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During the waiver period if my number 1 pick is unavailable do I get my 2nd pick or do I go to the back of the line?

You get your number 2 pick, given that you have enough money and it meets the roster constraints for your team. Although I'm a newbie, I've already found that it is important to go through your waiver picks and make sure that you meet the cash/roster constraints for each pick. If you don't meet those two criteria you will lose the pick for that round. I've been surprised at the number of managers who lose a waiver pick because they didn't make sure that they had the cash available.

Good luck with it.
Mark (dharmabums)

dharma, you're right that some managers screw up on waivers ... but sometimes it's deliberate. If you think one of your higher picks might get taken before your turn, you can put an "alternative" player (so to speak) lower in your waiver claims who will get picked up as a result of saving the money on the higher pick; meaning that if you DO get the higher pick, you lose the lower pick for lack of cash. Example: on my newest team (2007/06), I had Cameron as #1, but 2 other teams needed CF, so I thought I might not get him. I needed SP, so I put an extra SP at pick #4 or #5 (with two others above him), knowing that if Cameron fell through, I'd have some maneuvering room with my pitching, but if I got Cameron, I'd only lose a low-priced SP.

Similarly, you can ask to "drop" the SAME player twice if you think one of your higher picks will be grabbed by someone else -- if you save money by not getting the higher pick, it doesn't matter that you don't have the lower dropped player "twice"; and if you get the higher player but lose the higher-pick of the lower players, the other one could go through because you still have the "twice" dropped player listed (and if you get the higher of the two, you lose the lower because "not enough cash," which looks like you screwed up but you didn't).

That's more complicated to decribe than it is to do, but the point is: sometimes, "not enough cash" is something you take for granted depending on how waivers are claimed by other teams.

I was wondering about that, because I've seen what I thought were experienced managers not getting a waiver pick because of the cash issue. I've been trying to plot out the waivers so that even if I don't get the pick I want, that I will get my next waiver pick. And, if I do get my waiver pick, I will still get the next one.

But I see your logic and will try applying it in my next waiver picks. Thanks.