what wins at $200mil?

Very generous to share so much info - thank you

- scott

Thanks Morpheus for the post. I think I have to spend a lot more time considering my draft card than I did for this one.

And you guys are right about trades. There have been a flury of offers thus far, although I haven't accepted any. Nev made a couple of fair and tempting offers, but I ultimately regected them because one was for Bonds, who I can't see giving up in any circumstance, and the other...I just didn't think the pitcher he offered fit my park. I still wonder if I should have taken both of those.

But some of the other offers...wow. I'm a $200 mil novice, but I kept wondering "Why in the world would I do this?" Are seemingly lopsided trade offers a staple of these leagues? Because it seems like I've gotten a lot.

On the other hand, I've made a few offers that I thought were fair, but the guy on the other end was probably wondering why some idiot was offering dumb trades

Sometimes what is fair is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes a trade can be unbalanced on money but because it fills a need of both teams is still beneficial and fair. Sometimes the money is even but the value of the cards relative to the parks or whatever is not.

Then again you will get your share of what I call fantasy baseball trades where one guy is trying to take advantage of another. That is what the decline button is for.

But if you do not respond with rudeness even these can be helpful because the other manager is sending you a message you have something that interests him. Sometimes the other guy is not just trying to rip you off, just trying to get the best deal. We all do that. You walk in to a car lot you going to pay $30,000 for a car if you can get it for $20,000? If you own the car lot wouldn't you want $30,000 instead of $20,000 if you could get it? So the lot owner is going to put $30,000 on the sticker price. And you are going to offer $20,000. And probably negotiate until you arrive at something mutually agreeable in the middle. Sometimes trade negotiations go like that. So if someone sends an offer you think is unfair decline and if you would be willing to part with what he asks for make a counter offer. Tell him you have no interest in what he offered but might be willing to accept something else and either ask for a list of cards he considers expendable or give a list of his cards you would have interest in.

Even if nothing gets done an exchange of thoughts about the cards gives you insight in to how others think about certain cards.

I agree with that Valen. I don't think anyone is/was trying to pull a fast one on me. It's more that I'm looking at myself and wondering what I'm missing. I look at trade offers and realize that other managers are seeing flaws in my team that I'm not necessarily seeing so I'm full of doubt, and I've pretty much chalked up this season as a "painful learning experience."

And I think I have a lot of "fantasy baseball trade" in my own outlook. I'm afraid to pull the trigger on someone elses offer because I'm afraid I'm getting taken. And the offers I'm making are probably unreasonable but I've convinced myself they make sense.

So yeah...I'm "that guy" now

Would take an awfully lot to trade Bonds or Ruth or Josh Gibson or the other very high end players at 200 mill......won't say never but would be close to it without getting one of the others in return.

I agree even at 200 mil tough to make trades involving the highly elite players. Many I have found who will trade good to get good. Few there are who will trade elite to get elite. That is partly because if you have one of those it is probably because you drafted them high and built your team around that player. I have received many an offer over the years for those level players but rarely fair value even when I was willing to part with one.

But generally in 200 mil I can work 3 to 6 trades involving second tier stars who help fill a need.

I love playing in 200M leagues. The only frustrating part is that some managers still try to offer volume for quality -i.e. 2-3 2nd tier players who they often end up cutting anyway in exchange for a stud. That aside, though, the flurry of trade activity post draft always make these a blast.

When I draft SPs, I tend to pick 2-3 at their highest value, and the rest at their lower value card. That way, I'll be in line for some of the higher priced scraps that have at least a chance at success. I often add one nickel player to the card to spread more cash among the remaining 24 slots. However, that does not work with Hugh Duffy because in most leagues 7-10 managers do the same thing.

I'm going to play more $200mil leagues. It is a good time, and I have to redeem myself for the inevitable suck-job that I'm about to pull off starting monday.

My initial draft strategy was to take 5 minutes to fit 25 star players at their cheapest card with no real plan in a stadium that I'm unfamiliar with. I can't believe it's not working out!

I was recently thinking more along the lines of Treyomo. I want to figure out how many high priced card ($10m and up) to put on the card before I start drafting cheaper card who would have worse replacements. I keep coming up with about 7 before the top of the pool runs dry and you are replacing Jeff Bagwell with Cap Anson. That sound about right?

I also figured that it wouldn't hurt to have 2-3 500K players at the bottom of the card if that's what it takes to get some better players/replacements on the card.

I'm just not sure where the law of diminishing returns kicks in on both ends.

Todays Draft and analysis
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/822674
My Draft cards and results
• 1.Mantle, Mickey (1956) (CF) - 13.97M
• 2.Thomas, Frank (1994) (1B) - 11.44M = J.Giambi 9.51
• 3.Williams, Ted (1941) (LF,RF) - 11.83M
• 4.McGwire, Mark (1998) (1B) - 11.09M = J.Clark 9.18
• 5.Jones, Chipper (1999) (3B,SS) - 9.71M
• 6.Hoffman, Trevor (1996) (P) - 5.62M = B.Sutter 5.53
• 7.Brown, Three Finger (1908) (P) - 10.39M
• 8.Hartnett, Gabby (1934) (C) - 5.21M = W.Schang = 4.92
• 9.Gonzalez, Juan (1992) (CF,LF) - 3.45M
• 10.Wagner, Billy (1999) (P) - 5.78M = B.Sutter 5.53
• 11.Wells, Willie (NeL) (SS) - 10.03M
• 12.Franco, John (1990) (P) - 1.35M
• 13.Bender, Chief (1910) (P) - 9.64M = C. Young 9.52
• 14.Taylor, Jack (1902) (P) - 9.18M
• 15.Maris, Roger (1961) (RF,CF,LF) - 9.52M = J.Canseco 8.34
• 16.Hubbell, Carl (1933) (P) - 9.26M
• 17.Sandberg, Ryne (1990) (2B) - 8.35M = J.Robinson 7.69
• 18.Gibson, Josh (NeL) (C,LF,1B,RF) - 13.69M = D.Dietz 7.29
• 19.Duffy, Hugh (1901) (CF,RF,LF) - .90M
• 20.Camnitz, Howie (1912) (P) - 6.02M = T.Virgil 5.99
• 21.Jackson, Reggie (1982) (RF) - 3.79M
• 22.Chance, Dean (1967) (P) - 6.83M
• 23.Keefe, Tim (1889) (P) - 8.71M = J.McGinnity 8.71
• 24.Morgan, Joe (1974) (2B) - 9.26M
• 25.Winfield, Dave (1986) (RF,CF,3B) - 4.48M

This was a very lucky draft for me .. lost Thomas at two and and McGwire at 4 which I would normally get.
Duffy at 19, Jackson at 21 and Morgan at 24 absolutely turned this from a poor draft to a very successful one. Duffy was truly a whim because I was running out of cash so took a flyer at .90 .. FWIW I am 6th in waivers.

I am posting because the draft and preseason is by far the most fun for me .. I do not draft the same nor play enough to worry about letting my strategies out .. and I believe in VII the pool is deep enough that if you set up draft card correctly you can still compete even when you miss many of your picks.