Oh, you've got to start somewhere...

Trust me on this, there is a huge difference between "cluelessness" (over- or under-valuing players and therefore drafting and/or trading poorly) and "tanking" (deliberately playing to lose with the team that you have.) 

Aloha, 2bvision.

1. Yes and no. Team needs vary from year to year. Sometimes you may be better off drafting a player w/ 1-2 decent years to fill a roster hole, or depending on the round in which ur picking take someone who matures in a couple of campaigns. Your drafting strategy is a season by season thing.

2. Well, theories vary here. On average a team will draft from 3-6 new players each year. So given your team's potential needs, it's not like you have to have a personal database on all the new players coming out. Plus teams cut players, so each draft has rookies, cut players, previously undrafted players etc to choose from.

3. This answer depends on the league you choose to join. Some leagues have aaa, some don't. Some have mlb drafted aaa. Depends on league rules. As for finding pa/ip, that would.depend on the era of the progressive AND how many teams are in the league.

Feel free to sitemail me and/or check out in the sim baseball classifieds, the Centenary League Progressive, run by catdinaldave.
We have openings and a great group of owners.....

So yes, you are on the right track!
Progressives are the best version of WIS when it comes to matching real life MLB.

I have been in alot of Progressives and am currently in 3. Been in the Centenary for 20 seasons, the JCP Progressive for 16 seasons and the OF-Progressive for 2.

The cool thing is different progressives cover various eras and you get a wider view of players.
One of my favourite things to do is find late round gems who may be good platoon guys or other role player types. After all yhe superstars are obvious, it's sometimes how you blend those last 5-6 roster spots that can make tbe difference!

Best of luck and you are headed in a fun direction...
-c

Aloha back cpdpoet.  Mahalo nui loa for your kokua
Regarding #2:   I'm still unclear.  If I join a progressive league, won't I be starting a team from scratch?  That's what I meant about the players from that year having to be fairly well scouted. 

No wori der brudah,

Well, that's also yes and no and maybe question.

YES: If you join a brand new progressive, yes you start from scratch, as do all of the other owners.
The commish picks a year say 1950 and a draft is held until all the squads are filled. Or the commish picks 2 years, say 1920 and 1970 and the owners pick from both years. In each case, the league then "progresses" to the next year, once the season is played out.
In scenario 1 (called a single season progressive) the next draft would be 1951, in scenario 2 (called a dual season progressive) it would be 1921/1971.

NO: You take over a team in a current progressive. Say the Centenary League, you then adopt the franchise and all it's current players. You analyze the team needs, future outputs, draft position etc. Then it's decision time. You decide who you want to keep or cut and prepare for the draft. For example. Your new team has 24 usable players (1 retired). After looking at the rest of the players you decide 3 do not have any use for you, so you cut them. Think Dale Murphy's last season.
That leaves 4 openings on the team. So you have 4 draftpicks to make. Most drafts are "off the clock" the 1st round. You make your pick and sitemail next in line. Starting in round 2, they are usually timed in 1/2 hour slots.

MAYBE: Take the above NO response and the scerario is that you take over a decimated team. Alot of retires/useless players/players on IR. You may need to draft 1/2 a roster or more. So in that case you'll need to do alot of research for the upcoming draft to begin rebuilding the team.

I have been part of all 3. My 2 cents is to take over an existing team for your 1st try. Be carefull, they are addictive.
As I only half joked of last night, you should check out the Centenary League. We have a great core group of owners who are longtime members and helpfull w/ q's. Our current season is 1992 and were getting ready for the playoffs.
Check out the thread in the regular team classifieds.

e bra!  Mahalo for the description.  Now I got one headache!  By the way, how you know I'm in Hawaii?  Or are you too? 

A very very useful tool is the Progressive Draft Forum that crazystengel recently started - it collects draft orders from all of the WIS seasons over the years.  Mostly these are rookie drafts, but it's still a great resource if you're just getting started and want to understand relative values of different players in progressives.

He'll add you to the forum if you sitemail him, or you can see more detail here:
http://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?TopicID=447386&TopicsTimeframe=30

Spent 4 years in da kine, mah pu'uwai still there. Was one of the few haole boys who spoke pidgin and got away w/ it. Am white, but not military.
Locals who met me assumed I was kama'aina.

As for the progressive chat, glad to be able to help. They are the best way to go. Let me know if I can be of any more help.

Oh 2bvision, by the way if you are interested in joining the Centenary, just look in the Theme League Classifieds under "Looking for a Challenge" heading started by cardinaldave.
We have 5 openings and 2 of the squads have a top 10 pick! (1st overall and 7th)

......Or for any other potential owners reading this... You guys can check us out too...

I never try da kine pidgin.   Few times I did, wen took one whack up da okole!  I'm haole too, not military but work with developmentally disabled, which is how I feel heading into this progressive thing.  I've gone and browsed the progressive league classified and got immediately lost.  What is a keeper list?   contrarian, you're always great help too.  Seems like everybody in the forum is and for that I have deep respect for the denizens.   Thanks!!!!  I'll look into crazystengel's forum.

A keeper list is a fancy term for a keeper list.

Remember when I talked about inheriting a team? A keeper list is the names of the players you decide on keeping.
One is submitted after each season before the draft.  Using my above example, your new team has 24 players, 1 retired. After looking over what is left, you decide on keeping 21 of the 24 players. That is your keeper list. It is submitted to the commish.
Then the commish creates a draft list, which is comprised of:

• rookie players (1st yr in WIS database)
• undrafted players from the previous season's draft
• players cut from existing teams
• players undrafted coming off IR

It is from that draft list that you select your new players, then you enter your team and play the season. When the season is over, the whole thing starts all over again, progressing to the next year; submit keeper list, draft, enter team etc..

HOW DOES THE LONGEVITY SYSTEM REWARDS WORK???  If your league is around for 5 years the commissioner is able to distribute rewards???  Does WIS site mail you or does the Commissioner have to ask for them?? 

Posted by mlent on 1/29/2012 2:52:00 PM (view original):
HOW DOES THE LONGEVITY SYSTEM REWARDS WORK???  If your league is around for 5 years the commissioner is able to distribute rewards???  Does WIS site mail you or does the Commissioner have to ask for them?? 

Hey brother, it actually works both ways, but don't count on admin to offer. The reward system is for the LEAGUE, not individual owners in the league.
Tthere is some fine print @number of teams staying for so many seasons... Therein lies the issue. If the league meets the criteria, then rewards are given.

But (in my experience), the rewards are given and then the commish lotteries them according to how long you've been in league OR if you have "adopted" other teams during times of replenishment....

Well I am  a commish in a league thats about to start its 10th season, We've pretty much stayed with the same group of owners over the past 5 years, so will my league get rewards???