Roto Baseball Guru

As the baseball season and subsequently the fantasy baseball season is coming to an end, this also marks the time for the start of the other sports leagues.  Football season has already started and hockey and basketball are just weeks away.  In fact, the draft date for the head-to-head hockey league that I am a part of is less than a week away.  This brings up a very good debate regarding drafting.  In most fantasy game providers there is an auto-draft option that are available to you.  For neophytes that are new to this arena, the auto-draft is a tool that will use tuned algorithms to pick the players for your team based on statistics and your positional needs.

Now many fantasy generals will frown and even mock the use of the auto-draft tool, as it takes away the whole skills and research of building your team, not to mention putting your own personal touch.  The draft is arguably the single most important managerial task that you need to perform as the general manager of your fantasy team, any screw-up here can severely hamper your team’s performance for the rest of the season.  All of these are great points, and are points that I also subscribe to.  However, it is also for these reasons that sometimes the auto-draft option just makes sense.  It all comes down to two main factors: time and emotion.

Time - For the hard-core fantasy sports fanatic, this is not an issue - they will spend the hours required to dig through stats, read up on prospects and sleepers, and have a list of possible hidden gems come draft day.  However, for the rest of us, this isn’t an option.  As much as we do love fantasy sports, the time and effort to get a substantial return for our research is just not plausible.  Given that, instead of making informed selections based on knowledge and stats, we use our gut and the “celebrity factor” such as how well we know or heard of the player.

Emotion - In any type of investment when emotion is put into the mix, it can really screw up your decision-making and ultimately your returns.  This is no different when drafting players for your fantasy team.  Your players or picks are your investments and when made soundly with the proper research and evaluation, you can generally expect decent returns.  However, if all of your picks were based on emotion - how well known the player is, does he play for your favorite team, etc, you will most likely dread the returns you’ll see at the end of the season.

The beauty of the auto-draft is that it takes these two elements out of the equation.  Most auto-drafts are quite sophisticated and along with applying the algorithms of the best player based on stats and need, you can also add your own rankings and player preferences to the mix.  In my opinion, this combination gives you the ultimate tool to succeed when draft day comes.  On a personal level, I have used the auto-draft option for my past couple of leagues and have been satisfied with the results.  Where was the extra time that I saved from all the hours doing research used?  Watching the game, of course.  Time well spent, indeed.

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