Like I said, not going to go through and redo the links here, but the article is here:
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20+ Totally Free Fantasy Baseball Tools for 2008 Draft PreparationFanGraphs - a fascinating website for stat geeks with right brain leanings. If the difference between a SLG of .350 and .432 is hard for you to picture, let FanGraphs draw one for you. Does your 50 lb. copy of Baseball Prospectus tell you that someone's career may resemble Ray Lankford? Take a peek at FanGraphs to see what Ray Lankford's career arch looked like - and maybe, if you are wondering about players named Curtis, what Ray Lankford did at age 27.
ZiPS Projections - The Baseball Think Factory also provides stats projections to FanGraphs and have a whole lot more than numbers to offer on its site. BTF folks are not casual Yahoo leaguers. They study sabermetrics and economics. These are the guys playing Diamond Mind in their basements. Their projections were the best free ones out there in 2007 according to this article at Baseball Prospectus Unfiltered. Keep an eye as well on BTF's Transaction Oracle for heads-ups on signings and promotions.
Marcel Projections - Also used on FanGraphs.com, Marcel projections are interesting in that they use much less data than all the others on out there (including those here) but as far as accuracy, according to Baseball Prospectus, generally did pretty darn well nonetheless in 2007, coming in fourth.
Chone Projections - Chone provides player stats projections to FanGraphs as well. But Chone's projections go beyond offense and pitching to defense. Came in on that BP list below Marcel but still above some premium services
RotoAuthority Projections - Tim Dierkes is the RotoAuthority, the mind behind the gold standard of free fantasy baseball blogs, and he also runs MLBTradeRumors, the best independent website on the Internet at its stated mission - gathering all the trade whispers from around baseball. Even Peter Gammons reads Tim's work. His contribution is among the biggest among those giving it away pretty much for free - don't let the ugly websites fool you. This year he's giving his projections away for free while asking that you bring him five new readers. Hopefully this post brings him at least that many.
ESPN Projections - You've probably seen these, but worth including here considering they were the third most accurate in 2007 according to that BP article.
Rotowire Projections - Usually these are a paid-for option, but right now it seems you can click through here to get an Excel spreadsheet.
Thomas George's Dollar Value Calculator - TG Fantasy Baseball is a great destination all year 'round for player news and depth charts, but this tool is a particularly good example of TG's work. TG is also affiliated with a paid service called RotoUmpire.com for resolving league disputes.
Thomas George's Downloadable MLB stats - Also from TG but worthy of a separate mention, you can download the actual 2001-2007 MLB player stats in Excel, Word and even PDF formats - great if you prefer to skip expert projections and crunch numbers on your own.
Sports Fanatics' Tier Ratings - For those who find dollar values and even draft ranks dizzying, Mike Inglett provides a simplified approach - a tiered perspective on who to choose when for standard Roto setups. Some may find this oversimplified. Others could argue that nitpicky dollar values are arbitrary when you look at say, 2007 results vs. projections. No one had A-Rod going first.
MLBFrontOffice's The Board - Another simplified look at your options, in the form of a GM-style Big Board. You've seen versions of this concept elsewhere, but this time it's coming from someone who isn't fat, overrated and working for Yahoo. In fact, MLBFrontOffice seems quite competent overall. And I'd guess slimmer.
Mock Draft Central's Expert Draft Results - See who the so-called experts chose in a mid-January draft - the next one is at the end of this month. I wonder how many of them picked A-Rod first LAST year?
FantasyAuctioneer.com's Average Auction Values - If you take the term experts with a grain of salt, here's who the larger fantasy community is picking. Probably shouldn't use this as your draft cheat sheet, but a great way to know what the "market" thinks.
MVN.com's Roster Magazine's Fantasy Kit - This one doesn't even debut until February 26, but given the brand's track record of quality content, I'd bet it will be darn good. They're using a free fantasy baseball prep kit as a means to launch the e-magazine. Looking forward to it.
The Inside Pitch's Closer Watch - You might think this one is best for once the season begins, but usually closers are still shifting around the day you're drafting. Don't let the low-budget looking website fool you - the info is usually pretty accurate and frequently updated.
Baseball Insights - An impressive array of tools are available after a 15-second account registration process, from player values to stats, to news. Although it doesn't have a single downloadable file encompassing all of its player projections, it does pair individually searchable projections with news - so it might be a good place to double-check right before you hit the draft button in case of late-breaking injuries, etc.
Sports Grumblings' Fantasy Forecast ® Projections - Sports Grumblings' projections are nice in that they are customizable for mixed or NL/AL only leagues. Plus there's use of the word proprietary, a nifty ® sign and a mention of a "top-secret methodology." That's like real bits of panther, so you KNOW it's good.
TheRotoFeed.com - C'mon, you had to be expecting a plug at some point. In addition to our own free projections, The RotoFeed makes staying up to date with fantasy baseball from now until draft and throughout the season a breeze by combining every decent fantasy baseball blog into one RSS feed. Plus we complied this great article. So show us some love and Digg us, or Ballhype us, or Yardbark us, or something!
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by bigpoppalip » Sun Feb 24, 2008 2:49 pm 
