Fantasy Baseball 2012 Advice Thread

I'm getting back into it this year in a 12-team, 5X5 league, and it's my first auction league. We'll change lineups weekly. Draft is March 25.

Any general tips about preparing for the auction?

 

Still not a must-keep when he can only hold on to four, especially given his options.

 

If you have the time, make your own cheat sheets. I prefer doing that for any draft, but especially for an auction.

I find that using a tier system works best for an option. Group players together under a price you would be willing to pay for the guy. One thing that does is takes the pressure to overbid off when you see a player you like about to go to somebody else. You can look at your list and see three other guys in a similar range are still there.

This one may be simplistic, but when it is your turn to start the bidding, toss players you don't want early. Try to start runs on positions you already have. If you just got Mike Napoli, toss out Brian McCann with a low enough bid to make sure you don't get stuck with him.

I would also suggest tossing players out for the minimum bid no matter what. Some people get annoyed with this, but it saves you the effort of trying to think about the guy's value. Let the market within the league set the price.

Remember, players are not going to go for the value they should. Sometimes the big guns will be overpriced early. Sometimes, owners will be conservative and you can get a bargain. Auctions have an ebb and flow, times where a bunch of owners feel ready to spend and other times when everybody is pinching pennies.

If you can, save yourself enough money toward the end to purchase one player that nobody can take from you. There are usually a few very good players who slip through late. You can be the one to grab that bargain if your max remaining bid is the highest left.

The end of the auction is usually all about small amounts of money and simply who has roster spots left, or certain positions open.

(I really need to get back into an auction league)

 

Interesting, but not sure WIW though. Didn't read how they came up with it, but I noticed Alex Gordon at 31 & am not sure how much weight to put in the list.

 

Just what I needed. Thanks much.

 

I'm not sure about Cole Hamels' keeper value, but I definitely think he's on his way to a productive season in Philly. He is, after all, pitching for $120 million.

That would be enough to motivate me.

He's my Cy Young pick.

 

Matthew Berry's Fantasy Baseball Love/Hate column up on ESPN.com. Always a good read:

http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=mlbdk2k12_lovehate

 

Walk year upticks are something that even statheads concede are real.

 

Does anyone have any advice on a site that provides good up-to-the-minute playing time/PA projections?

 

i got skewered by the sabrmetrics geeks on this board last year because I said I didn't care about WAR, etc, I just wanted to know if i should take pujols at No. 1.
I enjoyed pissing them off.
that said, I pick No. 1 again this year. Thinking about trading down if possible.
BTW, I took stubbs too high last year, but he's still going to give you 35 steals and score a bunch of runs, even hitting down in the lineup.

 

I had to keep three of the following: Cano, Fielder, Kershaw and Lee. I let Prince go.

 

Link?