FAAB/FAB (Free Agent Acquisition Budget/Free Agent Budget):
FAAB isn't a new concept in fantasy sports. You might've already heard of it or even used it. Yahoo defines it as: "each manager receives a dollar amount to place blind bids on waived players. The manager with the highest bid at the end of the waiver period claims that player and that bid amount is deducted from the team's acquisition budget. If multiple managers place an equal bid on a player, tiebreak would be waiver order."
First of all we wouldn't EXACTLY use it like how it is actually used as described above, given our unique league. But the idea would be similar, just with modifications suited to our league.
Essentially, we would all start off with say $100 FAAB/FAB.
Teams use this for:
1. Free Agent pickups in the offseason only...regular season would be exactly how we do now (no need to place a bid) due to immediate use of free agent on team same day. However, offseason free agent pickups would therefore require a 1 day "waiting period" (that could be agreed upon everyone i.e. 9am Eastern to 11pm Eastern) to allow for other teams to place a bid on said free agent. I feel like this waiting period would be okay given everyone is less active in the offseason.
2. During the season bids would only be made for waiver pickups as there is the already implemented 48 hour period, which would allow other teams to bid on the player. One advantage of this would be that GMs no longer have to play the mind games where a GM with a low waiver order position has to post minutes before the 48 hour period to prevent other GMs from posting after them. As well, as many are at work and don't have the luxury to do that, it would even the playing field a bit in that regard. For this to happen however, teams would not be allowed to change their posted bid amount once posted. If there are any ties, player goes to the higher waiver order like before.
In general how this works when bidding is quite simple:
1. Offseason FA pickups:
-As an example the VegasGM goes to right forum page and posts something like:
Andrei Kuzmenko Bid $50 (of course every post has a time stamp so we will know if it was made within the 24 hour window)
-JetsGM thinks $50 is too rich for Kuzmenko and doesn't place bid
-an hour later, CancuksGM who is rich in FAAB posts:
Andrei Kuzmenko Bid $80 (Steve outbid me and I can't make another bid because I already bid but maybe $50 the most I'd be willing to bid on Kuzmenko)
And then at the end of the 24 hour/48hour/1-day period, Steve announces the Canucks won Kuzemenko.
Same thing would happen for IN-SEASON waiver claims. Ultimately, teams wouldn't have to worry about posting too early or as close as possible to the end of the 24/48 hour window (although you still could if you want to be extra careful lol) because the GM decides themselves how much they are willing to spend. Plus we could make fun of each other for paying excessive FAAB when a player doesn't produce
. "Can we trade FAAB"
I would vote against being able to trade FAAB because it would be too much work trying to argue and justify a FAAB amount traded for a certain player.
"Okay...so how does this help motivate against tanking/playoffs, etc.???"
The biggest feature would be that FAAB DOES NOT reset year-to-year...
Instead, depending on your finish in the standings, you get a certain "Prize Faab" amount. So the only way to get more FAAB would be to win more. Obviously, everyone would have to agree on the tiers but for instance something like:
1st 1000
2nd 850
3rd 700
_______
4th 500
5th 400
6th 300
7th 200
8th 100
_______
For non-playoff teams, yes you have a higher draft pick and a chance at #1 but the drop-off would ideally be severe to motivate against tanking...and if you are low on FAAB gotta try and make playoffs!
9th 35
10th 30
11th 25
12th 20
13th 15
14th 10
15th 5
16th 0
Maybe the 16th place team loses the lottery AND gets $0 FAAB...lol
Of course, playoff teams that lose out in the first round would have to play on still instead of abandon lineups and hopefully be motivated for extra FAAB.
Miscellaneous:
- we could make FAAB valuable by making it a rule that teams must place a minimum bid of say $5...if you have 0 or run out of FAAB well your fault! Can't make any claims until next season then! so Spend wisely!
- Could customize things so teams must bid in multiples of say $5 so FAAB is used up quicker than bids of multiples of 1 lol
- If you even want to incentivize winning even more, you could have weekly awarded FAAB for winning a matchup i.e. winner of the weekly matchup gets this many FAAB depending on how many more categories were won, loser gets 0 and a tie results in teams getting nothing (again this would be customizable)
****As a nice bonus, I've tested it out on Yahoo in the past and I know which settings Steve needs to use for FAAB for the tally to show up on the standings page for each team on the website and phone apps. Steve can keep tally both on the forums and on Yahoo and update it on Yahoo as well throughout the season. Yahoo will allow up to $999,999,999 FAAB for each team lol
If you keep winning championships you will be rich and can get any free agent you want like the Yankees haha
Anyways would like to know your thoughts? Any loopholes? We can discuss and debate. If we are all okay with this maybe we can start using it this offseason.
