Custom Draft Guide Question

[OldPete]

In the field that asks me customize the number of bench players that we use, I'm a bit confused.

We have 25-man active rosters (11 pitchers, 14 batters). All 11 pitchers can be started every day. If all 11 pitchers appeared in one day, all of their stats would count toward my total. Of the 14 batters, nine start daily. So we have five bench spots, right? But they're only for batters, not pitchers.

Does this matter? Am I thinking about this correctly? Do I place "5" in the field for "Number of Bench Players"? Does this account for the fact that all five spots are for batters, and none are for pitchers? How does this even affect the custom values for my league parameters? It doesn't seem like bench spots would affect values.

[Doc]

I think I might adjust the number of batters to include 5 Utility players

[RAY@HQ]

Bench spots don't affect values, the $ that you put in multiplied by the # of teams are split across the players that would start in your format. The bench guys are going to be "extra" guys that show up on your reports.

In your case, since the pitchers can potentially be active and earn stats for you, you may want to "fudge" your # of active pitchers to reflect that in the valuations... bump the pitchers up by 1 or 2 slots.

[OldPete]

I'm confused.

I think what Doc is suggesting is for me to leave Bench Players at 0 and then just put all 25 of my players in the "Which position players does your league use" fields (11 P, 5 OF, 1 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SS, 1 MI, 2 CI, 1 Util). Is that what you mean, Doc?

Would this work, Ray?

Let me also see if I understand Ray's approach. Are you suggesting that I put our offensive starting positions into the "Which position players does your league use" fields (3 OF, 1 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SS, 1 Util), putting 5 in the "Number of Bench Players" field, and then upping my pitcher total in the "which position players does your league use" field by one or two slots?

I just want to make sure I get this right.

Thanks for your help, by the way.

[RAY@HQ]

birty, you've captured my suggestion correctly. I disagree with doc's suggestion because that's going to skew your values (too many active pitchers waters down the effect that the good pitchers have on your team, reducing their value), UNLESS most of your league actually does leave all of their pitchers active all the time.

[OldPete]

birty, you've captured my suggestion correctly. I disagree with doc's suggestion because that's going to skew your values (too many active pitchers waters down the effect that the good pitchers have on your team, reducing their value), UNLESS most of your league actually does leave all of their pitchers active all the time.

Okay, I see.

I would say, on average, that a majority of the league's owners leave all 11 pitchers active a large majority of the time. The consensus opinion in our league is that trying to guess strong performances from rostered pitchers is a total crapshoot (unless it's some extreme situation).

So spot starting is rare.

Does this change your suggestion regarding how to set up the custom valuator?

[RAY@HQ]

Yeah, then I might drift toward putting 9 active batters, 11 active pitchers, and 5 bench spots into the CV tool.

Like I said, though, I think that would knock down the values of top-end pitching a bit. So maybe just make a note to yourself to be willing to break through the resulting dollar values for a guy or two you like.

[OldPete]

Thanks a ton. This really helped me out.