Shares

[DOUGHBOYS]

Since the NFBC started 14 years ago, there have been many changes.
Twice a week lineup changes.
More than one entry into the Main Event.
And this year, I believe, was the first year that more drafted online Main Events than Live.
There are Draft Championships
12 team leagues
10 team leagues
(And yet, we still have that same crappy technology )

All these different leagues and formats combine to make our drafting styles a little different.
Now, instead of 'choosing' players, we are simply getting 'shares' of players.
I talk with a lot of NFBC folks during the drafting season. It was amazing in how many used the word 'shares'.
"I' drafted him because I wanted at least one share of him"
"I'm getting too many shares of him, if he gets hurt, I'm hurting"
I wanted to try and get a share of Miggy and Blasckmon on the same team"

I must admit that it effects me as well.
If I had two or three DC's in a row with a similar draft spot, I wanted to veer from who was simply on top of my list to another player. To me, Draft Championships are experimental leagues. Sometimes, I'll come out of a Draft Championship draft and think, "Wow, I'll have to remember THAT for the Main Event!"
Draft Championships set up a false adp for the Main Event. But, that's for another post.

Personally, I like the thought of having 'shares' of players. We all have 'our' players. 'Our' players just turns into 'shares' of players over many drafts.
For me, I have Mitch Haniger, Matt Carpenter, Willson Contreras, Ryon Healy, and Kyle Hendricks on many, many teams/
A lot of shares in each.
Over 20 teams and I never received the number one slot although I kds'd it every time except for my Main Event.

Back in the day, the thought of having more than one fantasy team was ridiculous. It was hard enough running a league while fishing for stats from newspapers and getting out those weekly reports to those in the league.
Draft Championships and the other leagues with lesser teams serve to give us competition during the draft season in preparing for our larger drafts.
We keep accumulating shares of our players.
This time of year, it is tough on us.
We don't really know our leagues yet or where those players are playing. We pretty much know our Main Event team only because that was the last and most important team to us.

Some drafters count their shares of players. Waste of time for me. I know I have Haniger everywhere but a few leagues.
The risk is mitigated with Haniger in that at the start of the drafting season, I was taking him after the 30th round. When Rotoblurbs started hyping him, I had to rise more and more in drafts until finally spending a 17th round pick on him in the Main Event.
Although I would change my first round pick in the name of 'shares' for players, I seldom changed others.
I didn't care to have a share of Garrett Richards or Matt Harvey or Tanaka.
Trust trumps shares.
I also never drafted Yasiel Puig, Joey Votto, Manny Machado.
They were far down my lists from where others had them.
My lists are very much different from adp and I'll post those tomorrow here.

I had one drafter who called mr excited that he had drafted Trea Turner.
"I HAD to have one share of him!"
That's ok.
It's even a little cool.
We have more players to root for.
At this time of year, standings don't mean anything. We are in that stage of building a foundation and finding our weaknesses and strengths in each league.
When we hear that Francisco Lindor hit two homers and stole a base, we can 'share' in the excitement, knowing that we have him 'somewhere'.

[Bronx Yankees]

It's a strange time of the year. We've just finished drafting, but, now that the dust has cleared, we're still trying to learn who is on all of our teams. (I have an index that I'm checking constantly when watching games or reading impactful news blurbs.) Sure, we have a few guys on lots of our teams and so it is easy to root for them. For other guys, we know we have one or a few "shares" of them on some teams, but which ones? By the end of the year, we'll know which of our teams are in contention and all of the players on those teams. Now, not so much. I do not have as many teams as you, but my 16 teams (including six "bigger" teams) represents a high for me. I'll find out soon how I do managing that many teams (and what it takes out of me on Sundays). I also wonder sometimes in April exactly for whom I should be rooting. For example, I have Player X on one of my bigger teams and nowhere else. If he hits a grand slam, it is great for the one team I have him on, and potentially bad for my other 15 teams. I think it is good he hit the slam, but maybe not. Or, maybe I have that player on three DC teams but none of my bigger teams. In that case, his grand slam probably is not a good thing overall. Strange days. While learning my teams, I'm just happy to watch baseball. I'll probably just focus on the handful of guys I have on multiple bigger teams and figure out the rest as things go on.

Mike

[KJ Duke]

The word "shares" used in fantasy sports bothers me. When owning shares in a company you own a definable proportion of the whole, aka a "share". When drafting a player, it as inaccurate to quote a "share" of a player since you own the entirety of a player in your league, not just a share.

My feeling when I see or hear someone use the word in this sense is the same feeling I get when someone writes "could of" rather than could've ... like they lack a basic knowledge of the words they're using.

So to all fantasy players and writers, let's try to find a better word that's at least accurate. Meanwhile, on the subject of annoying trendy words, let's terminate "plated" from the lexicon. I'm looking at you rotoworld.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Good point, Kevin. Let's make up a word for what we meant as 'shares'.
The best I can come up with is 'draftage'.

"I have a high draftage of Mitch Haniger."
I wanted Clayton Kershaw because I have no draftage of him as yet".

Yeah, that works.

[knuckleheads]

So to all fantasy players and writers, let's try to find a better word that's at least accurate. Meanwhile, on the subject of annoying trendy words, let's terminate "plated" from the lexicon. I'm looking at you rotoworld.

This begs the question, why look at rotoworld at all?