damag - Poetic & heartfelt post. Not trying to argue with you or change your mind. You're psyched to be playing HBD, which is good for all of us.
You've finished 0 HBD seasons. It doesn't mean you shouldn't have an option, but since you've been through 1 FA (and every other) process, might you agree that you'll learn more as you go through things a few times? And maybe your opinions will change?
It would be interesting to know what you'll think in 10-15 HBD seasons. There's a chance with experience, you're opinions about HBD might change, right? If I had to bet, it would be you won't make it that long. Nothing personal. Just seems most people don't last that long.
Where I am now, that I wasn't 2 years ago is the way HBD is marketed & played, there aren't enough people on earth to make it profitable enough for Fox to keep it going. Maybe they'll fold worlds. Maybe figure way for people to keep their teams and move them to new worlds. Maybe come up with bots or hire $5/hr baseball fans in 3rd world countries to maintain a bunch of teams in OK shape in the hope a person buys the team next season. Maybe there's another way, but something is going to have to change.
If some things don't change, we're all going away.
It's great you want to be Dave. Maybe roll the dice, take a big risk, and go for it. All I've tried to point out is that has a real cost to HBD. It seems everyone believes, or wants to believe that's not true. Maybe they're right. Maybe nobody has left a bad contract behind. Maybe teams with bad contracts are just as easy to fill and retain people.
Setting the winning bid price to "2nd Place +" instead of "High Bid" is one of about 6 ideas I've tossed out. It's the one almost everyone has obsessed on, so it's the one I've replied to the most often. In isolation, it fixes or helps or hurts almost nothing. If they had done it that way when HBD started, nobody would be complaining about it now. It's as good of a way as any to run the auction. All models have pros & cons. I've pointed some of them out. People are jumping up & down over the cons and pretending the pros aren't there or not believing they are there. (None of these are my original ideas. All taken from others & real-world tested.)
If you last a few years, report back the first time your job gets busy, or you're on a family vacation, or it's finals week, and that lines up with FA bidding, coach hiring, amature draft. See how psyched you are then. See if you still think it's a good idea HBD works exactly the way it does. Or if maybe you might like a game with a lot of strategy that could be played in a way you could compete by spending less time or more flexible time.