Category: About Tout Wars

A Rules Clarification…

Following some questions, we’ve changed the language in the Constitution to reflect the idea that:

A player is eligible at all positions he played 15 or more games at in the major leagues. If the only position he played 15 or more games was DH, he’s DH/Util eligible only for the draft.

If a player didn’t appear at any major league position at least 15 or more times, he’s then eligible at the single position other than DH he played most at all levels he played the year before combined, unless he didn’t play 15 or more games at any other fielding position. In which case he’ll be DH/Util eligible only for the draft.

The Roster Changes…

With one week until the draft, Joe Sheehan withdrew from this year’s Tout Wars AL, setting in motion a series of changes.

1) Chris Liss moves from the NL to the AL.

2) Derek Carty moves from the Mixed to the NL.

3) Zach Steinhorn, of mlb.com and mastersball.com, joins the Mixed league.

For a complete list of who is playing where, visit the Players page.

SiriusXM to Broadcast Tout Auctions

SiriusXM will cover all three Tout Wars drafts live, from the first bid to the last tout reaction, and will also host a Q+A session with the touts at 2pm on Saturday.

Showtimes:

AL=March 24, 2012, 9am EDT
MIX=March 24, 2012, 3pm EDT
NL=March 25, 2012, 10am EDT

Q+A with the touts=March 24, 2012, 2pm EDT

Fantasyland’s Sixth Anniversary

My how time flies. Six years ago a college student who had never played auction-style rotisserie read Sam Walker’s book about Tout Wars. Today he’s a fantasy baseball columnist for the New York Daily News.

TOUT MIXED: Exit Swingman

Following discussion last week the Tout Wars LLC decided to not implement the Swingman rule in Tout Mixed. For the first time, AL/NL and Mixed have different rules. The following email was sent to Tout Mixed players:

“Hi guys,

Lord Zola convened his knights at Mastersball this past week to discuss the Swingman rule, and there was a definite difference of opinion about the worthiness of the experiment in the AL/NL leagues and the Mixed league.

The reasons for trying the Swingman experiment in the AL/NL leagues are organic. Major league roster composition has changed since the 13/9 rosters were adoped originally, but the reason we added the Swingman to the Mixed league was because we’ve always had the same rules in all three leagues.

After reflection and discussion, we’ve decided to drop the Swingman from the Mixed league this year. While simplicity is a goal, avoiding divergent rules is not if they don’t address similar issues.

Thanks for your feedback on this. If you really liked the idea of the Swingman in Mixed, let us know and we’ll consider it for the future.

See you next month!
Peter, Ron, Lawr, Jeff”

Mastersball Knights Joust on Swingman

Lord Zola, he of mastersball.com, convenes an assembly of his knights to discuss the new Tout Wars’ Swingman rule. Joined by Tout LLC member Peter Kreutzer, as visiting wizard, and including Tout LLC knight Lawr Michaels. Read the Grail here.

Do you think Tout Wars’ has a role as an innovator? Or do you think it should follow, not lead, general fantasy baseball trends? There’s room in the comments below to discuss.

TOUT WARS MIXED 2012: The Lineup

This year’s Tout Wars Mixed slate, in order of first round of reserve picks. The number after their names is the amount of FAAB money they start with this year. # indicates a TW Mixed rookie.

Fred Zinkie (100)

Nicholas Minnix (100)

Tim Heaney (100)

Nando DiFino (100)

Gene McCaffrey (100)

Eric Mack (100)

David Gonos (99)

Derek Carty (90)

Scott Swanay (72)

Cory Schwartz (79)#

Seth Trachtman (62)

Paul Singman (100)#

Patrick Davitt (100)#

Ray Flowers (100)#

Derek Van Riper (100)#

Draft Day is March 24th, at about 3:00 pm. For more details, follow us at toutwars.com and #toutwars.

2012 Rules Changes in Tout: Swingman Baby!

We’ve always looked at Tout Wars as an incubator for new ideas about how to play fantasy baseball. The game is a living thing, and we take seriously a responsibility to try out new rules that we think have an opportunity to be of use in other leagues.

After a far ranging rules talk among league participants by email and on this website last fall, we decided this year to clarify some previously enacted rules and introduce one significant new wrinkle: The Swingman. Continue reading “2012 Rules Changes in Tout: Swingman Baby!”