Slow Drafts

[DOUGHBOYS]

There are two extreme ways to look at the lack of positions corrected and place holders such as Tomas not being available to draft by name.

1. 'It's STATS, they should be on the ball. There should be few, if any, mistakes.'

2. 'It's the first week of December. We started earlier than ever before. Not everything will be right this soon.'

And even though they seem to be opposing views in how to look at the problem, both are correct.
What should be happening is that the mistakes are corrected as drafts are underway. Lessening as we go.
The whole world knows that Tomas was signed by Arizona and will be drafted.
NFBC folks know that VMart is 1B eligible, not Utility only. That Andrew Miller is a Yankee, not an Oriole.
The 'gimme's' should be correct, even at this time of year.
Patience can be shown for minor leaguers not yet drafted or smaller glitches.

[Greg Ambrosius]

The position eligibility in the draft room has always been correct as they are pulling from the NFBC eligibility list. The issue was on the NFBC draft board, where at least a dozen players were showing incorrect positions after they were drafted and causing some confusion. Those have been corrected today and all players should now be correct.

The Player IDs for the International players must be created for all of our STATS products and I'm told are being done this week. I know we want them sooner for the NFBC, especially when a high-profile guy like Tomas signs with an MLB team, rather than draft a Placeholder. It was an inconvenience for our first 8 DCs, no doubt. Hopefully those Player IDs will be added this week and Tomas will be shown in the draft room and on your teams shortly as Tom and I will replace the Placeholders.

Several owners are drafting other International players who haven't signed with any team yet and either we continue to allow that and use Placeholders or we change that rule. No unsigned player will be listed in our draft room until signed by an MLB team, so hopefully we can live with the Placeholders in that regard. Good luck all and continue to alert your league mates of who you are drafting if you have to use a Placeholder for someone not listed in the player default list. Thanks.

[Greg Ambrosius]

1. When will the new draft room / software be functional?
2. How come players and positions are identified differently in the draft room vs. the draft board? Example - gattis shows C in the draft room but OF on the board so...I am thinking that draft room is more up-to-date / accurate than the board but then.....I draft Andrew Miller and it shows that he is Balt in the room but NYY on the board.
3. Adding the signed players - Tomas, etc. How come this takes so long? It benefits both parties to get them added right away? I am thinking it has to be a pain in the butt to chase these all down later? It seems like Tomas signed at least a couple weeks ago already? A little work now will save a lot of work later and make it better for everyone? Maybe I don't understand the process.

Anyways....slow drafts are awesome despite the complaints. Just frustrating to deal with some of the same issues each season. In the drafter's mind the thought process is "duh, didn't they know that baseball slow drafts would be starting by now - this should be done."

1. Ideally in a month or so, well before the Online Championships start, but we'll see how testing goes.
2. It's fixed now. The draft board for some reason was pulling some players' eligibility incorrectly. I'm not sure why, but it was fixed today and shouldn't be a problem with the new draft board.
3. Because they need to be assigned Player IDs by STATS for all their products. This isn't just done by the NFBC or our IT guys. This is a data issue, worked on by the company itself. I doubt any other fantasy company has him listed either, if they are getting data from STATS. But MLB additions are happening this week, I'm told, so we should be up to speed soon.

I understand the duh...John, but NFBC was ready. Unfortunately, we were ahead of the data entry department on the launch of baseball and that draft board glitch was there last year, too, but with only a couple of players. Now it's fixed and we're done with that problem. Hopefully this helps and we can keep rolling with the DCs.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I'm not pointing fingers since I have no idea where to point but I can understand your frustration.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't NFBC just a tiny part of STATS?
I'm curious to know if the ratio of IT work done on NFBC is proportional to the ratio of income generated by NFBC as compared to the rest of STATS.

Heck, the seat availability page for Draft Champions still refers to a game @ $375 and an overall prize of just $10,000.

Is STATS taking the profit but neglecting the needs of NFBC customers -OR- is too much of the money going into prizes with too little profit being generated to warrant using IT resources on it?

The best starting place to point fingers at is me, even though I can't even program my DVD player.

But yeah, we're small. We give most of the profits to you guys in prizes!! Nah, you can't blame IT for Tom and I missing the text above the Countdown link. Thanks to you we've sent the changes to someone who will make that $400 and $25,000 this week. But blame Tom and me for missing that line, not any programmer. They don't have anything to do with a text change.

I wish we had the personnel like ESPN or Yahoo to make all of the changes that everyone suggests and to program all the new games I can think of, but we don't. And while some folks think we are a stagnant game, the truth of the matter is that we are trying to improve the game each year, whether it's the new online draft room, new FAAB, Live Overall Standings or faster Live Scoring. We didn't have any of that four years ago when we joined STATS. But I agree, we want and demand more (yes, much faster Live Scoring). Folks are drafting now and want MORE, so we write down the suggestions and will get to them eventually. But the next big project is getting out of Flash technology and into a new online draft room. Once that's live, then let the suggestions rain down for more. Thanks all.

[ToddZ]

FWIW -- Tomas still isn't officially on the D-backs roster.

[Greg Ambrosius]

FWIW -- Tomas still isn't officially on the D-backs roster.

Blame STATS for that.

[ToddZ]

FWIW -- Tomas still isn't officially on the D-backs roster.

Blame STATS for that.

I'm talking the real MLB roster - does STATS assign MLB ID''s? He's not listed on the 40-man on mlb.com or ESPN.com.

[Greg Ambrosius]

FWIW -- Tomas still isn't officially on the D-backs roster.

Blame STATS for that.

I'm talking the real MLB roster - does STATS assign MLB ID''s? He's not listed on the 40-man on mlb.com or ESPN.com.

I was kidding. Has he actually signed the contract yet? I thought they flew down to the Dominican Republic for a final physical just this week. It's possible that MLB doesn't have the official contract yet, I don't know. As soon as he's signed, it should appear on all sites this week.

[ToddZ]

I was kidding. Has he actually signed the contract yet? I thought they flew down to the Dominican Republic for a final physical just this week. It's possible that MLB doesn't have the official contract yet, I don't know. As soon as he's signed, it should appear on all sites this week.

Sorry, I lost my sense of sarcasm after that head to head contact call.

I'm sure it's just clerical. Maybe they need to clear a spot on the 40-man. I've been looking so I can add his ID to my projections (though some subscribers would prefer that I add a few more home runs).

[DOUGHBOYS]

Greg, it probably feels to you like we're beating you and STATS up.
Understandable.
It's not my intention.
We're all on the same team in wanting a seamless draft and experience.

My draft board in a current draft has Victor Martinez, Nelson Cruz, Billy Butler, CJ Cron, Carlos Beltran, and Kendrys Morales ALL as DH's.
Simply, they're not. They qualify at other positions.
Maybe, there is a glitch that had them being a DH more than their position, prompting them to be listed at their more dominant placement in a lineup. But for our purposes, they should be listed by the position eligible.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg, it probably feels to you like we're beating you and STATS up.
Understandable.
It's not my intention.
We're all on the same team in wanting a seamless draft and experience.

My draft board in a current draft has Victor Martinez, Nelson Cruz, Billy Butler, CJ Cron, Carlos Beltran, and Kendrys Morales ALL as DH's.
Simply, they're not. They qualify at other positions.

Nope, it doesn't feel like that at all. Keep 'em coming Dan. Of course we want a seamless draft and experience just the customers want. That goes without saying. Any errors on our part should be mentioned and corrected. No problem. You can even email them directly to me or as old fashioned as you and I are you can even call me if needed. I love to talk with baseball die-hards.

I would assume that any current draft board still has the eligibilities of when the draft started. Those won't repopulate with new players or positions. I'll watch the DC league that starts today to make sure they have been corrected. But those first 8 DCs likely have the same issues as before. We'll make sure that going forward no other draft board is incorrect.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Just an FYI: I have asked IT to create a pulldown on the $150 and $400 Draft Champions Leagues for 4-hour drafts. Look for that soon. On the signup, it will default to the 8-hour Draft Champions League, but if you want a 4-hour league you will be able to pull down that from the Scheduled Time area for the 4-hour option. Those 4-hour DCs would then automatically create as those entries populate. Hope that helps in the future. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Gekko]

1. When will the new draft room / software be functional?
2. How come players and positions are identified differently in the draft room vs. the draft board? Example - gattis shows C in the draft room but OF on the board so...I am thinking that draft room is more up-to-date / accurate than the board but then.....I draft Andrew Miller and it shows that he is Balt in the room but NYY on the board.
3. Adding the signed players - Tomas, etc. How come this takes so long? It benefits both parties to get them added right away? I am thinking it has to be a pain in the butt to chase these all down later? It seems like Tomas signed at least a couple weeks ago already? A little work now will save a lot of work later and make it better for everyone? Maybe I don't understand the process.

Anyways....slow drafts are awesome despite the complaints. Just frustrating to deal with some of the same issues each season. In the drafter's mind the thought process is "duh, didn't they know that baseball slow drafts would be starting by now - this should be done."

so it's been a couple of weeks since drafts have started and players are still listed on the draft board with WRONG positions?? is that true??

if i was STATS I would be 100% embarrassed. it simply cant take that long to change something so simple. this is a change that takes MINUTES!!!! integrity of the draft board is a joke if there are still wrong position being listed. cant imagine being a new player to this format and seeing something so simple be wrong. get it cleaned up guys. PLEASE

so it's been two weeks since this post. have all players eligibility been corrected on the draft board yet?

[DOUGHBOYS]

No.
VMart still a DH. Cruz a DH. etc, etc.

And I also question Tomas being a 3b. He played OF in Cuba last year.
I know there was a RotoWorld clip about Arizona using him at 3B. Still, in the past, it was where a player played, not where he might play in the future.

[DOUGHBOYS]

And this also effects the adp page.
VMart is not listed in 1B. Cruz not in OF'ers. etc, etc.

[Gekko]

Greg,

Can we get an actual ETA when player eligibility will be correct on the draft board? this is something EASILY determined, esp when folks are saying victor martinez and nelson cruz are listed wrong. really?

[Greg Ambrosius]

No.
VMart still a DH. Cruz a DH. etc, etc.

And I also question Tomas being a 3b. He played OF in Cuba last year.
I know there was a RotoWorld clip about Arizona using him at 3B. Still, in the past, it was where a player played, not where he might play in the future.

I thought all corrections were made on the draft board to line up with the draft room eligibility list. Cruz is OF, Yasmany Tomas is OF, VMart is 1B, but that is not appearing correctly on the draft board. Feel free to email me who else is incorrect.

As for ETA on when they will be correct, no, I don't know now. I thought this was corrected already. But I'll get with IT on this right away on these and see what we can do. It's beyond frustrating. Again, email me anyone outside of these three. Thanks.

[DOUGHBOYS]

I'll send a list tonight...

[Greg Ambrosius]

I'll send a list tonight...

Thanks to Dan for pointing out the issues on the Draft Board. I have sent to IT. Here are some players who have eligibility but for some reason are showing as UT on the draft board. Again, these are correct in the draft room, but are showing up as UT on the draft board:

Victor Martinez-1b
Nelson Cruz- OF
Yasmani Tomas- OF
Billy Butler- 1B
Carlos Beltran- OF
Kendrys Morales- 1B
CJ Cron- 1B
Delmon Young- OF
These are all listed as 'U' only; Tomas is wrongly listed as 3B.

[JohnP]

FYI - Tomas is also listed as 3B on your "official" list under the NFBC Resources tab.

[Greg Ambrosius]

FYI - Tomas is also listed as 3B on your "official" list under the NFBC Resources tab.

Correct. I've asked that to be changed as well. He is OF eligible where he played in Cuba. We'll change that.

[mdecav]

Sure, if there's a demand for 4-hour DCs we could create a special link on the Registration page for that. We already have a lot of options on Registration and even having a separate Express link confuses some folks. But if an additional DC contest is needed we can get that added.

As for adding the pause button, I don't think it's the way to go. We have leagues with folks from all three US time zones, so 8 am on East Coast is 5 am on West Coast. When the East Coast wants to shut it down, the West Coast guys are just getting home from work. It's tough to make that work. Everyone should just use their Ques if possible at night and the 1-Round Auto button. Hopefully we can have 2 rounds of Ques shortly after our new draft room goes live.

Thanks for the input. We can look at adding a second DC option if that's what is needed. Good luck all.

Greg - to add a suggestion for the 2015/2016 offseason...

Convert all DC's to 4 hours but give the opportunity for each owner to have an 8 hour window where the time limit switches from 4 hours to 8. So as an example, I could put 11pm-7am EST as my 8 hour window when I sign up. So if my pick happens to come up during those hours, I get 8 hours to make a pick. If it lands on the other 16 hours of the day, I have 4 hours. This would be an optional choice for each owner, although I'd expect owners would use the window when they are typically sleeping.

[Gekko]

No.
VMart still a DH. Cruz a DH. etc, etc.

And I also question Tomas being a 3b. He played OF in Cuba last year.
I know there was a RotoWorld clip about Arizona using him at 3B. Still, in the past, it was where a player played, not where he might play in the future.

I thought all corrections were made on the draft board to line up with the draft room eligibility list. Cruz is OF, Yasmany Tomas is OF, VMart is 1B, but that is not appearing correctly on the draft board. Feel free to email me who else is incorrect.

As for ETA on when they will be correct, no, I don't know now. I thought this was corrected already. But I'll get with IT on this right away on these and see what we can do. It's beyond frustrating. Again, email me anyone outside of these three. Thanks.

another week has gone by. have players positions on the draft board been fixed??

[Bronx Yankees]

No.
VMart still a DH. Cruz a DH. etc, etc.

And I also question Tomas being a 3b. He played OF in Cuba last year.
I know there was a RotoWorld clip about Arizona using him at 3B. Still, in the past, it was where a player played, not where he might play in the future.

I thought all corrections were made on the draft board to line up with the draft room eligibility list. Cruz is OF, Yasmany Tomas is OF, VMart is 1B, but that is not appearing correctly on the draft board. Feel free to email me who else is incorrect.

As for ETA on when they will be correct, no, I don't know now. I thought this was corrected already. But I'll get with IT on this right away on these and see what we can do. It's beyond frustrating. Again, email me anyone outside of these three. Thanks.

another week has gone by. have players positions on the draft board been fixed??

I just pulled up the Draft Board from my last DC league, which started on December 17 and ended yesterday. The Draft Board still is showing Cruz and V-Mart as DH and Tomas at 3B. Also, there still are other errors. For instance, the following players are listed as DH when I'm pretty sure they qualify at 1B or OF: Delmon Young, Billy Butler, Kendrys Morales, Carlos Beltran (!), C.J. Cron, Corey Hart, and Mitch Moreland.

Mike

[Bronx Yankees]

Sorry, I checked and it looks like Corey Hart should be just a DH.

Mike