by calbatross » Sat Sep 03, 2011 6:17 pm
rburgh, I can't believe that this situation is that hard to understand. I'll try to explain it with a more detailed example.
Let's assume a draft order of you, me, Ted. Our proxies are loaded up as follows:
You:
1. Verlander
2: Pedroia
Me:
1. Verlander
2. Cano
3. McCutcheon
Ted:
1. Verlander
2. Cano
3. Pujols
Since we all have proxies loaded and turned on, the draft choices are as follows:
You: Verlander
Me: Cano
Ted: Pujols
But... after you see who you got, you determine that you made some sort of mistake and didn't actually want Verlander, so you request a drop, which is approved.
I have Cano, Ted has Pujols, but either one of us preferred a chance at Verlander. Poor Ted was denied his top TWO choices because of this error. Now Verlander slips past us and neither Ted nor I get a chance to draft a player (or players) who we really wanted most. Once you selected Verlander, Verlander came off of any proxy lists that might have contained him. Diamond Dope doesn't restore Verlander to everyone's proxy lists once your drop is approved. Anyone hoo picks afeter you is at a disadvantage.
In my last league, what happened was that one team owner with admin privileges drafted a player, but then dropped the player (approving the drop himself) and picked up a different player, then dropped that player to pick up yet another player. Each time he did this, the proxy lists of everyone after him were inadvertently, permanently altered to remove any player this guy selected... toward the end of an AL-only draft where the pickings were getting kind of slim, this was huge! The guy didn't fully understand the consequences of his actions.
I don't want to slow the draft down and now that we are rolling you will see I am one of the more conscientious/considerate drafters on here and will help speed things along by messaging others, etc. However, if we allow approved drops, I will refuse to use proxies.
[b:e1caa4be65]Best solution = don't put yourself in a position to make an inadvertent mistake![/b:e1caa4be65] Mistakes involving inadvertently selecting the wrong player seem to only happen when a person is making or modifying proxy lists while their proxies are turned on. [b:e1caa4be65]If y'all turn off proxies, then edit your proxy lists, then turn your proxies back on, you eliminate the risk of your proxy accidentally unexpectedly firing when the draft decides to move along again.[/b:e1caa4be65]
At $20-$25 per team in a 24 team dynasty league, I don't want to waste my money without some kind of protection from irresponsible drafters. Barring some kind of catastrophy, I firmly believe the rule should be that if you draft a player, he is yours. If we don't have a rule like that, that's fine, I won't fight it any more as long as everyone else is ok with it. But, I will not use proxies...and if a player drafting before me drops a player that I would have selected soon after by proxy, I will want a fair shot at that player (but someone would have to explain to me how that would work... one domino can cause exponential proxy list and draft strategy damage).
So, to answer your questions,
1. In the situation that you selected Verlander and then dropped him, I lost the opportunity to draft Verlander. With the restriction, how I have gained is that you have not been allowed to inadvertently dictate my draft due to your irresponsibility.
2. I really have no idea what you are getting at with this question. While I am firm in my feelings on this subject, the commish needs to rule on this. [b:e1caa4be65]What it boils down to simply is that if drops are allowed, I will not use proxies and the draft will take a few more hours/days to complete. If drops are disallowed, I will aggressively use proxies and the draft will move along that much faster. [/b:e1caa4be65]
There is a financial commitment and a significant time commitment to a league like this; all team owners deserve to have as fair and pleasant of an experience as possible. I want to get a decision on this before there is a problem. It would suck for my scenario above to play out in the middle of the draft and to lose someone because they felt f'd over. With 24 teams, that player pool is gonna get mighty thin mighty fast.
Honestly, I am an easy going guy and get along with everyone. But after getting screwed in the last draft, I am still feeling a little stung and want to get a preemptive ruling on player drops during the draft. :D