A New Draft

[DOUGHBOYS]

We study, we draft, we play.
We study, we draft, we play.
We study, we draft, we play.
Whether we know it or not, we're 'studying' 12 months out of the year. For me, I like to see which players are helping other teams in less noticeable ways and maybe target them for next year's draft.
These are PITA's or pains in the asses.
A PITA is great to have on your team and it sucks playing against them.
Kyle Lohse is a PITA. Lohse does not command much respect around draft time, but I sure hated it when he was scheduled to pitch for my nearest rival.

Anyways, and yes,I got off track a little bit...
I want to talk about the studying/drafting part of our hobby.
Studying is a must. At the same time, it can be boring. I find myself relying less and less on sabrmetrics each year.
I know, I know, that is against the grain as speaking Numerish is fast becoming the language of choice for fantasy players.
But, I find myself getting bogged down sometimes and maybe putting a little TOO much emphasis on contact rates and BABIP.
The most wonderful thing about fantasy baseball is the myriad of ways we can prepare for drafts.
And none of them are wrong.
We just have to find the one that best suits us.
If you've done it the same way for the last four or five years and haven't been successful, think about changing your approach.
Study more study less, emphasize sabr or don't. Whatever works is the best way.

One thing I will never do again is mock draft. It's a time waster for anybody but Yahoo Kids. We don't know who we're drafting against, most will leave before the end of a draft, and worse it gives a self sense of superiority when all that's happened was that you beat a bunch of 16 year olds who were bored at the time.
I like MockDraftCentral. They serve a purpose for those rising in the ranks. But, not for NFBC'ers.
And just a by the way, the last time I played at MDC, they added a 'projection competition' or something of that nature, where drafters try to get players with who MDC felt were the best players. There were drafters not drafting who THEY felt were the best player, but merely drafting to get an MDC 'high score'- BAH!

This leads up to one of my favorite drafts from last year. Probably the only free draft I will ever enter again.
It was conceptualized by Perry Van Hook (Captain Hook).
What Perry did was both simple and brilliant, as are most good ideas.
I call this the 'Tell All' draft. I don't know if Perry has a name for it or not.
It works like this-
Gather 15 people. These 15 people must all be trustworthy. If they aren't, then it just weakens the idea and the draft.
After getting 15 trustworthy people together, a draft order is established for all players.
Drafter number one takes who he would take if this were a Diamond League draft.
And then 'tells all' WHY he'd make this selection.
The same with number two, three, and so on.

It becomes very enlightening. Some will choose Numerish as their preferred weapon. Some will go on what they saw. Some will say that improvement is on the horizon. Some will say they just plain like the guy.
After the selection is made, the other 14 drafters then have an opportunity to poke holes in the reasoning, agree, or say that is who I would have taken, or you should have taken this guy.
You need a thick skin.
You can be totally sold on a player going into this draft and question his abilities coming out.

I can't remember all the folks who were in this draft, but there were some industry leaders and a few guys that finished in the top 50 of the Main Event.
It can work for you.
It's a free draft of 23 rounds
It is a win/win draft. There were some calls to play it out last year, but there is no need.
The benefit is all within the draft itself. It's a little like when that favorite teacher of yours would go over that nights homework in class so that there was none to take home that night.

Kudo's again to Perry.
I've already heard from others how much this draft assisted them in high finishes last year and I know it helped me.
A splendid idea.

[Gekko]

Doughy - Any chance of throwing out rounds 6-10 of the Pre-Mature draft while we wait for the Slow Drafts to start? Give us something to talk about!!!

[DOUGHBOYS]

No need, Mark, looks like you guys are a go for tomorrow.
By this time next Monday or Tuesday, you'll know some sixth rounders up close and personal.

[NorCalAtlFan]

"looks like you guys are a go for tomorrow"

lmao. apparently dan believes in tooth fairy's and the easter bunny too.

[Captain Hook]

Thanks Dan and folks the best way to describe it - A Commentary Draft on Steroids - because as Dan said the comments are to tell what you based your pick on; why you took SP A over SP B; or why you took a player at that position, so team construction factors. And the group rebuttals and discussion are a big part of the value - even if it feels like they picked your scab off.

I do agree that you want the very best competition that you can get for your draft (sorry I don't think we have any openings in mine). AND you and your fellow drafters can't be worried about the comments or questions or knowledge of who you drafted. And you can't hedge - you have to leave everything on the draft board or else you nor anyone else gets maximum benefit from the exercise.


PVH

[Navel Lint]

Thanks Dan and folks the best way to describe it - A Commentary Draft on Steroids - because as Dan said the comments are to tell what you based your pick on; why you took SP A over SP B; or why you took a player at that position, so team construction factors. And the group rebuttals and discussion are a big part of the value - even if it feels like they picked your scab off.

I do agree that you want the very best competition that you can get for your draft (sorry I don't think we have any openings in mine). AND you and your fellow drafters can't be worried about the comments or questions or knowledge of who you drafted. And you can't hedge - you have to leave everything on the draft board or else you nor anyone else gets maximum benefit from the exercise.


PVH

I read Dan's post earlier today and I was thinking that I was in that original draft, which I was.

I can tell you that it was very informative and it helped me put a fresh pair of eyes on certain players that I had always been looking at with tunnel vision.

As I read his post, I knew that I wasn't ready yet to participate in a 2013 draft and that if he was putting this type of league together I would pass on that opportunity.

Then I read Perry's post. It made me think that maybe he was putting the same league together...but I wasn't invited
Which was fine with me, and appropriate since I probably brought the least to the table last fall. But then I remembered something. Last year for this draft I used an email account that I basically only use for baseball drafts so as to not miss any picks or clutter up my regular email. Because I haven't been doing any baseball yet this fall, I haven't looked at that account for several months. So I just looked now.............

There it was. An email dated a couple of weeks ago with an invite to the league. There were also another 10 or 12 responses from the group members last year.

I just wanted to say sorry to Perry and the rest of the group. I wasn't just blowing-off the group and not responding, I just honestly didn't know about it until now.

Reading your comment above, it appears you have a full group, which is good because I'm truly not ready to start a draft at this time.

For those reading this comment. If Perry's league isn't full yet and you are lucky enough to get an invite, I highly recommend that you accept, you can't help but learn something knew with every round of picks and you'll have a good time while doing it.

~Russel