Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2013 14:01:27 GMT -5
As I've sat through the last couple of weeks leading up to the trade deadline, I've been thinking of ways to add some strategy to the league, how better to rebuild when you are in a situation like I find myself (and Pittsburgh) and how to keep league wide interest. The biggest issue I'm finding with this league (which I'm really enjoying) is the gap between the have's and the have been's. I also think that because of that, it makes it much tougher to rebuild quickly. In my situation, where I have lots of cash, not much talent at the major league level, my typical rebuild strategy is to trade veterans, either in the last year of their deal, or nearing the end of their arb years, for cost controllable minor league talent. However, with very few teams actually in contention it's very difficult. I've certainly TRIED to make moves. I've had conversations with Phil (N), Brooklyn, St. Louis, Cleveland. Even Pittsburgh. Maybe it's a situation of me overvaluing my veterans, but with fewer potential trade partners, there certainly doesn't seem to be a rush to add a veteran. With this being the case it forces me to continue to build primarily through the draft instead of supplementing that with trades, with makes the rebuild process take longer.
There are some built in ways around that, primarily the participation points and the points you get for being bumped down in the draft with franchise players, but it still ends up being talent from draft that is a few years away and talent bumping your own minor leagues.
I also think that with so many teams eliminated early on, and the lack of a trade market, a number of teams lose interest in a season very early on, which eventually will lead to GM's leaving.
The free agent market is weak at best, at least it was last year, and I anticipate it will continue to be, which leads to absolutely stupid contracts, ie, Larry Doby making up about 57% of Detroits total payroll. Not pointing fingers at Detroit, they had cash that was doing them no good. But 25 mil for Doby? come on. I also had a tremendous amount of cash and I felt Johnny Groth was the second best OF bat on the market and I paid 4.65 mil for him, and THAT was overpaying. Outside of trading it however, you can't take the cash with you. I also spent 1.75 mil on Jim Delsing on a 1 year deal. I felt like it was a perfect signing. I have a lot of young OF's that are close, Delsing has great D ratings, decent hitting ratings and I thought he would be a perfect trade deadline candidate to get a prospect or 2. Granted, Delsing hasn't been as good as I'd hoped, but he does have a .341 OBP against righties, yet I can't even get a sniff on him.
All of this leads me to ask what people think about a potential free agency compensation program similar to MLB's to help our really bad teams rebuild quicker. It's something that could be looked at as far as being done away with once we get to more teams and more playoff spots if people wished, but I think it would add a good element to the league. My proposal would be something similar to this:
The first 1/3 of the top draft choices would be protected. With 16 teams I would propose that the first 6 draft picks are protected. If you were picking 7-16 your picks would not be protected. If you signed a FA to a contract of 10 mil or more, you would give up your first round pick to the team that had the player the previous year unless your pick was protected. If it was a protected pick, you would lose your 2nd round pick to that team. If you signed a player to a 7.5-9.99 mil deal, you would lose a 2nd round pick unless you had already lost your 2nd, at which point you would lose your 3rd. If you signed a player to a 5.0-7.49 mil deal you would lose a 3rd rounder, unless you had lost it, in which case you would lose a 4th.
Thoughts? Maybe it's too complicated, just trying to figure out how to keep GM's interested and get at least a little bit of parity in the league.
There are some built in ways around that, primarily the participation points and the points you get for being bumped down in the draft with franchise players, but it still ends up being talent from draft that is a few years away and talent bumping your own minor leagues.
I also think that with so many teams eliminated early on, and the lack of a trade market, a number of teams lose interest in a season very early on, which eventually will lead to GM's leaving.
The free agent market is weak at best, at least it was last year, and I anticipate it will continue to be, which leads to absolutely stupid contracts, ie, Larry Doby making up about 57% of Detroits total payroll. Not pointing fingers at Detroit, they had cash that was doing them no good. But 25 mil for Doby? come on. I also had a tremendous amount of cash and I felt Johnny Groth was the second best OF bat on the market and I paid 4.65 mil for him, and THAT was overpaying. Outside of trading it however, you can't take the cash with you. I also spent 1.75 mil on Jim Delsing on a 1 year deal. I felt like it was a perfect signing. I have a lot of young OF's that are close, Delsing has great D ratings, decent hitting ratings and I thought he would be a perfect trade deadline candidate to get a prospect or 2. Granted, Delsing hasn't been as good as I'd hoped, but he does have a .341 OBP against righties, yet I can't even get a sniff on him.
All of this leads me to ask what people think about a potential free agency compensation program similar to MLB's to help our really bad teams rebuild quicker. It's something that could be looked at as far as being done away with once we get to more teams and more playoff spots if people wished, but I think it would add a good element to the league. My proposal would be something similar to this:
The first 1/3 of the top draft choices would be protected. With 16 teams I would propose that the first 6 draft picks are protected. If you were picking 7-16 your picks would not be protected. If you signed a FA to a contract of 10 mil or more, you would give up your first round pick to the team that had the player the previous year unless your pick was protected. If it was a protected pick, you would lose your 2nd round pick to that team. If you signed a player to a 7.5-9.99 mil deal, you would lose a 2nd round pick unless you had already lost your 2nd, at which point you would lose your 3rd. If you signed a player to a 5.0-7.49 mil deal you would lose a 3rd rounder, unless you had lost it, in which case you would lose a 4th.
Thoughts? Maybe it's too complicated, just trying to figure out how to keep GM's interested and get at least a little bit of parity in the league.
