Why aren't waiver claims filled in a snake order?

Isn't that the way the teams are drafted?

Isn't that the way the teams are drafted?

I don't think the auto draft is serpentine, but it may be.

The autodraft is not serpentine.

If two managers draft the same player in the same round, it's random who gets him.

Waivers should not be serpentine. It's a way to mitigate a bad draft. Teams that didn't do well in the autodraft get a higher position with waivers. Also, autodraft picks are weighted, so it matters more if you did or didn't get your higher picks more than your lower picks.

To put it another way, waivers are not serpentine for the same reason the NFL draft is not serpentine. There is a reason one team is drafting/picking ahead of another.

The auto draft is not serpentine. every first pick is drafted together. then every second pick, etc...

It is possible in the auto draft when 2 people have identical drafts for one to get 25 players and the other 0 (but very unlikely).

If two or more people draft someone in the same position, one gets that player randomly, the other person gets the next highest priced person of that same position that no one has drafted in the entire draft.

Some examples:

A and B draft Brett first. C drafts Boggs fifth. D drafts Schmidt 25th. E drafts Boggs 6th. One of A, B randomly gets Brett. The other gets Molitor-the next higherst priced 3B NOT drafted. C gets Boggs. E gets Madlock-the next highest 3B NOT drafted or given to someone who picked a 3B and lost higher in the draft. D gets Schmidt.

A, B and C draft Brett first. D drafts Schmidt 25th. E drafts Brett 2nd. One of A,B and C randomly gets Brett. Another randomly gets Boggs, the last Molitor. E gets Madlock. D gets Schmidt.

A and B draft Boggs first. C drafts Schmisdt 10th. D drafts Schmidt 25th. E drafts Boggs 15th One of A or B randomly gets Boggs. The other gets Molitor. C gets Schmidt. E gets Madlock. D gets Bell. Brett is on waivers. Note that even though D drafted a higher priced person than A/B/E, he gets a lower priced 3B than the A/B random loser and E because the A/B random loser and E drafted a 3B higher in the draft and there is no one less expensive than D's pick that is more expensive than A/B/Es pick.

No matter what happens, the above has no bearing on any other pick if A, B, C and D all draft Guerrero 2nd. any one can randomly get him.

This leads to alot weird quirks - like drafting Schmidt and getting Bell with Brett on waivers, gor drafting Yount and getting a CF when you wanted a SS, but that is part of the fun. This is also why it is more likely to find Winfield, Henderson or Mattingly on waivers than Gwynn, Guerrero or Clark.

Another way of saying the above- If you don't draft Brett or Schmidt (or similar player) first, you might as well draft them 20th. Also, dont bet on getting Boggs or Molitor if you draft them lower than 3rd. I would guesstimate that out of 12 drafters, 8 of them are drafting those 4 (5 if you count Guerrero). Not unusual for Gary Gaetti to be the highest priced 3B on waivers and I really dont think there are that many people intentionally drafting Bell, Decincess, Wallach, Horner and Bonilla (although one or two of those are decent safe picks).

For SPs, I think that if you miss an SP*, you get the next highest SP*, SP/RP or SP. But if you miss an SP/RP you get the next highest SP/RP.

This leads to getting Ryan if you miss Clemens and getting Deleon if you miss Hersheiser (even though there are a ton of pitchers between Hersheiser and Deleon).