Budgeting zero for HS, Col and IFA would leave a lot of money over for player payroll. (Say upwards of 125 mil)

Is this a viable strategy for winning now, and for the foreseeable future?

And as long as FAs are signed to fill all MiL teams is there anything wrong with this strategy?

When the owner eventually bails the minors will most likely be in shambles but in the meantime I guess its his $25?

Comments?

Its a viable strategy, and depending on the world can be overkill.

"Shambles" = taken care of, but lacking in any viable prospects?

OR

"Shambles" = 9 guys at a given level?

One is okay, the other isn't.

Viable strategy.

Why does he have to eventually bail?

Why would the minors be in shambles?

He could sign EVERY key Free Agent on the market, stash the ones with options in the minors, and trade them away to contenders for great prospects.

Quote: Originally posted by toddcommish on 10/08/2009Why would the minors be in shambles?He could sign EVERY key Free Agent on the market, stash the ones with options in the minors, and trade them away to contenders for great prospects.

Sounds like a fantasy strategy. I have one team that had a 114 player budget last season and a 112 this season and I was not close to signing all the key free agents, and if a player is not good enough to make my major league roster he is not going to get me a great prospect. Not many people are willing to trade away great prospects for 32 year old players with large contracts.

I think any "strategy" where the end game is to bail on the franchise when the day of reconing comes is not good for the world

if the owner is going to stay through the re-build at the end, I suppose that could be viewed as sort of a tanking in reverse

I don't think he's saying he'd bail on the team 98greenc5. As I read it he's asking if this would be a viable on going stragety. Could you do this year in and year out and be competitive at the highest levels.

I don't have much experience, but my gut says no. Without getting good draft picks, you aren't getting the trade bait you'd need to bring in top quality players, who didn't come from the free agent pool, and if the free agent pool has been anything like the two worlds I've been involved in, then there just aren't enough "great players" to make it worth it.

But again, I've only got one full season of experience, and just started with my second team, so take that opinion for what its worth.

I don't think it works for the long term

I don't think you can get enough talent from the FA pool to win using only FA pool players

i agree with green on both points.

As long as you were able to unload some of your older players periodically for prospects, you could keep it going for awhile.

It can work, although getting down to absolute zero for scouting takes at least 3 seasons. It can work, and if you sign the right free agents, and budget properly for training / medical / coaching / advance scouting etc, it can be a viable strategy. Signing the key FA's and playing or trading them.

Heck, why waste money on advanced scouting in this case? Add that to the pot. It should work pretty well long-term if you're smart about bidding (unlike me).

If you keep the term of years short/ or target players under 30, signing FA will have no long term repercussions for your team.

The gamble would be that your world would suddenly stop overvaluing* young players and start signing all the decent FA to huge deals.







*of course developing young talent is more fun for a lot of owners than signing FA over 3 days and sitting back over the next 70 to see how things work out. You have nothing to obsess over when you aren't developing young players. In that sense, young players are not overvalued at all. - I'm guilty of overvaluing young players too for that reason.

Depending on the league It could work. I think I'd pour at least a little cash into either HS scouting or College scouting. That way you'd still get viable players in the draft and you'd have a ton of cash.

What if you also went 0 for Advanced scouting and only signed FAs or made trades for guys over 25?