FAAB-U-LESS

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DOUGHBOYS
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FAAB-U-LESS

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Thu Nov 14, 2019 11:31 am

I've seen new leagues spring up in the NFBC since joining long ago. Satelites, Draft Champions, Cutlines, auctions, and various price arrangements from anywhere from $50 to $10,000.
During that long period of time, my tastes have changed in the NFBC.
When younger, I would do satelites, Main Events....actually, just about ANY league.

As I started getting more and more and more teams though, I felt my time was slipping away from me.
Besides my full time job at work, I had a full time job playing fantasy baseball.
So, I decided to chip away at the number of teams I had.
Smaller leagues with FAAB were the first to go.
It takes us 5-10 minutes to put a lineup together.
FAAB is not the same.
FAAB needs honed all the way up till the deadline.
It's time consuming.
And when we have LOTS of FAAB teams, we need LOTS of time to treat them fairly.
At one time, I had 12 FAAB teams. Last year, four.

Draft Champions are perfect for me.
No FAAB.
One, two, four hour, or speed drafts to go as slow or as fast as I want to draft.
Love them.

BUT, there has been a problem since Draft Champions started so many years ago.
No other new contests have come out to join Draft Champions with the no FAAB concept.
And, it is a big problem.
Especially for Main Event and bigger money players who don't want to go through the FAAB process for smaller amounts of money.
Some concepts with FAAB have even died for lack of participants in large part, due to FAAB.
Except for Draft Champions and auctions with the Draft Champions format, drafters trying to avoid FAAB Leagues are stuck.
(By the way, I really do wish that Greg would have started that new Overall Auction Championship using the Draft Champions format to conclude each league. I believe the sign-ups would have been helped a LOT with no FAAB!)

It got me thinking about a new league. A new format.
And I'll tell you upfront, this has already been sent to Greg and it may be on the table for next year.
Not this year because IT has enough stuff on their table.....
Anyway, here is the idea.
15 Teams.
$150, $300, $500 entry fees with an Overall of whatever.
No FAAB, NO Lineups.
That's right. No FAAB. No Lineups
We draft 40 rounds.
Each team must have the usual 23 positions filled.
Innings Pitched requirement would be 600 innings.
The other 17 positions are up to each drafter to strategize as they will.
40 rounds is enough rounds to fully stock a roster but not get killed by the following....
ALL PLAYERS STATISTICS COUNT.
All of them. There is no bench to save us from bad match-ups.
It is Best Ball AND Worst Ball.

The strategies would be endless.
Take Catchers with round 39 or 40 picks so as not to get hurt by them or take the good ones early to have those picks free at the end?
How many rookies do we want to invest in?
Are you sure they'll be called up?
Do we really want to draft a player like Wade Davis and suffer each time he enters the game? Are the Saves worth the blow-ups and possible demotion?
The 40 rounds would limit the real bad players from being drafted to hurt our teams, while still filling our rosters with enough players to strategize new ways to win this game.
Is more hitting better? Do we load up on Pitching? Balance?
The 600 innings requirement could leave it open to drafting all relievers or Starters, or a mix.
But if drafting all relievers, you'd better draft enough, they better be good, and they have to make that requirement or it is one point for ERA and WHIP.

It would be an easy game for IT to put on the platform according to Greg, so that would not be a drawback.
I'm just wondering if there's enough of us that would enjoy a total hands-free and time-free fantasy game after a team is drafted.
As said, it won't be coming to an NFBC store near you soon, but I'd like to have some feedback in what you think of this concept.
Thanks for the listen!

Edits- I'll keep a list of suggestions that could possibly help the game to be decided later...

One FAAB on Wednesday Night of the All Star break
800 IP limit.
Last edited by DOUGHBOYS on Sat Nov 16, 2019 8:34 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Philippe27
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by Philippe27 » Thu Nov 14, 2019 11:14 pm

I've been saying this for awhile, I think for the NFBC to take it to the next level, it needs a true best ball format and I really like this concept. I'd honnestly probably sign up for 10 of these this year if I could.

Last year I had 5 FAAB leagues and it's the absolute most I can handle and it's a shame to lose business because of that.

As far as the format itself, I think the key is to keep it simple as you suggested. Injuries would hurt a lot but that's why you sign up for 10 of there and accept that in 2-3 of them you'll have bad injury luck and you just cheer for your 7-8 other teams.

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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by Baseball Furies » Fri Nov 15, 2019 12:46 am

Love the idea, Dough. Good stuff! I'd be game for a couple of these for sure. You also got me thinking. What about a high stakes DC league? The highest entry fee there is now sprang from the idea that Max Ogden had several years back of the $1000 "Slow Gold" DC league that I only recently ditched over the last couple of years as it REALLY became slow and tedious for me to focus on with all the other FAST DC's and specialty leagues I'm in by the time February rolls around. But it's so popular now, I think that there are at least three or so that fill up each year when it used to be just the one. So why not a "Super DC" or and "Ultimate DC"? Or dare I suggest a "Diamond DC"? :mrgreen: I think leagues like this would appeal to all the serious top players who have FAAB burnout, but still want the high dollar leagues with all the skin in the game one could ask for against some of the top players. I may just have to run this by Greg. Just throwing out there to ya to see what you think. This would be a great one to do in early March with like a two-hour clock.
"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base." ~Dave Barry

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KJ Duke
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by KJ Duke » Fri Nov 15, 2019 1:41 pm

I like this Dan.

Another possibility which I don't think I've seen mentioned before ... how about a league with ONE FAAB period over the all-star break when we have a break from roster management? This could allow us to refresh all rosters for the second half and clear out dead weight.

1FAAB could work with your all-play concept above, or like a modified DC that begins with a smaller bench than the full DCs.

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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Fri Nov 15, 2019 4:28 pm

KJ Duke wrote:
Fri Nov 15, 2019 1:41 pm
I like this Dan.

Another possibility which I don't think I've seen mentioned before ... how about a league with ONE FAAB period over the all-star break when we have a break from roster management? This could allow us to refresh all rosters for the second half and clear out dead weight.

1FAAB could work with your all-play concept above, or like a modified DC that begins with a smaller bench than the full DCs.
I like that, KJ.
A free=for-all FAAB.
Some drafters would use $1000 on one player. Others would try to replace three, five, or 10 players.
Sounds like a winner.
Thanks.
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DOUGHBOYS
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Fri Nov 15, 2019 4:34 pm

More to this, we could even have that FAAB on the dead Wednesday of the All Star break.
This accomplishes these things.....
It gives us something to think about during the tedium of the break.
It won't interfere with Sunday's FAAB for other teams.
It'll also give us access to those players before the lone Thursday game of that week.
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by JohnP » Fri Nov 15, 2019 5:00 pm

I like this. These drafts would be like no other. No need for catcher 3 and catcher 4. Could be crazy mid-draft strategy swings as KJ and Dan select 17 straight hitters. Does game 163 count? Just kidding.

DOUGHBOYS
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Fri Nov 15, 2019 5:09 pm

The more I think about it, the more I like the one FAAB during the All Star break.
You know how you draft a team and it goes the opposite of what we think?
This FAAB could heal whatever we screwed up during our plans for fantasy dominance.
It could also work in strategic ways that no other leagues afford.
Let's say a team is near the 600 IP requirement and has wonderful hitting, not so great pitching. It's possible he may FAAB a pitcher that will not pitch for a pitcher who is killing that drafter.
Do we replace our injured catcher for a catcher who may kill our Avg, but offers a few counting stats?
It really opens up some wonderful strategy in a lot of different ways.
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Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

DOUGHBOYS
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Fri Nov 15, 2019 5:14 pm

In the back of my mind, I'm thinking Srebro already has masterminded a way to win these leagues. :lol:
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Philippe27
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by Philippe27 » Fri Nov 15, 2019 5:24 pm

DOUGHBOYS wrote:
Fri Nov 15, 2019 4:34 pm
More to this, we could even have that FAAB on the dead Wednesday of the All Star break.
This accomplishes these things.....
It gives us something to think about during the tedium of the break.
It won't interfere with Sunday's FAAB for other teams.
It'll also give us access to those players before the lone Thursday game of that week.
I'd prefer a true best ball league and I think from a marketing stand point it would work better. A format that you can draft 10-20 teams without any future consequences.

One FAAB doesn't sound like much but that one FAAB period would be a real pain.

The one other idea I had if people want some type of FAAB is that we're allowed 2 trades anytime before the all-star break. No bid, it's just first come first serve and when you make the trade, you get all of that player's stats from day 1. If you jump on a new closer in April, you get the guy you want but he could lose the job a month later and you wasted your trade.

It's a rule we use in a hockey pool that i've been doing for 10 years and it works well. It would help make up the gap in a specific category if you got hurt by injuries but you can make the trade any time you want so very little time commitment.

Bronx Yankees
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by Bronx Yankees » Fri Nov 15, 2019 9:36 pm

Like the idea, Dan. I’d try it. Like the idea of another FAAB-less format. I currently limit my FAAB leagues to the live events, and see this concept as a change of pace from the DC format, which I love. Not positive about the low IP floor if all stats count, but follow your thinking. While I might prefer zero FAAB, having one midweek during the ASB wouldn’t be too bad, at least for me. Like how it’s kind of like a maintenance-free best ball format but keeps the roto format, which I personally much prefer over points leagues. Lots of potential strategies for roster construction, which would add interest. Hope there’s enough interest to get it off the ground for a test run next year.

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EA Sports
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by EA Sports » Sat Nov 16, 2019 12:27 am

Like it Dan! Would put a vote in for one FAAB period during all-star break, that would be perfect timing. It would allow us to draft earlier as pre-season injuries would hurt just a little bit less.
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by Gb2715 » Sat Nov 16, 2019 8:54 am

Love this idea. It would be interesting to draft a few of these with all different strategies.

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KJ Duke
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by KJ Duke » Sat Nov 16, 2019 10:53 am

Philippe27 wrote:
Fri Nov 15, 2019 5:24 pm

One FAAB doesn't sound like much but that one FAAB period would be a real pain.
Limit the # of pickups to a max of 5? Without having to think about so many marginal player drops and allocating those dollars across what could be 10-15 bid strings, the time commit would probably drop in half or less.

DOUGHBOYS
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Re: FAAB-U-LESS

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:41 am

Thanks for all the responses and ideas. Look for a league like this coming your way in 2021!
Thanks again, Everybody.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

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