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Post by Pirates GM (TJ) on Nov 15, 2015 1:37:36 GMT -5
1. What is your name? TJ 2. What is your age? 45 3. What is your general location? Currently China, likely West Coast or Texas by spring 4. What is your preferred team? Open 5. How did you find this league? Reddit 6. What is your e-mail address? tj@tjpitts.com 7. What experience do you have playing fantasy? First NL-only Roto was 1986, been in many leagues since, including dynasty leagues that went 10+ years pre-internet. Also in a Hockey league that I joined two decades ago, and many free NBA and NFL leagues. In a typical year, I am in 8 leagues (between the four major sports) that I am taking "seriously" along with 12-15 free ESPN throwaways that I use to test strategy. This would be my second of two "serious" baseball leagues. 8. How often will you be available to be contacted by fellow owners in this league? Pretty much daily, unless I am on overseas flights that day 9. What kind of team would you be willing to take? (One that can compete immediately, soon, or a long term project?) Doesn't much matter. I've done rebuilds that took 7 years before, and I have started 5 year rebuilds only to see leagues die after 2 years. I enjoy the journey even if the destination never comes. Joining this late, I know I'm not getting my first pick of 30. I'll take next pick of the remaining 5 or 7 or whatever and be just fine with that. 10. This is a league with 30 teams in it, and as such it can be expected that there will be a rather large number of teams that will not contend every season. Would you be content with building for the future? Do you need to always be in competition in order to remain interested in the league? I was in the stands for the last 0-0 tie in Div I college football and didn't leave early despite pouring rain and eleven turnovers. I am not a bandwagon GM. 11. Is there any other information you think we as a league should know in order to best determine your eligibility? If I am not the most active trader in the league, you can bet I will be the 2nd or 3rd most active. Everyone on my roster is always available, always. 12. Please post links to any other leagues you participate in: I won't post links to all of them, but here is a keeper league with 5 friends from college (we graduated two decades ago) along with some relatives. My brother in law won this year; I finished 5th. Only 5 more months of listening to him brag. games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=104308&seasonId=2015
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Post by Rangers GM (Stephen) on Nov 15, 2015 5:22:31 GMT -5
TJ,
Thanks for your application. I'll just need to double check the exact teams which are available as we've returned a couple of owned teams back to the pool.
Which team do you follow, and if they are available are they your first preference?
Many thanks, Stephen
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Post by Pirates GM (TJ) on Nov 15, 2015 6:06:25 GMT -5
I've been to games in 24 different ballparks, and have been to at least 20 home games each for Padres, Dodgers, A's, Astros, and Rangers. But I don't have a team I "follow". I go to games wherever I happen to be traveling to, and typically get a partial-season package of whichever is the "hometown" team where I live at the time. Last season I cheered for the A's, Padres, Red Sox, Orioles, Yankees, Cubs, and Astros when I was at each of their home games. I just cheer for whoever is at home. The last list I saw had CWS, DET, NYY, CIN, SD, and SEA on it. Of those six, my first two choices would be Reds and Yankees in no order. But if others have been thrown back, I might be more interested in another.
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Post by Admin on Nov 15, 2015 6:12:16 GMT -5
Hi TJ,
Nice to meet you. This is the current list of available teams:
Chicago White Sox Cincinnati Reds Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Miami Marlins New York Yankees Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates San Diego Padres Seattle Mariners Toronto Blue Jays
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Post by Pirates GM (TJ) on Nov 15, 2015 6:24:32 GMT -5
If the Pirates are indeed available, I will happily take them.
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Post by Admin on Nov 15, 2015 6:31:18 GMT -5
The Pirates are yours. Welcome aboard.
Please create a team roster page. Trading is allowed 7 days after the creation of your first trade block. You can also use the username "Pirates GM (name)". If you have any questions, we'll be glad to help.
We're happy to have you here.
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Post by Pirates GM (TJ) on Nov 15, 2015 7:03:49 GMT -5
Thanks. I have one question (so far) that I didn't see in the FAQ. Is there a convenient place to find all of the service time information? Or do I need to look up every player individually on my own?
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Post by Admin on Nov 15, 2015 7:27:19 GMT -5
I wish I knew of a convenient all-in-one source. Each player will probably have to be looked up individually.
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Post by Pirates GM (TJ) on Nov 15, 2015 7:43:16 GMT -5
An additional one. Are we using ESPN position eligibility? The Player Rater link on the contracts page led to a league with merged OF eligibility rather than specific positions. Do our LF have to actually qualify at LF? Are we obligated to guess at next year's eligibility for players where it is in doubt (Ex: Javier Baez who played 17 at 2B, 11 at 3B, and 14 at SS. He doesn't "qualify" with 20 at any position, but unlike Miguel Sano who was clearly a DH last year, ESPN will surely give Baez one fielding position for 2016, probably 2B but you really never know).
Obviously we will know the correct positions well before the start of the season, but how should we be listing them on the roster pages currently?
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Post by Rangers GM (Stephen) on Nov 15, 2015 8:45:09 GMT -5
TJ,
Although we utilise the ESPN player rater for arb salaries, our leagues will be on Fantrax.
The positional eligibility criteria we will be using are 10 appearances (not necessarily starts) in the current or previous season for hitters, and 5 appearances for pitchers.
As far as I understand the ESPN player rater does not take into account any positional considerations, so our positional eligibility differing from theirs has no impact.
Stephen
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Post by Rangers GM (Stephen) on Nov 15, 2015 8:45:44 GMT -5
PS we're working on making the rules more accurate and easier to follow, so please bear with us as we progress through our offseason duties.
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Post by Pirates GM (TJ) on Nov 15, 2015 18:37:24 GMT -5
First off, huge thanks to the group of you that has put this league together. Having been a founder or commissioner of several deep dynasty leagues in the past, I know how much work it is, and it's largely a thankless job. So in big bold letters before I continue my questions: THANK YOU.
My reason for bringing up the Player Rater was just due to the link to the league. It wasn't a reference to the Player Rater system itself. ESPN's eligibility is 20 games played in the previous season, or 10 games played in the current season, with all rookie position players (and returning injured players) getting assigned one "free" position intended to represent their primary position. In some cases that "free" position winds up being one that the player never actually plays, but ESPN does that because otherwise every rookie would come up with only DH status until he accumulated 10 games played at a single position, and a poor utility infield rookie might be 25 games into his rookie year before he had 10 at any one position.
An example of how this can go wrong is Stephen Piscotty. ESPN obviously didn't want him to be stuck as a DH only when he was called up to the majors, so he was assigned 3B eligibility. He went on to play 14 games at 1B, 56 in LF, 18 in RF and 1 in CF but never saw the field at 3B the entire year. But because he was assigned 3B as his "free" position eligibility when he was added to the system, he had 3B eligibility in every ESPN league all of last year. In a regular ESPN league he would have only LF for 2016, in ours for 2016 he would have 1B, LF and RF.
How is rookie position eligibility assigned in our league? In an ESPN league it's "wherever ESPN says he qualifies", same with a Yahoo league. When Jurickson Profar returns in 2016, will he return as a DH only because he doesn't qualify at 10 games anywhere? Or does he return as a 2B? And if so, how is his 2B eligibility decided?
One other, more significant, question I have... On the contracts page it says rookie eligibility is based on MLB criteria. Then it goes on to say that it's anyone who has not yet accumulated 150 at bats (or 50 innings). The actual MLB threshold is 130, not 150. And it might make a huge difference for a select number of players that crossed 150 in a different year than they crossed 130 (some of whom might be in year 5 or 6 now which would change their salary or free agent status dramatically). MLB also includes days spent on a 25-man roster, but I can't imagine we intend to use that...
An example here would be Mitch Moreland. Using a 150 threshold, he is in year 6, as he had just 145 AB in 2010. But using the MLB threshold of 130, he is in year 7 and automatically a free agent.
I am fine with us using 150 if that is what the group wants to do. But we should probably change the Contracts page to reflect the fact that we are not actually using MLB thresholds if that is the case. (And if we do plan to use MLB thresholds, then everyone needs to do a quick review to look at which of their 2nd-6th guys were part-timers as rookies and who might have crossed 130 without crossing 150).
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Post by Rangers GM (Stephen) on Nov 15, 2015 18:42:58 GMT -5
How is rookie position eligibility assigned in our league? In an ESPN league it's "wherever ESPN says he qualifies", same with a Yahoo league. When Jurickson Profar returns in 2016, will he return as a DH only because he doesn't qualify at 10 games anywhere? Or does he return as a 2B? And if so, how is his 2B eligibility decided? Good question. Adam - any ideas how Fantrax handles this? One other, more significant, question I have... On the contracts page it says rookie eligibility is based on MLB criteria. Then it goes on to say that it's anyone who has not yet accumulated 150 at bats (or 50 innings). The actual MLB threshold is 130, not 150. And it might make a huge difference for a select number of players that crossed 150 in a different year than they crossed 130 (some of whom might be in year 5 or 6 now which would change their salary or free agent status dramatically). MLB also includes days spent on a 25-man roster, but I can't imagine we intend to use that... An example here would be Mitch Moreland. Using a 150 threshold, he is in year 6, as he had just 145 AB in 2010. But using the MLB threshold of 130, he is in year 7 and automatically a free agent. I am fine with us using 150 if that is what the group wants to do. But we should probably change the Contracts page to reflect the fact that we are not actually using MLB thresholds if that is the case. (And if we do plan to use MLB thresholds, then everyone needs to do a quick review to look at which of their 2nd-6th guys were part-timers as rookies and who might have crossed 130 without crossing 150). We use 150ABs and 50IP. I think I'm right in saying that the exact wording of this rule is copied from another league that Adam and I play in. The rules in that league are somewhere between "dated" and "plain wrong", with this certainly being an area that is unnecessarily open to confusion and inaccuracy. I'm hoping that this is something that would have been caught in the pending revision of the rules, but now I'm sure that it will be. Please do keep pointing out any glitches like this that you find to ensure that we get all these loose ends tied up along the way.
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Post by Pirates GM (TJ) on Nov 15, 2015 19:46:42 GMT -5
The free agency rounds are determined by "primary" position. Primary according to what source?
And a question on free agent contracts. How is "winning" determined? Obviously a 2-year deal at $5.0/yr beats a 2-year deal at $4.5/yr. And I assume a 3-year deal at $5.0/yr beats a 2-year deal at $5.0/yr. But if one owner is offering 2-year at $6.0/yr and the other owner is offering 3-year at $5.0/yr, which deal wins? Is it decided by highest annual salary first with length as a tiebreak? Or is it length first then annual salary? Or is it total salary (where a 4-year at $4.2 would beat both)?
I understand the minimums for top 5, top 10, etc. And I assume those apply to a player's "best" position (so Posey is a top 5 contract even if his owner wants to use him at 1B where he is only 8th best). But presumably some bidding will be for contracts longer than the minimum, with some 2-yr minimum guys getting 3 or 4 year contracts, so it's important to know how "winning" is determined.
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Post by Pirates GM (TJ) on Nov 15, 2015 20:14:00 GMT -5
An additional question on salary caps and protection. If I read the rules correctly, I retain rights to all 1st-6th year players currently in the Pirates system. Only those players I have protected are eligible to play for me on the Fantrax site. But I retain exclusive rights to the rest even if they are not protected as long as the Pirates don't move them. And I can protect and unprotect players at any time.
Is this to mean that if I choose, I can unprotect Starling Marte (and his $7.4 salary) off and on throughout the season, protecting him whenever I want him on my active roster, and unprotecting him if I don't, with the only risk being that he might get traded away during a week where I chose to leave him unprotected? That if he goes on the DL for a month, I can unprotect him and free up contract space for someone else?
Or to use a far more realistic example (since I am unlikely to unprotect a guy like Marte): that if I had two platoon 6th year Pirate guys who each had $2.0 salaries, I could spend $98 on the rest of my roster and then bounce back and forth all year long whether I was using my $100 on $98 plus $2 Jones or $98 plus $2 Smith, and effectively keep $102 worth of guys tied up with the only risk being them being traded?
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