Ryan Restivo

One of the many sites I like to read, when I’m not reading Roto Savants of course, is FantasyBallJunkie.com. I like how they write and I love scouring all the different feeds I have, I have a whole lot, for baseball news and fantasy notes.

I contacted Eriq, who is the editor at this site to figure out a few answers to questions I had to potential auction draftees. Eriq was kind enough to take time out of his day to answer my questions and I thank him for that.

So I’m not going to lie here, Eriq gave me a lot of things to think about my drafting strategy and creating something that can help me execute that strategy. I will tell you up front that I went by the seat of my pants last year. Decided early that everyone was paying too much for some players, then went out on a spending binge for Matt Kemp and Brandon Phillips. Desperate for a closer, I made a bid under the gun for a high amount on Jonathan Broxton (I believe that is who it was), made the league wait a few minutes to settle if I got the bid on in time and got the player. Basically I had no plan, then made a flurry of trades and was good enough to finish in the money.

Even with that, I think even I’m going to adhere to more of what Eriq is talking about rather than my lack of planning.

Me (RyanRestivo.com): When you enter an auction draft, what goes through your mind?

Eriq (FantasyBallJunkie.com): I’m looking to build te best portfolio of players by capturing the greatest value for my spending budget. Usually, that means analyzing my keeper assets, the amount of money I’ve spent and figuring out both position and category needs.

It means estimating the right time to overspend versus the right time to hunt for bargains. It means analyzing the bidding behavior of my fellow competitors, looking at trends and keeping an eye on talent scarcity. In sum there’s a lot of complicated computations that go through my head during an auction. (I suppose I’m also looking for fun and enjoyment.)

Me: What would you look for in excel-based draft tools?

Fantasy Ball Junkie: I think they are interesting but rather cumbersome. I find that right now, my ability at mental arithmetic outweighs the advantages of any excel-based tool I’ve encountered.

I suspect that excel-based tools hold promise to those who need some help managing the player acquisition process… Perhaps tools will one day offer more than basic-level  roster-building and projection-servicing, such as the ability to intelligently analyze and offer bidding suggestions to auction participants, but until that happens I would mainly look to use the most unobtrusive tool available.

Me: What type of general analysis are you doing in the draft (either auction or snake)?

Fantasy Ball Junkie: I’m doing both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Typically, I’ve already set a game plan for myself and have already made pre-assessments about options; during the draft or auction, it’s usually more about executing the preparations made during the pre-draft or pre-auction process.

Me: Thank You!

Fantasy Ball Junkie: Good luck!