Amateur Draft Suggestions

[Lindner]

5. International free agents - draft vs free agency:

How would we objectively distinguish between who goes into the draft and who goes into free agency? Some are obvious, but there will be some in the gray area.

I'm leaning towards placing everybody in free agency because it'll be another pool of players for teams to spend money on. This will keep the salaries down and more realistic (we have a bigger pool of money here in AFB than they do in MLB).

I think we have a good system in place with International Free Agents.  It has seemed to work well so far this year.  Why fix it if it's not broken?

3. No trade clauses for amateur draft picks:

I'm on the fence about this one. I can see both the pros and cons.

This could create quite a few complications.  It is hard to mirror the MLB on this policy because we draft at a different time of the year than the MLB does.  The MLB drafts in early June and we draft throughout the off-season.  A no-trade clause on here would be much more constricting than the MLB's is.

Just my two cents.

[DVB78300]

1. Draft clock - 12 hours vs. 2 hours:

I too would like to see the league be more friendly towards the average roto player. My thinking was a longer clock would actually be better than a shorter clock because the average guy won't be checking in throughout the day. Heck, I usually only check in twice a day (before work and after work).

I can't count on everybody having smartphones or having access to computers throughout the day. We have people ranging in age from 16 to 60 and I don't want to limit the number of people who can participate. We have enough difficulties keeping an active complement of 30 GM's as it is...  shortening the draft time to 2 hours can only make it worse.


Shortening the clock doesn't preclude someone from making a pick should they miss their designated time slot, what it does is keeps the draft moving at a pace that might keep the average roto'er interested. Think of it like trying to keep a kid with ADHD from losing interest, if you don;t keep things moving people lose interest, if you tell someone you will be picking once every 10-15 days they will lose interest, it was proven this year with the draft. 

I should note that we might run into some administrative problems with such a short time window for the draft. If one person makes a mistake and takes somebody previously drafted, it can cause a domino effect which might not get caught until later in the day. We'd really need somebody to monitor the draft throughout the day and I'm not sure if we have somebody that can do that (nor would I feel comfortable asking anybody to do that),


Well I assume that just like with this past draft, someone or a group of people will be keeping a running list of whose been drafted, that will be updated everyday or two, assuming that's the case, then if someone screws up and picks a guy whose already been drafted, well they can make a new selection once the miscue has been found out, as far as losing out on someone who they may have gotten should they not have made a mistake, well that's the price of their error.

2. Automatic assignment of undrafted prospects based on MLB selections:

What is your reasoning behind this? I'm not quite sure how it will help the league. This will cause issues because of minor league roster limits.

The individual team will have a full year to evaluate these players front eh later rounds and decide who they wish to keep and who they will be dropping, with the full no trade fro one year clause attached to these prospects, they can be kept off the organizational roster until they are assigned to a minor league roster, until they get assigned they are basically in limbo.

5. International free agents - draft vs free agency:

How would we objectively distinguish between who goes into the draft and who goes into free agency? Some are obvious, but there will be some in the gray area.

I'm leaning towards placing everybody in free agency because it'll be another pool of players for teams to spend money on. This will keep the salaries down and more realistic (we have a bigger pool of money here in AFB than they do in MLB).


Your thoughts?

It's actually not a difficult thing, for the most part each season there are only a few 5 - 10 guys at most who come from the international level and go straight to a MLB club, and these guys are well publicized and can be weeded out. The rest of the pool can usually be found out throughout Baseball America, they put out an issue each year with each teams recent international signees.


I think we have a good system in place with International Free Agents.  It has seemed to work well so far this year.  Why fix it if it's not broken?

See I beg to differ, I look at our system that's currently in place as being use as flawed as the one that MLB is replacing this year. When you have guys dedicating millions in cap space to a 16 Y/O dominican kid who has zero pro experience, that has the potential to be harmful to that team & conversely to the league. If you want to draft the Jorge Solars of the world then you torpedo the season & get #1 pick in the drafts.

This could create quite a few complications.  It is hard to mirror the MLB on this policy because we draft at a different time of the year than the MLB does.  The MLB drafts in early June and we draft throughout the off-season.  A no-trade clause on here would be much more constricting than the MLB's is.


Well I would rather see our AMAT draft moved to August, but that's me. As for having a guy who gets drafted in November being ineligible for trade until the next November I really don't se how that's harmful or overly constricting. It gives the drafting team a full season to really evaluate their new talent, which is better for that team and healthier for the league.

[kenny]

Good points, Doug.

Anyone else with feedback?

[Lindner]

When you have guys dedicating millions in cap space to a 16 Y/O dominican kid who has zero pro experience, that has the potential to be harmful to that team & conversely to the league.

I disagree with you on this point.  There are some teams in this league who cannot compete for a championship this upcoming year.  That will be the case for next off-season, as well.  If a team knows that they cannot compete, they aren't going to want to sign more free agents as to avoid wasting cap space.  Many teams looking to build for the future will use their cap space to sign international prospects.  I think that taking away our current process would hurt the weaker teams in our league.

If you want to draft the Jorge Solars of the world then you torpedo the season & get #1 pick in the drafts.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean here.

As for having a guy who gets drafted in November being ineligible for trade until the next November I really don't se how that's harmful or overly constricting. It gives the drafting team a full season to really evaluate their new talent, which is better for that team and healthier for the league.

I don't see the point in limiting a GM's ability to deal perceived value.  I also don't see why we would be forced to take more time to evaluate our draftees.  If a team wants more time to evaluate, they will take it by not trading their draft picks.  I am against unnecessary regulations and limitations.


On a separate note, I agree with you that the Amateur draft needs to be reformed.  I like your proposal for the most part.  I think we could built a very successful system based around your idea.  It really was a drag waiting a week between picks this off-season.

[Fourfingerwoo]

If you shorten the time between picks, an easy way to avoid missing picks or getting skipped over is this. We set up a shadow account named Minor League Draft, when your pick is approaching you send a list of players by priority that you would pick them if available, if you don't make it within the allotted time we open the message with your pick and make the pick for you

[Lindner]

If you shorten the time between picks, an easy way to avoid missing picks or getting skipped over is this. We set up a shadow account named Minor League Draft, when your pick is approaching you send a list of players by priority that you would pick them if available, if you don't make it within the allotted time we open the message with your pick and make the pick for you

I made a suggestion like this in the past and it, more or less, got shut down.

[Fourfingerwoo]

The other topic, I like the International system as is. I know thats an obvious conclusion as I'm one of the owners spending big in that market this year. But what else are you supposed to do when you inherit a team and it has half of it's budget still available. But any team that is rebuilding ought to have the ability to acquire international players with the funds they have available. Like previously stated what is positive for the league or an individual team if you have no chance to compete bidding on players that will not help your long term goals. Plus it keeps free agent prices from being pushed up beyond the point they already are because less monies are dedicated to MLB free agents. If a non-contender thinks out an approach to field a team and leave adequate funds to acquire pieces that adds value to their franchise it only contributes to the health of the league. A lot of international acquisitions made by non contenders are used within 3-4 years to pick up pieces when said team becomes a contender. Usually to teams that are beginning the building process themselves. I believe the more options available to teams in rebuilding the better.

[Fourfingerwoo]

I made a suggestion like this in the past and it, more or less, got shut down.

well then find an associate you can call a pick into.

[kenny]

If you shorten the time between picks, an easy way to avoid missing picks or getting skipped over is this. We set up a shadow account named Minor League Draft, when your pick is approaching you send a list of players by priority that you would pick them if available, if you don't make it within the allotted time we open the message with your pick and make the pick for you

This past draft, people have messaged their lists directly to myself, Cliff and Robin if they feel that they may miss their pick.

I would prefer Doug's suggestion of being able to pick after their designated time slot. This lets the draft run on auto-pilot for a while if needed. It cuts down on administrative needs (wouldn't require someone to check in every two hours).

[Lindner]

well then find an associate you can call a pick into.

That was basically what I suggested.

I proposed that we send in brief draft lists before the amateur draft so if a team misses their pick, they are awarded the next team on their list.  The idea wasn't embraced. 

In this year's draft, people were allowed to give the moderators "Draft Lists" for when they missed their picks.  I just think that we should have everyone submit one before the draft starts to ensure no one misses their pick.  Even if they tell the moderator, "Hey.  I just want the next available guy drafted in the actual MLB draft."  I thought that was a good idea.