Part 3 of our Fantasy Baseball Sites Review. Read Part 2 here: Creating Your Own League.
If you get the chance to a draft of auction live (and by live I mean in-person, in the same room with all your league mates) I highly recommend it. It really changes the dynamic when you can shit talk everyone’s picks and strategies right to their face. Unfortunately most of the time you’re going to be conducting your draft/auction via the internet. So with that in mind here are my thoughts on the different live drafts.
First of all, I did the software pre-test on their site. But once I went to my actual draft lobby on the day of, I was prompted to install another Java add-in when trying to join. Not a huge deal, but it was kind of chinsy that I passed their pre-test but was then prompted to install something to launch the actual draft app. *Thumbs down*
Overall their live draft was okay. It was a pretty standard look and feel and is relatively easy to navigate. One huge negative is that there are no sound notifications. Now I know a lot of people probably mute that stuff, but if you’re looking up news or projections on another site, or just making another rum and coke, and want that audio cue that it’s your turn, you’re out of luck. It should at least be an option on the site, but it’s not.
I did enjoy that they have an option to sort by their projected stats, and this includes projected point totals based on the league settings. Sorting by projections is nice and all, but the fact that it includes the specific point totals for your league helps out. However, their projections were kinda screwed up in places and players like Mike Stanton and Buster Posey had no projections. Their average draft position was still listed, but if you sorted by projected points they would not appear on the list, so you really had to pay attention when sorting.
Overall, they have an okay thing going, but it’s not up to par with the big boys. No player news, no grid view of teams, nothing other than the basics; which is on par with what they have to offer in terms of leagues I suppose.
2 Hanley Ramirez drives Out of 5
Chances are you’ve done a draft on Yahoo at one point or another. Their draft app is pretty much the same across the board for all sports. I had originally written in this spot that their drafts are reliable and easy to use, however this weekend right as one of my drafts was about to start I was booted from the draft lobby and could not re-connect for about 5 minutes. I was lucky that I rejoined with 30 seconds left on my first pick, but it was still pretty sorry. Once I joined, my lobby was also buggy where scroll bars were missing and I could not maximize or minimize the lobby. Another of my league mates had the exact same problem (to be fair, I tried to join from two different computes are two different browsers and had the same problem on both, and my buddy was on an entirely different operating system from me). I did another draft later on that had no issues, but since one of the only things Yahoo has going for them is their reliability and ease of use, they lose points here.
My biggest beef with Yahoo is that they don’t offer projected stats. You can see the previous year’s stats if you sort by position, but no projections. It’s not a huge surprise since their site doesn’t offer anything in the way of projections itself. And I know drafting based on projections isn’t the best idea, but it should still be an option. Yahoo is still behind the times in that regard; really outdated for live drafts.
Their auction software is pretty nice however. Again it’s easy to navigate and use. And I love that you can show your opponents remaining money, max bid, and average amount left per player right on the main screen. They also have a grid view that allows you to see which teams have players at each position (handy for helping to determine your opponents needs without having to look at each team individually). It would have been nice to see the actual players as opposed to just whether or not they have a short stop, but it’s still a great option and a step in the right direction.
Lastly, neither of their draft tools offer any sort of player news or updates in the draft. So again you’ll have to have a separate window open to research players or get updates/news.
Their live draft tool is still pretty last-gen and I’d give it 2 stars normally. But their auction tool, even though it too lacks projections, is definitely ahead of the curve.
Combined they get 3 Ian Kinsler gappers Out of 5
ESPN’s auction tool is close to perfect if you can get used to the pace (it gives you less time than Yahoo when it’s your turn to nominate, and less time during the countdown) and can get over the annoying auctioneer’s voice. The only things missing that I really wanted were the grid view of players taken per team (like Yahoo has), and the ability to see the max bid of other teams (again, which Yahoo offers). You can see max bid if you mouse over the teams, but I’d like that prominently displayed. Their system does offer projections, and includes their “player rater” index which shows that even though Andres Torres may be ranked lower than Jason Bay, his player rater index is actually higher. Unfortunately, the full projections listed for each player disappear and are replaced by an abbreviated version when that player is up for bidding. Not a huge deal, but I don’t understand why pitchers don’t have their projected strikeout totals listed, for example. One last thing that I loved is their projected standings for the league, which is updated with each pick. So if you’re in a 5×5 roto league, you can see where the teams stack up based on ESPN’s projected stats. Very handy if you think to yourself “man I could use some more speed,” this allows you to look at everyone else and see where your team stacks up in terms of steals. I love this option.
Their regular drafts function pretty similarly, nothing too different to report other than it’s a draft rather than an auction. You still get the projections and player rater rankings, still get the projected standings. Plus the look and feel is almost exactly the same between the two (as opposed to Yahoo where the live draft and auction have a different look and feel).
While I like that they give updates for each player, for most players it’s just an update on what they did in their previous game. It’s a nice touch to offer news right in the draft room so you don’t have to go to a separate window, but it would be nice if it was actual news or analysis as opposed to just “Joey Votto went 2-3 yesterday and an RBI and a run scored.” Thanks, but I’d like to see that combined with an actual blurb of fantasy advice, especially when you’re in a Jager fueled haze at the later rounds and are trying to decide between a possible sleeper pick or an established vet for a bench or utility spot.
Lastly, one small negative is their drop-down menus in the draft require you to scroll around in them. If I want to sort by a specific position for example I click the drop down, but have to scroll in that drop down. Why can’t the entire list of options just open in that menu? Small gripe I know, but I think we’d advanced past this kind of limitation in menu technology.
It’s close to being perfect, but a few additions and tweaks are needed before I can say it is.
I give it 4 Carl Crawford swipes Out of 5
CBS’s live draft tool is very basic looking, but not in a bad way. It’s easy to get around and use, so while it lacks some visual polish it makes up for it in functionality. You’ve got all the basics, plus some.
First of all let me say that the one thing I’m not crazy about is the lack of a giant draft button for the player I have highlighted. The reason being is that I like to have someone selected, but be able to sort other players and have a look before I click “draft.” Say it’s the middle rounds and I have Carlos Beltran in mind, but I want to look at relief pitchers as well. I’d like the option to have Beltran selected with a big draft button by his name, but look at other players and sort their projections; and then if time runs low and I can’t find anyone else, I can just click “draft.” Yes I could always use the queue to have the player I want set to auto draft, but that’s just extra time or effort that I don’t feel I should have to put in. With CBS, you have to click on the player’s name and then click “draft” in their player info window. It would be nice to have someone selected, but be able to search other players without needing to go back to a player to draft them (or put that player in your queue).
Okay, now that aside, there are some things that I really love about their draft. First: GRID VIEW WITH PLAYERS LISTED! Most draft apps let you either see your team with a drop-down that lets you select other teams, or the players drafted in that round (with a drop down to view other rounds). Yahoo’s auction drafts let you see a grid of the other teams, but CBS’s tool lets you see a grid of all teams with all the actual players drafted. This is awesome. I can look at every other team’s roster and who they’ve taken on a single page, which is a huge help in determining not only who I should take next, but what positions I should pay attention to when queuing up players. Huge bonus points to them for having this.
Another thing I like is player news and analysis right in the draft window. If someone is hurt, you can mouse over the icon and see what the injury is. And when you click on a player’s name it opens their profile window (which has the draft & queue buttons) that shows their latest news as well as CBS’s fantasy analysis. So unless you’re a big fan of a different site’s analysis, you don’t really need any other windows open to do research.
Lastly, I’m a fan of the “top players” sorting option in the window. You can sort by their player rankings by default, or sort by just a certain position, however with CBS you can also sort by the top players at each position. When you do this it changes the sorting to show your roster settings, and then lists the top players for your roster positions. Say you have a need at catcher, middle infield, and outfield, you could use this sorting option and it will give you the top player available at each position. So you wouldn’t need to sort by catcher, then middle infield, then outfield. Obviously it lists their top choice, so you’d be wise to sort individually to see who the second and third best options are. But for the casual drafter, or even just to get a quick view of who’s available at the positions you need (if there isn’t a catcher listed in the next few players for example), it’s nice option that the other sites don’t have.
*Note, I didn’t do an auction on CBS since it wasn’t an option in the free leagues I was joining/creating).
While their live draft may lack the visual polish of the others, I found it to be the most functional, all-in-one tool, of all the drafts.
5 nasty Tim Lincecum curveballs
    
Out of 5
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