Saturday, February 18, 2012

What is the best waiver wire process for adding free agents now that Thursday games occur every week in 2012?




So how will your league change its waiver wire system in 2012 with the addition of a Thursday night game every week (weeks 1-15 in 2012).


OPTIONS
1) Keep WW on Friday but do one Thanksgiving week exception and on that week do just a Wed WW process since there are 3 games that day.




Advantages: Less work than 2 WW processes
Disadvantages: No way to fix a problem that occurs with a Thursday player if you have no backup on your team. For example, you are only carrying one kicker who plays the sunday before and is hurt, now  he is playing on Thurs and is out for the game due to a illness in the family or a injury in Wed. practice or last Sundays game. You lose any chance of correcting this. Solution-carry 2 kickers if you want to avoid this risk. My philosophy is to run with 1 kicker (to free up room for another sleeper) and take my chances.  


2) Keep WW on just Friday night and just say to heck with the Thursday night game implications but go to a WED waiver wire for Thanksgiving day games since there are 3 games that Thursday and continue to use WED from that week on.



Advantages: Less work than 2 WW processes
Disadvantages: Same as above but odds increase of a problem on Thanksgiving. Maybe add a backup for that week only at positions you need to start.

3) Keep WW on Friday for every week

Advantages
Disadvantages: No provision for Turkey Day. In week 12, during FF playoffs or next to last regular season game penalize teams with no way to add before 3 games. (Terrible option IMO)




4) Expand and add a Wed night WW process too? So two add/drops, one on Wed and then another after the Thursday game every week? 


a) If so are the Thursday players allowed to be dropped and replaced before the Sunday games or are they locked out? I would hope Thurs players are locked out after the WED WW, if not then Fridays WW will be a new WW instead of a contingency since NEW players are added for Friday (from WED FA)
b) Are just Thursdays players allowed to be added on this Wed waiver wire process? (This is a great option but game operators will complain that it is too hard to program in their computer systems because you have 2 different teams to exclude each week.) Another problem is if your kicker for Thursday does get hurt on Sunday or in the 3 days before Wed WW your only option is his backup on Thursday or the other Thurs kicker. So perhaps two full WW processes is the best option.


Advantages: Eliminates the disadvantage of losing a player before Thursday without any chance of replacing him. And gives you the option of waiting to hear more news a about injured players before dropping them. 
Disadvantages: More work with 2 waiver wire processes per league. Good players should look at both WW actions as chances to get ahead. 




5) Move the Friday night waiver process to Wednesday night. (Worst Option IMO)



Advantages: Eliminates the disadvantage of losing a player before Thursday without any chance of replacing him. 
Disadvantages: Creates an even bigger opportunity at losing a player before the Sunday or Monday games. Often key injury news is not releases until Friday.



6) Why do an added waiver on WED when you have just as good a  chance of something bad happening on Thursday before the game (after the waiver wire). How about a waiver wire just before the Thursday game?



And why is the WW process on Friday now? Why not Saturday so everyone can digest the injury news before deciding on what to do? Is it so people have the weekend free? 
And what about West Coast players? Often the deadline is 7 or 8 PM EST. That is when many on the WC are at work. How about 9 PM EST or 10 PM so everyone can work this issue after their 9-5 job and not at it.


Other options? 


I think many FF players favor adding a Wed WW option but just for adding Thursday players. Players dropped for this WW should not be available for pickup until after the Sunday/monday games. My vote would be two waivers-one on Thursday at 7 PM EST and then again on Saturday at Noon EST. Or if you must do a WED WW then make it 10 PM EST. Players are against the Thurs or Sat days as WW since it leaves less time for owners to set lineups and make WDIS decisions. 


And I agree with many who commented or emailed earlier this week. Injury reports on Thurs and Fri tend to influence your Start decisions more than the add/drop decisions. 


Keep this is mind too. Wednesday seems to see every player sitting or resting. It tells you nothing. I base my decisions on if they sit Thurs and more importantly if they sit Friday. In general, if they miss Friday I do not plan on them unless they have a history of playing with an injury.


So what do I prefer....
1) Full waivers on Wed/Thurs and Friday/Saturday
2) Thurs limited WW and Full Friday WW
3) Friday only WW
4) Wed only WW (although I think people underestimate the skill involved if this were to be introduced-since not everyone will know all the info there is about players. You will have to use your brain to find and value players before the injuries are all doped out.). I am seriously torn between 3 and 4. I like the skill aspect of a Wed only but there may too much of a complaint when players go out after the wed FAAB.
5) keep it Friday until Thanksgiving then move it to WED.



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