Monday, March 30, 2009

New Players and Transaction Order - Start of Season

Checking in on a couple of questions that have come up already...and I'm sure others are wondering or about to ask:

1. Transaction order for the start of the season....

In the off-season, we use a somewhat modified approach to weekly transaction order - partly to let people not have to be involved every week. Once a team picks a player, that team goes to the end of the waiver order - and the order is maintained from week to week.

This changes when we hit Week 1 (deadline April 10).
For returning leagues - the order reverts back to the Redistribution Draft order (reverse order of the 2008 record).
For new leagues - After Week Zero we order the teams by total salary (lowest total salary goes to the top).

In either situation, we do not change the order at all between Weeks 1 & 2. Starting with Week 3, we reorder every week based on reverse W-L records.

So - you can pick players in Week Zero and it doesn't affect the transaction order in Week One (other than team salary changes for new leagues).

2. New Players - when do they arrive on the list?

In BWB, after the December winter meetings, players do not get put on the BWB player list until they play a major league game (then later we add the 1st-round draft picks).

So - for those of you wanting to pick up Tommy Hanson (for example) - since he went back to the minors, you'll need to wait.

What about Elvis Andrus and players like that who will make the majors? As soon as we find they play in a game, we'll add them to our list - BUT, we only post the list of new players once per week, when we run transactions. BWB is a game for baseball addicts, but you don't have to be tied to your computer to hit that 24-hour window when a player is first available.

Although there may be some stats available by the time we run the Week Zero transactions, we will NOT add any players in that first week. Assuming the new guys play at least once before April 10, the deadline for Week 1, they will first show up in the BWB player lists as eligible for the Week 2 transactions (Deadline April 17. That's the one you don't want to miss then).

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Phase 2 Draft Strategies?

For the most part, I'm going to leave strategy talk to the other bloggers. But now and then I may discuss a few things.

Several leagues are currently going through the Phase Two startup draft. The primary goal here is to get all 16 teams with a legal roster. That is, all the fielding positions and bench slots must be covered - plus the starting rotation and bullpen. For the hitters, only primary positions are considered for filling the mandatory positions (though once the season starts, the distinction between primary and secondary positions disappear).

I say some of these selfishly as the league administrator who wants to see rosters fill up as quickly as possible so we can get out of the draft process (and you end up with a decent team). But overall, I hope that they're helpful observations. These aren't so much strategies as points to consider:

  • First - don't skip the draft. After Phase One, there are a ton of good players and everyone just got an extra 10 million in cash to spend. Suddenly those players who were too expensive to put on the initial list come into play.
  • Unless you're really fine-tuning your roster in the later stages of Phase Two, or you got a lot of players out of Phase One, or you're close to the cap level, don't shortchange yourself. Try to pick all the available rounds.
  • Keep in mind the number of players who will be going off the board. For example, after 4 rounds of picking, 64 players are gone. You may want to handle the later rounds differently.
  • Later rounds tip #1 - Use alternates. Yep, Jimmy Rollins may have made it out of Phase One without being picked. But by Round 7 in the Phase 2 draft, it's unlikely he'll still be there. That's not saying don't go for him - but you may want to throw in an alternate pick just in case.
  • Later rounds tip #2 - Use these rounds to fill out your bench, bullpen, and spot starter positions. A long season may mean that your bench is crucial. Grabbing cheaper, productive guys now who can fill in for you in scattered games or for long stretches of the season may give you an advantage later on.
  • Later rounds tip #3 - Use these rounds to grab prospects. You may not want to do this in the first submission of Phase Two, but hopefully in Part 2 and Part 3 your roster is starting to shape up. Getting the top players on the free agent board is going to start getting tougher - you may want to turn your attention to pick up some minor leaguers and lay the foundation for later seasons. These players will also fulfill your minimum position needs too in the draft - and you can use free agency later to fill out your bench or your bullpen with major leaguers. Our player list filters give you an easy way to view first round draft picks from the last several seasons.
  • Besides just the later rounds, think about using alternates. It takes a few extra minutes, but if you can target another player that you'd take if your first choice is gone, you'll build your roster faster (and not have to fill so many slots from the dregs later on). In some cases, you may not want an alternate and just let the next round's pick move up.
  • Keep the salary cap in mind. You still need to fill 26 roster slots, so if you blow all your remaining cash on your first 4-5 Phase Two picks, you'll be filling your roster with journeymen and minor leaguers. Don't forget to watch your alternates...your primary pick in a round may have a salary of 1250, but if your listed alternate's salary is 5500, that makes the rest of your draft different.
  • I don't get this much in depth, but going cheap early may have some benefits too. Since we reorder the teams each round by total salary, you'll stay up at the top or move up in the draft order if you pick an inexpensive player. On the flip side, picking Ryan Howard or C.C. Sabathia in the first round will likely push you futher down in the order. That's not bad...just something to realize.
  • One more thing on alternates...If in every round your alternate pick is merely the primary pick in the next round, you're shortchanging yourself at worst and, if nothing else, doing work for nothing. Don't forget, if your primary and alternate picks are gone, all your other picks move up a round (so we don't skip your turn). If you list 8 rounds of picks - each with the alternate selection being the next round's primary pick (plus an extra one in Round 8) - you'd get the same effect by just having 8 rounds of primary picks and one alternate in the final round. And - as soon as you need one alternate (and you will, eventually) - you've just set in motion a process that will mean in every round after that your primary pick is already gone.

There's no single way to do things - but these are some of the things I've noticed watching 4 Phase Two drafts this season.

Good Luck

2009 Rule Change: 100% Salary Rebate for New Leagues for Cuts

See the rule change

I had a request this weekend to allow a cut of a player from a team that was in the midst of a Phase Two draft. This player had become injured, and the owner wanted to be able to drop the player and get that salary room back to finish the draft.

Well, that part's not changing. During the Phase Two drafts, there are no cuts and that will continue. Teams will have a chance to make some modifications post-draft to fix their rosters. (From a long term perspective, this particular player is most likely headed to the DL at the start of the season...and there's been no official word on the amount of time he'll miss, so cutting him may potentially be short-sighted anyway, except for the cap issue).

So, I got to thinking about this and this spring we've run more Startup Drafts than we ever have in one year. And - while the drafts in the last few seasons were probably mostly done by Benchwarmer Veterans - we've had a lot of new owners this spring too. There are some definite quirks to the draft - and the salary cap can end up being a big problem...and new owners are still trying to get a hang of all that and how to fill up a roster.

To help them out, when a league finishes a draft, rather than be held to only a 50% salary rebate for cuts (80% starting in Week Zero), their first two transaction cycles will allow them to cut players and get a 100% salary rebate. This does not change the limitation on players making salary 200 or below - there is still no rebate for them.