Do We Want To See All Bids?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 3:11 am

At this point, we are allowing everyone to see the winning FAAB bids in every NFBC league, but we are not posting the losing bids. Some owners have suggested that showing the losing bids would give away some strategies, while others would like to learn if they overbid for players or if they have been drastically underbidding for players. I'm open to suggestions on this to make the league just the way you like it.

Post your opinions on the FAAB bids here and I'll see if we can come to a consensus opinion. We probably won't, but I'll do what's in the best interests of the majority. Again, at this point we are just showing the winning bids.

I am also taking your suggestions on how we can improve the FAAB bidding process and forwarding them to STATS. I certainly want to make that as user-friendly as possible and allow you to change your bids during the week without having to re-do all of your conditional bids. So keep the suggestions coming in regards to the FAAB setup as well. Thanks again.

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 3:24 am

Greg,

I've got an idea. How about you sit down and write the rules. State they are the final rules and forget taking polls and changing things every 5 minutes. You can take a poll after the season and change things for next year than.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 3:31 am

Wow, was viper right or was viper right ?!

Anyway, I think that the winning bid is enough. I don't really want to know how much I overpaid or whether anyone else tried to bid at all. It's not that I don't want to know what other people did as much as it is that I don't want people knowing what I did

My suggestions:

Set a Saturday midnight PST deadline for anyone to be added to the FA pool. That way when we get up on Sunday morning, whoever is in there is all we have to deal with. Then keep the 7:00 Sunday deadline firm. If you don't do something about adding to the FA pool, then what happens when someone gets added 10 minutes before the deadline or even 2 hours. When you get up on Sunday, the list should be as it will be for the entire day.

Next, I want to see how much FAAB money everyone has for my AL Auction league and for the entire NFBC.

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 3:33 am

Although he's obviously upset, I have to agree with Walla Walla here to a certain degree. No matter what you decide, Greg, on almost any issue, some people will be upset. Case in point: I have already seen multiple posts, both yea and ney, on the "Let's see all the FAAB bids, win or lose" issue.

Whatever seems fairest to you, let's make it happen.

Dyv · Post by **Dyv** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 4:48 am

I guess I'd rather have the information on bids than not have it? Either way, it affects everyone in the same fashion so it doesn't matter to me.

I'll put in a vote for let all the transactions be transparent - I can't think of a good reason to hide them.

Also, reagrding the bidding process - if we can get Stats to add a number system next to all the bids on the main free agent page - we can adjust our bids in priority up or down easily instead of having to cancel out and start them up again.

i.e.

Bid #1 (drop down menu)

Drop player A

priority #1 (drop down menu) add Bob ($31)

priority #2 (drop down menu) add Joe ($6)

priority #3 (drop down menu) add Alex ($52)

Bid #2 (drop down menu)

Drop player B

priority #1 (drop down menu) add Jerry ($8)

priority #2 (drop down menu) add Paul ($12)

Then with the drop down menus we could make bid #2 the bid #1 or priority #2 player into priority #1 player, etc. And then 'submit' and you're all set.

Dave

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 4:49 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

while others would like to learn if they overbid for players or if they have been drastically underbidding for players. Bingo! Count me as a YES for this one. WCOFF had it last year, and I thought it worked just fine.

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

I am also taking your suggestions on how we can improve the FAAB bidding process and forwarding them to STATS. 1. Lock the FA pool well before the 7pm Sunday deadline. I'd suggest 2 hours earlier (5pm).

2. Allow owners to change the bid amounts on players in contingency lists. This could save owners a lot of time.

3. Allow owners to see all bids in all leagues.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:04 am

I don't think we need to see every bid that everyone placed. The best idea I can come up with is show the winning bid and have next to it "next highest bid" so owners can see if anyone else bid on that player or to see how much they won the player by. I think this will help give us a good idea if we are over bidding on players.

BB of the Leaderboard · Post by **BB of the Leaderboard** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:05 am

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

while others would like to learn if they overbid for players or if they have been drastically underbidding for players. Bingo! Count me as a YES for this one. Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

I am also taking your suggestions on how we can improve the FAAB bidding process and forwarding them to STATS. 1. Lock the FA pool well before the 7pm Sunday deadline. I'd suggest 2 hours earlier (5pm).

2. Allow owners to change the bid amounts on players in contingency lists. This could save owners a lot of time.

3. Allow owners to see all bids in all leagues. [/QUOTE]I agree with the Salamander on all counts.

BB

mystydog · Post by **mystydog** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:20 am

I think the winning bid is fine....I definitely dont think that we should see all the other bids....In real baseball do all the GM's get to know all the competing offers that were made before concluding a trade.....

NOT LIKELY...(Except when using them for leverage...lol)

It might be interesting to see the next closest bid...but, it should be anonymous.....no team name attached.....

And I might be on my own on this...but, I dont think we should see the bids from other leagues....Each League will develop its own paterns based on the individual personalities that make it up.....I think it would be far more interesting to have that development independent of other NFBC league influences....

Parnelli · Post by **Parnelli** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:26 am

Greg,

I think that the bid process was perfect.A little work;but,the teams that did the work will get rewarded with better pickups.This week just seemed hard because so many teams had so many droppables.

I don't think losing bids sould be posted.If a guy overspends he overspends.That is part of the game.

Thanks Greg,keep up the great work.

BONGIZMO · Post by **BONGIZMO** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:38 am

I'm also of the opinion we should only see the winning bids...let owners take the risk of overspending or underspending, it's why it's called blind bidding...

Rey · Post by **Rey** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:44 am

I'm also of the opinion that only winning bids should be shown.

viper · Post by **viper** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:45 am

Only winning bids should be shown

J.F.K. · Post by **J.F.K.** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 6:03 am

another vote for 'winning bids only'

FresnoFanatics · Post by **FresnoFanatics** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 6:04 am

Hi all,

I guess I am in the minority or rather plurality ... but I believe that at a minimum the next highest bid should be shown. I do not care who made the bid but I believe that the only way to learn about your league is to know how others are valuing players that you are interested in and that includes players you may or may not have bid on.

Good Luck....and Maris's record should remain erased as the three did nothing against baseball rules and it seems odd one arguing for staunch rules would have that comment on their posts.

Mark

PittIsIt95 · Post by **PittIsIt95** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 6:05 am

1) ONLY winning bids

2) The other thing regarding the AUCTION leagues. I am NOT in it, but I run an NL only league myself. I would definitely suggest setting a deadline as to free agents being available. I set mine 24 hours prior to bids being due (I learned my lesson the first season not making it black and white). This keeps everyone on a level playing field. Especially since it is a weekly process. Then it is black and white.

No way those players should have been added that late and the deadline extended only one hour. This gave an edge to those that have nothing to do except sit on the computer near the deadline. Set a deadline for auction leagues (and even the mixed league) as to when players can be added. Not getting player for one week will not make or break a season.

3) Open up free agents to ANYONE for the MIXED league. Makes your life WAY TOO DIFFICULT tracking this nonsense of 25 man rosters. If a guy wants to pick a player from the minors or on the DL, let him. That is part of the strategy in a fantasy league. The next argument will be when a guy was activated from the DL. Your opening the leagues up to a year long can of worms. I would suggest making this effective immediately or be ready for year long gripes as to when transactions occur.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 6:18 am

Greg,

A good portion of the owners in the NFBC are clueless when it comes to FA bidding. My suggestion: Discount what they are saying. Gekko hasn't been wrong in almost 300 posts.

FresnoFanatics · Post by **FresnoFanatics** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 6:31 am

While it pains me to agree with Gekko (whom obviously did not know his lizard namesake), I do agree that few owners know how to deal with FAAB...I for one fall into that category. I have played in various fantasy games over the past 15 years but I have never been in a draft league where FA were based on a bidding process and my other money league (albeit only 4500 to the winner) does not auction FA but allows drafting or waiver pickups based on standings. SO I for one though I consider myself (and thats the only opinion I am responsible for) a knowledgable baseball person I have no clue as to what to bid. THis week with two injuries I bid to fill those spots and happily got my players. Seeing other bids without names attached will benefit those of us that are clueless as to what is reasonable in this process.

Thanks,

Mark

Bama · Post by **Bama** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 6:35 am

All bids on the players awarded would be nice. conditional bids on players that were not awarded to anyone need to be kept secret if possible.

a · Post by a » Mon Apr 05, 2004 6:54 am

Originally posted by mystydog:

In real baseball do all the GM's get to know all the competing offers that were made before concluding a trade.....

Yes they do....

a · Post by a » Mon Apr 05, 2004 6:57 am

I would like to see all bids. And I agree with Gek, find a time to set the list before bids are due.

Top Dawg · Post by **Top Dawg** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 7:13 am

I want to see winning and losing bids only. I do not want to share conditional bids that were not needed because I received higher priority players. I want to keep those a secret for another week...

Here is what I would like to see, which would help everyone:

1) Players acquired with amount $$$

2) Players lost due insufficient (low) bids with amount $$$

Thanks,

Pete

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 7:53 am

I appreciate all of the suggestions and will work with STATS to make everything right. I certainly agree that a two-hour limit before the FAAB deadline for new free agents would eliminate any more Jolbert Cabrera problems. That way if for whatever reason the player wasn't added to the free agent pool everyone would know that and there wouldn't be any last minute additions. That's tops on my priority list.

I think if we show the winning FAAB bid and team plus the runner-up price for each player that would be beneficial to all. We'll see if we can get that done as well. For now, I'm not sure showing ALL of the bids is the right way to go.

I have forwarded the suggestions to STATS about making the FAAB process easier. We'll do our best to make it easier. Keep the suggestions coming.

Leaderboard Sports · Post by **Leaderboard Sports** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 9:21 am

I knew for sure first year, first week, roll out would have problems. I am not in agreement with the extended hour yesterday but am very happy with Greg's and STAT's efforts to resolve roll out problems quickly. I think Greg has proven over and over he will make this contest what the team owners want and expect for their $1250.

I complain a lot but I'm confident that Greg will fix everything and STAT's will make things the way we want and things will be perfect shortly. Next year we won't have roll out problems and everyone will be familiar with the STATS site and we won't have anything to complain about except the Lizzard.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 9:40 am

I do want to clarify one part of our rules that is causing some confusion during this first week of FAAB bidding. Trust me, there is a madness to our 25-man roster limit.

The reason I haven't allowed minor leaguers to be picked up on a weekly basis is two-fold. One, as an MLBPA licensed product, we are limited to players on the 40-man roster and memorizing every player who is on a 40-man roster would be impossible. I wanted to avoid that confusion.

But more importantly, I felt it would provide more in-season strategy and excitement for minor-league callups and promotions. Last year when Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis were called up, I'm sure it would have created quite a buzz and interesting strategy in FAAB bidding for those players. If you allow those type of players to be picked up randomly, it allows owners to add and drop prospects on a weekly basis until they finally get a callup. Yes, there is a strategy to that as well, but in the fairness of competition I thought it would be best after Opening Day to allow those type of free agents to be called up only after they've been promoted to the big leagues.

Whether that's the right call or not, that was my strategy with this game setup and why we are limiting FAAB bids going forward to players on MLB rosters.