NL Round-Robin :: Season 12

Hmm ... on second thought -- will the weak Padres mean that the other West teams will have an unfair advantage every time in terms of the wild card? Maybe not, because the division is weaker to begin with and will get beat up by the other divisions. But maybe that's something to consider.

The manager rotation from team to team will be a steady progression down the original ladder, The divisions will change, however, from season to season, based on lottery numbers per manager.

I think we should stick to the rules that were established when the league was set up. So no AL cards used in the NL and vice versa. We'll all have to suffer through the Padres; it will be an interesting challenge to see if any of us can get close to .500.

Sticking to the original rules still makes sense to me, even though some teams may be consistently bad. We each have a shot at each of the teams, once over the 12-season arc. Perhaps we should have a special prize for each manager who has the best record for a particular franchise?

when I signed up, I was all excited about building an all time cubs team, and then taking a shot at reds, pirates dodgers etc. what is the point of having someone invest the money and sit around for seven weeks getting his brains beat in just to see which of us can break the 50 win barrier? "hey, you only won 41 games with the Padres, I won 49!" and even considering putting the expansion teams in any division other than which each other is lunacy. tc, you know Im good for long hauls, and finishing at the bottom and building, but this seems like a waste of money, and a long wait to try and field a competitive team. if we can't figure an equitable way to get the expansion teams at least a shot at .500, it's not worth the money to me.

Would this be a solution? Maybe assign a few cards to the Padres/Rockies team ... guys who played for them, like Kevin Mitchell, Dale Murphy, and Brian Giles. The Giants already have Matt Williams and Lindstrom, the Braves have Hugh Duffy, the Pirates have Kiner. Throw in first dibs on whatever 2B is left on the waiver wire after the other teams have drafted -- there are sure to be plenty of respectable ones available. That would give the team 1B Helton, 3B Mitchell, LF Giles, CF Murphy, RF Walker/Gwynn/Winfield, plus Santiago and Templeton. Probably not a world beater, but it should be competitive with teams in the West.

I haven't looked to see what pitchers played for those franchises, but maybe another SP or two could be assigned. Right now it's just Randy Jones and Dave Roberts -- pretty mediocre. Hoffman, Gossage, Lefferts, M. Davis, G. Harris gives them plenty of decent pen choices already.

The thing is, all of the cards I mentioned are likely to be available anyway. The older franchises are very deep, and they can't use everyone. That's what makes this league interesting -- finding the nuggets leftover that you can use, because they're definitely out there.

And also, I think we have to recognize that in a league like this, .500 isn't going to be a realistic goal every time. It will be more about comparing how we do when we get stuck with the bad franchises, because it's going to happen to all of us.

As expected, the expansion clubs have fewer players carded to them than the older franchises.

Looking at the numbers, it looks like the Mets and Astros will be okay:
NYM/MIL: 38 pitchers + 51 hitters = 89
HOU/ARI: 42 pitchers + 44 hitters = 86

The other two squads are certainly thinner:
MON-WAS/FLA-MIA: 25 pitchers + 35 hitters = 60
SD/COL: 29 pitchers + 33 hitters = 62

And it's actually worse than that, since 10 Expos and 11 Padres are multiple years of other carded players, leaving:
MON: 50 total
SD: 49 total

Maybe tomwistar is correct that a few players who played for MON or SD but are not carded there should be assigned to them, to make the teams a bit more competitive out of the starting gate?

I'm okay with it, either way. I have the Expos in season 1 and believe I can field a pretty good team even before the waivers period. And although the Padres are weak in carded players, tomwistar is also correct that a wealth of talent will be available to them during the waivers.

Fine-tuning a new theme league is not unusual when it first starts. What do you all think? Shall we adjust a bit or stick with the original rules?

I like bontomn's suggestion of using the entire set, allowing the padres to use Rickey, Fred Lynn, robbie alomar, Nettles and Gaylord Perry . Just amend your team list with the assigned players. This way you are just adding AL cards and not taking away from the other NL franchises.

We would just need to change league to using full set

I agree with Meat that it's counter-productive to be forced to play a season with a team that has no chance of competing, not to mention unfair to the rest of the league as well. Particularly when it's so easy to fix. Eight of our franchises have 130-plus years worth of teams to choose from. Why on earth should we NOT want the Padres to be the best they can? With the exception of Gwynn and Winfield, most of their best players (the ones Andy mentioned, plus a bunch of others--but not Dale Murphy, who never played for them) are carded to other teams.

I think we simply should switch to the regular ATG7 and give ONLY the expansion teams the right to draft AL cards of eligibles who have played for them.

We established the $100 million cap to prevent the well-heeled teams like the Yankees from putting together unbeatable squads. So why prevent four franchises from putting together teams they rightfully are entitled to?

I agree no dale murhphy, or anyone who never played for them, problem is since they started in 69 or later, not many played for them. if we go to full ATG7, and find some eligible players to fill them out, I'll go, gotta find some pitching too. love the concept, just doesnt work for 12 teams, and regretfully, I'd have to bow out for a 12 season x 25 dollar commitment. better to replace me now than later. sorry...but in a way Im glad I got the padres first, otherwise never would have known this issue existed.

I think we simply should switch to the regular ATG7 and give ONLY the expansion teams the right to draft AL cards of eligibles who have played for them.

I agree this could work. Are there enough guys to make the Padres competitive?

Or should we split a team like the Dodgers -- say, a Brooklyn team and a Los Angeles team -- and then combine the Expos and the Padres, the two weakest expansion squads, for team #12?

No don't split.other squads. Like i said the padres could have Fred Lynn, alomar, Rickey Henderson, Nettles and be assigned