Do you like fantasy baseball? Do you like WAR? Do you like to one-up ESPN writers, even the ones you respect a little bit? Most importantly, do you like to ball on a budget?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, then think about joining BtB's inaugural WAR-based fantasy league, Ball On A Budget. The rules are simple*, and based off of ESPN's annual good idea.
- 12 team snake draft
- $60MM budget using actual MLB salaries
- 25-man roster, no subs, no transactions
- The only scoring category is WAR, as determined by Fangraphs.
We already have six people in the league, including R.J. Anderson, BtB alum Marc Normandin, Jason Collette of Fanball's OwnersEdge.com, John Franco of RotoJunkie fame, and readers Jeff (TucsonRoyal) and Jack (jhmoore). We need six more from our readership, so if you're interested, leave a comment below, and we'll pick six guys who are the most likely to be committed based on past contributions.
We'll announce the final league roster on Tuesday and the draft will start Friday the 13th (to give folks a chance to prepare) in a FanPost (so we can sticky it). We'll also create a separate thread for anyone to leave snarky comments about R.J. picking all Rays' players.
* Well the rules are simple, except for the ones that aren't. Read on for details:
Complete rules:
- 25-man rosters consisting of 13 offensive players (2 CA, 1B, 3B, 1B/3B, 2B, SS, 2B/SS, 4 OF, and a UT), six starters, and six relievers. LF/CF/RF are NOT separate positions.
- To qualify at a position, a player must have played it in at least 20 games in 2008, either in the majors or minors.
- PA limit of 6500 and IP limits of 1000 for starters and 500 for relievers. If any group exceeds those totals, the WAR for that group will be prorated down to the playing-time limit. This is key. You will likely fill out your team with cheap scrubs without a ton of playing time, concentrating money on the starting lineup.
- You have four hours to make a pick or else the next person can (and should) jump in. You may then make up your missed pick at any time. The hours between 9pm and 9am EST don't count towards the four-hour window (non-EST folks will likely sleep through part of the morning, but can stay more on top of things at night.)
- Salaries as listed by Cot's -- make sure to add in any signing bonus money.
- For arbitration players, we're using the midpoint of the two offers, unless there's a settlement by the time of the first pick.
- Unsigned free agents as of the first pick are ineligible to be drafted.
- After the draft, we'll be entering the teams in over at Fangraphs so WAR can be tracked throughout the season. I'll likely ask for updates periodically (monthly) in an EditGrid spreadsheet.
- Anything that these rules don't cover will be decided on by the secret Rules Committee that only Sky can communicate with.
If you see any glaring loopholes in the rules, please share.