HELP with Low-Cap Drafting Topic

I've been asked by a number of What-If friends who've been tempted to join low-cap but are intimidated with the draft. I thought I'd give a couple tips that may help. I know some of my other buds will chime-in. And these folks are those I watched their teams to see how they did it, so I could figure out my own strategy for drafting low-caps. 

So here's a couple tips, I expect there will be more added to this forum. Folks, I'm telling ya, once you try this, you won't go back. It might take a couple leagues to get the hang of it, but lots of great folks willing to give some advice. I really hope low-caps begin to take off a bit more. The following is for 60-mil types of leagues with AAA added. I hate clones and won't play those. Also hate waiver wire, as people know how to essentially create more money than what they start with. So here goes: 

AB's and IP's are always the dilemma and part of the fun. I've found anywhere from 3800 to 4400 AB's works. The higher the number, the less fatigue you'll have to deal with. In either case, you'll be using your AAA.
 
In my created leagues the AAA are randomly assigned at the lowest level. Yes, some teams AAA meet their needs better than others. What I mean is you may draft a team knowing you have a week hitting SS with fair fielding and lots of AB's, just so you can have a low-salary spot in hopes that you can get a SS in AAA that might have a high contact rating to give you some hits. It doesn't always work out that way, so there's some gambling. Personally, I like the platoon system for my teams. I'll draft L and R OF's with 250-350 AB's, knowing I have to rotate them and hoping I get a good AAA OF to rely on a bit.
 
Pitching. I've seen as little as 1100 IP's to 1500 IP's. Again, you'll be drafting some inning chewers with OAV in the .270-.280's range because of the salary limitations. I love this aspect, as real teams have some stinkers on it. Obviously the more IP's, the less fatigue issues. Again, you'll have to rely on AAA as inning chewers.
 
I love low-cap. To me, it's where realism hits the road and it makes you manage. I was awful when I first tried it and got very frustrated with the cap when drafting. But know this, everyone else has the same issues with their drafts as well.
 
Have fun!
4/29/2014 7:18 AM
I've had my share of success at low caps... And I don't go as short on PA/IP as Polymer guy does.

I never "throw" games for fatigue purposes. 

Again, $60m with below avg AAA.

I ALWAYS start my team by drafting pitching first.  Let's assume a 4 man rotation...Because I can't afford 4 studs, I get one "stud" (200+ IP, Whip below 1.10, salary around $6m.  Then I get 2 decent pitchers... WHIP in the 1.10-1.20 range, salary aroung $5m.  The 4th starter is the "hope the offense bails him out" guy, whip around 1.25, 175-200 IP, salary around $3.5m.   So I just spent around $20m (1/3 team salary) on my rotation, should have about 850 IP. 

That leaves me around $10m to spend on my bullpen.

2 Long A's - best I can get for under $4.5m total for about 180-200 IP 
3 setup A's - 40-60 IP, whip below 1.10.  total about $5m.
2 $200k mopups... They will eat innings and rest tired pitchers.

Total... about 1225 IP and within a few hundred k of $30m. 

This staff will have some tired pitchers at all times.... BUT it will never go into a fatigue death spiral, and nobody (other than mopups) will pitch below 95%.

4/29/2014 2:02 PM (edited)
That leaves us a lineup to build and about $30m to do it.  14 guys.

Because money is CRITICAL and value more so, I begin by dividing the team into 8 starters, 6 $200k backups.  I make sure the backups cover C and OF (2-3 catchers and OF (each), they can overlap).  I actually buy these guys first to make it easier to fill in rest of roster.

Then I fill in the 8 starting spots... I start by putting in what I consider to be "replacement level" players.  400-450PA, $2-$2.5m salaries.   You now have $20 of $30m spent, and a full roster.... Now you improve it with the remaining $10m.  

The key is how you improve the team.  Sometimes I put most of the money in 2-3 spots, and leave the replacement levels... Sometimes I upgrade everything a few hundred thou.

After upgrades, you're going to have 4500-5000 PA (At least I do). With the $200k scrubs and AAA, you'll never have to field a player below 98%.  

That's how I do it.... Your milage will vary. 

4/29/2014 8:32 AM
Are you bashing my PA/IP's? haha. But when you go below Big's recommended levels, you will have fatigue to deal with. I find that the biggest challenge and sometimes the most frustrating part, hence why I always teeter on the boarder. This last team I probably was much closer to Big's recommended in his 60-mil league and I have had the most comfort with fatigue. And I'm around .500. I'm happy with that because I'm going to win Big's league by the time it ends... HAHA. 

And totally agree with Big, never throw games. Doing that will get you kicked out of baseball. 

The other aspect is the fun banter. Since dudes are on-line much more often, (after every game if I can) the banter is a premium. For me, there's more value in this league because of that. In the high 100-mils, people set there lineup and don't even have to check their lineups because they are going to pretty much remain the same. 

Thanks biglenr for helping me by answering some questions as I've continued to figure this out. I hope THIS POST helps others and fills those low-cappers more quickly.
4/29/2014 1:12 PM (edited)
wonderful post guys thanks alot for doing it i think this can certainly help attract new owners, i am new to the 60mil leagues and i like the extra managing required  can see myself sticking with it. I wonder though how can you start a team with 3800 to 4400 ABs? does'nt the draft center require 4800 to start a team? it seems to me that the higher the cap the less fielding would come into play would you then stress fielding over .300 hitting in a 60mil cap? and conversely because you cant pick up to many 40HR guys how much do you worry about HR/9 in your pitchers?
4/29/2014 8:57 PM
The 4800 PA requirement only applies to open leagues.
4/29/2014 9:06 PM
Posted by biglenr on 4/29/2014 2:02:00 PM (view original):
I've had my share of success at low caps... And I don't go as short on PA/IP as Polymer guy does.

I never "throw" games for fatigue purposes. 

Again, $60m with below avg AAA.

I ALWAYS start my team by drafting pitching first.  Let's assume a 4 man rotation...Because I can't afford 4 studs, I get one "stud" (200+ IP, Whip below 1.10, salary around $6m.  Then I get 2 decent pitchers... WHIP in the 1.10-1.20 range, salary aroung $5m.  The 4th starter is the "hope the offense bails him out" guy, whip around 1.25, 175-200 IP, salary around $3.5m.   So I just spent around $20m (1/3 team salary) on my rotation, should have about 850 IP. 

That leaves me around $10m to spend on my bullpen.

2 Long A's - best I can get for under $4.5m total for about 180-200 IP 
3 setup A's - 40-60 IP, whip below 1.10.  total about $5m.
2 $200k mopups... They will eat innings and rest tired pitchers.

Total... about 1225 IP and within a few hundred k of $30m. 

This staff will have some tired pitchers at all times.... BUT it will never go into a fatigue death spiral, and nobody (other than mopups) will pitch below 95%.

This is why I destroy Len in low cap leagues. He's to rigid :)


Seriously, in low caps I eschew the use of roles and slots. I would just draft 1250ish reasonably quality innings. Something like 1.2ish WHIPs with hr/9# under .5.

One of my favorite teams has 6 starters all around 200 ip with a mop up or two as my only relief pitchers. I also had a team with 12, 100 ip guys. I think they all started games or some **** like that.


The beauty of low caps is a lot of strategies work because the extreme guys are too expensive.

The bad news is some of the 80 cap cookies are even better. The good Carter dominates 60 cap leagues for under 4 million.
4/29/2014 9:24 PM
Well, I haven't won a WS with a low cap team yet but I have had some success making it to the playoffs. In $60M leagues I draft as if it were RL and I plan my team around the stadium I chose. So if I pick Yankee Stadium III, I'll draft singles hitters, OBP, and HR hitters. For pitchers, low OAV and high HR+ (120+), and fielders, good IF range to stop those singles. But if I go Hilltop, RH power hitters, LH singles hitters, low K's, etc.... Again, in $60M leagues I have found it helpful to build around my stadium.

In $40M leagues, which are the other low cap leagues I play in, you pretty much pick a strength and exploit it. You live with fatigue, I prefer to try and stay in the 90 range both pitching and hitting. You never get it all as you have to give up something, whether it be defense, speed, power, relief pitching, etc. I have had great success with players such as '86 Kingman, '12 Jesus Montero, '83 Pete Rose, '04 Russ Ortiz, '31 Herb Pennock, '47 Mort Cooper, etc... The latter has been an unbelievable closer in my last two seasons.

We've also seen teams who drafted Bonds and Ruth and although both those players put up huge offensive numbers, their respective teams couldn't even pull .500 seasons. Not enough PA's. I will say '53 Ted Williams did pull off a full season with decent offensive production at .258/.326/.470 44 HR's, 144 RBI's, 757 PA's.

In either low cap league I try to get at least 1200 IP's. My more successful teams have had an 900/300 split between SP and RP. Less than 300 in relief spells disaster for my teams. For PA's, I try to average at least 550 PA's per position, 600 if the player is going to the top of the line-up.

Lastly, you have to take the time to manage your team, regardless of the strategy you choose. I have a team now in a $60M league that I ended up neglecting for 1 week while I was in Chicago on business. That team is now just beyond the midway point and struggling with fatigue that will take all season to recover and may not make it back to .500. If you want to win in low caps, you have to dedicate at least one visit per day to manage your team.
4/29/2014 11:49 PM
Wow I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around a league where Dave kingman is a cookie :)
4/30/2014 7:44 AM
Stolen base guys are big players as well because of the lack of a+ catchers
. Vince Coleman is a gem and a Maury Willis season or two are very good.
4/30/2014 8:25 AM
A couple of thoughts.

First and most important, this is a GREAT thread.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed.  I'm going to link to it in both my Advice for Newbies thread and my "Best of SLB Forum" thread.

Second, I am one of those owners who largely eschews low caps.  My experience with them is very limited - mostly in schwarze's WIS championship which runs both a 70M and 60M every year.  So my generalizations here are drawn from a very very small base.  I may need to play a couple more just to be proven wrong in my assumptions.

But what I have observed is that low caps tend to have less diversity of strategies, and less diversity of "value" players than 80-100M caps.  For all the complaints about cookie-riddled OLs, I've found that you can win with many many different kinds of teams.  I never use 1908 Joss in OLs and I do just fine.  I've won with speed teams and power teams, with deadball pitchers and modern pitchers, with high range teams (150 or more plus plays) and with teams with a whole bunch of guys like Bip, HoJo and Boggs who make tons of minus plays.  I've won with switchhitters and with platoons.  I've won with A+ arm catchers and with Victor Martinez's D- arm.  I've won in the Astrodome and I've won in Hilltop and Coors.  Yes, you see a lot of owners just running the same team out there again and again - and the standard cookie team is almost guaranteed to do well - but there are certainly other ways to win at 80-100M.  Part of the fun of OLs for me is that I try something different almost every time, and I'm usually pretty competitive.

In contrast, at 60M I tend to see pretty much the same strategy win over and over again in the WISC: single/SB hitters (usually switchhitters) with cheap A+ arm catchers (Inge and Carter predominate) and cheap deadball pitchers who have low HR/9.  You won't see 08 Joss at 60M, but you'll see a ton of Ed Summers and Tully Sparks, so I don't see that much difference.  It's kind of the same reason I avoid 255M - at the highest caps you have to use only the very best seasons in history.  At low caps, my conclusion has been that you have to use the very best "value" players in order to win.

Again, you all have much more experience at this cap than I do, so I would gladly welcome disagreement on this point (I hope I am wrong). 

When I want realistic stats and ultimate diversity in strategies, I turn to single-season progressives for that.  No cookie-filled teams there, for sure.
4/30/2014 11:10 AM
For low cap leagues, the whole kicker is whether or not you have access to AAA players and what level they are. If you do, then you can easily get away with drafting a team that has around 4,000 PAs and 1250 IP because even with below average AAA, you will be guaranteed to get a minimum of 1250 PAs and 100 IP out of your AAA guys. Knowing this is key to drafting your team, because you know you are guaranteed to get extra PAs at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS and OF and 2 pitchers that are ALWAYS RP.

For this reason, I focus drafting my offense on OPS# first and foremost. It doesn't matter if you platoon or pick guys with enough PAs to start, you will get more bang for your buck by searching for a specific OPS# and using $/PA to find good bargains. Granted, this may mean less than stellar defense, but as long as you avoid the D- guys, you should be OK.

On the pitching side, to me it doesn't matter what size of a rotation you want to run or what size of a bullpen you have so long as you have enough pitchers/IP. Honestly, my comfort zone is 750-950 IP for SP and 500-300 for bullpen, but as TJ said above, I'll run 6 SP with around 200 IP or 12 with 100 IP...it all depends on quality. I typically search for a specific ERC+ number and HR/9+ number and then use $/IP to find bargains.
4/30/2014 1:43 PM
Contrarian... We do try to eliminate the cookies like Gary Carter in most leagues.  Or at least limit his use.  Check the two low cap leagues currently filling... Polymerguy has one which you pick a hitting franchise from one decade, and a pitching franchise from another... Only one possible Gary Carter cookie season in that league.  The other low cap league is to pick a season and a league and build your team from it... Ie: 1975 NL.  Again, limits the cookies. 

Yeah, SB guys do seem to run well, but I never select them myself.  Too many other ways to win. 
4/30/2014 2:08 PM
Low cap leagues are terrific and my favorite.  I used to like $50 million caps best.  But with the last update about 4 years ago, the WIS salary structure makes it highly difficult to build a $50 million team that won't experience moderate fatigue.  Currently, $60 million leagues are my favorite, and $70 million leagues can be fun as well.

I believe the key to surviving low cap leagues is to maximize the use out of every single player on your roster.  Especially if your league is going to use AAA.  In a league that uses below average AAA players, assume an average of 200 PAs for each of your AAA hitters.  Plan to use all 200 PAs from each hitter.  Then build your roster accordingly.  If you draft a 675 PA first baseman, then take those leftover AAA 1B PAs (however many leftover you think there will be) and apply them to another position on the diamond.  Let's say a corner OF spot.  Then you can get away with drafting perhaps a good 400 PA outfielder as opposed to a 575 PA mediocre one.  If your AAA 1B doesn't play OF, play him out of position in the outfield as long as your league rules don't prohibit it.  The point here is use AAA to the utmost advantage.  It doesn't matter that you don't know who they will be until the league starts.  In low cap leagues, AAA is absolutely your friend.

If your league has AAA, I would draft at least six real life 200k batters.  At the transaction deadline, you will typically want all of your AAA hitters on your active roster, and thus all of your drafted 200k guys down in AAA.  In low cap leagues where every dollar matters, for the most part, this should be a no brainer.  Yet I have found that many owners choose to ignore AAA players or rarely use them.

Many strategies work in low cap leagues, and that is another reason to like them.  I've seen teams bulk up on low average, power hitters and do great.  I've seen speed teams do great, and not the cookie cutter speed teams that you see in Open Leagues.  I've seen teams that have great starting pitching and a below average offense and do great.  I've even seen one team that had a great bullpen, poor starting pitching, and a very basic, vanilla offense and did great.  You can choose to draft 4-6 great players and fill the rest of the roster the best that you can and win.  You can go with a strategy with drafting a solid, average bunch of players at every position and win.

With all of that being said, the best part (for me) is that you can do part or all of the above and do it with some players that you would never dream on drafting in open and/or high cap leagues.  Using some players that you never would in other leagues is certainly part of the charm in low cap leagues, and more rewarding than other leagues when you win with them.   
4/30/2014 2:46 PM
Contrarian... Love to have you in my "manage ur tail off league". Find it in the threads. Just need a couple more and lots of options are open.

Second, I never run the tar out of teams. Maybe I'm missing something, but I have recently found you really do need one or two power guys. The current team I'm using in Biglenr's league is full of great average (I tend to focus on that more heavily than OBP) but strands lots of dudes because of lack of power. So a mix is really effective. 

And yes, I generally carry an A arm for catching. This will help eliminate the sprint-parade for the track teams... somewhat.

The one thing I also focus on more than others is OAV for pitchers. It's a bit of a different strat, as my WHIPS will suffer. And yep, I always walk more dudes but count on the fact I can strand them. 

I too, am fairly competitive now that I've got the swing of it. Nothing to write home about, but man is it fun! I don't draft to take advantage of a system, but to enjoy the replayability of a real-baseball setting. If I win great! If I don't, I curse out some of my favorite players!
4/30/2014 2:54 PM
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