We feel good about this upcoming change.

** We will list reserve rosters by position, not alphabetically, in 2014. This should help you find replacements for each position much easier, especially for the 50-man DCs.

** We'll have a line break with totals on Live Scoring between hitters and pitchers. Your 14 hitters will be listed followed by the hitting totals, then your 9 pitchers followed by pitching totals. This should be easier to quickly see how each group is performing on that day.

** We are enhancing the NFBC app and adding Live Overall Standings on the app, FAAB bids and working on the ability to eventually draft on the app. That won't be ready for baseball, but hopefully we'll have it done in time for NFFC drafts and then 2015 NFBC drafts. Again, this needs some work to get it right, but we know more and more of you are using your mobile devices and to eventually get you drafting from them for NFBC drafts would be cool. That's the long-range goal.

** The new Draft Prep software will be done before the end of January and will allow you to very quickly rank your player default list for the online drafts. The new online draft software will be very cool and will be ready by late February. We'll have player photos, stats and more in the online draft rooms. Should be cool.

** Our live drafts will have draft boards projected on screens for drafts, although we will use the cardboard boards for the auctions this year. We have some changes coming to the projected boards, including player photos of the selected players and a bigger clock, so look for that. It does mean that we won't have dozens of draft boards around the rooms for days, but we'll discuss that later.

Hopefully this leads to our first group discussion of the season. Go ahead: What do you have for us? Thanks all.

Nice to be on the other side of this for a change...

Let's start easy with Brewers stuff...

Is Juan Francisco really Plan A at 1B?

Is it a ST battle with Scooter and Weeks or does one have the edge for 2B?

Khris Davis, over/under 25 HR?

Is Jim Henderson really the closer?

Do they know there are 29 other teams that have already made moves to fill holes and there isn't a whole lot left?

Is the KDS process one of the following, and if neither is it closer to one than the other?

A. If all 15 managers select a different draft position as their top preference, all 15 managers will get their 1st choice.

-or-

B. A random number generator determines an order to dole out slots and the manger picked first gets his first choice followed by the manager picked second getting his first choice only if it's still available, and so on.


I've always assumed it was B but something I heard on the radio in December made it sound like there's a draw between all mangers with the same top preference. Supposedly, any manager who was the only one to have a given slot as his top preference would automatically get it.

Really curious about this. If it's some totally different process, are you willing to explain it at some point?


Cheers!

ToddZ wrote:Nice to be on the other side of this for a change...

Let's start easy with Brewers stuff...

Is Juan Francisco really Plan A at 1B?

Is it a ST battle with Scooter and Weeks or does one have the edge for 2B?

Khris Davis, over/under 25 HR?

Is Jim Henderson really the closer?

Do they know there are 29 other teams that have already made moves to fill holes and there isn't a whole lot left?

It's as if they are giving up Todd. They are worse than the Cubs, if you can believe that!!

I think somehow, some way they are going to trade for Ike Davis. They have their sights set on him and incredibly the Mets are coming to the Brewers for pitching and want Tyler Thornburg. Something will get done between those two teams.

Scooter is the man. I think the Brewers want Weeks to excel in spring training so that they can trade him, but they'd have to eat a ton of salary to do that. But Scooter gets first look.

Under. He doesn't look like he should have a lot of power, but the ball jumps off his bat. We were at the Brewers' first spring training game last year with Shawn and Steve Fiore -- the game in which Aramis Ramirez hurt his knee -- and Davis hit one out to left field that was way out. It was shocking. But he did the same thing when he got to Milwaukee and the Brewers think he can hit 20 HR, but I'll take the under at 25.

Yes. Options are limited and he got the job done.

I'd like to say they are waiting for the young studs to get to the majors, but they don't have a whole lot in the minors. It should be a long, cold year in Milwaukee, which is appropriate since we're in the midst of the worst cold spell in a long, long time. The high on Monday will be minus 15 degrees. I blame the Brewers for this.

Deadheadz wrote:Is the KDS process one of the following, and if neither is it closer to one than the other?

A. If all 15 managers select a different draft position as their top preference, all 15 managers will get their 1st choice.

-or-

B. A random number generator determines an order to dole out slots and the manger picked first gets his first choice followed by the manager picked second getting his first choice only if it's still available, and so on.


I've always assumed it was B but something I heard on the radio in December made it sound like there's a draw between all mangers with the same top preference. Supposedly, any manager who was the only one to have a given slot as his top preference would automatically get it.

Really curious about this. If it's some totally different process, are you willing to explain it at some point?


Cheers!

B.

Who, in your opinion, will be the Chris Davis of 2014? And who, in your opinion, will be the Josh Hamilton of 2014?

southpaw23 wrote:Who, in your opinion, will be the Chris Davis of 2014? And who, in your opinion, will be the Josh Hamilton of 2014?

I don't think anyone can predict a breakout of power-average like Chris Davis had last year, but I do like big comebacks from Starlin Castro (coaching will turn him around) and Jurickson Profar. I also really like Avisail Garcia going to the White Sox and putting up big-time numbers. I think Josh Hamilton will be the Josh Hamilton of 2014 and just get worse and worse. He doesn't adjust and pitchers have figured him out. I won't draft him anywhere this year.

Lots of first year pitchers had very impressive debuts in 2013. Jose Fernandez was the standout, as he got an early call up and was incredibly impressive. We also got our first looks at Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray, Tony Cingrani, Danny Salazar, Zack Wheeler, Chris Archer, Tijuan Walker, among many others. Can you ever recall a year with such a big influx of strong, young starting pitchers? If you were drafting for 2016 now, any couple you like more than the others? One of the interesting challenges of some of the early DCs is figuring out about where these guys rate, both in relation to each other and against strong starters that have had success for years.

Mike

[quote

Greg Ambrosius wrote: ** We'll have a line break with totals on Live Scoring between hitters and pitchers. Your 14 hitters will be listed followed by the hitting totals, then your 9 pitchers followed by pitching totals. This should be easier to quickly see how each group is performing on that day.

Being the live scoring freak that I am, will there be columns separating each of the statistical categories? Or will it be the same as last year, a straight line of stats detailing what each player has done for the night?

Bronx Yankees wrote:Lots of first year pitchers had very impressive debuts in 2013. Jose Fernandez was the standout, as he got an early call up and was incredibly impressive. We also got our first looks at Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray, Tony Cingrani, Danny Salazar, Zack Wheeler, Chris Archer, Tijuan Walker, among many others. Can you ever recall a year with such a big influx of strong, young starting pitchers? If you were drafting for 2016 now, any couple you like more than the others? One of the interesting challenges of some of the early DCs is figuring out about where these guys rate, both in relation to each other and against strong starters that have had success for years.

Mike

I've been ranking and projecting players for our magazines since 1989 and I can't ever remember so many young pitchers not only coming up and producing but dominating as well. Your list above is great, but don't forget how dominant Patrick Corbin was early on. The list just continued to grow last year and it kept getting more and more impressive.

I'm definitely going with younger pitchers this year. I would have no trouble making Jose Fernandez the ace of my staff. In fact, last night in a Rotoworld draft my staff consisted of Jose Fernandez (he fell to 53 against industry writers who don't pick SPs early), Anibal Sanchez, Matt Moore, Chris Archer, A.J. Griffin, Ervin Santana, Archie Bradley and James Paxton. Go young, young man.

Obviously you need a good mix of veteran and young pitchers to succeed, but many of these guys came up last year and just dominated. I wouldn't be surprised if Mark Appel and Jarred Cosart and a few others do the same this year as rookies.

Money wrote:[quote

Greg Ambrosius wrote: ** We'll have a line break with totals on Live Scoring between hitters and pitchers. Your 14 hitters will be listed followed by the hitting totals, then your 9 pitchers followed by pitching totals. This should be easier to quickly see how each group is performing on that day.

Being the live scoring freak that I am, will there be columns separating each of the statistical categories? Or will it be the same as last year, a straight line of stats detailing what each player has done for the night?

We have not changed the Live Scoring page at this point. When we first redesigned that page there was a request for more stats, more data, so that's what we added. We kept the page with the stat categories separated by columns, but it ran slower than the new version. We know we can run Live Scoring more quickly this year, so I will see if both versions can be available at the same speed.

So if we had the Live Scoring in columns, is this what you want?:

Player Name, Team, ABs, Hits, Ave., HR, RBI, Runs, SBs
Pitcher Name, Team, IP, ERA, WHIP, Strikeouts, Hits, Walks, Wins, Saves

Greg Ambrosius wrote:

Money wrote:[quote

Greg Ambrosius wrote: ** We'll have a line break with totals on Live Scoring between hitters and pitchers. Your 14 hitters will be listed followed by the hitting totals, then your 9 pitchers followed by pitching totals. This should be easier to quickly see how each group is performing on that day.

Being the live scoring freak that I am, will there be columns separating each of the statistical categories? Or will it be the same as last year, a straight line of stats detailing what each player has done for the night?

We have not changed the Live Scoring page at this point. When we first redesigned that page there was a request for more stats, more data, so that's what we added. We kept the page with the stat categories separated by columns, but it ran slower than the new version. We know we can run Live Scoring more quickly this year, so I will see if both versions can be available at the same speed.

So if we had the Live Scoring in columns, is this what you want?:

Player Name, Team, ABs, Hits, Ave., HR, RBI, Runs, SBs
Pitcher Name, Team, IP, ERA, WHIP, Strikeouts, Hits, Walks, Wins, Saves

Yes, I think that would do it. From aesthetic standpoint you might need to line up the same number of columns for hitting and pitching. This would require you to eliminate one pitching category and that would probably be walks.

Thanks for keeping this on the front burner, I know you can't do everything all at once.

This is all you have for us?? Nobody asking about the weather in Wisconsin?? Or our predictions for Sunday's game?? C'mon, I'm disappointed. Bring it on!!!

See ya in an hour if you're around.

And I'll post our Rotoworld Industry Draft results from last night. Those are so different from NFBC drafts because industry writers still don't take Starting Pitchers early. Kershaw went 13th; I got Jose Fernandez at 53. David Price went 79th. Crazy. Look for those soon.

Okay, bring on the questions or we'll go home early to warm up for the weekend. Thanks all.

Greg Ambrosius wrote:Nobody asking about the weather in Wisconsin??

It's cold. It's REALLY COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Tom- Happy New Year... They are saying that Sundays Packers game may be the coldest NFL game ever...Stay Warm

Greg Ambrosius wrote: So if we had the Live Scoring in columns, is this what you want?:

Player Name, Team, ABs, Hits, Ave., HR, RBI, Runs, SBs
Pitcher Name, Team, IP, ERA, WHIP, Strikeouts, Hits, Walks, Wins, Saves

Don't forget ER.

Can a team win an overall championship by starting SP/SP?

Have you posted room rates for the Bellagio in March?

Greg Ambrosius wrote:

Bronx Yankees wrote:Lots of first year pitchers had very impressive debuts in 2013. Jose Fernandez was the standout, as he got an early call up and was incredibly impressive. We also got our first looks at Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray, Tony Cingrani, Danny Salazar, Zack Wheeler, Chris Archer, Tijuan Walker, among many others. Can you ever recall a year with such a big influx of strong, young starting pitchers? If you were drafting for 2016 now, any couple you like more than the others? One of the interesting challenges of some of the early DCs is figuring out about where these guys rate, both in relation to each other and against strong starters that have had success for years.

Mike

I've been ranking and projecting players for our magazines since 1989 and I can't ever remember so many young pitchers not only coming up and producing but dominating as well. Your list above is great, but don't forget how dominant Patrick Corbin was early on. The list just continued to grow last year and it kept getting more and more impressive.

I'm definitely going with younger pitchers this year. I would have no trouble making Jose Fernandez the ace of my staff. In fact, last night in a Rotoworld draft my staff consisted of Jose Fernandez (he fell to 53 against industry writers who don't pick SPs early), Anibal Sanchez, Matt Moore, Chris Archer, A.J. Griffin, Ervin Santana, Archie Bradley and James Paxton. Go young, young man.

Obviously you need a good mix of veteran and young pitchers to succeed, but many of these guys came up last year and just dominated. I wouldn't be surprised if Mark Appel and Jarred Cosart and a few others do the same this year as rookies.

Jose Fernandez at 53 sounds wonderful. Well done. Why can't we get some of these "industry writers" into my DCs?

Mike

All the scouting reports are saying tanaka doesn't have the ultra high K potential as darvish (not many do) but is considered a better "pitcher" than darvish. Look into your crystal ball...rank these 4 SP...

Darvish
Tanaka
Hamels
Wacha

Gekko wrote:Can a team win an overall championship by starting SP/SP?

Might be tough this year with the declining offense in the game. it appears good/decent pitching options may be more available later in drafts this year then hitters. The question then becomes is offense more of an early round strategy this year. Judging by DC's so far, most are going for offense early and often.

Gekko wrote:All the scouting reports are saying tanaka doesn't have the ultra high K potential as darvish (not many do) but is considered a better "pitcher" than darvish. Look into your crystal ball...rank these 4 SP...

Darvish
Tanaka
Hamels
Wacha

Darvish
Hamels
Wacha
Tanaka

Greg Ambrosius wrote:This is all you have for us?? Nobody asking about the weather in Wisconsin?? Or our predictions for Sunday's game?? C'mon, I'm disappointed. Bring it on!!!

So what's the weather like in Wisconsin? I find it hard to believe it's colder there than here. Also, who wins Sunday?

One more quick question, do you guys anticipate any of the requested improvements in the FAAB back end to be implemented for this season?

How do I use ADP to my advantage? can I predict how soon (or how late) I should/can take a player?

Oh yes, one more. I haven't heard much about the Main Event "side bet" since the initial discussion that resulted in the raising of the Grand Prize. Is this still a possibility?