Open Comment Thread for Website Change - Inclusion of MLB player stats

This is a call for comments on an expected change to the BWB website.  BWB is exploring database changes to the player list and to the website display of rosters and free agents to show a limited number of MLB stats.

Full stats are limited by page space among other things.  Additionally, stats will be updated (at least for the foreseeable future) only every 2-4 days (BWB does not get a direct feed and does some offline manipulation to tie players to stats).  It's expected that the most complete view of stats will continue to be to click on a player's name to view his information in Yahoo.

That said, what stats do you want to see...specifically, what customized stats might help you best in evaluating players for your roster?  (For example, IP per relief appearance?)

2013 Rule Changes - Tightening up lineup/rotation moves

It's a lot of words to try to explain this - but in response to some complaints about teams being able to cycle pitchers in and out of the rotation after knowing the actual MLB result (and confirmation that it was possible and was being done), there are three major adjustments:

• Better research into the 2013 MLB scheduling and how it hits BWB deadlines
• Tracking the actual date when players first get added to a team's rotation/starting lineup
• Clearing out the queued starts when a pitcher moves from spot starter to the rotation.

See http://www.benchwarmerbaseball.net/rules/rulechanges/rule_changes_13.asp for the exhaustive explanation.

There might be some tinkering and fixing, but this is an actual change, not a proposed change - it's been in formulation since October/November 2012.

Dates will be tracked now on your lineup changes - you can play around with it a little bit during the last week of March to check out the effects.  All lineups will be adjusted to March 31 at the start of the season.

But comment below if you'd like.  For about 95% of you, you will not notice anything.

** Under contemplation partially as a result of this change but also just the way my schedule works now - we may set transaction/lineup times to Noon Eastern and push back one day on the current schedule (so Week 1 deadline would be Sunday 4/7 at noon instead of Saturday night 4/6 at midnight Pacific).

Notes regarding potential rule changes

There are often requests for rule changes and BWB considers requests but that doesn't always mean it will act on them.

A number of requests often show up with the emphasis on "making the game more like real baseball/MLB."  Yes, this is a goal, but it isn't the end all for every consideration.  There are some common reasons why rule change requests may not be implemented or even discussed:

• Yes, we try to be close to real baseball, but in the end this is still "fantasy baseball" and certain comparisons might not work.  We're going to always have a more limited and at times arbitrary distinction between real life and the fantasy game.
• We may have opened a rule change up for discussion in the past with little overall support from the owners who provided comments at that time.
• Implementing some rules may create additional loopholes and different way of doing things.  With some exceptions, we'd like things to work the same way in the pre-season to the regular season to the playoffs.
• Implementing some rule changes involve defining a process.  That process may be difficult or inconsistent to create - some things like lineup adjustments that can be done as "common sense" or inspection by a single manager, general manager, or team owner for your own team may be hard to codify for 500+ teams.
• Beyond defining processes for rules and site features, we also have to often create/change computer programs to implement the implications of the rule.  Or create a web process/presentation.  If implementation is extensive or prohibitive, the benefits of the change might not be enough to warrant the work.

That said, please continue to suggest changes and improvements.  Over time, some technical obstacles disappear or can be overcome - and some changes once thought not beneficial can be seen in a new light.  Several changes over the years have come directly from user input.

BWB may or may not solicit comments on rule changes.

Open Comment Thread for Potential Rule Change - Weekly Transactions

This is a call for comments on a potential rule change for 2013.  Currently weekly transactions are limited to 4 rounds of free agent signings.

• Should that number be increased?  To what?
• Should it be unlimited?

The 4-round approach comes from the model game for BWB, Robot Baseball.  At the time, owners submitted transactions onto bubble sheets that had to be scanned - that required some kind of limit.  When I started BWB, I was processing all transactions by hand, but that's now mostly automated.  Theoretically, on the web this could now be set to a higher or even unlimited number.

In some situations, the 4-round limit can make it take several weeks to redo/rebuild a team.  4 rounds of submissions do not guarantee 4 successful awarded picks.  When a team is dealing with a rash of injuries or taking over an abandoned team, more drastic changes may be desired.

Possible unintended consequences:

• Benchwarmer has been a mix of rabid/casual players.  The once per week nature of transactions and lineups means that people don't have to log in daily to change their team.  Missing a week of transactions can be costly, but currently doesn't have to be deemed critical since other teams are limited in the number of players that they can pick up.
• Benchwarmer has typcially had slow gradual changes to teams as opposed to massive overhauls, an approach I generally like.
• If transactions are unlimited or at a high number, it is possible that a team or collection of teams, if highly motivated, could corner the market on first-round draft picks/September callups when they are added to the game - rather than be limited to 4 per week.

BWB is not yet endorsing this change - but instead exploring owner sentiment for the current system.


Please use the comments section for this post to weigh in with your opinion.