The 2012 RAB fantasy baseball leagues

The countdown to pitchers and catchers has reached its final week, but we all know what that means. Yep, a few benign press briefings and not much else. It’ll be a while before we get into the swing of things. In the meantime, we have a perfect opportunity to set up the 2012 RAB fantasy baseball leagues. This should be similar to what we did last year, but also slightly different.

One thing we’ve failed to maintain in these leagues is continuity. Years ago we tried instituting a relegation system, but that requires far too much management. We’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that these leagues are one-year deals. We make ’em and them scrap ’em. So know that coming in.

Last year we had plenty of interest in RAB-based leagues; there were around a dozen total. We’re going for something similar this year. We’ve started the first two leagues, but we’re going to create many, many more. Here’s the procedure.

1) Click here to join the RAB fantasy league. We have two leagues set up right now, RAB League 1 (ID# 39765) and RAB League 2 (ID# 40171). I’m the commissioner of the first league, Mike is the commissioner for the second league. The password for both leagues is salbograntlanny, and both drafts are scheduled for Monday March 5 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.

Update (1:09 p.m.): We have a new league: RAB League of Champs; ID: 41028; Password: Yankees#1 click here to sign up.

Update (1:36 p.m.): Another league: RAB New England Yankees Fans; ID: 41247; pw: salbograntlanny click here to sign up.

Update: RAB League of Leagues; ID: 41280; pw: nyy baseball click here to sign up.

Update: RAB Ballad of Mariano; ID: 41337; pw: Mariano42 click here to sign up.

Update: RAB The Grandyman Can; ID: 41619; pw: salbograntlanny click here to sign up.

Update: RAB Flags Fly; ID: 41209; pw: salbograntlanny click here to sign up.

Update: RAB Sports Bar All-Stars; ID: 42568; pw: hamandswish click here to sign up.

2) Once those leagues fill up, it’s time to create a new RAB fantasy league. If you want to be commissioner, click here to create a new league. Name it whatever you want, but make sure to make the first word RAB.

3) Email me — joseph p (at) riveraveblues (dot) com — and let me know the league details (name and password). I’ll then update the post accordingly.

We’ll keep doing this until there is no longer any interest.

I’d like the leagues to have uniform rules, so we can compete among the leagues. That is, while your primary competition will be with the teams in your specific league, I’d also like to do some comparisons among the leagues. In fact, we’re going to give away a prize to the team with the highest winning percentage during the season. I’m not sure what the prize is yet, since we’re months away. But it’ll be something good: a bit of memorabilia or a book.

Here’s what we’ve created in the first fantasy leagues.

• 12-team league. I think this will work a bit better, and be easier to manage, than the 20-team leagues from last year.
• Offensive categories: Runs, RBI, OBP, Total Bases, Net Stolen Bases (stolen bases minus caught stealing).
• Pitching categories: Innings Pitched, Saves, Strikeouts, ERA, WHIP.

And we’ll use the following position distributions. It’s only a small change from the default settings:

C: 1
1B: 1
2B: 1
3B: 1
SS: 1
OF: 3
UTIL: 1
SP: 2
RP: 2
P: 4
DL: 1
Bench: 5

Also, I recommend turning on the feature that locks eliminated teams. There’s no reason for an eliminated team to be making a trade, since it cannot benefit them in any way. It’s totally bush league to fire sale anyway, but this is just some insurance against it. Everything else, from what I can tell, goes along with the default league settings.

That’s all I have for now. Again, sign up using the links above, or the spot below. If you have any questions, email me or hit us up using the submit a tip box.