Surveying the Signals

It's about time we get back to what this site is really about--economics. Now, many of you Freakonomists should be very familiar with the concept of signaling; as a side note, if you haven't read Tyler Cowen's Discovering Your Inner Economist there is a great section on the topic. But how does the economic principle apply to fantasy baseball?

We live in an era where information is power. The more you can learn about your surroundings, the more competitive you will be, whether it be in a pick up game of basketball, at your office, or in your fantasy baseball league. Obviously, you know this,  because you're reading a rather new blog that takes a devoted league member to discover. And smaller sites like these give a peculiar advantage...

If this site has any worth at all (and it does, based on our overwhelming number of readers who don't seem to post, hint hint) it is because we offer a different spin than ESPN, Yahoo!, FoxSports, or even Rotoworld. The aforementioned list does provide valuable information, but it is, as an economist would put it, not a scarce commodity. This is to say that any competitive player will have read these websites, and hence information gained from them cannot give you an edge. So you've figured out the first step: Having access to the most information possible will let you make the most reasoned decision possible. If you had only read, say, ESPN, you would probably think differently about a number of players than you do now.

What I want to point out is that, while you have done your homework, your league mates probably haven't. Most people rely on the big sites, because, for the most part, its enough. And those sites often dislike the same players (as a general rule, they warn to stay away from injury risks--often leading to draft day steals that will win leagues). The other day I was reading about how bad of a pick Carlos Zambrano is. Last year the guy was arguably the fourth best pitcher, whereas he's now relegated to a second tier. Pundits are going so far as to call him unownable. These are the signals that you must learn to abuse.

Your ESPN reading league member will bite on most of the advice they here from major sites. When you read an article on, say, Rotoworld, consider it a signal that the insulted player is a buy low, or that the paraded player is a sell high. Use there loved websites against them, because "Fantasy Expert" is a funny title that doesn't mean all too much, and if you disagree with those Yahoo! writers you shouldn't hesitate to take advantage of the signals those sites send. It's a small edge, but getting unpopular players for nothing usually doesn't take too much