(*) FANALYTICS: Fixing the Hall, part 2
Dec 20 2013
The National Baseball Hall of Fame is broken and needs to be fixed. Here is a recap (part 1).
Short of bringing in a bulldozer to Cooperstown, NY, there is not a lot we can do to truly change the current system. However, within the community of fantasy baseball brethren, we can correct the system in our corner of the neighborhood.
For fantasy leaguers, it is all about the stats. We don't care whether a player exhibited sportsmanship or integrity so long as he helped us win our leagues. That will be our absolute criteria.
And we already have a tool that provides us with a completely objective statistical measuring stick: Rotisserie dollar values.
The calculation of roto dollars puts all players on a level playing field. And since it is driven by the caliber of offense and pitching in each season, it effectively allows accurate player valuations across years. So a 30-HR performance in a high offense season will not generate as high of a roto value as that same performance in a low offense season. Note these two comparable performances from Gary Sheffield:
YEAR TM AB R HR RBI SB BA R$ ==== === === === === === == ==== === 1992 SD 557 87 33 100 5 .330 $40 2001 LA 515 98 36 100 10 .311 $30
Despite scoring more runs, hitting more HRs and stealing more bases, Sheffield earned $10 less during the steroids-fueled 2001 season. The 19-point difference in batting average would not be nearly enough to justify such a drop in roto value.
Rotisserie dollars are the absolute arbiter of a player's value within the context of the season in which he was playing. It doesn't matter if the player was a steroids user or if the media had a grudge against him. It doesn't matter if he was a bad person or if his stats were inflated because of his home ballpark. And it doesn't matter if he never merited serious consideration for Cooperstown. All that matters is whether his statistical performances helped his fantasy teams during his career.
Here are the criteria for induction into our Rotisserie Baseball Hall of Fame:
All players must have a minimum of 10 seasons in the majors and finish ranked among the annual top 15 of all batters or pitchers at least once. In addition, BATTERS must meet at least two of these three criteria:
- Minimum of $20 average dollar value over the course of his career.
- Minimum of $25 average dollar value during his peak* 10 years.
- Must have finished ranked among the annual top 15 of all batters at least 4 times
PITCHERS must meet at least two of these three criteria:
- Minimum of $15 average dollar value over the course of his career.
- Minimum of $20 average dollar value during his peak* 7 years.
- Must have finished ranked among the annual top 15 of all pitchers at least 4 times.
*In most all cases, the "peak" period will be assessed as consecutive years. In some isolated cases, particularly when an injury may have cost a player a full season, the peak year requirement may include non-consecutive seasons.
All dollar values are calculated based on a standard 5x5 game, with the player pool constituting approximately 80% of all players across both leagues. A 68%-to-32% offense-to-pitching allocation is used.
The Waiting Period
Isn't it a bit excessive to have a 5-year waiting period prior to induction? Once a player retires, he is either worthy or not. So our Roto Hall makes its decisions quickly.
For any player who officially announces his retirement, the Roto Hall inducts him during the winter following his last season, or the following winter if his announcement is delayed. So Greg Maddux would have already been inducted back in the winter of 2009. Tim Raines has been a member of the Roto Hall for over a decade.
For players who do not make an official retirement announcement, we wait two years. If there is no sign that a player will return to the majors after two years, he is inducted at that time. One such player we've been waiting on is Manny Ramirez. His qualifications make him a no-brainer member; we're just waiting for him to stop threatening to return.
This system does present the remote possibility of a player coming out of retirement and putting up poor numbers that cause him to fall short of the eligibility criteria. In those cases, we hope he enjoyed his short stay in the Roto Hall as we bid him farewell.
Inaugural Inductees
Since this system is based on Rotisserie values, we will begin our Hall at the start of the Rotisserie era, which would be 1984's publication of the book, Rotisserie League Baseball. For potentially eligible players who retired during the 1980s, we'll go back as far as 1980 to assess their Hall-worthiness but adjust the criteria to accommodate the shorter evaluation period:
- The minimum career average dollar value will apply only to the period of 1980-1989.
- The minimum peak average dollar value will be assessed over five years within 1980-1989.
Annual Induction
Each year's new members will be inducted at about the same time as the BBWAA announces their new members, in early January.
We will announce the 2014 inductees on January 7, 2014.
The Official Rotisserie Baseball Hall of Fame
It's a cool system, and it now exists. The Roto Hall can be found at Shandler Park. It has granted entry to 58 batters and 26 pitchers since the 1980s. Each player has his own page that contains career roto stats and summary qualifications.
There is also a spot on each page for you to share your experiences as that player's roto owner. (To comment, you can create a free account with just your email address.) Did Rickey Henderson anchor your teams during his peak years? Were you frustrated by Bret Saberhagen's volatile career? Did one of your league owners commit to owning Pedro Martinez at all costs and bid him up to $75? Tell us all about it!
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