Archive for the ‘Other Sites’ Category

Worth Reading: Draft Software

6 Comments
January 16th, 2009 by
Categories: Other Sites, Worth Reading

I admit that I’ve never given much thought to fantasy baseball draft software. (In fact, I usually just stick to pen and paper.)

However, I took a few minutes to look at what software is currently available. Everything I found offers the same basic functionality–projections, custom rankings, etc. They are also all Windows only.

Here’s what I found, sorted by price:

Diamond Draft – $34.95

Fantistics Insider Baseball – $39.95

RotoWire – $39.99

Rhino Baseball Draft Magic – $59.95

RotoLab – $69.00

I’m actually a little surprised by the prices. I’ll pay $8 for a magazine just to have some light reading, and I’ve even shelled out for the Baseball Forecaster in the past. But I don’t see myself paying $40 for what amounts to the Price Guide + in-draft adjustments.

Which also makes me wonder how the Price Guide’s valuation method stacks up against what is in these programs… From the comparisons I’ve made so far, I think the Price Guide is the best at what it does. You would think that the non-free options would be a step above what’s freely available.

So I’m curious: For those who have tried out these programs, what do you think about them? (And is RotoLab really that much better than the competition?) Am I missing something valuable here?

Some thoughts on FantasyPros911.com

2 Comments
January 1st, 2009 by
Categories: Other Sites

A couple of weeks ago, Patrick announced that the Fantasy Baseball Generals would no longer be updated, and that on January 1st the writers would begin working under the auspices of FantasyPros911.

First, let me say that I really enjoyed the work that was done at Fantasy Baseball Generals. Having a pool of ten or so writers was a great way to build discussion and present unique viewpoints.

Taking a glance at FantasyPros911, it looks like the old-FBG commentary is now just one part of a whole host of features (prize leagues, premium content, etc). I realize it’s still early, but I honestly didn’t see any new features that really jumped out at me. Right now at least, the writing looks like the main reason that I’ll keep coming, but we’ll see how things develop.

Also, I see that each column has its own RSS feed, but I probably won’t bother subscribing to feeds that are only updated once a week. Am I missing the RSS feed that includes all of the writers in one place (basically like the old FBG feed)?