Sample Help Page

NOSTALGIA BASEBALL DRAFTING PROGRAM

BASIC PHILOSOPHY

The purpose of the drafting program is to achieve the goal of placing new players onto teams fairly. The drafting order for the inaugural season of a league will always be randomly selected and will follow in a “Z” formation (i.e., the second round will start with the team who picked last in the first round and work back to the top. The third round will run in the same order as the first, the fourth round will run in the same order as the second,…). Each successive season the drafting order will be determined by a weighted randomizing device (worst performing team from previous season will have the best odds) and will be maintained throughout the draft.

In order to limit the number of communications needed between owners and the commissioners office and to quickly get the teams ready for opening day, the following drafting plan was constructed.

Each owner will need to list in order of preference on the drafting form below the players they would like to draft in the first four rounds. There are 40 slots for names though all of slots need not be filled in for an owner to submit the form (see “Strategy Suggestions”). The program will then select the name closest to the top of the form for each team according to the team’s drafting order. The program will go through the drafting form four times (“Z” pattern for inaugural year). Once completed, the commissioners office will give each owner updated information concerning which players are on each team, and therefore, no longer available to be drafted.

Players will be removed from each team’s drafting form for two reasons. First, a player will be removed from all drafting forms once that player has been assigned to a team. For example, Joe Morgan will only be on one team’s roster. Once he is selected, he will be removed from each team’s drafting form. Second, a player will be removed from a particular owner’s form if their position designation (see “Feature Descriptions”) is identical to a player already selected from the drafting form to be on that owner’s team. For instance, if an owner were successful in drafting the shortstop Cal Ripken and had shortstop Barry Larkin in a lower priority position on their drafting form, Barry Larkin would be removed from the form once Cal Ripken was drafted. This protects the owner from getting more than one full-time position player at one position while also allowing owners to acknowledge their interest in more than one player at that position (see “Strategy Suggestions”).

The only exception to this policy concerns odds/ends players. Because odds/ends players often play more than one position, the program will not assume owners no longer want a certain type of player (e.g., back-up infielder) simply because they were successful in drafting one. The program, however, will inform owners when they may be making dubious selections in their drafting form (see “Feature Descriptions”). Because odds/ends players often play different positions in different years with differing amounts of playing time, owners will be asked to specify the year of play they want for odds/ends players only. This policy is identical to the odds/ends “waiver policy” for use in mid-season.

Once the owners have received feedback from the first iteration of drafting (i.e., four rounds), the same procedure will be followed for drafting rounds five through eight. After these selections, the owners will once again be informed of which players are on each team, and therefore, no longer available to be drafted.

The third, and final, drafting iteration will not be based on drafting order and will not be limited to four selections per team. Owners will identify the players they wish to draft and indicate how many units they are willing to pay for that player. Owners may not offer less that the players “Mean Total Players Value” (MTPV) (or “Total Player Value” (TPV) for odds/ends players). Only ties will be decided by drafting order. In this round, teams will be able to make substantial headway toward filling out their roster. Except for the inaugural season, three iterations of drafting should be sufficient to complete team’s rosters given that each team should have multiple players carrying over from the previous season. In the inaugural season, rosters can be completed early in the season by using the “Waiver Wire” function. The waiver wire will be opened at the beginning of the season for the inaugural season only.

If a team is unable to field a functional team (see Strategy Suggestions) by the end of the third round, the commissioner’s office will automatically (and randomly) draft only enough additional players for that particular team to begin the season. Any players drafted by the commissioners office will be included in the feedback given to owners at the end of the third iteration of drafting.

At the end of the third iteration of drafting, owners will be given their existing roster. At this time owners will have a certain period of time to complete their “Managerial Profile” and determine the type of contracts they wish to make with each player. Opening day will begin shortly after the deadline for managerial profile submission.

FEATURE DESCRIPTIONS

Up and Down arrows: These arrows allow you to edit your drafting form as you construct it. Simply click the “up” arrow to exchange the corresponding name with the name immediately above. Conversely, simply click the “down” arrow to exchange the corresponding name with the name immediately below.

Warning light: This light will be triggered whenever the profile examiner senses that the owner runs the risk of getting too many players for one particular position. For instance, if you already have a full-time third baseman and are attempting to draft two back-up third baseman, the warning light will go on. You may still submit the form. This is simply a indicator to the owner prior to their submission. (Note: It may be necessary for a particular team to have two back-up third basemen. The profile examiner cannot make these determinations. It is simply a tool to assist owners in the construction of their rosters.) See “Strategy Suggestions” section for more information on guidelines for rosters, drafting strategy, and what to do if the warning light comes on.

Units Offered: Click the highlighted area to change the amount of units you would like to offer for the selected player. Remember, the program will assign any contested players to the owner who bids the highest. Only ties will be broken by drafting order (advantage to lower seed). This option is only available in the third iteration of drafting.

Position Designation: This column contains information about what pool of players the selected player came from. The profile examiner will look at this information as well as information from your “carry-over” roster (except inaugural season) to gauge whether the warning light needs to be triggered.

STRATEGY SUGGESTIONS

Guidelines for Rosters: Following are some guidelines that owners should consider when filling out their roster. The first set of guidelines are necessary to have a functioning team. The second set of guidelines provide some cushion to allow for injuries and manager flexibility (pinch-hitters, defensive substitutions, rested bullpen and starters, etc.). Remember that the waiver wire can be used mid-season to “shore-up” any holes you may have in your opening day roster.

Necessary:

• Three starting pitchers
  
  
• One player for each of the eight field positions

Recommended:

• Pitchers
  
  
• Four to five starting pitchers
  
  
• Five to seven relievers and spot starters - depending upon number of starters (remember, starters can be converted to relievers but not vice-versa) (You need to be able to cover approx. 1,500 innings)
  
  
• Try to have at least ten pitchers on your roster
  
  
• Field Players
  
  
• One full time position player for each of the eight field positions
  
  
• One back-up for each of the positions (some players may be able to back-up more than one position) (You need to be able to cover 154 games at each field position - approx. 700 plate appearances)

Drafting Strategy: For each drafting iteration owners are advised to list, in order of preference and with financial considerations taken into account, 40 eligible players of their choosing from the ten player pools. Because these selections need to survive four rounds of 24 selections per round, owners are advised to consider the likely choices of other owners. If a particular owner’s selections have all been eliminated by the end of the third round, the owner will not be assigned a player for the fourth round. For this reason, owners are advised to make their selections carefully. (Although it is advised, owners do not need to include 40 selections for any drafting iteration.)

Owners are also advised to not put too many players of the same position designation on any one drafting form. Once a player with that position designation is selected for an owners team, all other players with that designation will be removed from the form.

In order to save money (units) and field a competitive team, you must carefully make your drafting form selections. The program is designed to help owners avoid making serious financial blunders. The warning light will be triggered whenever there is even the potential of putting more than one full-time player on the same roster. The “warning light” program will assume owners will opt to extend the contracts of players on Type 2 contracts for the next season.

The program will not allow owners to be assigned more than one full-time player for any given field position in the same round. If owners wish to draft more than one full-time player for a field position (e.g., for platooning purposes) they must either carry a player over from a previous season or draft the two players in different drafting iterations. In either case the warning light will go on.

Draft odds/ends players carefully. Because the program does not automatically eliminate other odds/ends players from the drafting form once one is assigned to an owners team, there is a potential for getting “duplicates” (two or more players which fulfill the same function for a team). To avoid this, owners should spread out their odds/ends selections across the three drafting iterations. Once feedback is given regarding the outcome of the first iteration, more definitive selections can be made for successive drafting iterations. Finally, owners should not feel obligated to have every supporting position on their roster filled by opening day. The waiver wire is an excellent way of filling in roster holes after the season has started.

Responding to the Warning Light: When the warning light comes on owners should carefully go back over their selection to verify that this player is, in fact, the player they wish to select. Owners are advised to carefully examine 1) their “carry-over” roster; 2) the players previously assigned to them by earlier iterations of the draft; and 3) the other selections on the current drafting form. Drafting forms may be submitted with warning lights still "on".