Live Chat With Greg: Thursday 3 pm ET

[rkulaski]

I'll start you off Greg with a multi-question post. Some fun, and some business.

1. What are you most excited about so far in all of your contests? Is there anyone that are exceeding your expectations/under-performing so far?

Dusty wins the first Corona for the first question. Make that questions, so give him a 6-pack!! Here we go:

1. Honestly, I talked about it last night on our radio show. We brought in Rich Wilson of Prospect361.com and he thanked me for filling the winter void with our Draft Champions Leagues. He said what a great way to bring baseball fans together and to do drafts over a 3-week period. He said I must be proud of that contest and I am. I really think we've created something special not just for the NFBC but for the entire fantasy baseball community because these DCs get people talking about baseball from November through the start of the season in April.

Think about it: We're probably going to top 200 Draft Champions Leagues this year, or just over 3,000 teams. People are drafting in all kinds of fashions in this format because they love the idea of drafting 50 players and still managing their Starting Lineup for 26 weeks. There's still game management involved. I know that some folks would love to have this format as an optimal scoring format, but I think there are a lot of people who are playing just the DC with us and love the in-season game management aspect of these.

What I'm most proud of is that the DCs are bringing in SO MANY new players to the NFBC. Have you looked at the signup lists? It's not NFBC guys prepping for the Main Event. It's new people joining the NFBC and enjoying this one format. I hope it leads them to other NFBC contests and I think it will, but this one contest is bringing in a lot of new people who might be prepping for their own local league. So let's continue to welcome them, show them the proper etiquette in the DCs, and compete hard against them during the season. It's an amazing way to bring people to the NFBC and there's no doubt the format has been a greater success than I ever imagined.

Here's a little history lesson on the DCs. KJ was the one who told me I should consider doing slow drafts. He was playing on AntSports and the guy was running individual leagues with payouts of like 95% or something goofy. The idea was good but it just didn't seem like the site was going to grow. KJ said I should run some slow drafts to bring folks to our site (at the time this was for football) and get people drafting by July and August. I told him it was a great idea, but if we're going to do this we should create an overall prize pool for it. So we created the slow draft format, set the first grand prize at like $3,000 and it became a hit. And while I know we haven't thrown all of our programming resources at this format, the DCs have been bigger and better than I ever imagined because EVERYONE LOVES TO DRAFT. I know that. People love it.

If we threw every bell and whistle at this format it would grow the DCs and we know that. Our veterans demand that. We know we can make them better. But right now it's great to see so many people drafting so early in the off-season -- and that goes for baseball and especially football -- and we wouldn't have that without this cool DC format. You guys came up with the 15 team, 50-round format. I just wrote the rules and guaranteed the prizes. It's been a labor of love to see how far they've grown in such a short time. We should all be proud of the DCs and what they've done for the NFBC.

And that of course has led to the ADPs, which are now the Gold Standard in the fantasy baseball industry. The DCs have created the ADPs, which every host on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio now uses. It's been one of the best promotional tools we have in the NFBC, so thanks again there.

Speaking of history and the NFBC, I just wanted to briefly share some of things that I remember back in 2004-2005 when the main event was just starting…

Greg, correct me if I'm wrong. This might be embarrassing if I've got you mixed up with someone else but here goes…
I remember reading an article that you wrote on espn.com. You did write for espn, right? It may well have been your final article for them before you ventured into the nfbc. I also don't remember the specifics of it, but the gist of it was how you had gotten into fantasy sports and why you love fantasy sports. At the time, I had dabbled in fantasy sports and really liked it. But what I read that day from you was inspiring. I actually thought to myself, "wow, there are other people out there in the sports world like me!" I was in graduate school from 2003-2006. It must have been 2004 when I first saw an add for the main event. I think it was from the USA Today. The chance to win 100k caught my attention (of course it did). I didn't have the money to enter the main that year but I wanted to play so badly. I remember asking my wife if there was anyway we could justify getting me into the main. She laughed but, always being supportive and understanding, she said, "once you graduate and get settled with your job," you can go for it.

I graduated in the fall of 2006, got a nice job, and couldn't wait to enter the main event. I remember noticing the name Greg Ambrosius when researching the NFBC. And then I remembered that espn article. I thought to myself that this contest that I would be entering was in good hands. Money was still a little tight at the time and a co-manager was needed. But I think I first entered the main in 2007. (I'm sure someone has a listing of all the entrants from each year). I'll never forget that first draft. It was quite a struggle after round 20. Calling out players names that had already been drafted. Letting the timer go down to 1 second (which I still seem to do every draft). Not knowing enough players to get me to round 25 let alone round 30. I thought I was prepared but I had no idea. My co-manager (my nephew who argues fantasy baseball with me every day) and I look back on that first draft often and laugh.

After that first main event, I decided I wanted to do one every year for the rest of my life. And up to this point in my life, I have done just that. 2 dogs and 3 children later, I make sure we have enough money for food, shelter, clothes, education, transportation, and the main event. You think i kid! I'm sure there are some who read the message boards who understand. The main event is something that I look forward to each year, and it would literally hurt my heart if I could no longer play in the contest. Win or lose, just playing with a great group of guys, getting to compete for 6 months, being a fantasy gm/owner/manager, it's worth every penny of the $1600 entry fee.

Anyway, all this to say… Ambrosius, you've done and are doing a heck of a job. Where you go with your contests, I'll follow. And I'm sure there's several hundred others that compete in the nfbc that would completely agree with me.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here's an email I got this morning from one of our NFFC owners. It's further proof that the Cutline and the Draft Champions formats are bringing new customers to baseball:

Greg,

I have played in the NFFC many times but I have never tried the NFBC. I would like to enter a Cutline Championship league.


YESSSSSSSS!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

I did want to answer a question from Neal Moses about how we're handling the Sunday, April 3rd games since we do have some 1 pm drafts. I don't have final confirmation yet from the programmers, but I believe that we are going to add those games into Week 1 this year, which means the first scoring period will run from Sunday, April 3rd to Sunday, April 10th. There will NOT be a separate Week 1 for just the Sunday April 3rd games. This will be for ALL contests this year.

I've always actually wanted this because that one Sunday night game almost didn't deserve its own scoring period. Now that MLB has thrown us a curveball with three games on the opening Sunday, we'll make those less important by making them part of Week 1 over an 8-day stretch.

Again, it's not official yet and I apologize for that, but that's the plan and we just have to make sure it's feasible to do. Thanks all.

Greg, two questions on this:

1) From the rules, the first FAAB is going to run on Sunday, April 3rd at 10pm EDT. Will we be able to use those pickups in Week One? Does it depend on whether the player is on 1 of the 6 teams that have games on April 3rd?

2) There are a few drafts taking place on Opening Day. How will the start/bench procedure work for those leagues?

Yes, anyone you pick up on April 3rd can be used in Week 1. MLB threw us a curveball with three games on the first Sunday, but everyone will have the same access to the players from those six teams and there's 7 more days of games to that week, so go at it.

Starting Lineups will lock on Monday or Tuesday before the first games for the other 24 teams, but I don't have official confirmation on what will happen with those six teams that play on Sunday. I'm working with IT on when those teams will lock for ALL NFBC teams. There won't be a special exception given for anyone drafting on that Sunday; everyone will play under the same rules. I'll post that once we have that locked down.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg, correct me if I'm wrong. This might be embarrassing if I've got you mixed up with someone else but here goes…
I remember reading an article that you wrote on espn.com. You did write for espn, right? It may well have been your final article for them before you ventured into the nfbc. I also don't remember the specifics of it, but the gist of it was how you had gotten into fantasy sports and why you love fantasy sports. At the time, I had dabbled in fantasy sports and really liked it. But what I read that day from you was inspiring. I actually thought to myself, "wow, there are other people out there in the sports world like me!" I was in graduate school from 2003-2006. It must have been 2004 when I first saw an add for the main event. I think it was from the USA Today. The chance to win 100k caught my attention (of course it did). I didn't have the money to enter the main that year but I wanted to play so badly. I remember asking my wife if there was anyway we could justify getting me into the main. She laughed but, always being supportive and understanding, she said, "once you graduate and get settled with your job," you can go for it.

I graduated in the fall of 2006, got a nice job, and couldn't wait to enter the main event. I remember noticing the name Greg Ambrosius when researching the NFBC. And then I remembered that espn article. I thought to myself that this contest that I would be entering was in good hands. Money was still a little tight at the time and a co-manager was needed. But I think I first entered the main in 2007. (I'm sure someone has a listing of all the entrants from each year). I'll never forget that first draft. It was quite a struggle after round 20. Calling out players names that had already been drafted. Letting the timer go down to 1 second (which I still seem to do every draft). Not knowing enough players to get me to round 25 let alone round 30. I thought I was prepared but I had no idea. My co-manager (my nephew who argues fantasy baseball with me every day) and I look back on that first draft often and laugh.

After that first main event, I decided I wanted to do one every year for the rest of my life. And up to this point in my life, I have done just that. 2 dogs and 3 children later, I make sure we have enough money for food, shelter, clothes, education, transportation, and the main event. You think i kid! I'm sure there are some who read the message boards who understand. The main event is something that I look forward to each year, and it would literally hurt my heart if I could no longer play in the contest. Win or lose, just playing with a great group of guys, getting to compete for 6 months, being a fantasy gm/owner/manager, it's worth every penny of the $1600 entry fee.

Anyway, all this to say… Ambrosius, you've done and are doing a heck of a job. Where you go with your contests, I'll follow. And I'm sure there's several hundred others that compete in the nfbc that would completely agree with me.

Very nicely done Rich. I would expect no less passion from a die-hard Packers' fan. Well done.

Yes, I wrote for ESPN.com from 1995-04. I was there before John Hansen, before Brandon Funston, before Eric Karabell. I was the first person they asked to write fantasy sports for their site. Rob Neyer was hired at Starwave and he knew me from his time at STATS Inc. He asked if I could write a fantasy baseball column, and then it grew to a weekly fantasy football column, then basketball and when he asked for hockey I passed it off to a cohort. Hell, and this is the honest to God truth, I didn't even have the Internet in Iola when he first hired me and I was writing for ESPN.com. I never saw my column because I didn't have the Internet yet in 1995!!! But we did have email and I could send my column that way.

The ESPN gig was a lot of work after hours and my wife constantly asked me why I was doing that. I told her it was good exposure and by 1997 I was doing Fantasy Football Weekly on TV with Brady Tinker and more. But when I could see where our magazines were headed in 2002 (we cancelled Baseball Cards Magazine that year and circulation for Fantasy Sports Magazine was declining) something just inspired me to create this baseball contest. I don't know what it was because it was like the Spirit jumped inside me and wrote those rules on the plane ride home from the AFL Symposium. I just really had this feeling and I was lucky that someone at Krause Publications gave me two years to prove it. We got enough promotion to grow the numbers just enough and now the Online drafts have taken this contest to a new level. There really is the potential for so much more.

Thanks all. It's the passion like Richard wrote above that sustains the NFBC. Let's keep it going and have another fantastic baseball season together. Thanks all.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Just a heads up that we're one spot away from filling up our 4th Main Event League in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 2nd. Last year we had 5 Main Event Leagues in Las Vegas for our big weekend. We should exceed that at this current pace, but I hope folks don't wait too long to secure their spots. Sign up now to guarantee being in a full league.

We have the ballroom this year at the Bellagio like last year. It's a great, great setup and we have the space to expand, so keep it going for Las Vegas. Let's lock down some entries and really make Las Vegas special again. Thanks all.

[Donacion]

Hi Greg

I enjoy reading the history on your contests. Looking forward to my second year so glad that everything worked out for Las Vegas events. I'm still learning my way around your site I'm not sure if this the correct forum I can't seem to locate ADP section on the site where should I look?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Hi Greg

I enjoy reading the history on your contests. Looking forward to my second year so glad that everything worked out for Las Vegas events. I'm still learning my way around your site I'm not sure if this the correct forum I can't seem to locate ADP section on the site where should I look?

Joe, click on any of your team links. Then go to Stats in the green navigational bar and pull down to NFBC ADPs. These are only under your 2016 NFBC teams. Enjoy.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I've had a lot of questions from folks coming to Las Vegas early that Second Weekend for an additional Main Event League on Thursday, March 31st. As you saw, we filled one up quickly and then I closed it off. The reason is that the Bellagio has a huge convention out there that week and getting one more ballroom is impossible that night. But I'm asking again for a nearby location to see if there's any chance at all for one or two more ballrooms on that night. I know we could easily fill that second Main Event League, but now it's about space.

Stay tuned and I hope to know more in the next week. But either way, it's going to be fun that night. I just know that some guys are willing to do one Online that night from Las Vegas and I'd rather do it live if folks are going to that much trouble to be in Las Vegas and do a Main Event that night. I'm on it.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Since this is my own thread and I'm just talking to myself, I can talk about anything, right?

You know, I've been fortunate to have attended a lot of great sporting events in my lifetime, with my all-time favorite being Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans when the Packers beat the Patriots 35-21. It was just an amazing game for a Packers' fan and a fantastic time in the best party city in the world.

So the other day there was nothing on TV and I turned to the NFL Network and they had a program on the Greatest Super Bowl Halftime Shows in NFL History. And when I turned it on they were talking about the 2001 Super Bowl, which ranks as my second greatest sporting event I've ever attended. The NFL Network had U2 in the 2001 (January 2002) Super Bowl in New Orleans. Remember, this was just after 9/11 and the underdog Patriots with new QB Tom Brady were taking on the heavily favored St. Louis Rams. I happened to be in New Orleans that week for the Super Bowl Card Show and was able to score some tickets to the game. Security was like nothing we'd ever seen before, but there was such a unity of patriotism at that time. It made me think past all this political bullshit we have today.

Anyway, I started watching that video with U2 and all the memories came flowing back. U2, an Irish band, brought America together that day with an amazing halftime show and when they rolled all of the names of the victims of 9/11 on the backdrop behind them there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was amazing how the names not only went past the backdrop but up on the ceiling and continued like into heaven. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and to see it again amazes me to this day. Check out the video for the music and what Bono does throughout the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqtkik7nTik

In the interview he said they sang "A Street With No Name" and showed all the names because they wanted every victim to have a name. It was one of the greatest sporting events I was ever at and one of the greatest games I ever witnessed. Brady marched the Patriots down the field when everyone thought Belichick would just run out the clock and go into overtime and Vinatieri kicked that game winning field goal right into our end zone. What an amazing finish to an amazing sporting event at a time when the country really needed something like that.

Anyway, check out the video and see if it brings back any memories for you. It sure does for me.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Since this is my own thread and I'm just talking to myself, I can talk about anything, right?

Ha! Welcome to my world!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Hey, thanks for a great, great day everyone. It's just amazing to see so many people so excited to draft baseball this early in the off-season. This is the first time that we've ever offered Rotowire Online Championship Leagues this early and we've sold out all four that we've offered so far. We don't want to overdue it because it's important to get these sold out each time, but I'm so very happy that these are filling up and we're competing for the largest grand prize ever for this contest even before spring training starts. Great job all.

And we already have more than 20 Cutline Championship leagues in the books after tonight, which makes me even happier. I'm loving the return business from those who have participated in these early drafts. That means that they're having fun, they love the quickness of the drafts and they know how easy it is going to be to manage these rosters during the season with only two FAAB periods. I think March will be insane for this format.

And don't look now but we're already working on our 5th Main Event League in Las Vegas on Second Weekend. Last year we had only 5 Mains at the Bellagio, so I'm digging the fact that so many are locking down their Mains early with us and it looks like we could have a full house. I've tried to reach out to some of the veterans who I know are coming to make sure they get into this next full league, but don't wait too long if you're in that group. Secure your spots now and let's get way past five full leagues. Damn, this is going to be fun.

Let's keep it going. It's been fun selling out everything today!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Sorry, I can't post in that other thread anymore.

I'll apologize to Bruce Johnson for the fact that he might be in the slowest DC of the year. I've reached out to the two owners who seem to be dragging this league along and I'll reiterate that I wish someone had emailed me sooner. Sure, it's cool to call out two owners who are slowing the process, but just email me first and I'll try to light a fire under their asses. They are in Round 26 on Day 16. That's too slow and on a 30+ day pace.

Again, I've reached out to both owners and hopefully they've gotten the message and we can cruise through this. I ask folks to contact me again if you're in this situation and hopefully before Round 26.

This is very rare. I'll look at the other DCs around that same start date. Here's where those other leagues are:

Round 48 - 19 Days
Round 41 - 17 Days
Round 49 - 17 Days
Round 43 - 16 Days
Round 37 - 15 Days
Round 37 - 15 Days
Round 35 - 14 Days
Round 31 - 13 Days
Round 31- 13 Days
Round 31 - 12 Days
Round 27 - 12 Days
Round 28 - 11 Days

They are all pretty consistent. For folks who want to finish in 10 days -- or even 5 days -- we can create those leagues for you or get full 4-Hour leagues. Heck, we want all of these to finish in good fashion so that you can enjoy the experience and then do another one. We certainly understand that. But there are reasons why every single bell and whistle hasn't been added to the DCs (and it's certainly not because Tom and I don't want them), so understand that we're running these with every tool we currently have. I don't think I need to spell that out no matter how loud someone shouts at me in a post.

Thanks again everyone. I'm sorry that Bruce is in the slowest DC to date, but again it's not the norm. For all the yelling at this format these are rolling along in consistent fashion with paces of 20 days or so. Good luck all and enjoy baseball drafting in mid-February. I love it.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, I know last week I talked with myself on this thread, but that won't deter me from trying it again!! I back today for a Live Chat at around 6 pm ET and of course you can post questions in advance and with any luck I'll have time to answer them before 6 pm ET.

This has been another big week in the NFBC as multiple drafts are being held every day. Our goal this year was to finally unveil the NFBC Cutline Championship because we really felt like there was a need for an optimal scoring format where people could still draft and enjoy the baseball season without the hassles of weekly FAAB. It was my goal to create a contest that would allow drafting on our site basically every day from December to April, and not have those drafts just be DCs. I knew there was an appetite for drafts and I knew the love of fantasy baseball was still out there for even people we've lost through the years.

Last week we had a Charter Member sign up for a Cutline League who hasn't played with us since 2007. He used to be in the Ultimate League, the Main Event and more, but I knew he was part of the churn rate from the 15-team format. He tried the 12-teamer two years and then was gone. But it was so great to see him trying again in the 10-teamer. In fact, just two days ago we got another Charter Member who used to do auctions return in the Cutline. So again, I think it's great that this new format is becoming an entry-level format for new players, but also an easy resting spot for some old friends.

But more importantly it's making the NFBC the destination for nightly drafts. If you get that itch during the week, we're here with a league ready to be filled. It's kind of fun and so far we're filling up almost every available league. It's a lot of fun.

But beyond that, the live events are picking up as well. We're already working on our 5th Main Event League in Las Vegas on the Second Weekend after having only 5 leagues there last year. I could see us having more than that this year and that would be great again. We filled up 4 Auction Championship Leagues already in New York City, have the full Auction League in Chicago and are filling up most auctions in Las Vegas. Our goal is 11 leagues again this year and that's very possible. We filled up the Ultimate Draft League and the March 29th Super League this week. And I think people are starting to see the good in the Rotowire Online Championship Plus format. I'm going to bring that contest to the forefront after I post this.

Let's discuss the good and the bad today. Here's your chance to ask me anything you'd like -- and in any type size or color if that helps -- so let's do it. I'm ready for anything.

Oh, and in two weeks I leave for Phoenix along with my partner in crime Shawn Childs to compete in the LABR AL and NL Auctions. Should be fun again. We won the NL title in 2013, but we've come up empty the last two years. Is it time to abandon the Stars 'n Scrubs (and the punting Saves) theory? Inquiring minds would like to know. Thanks.

[Captain Hook]

another request for IT to see what the problem is with having to login in Every day when it used to hold for a whole season

[BK METS]

another request for IT to see what the problem is with having to login in Every day when it used to hold for a whole season

This is my biggest thing right now. It doesnt remember our login and we have to re-enter our user name and password every time we go to the site. Thanks Greg!

[Greg Ambrosius]

another request for IT to see what the problem is with having to login in Every day when it used to hold for a whole season

We are trying to replicate this issue with two owners who are having the same issue, but are not seeing the issue. Please send any info you can to me, such as Browser you are using and Operating System. I am on your team page right now and it's not doing that for me when I log out and come back in. I'm not sure if cleaning out your cache on that computer helps, but that's the first step to take. Let me know if that works.

[Money]

Greg,

Can you tell us which ADP list is being used for the new draft room? Does it match up to one currently available on the site? Also there are a lot of players without an ADP number that I'm sure have been drafted in all drafts?

After using the new draft room for a few days, I like it a lot.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg,

Can you tell us which ADP list is being used for the new draft room? Does it match up to one currently available on the site? Also there are a lot of players without an ADP number that I'm sure have been drafted in all drafts?

After using the new draft room for a few days, I like it a lot.

The new feature allowing you to download ADPs into your draft room will be a composite list of ALL finished NFBC drafts for the entire year. So right now it would be the ADP list that you find under Stats and has 96 finished leagues. Just realize that if you want to load that for your player default list.

Right now what you are seeing are players with multiple positions just being listed at their dominant position in the ADPs. So a guy like Kyle Schwarber isn't showing under OF and C in the ADPs, he's showing just under OF. We are going to correct that so that a player with multiple positions shows under all of those positions in the ADPs. Trust me, I know some people are confused by not seeing Schwarber at C. I know this is fixed and hopefully we will make this live shortly. That will be a nice upgrade from what we have now.

Hope that helps. Thanks for the good words on the new HTML draft room.

[JohnP]

Hey Greg...few questions:

1) Any chance we can have an email option that would facilitate the delivery of one email at the time you are up as opposed to an email for every pick?

2) Has the cutline exceeded your expectations so far?

3) Another cutline question - the software has been thoroughly tested for all of the different scenarios as to allow for the highest scoring for a given week? Seems complicated with all of the point calculations and the many positions.

4) This year will we be able to move locked players to different positions if the position being moved to isn't locked yet?

5) You draw pick 5 in an industry draft - which way you going?

6) Anything new on the legislative side of things?

7) Which will be higher this upcoming year - Jordy catches or Cub wins?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Hey Greg...few questions:

1) Any chance we can have an email option that would facilitate the delivery of one email at the time you are up as opposed to an email for every pick?

2) Has the cutline exceeded your expectations so far?

3) Another cutline question - the software has been thoroughly tested for all of the different scenarios as to allow for the highest scoring for a given week? Seems complicated with all of the point calculations and the many positions.

4) This year will we be able to move locked players to different positions if the position being moved to isn't locked yet?

5) You draw pick 5 in an industry draft - which way you going?

6) Anything new on the legislative side of things?

7) Which will be higher this upcoming year - Jordy catches or Cub wins?

Champ, you're going to have to put a little more dinero in the church basket on Sunday for this many questions. I trust you tithe!!

1. Here we go with DC improvement questions again. Yeah, I'd love to have options like that or even no emails or texts instead of emails. The answer is no for 2016 and one day when all other projects are done we can look at every aspect of the DCs to make them better. But for now everyone gets all emails, sorry.

2. I'm just happy most people like the concept and that people see the good in the format. Whenever I talk about it on SiriusXM the hosts naturally say "I love that idea" because everyone knows that we love to draft baseball teams but managing them in a competitive format like this is very, very tough. I'm happy in a couple of ways: 1) We are filling them faster than I expected; 2) People who have drafted in them keep coming back and are almost addicted to them, which means the quick format is working; 3) And I'm happy to have a drafting option every single night on the NFBC site. I always felt there was enough demand to host online drafts in December and January and this is proving that I was right. People LOVE TO DRAFT.

3. This is not an easy scoring format by any means. Now we've cracked the code in football and have that down pat, but this is so much harder because of players having multiple positions and then having the computer know to put this guy at CI instead of UT and to make sure the next CI doesn't get left out and so on and so on. The programmers have been testing it for weeks and two weeks ago I was in a meeting where the guys felt like they had finally cracked the code for baseball. They were able to tell the computer to make sure this happens if he goes there and make sure this happens if....and on and on. I saw how it worked and it really looked great. Best of all, it computes that in less than a second. Now they have to test this for hundreds and hundreds of teams at once, which is ongoing. But yes, they feel like they have this one down.

4. That's the plan if you stop requesting DC changes. Again, this sounds like an easy fix, but it's not for baseball even though we already have this for football. There's just so many more possible scenarios for baseball that have to be programmed in. It's on our To Do list at near the very top.

5. Down, for sure. I don't mind 8 and I don't mind 11, depending on 12 or 15 team format. Heck, the wheel in a 15-teamer still gets you power and speed, but not a Top 15 SP. I would go 3,2,1 and then maybe down. I know the value of Kershaw, but given the choice I'd rather start with a hitter and get my two pitchers in Rounds 2-3 or 3-4.

6. Everything. I think there's like 18 states with current bills and 19 more that the FSTA is involved in. There could be 40 different states with language for fantasy in the next two years. But the biggest state still involves New York, where the Attorney General is the most aggressive as he props his name up for Governor of New York. That one is going to trial, so all eyes will be on New York this spring.

7. Jordy. He will be 100 percent by Week 1 and once Teddy gets us a veteran TE Jordy will be ripe for 100 catches. Cubs will fall a few games short of that total.

Our Brewers on the other hand, will top Jordy's catches in losses. They are a guarantee to top 100 losses this year.

[Sack]

Greg:

Chicago has become a nice visit each season. Not because I've cashed out there yet, these guys are tough. Flying in for the Auction on Friday, March 25th at 4pm CT but made the call to fly back into NYC the following day as those Auctions have
really filled fast this season. Would love to have at least two leagues to participate in during my short stay in the Windy City.
I noticed you have a $750 OL Plus League set to go on Friday, but it is matched time wise against the Auction. Any chance you may generate some of the Chi-town Auction Players to jump into a $750 OL Plus if you started that at say 1pm? Three hours should be plenty of time for a 12 Teamer. Allows some of the Auction crew to consider making it a whole day. I realize you already have 1 name on that list - but maybe the earlier starting time may work for him as well. Just a suggestion - I for one would welcome a second league and I'm sure my pal John Bosch would jump aboard. After all, once our names hit the Auction League the Sharks came out of hiding!


What's up with the OL PLUS Leagues? Damn - great great league prizes ....... sure wish they would start to fill. Any ideas on how to draw in the crowd?


Thanks, Ken & The Chip

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg:

Chicago has become a nice visit each season. Not because I've cashed out there yet, these guys are tough. Flying in for the Auction on Friday, March 25th at 4pm CT but made the call to fly back into NYC the following day as those Auctions have
really filled fast this season. Would love to have at least two leagues to participate in during my short stay in the Windy City.
I noticed you have a $750 OL Plus League set to go on Friday, but it is matched time wise against the Auction. Any chance you may generate some of the Chi-town Auction Players to jump into a $750 OL Plus if you started that at say 1pm? Three hours should be plenty of time for a 12 Teamer. Allows some of the Auction crew to consider making it a whole day. I realize you already have 1 name on that list - but maybe the earlier starting time may work for him as well. Just a suggestion - I for one would welcome a second league and I'm sure my pal John Bosch would jump aboard. After all, once our names hit the Auction League the Sharks came out of hiding!


What's up with the OL PLUS Leagues? Damn - great great league prizes ....... sure wish they would start to fill. Any ideas on how to draw in the crowd?


Thanks, Ken & The Chip

We can definitely do a $750 OC Plus BEFORE the Auction if demand is there. We have always had a great group of guys in Chicago who do three events and I'm confident that as we get closer to Draft Day we'll have more people adding the OC Plus to their weekends of fun.

Again, I'll take the blame for not promoting this format with the great league payouts better. But I'm not worried about filling these. I think as people see the league payouts they will eventually support these at $750 and $1500. I'm with you, let's whip out a 3-hour live 12-teamer at $750 per team and follow that up with an auction. We can do it in Chicago and other cities as well.

[Sack]

Greg:

If you have a $750 OL+ before the Auction on Friday - feel free to list me as the first signup.

Thanks, might even get in the night before and spring for some Lou Malnatti's Deep Dish if
Bosch jumps into the water! TY

[mattjb]

Greg, potential issue with the new draft room. I was out and I was getting emails on my phone so I knew picks had been made in my DC. When i came back to my laptop which I had left open on the draft room (the laptop was in sleep mode) it was not showing those picks had been made and the clock was still moving on the team from several picks ago. I had to refresh the browser (chrome) for those picks to show up. We had an issue overnight when someone said they checked at 2am and they were not on the clock and when they checked again at 8am they had auto picked - sounds like this might have been the issue for them.

[swampass]

Hey Greg, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions.

my question is regarding player position eligibility. when I load this years ADP every player has only 1 listed position even if they are eligible at multiple positions. For example chris davis only has 1b but he also qualifies at OF, encarnacion is only listed at DH even though he really has 1b, schwarber only has OF listed but he is eligible at C. When I click on each players name I need to go back to last years games by position to see where everyone is truly eligible. Why are their positions not listed next to each player's name on the ADP? Why doesnt each player "card" list all positions of eligibility?

now a fun question.. who do you think will be this years chris archer? meaning.. a player with talent who nobody expects to break out like he did.

thanks