For me, the biggest obstacle in using a roster-locking waiver wire scheme is that I don’t turn on the computer before the Sunday 1:00pm games, which is when you need to lock them. (I usually wake up to a blaring television at 1:00pm on the nose using the tv’s WakeUp timer.) Also, Thursday night games end up screwing with a roster-locking solution.
So I came up with a non-locking waiver wire, which ended up being very easy to manage. Here’s the waiver wire Commissioner Note I post once the season starts:
WAIVER WIRE
All players go on waivers starting at kickoff of their game, and come off Wednesday. Prior to Wednesday, file waiver claims via email if the player cannot start until next week. (As in, his game was already played.)
PURPOSE
The WAIVER WIRE is in effect so that breakout players don’t get awarded based on who is closest to the computer on Sunday afternoons.
BYE WEEKS
From Wednesday on, if a player is going into a bye week he is not subject to waivers for the entire week. Before Wednesday, players who just had a bye are not subject to waivers and can be signed any time.
MAKING CLAIMS
While players are on waivers, make a claim by emailing the player(s) you want to me. Title your email “Waiver claim”. Include as many players as you like, but list them in order of most wanted first. Include the players’ full first and last names, positions, and teams. I will send back confirmation emails to claims made before Tuesday.
AWARDING PLAYERS
Players will be awarded based on waiver priority, and each successful claim pushes you to the end of the line. Each Tuesday night I’ll post a notification here detailing who got awarded to whom. You can then add the guys you won yourself, as well as freely sign any other free agents not claimed by anyone else. If you won’t be able to make your roster adjustments yourself, I’m happy to do it for you if you let me know in your waiver claim. Include who you want to drop to make room, and also note if you want them to start and who should be benched.
CLAIM JUMPS (Signing a guy while he’s on waivers)
I won’t be locking and unlocking the rosters, but I will be undoing any free agent acquisitions that jump the waiver wire. There is no penalty for jumping the waiver wire other than tipping your hand to everyone else. I won’t generally undo Tuesday claim jumps, nor will I confirm them by email. Claim jumps are automatically logged as waiver claims, and as such any other owners are still free to file a claim on the jumped player(s). If you did not want to spend a waiver claim on a guy you accidentally jumped, email me to let me know.
YAHOO DEFAULT WAIVERS
In addition to Wednesday waivers, yahoo’s internal waiver system also pushes you to the end of waiver priority. The safest approach is to scan a few days back in the transaction history to see if the guy you want was recently released. If he was, then at least be aware that you could lose WP if you sign him. If you accidentally sign someone off waivers without intending to, dropping me an email ASAP will greatly increase your odds of having me undo it for you.
