logistical nfbc questions

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 6:27 pm

1) How is draft order and who is in each league determined? Is it random and I'll find out the day of the draft? Does it depend on when I signed up?

2) Should I already have a user name and password to get into the site? I do not have one.

3) How big is the big board? My eyes are neither perfect nor awful. Is it easy to see the names or will I have to keep track and kind of get up close to see it during the breaks?

4) How often are team and league stats updated on the site during the season? Are they done once a day, the next morning, live, something else? I'm thinking about having a faux Yahoo league so I can put all my players on a team and see what they do from moment to moment. Is that a good idea?

5) What does the mysterious acronym "FAAB" mean. I keep seeing it on the message boards.

[ January 09, 2005, 12:49 AM: Message edited by: bjoak ]

Dyv · Post by **Dyv** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:49 pm

Originally posted by bjoak:

1) How is draft order and who is in each league determined? Is it random and I'll find out the day of the draft? Does it depend on when I signed up?

2) Should I already have a user name and password to get into the site? I do not have one.

3) How big is the big board? My eyes are neither perfect nor awful. Is it easy to see the names or will I have to keep track and kind of get up close to see it during the breaks?

4) How often are team and league stats updated on the site during the season? Are they done once a day, the next morning, live, something else? I'm thinking about having a faux Yahoo league so I can put all my players on a team and see what they do from moment to moment. Is that a good idea?

5) What does the mysterious acronym "FAAB" mean. I keep seeing it on the message boards. 1. Draft order is randomly drawn as are league assignments. You'll know a week or so before the draft (or when Greg fills up if sooner)

2. You do not get a username and password until you have drafted.

3. The board is about 10 feet by 6 feet? Decent size, but I would plan on crossing names off my cheat sheet if I were you. They'll announce each pick and then confirm it so you'll hear the name several times and then can cross reference on the board. Not too bad IMHO.

4. You can if you want (Yahoo league). Stats are live scored during the day and standings are updated overnight.

5. FAAB = Free Agent Budget.

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 2:19 am

Originally posted by Dyv:

5. FAAB = Free Agent Budget. More specifically, FAAB = Free Agent Acquisiton Budget.

Need the second A to make it an acronym, right?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 4:56 am

Dyv, one Corona for you in Las Vegas for answering this while I was catching my beauty sleep.

viper · Post by **viper** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 7:02 am

Concerning the size of the board, my vision doesn't require glasses but it isn't a crisp sharp 20/20. I had no problem seeing the board and the names from the side - I had the 14th pick so was near the board. After the draft and while the board was still up, I went to the back table in the middle and found the names were a bit hard to read. They were big enough for those with more normal vision and I'm sure that during the draft I would have been able to work out the players names. I would say that the board is of adequate size.

What is nice is that each position is color coded. It makes it easy to see what positions each team has taken. This can be nice if you draft near one end or the other and want to quickly check if the teams drafting after you need a player from a specific position.

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 9:35 am

Oh, wow, so I can count on getting my draft position, what, e-mailed to me about a week before the draft? It's important because I'll build my team based on which player I can get in the first round.

Thanks for all the help, btw.

[ January 09, 2005, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: bjoak ]

viper · Post by **viper** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 10:39 am

I think it was e-mailed but can't recall. I do know that positions were available around the Tuesday before the draft.

Greg set up a Message Board area for each league so you could do a little pre-draft posting to leaguemates. I also recall you could tell the names and home cities for all your league members.

Unless you have one of the first half dozen picks, don't count on being able to structure your team. Even if you have the number one pick, by the time it comes back to you, god only knows who will be left.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:53 am

Our signup deadline is Sunday, March 13th at midnight and if we are still taking signups at that time we'll have the leagues picked by early afternoon on Monday, March 14th and announced via e-mail to all our members and on the message boards before the end of that day. That's a guarantee. Our hope, however, is that we'll have the main event filled before our deadline day and we'll be able to announce the leagues and everyone's draft positions a week or two before Draft Day. Once we've closed the signups, we'll pick the leagues, the draft positions in each city and announce everything via e-mail and on these boards.

I hope this helps.

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 1:38 pm

It does help. Thanks.

As for viper's comment, I must confess that I know who goes when. Last year, I think I got all my favored picks except one. It's not that hard if you put a little research into it. I concede that it probably helps if you think many of the 5th round picks are better than 2nd round picks as I do, but even so, I know that if I go first I can get Pujols, if I go seventh I can probably get Helton and if I go last, Delgado (assuming I actually wanted those guys). Conversely, I also know that if I go first I can get a typical third round guy at the end of the second round (Aubrey Huff, for example) and I can basically forget about the second round guys.

Additionally, you have to structure your team on some level or else you're just throwing darts at a wall. If you were going to take Gagne with the first pick (though it seems like a silly idea), you would have to plan out much differently than if you took Beltran.

It's not like we're fantasy ball virgins here. Forget about winning if you don't understand the maket values of guys before game day. Otherwise, I guess you end up being the guy drunk and half passed out in July, mumbling, "Why, oh, why did I take Renteria in the first round?"

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:45 pm

Hey bjoak didn't you say The NFBC *should* consider having less active players per team. It's frustrating that almost every everyday outfielder is playing on one of 15 teams. If we are concerned about realism, isn't it far more realistic to have 9 hitters on a team. Plus, it would resemble a standard Yahoo league.

Yeah I guess you could get all your picks in the Alameda Yahoo league.

Man oh Man. LOL!!!

Leaderboard Sports · Post by **Leaderboard Sports** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:20 pm

The first round is usually pretty much a slam dunk with only a rare outlier from the norm. After that it can vary greatly with the makeup of individual leagues. Everyone comes in with one of a few basic plans and depending on how many of each are in your league will determine how the draft goes from there. If you have more people in your league who go after scarce positions then some 2B, SS, C, and closers will go off the board well before you think they should, and if you have mostly best available player pickers in your league then things go as planned for a while till the runs on positions start then 7 or 8 closers, catchers, or pitchers may go off in a row.

Some people are happy to just win there league and prefer to tank a category rather than join the stampede on a position run such as closers, but to win the overall title you can't tank a category so being flexible with your draft plan is a good idea.

That being said you have to start somewhere and laying out how you think the draft will go is as good a place as any so I'm anxious to see the order as well. Plus this is my 5th one of these things and I've never picked higher than 11th so I'm due to get a high pick this year.

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:00 pm

Walla:

The keywork about Yahoo was "standard." You can customize a league to any specifications, including those of nfbc. Anyway, it sounds like it would be pointless to do if the stats are updated live.