Rant against stupid league settings

[LBJackal]

It's hard enough for people to agree on fantasy value with basic 5x5 scoring, that obviously anybody using all those over-lapping and meaningless categories is doing it just for fun and isn't seriously thinking about strategy.

And as for the referance to a guy hitting HR not having enough of an impact, you're not referring to 5x5 are you? Because a HR helps a hell of a lot more than a single. You get help in BA, HR, RBI, and R guaranteed. A single probably just helps BA and once in a while R and/or RBI and/or SB.

[Guest]

Yahoo is full of idiots doing 20x20 leagues.

That's why Yahoo sucks

[LBJackal]

Private leagues in which you know all of the owners are the only way to go, unless you join a pay site.

[Angels02and04]

This is my second year being a commish of a league. I was designated one because I was the only one of my group of friends to organize it. The league is all friends minus 2 people I needed to fill out the league. Some people left my league because they were bitching about a couple categories. I would love input because I am trying to learn from mistakes last year and make this league as good as possible. I don't want to change some things because my group of friends like the way it is for the most part. For example, last year was my first year doing fantasy baseball and I set the minimum innings pitched to 9 which was a MAJOR MAJOR mistake. It absoelutely made your SP useless all you needed was 1 stud. This year I am thinking of making it 18 IP. What is a good number? I have 4 SP spots on the roster. I might make it 21, I want it so you could pitch 2 starters and get some innings with your relievers, but you would run the risk of not reaching your requirement. Otherwise you would be forced to use 3 of the SPs. I really want the 4th SP to be a spot starter type.

Also I have Caught Stealing, because I think that if you're going to have Stolen Bases its only fair to have caught stealing. It's risk reward. This makes Carlos Beltran very very valuable in my league. I also like CG, this way say a guy takes a guy like Pedro. He will guarantee you a sub 3 ERA with 200 Ks, but he will not get you CGs. This allows a guy to take a Mulder or Colon in the middle of the draft and he adds value to your team. This allows you to draft very valuable players later in the draft.

[LBJackal]

CG's are good, and if you have enough stats like CG, W, K, etc, then people would be stupid not to have starters pitching. I don't usually do H2H, but I don't recall having IP minimums.

I think you're trying to control how people manage their teams too much. Don't make it so everybody should have 3 starters with a 4th who spot starts in favourable matchups. Make some rules which are fair for everybody, and if they want to punt W, CG, and K for a better chance at ERA and WHIP, then let them.

I like the idea of using % categories like SB% and K/9 or K/BB as well. It would make efficient players like closers and stud setup men very valuable, and marginal starters probably wouldn't be selected at all. So you could do:

BA, OBP, SLG, SB%, RC/9 and W/L%, K/9, ERA, WHIP, SV%

That would be interesting and different than most leagues. Bad baseball players would lose their value, since you'd be judging by quality not quantity. An IP minimum would be neccesary if it's H2H or else you could just ahve a couple relievers who get a win and a save, with low or zero ERA/WHIP.

Personally, I like the conventional 5x5 or 6x6 with BB and Holds. But you said your league likes the different settings, so combining the two types isn't a bad idea.

Most of that post was thinking out loud, but hopefully some of it was helpful

[Angels02and04]

Thanks it is much appreciated. HAHA I'm not trying to control them whenever I take a category out I get emails yelling at me. I've learned everyone won't be satisfied so I just do what I think is rational. I try to take people's input into major account though. As far as conceding categories I agree...Unless you get Prior pretty much you won't get a guy who is strong in ERA, WHIP, Ks, CG, SHO...I did K/9 and K/BB last year and liked it because I had Gagne, but I don't know if everyone else liked that! lol. I think I will put those in again, just because it was fun.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Angels 02 and 04 - may I just give you a bit of advice?

Simply play a standard 5x5 league with your friends. Duke it out the original way for a year and then next yr begin to make SUBTLE changes if they are needed. Once you and your friends become more experienced you can recognize where and how you need to tweak things. The problem is it seems as though you arent 100% aware how your extra cats and changes dramatically affects the league - everything from actual outcome to the enjoyment of the other owners. 5x5 is the stadard for a reason.

Please dont take this the wrong way.

[Angels02and04]

My friends shot that down right away. I don't like the 5x5 for a couple reasons. I was 2B, 3Bs, and TB in my league. Also for pitching I like to have the K/9 and K/BB ratios, but what I might do is just start with the 5x5 and add things from there that I really want. I didn't take it the wrong way, but what I'm doing is taking what we did last year and subtracting what didn't work. So what I'm doing is what you said just the other way .

[wkelly91]

I joined a Yahoo league last year and the guy had intentional walks as a category

Fortunatly we bitched and he changed it.