2014 Gashouse League Scoring

Greetings, Sluggers!

I've scheduled our 2014 Gashouse League draft at the regular time, i.e., the Saturday evening before Opening Day.  This year, that means we draft at:

9:00 p.m., Eastern Time

8:00 p.m., Central Time

7:00 p.m., Mountain Time

on Saturday, March 29.

There's a complication, this year.  The Dodgers and Diamondbacks will play a series in Australia, the weekend before.  Hence, there will be three games history BEFORE we draft.  Yahoo gives your Omnipotent Commissioner the option of permitting those games into our roto scoring for the season ... or not.  I'll set our scoring to include stats from those games, UNLESS there's a sense from league members we don't want to do that.  Let me know, if you're opposed to including stats from those games into our scoring.

Scoring?

I'm saying we stick with last year's metrics.  If we get a majority of returning teams in favor of a change, I'll make the change.  Here's what our scoring metrics will be ... assuming we make no change:

Batters Stat Categories:

Runs (R), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Errors (E), On-base Percentage (OBP), Slugging Percentage (SLG)

Pitchers Stat Categories:

Quality Starts (QS), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Holds (HLD), Earned Run Average (ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP)

These metrics differ from a standard Yahoo 5x5 rotisserie league as follows:

1. We toss out Home Runs (HR) and Batting Average (AVG) and we add in OBP, SLG and Errors.

2. We substitute Quality Starts (QS) for Wins (W), retain the other standard pitchers stats and add Holds (H).

3. We add one Pitcher (P) position to the standard roster.

Why the batters stat modifications?

HR is a "counting" stat (and so, rewards the obsessive lineup packer … an advantage we want to moderate); so, we replace it with SLG, an "average" stat against which a distracted owner may better compete. We add SLG to back into OPS (On-Base plus Slugging), a more "basebally" metric than batting average. We add Errors to balance six batters categories with our six pitchers categories. Errors is a "counting" stat, but as a greater number is a negative, having this "counting" stat serves to even more moderate the advantage of the obsessive lineup packer by penalizing him with a greater likelihood of incurring Errors.

Why the pitchers stat modification?

Quality Starts reward the good and yeoman starters on offense-challened teams.  We add Holds because it's more "basebally" to concern ourselves with middle-relief/set-up pitchers. One reason I think we all do fantasy baseball is to make us more knowledgeable fans. We get a deeper appreciation for starters on second division teams by using Quality Starts.  We get a deeper appreciation for the bullpen by adding Holds.

Why do we add a Pitcher position to the roster?

Adding Holds puts pressure on the pitching staff. We tried using Holds once while keeping the standard roster size. But, that forced managers to make a Sophie's Choice and sacrifice competition in a given category because rosters were too tight to accommodate the sixth category. (Did that make sense?)

2013 Gashouse League Scoring Metrics

Gashouse League metrics for 2013 will be the same as those we used in 2012 and 2011 ... with one exception.  In 2013, we will substitute Quality Starts for Wins as a pitching stats category.  Rationale for Quality Starts in lieu of Wins?  It may be a better and less volatile measure of starting pitcher performance.  It may.  We'll see, this season.  Otherwise, I think our metrics achieve their objectives (i.e., to be "basebally" and to moderate the advantage of the retirees who have the time to tweak lineups without travel and work conflicts). So? Here's the metrics for the 2013 season:

Batters Stat Categories:

Runs (R), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Errors (E), On-base Percentage (OBP), Slugging Percentage (SLG)

Pitchers Stat Categories:

Quality Starts (QS), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Holds (HLD), Earned Run Average (ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP)

These metrics differ from a standard Yahoo 5x5 rotisserie league as follows:

1. We toss out Home Runs (HR) and Batting Average (AVG) and we add in OBP, SLG and Errors.

2. We substitute Quality Starts (QS) for Wins (W), retain the other standard pitchers stats and add Holds (H).

3. We add one Pitcher (P) position to the standard roster.

Why the batters stat modifications?

HR is a "counting" stat (and so, rewards the obsessive lineup packer … an advantage we want to moderate); so, we replace it with SLG, an "average" stat against which a distracted owner may better compete. We add SLG to back into OPS (On-Base plus Slugging), a more "basebally" metric than batting average. We add Errors to balance six batters categories with our six pitchers categories. Errors is a "counting" stat, but as a greater number is a negative, having this "counting" stat serves to even more moderate the advantage of the obsessive lineup packer by penalizing him with a greater likelihood of incurring Errors.

Why the pitchers stat modification?

Quality Starts reward the good and yeoman starters on offense-challened teams.  We add Holds because it's more "basebally" to concern ourselves with middle-relief/set-up pitchers. One reason I think we all do fantasy baseball is to make us more knowledgeable fans. We get a deeper appreciation for starters on second division teams by using Quality Starts.  We get a deeper appreciation for the bullpen by adding Holds.

Why do we add a Pitcher position to the roster?

Adding Holds puts pressure on the pitching staff. We tried using Holds once while keeping the standard roster size. But, that forced managers to make a Sophie's Choice and sacrifice competition in a given category because rosters were too tight to accommodate the sixth category. (Did that make sense?)

2012 Gashouse League Scoring Metrics

I'm proposing we use the same Gashouse League metrics in 2012 that we used in 2011. I think they achieved their objectives (i.e., to be "basebally" and to moderate the advantage of the retirees who have the time to tweak lineups without travel and work conflicts). So? Here's the metrics for the 2012 season:

Batters Stat Categories:

Runs (R), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Errors (E), On-base Percentage (OBP), Slugging Percentage (SLG)

Pitchers Stat Categories:

Wins (W), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Holds (HLD), Earned Run Average (ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP)

These metrics differ from a standard Yahoo 5x5 rotisserie league as follows:

1. We toss out Home Runs (HR) and Batting Average (AVG) and we add in OBP, SLG and Errors.

2. We keep standard pitchers stats and add Holds (H).

3. We add one Pitcher (P) position to the standard roster.

Why the batters stat modifications?

HR is a "counting" stat (and so, rewards the obsessive lineup packer … an advantage we want to moderate); so, we replace it with SLG, an "average" stat against which a distracted owner may better compete. We add SLG to back into OPS (On-Base plus Slugging), a more "basebally" metric than batting average. We add Errors to balance six batters categories with our six pitchers categories. Errors is a "counting" stat, but as a greater number is a negative, having this "counting" stat serves to even more moderate the advantage of the obsessive lineup packer by penalizing him with a greater likelihood of incurring Errors.

Why the pitchers stat modification?

We add Holds because it's more "basebally" to concern ourselves with middle-relief/set-up pitchers. One reason I think we all do fantasy baseball is to make us more knowledgeable fans. We get a deeper appreciation for the bullpen by adding Holds.

Why do we add a Pitcher position to the roster?

Adding Holds puts pressure on the pitching staff. We tried using Holds once while keeping the standard roster size. But, that forced managers to make a Sophie's Choice and sacrifice competition in a given category because rosters were too tight to accommodate the sixth category. (Did that make sense?)

2011 Gashouse League Metrics

---------- Original message ----------
From: Joe Watson
Date: Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 8:13 PM
Subject: 2011 Gashouse League Metrics
To: Gashouse League Members (email addresses deleted, here)


I'm proposing we use the same Gashouse League metrics in 2011 that we used in 2010. I think they achieved their objectives (i.e., to be "basebally" and to moderate the advantage of the retirees who have the time to tweak lineups without travel and work conflicts). So? Here's the metrics for the 2011 season:

Batters Stat Categories:

Runs (R), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Errors (E), On-base Percentage (OBP), Slugging Percentage (SLG)

Pitchers Stat Categories:

Wins (W), Saves (SV), Strikeouts (K), Holds (HLD), Earned Run Average (ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP)

These metrics differ from a standard Yahoo 5x5 rotisserie league as follows:

1. We toss out Home Runs (HR) and Batting Average (AVG) and we add in OBP, SLG and Errors.

2. We keep standard pitchers stats and add Holds (H).

3. We add one Pitcher (P) position to the standard roster.

Why the batters stat modifications?

HR is a "counting" stat (and so, rewards the obsessive lineup packer … an advantage we want to moderate); so, we replace it with SLG, an "average" stat against which a distracted owner may better compete. We add SLG to back into OPS (On-Base plus Slugging), a more "basebally" metric than batting average. We add Errors to balance six batters categories with our six pitchers categories. Errors is a "counting" stat, but as a greater number is a negative, having this "counting" stat serves to even more moderate the advantage of the obsessive lineup packer by penalizing him with a greater likelihood of incurring Errors.

Why the pitchers stat modification?

We add Holds because it's more "basebally" to concern ourselves with middle-relief/set-up pitchers. One reason I think we all do fantasy baseball is to make us more knowledgeable fans. We get a deeper appreciation for the bullpen by adding Holds.

Why do we add a Pitcher position to the roster?

Adding Holds puts pressure on the pitching staff. We tried using Holds once while keeping the standard roster size. But, that forced managers to make a Sophie's Choice and sacrifice competition in a given category because rosters were too tight to accommodate the sixth category. (Did that make sense?)
.

League Filling Up - One Way or Another

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---------- Original message ----------
From: Joe Watson
Date: Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 9:48 AM
Subject: Gashouse League Filling Up! (One Way or Another)
To: Team Owners

Good morning; Jeff & Greg, Bob and Richard.

Please go ahead and sign up for the 2010 Gashouse League season (or, lemmeknow if you're not gonna).

As soon as I've heard from your three teams, I'll open up the Gashouse League for public sign-up. I'll set the league-size limit at 12 teams.

How come we'd open the league to ... alors! ... total strangers? We're kinda tappin' out, i.e., doin' our own small circle recruiting. At only nine teams, last year, I thought the experience was a little thin. And, I think there's a really good chance ... if we get some total stranger sign-ups ... we'll meet one or two serious competitors who we enjoy inviting back year-after-year.

So, sign up or give me an adios. Then, I'll publish the league for public sign-up.

Gracias.
.

Questions re: 2010 Metrics

---------- Original message ----------
From: Joe Watson
Date: Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 3:00 PM
Subject: Fwd: FW: Y! Sports: Fantasy Questions
To: Jared


Hello, Jared! Go to Soggy Biscuit.

Peter (my son) forwarded your question to me. (Peter maintains the Yahoo account; I wrangle the Gashouse League).

#SoggyBiscuitWhat happened to the Soggy Biscuits? I liked that one.

Lemme shoot you a link to a Gashouse League blog I keep over on blogspot, i.e.:
http://gashouseleague.blogspot.com/

In the last three or four posts on that blog, I go into painful detail on how we get to this year's statistical metrics. I'll give you a brief rationale, here, for your specific questions. But, read the last few posts on the blog for more and deeper background.

AVG? Two years ago, we used OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging) and everyone liked it. We decided OPS was more "basebally" than AVG in that it rewards walks and extra bases, whereas AVG does not.

If we like OPS why not use it, this year? We use the two components, i.e., OBP (on-base percentage) and SLG (slugging). We opt for both the components instead of the combination of the two as part of our effort to "level the playing field" between those of us with jobs and those retirees of us with no social lives who have nothing better to do than check our lineups before each first pitch. When you think about it ... a poor wretch with a job and/or a social life is going suffer more games with empty positions. Frankly (and I learned this last year), the guy who has each position filled each game has a prohibitive advantage vis the guy with a bunch of null opportunities. By opting for ... and I don't have a better adjective for it ... by opting for relative measures instead of absolute measures you give the poor working stiff a better chance. Meaning, "my guy's average on-base" and "my guy's average slugging performance" ... "even though I didn't get as many at-bats" has just as good a chance as your guy's even though he got more at-bats. By splitting OPS into it's two components (OBP and SLG), we double the number of relative measures in the weighting (that is ... versus if we'd used just AVG or OPS). The amateur mathematician in me tells me this is better for you guys with jobs at the expense of us guys who are retired (and there are three of us in this league ... about to be a fourth).

Errors? I'm with you. I hate errors as a category. But, it's a category that penalizes the guy with a player in each position in the lineup in each game and rewards the guy who isn't able to get to his lineups several times, a day. Again, we did this to "level the playing field" between us life of leisure guys and you poor working guys.

You'd think I'd wanna tilt the odds to ... well ... me. And so I'd not do these things to "level the playing field." But, I actually won the league last year and realized late in the season what I was doing wasn't fun. I was winning because I had the time and inclination to be obsessed about keeping players in the lineup all the time. It felt like I wasn't out-thinking or out-playing anyone. I was in a forced typing competition. All I had to do was serve my inhuman blinking eye computer and feed it a lineup three times a night. That was no fun. So, I want a "level playing field" and competition. Else, it's no fun.

Draft time? I'd really prefer not to move the draft time. We've had the same date and time for the fourth straight time, now (i.e., the last Saturday evening at the same time of the evening). It's just the accountant in me ... and I think it helps if everyone can come to depend on a schedule. I mean ... we could go ahead and calendar 2011's draft, pretty much.

I'm gonna go ahead and post this exchange out on the Gashouse League blog ... just in case the additional discussion is useful.

Thanks for coming back!

---

To: Commissioner
From: Jared
Subject: Y! Sports: Fantasy Questions
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:57:20 -0800

		Hey Foul Pops, You have just been sent the following note from Big Face Hundreds (Jeb) in the Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball league named Gashouse League (167403)... Commish: I have a couple questions about this year. First I was wondering if there was any way you could move the draft to an afternoon because I work nights. If you can't then no big deal. I was also wondering about the stat categories. I was wondering why batting avg is not a category, but errors is? Just seems to me that that is more important. Just wanted to know your opinion. Thanks. Jared

Final Gashouse League Metrics for 2010

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---------- Original message ----------
From: Joe Watson
Date: Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 3:38 PM
Subject: Final Gashouse League Metrics for 2010
To: League Owners (email addresses removed)


OK.

Even *I* can't make the case for an NL-only Gashouse League. (Which is pretty sad, as it was my idea to begin with.) Here's what pushed me over: if we have 12 teams in the Gashouse League with 22-player rosters ... that's ... what? ... 262 fantasy players. Over in the real world Senior Circuit, there's 15 teams with 25-player rosters ... which approximates somewhere in the neighborhood of ... lessee ... 375 actual human players. If the Gashouse League went NL-only, we'd have nothing but part-time playing scrubs and maybe depleted positions. So ... I'm thinkin' ... whether it was ever a good idea or not ... i.e., to go NL-only for semi-plausible benefit of better getting to know NL players and teams ... I'm thinkin' now it's not such a good idea. (Unless there's an alarmed uprising in opposition, we'll go with an MLB-wide player pool for the 2010 season.)

So.

Where does this (and the last couple of posts ... here and here) get us to?

Metrics for the 2010 Gashouse League season:

Position players - Runs, RBIs, OBP, SLG, Errors, Steals.
Pitching - Wins, Ks, Saves, Holds, WHIP, ERA.
Roster size: 22 players.

We'll use Yahoo's free fantasy baseball tier ... meaning, if you want the draft kit, deep stats, and stat-tracker during the season ... you'll have to buy your own tier-upgrade. (It's fifteen bucks.)