I’d started an auction in my league for Marwin Gonzalez, bid $1. The auction was supposed to end at 8:03 this morning, April 12. I was watching the auction page in my league at 8:03; Gonzalez still showed, and my $1 bid was the only bid posted. I went away from the site, returned a minute or two later, and found Gonzalez had gone to another team for $3. Not only that, but two other teams had bid on him.
I don’t understand why I didn’t see these other two bids, and why I didn’t get the player for $1, when my $1 bid was all that showed on the site at the exact minute of the deadline.
Thanks for any explanations that anyone can provide.
All bids are blind; you won’t see any of the bids until the player auction is complete, at which point you can click on the “Auction” link and then “Results” next to that player’s name.
If you started the player auction, you are obligated to bid a minimum of $1 (you cannot back out or cancel your $1 bid). You can certainly increase your bid at any time up until the close of the player auction.
For more details on the auction format, you can read this Wikipedia article:
Why are there in-season free agent auctions at all? Its akin to notifying Rob Manfred that a player will be signed and he in turn notifies all the other teams that they have 48 hours to get involved in the bidding. Why not first come, first serve to reward the team that “discovered” the player?
An important premise of Ottoneu Fantasy Sports games is open-market bidding so that players are paid market value and salaries aren’t artificially deflated. Beyond that, what you described is pretty much how posting works for international free agents.