I actually emailed Yahoo about that two weeks ago. I thought if they made him available, he'd slide under the radar, and I'd grab him with my last place waiver priority. I knew it was a exercise in futility, but I figured I had no other chance at getting him, or life for that matter, so I emailed them. Much to my surprise I received a personal response within an hour of my query. Here's the cogent part of their reply:
"We are working to expand the Available Players (in-season) and
pre-ranking (pre-season) lists. There is no set timeframe for the
addition of players to Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball. Players are added
to the game as soon as possible during the season.
All player requests are reviewed and players will be added to the pool
as soon as possible after their Major League debut (this requires
approval from a third-party, so we are unable to comment on the
timetable for addition of any specific players).
Please note that all players added to the game are made available via
Waivers."
I'm a little curious who the third-party is? Bob, perhaps? Anyway, I was very impressed with their customer service, especially when compared to that of Cbs Sportsline, which in my experience has been
horrendous.
Yeah, I was thrilled that they didn't have Sheffield on the DL until today even though it was widely known (and reported on Yahoo before first pitch yesterday).
/sarcasm
I'm pretty sure the third party is the MLBPA, which has a fantasy baseball contract with Yahoo. This is why you'll often (but not always) find players available who have never played in the majors, but are on 40-man rosters and therefore in the union. Delmon Young, for example, has been available for quite some time.
Players without MLB experience who aren't on 40-man rosters (like Hamels) don't appear until about a week after their debut.
I don't know what their agreement says regarding the Matt Hergeses of the world.
I've been scoping Yahoo constantly today to see if/when Hamels is added. I don't know whether he'll show up as an FA or on Waivers, but I want a crack at it either way.
5 The part I cut and pasted was definitely "a canned response" but at the end of the email the customer service rep congratulated me for being in first place of my league. I thought that was pretty cool.
So naturally, I hope he gets bombed in his first start.
"We are working to expand the Available Players (in-season) and
pre-ranking (pre-season) lists. There is no set timeframe for the
addition of players to Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball. Players are added
to the game as soon as possible during the season.
All player requests are reviewed and players will be added to the pool
as soon as possible after their Major League debut (this requires
approval from a third-party, so we are unable to comment on the
timetable for addition of any specific players).
Please note that all players added to the game are made available via
Waivers."
I'm a little curious who the third-party is? Bob, perhaps? Anyway, I was very impressed with their customer service, especially when compared to that of Cbs Sportsline, which in my experience has been
horrendous.
/sarcasm
vr, Xei
Players without MLB experience who aren't on 40-man rosters (like Hamels) don't appear until about a week after their debut.
I don't know what their agreement says regarding the Matt Hergeses of the world.
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