2011 NFBC Proposed Rules Changes

Sebadiah23 · Post by **Sebadiah23** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 6:13 pm

Todd,

That's why I'd always vote for only weekly changes. It rewards better all around baseball players, rather than players who happen to have an advantagous 3 game series. It's rewarding effort rather then skill. Not necessarily "bad" but different and less intellectual.

Cornhusker · Post by **Cornhusker** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:11 am

The twice weekly moves will definitely limit the number of teams i have next year. Takes too much time to evaluate fringe starter matchups twice a week.

Sebadiah23 · Post by **Sebadiah23** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:50 pm

While not as drastic, its basically the reason I've all but removed daily change leagues from my life when they used to be so common-place. I don't want a missed decision costing me money and success because I happened to have an emergency at work that day or just had a total brain fart. That's why my whole family knows that 6-8pm Sunday are reserved for my FAAB bidding in case I need the time and I can't be counted on to even screw in a light bulb during that time. Now this year, Friday is now a mini-reserved late afternoon. It gets to be too much.

-Craig

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:53 pm

Personally, i am against the friday rules as I think this is yet another step towards daily transactions...

Also for personal reasons, given two small children AND the fact that WORK blocks the NFBC, mid-week management becomes almost impossible some days, but that is a personal issue

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:59 am

Originally posted by Quahogs:

Greg, what's your take on pitchers matching the hitters friday swap on friday for the last 2 weeks of the season? It's most likely too radical for 2011 but something to consider beyond that? Some can argue that a rule is in place for 24 weeks for a reason (anti-streaming of which I agree)but the last CRITICAL 2 weeks of season present unique challenges namely no DL use and set pitching rotations scuttled due to pennant races and inning caps. Two issues that are not known until the week is well underway. Thoughts? I do like this suggestion enough that I have added it to all of the 2011 Rules pages. I have to work with the IT team to make sure this is something we can do, but I feel confident that we will be able to get this done. This is the new No. 11 within all of our contest rules for 2011:

11. Lineup Submission

The weekly deadline for setting your NFBC starting lineup is 6:55 PM ET on Monday. Players who are on teams participating in games with a scheduled start time prior to the Monday deadline at 6:55 PM ET, will be locked 5 minutes before the scheduled start time for their game. No changes involving players on these teams with early games will be allowed after this deadline for their game regardless of whether or not their game actually starts as scheduled.

Team owners also are allowed to remove a pitcher (or pitchers) who is officially on the DL from their starting lineup and replace him with a pitcher from their reserve roster on Fridays. Those decisions will have to be made by 5 minutes before the scheduled start time of the first game of the day if those pitchers are involved in an early game or by 6:55 pm ET for all teams involved in night games. Pitchers must officially be on Major League Baseball's DL list according to Fanball and the NFBC by 12:01 AM ET on Friday for this move (or moves) to take effect for the weekend games. However, during the last two weeks of the regular season only, we will allow owners to replace any pitchers in their starting lineup with reserves on Friday, just like hitters. But this applies ONLY to the last two weeks of the season.

The last two sentences are what I added.

ToddZ · Post by **ToddZ** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 5:29 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

However, during the last two weeks of the regular season only, we will allow owners to replace any pitchers in their starting lineup with reserves on Friday, just like hitters. But this applies ONLY to the last two weeks of the season.

The last two sentences are what I added. Greg -- something to consider is the 2011 season is likely to begin and end mid-week. You may want to word it last three transaction periods instead.

I say three because you are going to have a half week in there somewhere. I assumed 2 1/2 weeks for the new rule is better than 1 1/2 weeks.

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:46 am

The 2011 season ends on a Wednesday.

In effect, the last three transaction periods would cover one week.

Shouldn't it be the last five transaction periods to cover the last two full weeks?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 7:27 am

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

The 2011 season ends on a Wednesday.

In effect, the last three transaction periods would cover one week.

Shouldn't it be the last five transaction periods to cover the last two full weeks? Have no fear boys, we can amend the wording of the rules once we know what the MLB schedule looks like. It's likely that the season will open with a series in Japan, too. Let's just figure that part out when the schedule is announced and amend the rules accordingly. The main point I'm trying to make is that we will attempt to make the end of the season more manageable for all NFBC owners involving the pitching. I hope you at least got that part of it.

ToddZ · Post by **ToddZ** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 9:48 am

The schedule has been announced. I cant find mention of anything in Japan, but I'll keep looking.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/b ... index.html

FWIW - 3/5 periods was more semantics - I wasn't including the Friday as a transaction period, sorry.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 9:55 am

Originally posted by ToddZ:

The schedule has been announced. I cant find mention of anything in Japan, but I'll keep looking.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/b ... index.html

FWIW - 3/5 periods was more semantics - I wasn't including the Friday as a transaction period, sorry. Thanks. I didn't see that. It's a shame. We did a lot of online championship drafts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday last year. Now I'll have to look at our schedule for 2011 and adjust accordingly. Thanks for the heads up. I hope there isn't a Japan series and by the looks of things here there won't be. Thanks.

TRAIN · Post by **TRAIN** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 1:38 am

Why limit the Friday pitching changes to just the last 2 weeks of the season? There is a 6 page thread addressing the pros and cons of Friday pitching moves on this message board. Did you even read that? I noticed that you didn't comment on any of the proposals put forth there that addressed the rules that could be put in place to prevent the streaming of pitchers. Yet, it seems that you think that allowing Friday pitching moves are a good thing because of MLB clubs' decisions to either not DL, shutdown, or alter pitching starts after the Monday deadline for the NFBC for the final 2 weeks. These MLB decisions happen all year long. Why not allow Friday pitching changes for the entire season to benefit all teams and not just to those lucky enough to be chasing a title in the last 2 weeks of the season?

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 11:06 am

I think we should end the season 1 week early.

we should only play 25 weeks

that would solve some of the pitching problems

and a lot of the hitting problem

many of the major league players get shutdown with a week to go for 1 reason or another whether it is playoff contention,injury,team looking at younger players,team out of contention (more strikouts than average mark reynolds)who I just saw played today

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 12:06 pm

Originally posted by rog:

I think we should end the season 1 week early.

we should only play 25 weeks

that would solve some of the pitching problems

and a lot of the hitting problem

many of the major league players get shutdown with a week to go for 1 reason or another whether it is playoff contention,injury,team looking at younger players,team out of contention (more strikouts than average mark reynolds)who I just saw played today OR....

We can go the other way and include playoff and World Series games.

Whimsical, I know. But, the FAAB and thoughts into who we're drafting would have a lot of twists and turns.

Neither idea will be applied, though, both are thought provoking.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 3:04 am

Originally posted by luck and skill:

Why limit the Friday pitching changes to just the last 2 weeks of the season? There is a 6 page thread addressing the pros and cons of Friday pitching moves on this message board. Did you even read that? I noticed that you didn't comment on any of the proposals put forth there that addressed the rules that could be put in place to prevent the streaming of pitchers. Yet, it seems that you think that allowing Friday pitching moves are a good thing because of MLB clubs' decisions to either not DL, shutdown, or alter pitching starts after the Monday deadline for the NFBC for the final 2 weeks. These MLB decisions happen all year long. Why not allow Friday pitching changes for the entire season to benefit all teams and not just to those lucky enough to be chasing a title in the last 2 weeks of the season? Well, first of all, congrats to all of those "lucky enough" to be chasing a title this week. Good luck to all of them.

Sure, I read that thread. I think people know that I'm not a fan of streaming starting pitchers in this contest nor do I think all of our members want to be making those twice-a-week pitching moves. I think it will make it much tougher on owners, will reduce the number of teams owners take each year in the NFBC and change the game. I know that some owners believe the Friday rule would help them during the season, but I don't think it's the right move for our contest right now.

I don't think it's as hard to make hitter changes during the week, but adding another layer of pitching changes will change the game more than I want at this point.

We've addressed the September DL situation in the past and I'm glad to address it again in the rules for 2011. Teams shut down players very quickly in the final weeks that you don't see during the rest of the season and hopefully this rule change will help NFBC owners down the stretch.

I hope my explanation helps.

Money · Post by **Money** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 4:24 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by luck and skill:

Why limit the Friday pitching changes to just the last 2 weeks of the season? There is a 6 page thread addressing the pros and cons of Friday pitching moves on this message board. Did you even read that? I noticed that you didn't comment on any of the proposals put forth there that addressed the rules that could be put in place to prevent the streaming of pitchers. Yet, it seems that you think that allowing Friday pitching moves are a good thing because of MLB clubs' decisions to either not DL, shutdown, or alter pitching starts after the Monday deadline for the NFBC for the final 2 weeks. These MLB decisions happen all year long. Why not allow Friday pitching changes for the entire season to benefit all teams and not just to those lucky enough to be chasing a title in the last 2 weeks of the season? Well, first of all, congrats to all of those "lucky enough" to be chasing a title this week. Good luck to all of them.

Sure, I read that thread. I think people know that I'm not a fan of streaming starting pitchers in this contest nor do I think all of our members want to be making those twice-a-week pitching moves. I think it will make it much tougher on owners, will reduce the number of teams owners take each year in the NFBC and change the game. I know that some owners believe the Friday rule would help them during the season, but I don't think it's the right move for our contest right now.

I don't think it's as hard to make hitter changes during the week, but adding another layer of pitching changes will change the game more than I want at this point.

We've addressed the September DL situation in the past and I'm glad to address it again in the rules for 2011. Teams shut down players very quickly in the final weeks that you don't see during the rest of the season and hopefully this rule change will help NFBC owners down the stretch.

I hope my explanation helps. [/QUOTE]I thought one very interesting proposal was to shut the season down one week early. We do it in football, why not baseball?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 4:34 am

I don't know if anyone else is watching baseball this week, but I think there are a LOT of meaningful games this week. And navigating all of these lineup changes is part of the strategy for this last week. I've never heard of any fantasy baseball contest shutting down the last week of the season and I don't think comparing MLB's last week to the NFL's last week is even close. NFL teams rest their star players to keep them healthy for the playoffs. MLB teams might give them one day off and then resume the daily grind to keep their stars fresh.

I don't see us doing that in the NFBC at all.

TRAIN · Post by **TRAIN** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 6:01 am

It sounds like you didn't read that "pros and cons thread" regarding Friday pitching changes very closely. If you had, you would have seen the proposal to prevent the streaming of pitchers, while still allowing Friday pitcher moves. As far as customers not signing up for as many teams if Friday pitching moves were allowed, I bet they all threatened to do the same thing if Friday batting moves were allowed. Plus, it would not take that much time to make the Friday pitching moves because all of the pitchers in the lineup they submitted on Monday would be LOCKED if they had already pitched on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday (thus preventing the streaming of pitchers). The only possible pitching moves they would have to consider are those pitchers in the starting lineup who are not locked.

I also congratulate those who are chasing a title this final week. I did not mean to imply that they got there on "luck" alone. I realize it takes both "luck and skill" to win a title in this game.

Finally, thank you Greg for responding. I sometimes get the impression that you only listen to those customers who you have met, know, or become friends with from the "live" drafts.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 7:11 am

Originally posted by luck and skill:

Finally, thank you Greg for responding. I sometimes get the impression that you only listen to those customers who you have met, know, or become friends with from the "live" drafts. No problem, but you obviously don't know me very well. I respond whenever I feel I can help the conversation. I let that thread go with ideas from both sides and there are six pages of it. In case you missed it, it was pros and cons of the Friday pitching move. I looked at both sides and felt that an additional day of pitching moves had more cons than pros for our game. I may be wrong and change could be down the road, but for right now I didn't feel it was in the best interest of our game or our players.

Sorry you disagree. Glad we could air it out.

TRAIN · Post by **TRAIN** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:13 am

I didn't want to just air it out......I want Friday pitching changes....

Money · Post by **Money** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:19 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

I don't know if anyone else is watching baseball this week, but I think there are a LOT of meaningful games this week. And navigating all of these lineup changes is part of the strategy for this last week. I've never heard of any fantasy baseball contest shutting down the last week of the season and I don't think comparing MLB's last week to the NFL's last week is even close. NFL teams rest their star players to keep them healthy for the playoffs. MLB teams might give them one day off and then resume the daily grind to keep their stars fresh.

I don't see us doing that in the NFBC at all. I said it was an interesting proposal. To say that the NFL Vs MLB is not close is a bit off. Teams are shutting players down, No DL's, position players / pitchers being held out until the playoffs etc. Sounds familiar to me, at least somewhat. The % of games that mean anything in MLB this weekend is about the same % as the last week of the NFL season. So I choose to respectfully disagree.

It also seems to me that the NFBC/ NFFC is always on the cutting edge of new rule implementations. They use them as a selling point in their contests KDS / 3RR etc. So the fact that no one else does it seems a bit off for the norm here.

I personally would be opposed to Friday pitcher moves simply because of the extra time involved in laying out the strategy each week, but that's just me.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:31 am

Originally posted by Fast Money:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

I don't know if anyone else is watching baseball this week, but I think there are a LOT of meaningful games this week. And navigating all of these lineup changes is part of the strategy for this last week. I've never heard of any fantasy baseball contest shutting down the last week of the season and I don't think comparing MLB's last week to the NFL's last week is even close. NFL teams rest their star players to keep them healthy for the playoffs. MLB teams might give them one day off and then resume the daily grind to keep their stars fresh.

I don't see us doing that in the NFBC at all. I said it was an interesting proposal. To say that the NFL Vs MLB is not close is a bit off. Teams are shutting players down, No DL's, position players / pitchers being held out until the playoffs etc. Sounds familiar to me, at least somewhat. The % of games that mean anything in MLB this weekend is about the same % as the last week of the NFL season. So I choose to respectfully disagree.

It also seems to me that the NFBC/ NFFC is always on the cutting edge of new rule implementations. They use them as a selling point in their contests KDS / 3RR etc. So the fact that no one else does it seems a bit off for the norm here.

I personally would be opposed to Friday pitcher moves simply because of the extra time involved in laying out the strategy each week, but that's just me. [/QUOTE]You're just looking for a fight because you're in Green Bay and you know your beloved Lions are going to get spanked by my beloved Packers!!

Enjoy the experience man. I know you're going to love it. I wish I was going to be there, but this is the Milwaukee season ticket holders' game. They get the second and fifth home games of each season and we get the other six home games. Two sets of 73,000 season ticket-holders makes Lambeau a unique venue.

I hear ya on all, but I'd hate to cut out the last week of the MLB season. I think we'd all hate to see that with so much baseball left. Let's play it out. Heck, LET'S PLAY TWO!!

Enjoy Sunday at Lambeau and let me know how things went.

Money · Post by **Money** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:42 am

14 and a half point dogs, can you blame me? Packers should cover by halftime. Rogers and company will sit out the last quarter and a half. Checking into earlier flights Sunday night. Impossible for a team as bad as the lions to overcome 2 gut wrenching losses to start the season. The Lions secondary, with the exception of Delmas, are horrible. Easily the worst in football this year.

Looking forward to drafting a secondary next year, then they'll improve dramatically.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:47 am

Originally posted by Fast Money:

14 and a half point dogs, can you blame me? Packers should cover by halftime. Rogers and company will sit out the last quarter and a half. Checking into earlier flights Sunday night. Impossible for a team as bad as the lions to overcome 2 gut wrenching losses to start the season. The Lions secondary, with the exception of Delmas, are horrible. Easily the worst in football this year.

Looking forward to drafting a secondary next year, then they'll improve dramatically. They're going to need a secondary on Sunday because we don't run the ball!!

Rodgers could throw 50 times before our first running play!!

There are all-catered tailgate parties in the Lambeau parking lot (look for the big white tents) or check out the Stadium Club bar down by the Don Hutson practice facility or Krohl's Restaurant across the street on the north end (they have outdoor bands there and great food). Enjoy the whole Sunday tailgate experience. It's like no other.

Baseball Furies · Post by **Baseball Furies** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 7:02 pm

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by Quahogs:

Greg, what's your take on pitchers matching the hitters friday swap on friday for the last 2 weeks of the season? It's most likely too radical for 2011 but something to consider beyond that? Some can argue that a rule is in place for 24 weeks for a reason (anti-streaming of which I agree)but the last CRITICAL 2 weeks of season present unique challenges namely no DL use and set pitching rotations scuttled due to pennant races and inning caps. Two issues that are not known until the week is well underway. Thoughts? I do like this suggestion enough that I have added it to all of the 2011 Rules pages. I have to work with the IT team to make sure this is something we can do, but I feel confident that we will be able to get this done. This is the new No. 11 within all of our contest rules for 2011:

11. Lineup Submission

The weekly deadline for setting your NFBC starting lineup is 6:55 PM ET on Monday. Players who are on teams participating in games with a scheduled start time prior to the Monday deadline at 6:55 PM ET, will be locked 5 minutes before the scheduled start time for their game. No changes involving players on these teams with early games will be allowed after this deadline for their game regardless of whether or not their game actually starts as scheduled.

Team owners also are allowed to remove a pitcher (or pitchers) who is officially on the DL from their starting lineup and replace him with a pitcher from their reserve roster on Fridays. Those decisions will have to be made by 5 minutes before the scheduled start time of the first game of the day if those pitchers are involved in an early game or by 6:55 pm ET for all teams involved in night games. Pitchers must officially be on Major League Baseball's DL list according to Fanball and the NFBC by 12:01 AM ET on Friday for this move (or moves) to take effect for the weekend games. However, during the last two weeks of the regular season only, we will allow owners to replace any pitchers in their starting lineup with reserves on Friday, just like hitters. But this applies ONLY to the last two weeks of the season.

The last two sentences are what I added. [/QUOTE]

Baseball Furies · Post by **Baseball Furies** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 7:04 pm

RRRR!

Meant to add, 'I love this rules change!' Thanks for the suggestion, Steve.