Ron's Article 3-14

[Doc]

Loved the article, much of what he said really set pretty well with me. I am not a huge techno guy. I have never used rotolab for draft purposes , although I have purchased in and used it pre-season and in-season. And although I like stats, i have always been on the side of the argument around here that projections don't matter. I have never cared whether HQ's "projections" are accurate or not. It really doesn't matter. Some of the most animated discussions over the years were from posters who lambasted the projections about this or that. This guy is supposed to hit 30 hr, someone else says 22, who really cares. I have said it time and time again that the Grid is the single most important piece of info on this site. I can draft with grid and the grid only. I know draft software is fun and cool, but give me the grid anytime. Also you have to let go of the projections and embrace that all guys in each grid are the same. You may want to bold upside guys and lowercase downside guys, but that is it. In auctions it is great, you can easily see where the bargins are. In a draft it loses a little but not much, I still see how many guys are left in a single grid and decide whether I can wait on that position or reach a little to get my 'upside" guy. Much of what Ron said about the intuitive nature of drafting and playing fantasy sports, problaby flys in the face of many industry types and those guys who think that stats can and will someday predict everything. But, as long as baseball is played by humans and fantasy games played by humans there will always be an intuitive aspect of the game.

[Nachos]

Merv just added a "tiers" function in Rotolab and I think it's a great addition!

[DougD@HQ]

my two cents--

I think there was once a huge advantage to having superior projections, but that gap has closed. So now, the advantage is in risk management--whether through scarcity, roster flexibility, REL scores, or what have you. Hitters over pitchers. This really isn't much of an advantage. The key skill becomes game theory in real time, not overall baseball player knowledge (at a certain level, anyway).

For some, Rotolab is the perfect tool to get there. I don't know how Merv continues to improve it, but I'm told that he does. It isn't for me, but it is as good a tool as there is on the market, as far as I can tell.

[maxwell]

Rons Article

my two cents--

I think there was once a huge advantage to having superior projections, but that gap has closed. So now, the advantage is in risk management--whether through scarcity, roster flexibility, REL scores, or what have you. Hitters over pitchers. This really isn't much of an advantage. The key skill becomes game theory in real time, not overall baseball player knowledge (at a certain level, anyway).

For some, Rotolab is the perfect tool to get there. I don't know how Merv continues to improve it, but I'm told that he does. It isn't for me, but it is as good a tool as there is on the market, as far as I can tell.

I agree with Ron that you must be prepared and know the draft pool inside and out. But for most of us Fantasy Baseball is a hobby. Like most thing in life the more time you spend at your craft the better you get. Rotolab bridges the gap between the amount of time I would like to spend doing research and the amount of time I actually have.