Lord Zola and his merry band discuss why there is a LABR and why there is a Tout Wars, and the ways both leagues of so-called experts can better serve their followers. Follow the fun at KFFL.com.
Month: February 2013
Announcing the new Tout Wars Mixed Draft league!
On March 11th Tout Wars Mixed Draft will launch its inaugural season with an online windshield wiper draft. The league will play with the same rules as Tout Mixed Auction, apart from the method of player acquisition.
Follow the draft here at toutwars.com in the live blog and via live spreadsheet. (Links coming.) And the races all season long on this website and following the links to onRoto.com.
For the roster of excellent owners and the draft order visit the TOUTS Page here at Toutwars.com.
Lord Zola’s Knights Take on Tout Wars Mixed’s New OBP Rule
The merry band (and Rotoman) joust about improving the fantasy game, aggressively, passively, or just right, pleasing the average fantasy player, and incorporating better metrics, at KFFL.
Derek Carty says, Not so fast!
Rotoman agrees with Derek, and thinks he’s wrong.
In a group email list among Tout Warriors, a spirited discussion breaks out. Steve Gardner’s story in USA Today does a good job of explaining some of the issues involved.
Rotoman takes a look at what hitters would gain most in value by the change to OBP.
Tristan Cockcroft doesn’t mention Tout Wars, but he does propose changing the roto categories. His idea? 6×6 roto, with OBP and SLG replacing BA, IP and K/9 replacing Strikeouts, and Quality Starts replacing Wins. You can disagree and appreciate his thoughtfulness on the subject.
In a story that may be behind the paywall at Rotowire, Jason Collette looks at the game’s declining Batting Averages in recent years, and the fantasy implications. In the comments a spirited discussion breaks out about the pros and cons of replacing BA with OBP. In sum, lots of support for the idea of it. Some skepticism about the receptiveness of the general fantasy public to the change.
Announcing the 2013 Tout Wars Auction League Lineups!
Who is playing in 2013?
Visit The Players to find out.
2013 Rule Changes in Tout Wars
Two rules are being changed in Tout Wars this year:
1) The threshold below which the FAAB Bidding is not treated using the Vickrey rules (winning bid is reduced to $1 more than the second-highest bid) has been reduced from $10 to $5.
2) In Mixed League only this year, the BA (batting average) hitting category is being changed to OBP (on-base percentage).
The general consensus is that Vickrey is a good thing when there is real competition for a player, but in the week-to-week FAAB contests too often one team will really value a player and no one else will. Reducing the price down to $1 is like a gift to those teams. The $10 threshold has worked well to force thoughtful bids, but it is the goal to find the best balance, and so we’re trying $5 this year. If there are no other bids than the winning bid of more than $5, the winning bid will be reduced to $5.
Sabermetrics tells us that a walk is nearly as good as a hit, and many leagues are using OBP rather than BA because it values the base on balls. One of Tout Wars’ mission is to adopt new rules that improve the game. The member of the LLC have all played with OBP as a category for 10 years now in the XFL, and can honestly say: Try it, you’ll like it!