Tips for a Rookie Commish?

[HeyArnold]

I'm not new to fantasy baseball, but I am new to being the commissioner of a league. I'll be running a casually competitive 16 team keeper league for the members of various Broncos and Rockies message boards. I have an idea of the skeleton of the league, but I'd like to get some opinions on how I should make the rules and settings. The league will be on ESPN.com, so it has to be within the site's limitations. Basically any advice you have for a rookie commish is appreciated.

Here's the basics:

• 16 teams
• Al and NL
• 5X5 scoring
• Keeper League (undecided on number of keepers)
• Auction draft
• Head-to-head weekly matchups
• 6 teams make the postseason

I think that's the skeleton of the league, but I could be forgetting something. Any advice is appreciated as I am trying to make this league as good and competitive as it can be. I'm sure I left you guys with some questions too, so go ahead and ask me anything I forgot to put.

-HeyArnold

[Curtis Pride]

Get a second person who has the commissioner buttons. This will ensure that if any shady comes up there's another person you can turn to and who has their eyes on you to make sure you aren't screwing with things.

Additionally make everything open to debate regarding the settings before hand. However, in order to make it so the league never moves forward and everything is questioned...

...Produce what you think the settings should be. Then leave an open period for people to question the settings.

From there you can narrow it down to about 6 or 7 major topics (how should trade vetoes happen? What should the waiver process be? How many keepers should there be? How long can you keep people? What should be the penalty for keepers, etc)

And then from there, make it majority rules where you list 3 or 4 options and the most votes win.

Anything where you just post "my league; my rules" will alienate people. You still have some control over what gets voted on and what are the voted options.

[HeyArnold]

Love the response, Curtis Pride.

I guess I didn't mention it but I did intend on putting many subjects to vote. I just got finished commissioning a fantasy football league for the first time, and went about it the same way. I agree that there are many positives in having things put to vote.

I hadn't considered a second commissioner and I think its a great idea. The last thing I need is 15 people against me in a misunderstanding or something. I will hand those out to the person I think is most fitting.

Thanks for the tips and the reassurance on the democracy style league settings.

-HeyArnold

[fast dogs]

Start out with smaller # of keepers
Decide before this season starts how next years draft order will be determined.
Have you ever done a 16 team auction? I think you are looking at 7 hours minimum and probably considerably more. Auction+ rookie commish= oh my my. trying to get 16 people to all have the same 7-8 hours available may never have happened in the history of fantasy auctions

[HeyArnold]

Start out with smaller # of keepers
Decide before this season starts how next years draft order will be determined.
Have you ever done a 16 team auction? I think you are looking at 7 hours minimum and probably considerably more. Auction+ rookie commish= oh my my. trying to get 16 people to all have the same 7-8 hours available may never have happened in the history of fantasy auctions

Draft order - I was considering giving picks 1-8 to the people who finished 9-16 and picks 9-16 to the people who finished 8-1 (9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1). This gives a little incentive to the players who will not make the postseason to continue trying to finish strong. Obviously, in an auction it may not matter as much, but still.

I honestly hadn't considered the time of the draft. 7-8 hours is harsh. Does anyone know if ESPN allows you to split the draft into two days? I know there's a break midway, but that's not the same. Thanks for bringing that up.

Any solutions you have in mind? I really prefer auction style drafts and would rather not do a snake draft. Shoot.

-HeyArnold

[bigmck]

One problem that is sure to come up is "Streaming of Pitchers". You need to come up with some rule to limit the number of moves for pitchers. Streaming can destroy a league.

[DaC0MMISH]

First of all....Good luck with it. It is a lot of work, but there is nothing like seeing the thing grow. With that said for the first year keep it simple but competative. I did notice you said 6 teams in the playoffs. Are you sure you want a team on Bye for a week in the second round? You may want to consider eight teams in the postseason that way everyone is playing. Again...Best of Luck and hope all goes well.

[fast dogs]

I honestly hadn't considered the time of the draft. 7-8 hours is harsh. Does anyone know if ESPN allows you to split the draft into two days? I know there's a break midway, but that's not the same. Thanks for bringing that up.

Any solutions you have in mind? I really prefer auction style drafts and would rather not do a snake draft. Shoot.

-HeyArnold

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if you really want to do an auction, you could always do like several of the leagues on the Cafe are doing right now & offer up a number of players per day & have everyone bid on them on a daily basis. You'd certainly be looking at a long drawn out process but at least everyone wouldn't have to be there at a specific time for a day or 2. You can just loook at the slow auctions here to get an idea of how it works

[bigmck]

I honestly hadn't considered the time of the draft. 7-8 hours is harsh. Does anyone know if ESPN allows you to split the draft into two days? I know there's a break midway, but that's not the same. Thanks for bringing that up.

Any solutions you have in mind? I really prefer auction style drafts and would rather not do a snake draft. Shoot.

-HeyArnold

Last year I was in a league with guys from all over the USA. We did an Auction over the computer in about 4-5 Hours. Everyone kept 8 players so we each had to get 15 players with 12 Owners. We used CBS Sports stat service. They have an Auction Room where everyone can see what is happening and what the bid is and all can bid on the players at the same time. It really works good. The fee is $150 per league but you divide that by 10 or 12 owners and it is not not much at all.

[HeyArnold]

One problem that is sure to come up is "Streaming of Pitchers". You need to come up with some rule to limit the number of moves for pitchers. Streaming can destroy a league.

There will definitely be a limit on pitchers per week. Not really sure about putting a limit on the number of moves for a pitcher, but putting a limit for starters per week can allow a small amount of streaming without allowing a player to overdo it and ruin the league. Right?

First of all....Good luck with it. It is a lot of work, but there is nothing like seeing the thing grow. With that said for the first year keep it simple but competative. I did notice you said 6 teams in the playoffs. Are you sure you want a team on Bye for a week in the second round? You may want to consider eight teams in the postseason that way everyone is playing. Again...Best of Luck and hope all goes well.

This will be put to vote by the league. I like having 6 because that means the absolute best teams are going to make it. 8 would keep more people involved late in the season and may be the way to go. I'll let the league decide this. 6 teams is only the initial setting. Thanks for the well wishes, by the way.

if you really want to do an auction, you could always do like several of the leagues on the Cafe are doing right now & offer up a number of players per day & have everyone bid on them on a daily basis. You'd certainly be looking at a long drawn out process but at least everyone wouldn't have to be there at a specific time for a day or 2. You can just loook at the slow auctions here to get an idea of how it works

I did see that yesterday. I would be interested in doing that if it were a smaller league, but I think only 8-10 people would be willing enough to do this. As I said, it is a casually competitive league. So, as it is competitive and the owners are held to a high standard, it still isn't that devoted in my opinion. I just don't want it to unravel after so many rounds and ultimately ruin the draft/league. Plus, it seems to me it wouldn't have quite the same excitement as a live draft would. In a live draft you have a clock ticking on you and need to make quick decisions. Although it would be long, I'd like to have that factor in the draft.

Last year I was in a league with guys from all over the USA. We did an Auction over the computer in about 4-5 Hours. Everyone kept 8 players so we each had to get 15 players with 12 Owners. We used CBS Sports stat service. They have an Auction Room where everyone can see what is happening and what the bid is and all can bid on the players at the same time. It really works good. The fee is $150 per league but you divide that by 10 or 12 owners and it is not not much at all.

Do you know if there is an option for drafting multiple days? It sounds similar to ESPN.com's auction draft and is probably an upgrade overall but I'm not sure I would make the jump to a league with fees unless it had that. If we can split our draft into two or three days while keeping it a live auction draft, that would be perfect.

Thanks for all the help and advice guys. I really do appreciate it and if you have any more to add, please do so.

-IHSD