Amateur Draft Suggestions

[Sportsnut]

If the intent is to make sure everybody gets a pick, why not do an autodraft for the first two rounds? Everybody can send me a list of 60 players, ranked in order of preference. Since it's only two rounds, it would not be particularly time consuming for me to do.

With a live draft, no matter what time is set aside, there will always be somebody who misses a pick. Besides, I don't think we will be able to come up with a time agreeable among all 30, as we have some out of the U.S. too. At one point, we actually had 3 or 4.

A pretty good idea, but I can see a couple of possible problems.  As an example, it's possible a team can be 'auto drafted' with two players at the same position without really wanting that.  Also, with an 'auto draft', there could then be a run happen at a certain position, say pitcher, where a team may end up getting the 8th best pitcher instead of a higher ranked player at another position. 

Perhaps we can have an auto draft kick in at the end of a teams window of choosing instead of at the beginning?  Say the Pirates have the 5th pick.  Instead of the auto draft selecting the player for the Pirates as soon as the Pirates are on the clock,  can the auto draft option be programmed to select at the end of the window, whether it be a 4,6, or 12 hour window?

[kenny]

If the intent is to make sure everybody gets a pick, why not do an autodraft for the first two rounds? Everybody can send me a list of 60 players, ranked in order of preference. Since it's only two rounds, it would not be particularly time consuming for me to do.

With a live draft, no matter what time is set aside, there will always be somebody who misses a pick. Besides, I don't think we will be able to come up with a time agreeable among all 30, as we have some out of the U.S. too. At one point, we actually had 3 or 4.

[PlayerX3D]

Guys,

I think it may be effective to implement a hybrid system.  Perhaps for the first one or two rounds we do an expedited draft to make sure that every owner is around and making their picks.  Maybe that could all be done in one or two days.  For example, we could set a time where all of us come together for a few hours and make our first and second round selections then slow the draft down so that people have more time on the remaining picks.  This would ensure that no team winds up having their owner accidentally missing the window to pick and therefore losing a crucial early round pick.  I would feel less bad about teams/owners missing out on 3rd Round picks than I would on the (far too many) that missed 1st and 2nd Round picks this year.  That's just a thought that I wanted to throw in the ring as an option.

[speedster18431]

Are you guys suggesting a set window to draft? Or a maximum time limit?

Let's say we go with 4 hours. Are we suggesting the Indians can draft anytime between 8am and 12pm? And the next team can draft between 12pm and 4pm? The benefit of this would be the draft will run at a consistent pace. I know we've had periods where the draft sped up so quick that some teams missed their pick before they checked in.

Or are we saying the *maximum* time limit is 4 hours and the clock is reset as soon as a team drafts? Similar to the system we have currently, but just shortened from 12 hour to 4 hours?

Kenny I want the second option I think that will be the best for the league

[kenny]

Are you guys suggesting a set window to draft? Or a maximum time limit?

Let's say we go with 4 hours. Are we suggesting the Indians can draft anytime between 8am and 12pm? And the next team can draft between 12pm and 4pm? The benefit of this would be the draft will run at a consistent pace. I know we've had periods where the draft sped up so quick that some teams missed their pick before they checked in.

Or are we saying the *maximum* time limit is 4 hours and the clock is reset as soon as a team drafts? Similar to the system we have currently, but just shortened from 12 hour to 4 hours?

[speedster18431]

Very nice discussion guys!

One thing is very apparent: the draft, as executed this year, simply didn't work well.  Too many dropped out, and I would suspect did so because it became much too long and cumbersome.  It definitely needs to be shortened.

Kenny, I for one certainly appreciate you're wanting to satisfy everyone, but it simply isn't possible.  If a GM doesn't have time to participate in a quicker draft, by either checking it often or by submitting a short list of players to have his pick chosen from, he certainly won't have time to manage an entire team during the season (25 man active, 40 man roster, DL players, etc).

I like the idea of a much shorter window to select.  Maybe 2 hours is a bit short, but certainly 12 hours doesn't work.  Perhaps 4 hours would work.  Those that work should be able to check in at lunch during the draft. 

As for the points about international players:  if an owner wants to spend $3 mil for a 16 year old kid from the DR, Korea, or Tibet, let him.  Personally, it's not my thing, but that's why there's vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate!  In this league, there are many ML players available in FA every year to bid on, so any team could become competitive quite quickly when matched with wise drafting.

I like this idea and we should go with this plan next year for the draft.

[Fourfingerwoo]

How about any team that makes all their picks within the allotted time receives a supplemental pick between, lets say round 2-3 or 3-4 in the next years draft. Just a thought. Something a little different

[Sportsnut]

I read it as having 1-2 hours to draft after the previous selection, with no draft after 1AM.  That would allow for 6-12 picks per day instead of the current 2.

Perhaps I'm wrong about that, but I'd still believe having no more than 4 hours after the previous pick would speed up the draft considerable. 

All that said, I like the idea of a 2 hour draft window, with no drafts between certain hours (midnight to 6 am, as an example), or at least multiple picks during that time.

[kenny]

I believe Doug's suggestion is to have a set window to draft. For example, 2pm-4pm instead of 2 hours after the last person drafted. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Sportsnut]

Very nice discussion guys!

One thing is very apparent: the draft, as executed this year, simply didn't work well.  Too many dropped out, and I would suspect did so because it became much too long and cumbersome.  It definitely needs to be shortened.

Kenny, I for one certainly appreciate you're wanting to satisfy everyone, but it simply isn't possible.  If a GM doesn't have time to participate in a quicker draft, by either checking it often or by submitting a short list of players to have his pick chosen from, he certainly won't have time to manage an entire team during the season (25 man active, 40 man roster, DL players, etc).

I like the idea of a much shorter window to select.  Maybe 2 hours is a bit short, but certainly 12 hours doesn't work.  Perhaps 4 hours would work.  Those that work should be able to check in at lunch during the draft. 

As for the points about international players:  if an owner wants to spend $3 mil for a 16 year old kid from the DR, Korea, or Tibet, let him.  Personally, it's not my thing, but that's why there's vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate!  In this league, there are many ML players available in FA every year to bid on, so any team could become competitive quite quickly when matched with wise drafting.