I am considering biting the bullet and getting the BP online membership and wanted to try to get some opionions as to whether or not it's worth the money. I play in one league w/ friends (12 team 13x13 cat H2H) and one online league w/ folks I don't know (10 team 5x5 H2H) but am also very interested in baseball in general, statistics, predictions and all that sort of stuff. I have browsed through the free stuff on the BP website and it looks very interesting but, I am also a tightwad and generally do math on this level with the formula "$x/10= cases of beer, will this be as much fun as that many cases of beer?"
i've got it..and it's a pretty good deal for the amount of information you'll be getting for the next year! it's not really geared towards hardcore fantasy fanatics, though it helps...i like it because of all the analysis, it's just a different way of looking at baseball, and the guys are decent enough writers...they do a good job of keeping up on prospects and stuff like that, which is interesting too...you will learn something
SHOCKandAWE wrote:What is there that you cant get at the cafe for free by just asking someone?
that is the $64 question!!
It DOES look like there are lots of articles w/ some potential to be highly entertaining, if the 'samples' are any indication but I suspect that if an article came out there, that revealed that [caution: next statement is NOT true, I am pulling it out of uh, my wazoo...] 'guys who swing at the 3rd pitch have OPS 57.5 points higher than all other players combined' w/ a list of the players and links to the stats and all that, somebody would be very likely to bring the topic up here anyway (w/ links to other stuff refuting the contention, or at least explaining 'that's nice, but it doesn't REALLY matter because...').
Still, our money league appears likely to 'punt' on shelling out for the 'bonus' features in Yahoo Deluxe so...I could maintain the current level of beer consumption and reinvest THAT $$$ into BP, just for fun. Unfortunately, I am moving to a new position at work which will not afford NEARLY as much time for browsing around..,
SHOCKandAWE wrote:What is there that you cant get at the cafe for free by just asking someone?
Sometimes you have to sift through hours of repetitive Cafe ramble to find a great post or an interesting argument. Maybe employing individuals with stellar academic credentials and as much devotion to baseball as anyone out there could help you cut to the chase a little more directly?
SHOCKandAWE wrote:What is there that you cant get at the cafe for free by just asking someone?
Sometimes you have to sift through hours of repetitive Cafe ramble to find a great post or an interesting argument. Maybe employing individuals with stellar academic credentials and as much devotion to baseball as anyone out there could help you cut to the chase a little more directly?
One thing i find is that the favorites works great.
SHOCKandAWE wrote:What is there that you cant get at the cafe for free by just asking someone?
Sometimes you have to sift through hours of repetitive Cafe ramble to find a great post or an interesting argument. Maybe employing individuals with stellar academic credentials and as much devotion to baseball as anyone out there could help you cut to the chase a little more directly?
[sarcasm]Hey! I'm not that repetitive! I don't say the same thing over and over and over. It's not like I re-post my posts just to build up more posts. To reiterate: I'm not that repetitive.[/sarcasm]
More seriously, I've been considering joining BP myself. It's not so much for a fantasy baseball edge, but because I've really enjoyed what they have to say about baseball. Insightful, informative, well written articles on a topic I love is worth paying for. I can get a lot of the news I need from blogs, but I still subscribe to The Economist and read the NYT.
Look at it this way: A pair of fantasy mags are gonna cost you $15. BP Fantasy will cost you just more than that. I've found their predictions very accurate, and easily worth the money (especially if you want to set up a team on their Team Manager just to watch players; they have sabermetric stats available to watch, too).
If you're looking at BP Premium, it's worth it if you're a real baseball nut, not just a fantasy nut. Their articles are useful for fantasy nuts, but they're really more of an in-depth look at baseball, not the fantasy game. For example, they've got a new column, "Crooked Numbers," which has examined batting order and park factor fluctuations, so far. As it turns out, traditional batting order wisdom is correct, for the most part (high-OBP/low-SLG guys at the front, high-SLG/low-OBP guys in the middle), though Bonds should hit at the front. And, they've been trying to figure out some new ways to predict park factor fluctuations: Just look at the factors Coors has had, lately, and note how much they change!
I'm glad I shelled out the $40 for it, personally.
Your wisemen don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick...
quietstorm wrote:Are you considering Premium or Fantasy?
Look at it this way: A pair of fantasy mags are gonna cost you $15. BP Fantasy will cost you just more than that. I've found their predictions very accurate, and easily worth the money (especially if you want to set up a team on their Team Manager just to watch players; they have sabermetric stats available to watch, too).
If you're looking at BP Premium, it's worth it if you're a real baseball nut, not just a fantasy nut. Their articles are useful for fantasy nuts, but they're really more of an in-depth look at baseball, not the fantasy game. For example, they've got a new column, "Crooked Numbers," which has examined batting order and park factor fluctuations, so far. As it turns out, traditional batting order wisdom is correct, for the most part (high-OBP/low-SLG guys at the front, high-SLG/low-OBP guys in the middle), though Bonds should hit at the front. And, they've been trying to figure out some new ways to predict park factor fluctuations: Just look at the factors Coors has had, lately, and note how much they change!
I'm glad I shelled out the $40 for it, personally.
Thanks for the review, I'm leaning that way myself but still will go back and forth so I'll bump this up if it drops. That's the sort of answers I was looking for. I'm not really sure if I 'need' either one but I kind of WANT both of them, just for fun.
Cafe Home
Fantasy Football
Fantasy Basketball
Fantasy Hockey
by AcidRock23 » Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:54 am 
