Drafting software

There's a thread going on over at alexpatton.com about using his software for your auction. Toz (who I auction with - and against - every year) wrote:

Honestly, up until a few years ago, I bought the software, but did not have a firm grasp on how to use it properly. Now that I do, I find my preparation enhanced significantly.

I would not focus too much on setting it up to use during the draft itself. I just find myself with too many other things to worry about during the draft. There is also really no substitute to tracking inflation by hand - the computer software, no matter who you use, just does not track it accurately.

Used properly in the offseason preparation, the software is a great tool for adjusting bids, adjusting assumptions on the underlying stats, calculating league inflation, and, for me, an excellent pre-draft trading tool.

I generally agree with this. I start by looking at all of the bid predictions and tweaking based upon how I feel about certain players, if I'm implementing a certain strategy, or based on scarcity in my own auction. The software allows you to make those adjustments.

It's good for trading, too, but generally I like to build my inflation factor into each player's value during the off-season. I'll get into this later this winter.

My favorite thing about the software is that it gives me a chance to look at how many stats have been "accumulated" so far versus how many dollars have been spent. I can use raw inflation numbers to get an idea of how each team stacks up going into the auction, but seeing the actual stats gives me a great idea of how many HR/RBI I have (for example) and how that stacks up to the rest of the league.