Draft Idea for 2010

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 6:17 pm

I've been mulling this over, and I think I'd like to know what others think about it. If nothing else, it gives John one more opportunity to throw out an "in other leagues I'm in" for Bren.

I'm not the biggest fan of having trades for draft picks freeze before the draft starts. I understand why we do it, I'm just not the biggest fan.

I'm wondering if we could implement a system where only the current round freezes. So, on December 1st, there would be no more trading of first round picks, but teams would be free to trade picks in rounds 2-5. At the conclusion of round 1, 24 hours notice would be given, and then round 2 would be frozen, and so on and so forth.

I think this would give teams more of an opportunity to see how each round unfolds, and then react accordingly. Right now, if a player I like slips further than I thought he would, and I didn't anticipate that, I'm out of luck. But in the proposed system, if a certain player falls out of round 1, it would give teams a chance to trade up in round two to select him.

On the flip side of the coin, if a team has a high pick in round two, and had their hopes set on a certain player, but that player gets selected at 1.29, it would give that team a chance to trade out of their position if they don't see anyone they like.

I think this could generate some more activity in the offseason, as well as generate more interest in the draft. There are probably complications that I haven't thought of, but that's why I'm posting this for discussion.

Realistically, this probably only affects the first two or three rounds, depending on the depth of each draft, but I think it would be a nice option to have. I know I would definitely be much more interested in following the draft with something like this in place.

Astros · Post by **Astros** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 6:35 pm

I really like this idea and think it is something to consider

Rangers · Post by **Rangers** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 6:42 pm

The only disagreement I have is that I'm not a fan of halting the draft for 24 hours at the end of each round. We have an advantage over leagues like BCMBL of an automated process, and stopping down for something like this is regress.

Other than that, I agree that it makes sense to allow freedom where it doesn't inhibit things in the manner that has caused us to use that rule in the first place.

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:02 pm

Tigers wrote:The only disagreement I have is that I'm not a fan of halting the draft for 24 hours at the end of each round. We have an advantage over leagues like BCMBL of an automated process, and stopping down for something like this is regress.

Other than that, I agree that it makes sense to allow freedom where it doesn't inhibit things in the manner that has caused us to use that rule in the first place.

I agree with Brett ... I like the idea that Jason proposes but I do not like the freeze. If this idea became a rule the TRC will simply veto a trade if a GM attempts to trade a pick of the round the draft is currently in ...

Athletics · Post by **Athletics** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:02 pm

I think and 8-12 hour freeze would certaintly be ok. 24 seems lengthy. As is, we're 20hours into the draft and we're just cresting outside the top 10 picks.

Mets · Post by **Mets** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:36 pm

I don't have a problem with it. As long as picks aren't be held hostage while a GM tries to hammer out a last minute deal...which I'm sure the league will never allow to happen.

Twins · Post by **Twins** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:09 pm

Tigers wrote:The only disagreement I have is that I'm not a fan of halting the draft for 24 hours at the end of each round. We have an advantage over leagues like BCMBL of an automated process, and stopping down for something like this is regress.

The 24 hours was more or less to give an amount of time that would allow for a clean break and a definite start of the next round. It could just as easily be something like midnight after the final pick in a round is made.

Mets wrote:I don't have a problem with it. As long as picks aren't be held hostage while a GM tries to hammer out a last minute deal...which I'm sure the league will never allow to happen.

That would be the point of having an entire round freeze at once. If we have a definite time when the round freezes, it would make it virtually impossible to have a GM hold a pick hostage by delaying and waiting for a trade, since the draft would proceed as planned after midnight or whenever the acceptable period of time has passed.

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:45 am

Why noot just set it to a rolling standard. you have until 10 picks before a pick in order to make a trade. That way no one is shafted by having picks early in a round.

as it is though, I think this would be an unnecessary complication. Pick trading still happens during the draft under gentlemen's agreements. I think everyone here trusts each other not to fuck them over on something like that.

Angels · Post by **Angels** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 2:32 am

Bren is right. GMs can always make "pick this guy and we have a deal" discussions while someone is on the clock.

However, the trading of actual picks would add the intrigue of taking a chance that the guy they want is still available a few picks down the road, and therefore would add more interest and activity to the draft. I'd guess that any kind of draft pick trades would need to include a limit on how far in the future a certain pick can be dealt, as in number of picks until on the clock as opposed to a time limit.

Nationals · Post by **Nationals** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:24 am

The thing with a rolling standard is that we're knocking off picks fairly quickly, so while discussions are going on, there's a chance that "whoops, we've passed the 10-pick cut-off?"

Angels · Post by **Angels** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:46 am

The whole idea is to discourage extended trade talks for draft picks and make the draft run smoothly, correct?. So the "rolling" seems OK to discuss, and any "whoops" is TS for slacking.....

Marlins · Post by **Marlins** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:48 am

Only problem with that is it sometimes takes 1 day or so for the TRC to accept trades. If a trade is submitted 10 picks from current pick, could still delay the draft if it takes too long for the TRC to approve it.

Angels · Post by **Angels** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:11 am

Great point Nils. That is why we need to discuss these things.

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:06 pm

and if we do the round by round cutoff, then whoever has the first pick of a given round has a tremendous value advantage in trading over those who are lower.

Athletics · Post by **Athletics** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:47 pm

Padres wrote:and if we do the round by round cutoff, then whoever has the first pick of a given round has a tremendous value advantage in trading over those who are lower.

The guy with the lowest pick always has the advantage.

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:55 pm

Angels wrote:
Padres wrote:and if we do the round by round cutoff, then whoever has the first pick of a given round has a tremendous value advantage in trading over those who are lower.
The guy with the lowest pick always has the advantage.

That's a given, but this is an ADDED advantage.

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:22 pm

Is it a significant enough advantage to justify the extra hassle in figuring out a rolling system? I mean we used to essentially give the top half of the first round unlimited time to make their first round picks, that's a much bigger deal than taking a way a few hours to deal a pick.

Cardinals · Post by **Cardinals** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:59 pm

Yeah, my thoughts are that I'm not sure there is enough benefit to warrant coming out with a system like this.

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:41 pm

Athletics wrote:Is it a significant enough advantage to justify the extra hassle in figuring out a rolling system? I mean we used to essentially give the top half of the first round unlimited time to make their first round picks, that's a much bigger deal than taking a way a few hours to deal a pick.

No, but a rolling system would be fair. A round by round system would be unfair. As it is,, neither poses enough of an advantage over the current system to be worth the extra time.

Yankees · Post by **Yankees** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:56 pm

If we can just transfer the 24 hour clock through the trade, why can't we just trade picks up until the finish of the pick? If you're going to risk trading a pick with 3 hours on the clock, and it needs to pass the TRC, then you've essentially only screwed yourself.

Tigers · Post by **Tigers** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:26 pm

Nationals wrote:If we can just transfer the 24 hour clock through the trade, why can't we just trade picks up until the finish of the pick? If you're going to risk trading a pick with 3 hours on the clock, and it needs to pass the TRC, then you've essentially only screwed yourself.

I believe that gets back to the reason we originally stopped allowing trades during the draft.

GM's ended up essentially marketing their pick during their entire 24 hour allowed time slot and when they couldn't get a deal done they'd just make the pick they were planning on making originally at the 23rd hr. It ended up making the draft drag on unnecessarily long. If we allow the 24 hr clock to reset as a trade is done, then picks could theoretically end up taking up to 48 hours. That's when you end up with a draft taking 4 months to complete and I don't think anyone wants to go back to that.

Being able to trade picks during the draft did add a nice added bit of excitement; however, I believe the problem with it dragging out the picks to extended periods of time is a problem that would have to be addressed before we could go back to allowing it.

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:44 pm

Mariners wrote:
Nationals wrote:If we can just transfer the 24 hour clock through the trade, why can't we just trade picks up until the finish of the pick? If you're going to risk trading a pick with 3 hours on the clock, and it needs to pass the TRC, then you've essentially only screwed yourself.

I believe that gets back to the reason we originally stopped allowing trades during the draft.

GM's ended up essentially marketing their pick during their entire 24 hour allowed time slot and when they couldn't get a deal done they'd just make the pick they were planning on making originally at the 23rd hr. It ended up making the draft drag on unnecessarily long. If we allow the 24 hr clock to reset as a trade is done, then picks could theoretically end up taking up to 48 hours. That's when you end up with a draft taking 4 months to complete and I don't think anyone wants to go back to that.

Being able to trade picks during the draft did add a nice added bit of excitement; however, I believe the problem with it dragging out the picks to extended periods of time is a problem that would have to be addressed before we could go back to allowing it.

Yup. What we've got now works really well. We've tried other methods and this has worked the best. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.