Q&A or Just B.S. With Greg & Tom Here

[Greg Ambrosius]

These last couple of weeks have been like a blur for Tom and I. Tom has been watching online drafts almost every night for weeks and I've been traveling, drafting and doing whatever the hell I usually do around here. Through all of that, I feel like we've been less accessible to you folks on the Message Boards. Sorry about that.

That being said, I like the fact that the Message Boards have been somewhat controversy free. The goal of those Draft Champions Leagues was to tie you folks up so that you had no time for the boards!! It worked!! Next year when we debut the NFBC Cutline Championship, we'll really have quiet boards.

Anyway, as much as we'd like to do a Live Chat now, we have the Tout Wars draft tonight and then our radio show on SiriusXM tomorrow night. However, as we wind down Registration for the First Weekend live events, I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to ask any questions they may have on the events/contests or just a place to talk some baseball. I miss answering baseball questions, something I used to do in a previous life when I was actually known for my baseball knowledge!! I miss the old days of projecting stats for every MLB player, analyzing splits of every player and making three baseball deadlines by Feb. 15th. Man, those were the days!!

Anyway, here's your chance all week to make us answer your questions. Oh, deadheadz, there's a limit of one question and post a day. No hogging the thread. Okay, bring it on folks and hopefully you haven't missed our friendly banter during this busy time of the drafting season for Tom and I.

Okay, what do you got??

[Glenneration X]

Hey Greg, hope you and Tom are doing well.

Two questions.....

1- How's the new and improved FAAB coming along? Is it still online to be ready prior to Opening Day? Please don't make me regret not living up to my annual promise to cut down on leagues that first FAAB Sunday.

2 - How's it looking for filling those last two slots for the AL Auction?

[BK METS]

The digital draft boards were good for football.. but, for me, a little hard to see during the draft, possibly because of glare or too much light (or maybe I am going blind ). I know a lot of people said it was fine, but just wondering if there was a plan to brighten the screen or darken the area around the screen for better viewing during the draft?

[ToddZ]

We'll file this under the BS part.

Greg and Shawn were quite entertaining at the LABR auctions. This must have happened at least 5 times and it got funnier each time...

AUCTIONEER: <<player name>> for 34

SHAWN to GREG: Should we go 35?

GREG to SHAWN: No (emphasized with hand motion)

SHAWN to the room: 35

[Deadheadz]

Is it true the mobile apps are being revamped and available for FAAB and lineup changes?

How soon til we see the launch?

[meanguy]

1- Are the ADP sorting features being updated to have SP or RP option? There must have been an update and now it can only be sorted by P.


2- What if the Hokey Pokey isn't what it's all about?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Hey Greg, hope you and Tom are doing well.

Two questions.....

1- How's the new and improved FAAB coming along? Is it still online to be ready prior to Opening Day? Please don't make me regret not living up to my annual promise to cut down on leagues that first FAAB Sunday.

2 - How's it looking for filling those last two slots for the AL Auction?

Glenn, sorry for the delayed response, but Tout Wars had to kick my ass first.

I was in Chicago last week for meetings with the IT team and the plan is to have the new FAAB ready for the first week of bidding. We went over the items that were discussed on your thread and have it in the works to update the entire FAAB process. It's not completely done yet and it will be tested thoroughly, but I'm under the impression that we'll be good to go with a much improved FAAB process right away.

We are stuck at 10 teams in the AL Auction, but we'll get to 12. I have one veteran owner who is interested and he's trying to make it work with his co-manager. Then there are some friends from last year's league who need a friendly call from yours truly!! We'll get there.

[Greg Ambrosius]

The digital draft boards were good for football.. but, for me, a little hard to see during the draft, possibly because of glare or too much light (or maybe I am going blind ). I know a lot of people said it was fine, but just wondering if there was a plan to brighten the screen or darken the area around the screen for better viewing during the draft?

The colors are brighter on the new baseball stickers and we've made the last names bigger and bolder than we had in football. At the Bellagio, we were lucky last year because the lighting people came in and turned down the lights on the screen but left the lights on around the table for the owners. That really allowed the boards to stand out better. We'll work with the Bellagio again to do that and Tom will ask the Hilton if they can help with this as well. We don't have HD projectors -- which are best for this -- and that would lighten it up as well. But you are right about the lighting and we'll do our best to work with the hotel to make this as right as possible.

[Greg Ambrosius]

We'll file this under the BS part.

Greg and Shawn were quite entertaining at the LABR auctions. This must have happened at least 5 times and it got funnier each time...

AUCTIONEER: <<player name>> for 34

SHAWN to GREG: Should we go 35?

GREG to SHAWN: No (emphasized with hand motion)

SHAWN to the room: 35

There was only one time when I physically had to push Shawn's head to the face of the table so that he couldn't make another bid and yet I still felt like he would blurt out one dollar more. But thankfully he didn't as he knew I meant business that time!!

I thought we worked great together this year. We went over the players we wanted, we knew what we were willing to pay for them and when they came out we knew what to do. I have no idea if the players we targeted are the right ones, but we definitely got a vast majority of the players we wanted. And then the end games worked out pretty well. I like both LABR teams, but especially the NL.

All I know is that Shawn is on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports radio more than me these days. I'm happy that the rest of the industry finally knows him as one of the truly best and creative players around.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Is it true the mobile apps are being revamped and available for FAAB and lineup changes?

How soon til we see the launch?

The mobile app will have improvements for this upcoming season. I believe both functions will be done, but I better confirm with IT again. We plan on adding to the NFBC mobile app each year as we know that this makes your jobs easier and less stressful on the family.

[Greg Ambrosius]

1- Are the ADP sorting features being updated to have SP or RP option? There must have been an update and now it can only be sorted by P.


2- What if the Hokey Pokey isn't what it's all about?

I don't remember requesting that of the ADPs, but I'll check again. I know we talked about adding the Last 7 days, 14 days, 21 days like we have in the NFFC, but I don't think we asked for the pitchers to be separated. I can forward a request and see if we can do that.

[Greg Ambrosius]

There, good questions tonight. Thanks for now. Keep 'em coming.

[mdecav]

Is there a place where we can find the player values of previous auctions this year?

[ReedBTLines]

1- Are the ADP sorting features being updated to have SP or RP option? There must have been an update and now it can only be sorted by P.


2- What if the Hokey Pokey isn't what it's all about?

I don't remember requesting that of the ADPs, but I'll check again. I know we talked about adding the Last 7 days, 14 days, 21 days like we have in the NFFC, but I don't think we asked for the pitchers to be separated. I can forward a request and see if we can do that.

It looks like some change was made on the pitcher positions. They used to have SP and RP (or MR). Now all of them are P. Noticed that when I downloaded it to excel. One nice thing is all OF's are now OF. Used to be CF, LF, RF. Always had to rename them for sorting.

[COZ]

I was in Chicago last week for meetings with the IT team and the plan is to have the new FAAB ready for the first week of bidding. We went over the items that were discussed on your thread and have it in the works to update the entire FAAB process. It's not completely done yet and it will be tested thoroughly, but I'm under the impression that we'll be good to go with a much improved FAAB process right away.

"The Plan is...."
"We have it in the works..."
"It's not completely done yet and it will be tested thoroughly..."
"I'm under the impression we'll be good to go..."



COZ

[Gekko]

With the season starting in 10 days, how far along are the last couple DC leagues? I'm assuming you are mandating ALL DC leagues by done by the first official game of the season, Saturday March 22. Is that correct?

If so, I would hope the last couple DCs are in the mid 20 rounds by now. If not, you may want to lower the clock down to 6 or 4 hours right now.

[Bronx Yankees]

Just a friendly reminder to get back to folks on Corey Hart's positional eligibility. Because he played more than 20 games at 1B and OF in 2012, his last year in the majors, I interpreted the rules as him being eligible at both positions (which is how he was listed in draft rooms but, apparently, not on the eligibility list). It seems others also assumed/relied upon him having dual eligibility in ranking him. On a prior thread, you confirmed that Casey McGehee would be eligible at 1B and 3B under similar reasoning, and so I would hope that reasoning would apply to Corey Hart as well (or, if not, why not?). In any event, as of Monday, the set lineup feature did not permit Hart to be placed in the OF (which, of course, is where I intended to play him on one of my teams). I realize there is still plenty of time to set lineups before the games begin, but please clarify Hart's eligibility before the Main Event. Thanks.

Mike

[King of Queens]

1) Is the only way to get stats from the first three games of the year (3/21, 3/22 and 3/30) to actually DRAFT the player? When will we have to make the determination on whether to start or sit the players in those games?

2) The rules state that the first free agency will run on Sunday, March 30th at 10pm, and will open the previous Monday (3/24) at 3am. What are the specifics concerning the available player pool in this first bidding period?

3) Is it time to get the ***Official Vegas Weather Thread*** going yet?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Is there a place where we can find the player values of previous auctions this year?

No. We've never entered any of the dollar values within our system. Sorry.

[Greg Ambrosius]

With the season starting in 10 days, how far along are the last couple DC leagues? I'm assuming you are mandating ALL DC leagues by done by the first official game of the season, Saturday March 22. Is that correct?

If so, I would hope the last couple DCs are in the mid 20 rounds by now. If not, you may want to lower the clock down to 6 or 4 hours right now.

Yup, we're monitoring. Last year we had to move up the clock on 3-4 leagues and we'll do it again if needed.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Just a friendly reminder to get back to folks on Corey Hart's positional eligibility. Because he played more than 20 games at 1B and OF in 2012, his last year in the majors, I interpreted the rules as him being eligible at both positions (which is how he was listed in draft rooms but, apparently, not on the eligibility list). It seems others also assumed/relied upon him having dual eligibility in ranking him. On a prior thread, you confirmed that Casey McGehee would be eligible at 1B and 3B under similar reasoning, and so I would hope that reasoning would apply to Corey Hart as well (or, if not, why not?). In any event, as of Monday, the set lineup feature did not permit Hart to be placed in the OF (which, of course, is where I intended to play him on one of my teams). I realize there is still plenty of time to set lineups before the games begin, but please clarify Hart's eligibility before the Main Event. Thanks.

Mike

I have requested the dual eligibility for Hart and McGahee based on our rules and IT is setting it up that way. This was a unique case where two players who missed all of the previous year had dual eligibility and obviously we set this up to give eligibility based on most games played. Our rules don't really state it perfectly, but I've asked to update this and I'll probably rewrite the rules more succinctly for next year.

[Bronx Yankees]

Just a friendly reminder to get back to folks on Corey Hart's positional eligibility. Because he played more than 20 games at 1B and OF in 2012, his last year in the majors, I interpreted the rules as him being eligible at both positions (which is how he was listed in draft rooms but, apparently, not on the eligibility list). It seems others also assumed/relied upon him having dual eligibility in ranking him. On a prior thread, you confirmed that Casey McGehee would be eligible at 1B and 3B under similar reasoning, and so I would hope that reasoning would apply to Corey Hart as well (or, if not, why not?). In any event, as of Monday, the set lineup feature did not permit Hart to be placed in the OF (which, of course, is where I intended to play him on one of my teams). I realize there is still plenty of time to set lineups before the games begin, but please clarify Hart's eligibility before the Main Event. Thanks.

Mike

I have requested the dual eligibility for Hart and McGahee based on our rules and IT is setting it up that way. This was a unique case where two players who missed all of the previous year had dual eligibility and obviously we set this up to give eligibility based on most games played. Our rules don't really state it perfectly, but I've asked to update this and I'll probably rewrite the rules more succinctly for next year.

Greg - Thank you. Much appreciated.

Mike

[Greg Ambrosius]

1) Is the only way to get stats from the first three games of the year (3/21, 3/22 and 3/30) to actually DRAFT the player? When will we have to make the determination on whether to start or sit the players in those games?

2) The rules state that the first free agency will run on Sunday, March 30th at 10pm, and will open the previous Monday (3/24) at 3am. What are the specifics concerning the available player pool in this first bidding period?

3) Is it time to get the ***Official Vegas Weather Thread*** going yet?

1. Yes. You have to set your Week 1 starting lineup before the first pitch of the Sunday game. That Week 1 if you will then will include the Australia games and the Sunday night game. Week 2 starts with most Opening Days on Monday. I will confer with IT, but this is how we've done it in all past years.

2. Well, obviously for any league that drafts after 3/24 the player pool will be available right after your draft. Since we are entering all picks in real-time, if you draft on March 29th you'll have access to make FAAB bids right after your draft is complete. In your case, Platinum bids will be available from late Saturday night until the deadline on Sunday night.

3. No, not yet. I want to enjoy the snowstorm we're getting here and the single digit weather we're supposed to get this weekend. Don't ruin the fun we're having here and the fun East Coast residents are having.

[King of Queens]

No, not yet. I want to enjoy the snowstorm we're getting here and the single digit weather we're supposed to get this weekend. Don't ruin the fun we're having here and the fun East Coast residents are having.

Consider it done!

[mattjb]

I know it's because the set lineup page only shows 7 days but currently the Sunday night game on 3/30 is not shown. Could cause confusion.