Live Tuesday Chat Starts Now

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:00 am

Okay, if anyone has any questions or comments today, I'm here to answer them. Fire away.

seefer · Post by **seefer** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:02 am

Does an auction take the full 6 hours? Or does it usually run a little over or under?

viper · Post by **viper** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:04 am

I read a post today that made me wonder what would happen if you drafted UUU and he was not signed by any MLB team before the season started. Could you keep him on your bench? The UUU subject has truly been beaten about

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:04 am

Greg I know you get asked this all the time but how many people do we have signed up? This past week a lot of people signed up, with a good week will we reach 300? I hope we do, everything the NFBC has done has been great.

Todd

I didn't see this one last night or I would have answered it. We've had a good week of signups, but it's unlikely that we will hit 300 in the NFBC. That just means Krause Publications doesn't make as much money, that's all. We are still at a positive number and hopefully we will continue to get last minute signups to get us higher than we are now. Our traffic to the web site doubled in the last week, so we know people are checking us out and hopefully we'll get that last minute rush.

seefer · Post by **seefer** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:06 am

What happens if you have 3 teams that are willing to pay $30 for the same player?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:06 am

I just saw two LABR League auctions and we did both in five hours and added 15 more minutes for the reserve rounds. I'm sure that these will take 6 hours. I will advise everyone involved in the Auction Leagues to throw players out at reasonable dollar values as that will help speed up the process. In other words, say, "Barry Bonds for $30" instead of "Barry Bonds, $1." We all know he's going to go for more than $30, so get him out there at a fair price.

If everyone is prepared and throws out players at fair levels, you can do it in under 6 hours.

viper · Post by **viper** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:06 am

Just talked to Rocky. Where does he work?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:08 am

If Urbina still isn't on a major league team by our Draft Day, he will be allowed to be drafted by anyone in the NFBC and he will be allowed to be bid on by anyone in the Auction Leagues. If he still isn't signed by Opening Day, you can definitely keep him on your reserve roster in both events. He's obviously a free agent gamble, but if he signs with the right team he could be a good gamble. I think it's almost too late for him to go to Japan and does he really want to sit out a year? But it's unlikely he's going to get a multi-year contract, which is what he wants.

viper · Post by **viper** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:09 am

Since everyone will read this, what was the final decision on

(1) the date/time that free agent bid must be submitted

(2) the date/time the new players will be available to teams

(3) the time on Monday that rosters must be set

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:10 am

The auctions are just like antique auctions where someone throws out the first bid and everyone hollers out the next dollar value. The auctioneer will determine who said "$30!" first and say "Steve has him at $30." Then he'll wait for $31 and if he doesn't hear anything he will say "Going once, going twice....sold." As soon as he starts the s in sold, the player is sold to the last bidder. It's as easy as that, yet a whole lot of fun. You feel like you've gone through a final exam after one of those Auction League drafts.

viper · Post by **viper** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:12 am

Have you received any e-mails from the Niagara Frontier Bicycle Club? They have an unfortunately named web site.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:12 am

Rocky Landsverk is actually the editorial director of our sports division as he really heads up our sports collectibles division. He is a fantasy player and helps to edit RotoWire.com Fantasy Baseball Magazine, Tuff Stuff Fantasy Football magazine and others. He is running the New York portion of the NFBC and will be everyone's contact out there. I will be in Las Vegas and Tom Kessenich will be in Chicago, along with other KP staffers, of course. We will all have cell phones, so if there's a dispute on anything you'll all have a chance to talk with me. Rocky and Tom are good guys.....just not as cool as me.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:15 am

Since everyone will read this, what was the final decision on

(1) the date/time that free agent bid must be submitted

(2) the date/time the new players will be available to teams

(3) the time on Monday that rosters must be set

I've asked STATS for 6 p.m. CST on Sundays for the final FAAB bids and they haven't said how long it will take to process those. I'll call them today and ask again. I should have pushed this harder, but it got lost on my list of things to do.

I'm still shooting for Noon CST on Mondays to have starting lineups in. That's to avoid any early Monday games.

seefer · Post by **seefer** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:17 am

There are alot of "businessmen specials" where games will start on the east coast at 11:30 am or 12:05, won't these be affected if one of them is on a Monday?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:17 am

I know them very well. When I first tried to pick out a URL for our event, I looked to see if anyone had www.nfbc.com and of course the Niagara Falls Bike Club came up. I was bummed, but then a lot of guys said you don't want initials in your URL anyway. So they suggested www.fantasybaseballchampionship.com so that everyone would remember it. We actually have that URL and www.nationalfantasybaseballchampionship.com. We have the same type of URLs for our football event as well, although that site isn't done yet. Yes, they're long, but they're easy to give out to people who want more information on our events.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:19 am

There are two Monday Cubs games this year that start at 1 p.m. CST and the one Red Sox Patriots Day game that starts at 11 a.m. CST. From the early schedule that was released, there were no games earlier than that. So we'll deal with what we have and make it work. We will likely change the deadline for the Patriots Day game only for those players who will be in that game; i.e. you can't have them in your lineup and then take out a starting pitcher if you saw him give up four first inning runs of that game. He will be locked into your lineup if he's there at 10 a.m. CST.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:21 am

Okay, now back atcha. Where does Sheffield go now in the NFBC draft?

viper · Post by **viper** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:21 am

Would this be an example of a valid FA request .. the names are changed to protect the innocent.

Drop Barry Bonds and add

1. if available, add Albert Pujols for $2

2. else if available add Sammy Sosa for $3

3. else if available add Jeff Bagwell for $1

4. else if available add Geronimo Gil for $55

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:22 am

Just a suggestion. Since the east coast virtually runs this country, could you stick to EST when quoting times? Thanks.

Terry H · Post by **Terry H** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:22 am

It's not clear to me what the penalty is for submitting an invalid lineup.

After checking out the box scores on opening day, I submit a lineup with Craig Counsell at SS and Alex Rodriguez at 3B.

Do I lose the stats for just 3B or for the whole team?

If it is the whole team, that seams rather harsh, in that it would ruin your chances for the Grand Prize.

Most online fantasy baseball sites won't allow you to put a player in a position at which they are not elgible, will Stats, Inc. be this way?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:23 am

Absolutely. The game site is finished now and our IT department just has to activate the link. Hopefully by tomorrow you will be able to see how the transactions work and how you'll be allowed to make backup moves. It's very easy and conditional bids will be a breeze.

Kevin D · Post by **Kevin D** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:24 am

It's my understanding that the latest numbers for the Auctions in 'Vegas are 3 remaining in the NL and 2 for AL. With the time left I think we'll make it. But I'm antsy. I much prefer the Auction format. How about comping any fence sitters a room?? Let's get it done some how. It's not the same unless the leagues fill.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:24 am

Gordon, a financial whiz like you should be able to add 1 to my Midwestern times. Since KP and STATS are in the Central Time Zone, I'm sticking with that. Again, just add one to my numbers.

seefer · Post by **seefer** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:26 am

Greg, yesterday you revealed a few prices realized for the LABR NL auction draft. Is there any chance you could reveal a few more?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:26 am

Terry, our site won't allow you to submit an illegal lineup. The question really evolved around whether someone left the draft table with an illegal lineup (i.e. only one catcher among his 29 picks). Then he would be submitting an illegal lineup if he didn't pick up a catcher during the first free agent period. But we're not going to let that happen on Draft Day. Myself, Rocky and Tom have been instructed to check each draft board before everyone leaves and we'll be on this one. Once everyone's lineup is legal from Draft Day on, nobody will be able to submit an illegal lineup. Hope this helps.