Tag Archives: update

Steamer-Razzball and Zeile Projections Updates

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Welcome to a new week, another week closer to the start of baseball season. I know a bunch of our members drafted this past weekend and I’m sure there are still plenty of fantasy baseball drafts scheduled the next couple weeks. That, coupled with March Madness* kicking off this week, and we’ve got a pretty darn exciting sports calendar ahead of us.

To start the new week, we have an update to both sets of projections available in the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy. The Steamer-Razzball projections from Steamer Projections Blog and Razzball, plus the Zeile Consensus Projections from FantasyPros, each updated on Sunday.

Those are now updated on our side, so you need to open your copy of the Cheatsheet Compiler, go to the setup tab, select which one you want to update, and hit Update Projections. Remember, if you want to update both sets of projections, select one, click Update Projections, then click the button to move it from Site A to Site B. Once that is done, select the other set and click Update Projections again.

The Average Draft Position (ADP) data from each of Mock Draft Central, FantasyPros and National Fantasy Baseball Championship also received an update. Select the one you prefer on the ADP tab in the Compiler and it will update when you update projections.

Last but not least, in terms of update news, new projections meant the Compiler kicked out new baseball cheatsheets for us, if you simply want to print the player rankings from the website and go.

I received a note from member btscot7 this morning wondering why he was getting an error opening Draft Buddy… something to do with the TimerModule. From that he reminded me that the countdown timer does not work in 64-bit versions of Excel. This happened last year too, I just forgot exactly what the issue was.

As of this morning there is a new alternate version of Draft Buddy available from our download page for 64-bit Excel users. You won’t be able to use the countdown timer, as I simply had to remove it (sorry), but better to get 100% of the core features of Draft Buddy and lose one frill feature than not be able to use it at all.

* Are you a college basketball fan, or even March Madness bandwagon fan this time of year (like me)? Over at one of my other websites, MyOfficePool.ca, I run a unique March Madness Survivor Pool that has steadily grown in popularity. If you want to try it out, sign up over there and give it a shot. It is a lot of fun and frustration trying to pick winners each round of the tourney to move on – survivor style. And you can’t pick the same team twice, so plan ahead!

Another Zeile Consensus Projections Update

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I moseyed over to FantasyPros today and noticed they updated the Zeile Consensus Projections again, so even though we did an update yesterday, I don’t want you guys heading into the weekend with outdated projections. A new update is now ready, and it is strictly for the Zeile projections. The ADP, depth charts and Steamer-Razzball projections all stayed the same. If you are using Zeile, open the Compiler, go to the update tab and hit Update Projections and you’ll be all set.

Compiler v.1.2 Plus New YouTube Tutorial Importing Holds, Quality Starts Projections

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I promised an update to the fantasy baseball projections, ADP and depth charts earlier today on our Facebook page, and it got done this afternoon, so you are now free to update your copy of the Cheatsheet Compiler. Same method as before, go to the update tab in the Compiler and hit Update Projections.

Ah, but there is more to the story which is why it took me an extra nine hours to post about the update. You’ll be particularly interested in this part if your league uses Holds or Quality Starts as a scoring category.

Last week member prnichols7807 asked why Holds are available at Razzball.com in the Steamer-Razzball projections on their website, but not in the Steamer-Razzball projections available in the Cheatsheet Compiler (and here). Good question. I learned that Razzball adds the Holds projections, and Quality Starts too, and they want to keep those proprietary.

No problem, of course. I can understand that, because Holds and QS are not as commonly projected as other stats, so if you want them you need to visit Razzball to get them. However, that doesn’t help us get them in the Cheatsheet Compiler to incorporate into our cheatsheets for leagues that use Holds, Quality Starts, or both, does it? The answer: Projection Pal. We can use Projection Pal to import just the Holds and QS into the Compiler, and add them to our existing Steamer projections.

The question then of course is how to do that, which inspired me to create a new YouTube tutorial on exactly that. The video shows all the steps from copying the projections off the website, pasting them into Projection Pal, getting them into the Cheatsheet Compiler, adding them to the existing Steamer projections, and creating our new cheatsheets for a 6X6 league (standard 5X5 plus OBP and Holds, and QS instead of Wins).

These videos are time consuming to produce but I can understand they are more helpful than reading instructions. I hope you find this one helpful.

As a further addendum to this story, when I first ran the Holds projections through the Cheatsheet Compiler, relievers with Holds were overvalued quite a bit. I made some adjustments to Compiler version 1.1, and uploaded version 1.2 to our download page with a new feature.

Similar to the “Stockpile Closers” feature already in the Compiler, there is now a “Stockpile Holds” feature on the roto adjust tab that forces relievers projected with a base level of holds into the draftable player pool. That change, plus an appropriate adjustment to the holds value as discussed in the video, spits out the projected best setup men in baseball at reasonable dollar values relative to closers and other positions.

The time to do one update plus another nine hours later, we have updated projections, a new version of the Cheatsheet Compiler and a new YouTube video. Yep, that is a full day, and I’m calling it a night. Enjoy!

Zeile Projections Update To The Update

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It is a tricky business relying on fantasy baseball projections from other sources, and trying to stay up to date all the time, especially when they have a seemingly random update schedule. After finalizing the update yesterday for the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy, I woke up this morning and, after noticing one small mistake I wanted to correct, I checked the Zeile consensus projections over at FantasyPros and they updated them again, late last night, after our last update. Darn it.

It is the weekend and many of you might be drafting today or tomorrow, so lets get everyone up to date with the latest projections, even though it is difficult to decipher exactly what changed from the last version to the current version. Okay, as of typing this I updated the Zeile projections again. You’ll see even if you already hit Update Projections after yesterday’s update (Friday ~ 7:00pm Eastern), the Compiler will tell you once again this morning (Saturday ~ 8:00am) that there is an update available.

As for the small mistake, I noticed in the Cheatsheet Compiler that Reid Brignac was still on his old team, Tampa Bay, even though I know I switched him in our depth charts weeks ago. I finally realized the issue.

The Compiler update pages I create were pulling the team and position information from the Zeile projections instead of the depth charts. Zeile still shows Brignac on Tampa. Steamer, by the way, shows him as a free agent. You’ll notice this on his player page where each of those projections are shown below his historic season stats.

Now I am pulling the team and position data from the right spot, our depth charts, so the Compiler properly shows his current team, the Colorado Rockies, after running the aforementioned update. This would apply to any other player who switched teams recently where our projection source haven’t quite caught up yet.

Fantasy Baseball Projections, ADP and Depth Chart Update

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That took some time – longer than I expected (per usual) – but the projections, average draft position and depth charts are now updated for the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy. Open your copy of the Cheatsheet Compiler, go to the update tab, make sure the Zeile (FantasyPros) option is selected for projections source, and click Update Projections.

No update to the Steamer-Razzball projections this week, only the Zeile projections. I updated the ADP from all three of our sources, FantasyPros, Mock Draft Central and National Fantasy Baseball Championship. Thanks once again to each of our partners for their contributions to the CC/DB.

I also ran through every team to update our depth charts too. In terms of other online features, the projections update creates new updated player rankings for our cheatsheets and player pages, like Bryce Harper.

We had some questions the last few days about the projections, including a discussion on our Facebook page when member smackie1970 noticed there are way too many at-bats going to the Tampa Bay shortstops. Make sure to check that out to understand the reasoning behind it.

Commenting on a previous blog post, member prnichols7807 asked why Holds (and I noticed, Quality Starts too) aren’t included in our Steamer-Razzball projections when they are over at Razzball. It seems that Razzball adds those to Steamer, and they want to keep them proprietary, which is certainly understandable considering HLD and QS are not as commonly projected by fantasy baseball prognosticators across the inter webs. My suggestion if you really want these in your copy of the Cheatsheet Compiler would be to do so using Projection Pal. If I have time then I will revisit that topic next week to show how I would do it.

Okay, that is it for the update. Have a good one, and good luck if your draft is on this weekend.

Another Update, Plus Baseball Player Rankings

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A new week and yet another update for the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy. The Zeile Consensus Projections and ADP each received an update, which you can obtain by simply opening your copy of the Cheatsheet Compiler, going to the update tab, and hitting the Update Projections button, making sure you are asking for the Zeile (FantasyPros) projections from the available drop-down.

Don’t have the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy yet? They are free, including updates from now to Opening Day. All you need to do is register a member account (or login with your old one and renew access) and go to the download page to get the CC/DB, fantasy baseball version for 2013. Testimonials and/or donations to help pay for our web hosting and time are appreciated.

The CC/DB is in Microsoft Excel, which is software that some of you maybe don’t have on your computer, or don’t use currently or very often, or don’t care to try. I’ve tried to make the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy as user-friendly as possible, but it is within the confines of Excel which isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time. As a (former) accountant, it was a natural for me, but I understand some reluctance or even frustration using a Microsoft product.

Overall
Rank
Player
 Team 5X5 ADP
1
Ryan Braun, OF
 MIL $46 1.01
2
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
 DET $46 1.02
3
Mike Trout, OF
 LAA $44 1.03
4
Robinson Cano, 2B
 NYY $36 1.07
5
Matt Kemp, OF
 LAD $35 1.04
6
Albert Pujols, DH|1B
 LAA $35 1.06
7
Clayton Kershaw, SP
 LAD $33 2.02

To help bridge the gap by providing something beneficial to non-Excel users, I posted new player ranking pages on the website. Print and go, with the old pencil and paper draft method. Nothing wrong with that, and you are certain to not spill beer on your laptop at the draft. The rankings are based on standard 5X5 roto scoring with a typical $260 salary cap (i.e. same format as you see in outdated magazines on the racks at the book store), pulled from the Cheatsheet Compiler. There are overall rankings and rankings by position. I’ll update these each time we update the projections in the Compiler.

I hope you find that helpful. Feedback is welcome either here in the blog comments, or on Twitter or Facebook.

Big Baseball Update To End The Week

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Where did the week go? Better question: Why do I find myself asking that same question every week?

Not to worry, I’m not expecting an answer to either question, but I do have good news in that we are going to finish the week just like it started, with an update to the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy.

This time the update is to both sets of fantasy baseball projections – Steamer-Razzball and Zeile – plus the average draft position (ADP) data from all three sources – FantasyPros, Mock Draft Central and NFBC. Our depth charts are still in good shape, except the Chicago Cubs who got missed last time, so they got updated.

Since we have two sets of projections to update, and the Cheatsheet Compiler only does them one at a time, here are the steps you should follow, keeping in mind that from the default download file, Zeile projections are in Site A and Steamer projections are in Site B.

1. Update Steamer. Go to the update tab in the Compiler and change the Projections source drop-down to “Steamer-Razzball”. Click the Update Projections button.

2. Move Steamer. After you just updated, Steamer overwrote the prior projections in Site A. Lets move them to Site B so we don’t lose them from the Zeile update. Go to the update tab in the Compiler and near the top of the tab click the Move to Site B button.

3. Update Zeile. Repeat step 1 but change the Projections source drop-down to “Zeile (FantasyPros)”.

After that you are up to date.

For some added reading on the projections we are using in the Cheatsheet Compiler, check out Where Steamer and ZIPS Disagree by Dave Cameron over at FanGraphs. Then read Jared Cross’ response at the Steamer Projections Blog and adjustments made to Steamer as a result (and which led to the above noted update).

Longtime Draft Buddy member, BeanTown, did some sleuthing to find out if projections that are averages of a bunch of single sets of projections tended to be more or less accurate in general than single sets of projections. He found this article by Wil Larson over at FanGraphs, and mentioned similar findings from sabermetrician (is that a word?) Tom Tango. The findings? Average projections are good for hitters, but less good for pitchers. Interesting.

From that, BeanTown asked me how he could set the allocation keys in the Cheatsheet Compiler to use Zeile projections for hitters, and Steamer projections for pitchers. No problem I told him. Here is how:

1. First, set the default allocation on the setup tab to 100% Zeile (Site A). That we will use for hitters.

2. Then, go to the pitchers tab and do you notice just above the spreadsheet but below the toolbars a “+” sign. Click that and it will unhide some columns. In the yellow column under “Non-Default % Key” you can put a different allocation key for an individual player. Unless you’ve changed it, “8″ should be the 100% Steamer (Site B) key. Put 8 for the first player, copy it, and paste it all the way down for all players on the pitchers tab.

3. Hit Compile Cheatsheets.

After step 3, the cheatsheets are now generated based on Zeile for hitters, Steamer for pitchers. Hopefully that provides the best of both worlds.

Projections and ADP Update Ready for the Cheatsheet Compiler

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I posted this morning on our Facebook page and Twitter account that I was going to work on updating the fantasy baseball projections, Average Draft Position (ADP) and depth charts today for the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy. That took some time, but the update is ready!

Both sets of projections, the Zeile Consensus Projections from FantasyPros, and the Steamer-Razzball projections from Steamer Projections Blog, were updated. Plus, I updated ADP from each of Mock Draft Central, FantasyPros and National Fantasy Baseball Championship.

I ran out of time to do the depth charts, so if a few people could look through them and let me know if there are any glaring changes that should be made, I’d appreciate it.

As a result of this update, we now have much deeper Zeile projections. Previously, I grabbed the Excel export file from FantasyPros, but member mjfhokie noticed that didn’t include the complete Zeile projections. Now I’m pulling them direct from FantasyPros’ API, resulting in much deeper projections. Our Zeile import used to include projections for 245 hitters and 181 pitchers, but is now at 358 hitters and 249 pitchers. Good stuff!

Note since this is a projections update, you do not need to download the Cheatsheet Compiler again. You can get the new data using the built in features. To update both sets of projections, perform the following steps:

1. Open your copy of the Cheatsheet Compiler, go to the update tab, and use the drop-down to choose Steamer-Razzball projections. Click the Update Projections button. You should see an indication that Steamer projections now are in Site A.

2. After that runs through the update, go back to the update tab and click the Move to Site B button, which will do just what it sounds like. It moves the now updated Steamer projections from section A to B on each of the hitters and pitchers tabs.

3. Now change the drop-down from Steamer-Razzball to Zeile (FantasyPros). Click the Update Projections button again.

4. Your ADP is already updated from the above steps. If you want to switch to a different source for your ADP, go to the adp tab, change the drop-down, and click the Update ADP button.

One final note that I did make some very minor changes to the Compiler and Draft Buddy download files, even though I didn’t change the version number. In the Compiler, the Check for Update button didn’t work properly. I fixed that.

In Draft Buddy, I noticed a problem on my Mac that threw an error near the end of the Setup Draft Buddy process. This was a curious one that happened because while running one macro (Setup Draft Buddy), Buddy tried to run another macro (recalculate the by pos tab), but ended up getting bungled up because the first task didn’t think the second task finished fast enough. I never noticed this issue on my PC, only the Mac.

Like I said, these are very minor issues, but if you do notice them and want to download a fresh copy of the Compiler or Draft Buddy, then you can certainly do that.

Enjoy the update, and again, let me know if you notice any significant depth chart changes that should be made, particularly those impacting the starting lineup, rotation and closers as shown on our summary depth chart in the Compiler.

CC/DB Projections Update, League Opening

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Rick returned my email asking him if he has a player projections update for us, and he did! He forgot to send me his update last night as a result of managing an intense opening night ball game in his son Eli’s little league. The full update is now posted, so open your copy of the Cheatsheet Compiler and hit Update Projections for fresh projections, depth charts and ADP.

Amongst the projection changes we added new starting second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, Freddy Galvis, to our database, reduced projections for Domonic Brown and Bryce Harper with their assignment to the minors, reduced Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Stephen Drew due to injury recovery concerns, added Humberto Quintero as the starting catcher for the Kansas City Royals, and upgraded Grant Balfour as the new closer for the Oakland Athletics. Plus a handful of other changes.

All-in-all, a pretty healthy update. Remember, if you already have Draft Buddy set up for your league, and you want to get the newly updated cheatsheets in Buddy from the Compiler, follow these steps:

  1. Update projections in the Compiler. Compile Cheatsheets will run automatically after the update.
  2. Open Draft Buddy. If you already have any keepers, draft picks, custom draft order, draft pick trades, etc. in Buddy, then uncheck the Clear Keepers and Draft Picks option on the setup tab.
  3. Click the Setup Draft Buddy button.

Last thing, we are still looking for one more for a $50 league drafting on Monday night. Contact me if interested. Good luck in your fantasy baseball drafts this weekend!