RotoHound

Fantasy Baseball Glossary

Definitions of the valuation and league-format terms used across RotoHound. Each term links to the part of the methodology that uses it, where one applies.

Standings gain points (SGP)

A valuation method that prices a player by how much his stats move a team up the standings. Production in each category is converted to standings points gained, so every category lands on one scale and players can be compared across categories. Formalized in Art McGee’s "How to Value Players for Rotisserie Baseball". RotoHound uses a standardized close relative of SGP for category leagues. Valuation methodology

Z-score valuation

A way of putting scoring categories on one scale: each player’s contribution to a category, measured above replacement level, is divided by how much players typically vary in that category (a standard deviation). One typical spread above replacement counts the same in steals as in homers, so no category dominates just because its numbers run bigger. This is the approach behind Razzball’s Player Rater and RotoHound’s category-league values.

Points above replacement (PAR)

The valuation basis for points leagues: a player’s projected fantasy points above what a freely available replacement player would score. Dollar values follow by distributing the league budget across all points above replacement at a single league-wide rate.

Replacement level

The production a team can get for free: the best player who goes undrafted once every team has filled its roster. It depends on league settings, so a 15-team league with deep benches has a much lower replacement level than a 10-team league, and the same player is worth more above it. Value above replacement, not raw production, is what dollar values price.

Positional scarcity

The premium a position earns because good players at it run out sooner. RotoHound measures it as the gap between the best undrafted player overall and the best undrafted player at each position, which makes catcher the scarcest slot: in a standard 15-team auction the premium is worth about $10 to a catcher and about $0.50 to an outfielder.

Category equalization

A rescaling step that makes each scoring category contribute the same total dollars across the player pool, so no category is systematically cheaper to buy than another. RotoHound applies it by default in category leagues, and category weights let a user deliberately shift dollars toward categories they want to target.

Dollar value

A player’s worth expressed on the league’s budget scale. Positive value above replacement is scaled so it sums to the league’s total budget, and a replacement-level player is worth exactly $0. Dollar values are specific to one league configuration: team count, roster slots, categories or point values, and budget.

Surplus

A player’s dollar value minus his salary, in leagues where players carry salaries (auction and salary-cap formats such as Ottoneu). A $30 player at a $12 salary carries $18 of surplus. Surplus, not raw value, is the fairness currency in salary-league trades.

Rest-of-season (RoS) projection

A projection covering only a team’s remaining games, as opposed to a full-season line. RotoHound rebuilds every rest-of-season line daily from observed usage, injuries, and roster status, and all in-season values and standings on the site are computed from rest-of-season lines. Projection methodology

Projected standings points

The scoring currency of RotoHound’s trade and pickup analysis. Current results blend with rest-of-season projections for every roster to project the final standings, and a move is scored as the change in a team’s projected standings points with the move applied. In points leagues the equivalent is projected fantasy points.

Average draft position (ADP)

The average slot at which a player is drafted across many real drafts, used as a market price for draft preparation. RotoHound supports uploading ADP data, including NFBC exports, and shows it next to projections and dollar values on the draft board.

FAAB

Free agent acquisition budget: a season-long budget of blind-bid dollars used to claim free agents, in place of a waiver order. Platforms use different default budgets (NFBC $1000; Yahoo, ESPN, CBS, and Fantrax commonly $100).

Rotisserie (roto) scoring

A season-long format where teams are ranked in each scoring category and earn standings points equal to their rank, worst to best. A 12-team league awards 12 points to the category leader and 1 to the last team, and the season winner is the team with the most total points across all categories.

Head-to-head (H2H)

A format where teams play scheduled weekly matchups instead of accumulating one season-long total. Each week a team wins or loses against one opponent, in categories or in points, and the standings are a win-loss record.

Points league

A format where every statistical event carries a point value (for example, a home run worth 10.4 points in FanGraphs Points) and a team’s score is the sum. FanGraphs Points, SABR Points, and the Yahoo, ESPN, and CBS points presets are points formats.

5x5

The most common rotisserie category set: runs, home runs, RBI, stolen bases, and batting average for hitters; wins, saves, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP for pitchers.

4x4 (Ottoneu Classic)

Ottoneu’s classic category set: runs, home runs, OBP, and SLG for hitters; strikeouts, ERA, WHIP, and HR/9 for pitchers. Replacing AVG with OBP and SLG changes which hitters are valuable, so 4x4 values differ meaningfully from 5x5 values.

Redraft, keeper, and dynasty leagues

A redraft league starts over every season. A keeper league lets each team retain a few players year to year. A dynasty league keeps entire rosters indefinitely, so young players and prospects carry value years before they produce. Redraft decisions price only this season; keeper and dynasty decisions also price future seasons.

Snake draft

A draft where pick order reverses each round, so the team picking last in round one picks first in round two. The alternative is an auction, where every player is nominated and sold to the highest bidder from a fixed budget, commonly $260.

Dynasty value

RotoHound’s multi-year asset value: one auction-dollar number covering this season plus nine simulated future seasons, computed from 300 simulated career paths and updated daily. It is risk-adjusted, so it already includes the chance a player gets hurt, loses his job, declines, or never arrives. Dynasty methodology

Risk discount

The share of a season’s healthy price that a dynasty value removes for injury, role loss, decline, and, for a prospect, the chance he has not arrived yet. The stat line shows what a player does when active; the risk discount is the chance-weighting on top of it.

Time discount

The rate at which future seasons count less than the current one in a dynasty value, 12% per year by default on RotoHound. A high discount is a win-now stance; a low discount over many years is a rebuild stance. It is separate from the risk discount, which prices a specific player’s uncertainty.

Innings cap

A league rule limiting the total innings a team’s pitchers may accumulate in a season (or the games a position player may accumulate, as a games cap). Caps change strategy because pitching value must fit inside the cap, and RotoHound accounts for a league’s caps when projecting its standings.

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