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Rudy Gamble

Author: Rudy Gamble

Rudy is the co-founder of Razzball and the wizard behind the Player Rater, Streamonator, HitterTron, DFSBot, Pigskinator, Stockonator and most other statty things on the site. You can contact him at [email protected], @rudygamble.bsky.social on Bluesky or via Twitter @rudygamble.

Read some of Rudy Gamble's 358 posts

Rudy Gamble

2014 Razzball Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit

February 18, 2014 | Uncategorized | 78 Comments

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Looking for a great fantasy baseball draft kit to help you draft your fantasy baseball team in 2014? Good, because otherwise you are the worst web surfer in the world.  (Did I search for fantasy baseball rankings?  Damn, I meant chicken cordon bleu recipe.)

Just like last year, the 2014 Razzball Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit is free.   MAYBE there are better fantasy baseball draft kits out there for $ (I don’t know, I don’t pay for ’em) but I can guarantee none of them are #DIV/0! times better.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Rudy Gamble

2014 Razzball/NFBC Signup & My 2013 Season Recap

February 13, 2014 | Our Leagues | 47 Comments

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Last year, I played in my first 15-team NFBC league – a 50-round ‘slow’ draft format where you cannot add any players via free agency or trades. You can only promote players to (and demote players from) your starting roster of 2C/1B/2B/SS/3B/5 OF/CI/MI/UTIL/9 P on Mondays with an additional Friday switch for hitters only.

After playing this format for a year, I think it is the perfect yang for the hyper-frenetic yin that is the Razzball Commenter League format (for sign-ups). I love streaming but there is also something satisfying about winning purely on out-drafting everyone. I like the format enough that we are considering sponsoring a league (or leagues) if there is enough demand from Razzball commenters.

So if you are interested, please enter your e-mail address below. (Note: It’s $150) I will definitely play in one of the leagues – can’t speak for any of the other writers just yet.

NOTE: THIS IS SEPARATE FROM THE RAZZBALL COMMENTER LEAGUE. THAT FORMAT/RULES (12 Team MLB) WILL STAY THE SAME AS LAST YEAR. THERE’S SIGNUPS FOR THAT.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Rudy Gamble

Fantasy Baseball Snake Draft Strategy – The Cumulative Round-by-Round Impact On Team Success

February 11, 2014 | Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy | 83 Comments

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In my 2013 review of Fantasy Baseball Rankings, I noted how the majority of a team’s success (in 12-team mixed roto leagues) can be tied to the end-of-season value of their team.  Those stats are:

  • Drafted Hitter+Pitcher End of Season Value – 66.9% correlation with Team Total Standings Points (2013)
  • Drafted Hitter End of Season Value = 70.5% correlation with Team Hitter Standings Points (2013)
  • Drafted Pitcher End of Season Value = 60.0% correlation with Team Pitcher Standings Points (2013)

The below graph shows the cumulative round-by-round impact of how a team’s draft drives a fantasy team’s success (or lack thereof) in the 2013 Razzball Commenter Leagues (so the end of season value of a team’s 1st-4th round hitters explains about 53% of a team’s hitting standing points (red line), 1st-4th round pitchers explains about 9% of a team’s pitching standing points, and the sum of the two explain 40% of a team’s total standings points)

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Rudy Gamble

2014 Fantasy Baseball Multi-Position Eligibility (Yahoo! Rules – 5+ Games)

February 6, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 37 Comments

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Below are all players who should start the year with multiple position eligibility in leagues where a player must have 5+ games in the previous year to qualify for a position.  I believe these rules are used only by Yahoo.  I used 5 games as the cutoff where Yahoo uses 5 games started or 10 total games so it is possible there are a couple guys on this list where I may have erred.  Please point out my mistakes in the comments.

Click here for multi-position eligibility players in 2014 fantasy baseball leagues with 20+ game eligibility.

You can use the text boxes on top of the grid to filter to a certain position (e.g., ‘SS’ shows all multi-position players with SS-eligibility).

Thanks and apologies for those of you who searched for ‘fantasy + multiple positions’ and expected more stimulating content.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Rudy Gamble

Fantasy Baseball Snake Draft Strategy – Hit/Pitch Splits

February 4, 2014 | fantasy baseball strategy | 65 Comments

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Hit/pitch splits are commonly associated with fantasy baseball auction drafts auction drafts – e.g., spending $180 on hitting, $80 on pitching or 70/30 hit/pitch split. The discussions around hitting vs. pitching in snake drafts tend to be less mathematical in nature – often limited to debates on which round to draft one’s first starting pitcher and relief pitcher.

This post will demonstrate how to calculate hit/pitch splits for snake drafts as well as analyze 2013 Razzball Commenter League data to see what the most optimal hit/pitch splits are.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Rudy Gamble

2014 Fantasy Baseball Multi-Position Eligibility (ESPN/CBSSports Rules – 20+ Games)

January 21, 2014 | 2014 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 6 Comments

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Below are all players who should start the year with multiple position eligibility in leagues where a player must have 20+ games in the previous year to qualify for a position. I believe this covers most formats other than Yahoo fantasy baseball whose 2014 multi-position eligible players can be found here.

You can use the text boxes on top of the grid to filter to a certain position (e.g., ‘SS’ shows all multi-position players with SS-eligibility).

Please let us know if we’re missing anyone and apologies for those of you who searched for ‘fantasy + multiple positions’ and expected more stimulating content.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Rudy Gamble

Fantasy Baseball Rankings Review – 2013

January 20, 2014 | Testing Projections + Player Raters | 37 Comments

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This is part of an annual multi-part series designed to help Fantasy Baseball fans determine on what fantasy rankings and projections to rely.  The first part will cover Rankings.  The next parts will cover Projections.

Below are the ranking sources that are part of the test.  I have hyperlinked to the actual rankings wherever possible.  Some of these links, including ours, will override once 2014 rankings are published.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Rudy Gamble

Book Review: Winning Fantasy Baseball By Larry Schechter

January 7, 2014 | Book Previews | 64 Comments

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I do not review baseball books very often.   I have managed more ‘fake’ book reviews on this site than real ones (see here).  Even books that have been in print for years that I meant to belatedly review end up unreviewed – like The Book or Ball Four – because I’m usually in one of three states (pre-season stat-crunching/writing, in-season management/writing or off-season/vegging).

But I made an exception with Winning Fantasy Baseball (officially out Jan 7 – click preceding link to buy it on Amazon) since the author (Larry Schechter) is far and away the best performing ‘expert’ in Tout Wars so I could definitely learn a couple things from him.  (It didn’t hurt that his PR person sent me a free copy as professional courtesy – if only I had such sway with European car companies or bacon of the month clubs).

I polished this nearly 350 page book in 2 days.  Kudos to the author for his eminently readable prose.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Rudy Gamble

Razzball 2014 Hall of Fame Ballot & Musings on Voting + Jack Morris

December 19, 2013 | Hall of Fame Nominations | 32 Comments

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Razzball is psyched to being taking part in the BBWAA Hall of Fame vote.  As the chief stat geek at Razzball, I take this responsibility very seriously.  I admit there are obstacles – e.g., determining the right paper size and stock for fashioning a  ballot (ours always gets lost in the mail), writing all the eligible players’ names, tracking down the BBWAA address, buying a stamp,  ignoring the ‘return to sender’ and ‘cease and desist’ letters from BBWAA, etc – but how best to honor the nominees’ perseverance than to show a little of my own, right?

Below is my 2014 Hall of Fame ballot  as well as some commentary on the Veterans ballot.  As you can surmise by my votes, I’m a PED realist (vs. moralist) with a slight bias towards hitters (particularly well-rounded 2B/SS/CF) vs pitchers.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
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