CT Fantasy Baseball - Interested?

[Quincy Varnish]

I think you’ll find it easier next year, now that you’re more accustomed to the format.

Maybe. I will still grind it out as much as I care to one way or the other. I was probably moderate to high in terms of grinding it out this year, at least in terms of starting lineup/bench swaps, if not waiver wire pickups. Maybe that's enough to be competitive, maybe it isn't.

But for the half of the league that isn't going to be at least moderate to high in grinding out moves, IMO, they have no chance over the course of the season. So it's a 15-team league that is more like an effective ~8-team league.

When more teams are active, there will less distance between their spots in the standings. Don’t assume there will always be a “have” and “have not” disparity simply because that’s how it worked out this season. I’m in two other leagues where the top-3 spots could have gone to any of 8 different teams until the last few weeks. I expect have some dropouts, and an influx of more engaged managers next year.

[sikeston bulldog2]

Almost Double Platnium. Rare air.

[An Old Friend]

The format is fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m in three different leagues and three different formats. I’m first in two and ninth in one. I like the daily roster set. I set my lineup the night before, prior to going to bed. I spend about an hour or so a week on this.

I too have missed starts on last minute adjustments but that’s going to happen. I think the playing field is the same for everyone, it’s just about making the time. I do it at night because I know the days can be tougher sometimes.

Fantasy baseball is about making good decisions and injuries. Drafting Acuna early then losing him for the year is a tough thing to have happen.

I certainly get from sort of the "purist's" perspective why the daily lineups, daily transactions seems to be in keeping with the overall intent.

I'm just suggesting that, as being new to it all, I can still see some advantage in dialing down the grind. I would note that I think there was some discussion as well regarding how we might turn down the amount of transactional "churn" by expanding rosters, changing roster compositions, etc. If you went to a weekly lineup set, you'd would only need to process waiver drop/add, trade, etc. transactions once a week (early on the day when rosters have to be set for the upcoming week). That would, IMO, even the playing field somewhat for those who are not going to hang on every injury, every callup, etc. on a daily basis to make moves throughout the season.

Maybe it is just a fluke that we have a 108 pt. margin between 1st and last, and maybe it is just a fluke that the race for 1st has been down to two for basically the last two months. I'm just saying what seems to me would potentially make the league more evenly competitive top to bottom next year.

We have such a big spread because 40% of the league wasn’t active - 6 of 15 managers did very little. Just look at total moves from 9th-15th place:
9 - ggnoobs: 45
10 - imadamnman: 27
12 - Booooyah: 27
13 - Dazepster: 27
14 - cardsrmyteam: 62, active after mid year takeover
15 - sdaltons: 14

Compared to top of standings:
1 - Whatashame: 94
2 - An Old Friend: 62
3 - DJ Davis: 59
4 - Quincy Varnish: 252
5 - Jeffy25: 116
6 - MattMitchell44: 88

10, 12, 13, 15 made as many moves combined as the guy who is going to win

Exactly - that's sort of my point. The people who made the most moves were generally the same as those who extracted the most "games played" and "innings pitched" from their rosters by making more and more lineup tweaks - and thus finished higher in total points.

The daily/hourly grind of starting lineup changes, waiver claims, etc., certainly favors those who are going to be "obsessively competitive" and try to optimize every move over six months. Unless you are going to be that "obsessively competitive," you're almost certainly not going to break into the top 5, 6, 7 by the end of the season.

So unless you have 15 managers who are all "obsessively competitive," you're always going to have a two-tiered outcome of "haves" and "have nots." I just don't think you're going to find 15 people who will all be "obsessively competitive" for six months.

So is there a way to make the league more accessible and put the "obsessively competitive" and the "more normally competitive" on a more even playing field?

I wouldn’t consider myself obsessively competitive. It takes me very little time. I’ve also been playing fantasy baseball for 25 years and follow prospects closely, so I kind of know what I’m looking for most of the time. The most time that I spend is listening to a handful of podcasts before I draft.

[DJ Davis]

The format is fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m in three different leagues and three different formats. I’m first in two and ninth in one. I like the daily roster set. I set my lineup the night before, prior to going to bed. I spend about an hour or so a week on this.

I too have missed starts on last minute adjustments but that’s going to happen. I think the playing field is the same for everyone, it’s just about making the time. I do it at night because I know the days can be tougher sometimes.

Fantasy baseball is about making good decisions and injuries. Drafting Acuna early then losing him for the year is a tough thing to have happen.

I certainly get from sort of the "purist's" perspective why the daily lineups, daily transactions seems to be in keeping with the overall intent.

I'm just suggesting that, as being new to it all, I can still see some advantage in dialing down the grind. I would note that I think there was some discussion as well regarding how we might turn down the amount of transactional "churn" by expanding rosters, changing roster compositions, etc. If you went to a weekly lineup set, you'd would only need to process waiver drop/add, trade, etc. transactions once a week (early on the day when rosters have to be set for the upcoming week). That would, IMO, even the playing field somewhat for those who are not going to hang on every injury, every callup, etc. on a daily basis to make moves throughout the season.

Maybe it is just a fluke that we have a 108 pt. margin between 1st and last, and maybe it is just a fluke that the race for 1st has been down to two for basically the last two months. I'm just saying what seems to me would potentially make the league more evenly competitive top to bottom next year.

We have such a big spread because 40% of the league wasn’t active - 6 of 15 managers did very little. Just look at total moves from 9th-15th place:
9 - ggnoobs: 45
10 - imadamnman: 27
12 - Booooyah: 27
13 - Dazepster: 27
14 - cardsrmyteam: 62, active after mid year takeover
15 - sdaltons: 14

Compared to top of standings:
1 - Whatashame: 94
2 - An Old Friend: 62
3 - DJ Davis: 59
4 - Quincy Varnish: 252
5 - Jeffy25: 116
6 - MattMitchell44: 88

10, 12, 13, 15 made as many moves combined as the guy who is going to win

Exactly - that's sort of my point. The people who made the most moves were generally the same as those who extracted the most "games played" and "innings pitched" from their rosters by making more and more lineup tweaks - and thus finished higher in total points.

The daily/hourly grind of starting lineup changes, waiver claims, etc., certainly favors those who are going to be "obsessively competitive" and try to optimize every move over six months. Unless you are going to be that "obsessively competitive," you're almost certainly not going to break into the top 5, 6, 7 by the end of the season.

So unless you have 15 managers who are all "obsessively competitive," you're always going to have a two-tiered outcome of "haves" and "have nots." I just don't think you're going to find 15 people who will all be "obsessively competitive" for six months.

So is there a way to make the league more accessible and put the "obsessively competitive" and the "more normally competitive" on a more even playing field?

I wouldn’t consider myself obsessively competitive. It takes me very little time. I’ve also been playing fantasy baseball for 25 years and follow prospects closely, so I kind of know what I’m looking for most of the time. The most time that I spend is listening to a handful of podcasts before I draft.

Yeah, I agree. You don’t have to check the league 15 times a day. One can check in right before most of the games start and swap out a couple players if some are out of the lineup. If some people don’t wanna do that every day, that’s totally understandable.

But I don’t think we should go to a weekly lineup set, just to appease one person (who I suspect is unhappy with his place in the standings after putting time into it)

There will always be haves and have nots in any league. You sound like a commie, Matt. Baseball is an American sport!

[mattmitchl44]

The format is fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m in three different leagues and three different formats. I’m first in two and ninth in one. I like the daily roster set. I set my lineup the night before, prior to going to bed. I spend about an hour or so a week on this.

I too have missed starts on last minute adjustments but that’s going to happen. I think the playing field is the same for everyone, it’s just about making the time. I do it at night because I know the days can be tougher sometimes.

Fantasy baseball is about making good decisions and injuries. Drafting Acuna early then losing him for the year is a tough thing to have happen.

I certainly get from sort of the "purist's" perspective why the daily lineups, daily transactions seems to be in keeping with the overall intent.

I'm just suggesting that, as being new to it all, I can still see some advantage in dialing down the grind. I would note that I think there was some discussion as well regarding how we might turn down the amount of transactional "churn" by expanding rosters, changing roster compositions, etc. If you went to a weekly lineup set, you'd would only need to process waiver drop/add, trade, etc. transactions once a week (early on the day when rosters have to be set for the upcoming week). That would, IMO, even the playing field somewhat for those who are not going to hang on every injury, every callup, etc. on a daily basis to make moves throughout the season.

Maybe it is just a fluke that we have a 108 pt. margin between 1st and last, and maybe it is just a fluke that the race for 1st has been down to two for basically the last two months. I'm just saying what seems to me would potentially make the league more evenly competitive top to bottom next year.

We have such a big spread because 40% of the league wasn’t active - 6 of 15 managers did very little. Just look at total moves from 9th-15th place:
9 - ggnoobs: 45
10 - imadamnman: 27
12 - Booooyah: 27
13 - Dazepster: 27
14 - cardsrmyteam: 62, active after mid year takeover
15 - sdaltons: 14

Compared to top of standings:
1 - Whatashame: 94
2 - An Old Friend: 62
3 - DJ Davis: 59
4 - Quincy Varnish: 252
5 - Jeffy25: 116
6 - MattMitchell44: 88

10, 12, 13, 15 made as many moves combined as the guy who is going to win

Exactly - that's sort of my point. The people who made the most moves were generally the same as those who extracted the most "games played" and "innings pitched" from their rosters by making more and more lineup tweaks - and thus finished higher in total points.

The daily/hourly grind of starting lineup changes, waiver claims, etc., certainly favors those who are going to be "obsessively competitive" and try to optimize every move over six months. Unless you are going to be that "obsessively competitive," you're almost certainly not going to break into the top 5, 6, 7 by the end of the season.

So unless you have 15 managers who are all "obsessively competitive," you're always going to have a two-tiered outcome of "haves" and "have nots." I just don't think you're going to find 15 people who will all be "obsessively competitive" for six months.

So is there a way to make the league more accessible and put the "obsessively competitive" and the "more normally competitive" on a more even playing field?

I wouldn’t consider myself obsessively competitive. It takes me very little time. I’ve also been playing fantasy baseball for 25 years and follow prospects closely, so I kind of know what I’m looking for most of the time. The most time that I spend is listening to a handful of podcasts before I draft.

Yeah, I agree. You don’t have to check the league 15 times a day. One can check in right before most of the games start and swap out a couple players if some are out of the lineup. If some people don’t wanna do that every day, that’s totally understandable.

But I don’t think we should go to a weekly lineup set, just to appease one person (who I suspect is unhappy with his place in the standings after putting time into it)

There will always be haves and have nots in any league. You sound like a commie, Matt. Baseball is an American sport!

Again, I'll likely put a moderate to high level of effort grinding away at it even if we keep daily lineups.

I'm just thinking about what might keep more people in it for longer next season. Reducing the amount of churning and fiddling that you have to do by a factor of 7 (from every day to just once a week), and maybe keeping the more "obsessives" from moving out to bigger leads early by grinding harder from the beginning of the season, might keep more of the league competitive into the 2nd half of the season.

Basically, it's like compounding interest. If you are grinding at lineups, waivers, etc. just 1% more effectively per day than average, then after the first 98 days (14 weeks), that gives you an advantage of a factor of 2.65 (1.01^98). But if you only let people grind at setting lineups, waivers, etc. once a week, that 1% extra only gives you a factor of 1.15 (1.01^14).

[An Old Friend]

The format is fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m in three different leagues and three different formats. I’m first in two and ninth in one. I like the daily roster set. I set my lineup the night before, prior to going to bed. I spend about an hour or so a week on this.

I too have missed starts on last minute adjustments but that’s going to happen. I think the playing field is the same for everyone, it’s just about making the time. I do it at night because I know the days can be tougher sometimes.

Fantasy baseball is about making good decisions and injuries. Drafting Acuna early then losing him for the year is a tough thing to have happen.

I certainly get from sort of the "purist's" perspective why the daily lineups, daily transactions seems to be in keeping with the overall intent.

I'm just suggesting that, as being new to it all, I can still see some advantage in dialing down the grind. I would note that I think there was some discussion as well regarding how we might turn down the amount of transactional "churn" by expanding rosters, changing roster compositions, etc. If you went to a weekly lineup set, you'd would only need to process waiver drop/add, trade, etc. transactions once a week (early on the day when rosters have to be set for the upcoming week). That would, IMO, even the playing field somewhat for those who are not going to hang on every injury, every callup, etc. on a daily basis to make moves throughout the season.

Maybe it is just a fluke that we have a 108 pt. margin between 1st and last, and maybe it is just a fluke that the race for 1st has been down to two for basically the last two months. I'm just saying what seems to me would potentially make the league more evenly competitive top to bottom next year.

We have such a big spread because 40% of the league wasn’t active - 6 of 15 managers did very little. Just look at total moves from 9th-15th place:
9 - ggnoobs: 45
10 - imadamnman: 27
12 - Booooyah: 27
13 - Dazepster: 27
14 - cardsrmyteam: 62, active after mid year takeover
15 - sdaltons: 14

Compared to top of standings:
1 - Whatashame: 94
2 - An Old Friend: 62
3 - DJ Davis: 59
4 - Quincy Varnish: 252
5 - Jeffy25: 116
6 - MattMitchell44: 88

10, 12, 13, 15 made as many moves combined as the guy who is going to win

Exactly - that's sort of my point. The people who made the most moves were generally the same as those who extracted the most "games played" and "innings pitched" from their rosters by making more and more lineup tweaks - and thus finished higher in total points.

The daily/hourly grind of starting lineup changes, waiver claims, etc., certainly favors those who are going to be "obsessively competitive" and try to optimize every move over six months. Unless you are going to be that "obsessively competitive," you're almost certainly not going to break into the top 5, 6, 7 by the end of the season.

So unless you have 15 managers who are all "obsessively competitive," you're always going to have a two-tiered outcome of "haves" and "have nots." I just don't think you're going to find 15 people who will all be "obsessively competitive" for six months.

So is there a way to make the league more accessible and put the "obsessively competitive" and the "more normally competitive" on a more even playing field?

I wouldn’t consider myself obsessively competitive. It takes me very little time. I’ve also been playing fantasy baseball for 25 years and follow prospects closely, so I kind of know what I’m looking for most of the time. The most time that I spend is listening to a handful of podcasts before I draft.

Yeah, I agree. You don’t have to check the league 15 times a day. One can check in right before most of the games start and swap out a couple players if some are out of the lineup. If some people don’t wanna do that every day, that’s totally understandable.

But I don’t think we should go to a weekly lineup set, just to appease one person (who I suspect is unhappy with his place in the standings after putting time into it)

There will always be haves and have nots in any league. You sound like a commie, Matt. Baseball is an American sport!

Again, I'll likely put a moderate to high level of effort grinding away at it even if we keep daily lineups.

I'm just thinking about what might keep more people in it for longer next season. Reducing the amount of churning and fiddling that you have to do by a factor of 7 (from every day to just once a week), and maybe keeping the more "obsessives" from moving out to bigger leads early by grinding harder from the beginning of the season, might keep more of the league competitive into the 2nd half of the season.

Basically, it's like compounding interest. If you are grinding at lineups, waivers, etc. just 1% more effectively per day than average, then after the first 98 days (14 weeks), that gives you an advantage of a factor of 2.65 (1.01^98). But if you only let people grind at setting lineups, waivers, etc. once a week, that 1% extra only gives you a factor of 1.15 (1.01^14).

Weekly lineups work in H2H. I would never do a Roto league with weekly lineups.

I'm in two H2H leagues and it's kind of funny... one has weekly lineups throughout the season and switches to daily in the playoffs. The other is daily lineups throughout the season and weekly for the playoffs.

[DJ Davis]

The format is fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m in three different leagues and three different formats. I’m first in two and ninth in one. I like the daily roster set. I set my lineup the night before, prior to going to bed. I spend about an hour or so a week on this.

I too have missed starts on last minute adjustments but that’s going to happen. I think the playing field is the same for everyone, it’s just about making the time. I do it at night because I know the days can be tougher sometimes.

Fantasy baseball is about making good decisions and injuries. Drafting Acuna early then losing him for the year is a tough thing to have happen.

I certainly get from sort of the "purist's" perspective why the daily lineups, daily transactions seems to be in keeping with the overall intent.

I'm just suggesting that, as being new to it all, I can still see some advantage in dialing down the grind. I would note that I think there was some discussion as well regarding how we might turn down the amount of transactional "churn" by expanding rosters, changing roster compositions, etc. If you went to a weekly lineup set, you'd would only need to process waiver drop/add, trade, etc. transactions once a week (early on the day when rosters have to be set for the upcoming week). That would, IMO, even the playing field somewhat for those who are not going to hang on every injury, every callup, etc. on a daily basis to make moves throughout the season.

Maybe it is just a fluke that we have a 108 pt. margin between 1st and last, and maybe it is just a fluke that the race for 1st has been down to two for basically the last two months. I'm just saying what seems to me would potentially make the league more evenly competitive top to bottom next year.

We have such a big spread because 40% of the league wasn’t active - 6 of 15 managers did very little. Just look at total moves from 9th-15th place:
9 - ggnoobs: 45
10 - imadamnman: 27
12 - Booooyah: 27
13 - Dazepster: 27
14 - cardsrmyteam: 62, active after mid year takeover
15 - sdaltons: 14

Compared to top of standings:
1 - Whatashame: 94
2 - An Old Friend: 62
3 - DJ Davis: 59
4 - Quincy Varnish: 252
5 - Jeffy25: 116
6 - MattMitchell44: 88

10, 12, 13, 15 made as many moves combined as the guy who is going to win

Exactly - that's sort of my point. The people who made the most moves were generally the same as those who extracted the most "games played" and "innings pitched" from their rosters by making more and more lineup tweaks - and thus finished higher in total points.

The daily/hourly grind of starting lineup changes, waiver claims, etc., certainly favors those who are going to be "obsessively competitive" and try to optimize every move over six months. Unless you are going to be that "obsessively competitive," you're almost certainly not going to break into the top 5, 6, 7 by the end of the season.

So unless you have 15 managers who are all "obsessively competitive," you're always going to have a two-tiered outcome of "haves" and "have nots." I just don't think you're going to find 15 people who will all be "obsessively competitive" for six months.

So is there a way to make the league more accessible and put the "obsessively competitive" and the "more normally competitive" on a more even playing field?

I wouldn’t consider myself obsessively competitive. It takes me very little time. I’ve also been playing fantasy baseball for 25 years and follow prospects closely, so I kind of know what I’m looking for most of the time. The most time that I spend is listening to a handful of podcasts before I draft.

Yeah, I agree. You don’t have to check the league 15 times a day. One can check in right before most of the games start and swap out a couple players if some are out of the lineup. If some people don’t wanna do that every day, that’s totally understandable.

But I don’t think we should go to a weekly lineup set, just to appease one person (who I suspect is unhappy with his place in the standings after putting time into it)

There will always be haves and have nots in any league. You sound like a commie, Matt. Baseball is an American sport!

Again, I'll likely put a moderate to high level of effort grinding away at it even if we keep daily lineups.

I'm just thinking about what might keep more people in it for longer next season. Reducing the amount of churning and fiddling that you have to do by a factor of 7 (from every day to just once a week), and maybe keeping the more "obsessives" from moving out to bigger leads early by grinding harder from the beginning of the season, might keep more of the league competitive into the 2nd half of the season.

Basically, it's like compounding interest. If you are grinding at lineups, waivers, etc. just 1% more effectively per day than average, then after the first 98 days (14 weeks), that gives you an advantage of a factor of 2.65 (1.01^98). But if you only let people grind at setting lineups, waivers, etc. once a week, that 1% extra only gives you a factor of 1.15 (1.01^14).

But the fact remains that the teams in the top six or eight have been setting their lineup all season. And yet, we still have a situation where the top team has been in first place for a while and probably will win the league.

So are you more worried about where the teams in the bottom of the league finish? Who cares in the end? It’s a daily game, that’s my main point. I don’t think weekly lineup set rules would really affect the overall outcome that much.

[mattmitchl44]

Weekly lineups work in H2H. I would never do a Roto league with weekly lineups.

I'm curious as to why that would be.

It seems to me like, if everyone has to set their lineup for the week on Monday morning for the coming Monday - Sunday of games, everyone is subject to the same possibility of:

1) Guy who I thought was going to start six games this week only starts five because his manager decides to rest him one day this week
2) Guy who I thought was going to start six games this week starts three, gets nicked up on Wednesday, then is held out the last three
etc.

All of those "random events" which could occur to make your plan as of Monday morning work out to be less than optimal should, statistically, pretty much effect everyone similarly over the course of the entire season and make it an even playing field, even for a roto format.

And strategically it brings into play something like the example of: OK, I have a hitter from the Rockies on my roster, this week does he have:

- six games at home? If so, maybe that is a green light to plug him into my roster for the week.
- three games at home and three on the road? Maybe that is a yellow light where I have to think more about whether I commit to him for the week.
- six games on the road? Maybe that is a red light when I keep him on my bench this week.

[mattmitchl44]

But the fact remains that the teams in the top six or eight have been setting their lineup all season. And yet, we still have a situation where the top team has been in first place for a while and probably will win the league.

So are you more worried about where the teams in the bottom of the league finish? Who cares in the end? It’s a daily game, that’s my main point. I don’t think weekly lineup set rules would really affect the overall outcome that much.

Well, again, it is not just setting lineups.

IMO - if you go to only setting lineups weekly then you also go to processing waiver claims once a week as well. If you set your weekly lineup Monday mornings for the coming Monday-Sunday, then you process waiver claims, trades, etc. once a week on Sunday night/Monday morning.

That should give all 15 teams better access to become aware over the course of the week who may have become injured, who is going to get more playing time, who got called up, etc. and put in their waiver claims just once for the week. That should mean that the "best pickups" get distributed more evenly over the league rather than being potentially biased towards those of us who might be more "obsessive" and just move first to pick someone up.

If that hypothesis is true, then that should mean that the distribution of talent/production through the league remains more balanced over the course of the season and more teams remain competitive deeper into the season.

Put another way, with daily rosters and daily waivers, anyone living on the West coast who maybe goes to bed at 10 pm PT is always going to have a slight information advantage over someone living on the East coast going to bed a 10 pm ET. Every day, the person on the West coast is going to have more information about team moves, player injuries, etc. with which to inform their overnight waiver claim moves. On any given day that information advantage might be small, but multiply that by it being available every day and it may/probably adds up over the season when you are going daily lineups/daily waivers.

[An Old Friend]

Weekly lineups work in H2H. I would never do a Roto league with weekly lineups.

I'm curious as to why that would be.

It seems to me like, if everyone has to set their lineup for the week on Monday morning for the coming Monday - Sunday of games, everyone is subject to the same possibility of:

1) Guy who I thought was going to start six games this week only starts five because his manager decides to rest him one day this week
2) Guy who I thought was going to start six games this week starts three, gets nicked up on Wednesday, then is held out the last three
etc.

All of those "random events" which could occur to make your plan as of Monday morning work out to be less than optimal should, statistically, pretty much effect everyone similarly over the course of the entire season and make it an even playing field, even for a roto format.

And strategically it brings into play something like the example of: OK, I have a hitter from the Rockies on my roster, this week does he have:

- six games at home? If so, maybe that is a green light to plug him into my roster for the week.
- three games at home and three on the road? Maybe that is a yellow light where I have to think more about whether I commit to him for the week.
- six games on the road? Maybe that is a red light when I keep him on my bench this week.

In reality, your argument is for a H2H league because those are all the strategies one uses in those.

Points 1 and 2 would be arguments FOR daily lineups so no one has to just live with dudes getting hurt and having to take zeros in that position for a week.

[mattmitchl44]

Weekly lineups work in H2H. I would never do a Roto league with weekly lineups.

I'm curious as to why that would be.

It seems to me like, if everyone has to set their lineup for the week on Monday morning for the coming Monday - Sunday of games, everyone is subject to the same possibility of:

1) Guy who I thought was going to start six games this week only starts five because his manager decides to rest him one day this week
2) Guy who I thought was going to start six games this week starts three, gets nicked up on Wednesday, then is held out the last three
etc.

All of those "random events" which could occur to make your plan as of Monday morning work out to be less than optimal should, statistically, pretty much effect everyone similarly over the course of the entire season and make it an even playing field, even for a roto format.

And strategically it brings into play something like the example of: OK, I have a hitter from the Rockies on my roster, this week does he have:

- six games at home? If so, maybe that is a green light to plug him into my roster for the week.
- three games at home and three on the road? Maybe that is a yellow light where I have to think more about whether I commit to him for the week.
- six games on the road? Maybe that is a red light when I keep him on my bench this week.

In reality, your argument is for a H2H league because those are all the strategies one uses in those.

Points 1 and 2 would be arguments FOR daily lineups so no one has to just live with dudes getting hurt and having to take zeros in that position for a week.

I guess I don't understand how it would only apply to H2H and not a roto format. Seems to me like they could apply equally either way. (Note: I'm assuming that if you did weekly rosters in a roto format you'd just do away entirely with any "games played" limits. So you don't have to worry about if a guy uses up a GP by starting and getting 4 PA, or just getting to PH and get 1 PA, when you plug him into your roster for the week.)

(1) and (2) can be mitigated with daily lineups IF you are very diligent about checking in before the 1 pm games, 2 pm games, 4 pm games, 7 pm games, etc. If your starting 1B isn't starting his 1 pm game, you have to get him out of the lineup and replace him before he locks. But at that point you don't know if your 2B in a 4 pm game is starting or not, so you have to check back later and sub him out of he's not starting. But when you check on your 2B, you don't know if your 3B in a 7 pm game is starting or not, so you have to check back again later to see if he needs to be subbed out.

That's why I note being that diligent is a daily grind over the course of six months. And if you are not that diligent, that is where a lot of the "utilization" split comes from the teams finish at the top and the teams finishing at the bottom.

[DJ Davis]

But the fact remains that the teams in the top six or eight have been setting their lineup all season. And yet, we still have a situation where the top team has been in first place for a while and probably will win the league.

So are you more worried about where the teams in the bottom of the league finish? Who cares in the end? It’s a daily game, that’s my main point. I don’t think weekly lineup set rules would really affect the overall outcome that much.

Well, again, it is not just setting lineups.

IMO - if you go to only setting lineups weekly then you also go to processing waiver claims once a week as well. If you set your weekly lineup Monday mornings for the coming Monday-Sunday, then you process waiver claims, trades, etc. once a week on Sunday night/Monday morning.

That should give all 15 teams better access to become aware over the course of the week who may have become injured, who is going to get more playing time, who got called up, etc. and put in their waiver claims just once for the week. That should mean that the "best pickups" get distributed more evenly over the league rather than being potentially biased towards those of us who might be more "obsessive" and just move first to pick someone up.

If that hypothesis is true, then that should mean that the distribution of talent/production through the league remains more balanced over the course of the season and more teams remain competitive deeper into the season.

Put another way, with daily rosters and daily waivers, anyone living on the West coast who maybe goes to bed at 10 pm PT is always going to have a slight information advantage over someone living on the East coast going to bed a 10 pm ET. Every day, the person on the West coast is going to have more information about team moves, player injuries, etc. with which to inform their overnight waiver claim moves. On any given day that information advantage might be small, but multiply that by it being available every day and it may/probably adds up over the season when you are going daily lineups/daily waivers.

I just don’t think that’s a good idea for baseball, a sport with a lot of games that plays on a daily basis throughout the week. And with trades, I don’t see how that makes sense at all. So you make a trade, say you do it on a Monday. It isn’t processed till next Sunday?

If it were weekly lineups, claims, etc., you’re still putting trust in all the managers … that they’re going to be engaged to set their lineup and make their claims, whether it’s daily or before the week begins.

Like I said it’s up to each manager. You’ll always have people who may not be as engaged as others. You’re always gonna have teams that are better than others. That’s just how fantasy goes.

I don’t see how limiting moves and claims to one week is going to make anything better.

[mattmitchl44]

I just don’t think that’s a good idea for baseball, a sport with a lot of games that plays on a daily basis throughout the week. And with trades, I don’t see how that makes sense at all. So you make a trade, say you do it on a Monday. It isn’t processed till next Sunday?

If you can't change your lineup for the Monday - Sunday week anyway, you can't process the trade until the following Sunday because the players you are trading away have to stay locked in your lineup for the week and the players you are getting have to stay locked in the other person's lineup for the week.

If it were weekly lineups, claims, etc., you’re still putting trust in all the managers … that they’re going to be engaged to set their lineup and make their claims, whether it’s daily or before the week begins.

Like I said it’s up to each manager. You’ll always have people who may not be as engaged as others. You’re always gonna have teams that are better than others. That’s just how fantasy goes.

I don't disagree, but I do think reducing the level of effort 7-fold (from daily to weekly) should make it easier for more managers - including those who might only be moderately engaged - to be more competitive.

If you divided managers in "high," "medium," and "low" levels of engagement, you are right that the difference between daily and weekly isn't likely going to change the outcome for "low" engagement managers, they aren't going to be successful either way.

However, IMO, a change from daily to weekly probably closes the gap between "high" and "medium" level of engagement managers because that 7-fold decrease in the opportunity for churning rosters and lineups would limit the ability of the "high" engagement managers to leverage their extra level of engagement over the "mediums."

You're probably always going to have ~6 "high" engagement managers, ~5 "medium" engagement managers, and ~4 "low" engagement managers. With daily lineups/moves, I think the top finishers are pretty much always going to come from the 6 "highs," but with weekly I think you could spread that out to the 11 "highs/mediums."

[Quincy Varnish]

Weekly lineups work in H2H. I would never do a Roto league with weekly lineups.

I'm in two H2H leagues and it's kind of funny... one has weekly lineups throughout the season and switches to daily in the playoffs. The other is daily lineups throughout the season and weekly for the playoffs.

Have you noticed that all the suggestions for league changes are related to mishaps with their teams?

Dazepster - Many injured players, wants unlimited IL
CPC - Rostered 12 starting pitchers, wants increased IP limit
Matt - obsessed over daily 1B/C platoons, wants weekly lineups

IMO the format could use a few minor tweaks, but is otherwise fantastic. Love the large rosters, league size & categories. For the roto enthusiast, it’s fantasy heaven.

[Cool Papa Con]

Weekly lineups work in H2H. I would never do a Roto league with weekly lineups.

I'm in two H2H leagues and it's kind of funny... one has weekly lineups throughout the season and switches to daily in the playoffs. The other is daily lineups throughout the season and weekly for the playoffs.

Have you noticed that all the suggestions for league changes are related to mishaps with their teams?

Dazepster - Many injured players, wants unlimited IL
CPC - Rostered 12 starting pitchers, wants increased IP limit
Matt - obsessed over daily 1B/C platoons, wants weekly lineups

IMO the format could use a few minor tweaks, but is otherwise fantastic. Love the large rosters, league size & categories. For the roto enthusiast, it’s fantasy heaven.

I’m at +1.5 IP. My point was following SP was more enjoyable than deploying a fleet of Reliever that I had no idea when they’d be utilized.

Things I didn’t like…

I’d discover a player was DTD without an ability to quickly replace them. Every player was always on waivers regardless if they were dropped recently or not.

Then, if you went to replace them, there was no real chance of knowing if you’d replace them with that player or not. So, you place 3 Waivers and wait a day to find out. This especially sucked if you wanted to swap out a Pitcher.

MLB is spectacularly obnoxious about the IL. I’d have multiple guys I couldn’t afford to drop who were DTD for days, then suddenly retroactively placed on the IL.

I would also advocate for infinite IL. Not long ago, I had 6 on the IL and had to dump a couple because one was retro-actively added and another was DTD, but was awaiting a MRI.

At some point, I couldn’t justify dumping my IL guys with how bad the alternatives were and how wishy-washy team reports were w/end of year rehab assignments dragging out.

I started to lose a lot of interest with the options and lack of flexibility to pick up Pitchers when I wanted them.

[Quincy Varnish]

Weekly lineups work in H2H. I would never do a Roto league with weekly lineups.

I'm in two H2H leagues and it's kind of funny... one has weekly lineups throughout the season and switches to daily in the playoffs. The other is daily lineups throughout the season and weekly for the playoffs.

Have you noticed that all the suggestions for league changes are related to mishaps with their teams?

Dazepster - Many injured players, wants unlimited IL
CPC - Rostered 12 starting pitchers, wants increased IP limit
Matt - obsessed over daily 1B/C platoons, wants weekly lineups

IMO the format could use a few minor tweaks, but is otherwise fantastic. Love the large rosters, league size & categories. For the roto enthusiast, it’s fantasy heaven.

I’m at +1.5 IP. My point was following SP was more enjoyable than deploying a fleet of Reliever that I had no idea when they’d be utilized.

Things I didn’t like…

I’d discover a player was DTD without an ability to quickly replace them. Every player was always on waivers regardless if they were dropped recently or not.

Then, if you went to replace them, there was no real chance of knowing if you’d replace them with that player or not. So, you place 3 Waivers and wait a day to find out. This especially sucked if you wanted to swap out a Pitcher.

MLB is spectacularly obnoxious about the IL. I’d have multiple guys I couldn’t afford to drop who were DTD for days, then suddenly retroactively placed on the IL.

I would also advocate for infinite IL. Not long ago, I had 6 on the IL and had to dump a couple because one was retro-actively added and another was DTD, but was awaiting a MRI.

At some point, I couldn’t justify dumping my IL guys with how bad the alternatives were and how wishy-washy team reports were w/end of year rehab assignments dragging out.

I started to lose a lot of interest with the options and lack of flexibility to pick up Pitchers when I wanted them.

Hmmm… players can be replaced overnight, and it usually only takes a small FAB bid to ensure getting the player you want. The alternative is a first-come, first-served system that would not be as fair. The waiver period could be shortened, but that only applies to a few players.

I don’t believe there’s an option for an “infinite” IL. I suppose an extra spot or two could be added, but I’d prefer to avoid a situation where managers are simply stashing injured players in quantity.

Nothing can be done about extended DTD periods… I went through that w/ Riley after his cortisone shot, and it drove me up a wall. Looks like it will be the same deal with Alvarez this week. I’ll try yelling at clouds.