The hitting and pitching player valuations are based on 5 categories.
Hitting is based on:
Batting Average
Home Runs
Runs Batted In
Runs Scored
Stolen Bases
Pitching is based on:
Earned Run Average
Ratio (Hits + Walks / Innings Pitched)
Strikeouts
Wins
Saves
The proportion given to each is based on over 10 years of analysis of incremental value to each category towards standings improvement in that category. Thus Wins are considered more valuable than Saves because an extra Win is more likely to gain a standings point than an extra Save. The Average categories (Avg, ERA, Ratio) are proportioned a positive amount to Hits and Innings Pitched, and a negative to At Bats and Earned Runs and (Hits+Walks). Thus a lot of a moderately good average is better than a little bit of a better average (batting .300 playing full time is better than .350 as a pinch-hitter).
The AL and NL proportions are slightly different. My experience has been mostly with National League rotisserie leagues, but I altered AL proportions as seemed appropriate (for example, ERA in the AL is higher).
Mixed League proportions follow NL proportions for the most part. This is new for the 2000 season, although I'll back calculate past years.
Strikeouts and Runs Scored are newer categories for our leagues, so my currently used proportions are experimental and may need revising in years to come. For that matter, all proportions are revised occasionally (but not too often).
Regardless of the proportions used per category, the final rotisserie dollar values assigned to each player are "normalized" so that the $1 player is 90% from the last player that would be taken in a league, and the sum of all the players representing that 90% is the amount available assuming one spends 65% of their $260 for hitting and 35% for pitching. I base this on a 13 owner league for NL and a 12 owner league for AL (since there are more NL players than AL). The Mixed League values I have done assume a 14 owner league. That is:
NL hitters:
$1 player is 164th best
Total for top 164 hitters = $2197 (65% of $3380)
NL pitchers:
$1 player is 106th best
Total for top 106 pitchers = $1183 (35% of $3380)
AL hitters;
$1 player is 152nd best
Total for top 152 hitters = $2028 (65% of $3120)
AL pitchers:
$1 player is 98th best
Total for top 98 pitchers = $1092 (35% of $3120)
Mixed League hitters:
$1 player is 177th best
Total for top 177 hitters = $2366 (65% of $3640)
Mixed League pitchers:
$1 player is 114th best
Total for top 114 pitchers = $1274 (35% of $3640)
Clear?
Actually, I tend to make the total amount somewhat higher than that listed above. Typically around $2220 for NL hitters, for example.
For any period covered (especially the 'recent' valuations pages) some players will play more games than others. This causes periodic fluctuations in values especially with pitchers as depending on the cutoff for any particular period may cause the accumulation of more or less than normal statistics. And there is no effort to account for a player not playing (injuries or whatever). Thus one always must consider a player's value based on his playing time relative to the period evaluated.
Naturally, these valuations are based solely on actual results and are no effort whatsoever to predict future performance.
Finally, for the FP column on my NL pages stands for "free pool". It is for the use of Budman Rotisserie league owners and indicates if a player is not on any owner's team within either league (P --- Pioneer League, O --- Overbidders League). Such a player is available (unless they started the season on an AL team's opening day roster) for acquisition on weekly transaction day (Mondays). FYI.
Bud
May 7th, 1998
Revised January 25th, 2000