Live Chat With Greg & Tom: Friday at 2 p.m. EST

[Greg Ambrosius]

I think to spice things up during this lovely Friday chat you should announce the Draft Order for the Flow draft on 2/19 (see how I did that, Fast & Slow = FLOW

in honor of Gekko & the Mouth u should do it Michael Buffer Style

since we're gonna hafta pick in like 10 sec's we should at least have as much advance notice to plan as possible, no?

Six people haven't even signed up for that one yet. How can I pick the draft order? Tell everyone to get signed up by Sunday night and KDS set by then so that I can announce the picks on Monday morning. I'll do it for this one just like I did the last two Fast/Slow drafts, slow and painful. One owner at a time. Sound good?

[swampass]

Greg, after the first handful of picks this draft feels completely up in the air. Cases have been made for lots of different players and strategies this season adapting to the new "Years of the Pitchers." does it feel like its the most open and unknown draft from recent memory? meaning.. couldnt we see drafts on the same day break in completely different ways? for example as i scroll down the ADP im seeing quite a few players late that seem like ridiculous bargains. perhaps its early and the ADPS will rectify themselves?

thanks
Chris

[Greg Ambrosius]

there is a real lovefest going on with elvis andrus right now. it seems as though his draft price is extremely high for guy that hits for a good avg, steals over 30 bags, but has never scored 100 runs. nevermind he has no power and his rbi are lacking because of where he hits in the lineup.

what am i missing? why is he going so high? according to the ADP there is a SS out there going 70 picks later that gives you virtually the same stats.

SS is no doubt a weak position but some of these young hitters i keep seeing going in rounds 2-3 seem like they are going too early.

His ADP is 46, which you can say is pretty high. So what is driving his value?

Well, let's remember that he's just 23 and he already has 3 full MLB seasons under his belt, including two that finished in the World Series. You can talk about the Age 26 phenomenon all you want -- that's for players who basically 26 and going on 27 with at least 5 MLB seasons under their belt -- but this guy is young yet mature in baseball terms beyond his age. Everyone sees upside here and in a big way NOW.

Maybe the fact that the Forecaster says his upside is .300 and 50 stolen bases is helping to drive that value upward. After all, he did finish with 37 steals last year, but was merely 11-of-20 after the All-Star break. He was 26-of-29 in the first half. With 49 attempts last year, I would have to say that people pushing him into the third round believe a season of 45+ SBs, a .285+ average and an OBP continuing to grow to even .350+ will lead to 100+ runs and 60+ RBIs. And at a weak position. I see the reasons for his high ADP, no doubt about it.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg, after the first handful of picks this draft feels completely up in the air. Cases have been made for lots of different players and strategies this season adapting to the new "Years of the Pitchers." does it feel like its the most open and unknown draft from recent memory? meaning.. couldnt we see drafts on the same day break in completely different ways? for example as i scroll down the ADP im seeing quite a few players late that seem like ridiculous bargains. perhaps its early and the ADPS will rectify themselves?

thanks
Chris

I totally agree with you. This year is totally unpredictable and it didn't help matters with Braun's possible 50-game suspension. Once that gets resolved, it could shake up things even more.

As for the ADPs, you're going to see some consistency during the online drafts/Slow Drafts, but once the live drafts hit everyone will have varied strategies. It's not going to flow like you think. Everyone will have different strategies.

I really don't think the "Year of the Pitcher" thing is changing the draft boards this year. As we've noted before, this is really two solid years now of Starting Pitchers and even with that, no pitcher is a guarantee for anything from year to year. So fantasy owners will still go for offense over pitching every time if they can and that won't change much in 2012. Power will again be tough to find and speed is tougher to scrape up as well. As much as we want those Cy Young candidates, many folks will still try to find better alternatives in the middle rounds.

This should be a wild year and I can say the same thing in football. We have a group of NFFC die-hards doing a pay draft right now and the first round looks nothing like past years: 3 QBs and 2 TEs went in the first!!! When has that ever happened before? So we're in a crazy -- but fun --time for fantasy baseball and football. Enjoy.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, I've gotta finish some other items before the weekend. We'll get a live guest for next week's chat and I'll jump in where needed. If you have more questions, post them here and I'll answer when I can. All is good on the NFBC front, so keep filling up those spots and making us happy!! And good luck in all of your Slow or Fast or Slower than Fast and Faster than Slow Drafts!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg or Tom:

Lineups lock every Monday at 6:55pm (EST). Yet, when we have a special game such at the Patriots
Day game in Boston the ONLY players that lock on that Monday are the two teams that are playing in the game. If
you can do it here????????

Would it be possible to extend that lock on Monday nights to the West Coast teams and allow final
decisions on those players when we can look at the lineups for those particular teams? Same extends to the
Friday period. If you have the technology for Patriots Day, wouldn't it make the NFBC a better product in helping the player make
important lineup decisions at the latest available time without giving anybody a decided edge over the competition for the other 52 deadlines? Thanks.


I compare this to the NFFC and the NFL. We don't have to make a decisions on players that start at 4pm, Sunday or Monday night when they kick off at 1pm. Why in baseball, must me limit ourselves to the East Coast starts? The same limitations for football will apply. If you have a player that is starting at 7pm on a Monday HIS decision must be in place
at 6:55pm. (est)

This is something we looked at as well. I don't think this is hard for us to do. I'll ask again, but yes this is something I think we can do on Mondays for the later starting teams. And if a team didn't play at all, those players would be part of that last lineup setting among West Coast teams. I mean, they have to be locked at some point and that last Monday lineup change would be it.

I'll ask again, but we did review this one.

Greg - Can this also be done for Friday lineups too?

Okay, it's official: Yes, we'll do this for Fridays too. We've added this enhancement for Monday and Friday to our To-Do list and obviously must update the Rules pages with this info. Thanks for the reminder on this one. I did not ask for this from IT before today, so now we have more to do. But it's the right addition to our game.

[Red Sox Nation-]

Greg,

Any future plans of working with STATS to create an app for smart phones? (Something basic that would allow lineup setting and live scoring) I realize this won't happen overnight but it would be tremendous in the future.

Jason

Okay, I asked IT for this answer first and just got it, so it deserves posting. From IT: "We have the development of an iPhone and Android app in the plans for NFBC this season. They won't be available at the start of the season, but should be coming in 2012."

NOW THAT'S EXCITING!!! Thanks for asking. I learned something today as well. GREAT NEWS for NFBC owners.

This is great news Greg. I bet many owners will utilize an app on their smartphone and not feel like they have to hover around the pc every lineup lock period. Thanks!

Jason

[Doctor Who]

Damn just missed you! Was going to ask your thoughts on players that could be traded from their current teams. Do you like the gamble on that or would you rather like a guy you know will stay on a team for a whole year. I'm talking about guys like Carlos Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Wandy Rodriguez, and any other commodity that a bad team might trade to a contender.

[DOUGHBOYS]

To heck with the industry types, Greg!
Well, except for Wilton or Grey who specialize. Damn, I already miss Jason's work.
Shawn and Todd always draw the most folks because they're NFBC tuned in.
How about a chat with one or both of our top contenders from last year, KJ and/or Lindy?

I'm game for anyone who volunteers. I'm not sure Lindy can type fast enough to keep up with all of the questions that start like this "What can I do to win the $100,000 like you've done twice?" KJ is still bitter about finishing 2nd, but I'll ask him for a Chat!!

How about you?? You have your own Forum. Want to do a Live Chat?

I think I'm oversaturated on these Boards
Lindy and Kevin would be great though.

[Red Sox Nation-]

Greg,

Currently the website allows up go into our team page and change the Draft Rankings for 1501 players from an overall list. It would be great if we could change the rankings per position rather than from a massive overall list. Currently I don't use this valuable feature because it would be too much work with the overall list. it would be much easier to focus on positions rather than an overall list.

Jason

[ToddZ]

To heck with the industry types, Greg!
Well, except for Wilton or Grey who specialize. Damn, I already miss Jason's work.
Shawn and Todd always draw the most folks because they're NFBC tuned in.
How about a chat with one or both of our top contenders from last year, KJ and/or Lindy?

Those who can, do; those who can't, teach

See ya next week

[rockitsauce]

Greg,

Currently the website allows up go into our team page and change the Draft Rankings for 1501 players from an overall list. It would be great if we could change the rankings per position rather than from a massive overall list. Currently I don't use this valuable feature because it would be too much work with the overall list. it would be much easier to focus on positions rather than an overall list.

Jason

great point Jason...I definitely second this. I print out each pos. ADP...if my "paperless" co only knew

[Greg Ambrosius]

To heck with the industry types, Greg!
Well, except for Wilton or Grey who specialize. Damn, I already miss Jason's work.
Shawn and Todd always draw the most folks because they're NFBC tuned in.
How about a chat with one or both of our top contenders from last year, KJ and/or Lindy?

Those who can, do; those who can't, teach

See ya next week

We definitely will have Todd Zola as a Live Chat participant late next week. So get your NUMBERS questions ready.

[Bama]

Greg or Tom:

Lineups lock every Monday at 6:55pm (EST). Yet, when we have a special game such at the Patriots
Day game in Boston the ONLY players that lock on that Monday are the two teams that are playing in the game. If
you can do it here????????

Would it be possible to extend that lock on Monday nights to the West Coast teams and allow final
decisions on those players when we can look at the lineups for those particular teams? Same extends to the
Friday period. If you have the technology for Patriots Day, wouldn't it make the NFBC a better product in helping the player make
important lineup decisions at the latest available time without giving anybody a decided edge over the competition for the other 52 deadlines? Thanks.


I compare this to the NFFC and the NFL. We don't have to make a decisions on players that start at 4pm, Sunday or Monday night when they kick off at 1pm. Why in baseball, must me limit ourselves to the East Coast starts? The same limitations for football will apply. If you have a player that is starting at 7pm on a Monday HIS decision must be in place
at 6:55pm. (est)

This is something we looked at as well. I don't think this is hard for us to do. I'll ask again, but yes this is something I think we can do on Mondays for the later starting teams. And if a team didn't play at all, those players would be part of that last lineup setting among West Coast teams. I mean, they have to be locked at some point and that last Monday lineup change would be it.

I'll ask again, but we did review this one.

Greg - Can this also be done for Friday lineups too?

Okay, it's official: Yes, we'll do this for Fridays too. We've added this enhancement for Monday and Friday to our To-Do list and obviously must update the Rules pages with this info. Thanks for the reminder on this one. I did not ask for this from IT before today, so now we have more to do. But it's the right addition to our game.[/quote]


This will be a welcome change and if we do it we should do it right and just lock each player into the lineup when their game starts whether its 10 in the morning on monday or at 9:35 tue night.

[Sack]

BAMA:

Twelve years and we finally agree on something?

Just kidding Kenny, hope to catch up with you in Vegas.


sack

[CC's Desperados]

Let's talk and let's get some guest Live Chatters!! I've asked Shawn Childs to kick off our Live Chat session, but he's buried in his own work right now. I'll reach out to Todd Zola and BaseballHQ and Scott Engel and Jeff Erickson and a few other industry guys and see if we can't get one per week starting next week. Who wants to be first? Todd, are you up for it yet? Shawn??

Bring it on!!! I'm ready for your questions now.

Greg, The site is finally up http://www.SportsDraftDaily.com. I have to bang my why through the pitchers and the bullpens before I can come up for air. I'll talk to Scott and see if it works for him.

[Sack]

Shawn:

Is this really a FREE site? No payment, without any CATCH!


I know a friend of mine that is going to spend more time here now than
at the local Barnes and Noble reading those fantasy baseball mag's cover to cover
before dumping them back on the shelf without actually buying!


Good luck pal, hope it leads you into bigger things!

[rockitsauce]

Let's talk and let's get some guest Live Chatters!! I've asked Shawn Childs to kick off our Live Chat session, but he's buried in his own work right now. I'll reach out to Todd Zola and BaseballHQ and Scott Engel and Jeff Erickson and a few other industry guys and see if we can't get one per week starting next week. Who wants to be first? Todd, are you up for it yet? Shawn??

Bring it on!!! I'm ready for your questions now.

Greg, The site is finally up http://www.SportsDraftDaily.com. I have to bang my why through the pitchers and the bullpens before I can come up for air. I'll talk to Scott and see if it works for him.

Hey, just wanted to say I read Shawn's "Dealing Aces" column & Scott Fleming's "Category Comps"...excellent. Look fwd to more stuff guys.

Dave

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, we should be able to unveil a few new enhancements today and even get the season rolling a little bit for those who have finished with Slow Drafts already. It's a small step towards knocking off a few items from our To-Do list. Should have some of this shortly.