Drafts

[Deleted]

We currently have a 15 round MLFAD and a 24 round FYPD (down from 25 as a result of the change made by MLB). Do we want to make changes? Two 20 round drafts were suggested. We might want to consider the participation in drafts, though I hope that the new owners will be better about that. The fewer rounds in drafts, the more players available in free agency, kind of. 

This might also be the place to consider whether we want to lift the limit on picks that can be traded?

We can also consider the timing of the FYPD and how to mesh that with the trade deadline. As things have gone recently, the current trade deadline would allow for trades for the first part of the FYPD where we currently have that.

[SLC Bums]

I think both drafts need to go to 12 rounds. I think to keep owners interested and to help boost some quality into free agency it would put a few more quality players
into the pool. I also feel that like MLB, only compensation picks should be traded. Owner's trading for picks and then not using those picks has been a huge problem.
I also think penalizing an owner for not drafting in the 1st 5 rounds should be made. For the future of owners dropping out and keeping some rosters enticing for new owners. It also encourages trading when teams have prospects to trade. Being able to trade all your picks or even half had caused unbalanced teams and the difficulty of getting new
owners. There is something to say/feel when you have the next Mike trout in your minors because you couldn't trade the uncertainty of the pick for a current mid-tier player. (this has happened far too often and why we lost at least one quality owner this year. Trades are far less lopsided when there's faces involved

[Glenside Gladiators]

I like to 15 rounds drafts and I also like the idea that picks have to be made in the 1st five rounds. I am fine with trading any and all picks however.

[Deleted]

Drafts have been the source of a lot of frustration in the league in the last several years. First, all picks should be made or traded. If you don't want to make your picks, there are plenty of guys looking to rebuild who would love to have them. Please be more responsible on this. Hopefully, just the new owners will help alleviate some of this. Let's work together to make every pick.

That said, it might be a good idea to streamline the overall number of picks and make our bookkeeping easier. 

in 2023, we're going to go with 20 rounds in each draft. MLB only does 20 rounds and, though we can squeeze a few more in if we want, I don't see the point and the sentiment in the comments seemed to be in that direction as well.

[New Haven New Boys]

20 seems like enough to me.

[Deleted]

I do want to clarify one thing here. In 2019 we changed the rule on trading draft picks. I missed that as the posted rules still stated that only half of your picks could be traded. You can now trade as many picks as you want. That's a good plan and makes it easier for those who don't care for the later rounds of drafts to trade as many picks as they feel they won't use. The rules page has been edited accordingly. Sorry if there was any confusion.

[Jeters never prosper]

20 rounds is a bit too long imo. Most of the players drafted there, won’t make MLB, but if they do there’s plenty of time and other ways we can acquire them onto our teams. Most GMs have checked out of the draft once we get to the later rounds and some are pushing up against roster size limits, so we’re sort of unnecessarily adding to another problem for not a ton of upside. I would be for reducing drafts to 12-15 rounds.

[Deleted]

All of these rules will be a work in progress for a season or two. I'm hoping we get full participation in discussions going forward so there is a clearer picture of what we want as a league. The rationale for 20 rounds in each draft this season is that some of the teams that have been neglected for awhile have very depleted minors systems and the drafts will be a good way for them to refill those systems with their own players. This is where trading of picks comes in. A lot of guys don't like to make picks after a certain point. Trading those picks to someone who lives in the weeds of the low minors and getting anything at all in return helps the league. For me personally, I could do a 40 round MLFAD. I always have lots of guys still own my list when the draft ends. I think for every owner who doesn't like anything more than 10 rounds or so there is another who feels like I do. On the other hand, I think 10 rounds for the FYPD is plenty, in reality.

This is also another place where I want to ask for volunteers for an admin committee. I don't want to leave decisions to league polls where half or more of the owners don't participate and I don't want to make these decisions totally on my own as the league isn't about the opinions of any one owner. The admin committee would be maybe five owners who can give their thoughts on league issues and then come to some consensus. If you'd like to be a part of that, PM me...

[New Haven New Boys]

I know from the PTB league that i kind of start floundering towards the later rounds of the drafts just trying to find who’s available. But I don’t mind either way.

[Boulder Ball Busters]

Statistically the later of the rounds provide very few regular major leaguers later on. Very few. I say 12 rounds that correspond to real life probabilities of guys impacting your team at some point in the future

[Deleted]

This is a good discussion. I want to say that I'm not trying to push back at anyone on this but I want to let you know what my thought process is. I did a quick check on the 2016 drafts. In the FYPD, Tucker Davidson and Colin Poche were both taken in the 18th round. In the MLFAD, Jaime Barria and Jonathan Taylor were both taken in the last round. Certainly, none of these guys have been difference making MLB players, but good fantasy teams need depth guys to help deal with injuries or to facilitate trades (I eventually used Davidson in a trade for picks).

The idea of a longer draft is to reward guys who do their homework. Realistically, even the guys taken in the early rounds are not sure things, but we all have our approaches to what we look for in the guys we pick.

The fewer rounds we have in drafts, the easier it would be for guys to pick successful guys in the MLFAD as there would be guys who get to AA or so before they get on the radar. For a lot of us, that would be great. For a lot of us, we love to scour the available players and enjoy plucking that guy that makes it from a late round.

As such, there is a fine line to walk to try to make drafts long enough but not too long. Guys who don't like the later rounds should begin to look to deal those later picks to guys who do like them. In the meantime, we'll continue to discuss and figure out what works for the league. We'll do 20 and 20 this season and adjust from there. Honestly, my ideal would be something like a 12-15 round FYPD and a 25 round MLFAD.