If you bid big on Ryan Braun, be sure you’re bidding on this one.
Photo courtesy of Jibby7.
Welcome back to Ask Nash. Those of you who joined us over the offseason are probably unfamiliar with this, so let me take a second to tell you what this is. Over the course of the year, I’ll receive different emails from readers asking for my opinion on something. It could be a trade, a sleeper, whether or nor some big name will turn a cold streak around, basically anything that pertains to fantasy baseball.
Every Friday, I’ll publish a question, with my answer. I’ll show you how to reach me with an Ask Nash at the bottom because right now, I want to get right to the first Ask Nash of 2013.
Nash,
What is the biggest mistake new players make in an auction draft?
Eric, Minneapolis, MN
Eric,
In my experience (as both a first time auctioner a few seasons ago and one who feeds off of people’s inexperience now) I would say that the biggest mistake is not doing a few mock auction drafts before hand. It is important to know what to expect when entering any draft, especially a first auction style draft.
Some guys, like Dixon and Clave, feed off of the adrenaline that gets pumping when guys start going off the board at ridiculous amounts. If you have never experienced an auction style draft, I might equate it to exactly how guys describe being a rookie in the NFL. Year after year, every rookie is asked “What is the hardest part about transitioning into the NFL?” and undoubtedly they respond, “the speed of the game!”. What they mean is the speed in which you have to act and react to a play, because the veterans are making decisions so much faster than rookies.
The same goes for a guy stepping into an auction draft. A guy is nominated and then the bidding begins, you may have only 2-3 seconds to decide if you want to bid 9-10-12-15 auction dollars on a guy and then he is suddenly out of your budget range. After a few rounds of this you may realize that you haven’t bought a player yet, but you haven’t even placed a bid.
So then you set out to be ready to make a good bid on the next guy, take the few seconds you have to adjust the minimum bid to double digits and prepare yourself to steal the next guy on the auction block. He is nominated and you strike. You appear to have scared everyone else off and as you watch the timer count down and you prepare to celebrate your purchase of Ryan Braun, for $22, literally a third of what you thought he might go for.
You then realize that you have just purchased Ryan Braun the CLOSER in the Angels organization, who hasn’t thrown a Major League pitch since 2007. You didn’t get a $22 steal, you got taken for $22. D’oh!
You think I am joking? Well, I’m not. It has happened to guys in a couple leagues I have played in. As much as I harp about being prepared for going into a draft nothing, and I mean nothing, prepares you better for an auction than mock auctioning.
Hope this helps, Eric!
Nash
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