what wins at $200mil?

Just joined a $200mil league. It's the first time I've played this cap that wasnt a franchise theme league. I have no idea what wins at this cap. When I was putting together the draft card it pretty much seemed like I was throwing a bunch of junk at a wall to see what sticks with no rhyme or reason. And I had no idea how to order the draft because everyone on the dang card should go in the first 3 rounds!

$200 million is weird.

I'm not changing the draft card at this point. I'll just roll with it and see what happens. But I was just fishing for pointers and things to pay attention to. What works? What doesn't? Any advice is appreciated.


BTW - Nev just joined my division. Was happy to see that. Dude's a pushover.

I think most important thing is to have a plan. By that I mean know what you want this team to be. Are you in a righty favoring park? Then your chosen hitters that should excel in that park or your chosen pitchers to excel in that park are most important. List them high. Your top choice should be someone you plan to be the centerpiece of your plan.

Ater that think in terms of how much it would hurt your plans if you do not get a card. How deep is that position? What type of consolation might you expect? You requesting a guy who goes for 11 mil and consolation is likely to be a 6 mil also ran move that card up on your list. But if position is deep so you might get a 9 mil consolation or that position is not important move it lower on your card. For example on many teams who is at first does not matter to me so whomever I choose for that goes low. But if I were building around Foxx at first base then that would probably be first pick.

Most leagues I find if I get 15 or so of my picks doing well. That usually means I am in bottom half of waivers. it also means even when doing a decent job of drafting going to miss on 10 or so picks. Some leagues I can predict my success off how much I like those consolation picks.

Your first 5 picks should reflect what you consider the foundation of your team. After that ....

other people

In a 200m league the most important thing is a good draft that compliments your stratagy [small ball or bomber ball] and your ballpark. I played in many 200m leagues and when my draft goes well I compete,when it dosnt its not pretty. The best part of the 200m leagues are the trades that take place after the draft as most everyone is dissapointed. You say your in a league with NEV. and thats great because he is a fair trader and most always puts together a strong team. Currently in 24 team league with a 200m cap and really like it. I think shakes out better for teams that get hammered in the draft because everone gets hammered in the draft.
Good Luck BILL

Yeah, I've heard that there's more trading at this cap, which is cool.

I usually put together the team I want, down to the penny, before I make a draft card in a lower cap league and then adjust based on who I got and the competition. For example, if I want Maddux in the rotation I try to draft the higher salary card I want, because even if I don't get him his replacement will be nice. But at this cap I figure that doesn't matter because he's going to be replaced by a schlub at a much lower salary anyway.

Luck. Because you never know who you are going to get. Then trade, trade, trade!

But at this cap I figure that doesn't matter because he's going to be replaced by a schlub at a much lower salary anyway.

May be some truth to that. But not entirely true. A lot depends on where you slotted him on your card. When I put him top 3 on my card and miss I almost always get an acceptable consolation. When I put him at the bottom I get a less desirable card but pitching is deep enough in ATG now that the card is often still useable as a bottom of rotation option.

That goes back to what I said about putting the cards that are key to your plan at the very top. Consolations are better at the top and you are less likely forced off your plan. Plan on a starting pitcher strategy though and draft 4 high priced cards but put them at bottom of card you will be forced to change your plan on being a pitching team. Put them at top and maybe your consolations will still allow you to stick to plan.

Not mentioned though is knowing the cards well enough to make the most out of waivers. Most everyone will think they had a bad autodraft. An important skill is recognizing which of your consolations are actually keepers and doing a good job trading those which are good enough to have trade value but maybe do not fit your plan and swapping for something that does. And recognizing the appropriate second tier cards that will be out there in waivers who could help your team the most.

Another word of advice. Use variety in your draft cards. There is not a huge number of people playing 200 mil. So you will see a lot of the same people league after league. Turn in the same draft card every time and it will not be long before people figure you out and you have a draft where you get nobody you want. The guys with 10-20 teams going all the time can usually look at your team and come close to guessing what your ranking was, especially if you use the same set of cards in the same order every time. Sooner or later you will submit a card and basically get nobody you asked for.

Interesting development.

The most valuable player on waivers is Beckwith. It left me wondering how in the world he slipped through and is still available..

My theory: Beckwith is the 3rd most expensive 3B, but the top two have cheaper cards (ARod and Brett). Everyone who tried for Brett or ARod listed their less expensive card, so even those who got replacements still missed on Beckwith. I wonder if this happens a lot? Good future strategy is to list a top 3 card at 3b and you have a better than normal chance of ending up with Beckwith.

OK you asked .. I play almost exclusively at $200 mil so here are some of my opinions.

It is the most isolated set, basically the top 300 players, so you don’t need to study lower priced bargains. Also ballparks are usually more bomber slanted (all I play are big parks or heavily slanted).

Draft a team for your park.
Plan for platoons .. you should have at least 4 or more. In that way you are drafting based on half cards, meaning best first baseman might be Foxx, but that Cash / Hodges can be better than Gehrig.
Even in Minutemaid platoons are important, I believe players like McGwire, Hartnett, Guerrero, Clark and my personal favorite Ron Santo are key as they can platoon and give an advantage against RHP.
Learn from post draft analysis, who were your replacements? What LH hitters are on Minutemaid Teams? What RH are in LH parks. The means they were not listed on anyones card .. such as your Beckwith example .. next draft you may want to list him as 20th or something like that .. understanding he is usually a top 5 pick. Look at players with only one high priced card as potential “flyers” to list lower on your card. Gibson, Beckwith, Wells all come to mind.

A few examples .. my latest team .. and corresponding draft list (note I got Gibson at 15)
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/822191
1. Mantle, Mickey (1956) (CF) - 13.97M
2.Vaughan, Arky (1935) (SS) - 10.20M
3.Morgan, Joe (1976) (2B) - 10.30M
4.Brett, George (1982) (3B,LF) - 6.15M
5.Mathewson, Christy (1909) (P) - 10.55M
6.Hoffman, Trevor (1998) (P) - 5.85M
7.Gonzalez, Juan (1992) (CF,LF) - 3.45M
8.Jones, Chipper (1999) (3B,SS) - 9.71M
9.Allen, Dick (1964) (3B) - 5.29M
10.Dickey, Bill (1937) (C) - 7.77M
11.Cash, Norm (1968) (1B) - 2.67M
12.Chance, Dean (1967) (P) - 6.83M
13.Taylor, Jack (1900) (P) - 6.44M
14.Gibson, Josh (NeL) (C,LF,1B,RF) - 13.69M
15.Maris, Roger (1961) (RF,CF,LF) - 9.52M
16.Stargell, Willie (1972) (1B,LF) - 4.84M
17.Wagner, Billy (1999) (P) - 5.78M
18.Fryman, Woodie (1980) (P) - 4.25M
19.Bonds, Barry (2001) (LF) - 14.54M
20.Bender, Chief (1910) (P) - 9.64M
21.Keefe, Tim (1888) (P) - 9.42M
22.Brown, Three Finger (1906) (P) - 9.44M
23.Kiner, Ralph (1950) (LF) - 6.64M
24.Nathan, Joe (2006) (P) - 4.73M
25.Ramirez, Manny (2000) (RF) - 7.99M

And my only championship team and draft list ..
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/815176
1.Ruth, Babe (1916) (P) - 8.66M
2.Mantle, Mickey (1956) (CF) - 13.97M
3.Morgan, Joe (1976) (2B) - 10.30M
4.Schmidt, Mike (1977) (3B) - 7.92M
5.Adams, Babe (1915) (P) - 6.14M
6.Larkin, Barry (1996) (SS) - 10.88M
7.Wagner, Billy (1999) (P) - 5.78M
8.Bagwell, Jeff (1994) (1B,RF) - 11.60M
9.Thomas, Frank (1994) (1B) - 11.44M
10.Hoffman, Trevor (1998) (P) - 5.85M
11.Tiant, Luis (1976) (P) - 4.17M
12.Allen, Dick (1964) (3B) - 5.29M
13.Wood, Joe (1920) (RF,CF) - .91M
14.Bonds, Barry (2001) (LF) - 14.54M
15.Gibson, Josh (NeL) (C,LF,1B,RF) - 13.69M
16.Vance, Dazzy (1934) (P) - 1.99M
17.Foxx, Jimmie (1932) (1B,3B) - 13.16M
18.Jackson, Reggie (1982) (RF) - 3.79M
19.Thome, Jim (1996) (3B) - 7.91M
20.Brown, Three Finger (1906) (P) - 9.44M
21.Joss, Addie (1906) (P) - 8.93M
22.Piazza, Mike (1997) (C) - 9.93M
23.Alomar, Roberto (1992) (2B) - 7.49M
24.Fryman, Woodie (1980) (P) - 4.25M
25.Miller, Stu (1957) (P) - 1.74M

Finally a Minutemaid team still in progress
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/817600
1.Dimaggio, Joe (1941) (CF) - 11.63M
2.Lajoie, Nap (1901) (2B,SS) - 10.64M
3.Thomas, Frank (1994) (1B) - 11.44M
4.McGwire, Mark (1998) (1B) - 11.09M
5.Larkin, Barry (1996) (SS) - 10.88M
6.Tiant, Luis (1976) (P) - 4.17M
7.Eckersley, Dennis (1990) (P) - 5.34M
8.Hartnett, Gabby (1930) (C) - 8.18M
9.Henderson, Rickey (1982) (LF,CF) - 5.32M
10.Brown, Three Finger (1908) (P) - 10.39M
11.Rodriguez, Alex (2005) (3B,SS) - 10.33M
12.Allen, Dick (1966) (3B,LF) - 7.88M
13.Chance, Dean (1964) (P) - 9.14M
14.Taylor, Jack (1902) (P) - 9.18M
15.Santo, Ron (1970) (3B,LF) - 3.89M
16.Guerrero, Vladimir (2002) (RF) - 9.73M
17.Ramirez, Manny (2000) (RF) - 7.99M
18.Winfield, Dave (1979) (RF,CF) - 8.36M
19.Smith, Dave (1987) (P) - 5.34M
20.Nathan, Joe (2006) (P) - 4.73M
21.Mossi, Don (1954) (P) - 4.72M
22.Medwick, Joe (1934) (LF,RF) - 4.36M
23.Bench, Johnny (1970) (C,1B,3B,LF,CF) - 7.59M
24.Joss, Addie (1908) (P) - 10.19M
25.McLain, Denny (1969) (P) - 6.19M

Hope it gives you some insight .. and encourages you to try another at $200