Draft/Auction Software

[The Feral Slasher]

So I've only been in two auctions in the last 8 years...how many of you use draft software ? Some questions for discussion:

What s/w do you use ?
What does it help with mostly ?
Does it feel like the s/w is controlling the draft more than you are ?
What different s/w is available - do websites offer a "test drive" ?
Overall impressions or other comments ?
Does it make the draft less fun, or is it just another tool/reference ?

Looking forward to your responses

[revo]

I've used Rotolab for probably 15 years now.

Pros
- easy to use interface
- allows editing of projections, which is my favorite part, since I tend to disagree with many of them.
- allows editing of the Draft Value algorithm
- works great for both auctions and snake drafts
- great for keeper leagues, as you can enter in rosters and keep track of who's available and league inflation
- easy to convert leagues year over year
- easy importing of BBHQ projections, which comes with the software

Cons
- pretty much NO upgrades/innovations over this 15-year period
- no built-in mock drafting, you have to do it yourself
- no integration with online host sites
- for PCs only -- it's not a website or an app, and won't work with Chromebooks
- if you've never bought it before, it will cost you $70, and that may be prohibitive or not worth the cost.

To answer your questions:

What does it help with mostly?
I'm so used to using it now, I wouldn't know what to do without it. For me, it builds my lists through the projections and the editing of them; keeps track of who's available; helps with keeping up with in-draft trends to identify when a run will occur; and highlights players (by using tags) so I don't forget about them.

Does it feel like the s/w is controlling the draft more than you are ?
Great question. Yes and no. If you don't tinker the projections and Draft Value algorithm, yes, you will feel like you're being overpowered to take some players as they'll be sitting out there with a huge draft-day inflated price and you'll force yourself to keep passing on them.

What different s/w is available - do websites offer a "test drive" ?
Last year I swore I wouldn't use it and would try others, but after asking around, I only found a couple of alternates and they were bad clones. Rotolab offers a test drive.

I do like Fantasy Pro's online mock drafting, but it doesn't offer much else so I don't really depend upon it. But it is fun.

Overall impressions or other comments ?
Service is great, but Merv didn't listen to my suggestions to improve it, and like I said, it's pretty much the exact same thing it was back in 2002.

Does it make the draft less fun, or is it just another tool/reference ?
Much more fun. If I don't have the information at my fingertips like Rotolab offers, I'd feel like I was thumbing through a magazine while I'm on the clock!

[BigJonEmpire]

I've tried out a bunch of them and rotolab is the best of them. There are other usable ones certainly but there is something about each that I don't like. Like rotowire's is pretty good but it doesn't have the views I like - you can only look at one position at a time, You have to keep switching screens constantly which can misdirect your attention. Insider Baseball's is also solid but I miss the editing functions and the little things like category goals and other bells.

Rotolab isn't perfect but it is the best. I believe there is a work around to allow mac use and I seem to remember Merv talking about creating a mac version last year or maybe the year before. I'm PC all the way so it never mattered to me really. There is a little discount for HQ subscribers too.

[mjl]

I don't use draft software; I've tried using the Mastersball software and I can see how if it worked well it'd be great but it has been kind of crashy in the past. For real auctions I just have a spreadsheet that I cross guys off of. It's surprisingly low-tech for me but it's worked so far. I'm definitely doing inflation by feel though and it can get away from me pretty quickly.

The strongest suggestion I have is that if you pick one, do a couple throwaway practice auctions on ESPN or whatever to get familiar with it. There's nothing worse than getting behind on your data input and not being able to pay attention to the guy currently being auctioned. It's not like a draft where you have a minute or so to catch your breath when your pick is up.

[The Feral Slasher]

Thanks for the input, that was really helpful. My concerns have always been that it would take away from the draft experience. It sounds like it would have lots of useful features that could be something that aids you rather than pushes you ? I'd hate to think that in the future everyone has the same s/w and it is a bunch of computers drafting with the "owners" driving the computers. But it sounds like there is plenty of customization that is possible so that an individual owner is really controlling the draft. I think I might go check it out and consider it for my upcoming draft.

[Ken]

Now we just need to build our own suite that integrates directly with the live draft software.

Who is in?

[chancellor]

I'm like mjl. I start out with multiple spreadsheets, pages and pages of notes, and other miscellaneous data. I go through about three weeks of what I fondly call "distillation" - keep boiling everything down - to where I walk into our auction with three sheets - batters page, pitchers page, and prospects page for our reserve draft. I've found it to be incredibly simple and easy to organize and use during the auction.

[revo]

Now we just need to build our own suite that integrates directly with the live draft software.

Who is in?

Funny, I was thinking of this the other day. Between all of our industry contacts, and the software engineers and rocket scientists on this site, we could easily build out software that would meet all of our expectations and be the best in the industry.

In a perfect world, it would be like Rotolab except as an app, have built-in integrations with the major hosting sites (a la FBG's Draft Dominator), allow you to edit projections, and have a built-in drafting robot for mock drafts. We'd make a killing.

I'm in.

[mjl]

In a perfect world, it would be like Rotolab except as an app, have built-in integrations with the major hosting sites (a la FBG's Draft Dominator), allow you to edit projections, and have a built-in drafting robot for mock drafts.

Do the major sites actually have publicly available APIs? When I wrote the roster checking tool for RJEL I had to scrape the web pages because I couldn't find a cleaner way to get the data. If there was an API to get XML or JSON or whatever that would be so much nicer.

edited: oh shit, there is! http://developer.cbssports.com/documentation/version3 I guess I just didn't look hard enough last time. Well, at least I can rewrite RosterChecker to be less flaky. If someone writes a design doc I can do at least some of the coding.

second edit: "The Development Center is no longer supported at this time. Sorry for the inconvenience." I wonder if that means it's unsupported, or if it's actually unavailable. I'll have to test at home.

[Ken]

Do the major sites actually have publicly available APIs? When I wrote the roster checking tool for RJEL I had to scrape the web pages because I couldn't find a cleaner way to get the data. If there was an API to get XML or JSON or whatever that would be so much nicer.

edited: oh shit, there is! http://developer.cbssports.com/documentation/version3 I guess I just didn't look hard enough last time. Well, at least I can rewrite RosterChecker to be less flaky. If someone writes a design doc I can do at least some of the coding.

I was browsing that same API when I posted above

second edit: "The Development Center is no longer supported at this time. Sorry for the inconvenience." I wonder if that means it's unsupported, or if it's actually unavailable. I'll have to test at home.

Well that would be extremely annoying. Hopefully just unsupported.

[BigJonEmpire]

I'm not much of a coder but I'll help test anyway I can.

[TranaGreg]

Do the major sites actually have publicly available APIs?

do you need real time data or just previous season(s)? I've played around with Sean Lahman's database (comes with a SQL version); they update it each Feb for the previous season

not sure what the most reliable source would be for cheap/free in-season stats

[mjl]

More that it would be a lot nicer if the software could tell what your league structure was without you having to enter it, or if the software could automatically update when a player was drafted, or even if you could draft a player through the software and have it forwarded to the site. It's not necessary, but in my (minimal) experience the biggest quality of life improvements would be around only having one system of record instead of having to manually move data between systems during the auction.

[Ken]

More that it would be a lot nicer if the software could tell what your league structure was without you having to enter it, or if the software could automatically update when a player was drafted, or even if you could draft a player through the software and have it forwarded to the site. It's not necessary, but in my (minimal) experience the biggest quality of life improvements would be around only having one system of record instead of having to manually move data between systems during the auction.

The double entry system is the worst part about drafting these days.

The automated system would take that down to JUST entering your own information which would be a huge change.

[Mithrandir]

The double entry system is the worst part about drafting these days.

The automated system would take that down to JUST entering your own information which would be a huge change.

Geez. I just cross out names with a pencil and paper.