have we decided on a draft date yet?
Friday, January 08, 2010
Thursday, January 07, 2010
zack greinke
this is true. we are hit number 37 on the google image results for david wright.
carter, i will support your ongoing monetization efforts. not that you were ever in doubt.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
I shot at things with things
So even discounting the throws from his knees or foul territory... that one where he basically waits for a ball slammed off home plate to peg the runner. ¡Que calor!
Monetize Tab
What?! There is a monetize tab on blogger? Why didn't anyone tell me about this! I need everyone's proxy to set this up. Or maybe I should set up a Delaware corporation. Come on people: You wouldn't let me monetize keeper slots back in the day, so at least let me have this.
David Wright Page
I dont know if i gave anyone else access to the google analytics but the David Wright page has had almost 3000 hits in the past 24 months. we need some ads.
einardiaz.blogspot.com - 9000 hits and counting.
einardiaz.blogspot.com - 9000 hits and counting.
China Will Crush Us All
A question
First, fill out the survey.
Next, how much respect should you lose for someone if they totally tank a world-flags/geography quiz limited to Europe and North America and some Asia? Like even 5-10 current-events prompts don't get them to guess the country or capital?
We played as a group, and the people who were having some difficulty even started being blown away by the total inability of two of the players. Like, "I don't know if we can still be friends." But since I know that this sort of stuff was my bread and butter as a kid, I can't gauge how much of this stuff is actually common knowledge among a certain type of person.
Next, how much respect should you lose for someone if they totally tank a world-flags/geography quiz limited to Europe and North America and some Asia? Like even 5-10 current-events prompts don't get them to guess the country or capital?
We played as a group, and the people who were having some difficulty even started being blown away by the total inability of two of the players. Like, "I don't know if we can still be friends." But since I know that this sort of stuff was my bread and butter as a kid, I can't gauge how much of this stuff is actually common knowledge among a certain type of person.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
No Ancient Chinese Secret
Clarification of Saud's question about picking up contracted players from the free agent pool.
Free agency is not a means of laundering a player's market price, which was set at the auction.
Case 1: I picked up Ben Zobrist this year as a true free agent. I can keep him next year, 2010, for $1. If I drop him before the season ends and you pick him up, Saud, you can keep him for 2010 for $1. Suppose, after keeping him in 2010 with my free agent slot, I cut him. Anyone can use him for the rest of 2010, but he must go back into the auction pool for 2011.
Case 2: Pete bought Webb for $23 in 2009. If you pick him up before the end of this season and want to keep him, you will have to spend $23 to do so. This would be the case even if Pete had acquired him at auction in 2008. The only way his value is reset is if no one keeps him and he is either:
a) won at auction in 2010 for a different price
b) passes through the auction with no bidders and enters the 2010 as a true free agent. Case 1 now applies to his future value.
Case 3: I hurl Carlos Zambrano, along with my computer and a stream of epithets, off my roof deck and into the free agent pool. Pete picks him up for one spot start, realizes he even sucks at that, and also cuts him. Whet then acquires him for a spot start in order to taunt me when he pitches a no hitter, because Whet has luck like that. He then cuts him, knowing he will return to being a black hole. You then wish to acquire him, tantalized by his no-hitter and hoping to have more Chicago players on your team next year. If you want to keep him next season, he will still cost the $8 I paid for him.
An argument can be made that releasing someone into the free agent pool should reset his value, since he clearly is no longer valued at his auction price. In fact, I made that argument when we were drawing up our constitution, but it was soundly rejected. You may have been napping at this point and don't recall the debate, but it did happen. You can always bring it up again if we have a convention after 5 years under the post-Little Village Agreement.
Free agency is not a means of laundering a player's market price, which was set at the auction.
Case 1: I picked up Ben Zobrist this year as a true free agent. I can keep him next year, 2010, for $1. If I drop him before the season ends and you pick him up, Saud, you can keep him for 2010 for $1. Suppose, after keeping him in 2010 with my free agent slot, I cut him. Anyone can use him for the rest of 2010, but he must go back into the auction pool for 2011.
Case 2: Pete bought Webb for $23 in 2009. If you pick him up before the end of this season and want to keep him, you will have to spend $23 to do so. This would be the case even if Pete had acquired him at auction in 2008. The only way his value is reset is if no one keeps him and he is either:
a) won at auction in 2010 for a different price
b) passes through the auction with no bidders and enters the 2010 as a true free agent. Case 1 now applies to his future value.
Case 3: I hurl Carlos Zambrano, along with my computer and a stream of epithets, off my roof deck and into the free agent pool. Pete picks him up for one spot start, realizes he even sucks at that, and also cuts him. Whet then acquires him for a spot start in order to taunt me when he pitches a no hitter, because Whet has luck like that. He then cuts him, knowing he will return to being a black hole. You then wish to acquire him, tantalized by his no-hitter and hoping to have more Chicago players on your team next year. If you want to keep him next season, he will still cost the $8 I paid for him.
An argument can be made that releasing someone into the free agent pool should reset his value, since he clearly is no longer valued at his auction price. In fact, I made that argument when we were drawing up our constitution, but it was soundly rejected. You may have been napping at this point and don't recall the debate, but it did happen. You can always bring it up again if we have a convention after 5 years under the post-Little Village Agreement.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Hyde Park Diaspora Rules
Here are the results of our meeting at the Casa del Beatty. It's a good time to lay down some laws while we're still tight and have a few years of experimenting under our belt. This will set up a framework to prepare us for any future infusion of new people into the league. While we could continue to split hairs over particular issues, we all agreed that the league would be better served by simplicity and stability. To that end:
I. STATS
1. The 2008 stats are good stats, which we will keep for the next five years. If something truly aberrant/outrageous is happening, we can open up discussion of that particular stat.
2. Any change in stats or roster positions will not go into effect until a full season after the change has been proposed and accepted. (Ie, a rule change during or after the 2009 season will not go into effect until the 2011 season).
II. ROSTERS
1. Rosters will consist of 27 players, divided between 9 hitters, 9 pitchers, and 9 bench spots. Hitters are the regular spots in the lineup, with a Util slot instead of a pitcher/DH. Pitchers are divided between 3SP, 3RP, and 3P slots. Teams will have 2 DL slots as well.
III. AUCTION
1. Each owner will have a budget of $270 million dollars. For simplicity, this will be represented as $270. Upon winning the bid for a particular player, the owner will subtract the amount of the bid from $270.
i. Bid order is determined by the order of finish from the previous season.
ii. Passing is not allowed. Owners must put up a player for auction when it is their turn to pick.
iii. Owners will bid in whole dollar increments.
iv. Owners must fill all 27 positions through auction, thus they cannot bid an amount that, if it won, would leave them with less cash than needed to fill their remaining roster slots.
2. Any money left over at the end of the auction is vaporized. It is not saved. It cannot be rolled over to any future draft.
3. Auction money can be traded up to one year prior to, at the start of, and during the auction. Examples:
i. Halfway through the 2008 season, Owner A trades Eric Byrnes and a promise of $10 at the 2009 auction to Owner B for Chipper Jones. At the start of the 2009 auction, Owner A will have $260 and Owner B will have $280;
ii: In the 8th round of the 2008 draft, after winning A-Rod in the 1st round at $48, Owner A trades him to Owner B for $7 and Jimmy Rollins, who B won in the 2nd round for $42. $7 is added to Owner A's remaining cash and $7 is subtracted from B's remaining cash. Their cash is not re-adjusted to reflect the purchase price of the players they acquired, since this has already been subtracted from their cash and they now own the player.
iii. In 2008, Owners could not trade Eric Byrnes and $10 for the 2010 season.
4. There is a cap on trading of auction money. Owners may neither acquire or sell more than $30 in additional auction cash. The maximum with which an owner may go into a draft or spend during the draft is $300. The minimum with which an owner may enter the draft is $240. The minimum he must spend is $27.
IV. CONTRACTS/KEEPERS
1. At the end of each season, each owner shall have a maximum of FIVE (5) two-year options, whether new or partially-vested, on the players they acquired at auction.
i. Options are exercised at the value paid for the player at auction.
ii. Options may not be subdivided between players; a two-year option may not become two one-year options used on different players.
iii. Owners may not trade options.
iv. Owners do not have to exercise options.
2. The exercise of an option shall be determined on a year-to-year basis; two-years refers to the maximum length of the option, not to a mandate that it be exercised for a full two years. Eg. Owner A acquires Hanram for $40 in 2008. Before the 2009 draft, he decides to keep him at $40 for 2009 and exercises Year One of the option. Before the 2010 season, he may either keep Hanram for Year Two of the option at $40 or he may release him. Owners are under no obligation to keep players for two years.
3. The two year clock on an option is attached to the player, not to the owner. Trades do not reset the clock. In the previous example, if Owner A keeps Hanram with Year One of the option in 2009 and trades him in July to Owner B, B may keep Hanram for one more year in 2010. In 2011, regardless of how many trades he has moved through, Hanram, must return to the free agent pool for the draft auction.
4. Of the five options, a maximum of one may be used to keep a player who is acquired as a free agent after the auction has been completed for one additional year. Two days after the 2008 draft auction, Owner B picks up Joey Gathright from the free agent pool. At the end of the season, B may use one of his options to keep Gathright in 2009 for $1. In 2010, however, Gathright must return to the free agent pool for auction. Only one post-auction, free agent pickup may be kept.
V. FREE AGENCY COOKIE JAR
1. Owners wishing to acquire a player not yet in the Yahoo system shall notify the league of their intent to add the player and create a cookie jar on their roster by dropping a player (exclusive of the DL).
2. The Commissioner will order the player to fill the cookie jar with a listed free agent from the team of the unlisted player. The Commissioner will select the player who, in his opinion, is the most ridiculous or worthless player from the team. This player will stay in the jar and not be started or dropped until the intended free agent is added to the Yahoo list of players.
3. We will never have waivers.
VI. TRADE VETO POWERS
In order to preserve the tranquility of the league, protests of trades will be carried out in the following manner.
1. Upon a formal complaint through the Yahoo system to the Commissioner (ie, not crying over a beer at Rose's) the Commissioner shall call for a vote on the trade.
2. The parties involved (either trading partners and the plaintiff) and the Commissioner do not get a vote. Of the remaining votes, a simple majority to veto will veto the trade. The Commissioner may vote to break a tie, basing his vote on his assessment of the validity of the argument and the motives of those voting to veto. Refusal to vote/abstention shall be counted as a vote of approval.
VII. COURTESY
While we cannot legislate basic courtesy, this is a good time to state that we're all friends, we're all professionals, and we're all committed to a good and healthy league. To that end, take care to respond to trade offers, even if it is to push the reject button. If you're going to have an extended absence, make arrangements for a proxy/surrogate to manage your team in your absence.
(The original letter was sent March 15, 2008, immediately after our meeting on March 14)
I. STATS
1. The 2008 stats are good stats, which we will keep for the next five years. If something truly aberrant/outrageous is happening, we can open up discussion of that particular stat.
2. Any change in stats or roster positions will not go into effect until a full season after the change has been proposed and accepted. (Ie, a rule change during or after the 2009 season will not go into effect until the 2011 season).
II. ROSTERS
1. Rosters will consist of 27 players, divided between 9 hitters, 9 pitchers, and 9 bench spots. Hitters are the regular spots in the lineup, with a Util slot instead of a pitcher/DH. Pitchers are divided between 3SP, 3RP, and 3P slots. Teams will have 2 DL slots as well.
III. AUCTION
1. Each owner will have a budget of $270 million dollars. For simplicity, this will be represented as $270. Upon winning the bid for a particular player, the owner will subtract the amount of the bid from $270.
i. Bid order is determined by the order of finish from the previous season.
ii. Passing is not allowed. Owners must put up a player for auction when it is their turn to pick.
iii. Owners will bid in whole dollar increments.
iv. Owners must fill all 27 positions through auction, thus they cannot bid an amount that, if it won, would leave them with less cash than needed to fill their remaining roster slots.
2. Any money left over at the end of the auction is vaporized. It is not saved. It cannot be rolled over to any future draft.
3. Auction money can be traded up to one year prior to, at the start of, and during the auction. Examples:
i. Halfway through the 2008 season, Owner A trades Eric Byrnes and a promise of $10 at the 2009 auction to Owner B for Chipper Jones. At the start of the 2009 auction, Owner A will have $260 and Owner B will have $280;
ii: In the 8th round of the 2008 draft, after winning A-Rod in the 1st round at $48, Owner A trades him to Owner B for $7 and Jimmy Rollins, who B won in the 2nd round for $42. $7 is added to Owner A's remaining cash and $7 is subtracted from B's remaining cash. Their cash is not re-adjusted to reflect the purchase price of the players they acquired, since this has already been subtracted from their cash and they now own the player.
iii. In 2008, Owners could not trade Eric Byrnes and $10 for the 2010 season.
4. There is a cap on trading of auction money. Owners may neither acquire or sell more than $30 in additional auction cash. The maximum with which an owner may go into a draft or spend during the draft is $300. The minimum with which an owner may enter the draft is $240. The minimum he must spend is $27.
IV. CONTRACTS/KEEPERS
1. At the end of each season, each owner shall have a maximum of FIVE (5) two-year options, whether new or partially-vested, on the players they acquired at auction.
i. Options are exercised at the value paid for the player at auction.
ii. Options may not be subdivided between players; a two-year option may not become two one-year options used on different players.
iii. Owners may not trade options.
iv. Owners do not have to exercise options.
2. The exercise of an option shall be determined on a year-to-year basis; two-years refers to the maximum length of the option, not to a mandate that it be exercised for a full two years. Eg. Owner A acquires Hanram for $40 in 2008. Before the 2009 draft, he decides to keep him at $40 for 2009 and exercises Year One of the option. Before the 2010 season, he may either keep Hanram for Year Two of the option at $40 or he may release him. Owners are under no obligation to keep players for two years.
3. The two year clock on an option is attached to the player, not to the owner. Trades do not reset the clock. In the previous example, if Owner A keeps Hanram with Year One of the option in 2009 and trades him in July to Owner B, B may keep Hanram for one more year in 2010. In 2011, regardless of how many trades he has moved through, Hanram, must return to the free agent pool for the draft auction.
4. Of the five options, a maximum of one may be used to keep a player who is acquired as a free agent after the auction has been completed for one additional year. Two days after the 2008 draft auction, Owner B picks up Joey Gathright from the free agent pool. At the end of the season, B may use one of his options to keep Gathright in 2009 for $1. In 2010, however, Gathright must return to the free agent pool for auction. Only one post-auction, free agent pickup may be kept.
V. FREE AGENCY COOKIE JAR
1. Owners wishing to acquire a player not yet in the Yahoo system shall notify the league of their intent to add the player and create a cookie jar on their roster by dropping a player (exclusive of the DL).
2. The Commissioner will order the player to fill the cookie jar with a listed free agent from the team of the unlisted player. The Commissioner will select the player who, in his opinion, is the most ridiculous or worthless player from the team. This player will stay in the jar and not be started or dropped until the intended free agent is added to the Yahoo list of players.
3. We will never have waivers.
VI. TRADE VETO POWERS
In order to preserve the tranquility of the league, protests of trades will be carried out in the following manner.
1. Upon a formal complaint through the Yahoo system to the Commissioner (ie, not crying over a beer at Rose's) the Commissioner shall call for a vote on the trade.
2. The parties involved (either trading partners and the plaintiff) and the Commissioner do not get a vote. Of the remaining votes, a simple majority to veto will veto the trade. The Commissioner may vote to break a tie, basing his vote on his assessment of the validity of the argument and the motives of those voting to veto. Refusal to vote/abstention shall be counted as a vote of approval.
VII. COURTESY
While we cannot legislate basic courtesy, this is a good time to state that we're all friends, we're all professionals, and we're all committed to a good and healthy league. To that end, take care to respond to trade offers, even if it is to push the reject button. If you're going to have an extended absence, make arrangements for a proxy/surrogate to manage your team in your absence.
(The original letter was sent March 15, 2008, immediately after our meeting on March 14)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
taking the next step
ok, so we nailed down that we're not doing keepers. let's now turn our considerable attentions to the issues of A) how the auction system will inform the new keepers. B) stats. once we've finally decided this shit, we can just sit down and actually, you know, like, do fantasy baseball.
in re the new keeper regime, i'm going to throw on the table what i feel like are the obvious, sort of in the air plans. please comment and let me know if you see an omission.
1) contracts system of some kind.
2) a straight keep, i.e., just tag X dudes and get to keep them no questions asked.
3) a discount system. you guys know my opinion of this.
i'm partial to a contracts system; it's pretty easy to keep track of, facilitates the trading of auction dollars plus future stars with a contract in exchange for right-now help (one of my favorite kinds of trades).
i think a straight keep would work, although it would kind of undermine the whole point of an auction; unless it somehow expired, everbody could just salt away X dudes permanently. i like the contracts system we have in my NYC league.
Four one-year deals (meaning someone you bid on in 2008 is locked in for 2009)
Two two-year deals. (same as above 'cept through 2010)
Contract value = purchase price of player + 10%. In the case of 2 yr dudes, it's last year's salary + 10%.
Obviously, every year you get the same # of contracts, which means that the two-years from last year will be held over, and you'll truly have 8 contracts each year.
Now, the fine print: You have to name two contracts RIGHT AWAY after the auction. this is a fun wrinkle -- it results in hedged bets like my John Danks contract from last year, fully intending to not use him all year but hoping he'd be league average by 2008. The rest are announced before the next year's auction.
Minimum contract is $5 -- anybody priced below that escalates to $5. Otherwise a $1 pickup of someone like russell martin is just an insaaaaane advantage.
Contracts are tradeable, there's no limit on how many you can acquire, other than roster size (25 or so, presumably). also it helps to cap the amount of auction cash someone can deal in one season -- $25 is our cap, just so no one totally fucks themselves for the next season.
No contracting of players not auctioned. E.g., no fausto carmona -- if you were lucky enough to snag them off the waiver wire, you got your reward already.
The total sal cap btw is $260, standard issue. I welcome response.
in re the new keeper regime, i'm going to throw on the table what i feel like are the obvious, sort of in the air plans. please comment and let me know if you see an omission.
1) contracts system of some kind.
2) a straight keep, i.e., just tag X dudes and get to keep them no questions asked.
3) a discount system. you guys know my opinion of this.
i'm partial to a contracts system; it's pretty easy to keep track of, facilitates the trading of auction dollars plus future stars with a contract in exchange for right-now help (one of my favorite kinds of trades).
i think a straight keep would work, although it would kind of undermine the whole point of an auction; unless it somehow expired, everbody could just salt away X dudes permanently. i like the contracts system we have in my NYC league.
Four one-year deals (meaning someone you bid on in 2008 is locked in for 2009)
Two two-year deals. (same as above 'cept through 2010)
Contract value = purchase price of player + 10%. In the case of 2 yr dudes, it's last year's salary + 10%.
Obviously, every year you get the same # of contracts, which means that the two-years from last year will be held over, and you'll truly have 8 contracts each year.
Now, the fine print: You have to name two contracts RIGHT AWAY after the auction. this is a fun wrinkle -- it results in hedged bets like my John Danks contract from last year, fully intending to not use him all year but hoping he'd be league average by 2008. The rest are announced before the next year's auction.
Minimum contract is $5 -- anybody priced below that escalates to $5. Otherwise a $1 pickup of someone like russell martin is just an insaaaaane advantage.
Contracts are tradeable, there's no limit on how many you can acquire, other than roster size (25 or so, presumably). also it helps to cap the amount of auction cash someone can deal in one season -- $25 is our cap, just so no one totally fucks themselves for the next season.
No contracting of players not auctioned. E.g., no fausto carmona -- if you were lucky enough to snag them off the waiver wire, you got your reward already.
The total sal cap btw is $260, standard issue. I welcome response.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Berman
This surely must have been posted to one of our league boards, but I don't remember seeing it.
http://sharpshooters.blogspot.com
Scroll down toward the bottom, "Berman Loses His Shit"
http://sharpshooters.blogspot.com
Scroll down toward the bottom, "Berman Loses His Shit"
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
keepers issue
two questions:
1) do we keep keepers (there's certainly a better way to say that) or blow everything up?
2) if we DO maintain keepers, do they stay outside the auction, or do we take last year's ESPN valuation as the 'price' for keeping them?
3) how many keepers.
that was three questions, i guess.
1) do we keep keepers (there's certainly a better way to say that) or blow everything up?
2) if we DO maintain keepers, do they stay outside the auction, or do we take last year's ESPN valuation as the 'price' for keeping them?
3) how many keepers.
that was three questions, i guess.
Monday, February 04, 2008
crickets chirping
come on, everyone. i've got new spreadsheets brewing. i even fixed the ones that indicated spending $18 on adam dunn might be a good idea.
what's the auction budget going to be, btw?
what's the auction budget going to be, btw?
Sunday, February 03, 2008
logistics
1) do we have a firm date for the draft? i'd like to buy tickets earlier rather than later.
2) are stats finalized? with an auction, i feel like sort of
winging it (like i have in years past (might be a disastrous strategy this year. hence the need to start preparations early. let's get this started...
3) what podcasts does everyone on the board listen to? with 40 minutes of commute time per way, i'm in the market for new suggestions.
2) are stats finalized? with an auction, i feel like sort of
winging it (like i have in years past (might be a disastrous strategy this year. hence the need to start preparations early. let's get this started...
3) what podcasts does everyone on the board listen to? with 40 minutes of commute time per way, i'm in the market for new suggestions.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
breaking: twins trade johan santana to sam gill
"no, guys, you don't get it - if you ADD UP their strikeoutss all together, it makes up for Santana's production. it's a fair trade!"
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Rebranding Lithuania
I don't think my ideas or commentary are brilliant, but I wrote some blog posts about an attempt to rebrand Lithuania to make it more relevant in the contemporary world. You guys might find it interesting. It's all over at www.lithchat.com
Thursday, January 24, 2008
i just want to point out that i drive by heath ledger's (former) apt every day on my way to work. it's all well and good that he got nominated for an oscar and had a kid with michelle williams, but you still have to rent an apartment on the noisiest street south of houston - a 4 lane approach to the holland tunnel.
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