prepping for the draft in a league, where no specific needs, just looking for best players available....Tempted to set all the positions to 0 and set "Any" to 25...but don't want to end up with 25 DHs or relievers.

Have you ever done this, setting "Any" to a big number to simply get best available? If so, was it very skewed towards one position?

I'll still rank the players and all, so it seems I wouldn't get a skewed position if my rankings weren't skewed, but don't know if this is cray-cray.

Thanks for your help/advice, as always!

There's a default ranking system/formula - almost regardless of how you tweak it, some position or another will be favored so if you go 25 of any, you'll likely end up with a lot of some position, but it's hard to say which it is without knowing. I've gone up to 10 "Any" and had good luck - that means that early in the draft (where talent is more likely to have an impact) I'll get the best players, but that my later round picks will still fill out the roster somewhat so I don't end up with a catcher at SS or only two starters or the like. Realistically, if you set it to 5 "Any" you'd probably be fine as your odds of landing a contributor after round 3 are vanishingly small anyway

I always set my needs to some position players up the middle (SS, 2B, CF), and some pitchers (7 SP, 5 RP). then the rest, Any. Maybe add a catcher or 2 if I am in need of them.

I once set it to 25 for Any. It didn't go well. I don't remember which, but I received almost all position players or pitchers. I had to go to the tryout camps to fill out my rookie league team.

Posted by joekendall on 11/30/2020 11:29:00 PM (view original):
I once set it to 25 for Any. It didn't go well. I don't remember which, but I received almost all position players or pitchers. I had to go to the tryout camps to fill out my rookie league team.

Same here. Very generally and sarcastically speaking, you'll draft at least ten useless pitchers.

Posted by bjschumacher on 11/30/2020 11:24:00 PM (view original):
I always set my needs to some position players up the middle (SS, 2B, CF), and some pitchers (7 SP, 5 RP). then the rest, Any. Maybe add a catcher or 2 if I am in need of them.

I do a variation of this, but I will set for C and 3B. If nothing else, signing draft picks and drafting for a rookie roster can be a cheaper route to fill and stock your minors. My "Any" runs 5-7, so that I still get best player available early. Before, when I went 25 "Any" I wound up with an extremely inordinate number of useless of P's.

I always run 25 - Any . It just means you have to spend more time in your rank order. It just never made sense for me to go through the trouble of ranking players for the draft, just so that the AI can figure that I have too many SS so instead drafts a DH for me. Also I have found too many players that are labled as a certain position but that I would use in another position (IE 2B that I would prefer to use as a CF, or DH that actually has enough ratings to be a decent catcher). I typically end up with more C/DH's than I know what to do with, but in the long run its a small price to pay to ensure that I'm getting the guys i actually want in the first 10 rounds. Finally, you should always draft best player available and not on need.

Very interesting, diverse perspectives...thanks!

I have never did the 25 in any approach. I am no way the best drafter as I almost always have one of the last pick in the draft.

<insert humblebrag here> _|^

;)

Posted by McGirkTheJer on 12/1/2020 12:04:00 PM (view original):
I always run 25 - Any . It just means you have to spend more time in your rank order. It just never made sense for me to go through the trouble of ranking players for the draft, just so that the AI can figure that I have too many SS so instead drafts a DH for me. Also I have found too many players that are labled as a certain position but that I would use in another position (IE 2B that I would prefer to use as a CF, or DH that actually has enough ratings to be a decent catcher). I typically end up with more C/DH's than I know what to do with, but in the long run its a small price to pay to ensure that I'm getting the guys i actually want in the first 10 rounds. Finally, you should always draft best player available and not on need.

I agree with this philosophy,

Don't set it to zero. I did that once and got 20 something pitchers.

I've done 25 ANY plenty. At rookie you could practically run 8 DH's in the field and not be too terrible in terms of record. When I do this strategy I always make sure I have enough high STA pitchers in rookie already (either carry-overs or FA signings), that's the only area I've run into issues.

Posted by McGirkTheJer on 12/1/2020 12:04:00 PM (view original):
I always run 25 - Any . It just means you have to spend more time in your rank order. It just never made sense for me to go through the trouble of ranking players for the draft, just so that the AI can figure that I have too many SS so instead drafts a DH for me. Also I have found too many players that are labled as a certain position but that I would use in another position (IE 2B that I would prefer to use as a CF, or DH that actually has enough ratings to be a decent catcher). I typically end up with more C/DH's than I know what to do with, but in the long run its a small price to pay to ensure that I'm getting the guys i actually want in the first 10 rounds. Finally, you should always draft best player available and not on need.

+1
I manually rank them to get the best players available. If you are worried about filing you minors, use tryout camp. Don't worry about your draft picks filling spots in rookie league. Worry about your draft picks having a potential to make it to the big leagues.

I've now done the "Any - 25" strategy twice, and a more traditional strategy twice. Not a fan of the Any 25. In one, had 50/50 mix of pitchers and position players in top 100...drafted pos player in Rd 1, then 10 straight pitchers. Guess is cuz other owners leaned towards position players.