Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

If I didn't experience this a couple of times a week I truly wouldn't believe if anyone said "the bigger the player pool gets the less I get from my draft card"....How...and I'm sincerely asking is this possible? Is this community from the best players (owners) to the worst, from the most experienced to the newbies, all of the same mind?????...Is there a crystal clear perfect 25 that end up on most draft cards.

nevdully's wrote:If I didn't experience this a couple of times a week I truly wouldn't believe if anyone said "the bigger the player pool gets the less I get from my draft card"....How...and I'm sincerely asking is this possible? Is this community from the best players (owners) to the worst, from the most experienced to the newbies, all of the same mind?????...Is there a crystal clear perfect 25 that end up on most draft cards.

Not sure how others are doing Nev, but in my last 7 leagues I got 20, 24, 23, 23, 21, 24, and 22 off my draft card!!!!

HOLY CRAP!

Hi Nev,

We're in the same 250M league, and I had the same sense of shock when I looked at my draft results--I had missed so many players I drafted! For the record, I missed 12 of the players I drafted, including my #1 pick. Interestingly, you're waivers pick is 7th and I'm drafting 4th so some drafting ahead of us may feel they did even worse in their drafts.

I think that in high salary cap leagues what happens is a drastic compression--in practical terms--of the the size of the player pool. Shano Collins and other economy specials aren't going to cut it in a 200M or 250M league. One needs big stars, and everyone knows who those big stars are.

At this level, a manager can afford to have Bonds, Dimaggio, and Ruth in the same outfield, Teddy Ballgame at DH, Gibson at C, and a platoon Brett and Dick Allen at 3B. The cost of these players isn't the issue. Their availability in the draft is the issue. So it's natural to miss a high percentage of players in the draft.

OTOH, in a 60M league or 80M league, cash is comparatively short but there's a huge pool of cheap-to-mid-priced labor to choose from, so a manager is likely to get a much higher percentage of his picks. I guess the moral is that managers who play in high-cap leagues will likely miss a lot of their draft choices, while managers who play in lower-cap leagues are probably going to get a higher percentage of their picks.

StratfanSkip, what kind of caps to you tend to play?

OL

I too am in that league and got 14/15 position players but got killed on the pitching getting just Baldwin, Gagne,
Sutter and Haddix. Didn't even list a 10M+ pitcher on the draft card and still got so little.

But that may still be enough.

I think in the upper cap leagues no matter how many cards are added there is still going to be a relatively easy to identify top 250 cards. Names may change slightly as cards are added but still someone will be among that elite number. So the only thing that really changes is what the names are that we are all fighting for. We are all going for basically the same set of cards using slightly different strategies That is essentially just a different way of saying what outta leftfield said.

And to echo him at lower caps the pool of desirable cards increases and combine that with reality everyone can only afford a limited number of superstars there is less competition for them. Thus the few you choose to go after are easier to get because there are going to be fewer people after that same superstar. I once got all 25 of the cards I went after in a 60 mil league.

I think it is easier for someone who plays a lot to do well in lower caps because with more to work with there is more for you to leverage your experience with. High volume managers will more quickly recognize finer granularities of value verses salary than us low volume mangers. Value is defined more by what you can get from a card for the price at lower caps than higher caps. But much of that advantage is lost at higher caps, especially as the pool grows because it becomes more about just being able to eyeball the cards and pick whatever cards are obviously best. You can afford anyone so it is more about obtaining the best cards with less concern about what that is costing you.

In the immortal words of "The Dude": "Bummer". And yeah, I got hosed in a few of my last leagues - different caps from 60 - 120 mil. Seems to happen more the higher the cap.

-The Sheik

Bigger pool means you can take a chance and draft the biggest names knowing if you miss out there are lots of other tat can be used. When the pool is small you need to think abut your card more to maximize your draft.

Good point YF

Outta Leftfield wrote:Hi Nev,

We're in the same 250M league, and I had the same sense of shock when I looked at my draft results--I had missed so many players I drafted! For the record, I missed 12 of the players I drafted, including my #1 pick. Interestingly, you're waivers pick is 7th and I'm drafting 4th so some drafting ahead of us may feel they did even worse in their drafts.

I think that in high salary cap leagues what happens is a drastic compression--in practical terms--of the the size of the player pool. Shano Collins and other economy specials aren't going to cut it in a 200M or 250M league. One needs big stars, and everyone knows who those big stars are.

At this level, a manager can afford to have Bonds, Dimaggio, and Ruth in the same outfield, Teddy Ballgame at DH, Gibson at C, and a platoon Brett and Dick Allen at 3B. The cost of these players isn't the issue. Their availability in the draft is the issue. So it's natural to miss a high percentage of players in the draft.

OTOH, in a 60M league or 80M league, cash is comparatively short but there's a huge pool of cheap-to-mid-priced labor to choose from, so a manager is likely to get a much higher percentage of his picks. I guess the moral is that managers who play in high-cap leagues will likely miss a lot of their draft choices, while managers who play in lower-cap leagues are probably going to get a higher percentage of their picks.

StratfanSkip, what kind of caps to you tend to play?

OL

OL.......primarily play 60, 80, 100 cap leagues. 2 of my current 10 are 120m. In my most recent 120 league I got 23/25, losing picks 3 and 25.
I have pretty much stopped playing above $125, and absolutely will never do 200 again. Some of us are more successful at the lower caps, and some at the higher caps I guess!