auction dates - better to be early or late?

[bryanbutler]

To be honest, I've never fully understood why we make such a distinction between players when we draft. I'm in more than one league in which you can draft anyone in the NL, even minor leaguers. People throw their hands up and scream ANARCHY! and imagine owners stocking up unimaginable talent. Truth is, it doesn't happen this way. Sure, maybe once in a while, but WAY less than the times when you KNOW a player is coming up this year and you want to take a chance on him in the draft. 99% of the time this stuff works itself out. For example a rebuilder trying to stock minor leaguers last year i the NL would have grabbed Arenado, Wong, Tavarez, Rendon, and a couple of other guys who never got a sniff. It was all wasted, because now their contracts are a year older and by the time any of them are worth anything, they will be expired. Even a guy like Trout or Harper would have been bid up to at least $10 or so.

I just think the hassle and handwringing we do to insure such-and-such a player is on the 25-man or the 40-man or the minors is just mostly wasted energy.

ANARCHY!

but, more seriously, i agree mostly. though there are benefits to having a structure - like we try to encourage folks to actively participate throughout the year by rewarding the top team out of the money with the first dev squad draft pick. often the top few picks are head-and-shoulders above the rest, so it can matter for them.

[BigJonEmpire]

To be honest, I've never fully understood why we make such a distinction between players when we draft. I'm in more than one league in which you can draft anyone in the NL, even minor leaguers. People throw their hands up and scream ANARCHY! and imagine owners stocking up unimaginable talent. Truth is, it doesn't happen this way. Sure, maybe once in a while, but WAY less than the times when you KNOW a player is coming up this year and you want to take a chance on him in the draft. 99% of the time this stuff works itself out. For example a rebuilder trying to stock minor leaguers last year i the NL would have grabbed Arenado, Wong, Tavarez, Rendon, and a couple of other guys who never got a sniff. It was all wasted, because now their contracts are a year older and by the time any of them are worth anything, they will be expired. Even a guy like Trout or Harper would have been bid up to at least $10 or so.

I just think the hassle and handwringing we do to insure such-and-such a player is on the 25-man or the 40-man or the minors is just mostly wasted energy.

When you have a minor league system you would prefer that owners not be able to do an end around the minor league draft. That's the main reason to stick to 250-man rosters. Our league usually votes before the draft on players that may be borderline as to whether they are eligible or not.

[Erik]

To be honest, I've never fully understood why we make such a distinction between players when we draft. I'm in more than one league in which you can draft anyone in the NL, even minor leaguers. People throw their hands up and scream ANARCHY! and imagine owners stocking up unimaginable talent. Truth is, it doesn't happen this way. Sure, maybe once in a while, but WAY less than the times when you KNOW a player is coming up this year and you want to take a chance on him in the draft. 99% of the time this stuff works itself out. For example a rebuilder trying to stock minor leaguers last year i the NL would have grabbed Arenado, Wong, Tavarez, Rendon, and a couple of other guys who never got a sniff. It was all wasted, because now their contracts are a year older and by the time any of them are worth anything, they will be expired. Even a guy like Trout or Harper would have been bid up to at least $10 or so.

I just think the hassle and handwringing we do to insure such-and-such a player is on the 25-man or the 40-man or the minors is just mostly wasted energy.

Agreed. In my main league, we have a bench that is drafted as part of the auction, and you can have whatever mix of major leaguers and minor leaguers that you want on it. Now, we only have 6 keepers per team, so that's a disincentive to stockpile too many minor leaguers unless you're out of contention.

[Judge Jude]

We allow owners to pick anyone they want - but if they don't wind up making the opening day roster, you lose all rights to the player and you have to pick a replacement who will be 10 units. That protects the farm systems. We usually draft the morning of the first game, so there are maybe 2-3 players who have to be replaced.

Of course Easter is opening day this year (March 31), so we will draft Sat, April 6. The advantage there vs a day later is with most teams opening on Monday, virtually no SPs will get two starts before our auction. If you wait til Sunday, some pitchers presumably will go Mon/Sat, and that's more info than we'd like to have before the auction. Stinks if you like a guy as a sleeper SP, and he starts of 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA before the bidding even begins. That's different than just one nice start, which may not move many needles....

[The Dane]

When you have a minor league system you would prefer that owners not be able to do an end around the minor league draft. That's the main reason to stick to 250-man rosters. Our league usually votes before the draft on players that may be borderline as to whether they are eligible or not.

Yeah, I understand the reason, I'm just saying it doesn't matter. I'm in two NL-only leagues that have ML drafts (after the auction) but allow the drafting of MLers in the auction. There is not anarchy and there is no team mercilessly stockpiling all the talent (effectively). The harms that this structure is in place to prevent are not really harms at all. It really isn't that much different than my leagues that have no such structure, except that at draft, we don't have to memorize MLB 25-man rosters and worry about where a player is officially.

[BigJonEmpire]

Of course Easter is opening day this year (March 31), so we will draft Sat, April 6. The advantage there vs a day later is with most teams opening on Monday, virtually no SPs will get two starts before our auction. If you wait til Sunday, some pitchers presumably will go Mon/Sat, and that's more info than we'd like to have before the auction. Stinks if you like a guy as a sleeper SP, and he starts of 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA before the bidding even begins. That's different than just one nice start, which may not move many needles....

This is what I hate most about the late draft, it gives too many owners a short cut to players that start hot.

[bryanbutler]

This is what I hate most about the late draft, it gives too many owners a short cut to players that start hot.

^this.

though there is always the chance of the Tuffy Rhodes Effect pushing things the other way...

[Mithrandir]

Drafting after the season begins sucks. Part of the draft strategy is picking/paying for players that you hope will even have a starting gig.

[qatman]

One to two weeks before is typically when most of my leagues have historically drafted. My newest league does a slow auction which this year starts on February 25. That to me is way too early - the slow auction typically ends at least two weeks before the season starts. As several people have mentioned however it puts a premium on knowing (or guessing) who will play.

We have a 7-man bench drafted after the auction, for which everyone on an AL roster or under contract to an AL team is eligible. Last year Pettitte signed right before the reserve draft started so the #1 pick got a free bonus there.

[KnuckleBalls]

Be thankful you can all agree on two dates. We can't agree on one. Uncertainty about player situations is what makes the game great.