Affordable Auctions

[Deadheadz]

I regret Alvarez but not Ortiz.
After the season ends, that could well be reversed.

[Bronx Yankees]

Having never done an auction before, I would love some feedback and critiques of my team. It definitely was a learning experience for me.

C Jonathan Lucroy $16
C Alex Avila $3
1B Chris Davis $30
2B Omar Infante $10
3B Manny Machado $16
SS Jose Reyes $23
CI Todd Frazier $3
MI Everth Cabrera $17
OF Austin Jackson $10
OF Matt Kemp $17
OF Nick Markakis $4
OF Josh Willingham $2
OF Gerardo Parra $1
UT Elvis Andrus $16

SP Anibal Sanchez $16
SP Hisashi Iwakuma $16
SP Shelby Miller $8
SP Justin Verlander $21
SP Madison Bumgarner $21
SP Jose Quintana $5
SP Rick Porcello $2
SP Dan Straily $2
RP Mark Melancon $1

Individually, I don't hate many of my buys. I feel like two of my early acquisitions - Infante and Machado - probably were over-pays, and whether I got any type of bargain with Kemp probably depends on how many games he plays. He could very well turn into a big over-pay if he has another year like 2013. If I had to do it over again, I probably would not have taken the gamble. Still, I had an absolute blast, spent my $260, and am not disgusted or embarrassed by my team.

That being said, I have a lot to learn. Even if I am relatively content with my most of my buys on an isolated basis, I feel like I did a very poor job allocating my money. I think I spent too much on pitching. Even though I liked Elvis Andrus at $16, I should not have rostered him having already acquired Jose Reyes and Everth Cabrera. That money would have been better spent at CI and/or OF as I feel like I am short power. Also, I should have held off on Verlander or Bumgarner at $21 each (probably Verlandner) and used that money to acquire two closers. I still would've had a competitive rotation and would not be facing the prospect of having to punt saves.

Where else did I screw-up? Thanks.

Mike

[Gekko]

I regret Alvarez but not Ortiz.
After the season ends, that could well be reversed.

no ellsbury, victorino hurt, pedroia hurt, and papi another year older, i'm not buying a 3d rounder. maybe thats just me

[ToddZ]

Couple comments....

1. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all those that participated for your patience, at times excruciating. I've done these where the tone/mood/atmosphere went in the other direction -- not fun. Six hours is a long time. Other than Dan having to break into next week's Doritos, I think the collateral damage was minimal.

2. Speaking of six hours...

A. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE -- if you are doing one of the next two, use or download Google Chrome or Firefox. The system doesn't like Internet Explorer very much. We had one guy d/l Firefox during a break (so it doesn't take long) and he didn't miss a beat after (so it worked).

B. There's a lot of talk about NOMINATION TIME. The problem isn't with the pre-set NOMINATION TIME. It's the TIME WE TOOK TO NOMINATE. I was guilty at times too. The thing can be set at 10 minutes and it doesn't matter. What matters is how quickly we make our decision and click on the little buttons. Putting a list in the Q helps you find them faster.

C. My feeling is we took too long to reduce the time before the countdown began. At the beginning we want to keep it a little longer as everyone gets used to finding the name on their sheets, their bid price, etc. But once we all get better at finding the player and knowing our bid strategy for that player, we can cut down the time. The system resets to 10 seconds after each bid so no one should be shut out of getting a bid in. If we cut out 5 seconds for 200 players, that's 15-20 minutes (my goal is for 5 hours, need to shave one hour from last night).

D. Every now and again refresh/reload the auction page, the easiest way is just hitting F5. I don't know the specifics, think of it as just taking a step back to clear your mind for a second. Probably has to do with cache and code and other funky IT stuff.

E. Did I mention that Google Chrome/Firefox is better than IE?

[Gekko]

Having never done an auction before, I would love some feedback and critiques of my team. It definitely was a learning experience for me.

C Jonathan Lucroy $16
C Alex Avila $3
1B Chris Davis $30
2B Omar Infante $10
3B Manny Machado $16
SS Jose Reyes $23
CI Todd Frazier $3
MI Everth Cabrera $17
OF Austin Jackson $10
OF Matt Kemp $17
OF Nick Markakis $4
OF Josh Willingham $2
OF Gerardo Parra $1
UT Elvis Andrus $16

SP Anibal Sanchez $16
SP Hisashi Iwakuma $16
SP Shelby Miller $8
SP Justin Verlander $21
SP Madison Bumgarner $21
SP Jose Quintana $5
SP Rick Porcello $2
SP Dan Straily $2
RP Mark Melancon $1

Individually, I don't hate many of my buys. I feel like two of my early acquisitions - Infante and Machado - probably were over-pays, and whether I got any type of bargain with Kemp probably depends on how many games he plays. He could very well turn into a big over-pay if he has another year like 2013. If I had to do it over again, I probably would not have taken the gamble. Still, I had an absolute blast, spent my $260, and am not disgusted or embarrassed by my team.

That being said, I have a lot to learn. Even if I am relatively content with my most of my buys on an isolated basis, I feel like I did a very poor job allocating my money. I think I spent too much on pitching. Even though I liked Elvis Andrus at $16, I should not have rostered him having already acquired Jose Reyes and Everth Cabrera. That money would have been better spent at CI and/or OF as I feel like I am short power. Also, I should have held off on Verlander or Bumgarner at $21 each (probably Verlandner) and used that money to acquire two closers. I still would've had a competitive rotation and would not be facing the prospect of having to punt saves.

Where else did I screw-up? Thanks.

Mike

my spreadsheet has Infante at $2 and Machado $13 so infante you vastly overpaid for (think rendon went for $1 at end of auction and jimmy rollins went for only $4). much better picks IMO. machado u paid a little bit more than my value, but if u like the guy, why not?

overall, even though some of the players u acquired were a "value" in terms of dollar amount, they didn't help your team. major power outage IMO and no closers

[Bronx Yankees]

Thanks, Mark. I agree with everything you said. I think I may like Infante a bit more than you, but the price I paid can't be justified seeing what guys like Rollins and Rendon went for in the end. I do like a lot and willingly paid a little more than I wanted to roster him. I regretted it towards the end seeing the relative bargains that were still out there when I was short on cash, although I could've managed the moderate over-pay for Machado much better and failed to do so by overloading on shortstops and starting pitching at the expense of closers and power-hitting outfielders and a better CI. Stating the obvious, but auctions are very different from snake drafts!

Mike

[Bronx Yankees]

Meant to type "I do like Machado a lot ...."

[fozzie]

If Miggy went for 47 and McCutchen 37, how much for the rest of the top five: Trout, Goldschmidt and Kershaw?

[ToddZ]

ALERT - Gratuitous plug alert....

The owner names and team names will be conspicuous by their absence and I'll mix up the columns, but I'm going to include the 3 different auctions in a mini- AAV (average auction value) report in the NFBC Primer, Part 2.

Details in my signature below.

[Yah Mule]

Trout went for 51, Goldie for 47 and I believe Kershaw went for 37.

[Deadheadz]

If Miggy went for 47 and McCutchen 37, how much for the rest of the top five: Trout, Goldschmidt and Kershaw?

Perhaps it's not my place to say what others paid but I'll give you these and people can tell me if I was naughty.

Trout $51
Goldie $47
Kershaw $37

[Rog]

Rog,

$61 was tremendous overkill for closers, in my opinion. That being said, for a first timer, you did okay with your starters and you did really well with our end game. Good luck this season!

That is what I was thinking as I was bidding on them. Once I spent 43 on my first 2 and hadnt really rostered a true ace , Ifigured I might as well and try to win at least 1 pitching cat.(Mark knew I couldnt say no and was pushing their price up) I wasn't going to spend that much on a 3rd closer but damn seeing holland out there was like trying to walk by that little piece of cake on the table with the fork laying beside it and nobody around.
my next lesson will be on WILL POWER AND SELF CONTROL
Just say no next time
It was a great learning experience and do appreciate the advice and definitely looking forward to doing it again.
thanks Jeff/ was there any other really glaring holes?

[Bronx Yankees]

Roger: You got some great buys. Cingriani at 8, Reddick at 5 and CJ Wilson at 3 were tremendous. Although I don't think I even noticed who won those players, I remember each of those auctions because I was cursing myself for having so little left to spend when they went off the board. Not being able to bid up Reddick really hurt.

Mike

[Navel Lint]

$24 means u just bought him in the 3rd round. whatever value you think you got from him vaporized in an instant.

There is a formula that converts ADP to Auction $$, I'll assume you are using it. From my experience, although the formula does help set some guideposts before the draft, it's not a wonderful indicator after the draft.

Each auction is it's own beast, and while $24 may be an overbuy in one auction, it could be the proper price point in the next auction. Price is made up of many factors including roster construction, the previous sell points of other players, and even when during the auction the player is nominated for bid. Or as some would say, the "value" of David Ortiz IS what someone is willing to pay.

One of the problems with the formula is the top end. I don't have it in front of me, but if my memory is correct, the number 1 ADP player should go for aprox $53. Now I saw that Miggy went for $47, that's a lot of auction money, but it's below the $51-$53 target for a 1/2 ADP guy, yet I doubt that many are going to proclaim Cabrera a "steal" at $47. However, the extra $4-$6 saved has to go somewhere. And that is the beauty of auctions.

I played in a keeper auction league from'92 until I joined the NFBC. I always used to think that draft leagues were for the weak, obviously I've changed my mind over the years and I love what the NFBC does, but I'm also happy to see that auctions are getting some love this year over what has been previously offered. Thanks Todd and Dan.

[Rog]

thank you Mike /I was trying to save him for the end and was hoping to get him at a cheap price. I missed on my CI that I wanted 3 straight times. PStt you were the one who took him when I only had 2 dollars left and you came way over the top with 3.I guess there is a price to pay no matter what.
I will do another 1 if possible and then I will either be hooked for life or go back to slow drafts

[Redgta91]

C Mauer, Joe (MIN) (C,U) $21
C Zunino, Mike (SEA) (C,U) $2
1B Votto, Joey (CIN) (1B,CI,U) $26
2B Johnson, Kelly (NYY) (2B,MI,U,OF) $4
SS Aybar, Erick (LAA) (SS,MI,U) $7
3B Seager, Kyle (SEA) (3B,CI,U) $15
MI Peralta, Jhonny (STL) (SS,MI,U) $6
CI Santana, Carlos (CLE) (C,1B,CI,U) $20
U Hart, Corey (SEA) (U,OF) $6
OF Gonzalez, Carlos (COL) (U,OF) $29
OF Pence, Hunter (SF) (U,OF) $23
OF Victorino, Shane (BOS) (U,OF) $13
OF Davis, K. (MIL) (U,OF) $7
OF Brantley, Michael (CLE) (U,OF) $5
P Hernandez, Felix (SEA) (SP) $24
P Gonzalez, Gio (WSH) (SP) $14
P Reed, Addison (ARI) (RP) $11
P Weaver, Jered (LAA) (SP) $7
P Gallardo, Yovani (MIL) (SP) $6
P Jones, Nate (CWS) (RP) $5
P Gausman, Kevin (BAL) (RP) $4
PJimenez, Ubaldo (---) (SP) $3 P
P Holland, Derek (TEX) (SP) $1

I agree after doing the DC style draft the auction pace can throw you off. Overall pretty happy with my team like in any draft you never know how its going to unfold. I paid a little more than I would have liked for Felix, Victorino and Santana (considering I was able to get Mauer for almost the same price. I was excited to get Votto for only $26 great "value" in my opinion.

[Deadheadz]

It's been my hope since last season to see NFBC test the online auction waters and hopefully the enthusiasm and interest sparked by those in this first combo league and those to come will demonstrate to STATS that there is a lucrative market for that segment.

Whether it takes money away from snake drafts or not is a concern, of course.

My question for Todd, Tom and/or Greg:
does setting up the league require rosters to be entered before we can even pay for this league? How about setting up the league as you would any other DC (this is a private, non-overall prize eligible league) and coming up with a start date 3-7 days out to give IT the time to enter the rosters?

At least then we could pay and find out the KDS (if there is one) or the draft order if you choose to keep it the same as the nomination order.

I'm going out of town Monday and will not be in cell range at all times (the pipeline company I work for has job sites all over the frozen tundra up here) so it would be difficult for me to find out all the details and have to start drafting with less than 36 hours notice at some undetermined point next week. If everyone else is cool with waiting, I'll just shut up and keep my fingers crossed that I don't go on the clock with the 1st pick and end up timing out because I didn't even know the draft had started yet.


Cheers!

[NorCalAtlFan]

cingrani would have made my staff a lil better, that was a good get on your part.

overall, it was great fun and i only have a couple regrets.

everyone was in good spirits which made the process that much more enjoyable

[ToddZ]

It's been my hope since last season to see NFBC test the online auction waters and hopefully the enthusiasm and interest sparked by those in this first combo league and those to come will demonstrate to STATS that there is a lucrative market for that segment.

Whether it takes money away from snake drafts or not is a concern, of course.

I love auctions and feel everyone should check them out before declaring the most successful players that do 15-team mixed drafts are the best fantasy players on the face of the earth.

But let's be realistic...

Logistically, there would need to be a monitor for every auction available right then and there. We had a great, understanding group last night that was conscious of the intent and mood of the auction. Take that away, attach an overall prize and Pandora's Box is not only opened, it is blasted apart with a brick of C-4.

That is, relatively speaking, put yourself in their shoes, how lucrative is it?

My question for Todd, Tom and/or Greg:
does setting up the league require rosters to be entered before we can even pay for this league? How about setting up the league as you would any other DC (this is a private, non-overall prize eligible league) and coming up with a start date 3-7 days out to give IT the time to enter the rosters?

At least then we could pay and find out the KDS (if there is one) or the draft order if you choose to keep it the same as the nomination order.

Appreciate the sentiment but things are under control and we'll circle back to everyone when we have more information.

[TOXIC ASSETS]

Forgot to thank the 2 guys who did the work to get this thing going and run it - Dan and Todd.

Since others are posting their entire team I'll do the same.

C R Martin $8
C W Castillo $5
1b J Morneau $13
2b N Walker $5
3b C Johnson $3
SS T Tulowitzski $30
CI J Smoak $1
MI D Jeter $4
OF A McCutchen $37
OF D Brown $11
OF A De Aza $7
OF C Rasmus $7
OF M Byrd $3
U B Butler $17
P C Sale $24
P D Price $23
P K Medlen $15
P C Sabathia $12
P Z Wheeler $8
P D Haren $2
P T Wood $1
P J Johnson $11
P J Veras $6

[Deadheadz]

Logistically, there would need to be a monitor for every auction available right then and there. We had a great, understanding group last night that was conscious of the intent and mood of the auction. Take that away, attach an overall prize and Pandora's Box is not only opened, it is blasted apart with a brick of C-4.

That is, relatively speaking, put yourself in their shoes, how lucrative is it?

I can see that spending the time and money to create software for relatively few online auctions may not be an attractive idea. Being a destination for those seeking high stakes leagues I had envisioned only a handful of online events probably in the $1K-$2.5K range and above. Monitoring ten or fewer high stakes online auctions shouldn't be very time consuming in the overall scheme of things. Assuming the formats were compatible, growing the number of auction leagues could lead to a substantial overall prize if that's how they wanted to go.

Starting off small, if they already had the software in place they would then have the ability to decide easily if they want to hire "auction monitors" to facilitate growing numbers of lower entry cost online auctions should the demand warrant it in the future.

It will take a lot of number crunching and planning so I can see it not happening anytime soon but if they want to grow in more than one format they do have the opportunity. Rolling out new games in the current format is their priority right now and I applaud them for that.

Perhaps online auctions are the next mountain to climb only after they've brought in 100s more customers with the new snake-based games like Cutline and that market plateaus. Competition from the daily and now monthly fantasy games means not spreading yourself too thin too soon, right?


Cheers!

[Yah Mule]

Logistically, there would need to be a monitor for every auction available right then and there. We had a great, understanding group last night that was conscious of the intent and mood of the auction. Take that away, attach an overall prize and Pandora's Box is not only opened, it is blasted apart with a brick of C-4.

That is, relatively speaking, put yourself in their shoes, how lucrative is it?

Starting off small, if they already had the software in place they would then have the ability to decide easily if they want to hire "auction monitors" to facilitate growing numbers of lower entry cost online auctions should the demand warrant it in the future.

I would be happy to serve as an auction monitor for a small store credit.

[ToddZ]

I would be happy to serve as an auction monitor for a small store credit.

Line forms behind my fat ass.

[BK METS]

This may be overkill on this but I noticed a few comments and I think it should be absolutely stressed for the next 2 auctions. I did an entire draft on RTS and noticed several owners who had trouble with Internet Explorer freezing. It should be announced here and at the beginning of each of the auctions that everyone should be drafting from Chrome or Firefox. I drafted from Chrome and had no issues at all. Its obviously much worse in an auction than a draft, to be frozen out.

[NorCalAtlFan]

This may be overkill on this but I noticed a few comments and I think it should be absolutely stressed for the next 2 auctions. I did an entire draft on RTS and noticed several owners who had trouble with Internet Explorer freezing. It should be announced here and at the beginning of each of the auctions that everyone should be drafting from Chrome or Firefox. I drafted from Chrome and had no issues at all. Its obviously much worse in an auction than a draft, to be frozen out.

agreed.

never once did my draft freeze or anything. the aol/ie owners need to upgrade pronto