CBS changes

[Hammer]

I would say your time is limited due to work or being on rotojunkie and that yea the onus is on them as many other leagues are using this with no issues. There will be a bumpy transition but its worth it. I wouldnt ask them to copy and paste to you when theyve put their adds in just tell them not to clear it for 48 hours after the fact in case there is an issue and then you can have them send you the add/drops along with CBS comments.

[Fresno Bob]

The phrase "conform to the way CBS is set up" illustrates why my league (and I presume others) are so down on CBS despite all their bells and whistles. For a product that's supposed to be a "service" they are horribly and stubbornly deaf to user requests for features that should be standard for any company in the business. Instead, leagues are forced to change their style of game play, and in some cases their Constitution, in order to conform to CBS.

TopChuckie, we had to jump through similar hoops in order to run FAAB the way we wanted to with CBS as our provider. We had someone outside the league set up an free e-mail address (for example, cfcl-faab@gmail...) and set a password only they knew. We all e-mailed our bids and corresponding waivers to that address and after the FAAB deadline passed, the outsider would provide the password so I could log in and process everything. The next day, after the results had been announced, the outsider logged into the gmail account and changed the password for the following week. What a pain.

I'm no longer participating in the league, but they're in the process of moving to OnRoto because aside from the usual headaches we actually noticed some statistical discrepancies last year and also had problems with roster moves taking effect for only one day and then reversing themselves. The league was no longer confident in the results that were being reported.

We do something very similar, but we have three guys with passwords to the email account, and each checks access times for the other two

[Kevin Seitzer]

Does anyone know if you can adjust the daily start/bench time to be within 5 minutes of the game time? Yahoo allows this, but my commish keeps telling me cbs does not allow it, so all daily roster decisions need to be completed before game 1 of any given day. This can make it impossible to adjust lineups when teams post there nightly starters and a 1 pm game has already frozen your lineup.

CBS does not allow that. They don't even allow daily roster changes in an only league after the first game starts in the other league. I think it's frozen 30 minutes before the first scheduled game, iirc, but I might be wrong about that time frame.

[The Dane]

I suspect that that particular functionality might just be a tad overblown.

No. I think that most of the CBS naysayers -myself included- miss that functionality plenty but have resigned themselves to the fact that it isn't coming back any time soon, so there isn't any point is complaining. That's where I am, for sure. The way TQStats did FAAB is far superior to the way CBS does it now. I get CBS to work fine, and I'm not complaining, but not complaining should definitely not be seen as a reduction in appreciation for when it was done right.

I do agree that it'd be nice, but not necessarily necessary, to have options to automatically update a player's salary to his FAAB'd amount and to allow commish (or others) the option to see all of the bids. Frankly, though, if you allow the commish to see all the bids you should allow everyone to see all the bids. Seems like there's a slight strategic advantage in being able to see everyone's thought processes and valuations.

Old TQ would post everyone's bids after FAAB was run. Every owner got to see every other owner's bids, something CBS still doesn't let us do. It is true that the Commish got to see the bids before everyone else while he was running FAAB, but at that point bids would be locked and there would be nothing he could do anyway. It wasn't an advantage for the Commish and everyone got a bit of information that could help you plan strategically in your league. When I commish for CBS now, I get to see the bids of other owners and no one else sees that. Not fair, in my opinion, but I'm not complaining.

[no driver]

CBS does not allow that. They don't even allow daily roster changes in an only league after the first game starts in the other league. I think it's frozen 30 minutes before the first scheduled game, iirc, but I might be wrong about that time frame.

It used to be 30 minutes, but starting last year they adjusted the deadline for moves to 5 minutes before the first game of the day. If your league doesn't have a 5 minute deadline it might be because of a setting that the commish has to change.

We play mixed so I hadn't realized they'd do that to an only league too if the other league had early games. It's not something I've ever minded much because everyone has to deal with it in the same way.

[TopChuckie]

No. I think that most of the CBS naysayers -myself included- miss that functionality plenty but have resigned themselves to the fact that it isn't coming back any time soon, so there isn't any point is complaining. That's where I am, for sure. The way TQStats did FAAB is far superior to the way CBS does it now. I get CBS to work fine, and I'm not complaining, but not complaining should definitely not be seen as a reduction in appreciation for when it was done right.


Old TQ would post everyone's bids after FAAB was run. Every owner got to see every other owner's bids, something CBS still doesn't let us do. It is true that the Commish got to see the bids before everyone else while he was running FAAB, but at that point bids would be locked and there would be nothing he could do anyway. It wasn't an advantage for the Commish and everyone got a bit of information that could help you plan strategically in your league. When I commish for CBS now, I get to see the bids of other owners and no one else sees that. Not fair, in my opinion, but I'm not complaining.

Yeah, it wouldn't bother me so much if it was never done right, but someone was doing it better and CBS refuses to copy it and improve their own product. That's what's so frustrating.

Obviously CBS is much bigger than their fantasy baseball league services, and that's probably a big part of the problem, but if I ran my own fantasy commish website I'd have leagues on every one of my competitor's sites so I could keep track of what they are doing and where I could improve...and I'd be watching forums like this to see what the complaints are. There's no reason CBS couldn't have one guy on the payroll whose job is to stay up to date on that stuff and report back to the programmers.

[TopChuckie]

I would say your time is limited due to work or being on rotojunkie and that yea the onus is on them as many other leagues are using this with no issues. There will be a bumpy transition but its worth it. I wouldnt ask them to copy and paste to you when theyve put their adds in just tell them not to clear it for 48 hours after the fact in case there is an issue and then you can have them send you the add/drops along with CBS comments.

Are you saying CBS will provide each owner an explanation as to why his bids failed each week?

Is there an option for manual system that requires Commish approval before processing?

And yeah, I could definitely take two hours off my Rotojunkie time to get it done IF I had all week to do it, but I don't always have time to get to it on a Sunday and I'm often up at 2 or 3 AM inputting results so it's ready Monday morning for lineups by noon.

[mgwiz22]

My league will continue to use CBS this coming year because I have already paid for it, but when I saw onroto mentioned here I checked out their league setup menu and they have tons of options including a FAAB system that seems to allow if bids.

CBS does tell owners why their bids failed (outbid by x, player listed as a drop already dropped, etc), and it does have an option that requires the commissioner to approve FAAB bids but I don't know any details of how it works.

The system you are presently using seems much too time consuming and complex. Even if it neccesitates compromises you should switch to an automated Faab. I don't like the fact that if bids aren't allowed and the forced ranking of your highest monetary amount bid as your first choice,etc is stupid but treats everyone fairly. If your league tried it they would be satisfied. We switched last year and after everyone seemed to like it, though there were some complaints. As the commissioner I loved it. Each team was wholly responsible for getting in their own bids if they erred tough luck.

[dutch boy]

We play mixed so I hadn't realized they'd do that to an only league too if the other league had early games. It's not something I've ever minded much because everyone has to deal with it in the same way.

As an active owner, and in a league were we can carry 10+ bench players, there are many times that a 7 pm lineup will get posted around 6:30, and one of my starters is getting a day off. I could easily substitute a bench player, but I'm locked out if an afternoon game occurs (these are also occurring more frequently). These few extra starts that I could be getting might be the difference sometimes. Unless all of my bench players give me an 0-fer, but the counting stats could add up over a season. That's in my yahoo league, in my cbs league, it doesn't mean jack.

[frae]

A note for anyone else having this trouble: Commish Tools->Draft/Pre-season Rosters tab->Edit Salary and Contract Info

Alternatively, you can navigate straight there by typing the following into your browser: http:// [myleague]/teams/wildcards/1 which will set you up editing the wildcards for team ID 1. From there the interface should be familiar. Don't forget to change [myleague] to whatever the correct web address is for your league.

I never would have looked in the pre-draft section since we change the wildcard values at various times throughout the year. Hopefully that won't break anything this season.

ok i cant't follow this. anyone else found where this is as I am looking here and don't see anything like it. Now I had already changed our wildcard contract values but during the season I will need to know how to adjust salaries for various reasons. I may just be slow so any help is appreciated, thanks.

[frae]

ok i cant't follow this. anyone else found where this is as I am looking here and don't see anything like it. Now I had already changed our wildcard contract values but during the season I will need to know how to adjust salaries for various reasons. I may just be slow so any help is appreciated, thanks.

forget it i found it and boy is it buried compared to the old way. not a fan of this at all but at least i found it, sorry.

[Hammer]

Are you saying CBS will provide each owner an explanation as to why his bids failed each week?

Is there an option for manual system that requires Commish approval before processing?

And yeah, I could definitely take two hours off my Rotojunkie time to get it done IF I had all week to do it, but I don't always have time to get to it on a Sunday and I'm often up at 2 or 3 AM inputting results so it's ready Monday morning for lineups by noon.

yes failed bids get an explanation by CBS
yes there is an optional manual process that requires commisioner approval

[TopChuckie]

My league will continue to use CBS this coming year because I have already paid for it, but when I saw onroto mentioned here I checked out their league setup menu and they have tons of options including a FAAB system that seems to allow if bids.

CBS does tell owners why their bids failed (outbid by x, player listed as a drop already dropped, etc), and it does have an option that requires the commissioner to approve FAAB bids but I don't know any details of how it works.

The system you are presently using seems much too time consuming and complex. Even if it neccesitates compromises you should switch to an automated Faab. I don't like the fact that if bids aren't allowed and the forced ranking of your highest monetary amount bid as your first choice,etc is stupid but treats everyone fairly. If your league tried it they would be satisfied. We switched last year and after everyone seemed to like it, though there were some complaints. As the commissioner I loved it. Each team was wholly responsible for getting in their own bids if they erred tough luck.

I agree, it's way too time consuming, but that's exactly why I'm annoyed with CBS. They could easily save me from it.

Let's say I'm in a battle for first and wins is a critical category, my 3rd best starting pitcher, Player X, just tore his rotator cuff, I'm getting low on FAAB budget but I need to replace my starting pitcher, the only player I can afford to waive is my injured starter, and there are two guys in the free agent pool I have interest in.

Pitcher A is a young starter with upside who was just promoted from AA, Pitcher B is a solid veteran starter that was just traded over from the other league. I personally think young Pitcher A will put up numbers just as good as steady, old Pitcher B, and possibly exceed them. All my opposing owners know all about the career of Pitcher B and the recent trade from the other league, but I suspect some of them aren't quite as familiar with young Pitcher A and the numbers he's been putting up in AA or even that he was promoted. So, since I'm low in FAAB and I think only a few owners will place a bid on Pitcher A, I think he can be acquired for a far more reasonable bid and put up the same or better stats and therefore be the best value. I want to bid $8 for Pitcher A and waive Player X, BUT if I don't win the bidding for Pitcher A, then I must win the bidding for Pitcher B who I know everyone will be submitting bids for so in order to win I think I'll be forced to bid $20 for Pitcher B and waive Player X.

With CBS I think this strategy is impossible because it'll make Pitcher B first priority due to the larger bid. That to me is not a minor issue. It eliminates just too much of the FAAB strategy, and that sucks. That's before we even get into the contingency bids that affect which player is waived when I'm willing to waive multiple players, which offers another whole level of strategy. It's just not a minor issue at all, it's too big of a sacrifice/compromise, and I'm back to not even considering giving it a chance.

[Big Tymer]

forget it i found it and boy is it buried compared to the old way. not a fan of this at all but at least i found it, sorry.

Keith, there is an easier way to edit contracts as fyi. Go to "My Team" on the banner and scroll down until you start to see your roster. On the header, "Contract" has a red "C" next to it and if you click on it a pop-up box appears and you can edit the wildcard values for the team you are on. It's actually a bit easier I think then the way it used to be.

[Jefe]

yes failed bids get an explanation by CBS
yes there is an optional manual process that requires commisioner approval

CBS could improve their FAAB process quite a bit with a couple of very simple changes. I'm not a fan of the contingency bidding either, but the workaround of multiple bids works well enough. However, here is the feedback I've given them for 3-4 consecutive years now, to no avail:

1. The commish needs to be able to see what player is being dropped or moved to the DL in the transaction to be sure it's legal -- that's the whole point of having the commish approve it. Since you don't show that info, the commish is often forced to approve an illegal add, then when he goes to back it out, he can't see the old bids to know what other owner may have bid legally on the player. it creates a huge problem. and it is practically inevitable as long as you don't show that information on the FAAB processing page.

2. While 1. is a major issue, it would at least be fixable if a record of the bid history for each week would be available. I can't see that list, so when I need to go back and reward the player to the right team, I have no idea who bid what. It's ridiculous.

This creates issues probably 4-5 times a year. Guys making moves that aren't legal, because they suddenly don't have a SS or they go over salary cap. But I can't prevent it because even with commish approval I can't see the corresponding drop or DL move. And I can't fix it after the fact because they don't archive all the bid info. It's infuriating.