Greg Ambrosius Live Chat Today At 3 p.m. EST

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:23 am

Okay, I'm back from doing two LABR League auctions and trying to catch up with my e-mails and phone messages. I think we have eight spots left for the main event and a few auction league spots left, but I'm not even sure about all of that. Let's chat today at 3 p.m. EST and we can fill you guys up with all of the latest information.

LABR League auctions were awesome. I'm ready to jump in and compete in the NFBC right now. Who wants a piece of me?

Let's get it on....and let's fill this thing up.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:00 am

Okay, I'm here if anyone wants to talk. Bring on the questions.

Big Cat · Post by **Big Cat** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:03 am

Greg, welcome back. Once all the spots are sold out, how long will it be before you are able to post the draft spots for the Main Event?

Joe Sambito · Post by **Joe Sambito** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:04 am

Gut feeling, do we have any shot at getting our draft slots on Friday? Also, are you going to announce them the same way by posting on the Message Board?

Cooperstown · Post by **Cooperstown** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:05 am

Greg,

What effect, if any, do you see the WBC having on players that participate? Will the SP's be ahead of the curve? Will the hitters come out of the gate a little further along than normally?

Or doesn't it really matter that much?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:05 am

Originally posted by Big Cat:

Greg, welcome back. Once all the spots are sold out, how long will it be before you are able to post the draft spots for the Main Event? Well, the KDS deadline is Wednesday at midnight, so we can't pull them before Thursday morning. We also need to make sure we have everyone's credit card run through first as we still have some guys outstanding. Two or three guys are wavering for schedule reasons, so we need to make sure everyone is a guarantee before we pull the names. I wish we could close this out tomorrow, but if I were a betting man I'd say Friday at the earliest you'll see the leagues and maybe not until Monday.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:08 am

Originally posted by Joe Sambito:

Gut feeling, do we have any shot at getting our draft slots on Friday? Also, are you going to announce them the same way by posting on the Message Board? Possible on Friday, but I think it will be Monday. We have an e-mail blast going out this week from MLB.com which could bring in some newbies. I might want to see how that plays out, but if we get full leagues in each city soon, maybe we'll just close it out and pick the leagues on Thursday or Friday.

We will announce them on the Message Boards one league at a time and then e-mail the entire group. The latest you'll see that is Monday morning as Tom and I are planning to work on Sunday if we have to in order to get the leagues to everyone on Monday morning.

thinkjohn · Post by **thinkjohn** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:08 am

Greg, Love the NFBC - You guys do a great job with everything related to the contest.

How big do you guys see it getting? 500? 1000?

Thanks...

nydownunder · Post by **nydownunder** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:10 am

Greg, have you seen any of the managers' draft preferences? If so, what stands out and/or surprises you?

agd · Post by **agd** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:10 am

Greg, what was you biggest "auction" surprise of the weekend?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:10 am

Originally posted by coops:

Greg,

What effect, if any, do you see the WBC having on players that participate? Will the SP's be ahead of the curve? Will the hitters come out of the gate a little further along than normally?

Or doesn't it really matter that much? I don't think it will put anyone ahead of anyone else who is at training camp. My concern is on the pitchers, who will try to pitch their hearts out for their countries and could tire late in the season. I don't see a lot of positive that can come out of this competition for the players.

I can tell you that I just got back from Phoenix and there is a lot of interest out there in the WBC. At the very least, MLB has found another way to make money on apparel as a lot of folks were buying USA camps and shirts from what I saw. It's a marketing wini-win for MLB and I think the competition will be good and further the growth of baseball worldwide. But as far as helping hitters over pitchers or anything like that, I don't see it. I just see tired arms later on.

Big Cat · Post by **Big Cat** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:11 am

Greg, where do you see an advantage, (If any), with where some one picks in the first round?

Also, just out of curiosity, what draft spot have the previous two NFBC winners had in their draft?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:13 am

Originally posted by thinkjohn:

Greg, Love the NFBC - You guys do a great job with everything related to the contest.

How big do you guys see it getting? 500? 1000?

Thanks... Bigger isn't my ultimate goal with the NFBC, although I know we will get bigger each year. I kept my sights low this year and expanded from 300 to 330 and that was the right move. Next year maybe the target will be 360. I don't need to get so big that it makes winning the grand prize unrealistic. I'd love to reach 450 someday for the main event, but as long as we keep this competition first-class and grow the auction leagues and the Ultimate Leagues and the satellite leagues, I'll be happy. Hitting 1,000 participants or having a $250,000 grand prize isn't my ultimate goal.

Thanks for the compliments. Deep down, I guess it would be cool to see this thing have 500 participants!

Cooperstown · Post by **Cooperstown** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:14 am

Originally posted by nydownunder:

Greg, have you seen any of the managers' draft preferences? If so, what stands out and/or surprises you? I don't know about anyone else, but I've been changing mine almost on a daily basis.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:17 am

Originally posted by nydownunder:

Greg, have you seen any of the managers' draft preferences? If so, what stands out and/or surprises you? I've seen them all and so has Tom. We worked with STATS to download those into an Excel document so that it's easy for us to change the draft spots AFTER we've randomly picked the orders in each league. It's going to work out real well for us and I know it's been a good addition to the NFBC.

What surprises is me is how much guys want to drop down. I've had guys do their preferences like this: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, etc. Some owners have even started out with preferences like 8, 7, 1, 2, etc. I honestly think KDS was a good idea because the vast majority of owners will move to a more preferred spot than they would have in straight random drafts. If the first two guys selected go to the middle of the draft, 5-6 other guys will move up. So it's been very, very interesting to see all of this. Some guys also move down to 15 or 14, so I think some of the guys who land there will prefer that, which was never the case before.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:21 am

Originally posted by agd:

Greg, what was you biggest "auction" surprise of the weekend? The LABR auctions confirmed what I already knew and that is that you'll have to pay for speed. Stolen base guys jumped off the board at high prices and I wish I would have paid for some steals early in the NL draft. That was my biggest mistake. Closers went for less than expected, but everyone still went after saves in this 5x5 format. I didn't get a closer all weekend and instead concentrated on wins, ERA and WHIP and hope to trade for saves later or pick some up via FAAB. It's a risky strategy, but we went for good setup guys that get wins and finish with low ERAs and WHIPs. We'll see if it works.

No individual buy surprised me, although the AL stars went high early. Chone Figgins for $35, Mark Teixeira for $37, Crawford for $38, A-Rod for $42, Johan Santana for $36 really set the tone of that night. We were starting guys out at $30 and guys were jumping in fast. You had to be on your toes and it was a blast. I loved it.

Heffer · Post by **Heffer** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:24 am

Greg , will I be able to see my original slot before the KDS draft slots are announced?

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:27 am

say hey Greg!

currently what segment holds the majority of this years entrants ? 1. 3 yr players 2. 2nd year players (tried it last season and are coming back) 3. 1st year players. Any of these #'s surprising to you ?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:27 am

Originally posted by Big Cat:

Greg, where do you see an advantage, (If any), with where some one picks in the first round?

Also, just out of curiosity, what draft spot have the previous two NFBC winners had in their draft? Artie Rastelli won in 2004 picking third. Brian Oldenski won in 2005 picking eighth.

I don't see any advantage in the first round and that's the honest truth. Watching the satellite leagues I've liked a lot of spots. I know I'd take the top three in order and then maybe move down. Guys who draft 12 through 15 in the first round have GREAT selections in the second round. I love the speed that's available 15 through 20 or 22. Some guys also like the middle of the draft and others would gladly take 1 or 2 and then have a top pick again in the third round.

That's why I love KDS: Everyone has a little say in where they might draft.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:27 am

Originally posted by coops:

quote:Originally posted by nydownunder:

Greg, have you seen any of the managers' draft preferences? If so, what stands out and/or surprises you? I don't know about anyone else, but I've been changing mine almost on a daily basis. [/QUOTE]That's good. It gives you something to do and concentrate on during the off-season!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:30 am

Originally posted by Heffer:

Greg , will I be able to see my original slot before the KDS draft slots are announced? No. We are picking everything randomly and then going off your KDS order to set the draft order. Nobody will know what they originally had. If your league members want to discuss that on your league boards, so be it. But we are randomly picking everything and then posting the new draft order for all to see. We will double check everything and make it final before we announce the draft order.

Joe Sambito · Post by **Joe Sambito** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:34 am

Greg,

What do you think of Beltran this year? I know you built a few teams last year with he as your first rounder, do you think he'll rebound? I definitely think he'll run more, fully healthy, which right there should pump him up a bit. But does he have any shot at producing top 4 numbers?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:35 am

Originally posted by Quahogs:

say hey Greg!

currently what segment holds the majority of this years entrants ? 1. 3 yr players 2. 2nd year players (tried it last season and are coming back) 3. 1st year players. Any of these #'s surprising to you ? We had 155 teams from 2004 return for the 2005 event and I don't have an official count but I honestly believe that at least 140 of those are back this year. I guess I'll know for sure when we run the Lifetime Standings again. We have 221 teams from 2005 back in 2006, which means another 80+ new signups from last year are back again. And right now we have 105 new teams for the main event and should get six more soon and maybe more.

The big thing is that we've added a few new Ultimate League teams, auction league teams and even satellite league teams, so the overall numbers are much more impressive than the main event numbers of 300 to 330. I think we've grown this thing in more ways than I ever imagined and I think we'll have another growth spurt next year. I'm not willing to give up on the four-city concept yet and may try Tampa again next year or look at Orlando. We'll poll our Florida competitors and see what happens.

agd · Post by **agd** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:40 am

Who gets playing time in Tampa and Houston? There are too many players for positions.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:40 am

Originally posted by Joe Sambito:

Greg,

What do you think of Beltran this year? I know you built a few teams last year with he as your first rounder, do you think he'll rebound? I definitely think he'll run more, fully healthy, which right there should pump him up a bit. But does he have any shot at producing top 4 numbers? I honestly like Beltran, but have him in just one league this year (out of 12). He went for $31 on Sunday in LABR and he came up after I already had spent on Berkman ($31) and Ryan Howard ($23). I think last year's injury obviously prevented him from stealing bases and once he got healthy he showed he can still do that. No doubt he felt the pressure of living up to last year's big contract, as expected, and now this year he can just go out and play and know that Delgado is there to take some pressure off him. I think he will run more, I'm convinced he will hit better than .266 (more like .276-.280) and I think he will show more power. He's a $30 player and someone with upside even at that price if he runs again.