While I get a kick out of doing fantasy baseball research and blog posts, the powerful and adaptive fantasy baseball spreadsheets that I create are the reason this website is called Mr. Cheatsheet in the first place. Today marks the first release of the 2016 cheatsheets.
The cheatsheets are interactive Excel spreadsheets that are can be tuned to your personal league settings and preferences. You will be able to use these sheets to see how valuable each player is specifically for your league. The spreadsheets also update throughout the draft so you can easily know when you need to adapt your draft strategy based on how a draft is going.
There are three types of cheatsheets. For rotisserie league owners, you can use the standard draft or the auction draft cheatsheet depending on your draft type. If you’re not in a roto league, there’s also a cheatsheet for point scoring leagues too.
To better understand all of the features of these spreadsheets, skim through this post from last year that explains each area of them
Average Draft Position
This first version of the 2016 cheatsheets includes a good amount of average draft position data from websites that host mock drafts. This data lets you know the average place that a player is being drafted on that site. ADP data is largely reliant on the rankings of the site hosting the draft so it is recommended to choose the ADP data source that matches up to the site hosting your draft so you get the best idea on how your leaguemates might be picking. Here are the sources in this version:
- CBS (Points League or Roto League)
- Yahoo
- NFBC
- FantasyPros Average ADP
We’re still waiting on ESPN data at this point to add in but that will be included in a future version. However, our good friends at FantasyGameday have closed their doors so we’ll no longer include their ADP data and I no longer find the MockDraftCentral data useful so I’ll no longer be including that as well.
Projections
When opening up the cheatsheets, you’ll have a selection of different projections to choose from. The data you look at within the cheatsheet will only be as good as the projections you are using. There certainly isn’t one perfect projection system but each year I do analysis to try to figure out which ones are best and, for now, I say a good starting point is to use the Steamer projections and then play around with the others from there. Here is what is included in this version:
- Steamer
- Fangraphs Fans
- CAIRO
- MORPS Baseline
- Clay Davenport
I’ll be adding ZiPS in the future and that will allow me to add in my Special Blend projections which weights the various projection systems to create an optimized projection.
WERTH Values (Roto Leagues)
If you’re playing in a roto league, you may notice that these cheatsheets have a WERTH value for each player. These are essentially z-scores in each roto category based on your league setting. The cheatsheets calculate who the projected league starters would be and then use that to calculate league averages and standard deviations in each category. Using that data, it then says how far above average each person is in that category (z-score) so a positive WERTH value means that player will contribute positively for your team. This is all dependent on your league settings which makes these values completely unique to your league.
Troubleshooting
Please note that these sheets are designed for Microsoft Excel and utilize macros which will make them unable to be used on Mac versions of Excel (it sucks, I know).
Once downloading the sheets, you’ll be prompted with two messages to enable content and then you’ll be able to use them fully after that. Once again, if you are a bit confused upon opening the cheatsheets, refer to the how-to post here.
Download the 2016 Cheatsheet
Without further ado, pick your flavor of cheatsheet from the options below. If you do happen to find errors within there, please let me know in the comments below. Thanks for checking these out. Each year, these take me quite a bit of work to put together and I’m always happy to see the response that they get. Enjoy!
Download the cheatsheet for your rotisserie standard draft leagues
Download the cheatsheet for your rotisserie auction draft leagues
Anders
02/16/2016 at 12:57 PMLuke,
I just wanted to say thanks again for the sheets. This will be year #3 for me using your sheets and I have found Fantasy success each year.
Thanks again Luke!
Luke
02/16/2016 at 5:30 PMThanks Anders. Glad to hear it. I really appreciate that!
Joe
02/16/2016 at 1:13 PMLuke,
A features that would be nice.
It would good to be able to update a players position and have it reflect on live / team roster.
E.G. I want to put a player in a different position or upgrade a bench player to a starting role.
Allow for Manually updating projections for a player.
Allow for another source to be added to the projections mix such as Razzball.
Great job as always!!!!
Luke
02/16/2016 at 5:31 PMHey Joe. Last year, I added it so you can click on somebody’s position on the Draft Central page and change it to something else so hopefully that solves the one issue. Manual projection updates are an interesting idea. I’ll fiddle with that. And, good idea with the Razzball projections. Thanks!
Nick
02/16/2016 at 1:48 PMLuke,
I can’t find Carlos Santana Cleveland 1B/DH on the Roto Auction spreadsheet
Luke
02/16/2016 at 5:31 PMI’ll check it out tonight and see what’s up. Thanks!
Anthony
02/16/2016 at 1:50 PMLuke,
Great as always. Any chance you would add Hits as a points category? Those of us using Fangraphs points system would love it.
Thanks
Luke
02/16/2016 at 5:32 PMThis is in the Points sheet to add Hits as an option? Or is this to add Hits as a scoring option to the Roto sheet? Sorry, just want to make sure I’m understanding before I check it out.
Anthony
02/16/2016 at 10:16 PMClarification always helps. Hits on the Points sheet.
Chuck
02/16/2016 at 5:06 PMHi Luke,
This will be my first year using your sheets. I just downloaded the Roto Auction sheet. I entered my keepers and when I looked at my team, it put Adrian Beltre in the DH position, instead of the CI, where he should be (my 1B and 3B are filled). I tried to change his position in the Draft Central tab, but CI wasn’t an option.
Our league has the standard 23 active players. We also draft a 12 team taxi squad. How could I account for that?
Luke
02/16/2016 at 5:32 PMWhen I open up the sheets tonight, I’ll check out the Beltre issue. That seems odd. Let me get back to you!
Chuck
02/16/2016 at 5:15 PMAfter saving my settings, then reopening the spreadsheet and loading the settings, there’s now Personalize (1st) and UserInputNew (last) tabs, the winning bid column is full of zeros, as is the Drafted By column. This causes all the players to be hidden when I choose Hide Drafted Players.
On the Live Standings tab, could you include a table with the total raw stats for each team (# of HRs, SBs, total ERA)? That helps to see where a team might have a surplus and could then ignore a certain category. Just showing the points doesn’t offer enough information, at least for me.
Luke
02/16/2016 at 5:33 PMGotcha. I think I know what’s going on with that. I didn’t test that out on all three sheets. I’ll let you know when it is fixed.
Good point about the raw stats on the live standing tab. I’ll see what I can do there.
Chuck
02/16/2016 at 5:42 PMHere’s something I emailed you directly last spring. I never got a response, I expect many of them still apply:
A few things: Would it be possible to show multiple position eligibility (at least a 2nd position if qualified)? Also, this is minor, but it would be nice to have the Sort by box moved to the left a bit, maybe next to the search button, so it’s easier to access, for those who don’t have a really wide display.
Could the projected stats be shown with the players on the Team Summary page, along with the totals?
Could you add CI and MI to the positions on the Draft Central page. I’m getting some guys on the bench because they aren’t getting put into the proper position. For example, I have Xander Bogaerts in the CI position on my team, but when I change his position to 3B, it puts him on the bench because I already have 3B filled.
Another example: A team has Brock Holt, listed as a 3B, so he was put on the bench. The team has him in the OF, which he’s eligible for. I changed his position to OF, but he was still listed on the bench despite there being an OF position available to fill.
In our league we have a Utility slot, which can be filled with a batter or a 10th pitcher. I’m not sure if your spreadsheet can handle that right now.
Another idea: It would be nice to have an overview of all the rosters on one page, so you can see who needs which positions filled. I doesn’t have to have the player names, but maybe just a grid that shows which positions are already filled.
I like the Player Profile tab, but it would be nice to have a search function on that page also to make finding players quicker.
On the Live Standings page, it would be nice to have the raw totals, so you can see where you stand in relation to other teams. Am I 30 SBs behind the next team? Or can I jump 3 places if I get 15 more SBs?
On the Positional Worksheet, the pitchers are sorted in reverse order, with the lower Werth Values at the top.
Another small enhancement I’d like would be to see the ratio of the money spent to the experts value on the Team Summary page. Some people use a theory that to have the best chance of winning, you should draft a team worth $333 or more, i.e., you want to draft a team that costs about 78% of the projected value. (http://www.baseballnotebook.com/essay.asp?esource=e_031012.asp&topt=My%20Approach%20to%20Fantasy%20Auctions)
Thanks!
Luke
02/16/2016 at 5:47 PMSorry for not responding last year. I get overloaded with stuff at this time of year and sometimes things slip through the cracks.
When I get a chance later, I’ll respond to each of them. I can already see some are possible and some are not.
Brian
02/16/2016 at 6:08 PMOn the Positional Worksheet tab of the 2016 Roto Auction Cheatsheet (V1.0), it looks like a decent chunk of SPs are misplaced/not ranked (scroll to the end of the Column U and you’ll see what I mean). SPs floating in the void include Kluber, Lester, Maeda, Lackey, Odorizzi, Carlos Martinez, etc. Any idea on a fix would help. Thanks!
Paul Cutajar
02/16/2016 at 9:41 PMLuke,
I have created and used my own spreadsheets with sorts, macros, and the like for the last 10-15 years. I decided to look around and found yours, which I would say are like mine on steroids, but then I’d get banned. Seriously, you’ve done things here, I thought about doing but never figured out. Amazing and I plan to win both my AL and NL leagues with them.
Here are two small tweaks which if you can’t add, maybe you could tell me how to add.
In the Team Budgets section of the Live Standings and in the Team Summary, you have Money Left, and # of Players. Can you add “Avg Per Player Needed” which is basically Money Left divided by (Number of Players Per Team – # of Players Drafted) and then Max Bid (Which is Money Left minus Players Needed +1).
I have found those two stats very handy in sizing up competitors during auctions. They tell you who is in the best or worst shape financially, and how high you need to go on a player before pushing someone to the dollar round.
Best regards.
Paul
Michael Bateman
02/17/2016 at 2:11 PMI just wanted to say thank you. This will be my 4th year using your spreadsheet and I’ve won my league in the past 3 years. When I actually get my winnings from last year (I play with a bunch of bums who are horrible at paying their dues), I’ll be sending some of it your way.
Thanks again!
Jeff
02/17/2016 at 4:20 PMLuke,
Thanks again for doing this for 2016. This is a great tool. A few comments:
1. Is it possible to add LF, CF and RF to the positional chart? Our league differentiates between the three.
2. With that in mind and using Miguel Sano as an example, I’m able to change his position from 3B to OF but I can’t specify RF. Is this a possibility?
3. With that in mind, is it a possibility to incorporate multi-positional eligibility? Players would then show up in multiple position ranks and with different evaluations (i.e. Buster Posey at 1B/C).
4. Finally and using Sano again, once I move him to OF he still appears in the 3B positional ranks despite his revised evaluation. Can this be fixed regardless of the above being possible?
Thanks so much!
Andre
02/18/2016 at 3:19 PMLuke,
I downloaded the Excel file for Points Leagues and when I try to go to Step 1 it gives me a Runtime Error 380. I am using a MacBook Pro running OS X El Capitan.
Thanks in advance for any help
Seth
02/18/2016 at 5:33 PMAndre,
Unfortunately you’re on a Mac. Above, under “Troubleshooting”, Luke writes, “Please note that these sheets are designed for Microsoft Excel and utilize macros which will make them unable to be used on Mac versions of Excel (it sucks, I know).”
Sorry man. 🙁
Jason
02/18/2016 at 10:40 PMWould it be possible, on the positional worksheet, to move the ADP and Werth data to the right of the players name, so we can use a vlookup on it?
Travis
02/19/2016 at 8:57 AMTry the INDEX command.
Mike
02/19/2016 at 8:27 AMHi Luke,
I’ve been using your file for 3 years now and I have to say it’s got the best layout, functinoality and customization of anything i’ve come across. Well done sir!
After downloading the Points League sheet I noticed that some middle tier players like Rusney Castillo don’t have their projected stats or projected points pulling into the Draft Central tab. Is anyone else having the same issue or am I the only one?
Nate
02/20/2016 at 7:15 AMHi Luke,
Thanks for all your hard work. A couple issues I noticed in the Roto Draft sheet:
-One of the categories in my league (hitter strikeouts) does not show up in Werth values in the player profile section, thus those values differ from the fully calculated ones displayed in the draft central tab. Is it possible to add strikeouts or the ability to customize that tab the way we can draft central?
-As someone mentioned, a bunch of players’ (namely pitchers) Werth values aren’t coming through. Lester, Carlos Martinez, Kluber, Liriano, McCullers, Matz, Shelby Miler, Odorizzi, McHugh, Lackey, etc. The projections are there in the player profile sections, but they don’t seem to be carrying over anywhere else.
Thanks again and feel better!
Wah
02/22/2016 at 1:33 PMthanks for all this Luke. just wondering which cheatsheet would work for me if im in a head to head keeper league
Bruhaha
02/24/2016 at 11:41 PMI have used the Roto sheet for the past 2 years. I won the championship in year won, and lost the championship last year. We have a head to head league with 9 x 9 settings and this sheet has been amazing. I am curious if Luke would recommend the same thing, but this is what I have been doing and it is working.
Wah
02/25/2016 at 11:30 AMgreat, thank you for letting me know Bruhaha
I have to see how to use it since mine is a keeper league. if you have any insight, let me know, thanks again
Bruhaha
02/25/2016 at 9:28 PMI am in a keeper leauge as well. I was able to use the werth values to help determine my choices. It really depends on how many keepers you have, last year we had 4 and we are moving to 8 this year. I have found the overall rankings, werth values, and the special blend projections to be the best at analyzing all data
Anders
02/26/2016 at 9:42 AMWAH and BRUHAHA,
I am in an Auction Head to Head Keeper league and I have used these sheets for three years and have had great success. I would also suggest using Luke’s Special Blend predictions once he adds those. Since I am in a HTH league I make an additional spread sheet which pulls Luke’s Special Blend predictions and then I divide those by the number of weeks for my league. This helps me calculate a stat/week (HR/Wk, R/Wk, ect) for each player, and, my entire roster. Then I can build a roster that gives me the stats/wk for each category I am happy with. This is a little easier with auction vs snake draft because I have the opportunity to buy every player.
One big difference between HTH and Roto, a well balanced lineup is best for Roto, where in HTH it is usually better to try and dominate 60-70% of the categories and plan on losing the others.
I would also be interested in what comments Luke may have on this topic as well.
Good luck!
Chris
02/25/2016 at 8:55 AMNice work on the sheets.
I have found a few errors in the Roto sheet.
In the Live Standings tab RP does not calculate, i.e. it shows a score of 7 for all teams and Saves are not displayed at all, the column is blank. RP is also blank in the WERTH column for all hitters.
Nate
02/26/2016 at 3:56 PMThanks Luke … love these options sheets! Two questions:
1. On the Points League, does it lend itself to auction values?
2. On the RotoAuction … this is just a personal preference, and wondering if I can change it. When I enter our keepers, for 1B for example, and then sort by position, the keepers are at the bottom of the position (showing winning bid and “Curr Proj$” is empty). I assume it’s that latter empty cell driving it to the bottom of the list. Is there any way to keep that cell populated with the Projected Value (even though actual winning bid has been entered).
Flo Rida
02/26/2016 at 9:16 PMThanks for all of your hard work. Just loaded the 2016 Points and noticed pitchers point totals are about double what they should be. 2015 Kershaw was projected just under 700 in your spreadsheet and 2016 Arrietta and others are in the 1300s. Any ideas, maybe it’s me, but I double checked the settings.
Bruhaha
02/27/2016 at 7:39 PMAbsolutely love the sheets….. Wondering if there is a way to change that when you enter in teams that own a player, their werth value disappears. I would like to know where my guys are rated vs. the players remaining, etc. Maybe there is a way to have the ADP disappear instead to show they have been drafted, because this is how they` are sorted and would be easier to figure out. Thank you for all the hard work, hope you are getting better, my daughter had pneumonia and an ear infection just two weeks ago.
Jake
02/29/2016 at 9:12 AMZIPS are up on Fangraphs finally!
StruggleSnugglez
03/01/2016 at 5:48 AMIs it possible to put Grey’s Razzball rankings into the spreadsheet? I kind of think not since he focuses on Roto stats only..
Seth
03/03/2016 at 4:36 PMHi Luke!
I’m trying to import ZiPS projections into the 2016 Roto cheatsheet and all the stats are coming up blank. I checked the 2015 sheet and it’s able to import the zips projection file I created using your template, so I know that the template is ok. Any idea what might be causing that issue?
Thanks!
nick
03/03/2016 at 6:26 PMHey Luke,
first and most important…. THANKS!
i am sure this took a bit of time to put everything together and the fact that it is free is amazing.
this will be my first year using your sheet as a tool and i think since our league has some non traditional roto stats (OBP, R, RBI, HR, SB, Field%…. W, L, ERA, WHIP, S, K’s) this will provide me a big advantage over my competition.
the only comment i have is that my league uses fielding percentage as a 6th batter stat, and i was wondering if it were at all possible to include that stat? using errors alone really knocks players who make errors because of a huge number of fielding chances (Dee Gordon is a prime example with his .992 fielding % from last year but has a -1 WERTH in errors because he did make a handful of errors).
if this is possible please contact me by email. i would be very interested in getting my hands on that info!
thanks again,
nluebbs
Mike
03/04/2016 at 1:38 PMHi Luke,
Looks like you got hit by a SPAM bot… At least I hope it was a bot and not an actual person.
Looking forward to the next round of enhancements you make to your spreadsheets.
Keep up the good work.
RJ
03/06/2016 at 2:43 PMHi Luke,
first time using your cheatsheet and love it. just wondering how to insert keepers? do i just draft the players to all the teams before hand?
Wah
03/15/2016 at 2:46 PMhey RJ, thats what i did…i just select the players to the teams they are being kept on
JB
03/07/2016 at 2:52 PMAbsolutely love this tool. Cannot thank you enough for the time and energy you put into it. Donating now!
Al
03/07/2016 at 5:02 PMAlthough I’m on a Mac, I definitely appreciate the time and effort put into this. I’ve been able to use it on my work PC (During lunch, Ha-Ha?) and it’s awesome!
Young Dobbs
03/12/2016 at 7:27 PMClaudio was hit in the groin by a line drive during Friday’s spring game and is expected to miss a few days, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Consooger
03/15/2016 at 2:59 PMHow do I change Team 1, Team 2, and so on to actual team names for my league? This is the first time I am coming across this sheet and it is AWESOME!!!!!!
Thanks so much!
Luke
03/15/2016 at 3:20 PMIf you go into the Settings where you put in your roster info, there’s a button at the bottom that says Set Team Names. Click on that and you can name the teams!
Nick
03/21/2016 at 9:11 AMHey Luke, draft is tomorrow 3/22. I’m trying to do a couple of mock drafts using your Points Cheat sheet but whenever I create the cheat sheet after steps 1 & 2, it shows guys like Blake Swihart, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Matt Moore for the first 3 picks. I can’t find the real guys that should be there like Trout, Harper, and Goldy, etc. This problem started occurring 3/21. Any help is appreciated, Thanks! BTW, will there be a Points cheat sheet update before 3/22? Thanks again!