Golden era 5 round player draft- Drafts complete!

So here are the stats based on the card years from 1969-1993 (I've sinced broadened the player set to include 1968 to 1994, but the following card stats are for 1969 to 1993):

Total hitter cards - 922.

Hitter cards - 922. Approx. individual cards (i.e. excluding multiple card years for one batter) - 553 (maybe slightly more).

Individual cards (553) divided by number of teams (24) is 23. In other words, there are on average 23 cards available for each team, when you only need 14 or 15 for a typical team. So there's lots of hitter cards available to fill 24 teams.

Pitchers - total 657. Approx. individual cards (i.e. excluding multiple card years for one batter) - 394 (maybe slightly more).Individual pitching cards (553) divided by number of teams (24) is 16, or a little more. In other words, there are on average 16 pitching cards available for each team, when you only need 10 or 11 for a typical team. So there's lots of pitcher cards available to fill 24 teams.

But what about salaries? The total salaries available for 1969 to 1993 is a little more than $4.7 billion. With 24 teams and a $100 million salary cap, that works out to player salaries on rosters totaling $2.4 million. If you exclude duplicate cards the total available players are about $3.2 billion. So the free agent pool would be about $800 million, or about 1/4 of the total player pool, on opening day. That sounds pretty good to me.

What about individual franchises? I did a quick scan, and it looked OK for each franchise, both in terms of numbers of batters and pitchers, as well as salaries by franchise. Keep in mind that you can have at least 9 or more free agents (to go along with your 15 core players), so you can still fill out a roster with all of those free agents as well. Remember too that the ONLY PROTECTED PLAYERS ARE IN THE FIVE ROUND PLAYER DRAFT. That means that there are only 120 players who are absolutely protected, in the whole set. So it's open season after you've filled out your 15 core players.

Having said all of that, to promote the fun of this league, I'm going to broaden the player set to include players carded in 1968, and players carded in 1994 or 1995, making the card set 1968 to 1995. This will include the new 1994 Montreal Expos cards, which will really make the Expos an attractive franchise to draft, I think. Those cards aren't out yet, but they will be out before we conduct the league draft. I've amended the rules at the top of the thread, to reflect these comments of mine in this paragraph.

The more I think about this concept, the more I like it! Thanks for those that have already joined in. Let's fill it up!

I agree with Andy - sounds interesting, but..........


24 teams? I know your intent - to include the core teams in a season from that time period.

But theoretically, that might only leave the BlueJays, Mariners, Marlins and Rockies to choose all those free agents from?
Would that be right?

There's more than enough player cards from that era, even without the expansion teams, for a deep enough free agent pool. I counted the individual players included in that set, for both batters and pitchers.

Remember that players aren't "protected" to teams unless they are drafted in the 5 round player draft. Any hitters or pitchers not drafted in the 5 round player draft can be either taken by any manager as a free agent, or as one of their 15 core players if the hitter or pitcher was ever carded to that franchise during 1968 to 1995. So as long as the player pool is deep enough (and it is), then there will be more than enough cards to make up a good roster for 24 teams.

I'll publish the stats on the player cards available later today.

Bumping this Q & A to page 2 of the thread.

I agree with Andy - sounds interesting, but..........


24 teams? I know your intent - to include the core teams in a season from that time period.

But theoretically, that might only leave the BlueJays, Mariners, Marlins and Rockies to choose all those free agents from?
Would that be right?

Not right actually. Only the 5 players picked in the 5 round player draft are fully protected. See my previous post, just above this one.

Bumping this Q & A to page 2 of the thread.

In the 5 round player draft, the pool is thin. You'll probably want to use the 5 round player draft to "lock up" and protect your key core players.

But once the 5 round player draft is done, and in the autodraft, after you fill out your remaining core player picks, then you can draft anyone else not selected in the original 5 round draft.

For example, I take the Montreal expos in the franchise draft. In the player draft, I use all 5 picks to take my favourite all time expos, naming the player (I don't have to name the card year, because I now "own" that player. The only requirement is that that player was carded to the expos sometime between 1968 and 1995). So now I have 5 Expos core players. I use my first 10 autodraft selections to take another 10 Expos carded players. I can now use the last 15 autodraft selections to take any players I want to, as long as they weren't picked in the 5 round player draft on the boards.

Any players that I'm able to get in the autodraft are now owned by me. If I'm short on my 15 core players (because I didn't get one of my autodraft selections), then I need to acquire a core player to fulfill that requirement for 25 core players . I can do that through waivers and the frenzy period. By opening day game 1, I must have my 15 core players.

Note that the only way that I won't be successful in getting my 15 core players in the autodraft, is if one of the core players that I picked was also carded to one of the other league franchises during 1968-1995. If there is an error committed by another player, then I can ask the commissioner to fix the error for me, by waiver drop or trade, at my preference, subject to the league rules.

Bumping this to page 2 of the thread.

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My understanding is that 24 team leagues all have 8 playoff teams. Originally was 4 but they changed it to 8. I don't think there is an option for just 4.

Note that the only way that I won't be successful in getting my 15 core players in the autodraft, is if one of the core players that I picked was also carded to one of the other league franchises during 1968-1994. If there is an error committed by another player, then I can ask the commissioner to fix the error for me, by waiver drop or trade, at my preference, subject to the league rules.

As I understand the rules, you could fail to get 15 core in the autodraft more ways than that. As I understand it for example Robin Yount (if not picked in the 5 round draft by the Brewer franchise owner) could be drafted by anyone. In essence everyone outside of the 120 is eligible to be drafted by any team regardless of whether they played for them. Isn't that correct?

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"The league will be 24 teams, but the catch is that we will be using the playoff format that was in effect in MLB from between 1969 and 1993, inclusive. In 1969 to 1993, it was like 4 divisions with their own "pennants". Only 1 team from each division made the playoffs."

I was also wondering about this? How can you limit the playoff teams to just division winners, is that something Start will do?

Only 19 more!!

"The league will be 24 teams, but the catch is that we will be using the playoff format that was in effect in MLB from between 1969 and 1993, inclusive. In 1969 to 1993, it was like 4 divisions with their own "pennants". Only 1 team from each division made the playoffs."

I was also wondering about this? How can you limit the playoff teams to just division winners, is that something Start will do?

Only 19 more!!

To be honest, I thought that was an option for setting up the league. When strat first brought in 24 team leagues, that's how they were. I thought that was still an option. I'll check.