I wrote a post earlier in the week about draft strategies and now we’re going to narrow down that topic into a guide specifically geared towards Auction Leagues. If you’re unfamiliar with auction leagues you’ll be able to find here everything you need to know including auction strategy articles and auction value cheat sheets.
To kick things off, we have just released our new Auction Value Calculator which you’ll be able to use to generate your auction values. Additionally, as a Draft Wizard Pro member, you’ll be able to create values using our calculator specific to your league settings. Click below to learn more about going Pro.
Auction Draft Articles:
Draft strategies vary based on every individual, but general guidelines for auction drafts will always hold true. For that reason, here are a few articles from past and more recent times that should teach the beginner and remind the veteran what strategy to consider when heading into an auction draft. Also, don’t forget to check out our post on Draft Strategies which will cover some auction topics as well.
CBS Sports: Al Melchior, Nando Di Fino, & Scott White’s Auction Strategies
The crew over at CBS Sports have provided their own auction strategies and each one is linked to one another at the top of their articles. They each have their unique insight into what has become an increasing popularity in fantasy formats (the auction league). Here are tips from each article just to get your mouth wet.
- Go a little extra on elite talent (Al Melchior)
- Consider dollar values more like loose ideas (Nando Di Fino)
- Spend, spend, spend! (Scott White)
Each point is incredibly useful and as someone who has done my fair share of auction drafts, there will always be people that don’t follow these guidelines and end up not too happy with their results. These are not hard set rules, but they surely will be helpful in most auction drafts.
Razzball: Fantasy Baseball Auction Draft — Fake Cash Values Rule Everything Around Me
For those who have never been in a fantasy draft, here is one thing where Grey Albright (Razzball) definitely hits the nail on the head in terms of useful advice. “Early in the draft, throw out guys that you know you have no interest in that will cost others a lot.” People always talk about preparing for a draft and having a strategy, well one thing you should do is know who you absolutely don’t want on your team. Those are the guys you can push the value up on during the draft. Of course you’ll have to be careful not to get stuck with that player yourself, but feel free to nominate that player and bid on him a few times before jumping out of the running. Check out the rest of Albright’s strategy to use during an auction draft.
RotoExperts: So-Called Fantasy Expert: Auction Do’s and Don’ts
David Gonos (RotoExperts) provided us a list of do’s and don’ts back in 2012, but it is the exact reason why it fits into this post. Like other more recent articles, there are some long standing strategies that all of us should use year in and year out. One of his Do’s is “Get a couple superstars early. Don’t save too much money, or else you will find out the bargains you saved for are TOO cheap. Then guess what happens?” Like others and myself included, you do not want left over money and you do not want to have a team full of average/pretty good players (I’ve done it this way many times, it doesn’t win championships). For the rest of his list, click the link above and give his article a read, it definitely still applies to an auction draft in 2014.
Auction Cheat Sheets:
There are no shortage of cheat sheets leading up to any fantasy draft and baseball auction values are no different. You can find our FantasyPros Auction Values here, where you can look at consensus values and pick the expert values you’d like to view or you can go to our calculator and add a little customization to your values.
If you’re looking to view up-to-date cheat sheets, have a look at some of these site values.
- CBS Sports Auction Values
- RotoChamp Auction Values
- ESPN Auction Values
- Razzball Auction Values
- KFFL Auction Values
Auction Value Calculators:
You are definitely welcome to use our free Auction Value Calculator, but if you want to make some comparisons, check out these other dollar value calculators.
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There you have it folks, everything you need to get prepped for your Fantasy Baseball Auction League. Let us know what you think in the comments box below or feel free to reach us on Twitter @FantasyPros_MLB.
