2021 General Improvement Topics

[Greenville Drive]

These are some ideas that have been thrown my way by a few owners and I can continue to add to this list as we see fit.

General improvements:

A league calendar – especially in the off season. Draft dates, dead periods (to get rosters updated), no suprises This makes total sense and I will work on immediately.

FYPD – picks wont be added to rosters until off season, unless requested by manager, allows guys a chance to make better roster decisions Need group discussion on this

MLFAD – 10 rounds Need group discussion on this

FYPD – 20 rounds I am all for reducing the rounds in the draft, especially if MLB continues too.

Limit trades of future picks (see NBA model) We already do this IMO, by allowing only picks from the next 365 days to be traded. May need further explanation.

Reduction of comp picks (goes with draft reduction) – less comp picks could equal more trades, people not holding onto bums because of a comp pick Need group discussion on this

Trading of pending free agents Need group discussion on this. I think the rule is clear but can talk about it.

Roster expansion beyond 250 Need group discussion on this


Help the crappy teams:

2 amnesties – dump 2 players incl. contracts prior to FA I'm all for this. They can even trade for a bad contract if they don't 2 to dump.

Contraction – get rid of 2 franchises, 5 round draft of their assets, contracts to be taken over, undrafted players become FA  I have resisted this for a while but I think 18 teams makes the league more competitive overall.

[SLC Bums]

So here is my thought:

league calendar: needed (you have stated that)

FYPD: really doesn't matter to me when added

MLFAD & FYPD: I have a different opinion on this: I think everyone here likes to draft...I say divide this into 3 drafts.. 1) MLFAD 10 rounds this is for any players remaining on fantrax. I would do this in march April like always. FYPD 20 rounds less comp picks (only comping over 10 mil , 13.5, and 17.5) would do this as scheduled. Add an international draft 10 rounds do in Dec or Jan. The more things in the league the more reason we have to stay active. For those that don't feel like they can do the work on international players there are several links that exist listing all those who signed just like in the FYPD
.
Limit trading picks: I say keep to the one year standard but eliminate the half your picks rule

reduction of comp picks: see above

Trading of free agents: I think to keep competitive balance only allow trading of expired Y2Y6 players

Roster expansion: No..with the reduction of minor league teams in real life the need to expand our rosters seems pointless

Amnesties Im ok with 2 life time. I do beleive players need to be over 10 mil.

Contraction: I would set a fill date, then if we don't have 20, contract. A contraction draft can be held simultaneously to free Agency just need to have rules in place for
contracted players because they will count against our cap if they have a contract

[Deleted]

League Calendar- Certainly that is a sound idea.

FYPD- Adding players at your leisure is fine

Drafts- I'm the opposite of SLC here. I think we should consider one draft, in the offseason. There are several reasons. It would be good to add some activities that increase activity on the board. It is also quite possible that MLB is going to move to include IFA's in the draft at some point. If that happens, and the draft itself continues to be held later, a single draft of maybe 30 rounds right after the World Series might be just the thing. Failing that, it doesn't matter to me how many rounds we have in each draft.

Reduction of comp picks- Either way is fine for me, but if we limit we might think about limiting to the top X free agent salaries rather than by a specific contract amount. Right now, we have an varying number of comp picks in each round. Instead, we might decide to give comp picks for the top 20 free agents. Then we could parse it out to four picks in each of the first five rounds.

Limit trading picks- I'm with SLC here. Getting into trading picks any farther out than the next draft adds to the administrative burden and could lead to disaster if a team trades a ton of picks in the next several drafts to try to compete and then bolts the league. With the turnover we have here at times, it seems like a bad idea. On the other hand, I don't see the value of limiting the number of picks that can be traded. If we are worried about some of those issues just mentioned, limit the trading of any more than half to only the current draft. We have so many owners who don't use a lot of their picks so they get noting for them. If they could trade them, they could get some kind of asset in return. An added benefit is increased activity on the trade front.

Trading Free Agents- This is a personal crusade of mine. I can be persuaded that it's not good to allow actual free agents to be traded, but trading them for their comp pick value can be a thing. It is in the league I play in that is the most active and competitive. The y2y6 guys, though... it makes no sense that they can't be traded to a team that does not have a player of their own that they can franchise. If I can't trade a guy that I don't want to franchise, not only does someone have to pay way more than $8M for him in free agency, but I also get a very high comp pick. The league suffers twice. Allowing those guys to be traded would create more activity and get more stars spread around at more affordable salaries. I really don't see the argument against it.

Roster Expansion- Not a fan, though if we did I'd probably benefit as much as anyone. I love picks!!

Amnesties- I am very much against this for established owners. I don't think it is a good idea to reward stupidity. Here is a worst case; guy pays max salary for Giancarlo Stanton and Stanton becomes a big part of his winning team because he has a lot of rookies graduating to the majors. Then, with the rookies all going up in cost the next year, he realizes he can't really afford a competitive roster with Stanton so he amnesties him. Having said that, I'm in favor of allowing new owners one free drop.

Contraction- I think we should put off trying to think about this until we know what we actually have. I'm not sure where we are looking for new owners. There are a lot of guys out there who love playing dynasty league baseball. I play with them in some other leagues. Right now I don't think the guys I know would enjoy being here as there is no activity. I joined three new leagues in the last two weeks. Every one of them has more trades since I got in than this league has had since March. Contraction is forever and won't cure our problem. We all have to commit to being more competitive and active. If we can do that, we can find owners who will want to fill in the gaps. Let's see what we have and then try to discuss this separately.

[Deleted]

General improvements:

A league calendar – seems obvious

FYPD – seems fine. I had Crochet but wasn’t going to add him to the roster anyway to avoid service time

MLFAD – has to be reduced in general because of the MiLB contraction. I am in favour of doing two separate rounds, with one after the season.

FYPD – I am all for reducing the rounds in the draft, especially if MLB continues too.

Limit trades of future picks - if the draft rounds will be reduced, you have to limit this as well to avoid certain teams from dominating a draft

Reduction of comp picks - same as the point before

Trading of pending free agents - people that have been declared FA shouldn’t be traded imo. A comp pick should be possible though. Players on a y2y ie arbitration contract should. I can state I won’t tend a new contract and then trade the player because someone else would like to have him. I do believe however there should be a rule that states that once I trade for a player on y2y after the season I should not be able to non-tender him in the same season.

Roster expansion beyond 250 - Don’t think it is necessary.

Help the crappy teams:

2 amnesties – don’t believe it to be necessary. My team was pretty crap when I took over it although fortunately I did not really have expensive contracts on the team. What I lacked was minor league depth to trade from because I believe previous owners might have left the drafts unattended. If I take over a team and have 100 minor leaguers and other teams have close to 200, I have a big disadvantage because I either have to blow up my team even more by doing a Dombrowski or start sitting back which doesn’t really help the league in general either. I tried to stay competitive while adding depth and it worked.

Contraction – I think this would be wise. It was pretty much a bummer to see a couple of teams leaving their squads unattended with players on it I could have used. With the rosters full there wasn’t really a lot to choose from in FA either during the season. I missed a Minor league draft I could have pulled from. If activity increases on here the league could always choose to expand. Leaving as it is now is not a solution imo. I can’t send pm to every owner and see if he or she is interested in a certain player because most do not enter the forum or don’t bother to answer. So then you get trades like the one I got a lot of crap for. I don’t think you can expect all of a sudden that everyone on here becomes superactive despite the good intentions.

[Motor City Kitties]

Calendar - yes. please.  Also what about a dead period, say Dec-Feb 1 ?  Gives ADMIN plenty of time to update rosters.  Also makes a hard cut off on when contracts actually expire. 
Picks - only add after season unless an owner needs someone.  This essentially expands your rosters.
Drafts - smaller, yes.  Most guys dont make all their picks anyways.
Trading picks - I actually would like to be able to trade future picks, as I am in WIN NOW mode, but I understand why we limit it.
Comp picks - reduce.  But I like the rule that 10 mil gets you a 1st rounder.  Adds a little strategy to some off season moves.  Maybe comp picks for guys above 5 mil ?
Trading pending free agents - I am confused, can't we trade guys in walk years already ?  Part of the fun is deciding to keep a guy or unload him.
Roster expansion - I think not adding picks until the offseason does this.
Amnesties - Would like to see this be a one time thing and for new owners.  Maybe -this season only- give everyone a chance to re-set their team if they want.  I don't think every season you should get to dump a bad contract.
Contraction - Only as a last resort.

[Ohio Spiders]

General improvements:

A league calendar – especially in the off season. Draft dates, dead periods (to get rosters updated): This is a good idea and I would like to see it happen if the commissioners have time to do it. 

FYPD – picks wont be added to rosters until off season, unless requested by manager, allows guys a chance to make better roster decisions: I am not in favor of this.  We have roster limits.  You need to stay  under them.  If you're maxed  in your minors you need to make cuts in order to draft.   This just allows owners to hoard minors and exceed roster limits without penalty.   There is strategy in this league and player max limits are part of that.  

MLFAD – 10 rounds: I don't think 15 rounds is bad.  I won't be upset if we reduce to 10 but don't think it's necessary.  

FYPD – 20 rounds: I do support this.  I think 35 rounds is too much and hardly anyone picks in all rounds. 

Limit trades of future picks (see NBA model):  What is the current rule on this?  I thought we could only trade picks in the current seasons drafts? For example of we allow trading of 2022 picks now, that should not be allowed.  

Reduction of comp picks (goes with draft reduction): I do support this.  I don't think you should get comp picks for average or below average players.  I would support a major reduction in this (only 4 or 5 rounds)

Trading of pending free agents: I'm not in favor of this. I know some people feel strongly on this but what's the point of giving contracts if you can trade them after their contract is done?  I know one example given is the y2y6 situation progressing to Franchise Players.  The issue is you can Franchise any player with an expired contract not just y2y6.  If you want to get something for your players, trade them before their contract is up. I see no reason you should be rewarded for trading a player who is technically not on your team.  You have the ability to Franchise one player (if available) and match 2 players and receive comp picks on expired contracts.  After that it's open market.  Focusing on y2y6.....again the contract is up just like a 2020 contract is up.  So if we're focusing on y2y6 can you only trade them to a team that has a Franchise available?   If not, how is this any different than trading any other expired contract where the team acquiring the player is just getting comp pick rights or the ability to match a player they never had on their roster.  I just don't see the benefit in this and believe it adds a layer complication to the league that is just unnecessary.   Creating ways to make more trades and using trading as a KPI for league success is a mistake.  The goal of each GM should be to win and field a competitive team, not just random player movement for the sake of being active.  I'm not going to trade just to do it.  I'm in a league that trades all the time and at times it's annoying because it's just needless player movement and some teams trade so much and are addicted to it they kill their teams and in some cases leave because of the damage they inflict on the roster.  Sorry, I don't think we need to try to induce more chaos just to make it appear like the league is more active.  

Roster expansion beyond 250: I'm OK with this, mainly in expanding minor league limits.  I don't think we should expand the 40 man but I'm fine with expanding minor league max limits.  Fantrax now has the ability to set a number of max limits for minors.  I like this idea better than not adding draft picks during the season.  


Help the crappy teams:

2 amnesties – dump 2 players incl. contracts prior to FA: I'm not a fan of this, especially for established teams.  You shouldn't be able to get out of a bad decision you make.  I wouldn't be upset if we allowed new owners to do it but overall I'm not in favor.  

Contraction – get rid of 2 franchises, 5 round draft of their assets, contracts to be taken over, undrafted players become FA: I don't support this either.  Probably too late this year but if we have 2 or 3 teams that are a problem at the end of the year why don't we consider doing a rebalancing of the teams before we recruit for them?   That would stop the issue with one being marketable and one being less desirable.  Doing this would also add balance to the league as well instead of thinking of contraction.