Some thoughts for the RC - and rest of the league

[Dan Wood]

As we enter into yet another off-season, there have been a few things that have been bandied about and I would like to bring it to the RCs attention and hopefully bring it to a vote. We will probably need to start other topics, but I just want to check the temperature on some of these ideas.

1. Doing away with signing bonuses during the draft. IMO, this is just dumb. We assemble a team, then we start dropping guys to sign a prospect. No team in MLB, maybe the Mets, would be that bereft of funds that they would have to do this. "Sorry Wright but you make too much, and we really want to sign our third rounder". As I have said before, MLB teams have different budgets for active roster and scouting. Bad teams should get the good players. I hate the fact that we have to cut players just to be a part of the draft. And it has nothing to do with money management.

2. Going back to trading draft picks. Again this may help with the rebuilding process of certain teams. I used to be staunchly against this and it is very un-MLB like, but personally I kind of miss it.

3. No more divisional play. Play everyone in your league equal amount of times. Also very un-MLB like, but if you play in a tough division, you know what I am talking about. How good is a team really if it beats up on teams that score 500 a week, while another team loses when scoring 1200? Of course there is the argument, well the Rays do it in real life and they do OK, they also sucked for a solid decade to be good. Again, I have heard the arguments for this, and they make a lot of sense (Mike B - jump in any time). I also think it might add to the overall enjoyment of the league.

4. New CBA implementation...I say as soon as we craft it to our league, it should go into effect immediately, just like the 2nd WC did.

5. Re-configuring how salary caps work. At this stage in the game, our teams no longer represent the MLB teams that they were born from. To compare them against the success or lack there of, of our facsimile brethren is not the way to go about it. Here's why, the Marlins went berserk on the FA market this season, no way anyone in this league can do that, regardless of how good they have performed. IMO it should be based on .500 with a high and low ceiling that you can reach for each market. My Reds for example should have a 75 as a low and a 90 as a high, or something to that effect. My team has been .500 or better 2 of the 3 years I have run them, and my cap continues to drop because the real life Reds do better than me. IMO that is an apples to oranges argument. We have now reached a point where each team is its own entity.

That's all I got now, maybe some more will pop up in the near future. I would like to hear everyone's opinion in it all.

[Jake]

Options 1, 2, and 3 all sort of go together in that they would alter the competitive balance. Basically, closing the gap between the best and worst teams.

It would really amount to whether the league wishes to allow for a more balanced field of teams more quickly, which I wouldn't disagree with.

Not on the RC, but I'm bored watching my kids watch a cartoon.

[Corey]

As we enter into yet another off-season, there have been a few things that have been bandied about and I would like to bring it to the RCs attention and hopefully bring it to a vote. We will probably need to start other topics, but I just want to check the temperature on some of these ideas.

1. Doing away with signing bonuses during the draft. IMO, this is just dumb. We assemble a team, then we start dropping guys to sign a prospect. No team in MLB, maybe the Mets, would be that bereft of funds that they would have to do this. "Sorry Wright but you make too much, and we really want to sign our third rounder". As I have said before, MLB teams have different budgets for active roster and scouting. Bad teams should get the good players. I hate the fact that we have to cut players just to be a part of the draft. And it has nothing to do with money management.

2. Going back to trading draft picks. Again this may help with the rebuilding process of certain teams. I used to be staunchly against this and it is very un-MLB like, but personally I kind of miss it.

3. No more divisional play. Play everyone in your league equal amount of times. Also very un-MLB like, but if you play in a tough division, you know what I am talking about. How good is a team really if it beats up on teams that score 500 a week, while another team loses when scoring 1200? Of course there is the argument, well the Rays do it in real life and they do OK, they also sucked for a solid decade to be good. Again, I have heard the arguments for this, and they make a lot of sense (Mike B - jump in any time). I also think it might add to the overall enjoyment of the league.

4. New CBA implementation...I say as soon as we craft it to our league, it should go into effect immediately, just like the 2nd WC did.

5. Re-configuring how salary caps work. At this stage in the game, our teams no longer represent the MLB teams that they were born from. To compare them against the success or lack there of, of our facsimile brethren is not the way to go about it. Here's why, the Marlins went berserk on the FA market this season, no way anyone in this league can do that, regardless of how good they have performed. IMO it should be based on .500 with a high and low ceiling that you can reach for each market. My Reds for example should have a 75 as a low and a 90 as a high, or something to that effect. My team has been .500 or better 2 of the 3 years I have run them, and my cap continues to drop because the real life Reds do better than me. IMO that is an apples to oranges argument. We have now reached a point where each team is its own entity.

That's all I got now, maybe some more will pop up in the near future. I would like to hear everyone's opinion in it all.

1. I agree. I think doing away with it would help with the competitive balance.

2. I also agree with trading draft picks. It allows the small market teams to get better value for there older players and allows quicker rebuilds.

3. I like the divisional play and think we should keep it.

4. I agree any changes should go into affect in 2013

5. I agree. Real life should have nothing to do with our cap.

[VolsRaysBucs]

I am in favor of all 5 proposals.  I am more open to "divisional" play in free leagues than I am money leagues, as I think money leagues should pay the best teams, period.  Of all 5 options, the divisional play would be least important to me (I am looking forward to banging heads with the Red Sox and Yankees in 2013).  I do think all 5 would potentially be very good for the competitive balance of the league.

[h4cheng]

I have brought up 1) and 2) already in the draft thread, and I agree with both 3.

I like division play, it builds rivalries. Keep in mind that the top 10 scoring team all made the playoffs this year, so it's not like divisional play is precluding good teams from making the playoffs.

I hate 4). It completely destroys any incentive for long term strategy.

I don't enough knowledge about the salary cap formula to comment on 5)

[shooter47]

1. Doing away with signing bonuses during the draft. IMO, this is just dumb. We assemble a team, then we start dropping guys to sign a prospect. No team in MLB, maybe the Mets, would be that bereft of funds that they would have to do this. "Sorry Wright but you make too much, and we really want to sign our third rounder". As I have said before, MLB teams have different budgets for active roster and scouting. Bad teams should get the good players. I hate the fact that we have to cut players just to be a part of the draft. And it has nothing to do with money management.

In my opinion the draft bonuses have everything to do with money management.  As a re-buildling team in the league I look at my salary cap as the total amount of money I have for the year.  Some teams decide to compete and spend right up to the salary cap in a given year.  I know that as the Orioles I will have a high pick every year and must save part of my cap to cover any draft bonuses that I will have.  In my opinion the teams that are forced to cut players are the GM's who don't think about building a team and player acquisitions in the long term.  The draft happens every August and teams should be prepared for it. No draft bonuses takes some strategy out of the draft.  Re-building teams that are smart can often make more out of the draft by getting players that drop because there are teams that can't afford them due to spending all of there money trying to win this year.

2. Going back to trading draft picks. Again this may help with the rebuilding process of certain teams. I used to be staunchly against this and it is very un-MLB like, but personally I kind of miss it.

I personally like not trading draft picks.  The premise of this league is to follow real life MLB and this would change the entire meaning of the league.  Any team that is re-buildling should be trading for prospects and not draft picks.  Most players drafted are years away from the Majors. 

3. No more divisional play. Play everyone in your league equal amount of times. Also very un-MLB like, but if you play in a tough division, you know what I am talking about. How good is a team really if it beats up on teams that score 500 a week, while another team loses when scoring 1200? Of course there is the argument, well the Rays do it in real life and they do OK, they also sucked for a solid decade to be good. Again, I have heard the arguments for this, and they make a lot of sense (Mike B - jump in any time). I also think it might add to the overall enjoyment of the league.

Once Again I like divisional play.  This is the same scheduling that MLB has and keeping it would maintain the league's emphasis on mimicking the MLB as close as possible.

4. New CBA implementation...I say as soon as we craft it to our league, it should go into effect immediately, just like the 2nd WC did.

These changes are far greater then adding a 2nd wildcard.  These changes affect team strategies and player acquisition far more then adding a second team to the wildcard did this year.  Any changes should go into effect after one year.

5. Re-configuring how salary caps work. At this stage in the game, our teams no longer represent the MLB teams that they were born from. To compare them against the success or lack there of, of our facsimile brethren is not the way to go about it. Here's why, the Marlins went berserk on the FA market this season, no way anyone in this league can do that, regardless of how good they have performed. IMO it should be based on .500 with a high and low ceiling that you can reach for each market. My Reds for example should have a 75 as a low and a 90 as a high, or something to that effect. My team has been .500 or better 2 of the 3 years I have run them, and my cap continues to drop because the real life Reds do better than me. IMO that is an apples to oranges argument. We have now reached a point where each team is its own entity.

I like the current salary cap structure.  Your cap for the reds isn't droping because the reds are doing better but because the reds continually underperform in FGM.  The salary cap is determined by the average of three past seasons with one year as a buffer.  The salary cap for the reds in 2013 is determined by the reds performance in FGM from 2009-2011.  The formula does contain Stand values which are based on Real life MLB payrolls but that is it.  The reds in FGM finished 22nd in 2009, 16th in 2010 and 22nd in 2011.  This is why the reds salary cap has dropped.  Cincinnati finished 16th in 2012 which will likely cause there salary cap to increase in 2014.  The Salary cap is just delayed from the results of FGM.   Basing the Salary cap off of the average of three previous years and a one year buffer makes the salary cap changes from year to year less drastic.  After looking at this system it seems to be very realistic.

In my opinion the current league mimics the real life MLB league fairly well and that is what it is supposed to do.  The league premise in the rules is as follows.

League Premise
To represent the current atmosphere of MLB for GMs in a manner that works effectively with fantasy baseball while not making it overly complicated to play.

I am of the opinion that the league doesn't need changes but needs no major changes and a period of continuity so that we can accurately assess the rules that we have.  When they are changed continually every year we can't determine what improved the league and what may need changes in the future.  If you want rules like those suggested there are other leagues to join like that or another league can be started.  These changes would drastically alter the league and change the entire meaning of the league which is to be as close to the MLB as possible.

[Jake]

Shooter, you state that as the Orioles you know you'll have a high pick every year. Isn't it a goal to NOT have a high draft pick every year?

[shooter47]

Shooter, you state that as the Orioles you know you'll have a high pick every year. Isn't it a goal to NOT have a high draft pick every year?

Yes that is the goal but the draft is also based on the previous years results.  I already know that I have the Number one overall pick next year so I can plan ahead and know that I will need a certain amount of salary cap saved for that pick.

Take your washington nationals for example.  You have had an exceptional season this year and will finish top 4 in the league this year.  This means you will have a lower first round pick and don't need to save nearly as much salary cap next year to sign a player at that spot. 

[h4cheng]

My beef with the signing bonus is not money management. It is with the fact that it puts small market teams at a disadvantage because of how high the bonus is. Zunino's bonus was 10% of 's total cap space. Zunino's salary commitment for this year would make him the highest paid player on . It's very easy for large market teams to clear cap space to sign players. It's much more difficult, for small market teams, especially well run ones, to clear cap space. For example, can really clear up 2.5M in cap space to sign a draft pick? The draft is suppose to restore the competitive balance, if the small market teams have trouble signing the best players, then the purpose of the draft is void.

[h4cheng]

One additional comment: I would be ok with salary bonuses, if teams are allowed to spread the bonus through multiple years. This is not uncommon in real life as teams offers draftees major league contracts.