Thoughts on this trade?

I've done exactly two 200m autodraft leagues. The only reason why I did the second one was so much time had passed since the first one that I forgot what a ridiculous experience it was.

200m autodraft is like flushing money to me.

200m autodraft is like flushing money to me

agreed.

In theory, you'd think a huge amount of cash to spend on a team with great players at every position would be great. But in practice, 200M autodraft unfairly punishes those that were unlucky in the draft. Winning isn't about building a team suited to your ballpark, roster management and managerial skill, it ultimately comes down to draft strategy and dumb luck. The fortunate drafters have an unbeatable advantage over the unfortunate ones.

It's not worth the price of admission to take that risk.

Not sure what people are afraid of. Draft strategy and team building after a not so great draft are very good tests of managerial skill. My last 24 200mil teams average out to 89-73 win/loss record. Can't all be a lucky draft with a 24 team sample. What are there, about 4000 players to choose from? Not all leagues are going to be easy street. Sure you get the occasional lopsided trade but that happens at other caps also. I really don't get why some normally very good managers are intimidated by testing their team building skills at the highest level. It takes more than drafting guys like Ruth, Bonds, Maddux and Josh Gibson and then whining when you miss on them. You need to get a little creative and figure out what guys you can win with that are still top ten players at their position.

Not sure why people who don't like 200m caps are being characterized perjoratively as "afraid, intimidated, and whining," because we don't happen to share Badjam's view of 200M leagues. I am thrilled beyond measure that Badjam averages 89 wins over his last 24 200M teams which he cites as an example of his skill at overcoming unlucky drafts at, of course, "the highest level." I very much doubt that his last 24 teams at live drafts were as successful, but whatever.

Then we have the coruscating observation "what are there, about 4000 players to chose from." I'm not quite able to discern what the point of that comment is in the context of lucky or unlucky 200M drafts, but whatever. Let's take a closer look at the implications of the size of the draft pool as a function of cap. One thing that stands out at 200M cap drafts is that after the autodraft, at least in this league, there were no hitters available over 8M dollars. My argument is that 200M leagues truncate the effective size of the player pool significantly more than at any other cap. So unlucky drafts do have a bigger impact than at other caps; scarcity of effective talent plays a much bigger role. I agree with the argument that one needs to be creative at overcoming unfavorable drafts and that is where trading comes in. 200M leagues are all about trading. My experience with 200M caps has been that there are many more lopsided trades at this cap than at any other level. And because there are much fewer viable players who belong on a 200M roster, one or two lopsided trades can unbalance a league. They certainly did in this league. My point is that lopsided trades may also occur at lower caps but there is invariably lots of high priced talent available to counter such moves. Just isn't the case at 200M as all the higher priced guys are taken.

I simply choose to no longer be at the mercy of questionable deals that can destroy the competitive balance of a league. This problem just doesn't infect lower caps to the same degree as at 200M. For my part, I can't wait to test Badjam's skill at live drafts once they become available again. Hopefully he isn't afraid, intimidated or resorts to whining at that prospect where one is able to determine one's fate with the draft itself and where I have seen very few really egregious deals.

I'm not "afraid" of $200 million leagues, I've been in at least a half-dozen, realized it wasn't my cup of tea for the reasons stated above, and I've concluded it's best for me to avoid them and concentrate primarily on $80M and $100M 12-team leagues, which are more popular and fill quicker.

The whining that I was referring to were mainly from league e-mails after auto drafts. I only added in my win/loss record to show that consistantly building good teams is possible despite some people saying how much 200mil sucks. It is a different challenge and probably out of many peoples comfort zone.

The term afraid was not a well thought out term trying to describe people that are reluctant to pursue the type of challenge 200mil presents. I think it might be the highest auto draft challenge but 60mil is pretty hard also. I just get more satisfaction out of loaded lineups as opposed to having a battle of who has the best nickle scrubs at 60mil.

My point about the amount of players available was that most of the time you can find a useable platoon with guys under 8mil that can fill weak spots on your team.

I agree live drafts are the best challenge and for the record, my last 27 live draft teams only averaged 84.55 wins. I must of got under your skin a bit because if you remember correctly, I have never been one to avoid live drafts. Can't wait for them to be available again. If they provide those stats at some point, it will probably show that I am in the top five or so of number of live leagues played in ATG6. Also I remember that live drafts can be competitively unbalanced with some guys taking Ted Williams number one overall and Yogi Berra in round three but that is rare.

I think the question of $200 mill fairness is not black and white. Its not a complete
loss for all the time, but maybe 1-4 teams come out of any given autodraft are at severe
and even unsurmountable disadvantages even before waivers and trades. And for someone
with DonFESQ's expectations, this is pretty much a worthless format. But if you can live
with 20% of your teams being total write offs, its "tolerable." Without the LIVE drafts,
its a weak substitute for playing the "biggest-star" version of the ATG, but it keeps
us playing.

Another drawback of the $200 mill format is you find yourself picking defensively with
your highest priority pick (I have discussed this with other managers, so I know I am not
the only one doing this). Too keep from having a truely awful draft, you get really conservative
with pick #1. This limits the variety of strategies you can employ in drafting and kind of makes
the draft more repeatitive and more boring after fewer teams.

IMHO, If the autodraft could be tweaked to guarentee a better highest pick (i.e., better compensation
if you miss on your first pick), it would make the leagues more competitive and interesting.
Having alternative 1st picks, or having 1st pick compesnation that is position independent,
or just moving all your picks up when you miss one (i.e., when you miss a pick, it drops to 25
and your #2 pick becomes your #1 pick, #3 becomes #2, etc.). Aside from the details, I do
think its fair to say that the autodraft system is least fair when at the $200 mill level.

In defense of Badjam, I always found him to be a tough competitor. I like to see at
least half my teams face as tough of competition as I can find, and divisions with
Badjam are tough. Now if you can only find one manager, DonFESQ or Petro/Druid
would be tougher. But Badjam has different managerial strategies and IMHO
a division with Badjam and either Petro or Don is much tougher than a division with
Petro and Don as you are likely to have a more diverse set of strategies and it will
be more difficult to matchup against. It just an opinion, so I would hope you don't
over react to that.

Interesting post. Nothing to overreact to. I'm not entirely sure about the diverse strategies at 200M but, regardless, Badjam is undoubtedly better at 200M than me. But, at any other cap, I don't think it's remotely close. BTW I assume you changed your name, as I did, when the site migrated. Who were you before you became stitches?

BTW I assume you changed your name, as I did, when the site migrated. Who were you before you became stitches?

River Field View.

In the real world, Rick. But there are a lot of Rick's in strat. Also, there was no option
to change the real name during the migration. Oversight, I guess.

216 Stitches, could you be more specific about what you mean by "picking defensively" with the first pick? Maybe an example?