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| It's called packing on the pounds for winter, guys. He just had a head start. |
Below are some FAQs about the league that I copypasta'd from prior seasons - take a look if you want the 4-1-1 on all things NoJR.
Who are the Nephews of Jody Reed?
We are! The name of the league is a play on the Sons of Sam Horn community, a renowned Red Sox message board with sophisticated baseball analysis. Similarly, we are a community of elite fantasy baseball GMs... our analysis is just a bit more proprietary since we compete against one another.
Why Jody Reed? Mostly a flight of whimsy, but as a budding Red Sox fan in 1990, I'll never forget going to Fenway Park for the first time and seeing him hit one of his league-leading 45 doubles off of the Green Monster. I believe that all us baseball fans have a similar memory that converted us into the loyal fans we are today.
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| Ellis Burks is loving that hustle! |
What can you tell me about the history of the league?
Like I mentioned earlier, this is the 7th edition of NoJR. The league has typically been 12-teams deep with active GMs, but we are expanding for 2017 to 14 GMs. This represents our 3rd year with keepers, and I personally feel that the league has grown increasingly competitive (and fun) as the years have gone on.
Since I'm crazy, I have written end-of-year summaries for each season the league has been in existence - feel free to read if you have too much time on your hands or just freaking love baseball/NoJR:
- 2011: link
- Champion: Hughes Drubbers
- 2012: link
- Champion: Rip City Reavers
- 2013: link
- Champion: Rip City Reavers
- 2014: link
- Champion: Saratoga Oldtimers
- 2015: link
- Champion: Rip City Reavers
- 2016: link
- Champion: VATECH NATS
I've never done an auction draft before - what should I expect?
Every GM has $260 to spend as they wish, minus keeper costs. The exception is that expansion GMs have the option to start the draft with $300 to compensate for not having keepers. Since each team needs to draft for every starting position and bench spot, Yahoo will make sure that you have enough money to draft for every position.
Players generally go for roughly their Yahoo predicted value, although it's fairly common for GMs to go into a bidding war for players they prefer. Generally, a top 5 fantasy player will go for around $50. GMs should value players based on their personal expectations of performance - Yahoo's predicted values are not the be-all-end-all.
Nomination time will be set at the minimum of 30 seconds, and bidding time will be set at 20 seconds. Any bids made with less than 10 seconds to go reset the bidding timer at 10 seconds, so you can't sneak in a higher bid with 1 second left and expect to steal someone.
I don't want to influence draft strategy at all, so I'll just say that it helps to do a mock draft or two to make sure that you're familiar with the process and what to expect.
What's the deal with keepers?
One of the most important pieces of strategy in this league is who you keep on your roster from last year.
How it works: each team can keep up to 3 players from last year's roster at their previous auction value. The draft values of those players will then be deducted from your auction budget. E.g. if I just kept Anthony Rizzo at $11, my draft budget for the following year would be $249 ($260 minus $11).
The only players who are keeper-eligible are those who are drafted. If they are ever put on waivers, free agency, or dropped, they become ineligible. If an eligible player is traded, they remain eligible to be kept by the team receiving the player, however the clock on their 3 year eligibility does not reset (similar to how MLB service time would not reset).
NoJR is in a state of expansion meaning that new GMs will not inherit rosters. They will therefore have two options:
1) Review a list of keeper-eligible players not kept by the other teams (list provided on March 28), and claim 3 from that list. If both GMs want to do this option, I will have to flip a coin for who makes a pick first, and then alternate between the two.
2) Start the draft with an increased budget ($300 instead of $260) to compensate for the value generated by most other teams' keepers.
The first year might be tough, but the baseball season is long and makes lots of twists and turns - any GM can emerge a winner.
What are the stat categories?
Hitting: runs, home runs, RBI, steals, batting average, walks
Pitching: wins, saves, holds, strike outs, ERA, WHIP
Basically the only differences to the standard categories are walks and holds. I originally added walks because I wanted to preserve hits (batting average) as a component of offensive contribution, and I felt that there would be too much double-counting if I did slugging and home runs.
Meanwhile, I've continually seen the immense value of quality middle relief (e.g. Andrew Miller last year for Cleveland - wow), and felt the virtual game skewed too much toward glorifying closers. For that reason, holds are a separate category.
Keep these categories in mind as you devise your own strategy for draft day.
What's the "NA" slot for?
Players who have that tag are typically minor leaguers who haven't reached The Show yet. When you use this roster spot to draft and stash a prospect, it's a great way to build for future seasons with our keeper system.
When's the draft?
March 30 at 7:30 Eastern. If you miss it, Yahoo will auto-draft for you, which is no bueno.
Is this league free, or is there a buy-in?
NoJR is transitioning to being a cash league. For 2017, the buy-in will be $20 to balance the preferences of GMs in the league. Please visit the message board for instructions on submitting payment.
Thank you for playing, and good luck this season! If you have any other questions, let me know.
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