Live draft order

So.. the final round is live draft. Sounds fun. But as someone who has relied on the automated draft for almost all my teams, I dont really know what to expect. Not that I’m going to be in the finals; I’d probably have to win the league championship, but hey, it’s not impossible. So…what to expect? I’ve heard that teams that draft first or last have an advantage over teams in the middle. Not sure why drafting last would be advantageous. Is there anything to that? Also, it seems like the more depth there is, the less important those early picks become. If there are at least a few superstars at every position, everyone will get their share of talent. Not true?

It's a snake draft. 2000s is the biggest/deepest player pool, and probably the most accurate pricing. I've done live drafts in every other mystery player set, and I think the 00s will be the most uneventful beyond the 1st round. There are possibly 100+ guys I could see going in rounds 2/3 (unlike most other mystery sets where the top players and values are clear and the pool is much more limited). Franky has made clear that he is picking Bonds no. 1. Of course, 00s is my worst mystery set so maybe I'm completely off base.

I agree with hallerose. Bonds is really an exceptional player but he has one "bad" year '06 that I would cut and one 6R year '00 that I would probably platoon. But he has 3 years, 01 02 04 that, along with Ruth '20, are the highest OPS in MLB history. So, I feel that the first pick is different, but 2000s has a lot of players, so I don't view other picks as all that critical.

Plus I think the fact that the 00s pricing is fairly expensive and there are lots of expensive players really makes the draft wide open. Just picking (one of) the most expensive guys left in the player pool won't be the best strategy. Everyone only will have $80M. For instance, in an 80s live draft simply picking the most expensive hitter left in the pool would be a decent strategy.

Thanks for your insights, frankly and Dave. Seems to me like a live draft in the 2000s should be a lot f fun and give everyone a fair shot.

Your $$ on most 00s rosters also tends to be more spread out for lots of reasons: 25 man roster required, 11 pitchers required, bullpen 3.0 logic, lots of R1 relievers, lack of S8* or S9* sp, lots of platoon options, lots of decent middle priced guys, lots of big hitters, dh league ...

Waivers or frenzy after the live draft?

Waivers or frenzy after the live draft?

Frenzy, but it shouldn't matter much since you will have just live drafted 25 guys. If there was someone you really wanted, why didn't you draft him 5 or 10 minutes earlier?

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.