Drafting Broken

That is great news that SOM is working on a live draft that is compatible with the salary caps! I and others should be excited about this news....

Now to the debate (debate is healthy argument not so much) Geekor is right, the present draft card system is horribly flawed and just downright silly. At least during waivers if you do not get your first pick you do get your second or third pick. The present system needs updating and I agree with the fellows who ask if SOM is interested in evolving and increasing the customer base. I have found Geekor to be borderline rude in the past, but this time I agree with him 100%. Good luck in all your leagues, fellas.

That is great news that SOM is working on a live draft that is compatible with the salary caps! I and others should be excited about this news....

Now to the debate (debate is healthy argument not so much) Geekor is right, the present draft card system is horribly flawed and just downright silly. At least during waivers if you do not get your first pick you do get your second or third pick. The present system needs updating and I agree with the fellows who ask if SOM is interested in evolving and increasing the customer base. I have found Geekor to be borderline rude in the past, but this time I agree with him 100%. Good luck in all your leagues, fellas.

Firstly, not even waivers guarantees you your second or third picks. If other managers choose those players before you do with their first round waiver picks, you will not get those players in the second or third waiver rounds.

That being said, I think it's cool that you agree with Geekor. It is obvious that players have divergent opinions on the current draft system matter; there is no reason we cannot all respectfully disagree, if not come to an actual agreement. I will not repeat my defense of the current draft system or its defenders, since I did so with great detail in my response to Geekor earlier in this forum, which you and other forum readers can go back to and read. If you, or anyone else, actually addresses and/or criticizes the points I made in that post, I will politely respond to such critique.

I will reiterate, though, that I would welcome a truly superior draft system. However, for that system to be truly superior, it would need to avoid the main problem you and Geekor have with the current system--some players get all or most of their key (most desired) players while other players get few or none of them. None of the critics of the current systems have proposed a system that would actually do so.

So, I pose to you the question Clowntimeisover posed to the charming F33dM3 in his earlier post: If you were in charge, how would you structure the prewaivers draft to avoid that problem? In other words, how would your idealized superior system make sure that everyone got their key players or, as Geekor phrased it, the players managers "care about most"?

As someone who would welcome a truly superior system, I look forward to your response.

Dear I.Strether, I read your earlier posts. We will have to agree to disagree on the validity of the current draft system. (You can go back and read my post if you want where I stated, the current draft card system would not stop me from playing the game I love). If you are contending that the current system is not perfect but it works, I don't have much to say to that, but if you are defending the current system as the best system I wholeheartedly disagree. The way waivers works is, if you do not get the guy on your list, you get the next guy on YOUR list is the way most people would expect such a draft to work.

Sorry, I do not have all the answers, but this is not exactly rocket science. I could come up with a better system if asked to by SOM (which will not happen, so I will leave it to them).

Don't you think if you miss the first guy on your list you should get the NEXT available guy on YOUR list?

Dear I.Strether, I read your earlier posts. We will have to agree to disagree on the validity of the current draft system. (You can go back and read my post if you want where I stated, the current draft card system would not stop me from playing the game I love). If you are contending that the current system is not perfect but it works, I don't have much to say to that, but if you are defending the current system as the best system I wholeheartedly disagree. The way waivers works is, if you do not get the guy on your list, you get the next guy on YOUR list is the way most people would expect such a draft to work.

Dear Radagast,

Since you read my earlier posts, you already know I never claimed that the current system was "perfect." I simply defended how it does work, and explained how suggested new systems would not necessarily improve on it. So, I am glad we can respectfully agree to disagree on the matter. As to waivers, you do not always get the next (second) guy on your list if someone chose that next guy before you in the first round. I don't believe "most people" actually expect the waivers draft to work in the way you say it does, but the current waivers system does not[b][/b] work that way. For example, if you choose Erick Aybar with your second waivers pick while selecting fourth, and another manager selected aybar with their first waivers pick while selecting third, you would not get your "next guy" on your list.

The current waivers system and drafting system DOES give you the next AVAILABLE player on your list, so I'm not sure why you asked me that question at the end of your post. But, yes, I do think It should happen, and I'm glad that it does.

Anyway, If you do ever come up with a system that actually improves on the current system, I would look forward to reading it and seeing your submit that idea to SOM to implement. You shouldn't depend on SOM's urging to formulate a new system you feel is needed, particularly if it is, as you say, "not rocket science."

I look forward to playing you in the current system or whatever superior system you or anyone else creates.

Still waiting for somebody to suggest an alternative.

Bear in mind that the current system is geared toward primary field positions -- not that it should be, or shouldn't be. It's designed to give you a player at the same primary position, while randomly picking winners and losers (and neither winners or losers, if you put Will Rhymes up high to get cheap OBP against RHP and never, ever get disappointed) in each draft round. Is that bad or good? I mean, not the Will Rhymes part.

(I can already hear some of the old card-readers whispering, "ixnay on the illWay ymesRhay ...)

((shhhhh ....: 37.3 OB chances vs RHP for fitty cent ....))

I will not respond to any further errant rants and/or vituperations, which will most likely come it its place, although they have been (and probably will be) sources of amusement to my friends and me...your subsequent anecdote about your "dog's gas" was a particularly wonderful representation of both your maturity level and your skills in argument.

Cheers,
L. Strether

Strether, always wondered if you were a Jamesan ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_Strether

"The litigation had seemed interminable and had in fact been complicated ..."

Dear I.Strether, I read your earlier posts. We will have to agree to disagree on the validity of the current draft system. (You can go back and read my post if you want where I stated, the current draft card system would not stop me from playing the game I love). If you are contending that the current system is not perfect but it works, I don't have much to say to that, but if you are defending the current system as the best system I wholeheartedly disagree. The way waivers works is, if you do not get the guy on your list, you get the next guy on YOUR list is the way most people would expect such a draft to work.

Sorry, I do not have all the answers, but this is not exactly rocket science. I could come up with a better system if asked to by SOM (which will not happen, so I will leave it to them).

Don't you think if you miss the first guy on your list you should get the NEXT available guy on YOUR list?

(This is a repeat of a previous post which failed to include the entirety of Radagast's response)

Dear Radagast,

Since you read my earlier posts, you already know I never claimed that the current system was "perfect." I simply defended how it does work, and explained how suggested new systems would not necessarily improve on it. So, I am glad we can respectfully agree to disagree on the matter. As to waivers, you do not always get the next (second) guy on your list if someone chose that next guy before you in the first round. I don't believe "most people" actually expect the waivers draft to work in the way you say it does, but the current waivers system does not work that way. For example, if you chose Erick Aybar with your second waivers pick while selecting fourth, and another manager selected Aybar with their first waivers pick while selecting third, you would not get your "next guy" on your list.

The current waivers system and drafting system DOES give you the next AVAILABLE player on your list, so I'm not sure why you asked me that question at the end of your post. But, yes, I do think it should happen, and I'm glad that it does.

Anyway, if you ever do come up with a system that actually improves on the current system, I would look forward to reading it and seeing you submit it to SOM to implement. You shouldn't depend on SOM's urging to formulated a new system you feel is so necessary, particularly if it is, as you say, "not rocket science."

I will not respond to any further errant rants and/or vituperations, which will most likely come it its place, although they have been (and probably will be) sources of amusement to my friends and me...your subsequent anecdote about your "dog's gas" was a particularly wonderful representation of both your maturity level and your skills in argument.

Cheers,
L. Strether

Strether, always wondered if you were a Jamesan ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_Strether

"The litigation had seemed interminable and had in fact been complicated ..."

I am definitely a Jamesan and truly appreciate your quote from The Ambassadors, my favorite James novel.

Probably the best thing about the current system is that it is flawed. Think about it. The most exciting time of drafting a new team is right after waivers go through and the frenzy begins.

I already mentioned earlier the draft where I got 24 out of 25 picks. I am quite pleased with that draft, and I hope to duplicate such fine results in future drafts. However, the frenzy was pretty dull.

I don't offer this as a reason not to come up with a better system. But if you're someone who enjoys the mad scramble to improve your team after waivers, perhaps you shouldn't be so quick to condemn the way it works now!