One of the things about this game is that every once in a while, you get confronted with a situation that you never expected to see.

I took over an abandoned team a couple of days ago. We got presented with our draft prospects yesterday. I just had a chance to take my first look at things this afternoon.

It seems that the previous owner, before he up and , this team with a college/HS scouting budget of 4/4. I can see a total of 214 prospects on my draft board.

My draft positions are: First round (23 and 26 - the 26 is a comp pick for a Type A), supplemental round (38* and 53*), and then 82, 114, 148, etc.

I'm thinking: I can't trust anything I'm seeing with a 4/4 budget. I'm leaning towards stacking the top of my draft list with non-slot money guys and going "Very Agressive" with my first round picks in the hope of getting unsignable guys so that I can get Type D's for the next owner. Also "Very Agressive" for rounds 2-5, because I can also get type D's for rounds 2 and 3. But "Very Conservative" for the supplemental round, and hope I get lucky with the highly inaccurate ratings I'm seeing. Stack the top of my draft list with non-slot money guys. Basically, I'm just looking to set things up for next season's owner.

Anybody have any other thoughts on how I can or should approach this?

So you're basically trying to punt the draft, but keep the picks that you can for next season?

If that's your plan, I think you're doing the best you can.

Instead of that, you could only look at the current ratings to create your rankings, obviously with some boost given to younger prospects.

I think you're attempting to do something good that will backfire all over you. Put the best current players at the top. Ones that you think might be able to help with a 2-3 seasons of development. When you're done with those, nothing but guys who aren't likely to sign.

Mike's answer above is good, but using the projected ratings in conjunction. Sure they're way out of wack, but sometimes you can get a half-decent idea if a guy is projected to grow or already hit his peak. Don't use projected Ovr of course.

I tried just using current ratings on later picks and got stuck with some guys that seemed good, but didn't improve at all.

Quote: Originally Posted By overeasy on 10/08/2009Instead of that, you could only look at the current ratings to create your rankings, obviously with some boost given to younger prospects

Agree.

Again - supporting Mike's idea, for the added reason that next year your scouts won't be a whole let better, with only $8M possible.

Quote: Originally posted by dwoolery on 10/08/2009Again - supporting Mike's idea, for the added reason that next year your scouts won't be a whole let better, with only $8M possible.

Sounds like he is taking over the team just for this season, probably as a favor for the commish. So next season, $14M would be possible for the new GM.

Yup. Missed that. Need to get my money back from that speed reading course.

Quote: Originally posted by MikeT23 on 10/08/2009I think you're attempting to do something good that will backfire all over you.   Put the best current players at the top.   Ones that you think might be able to help with a 2-3 seasons of development.  When you're done with those, nothing but guys who aren't likely to sign.

Mike has the right answer - current ratings are the most trustworthy ratings.

ya'll are gonna give mike a big head here. oh wait...... might be to late.

Will you have enough money in your prospect budget to offer the demands that unsignable guys will ask? The few times that I have signed risky guys they asked for two or three times slot. Plus they took their sweet time replying, which meant that I had to make an offer to one, wait for a rejection, and then offer to another...with four or five unsignable players you might not have enough time in the season to get through all their contract demands.

I am in that league with you -- I took over Boise -- and I have seen the mess that Philly is in. Good luck getting them back on track; it took me nearly two actual weeks just to get my pitching staff back from 0(0). And the previous guy let this guy http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=2167225 and this guy http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=2167012 go in the Rule 5 draft. Total freaking mess. But at least he me with good scouting budgets.

Quote: Originally Posted By tedwmoore on 10/08/2009Will you have enough money in your prospect budget to offer the demands that unsignable guys will ask? The few times that I have signed risky guys they asked for two or three times slot. Plus they took their sweet time replying, which meant that I had to make an offer to one, wait for a rejection, and then offer to another...with four or five unsignable players you might not have enough time in the season to get through all their contract demands

I just checked. I've got $20m in prospect budget, so I should be good if I decide to go the unsignable route.

I'm not sure what this guy (the previous owner) was thinking at budget time. $20m prospect budget, but only $4m/$4m scouting budget for the draft and a $10m IFA budget. It seems like he was putting all his eggs in the IFA basket, but didn't put enough into the IFA budget to ensure it would work.

Quote: Originally Posted By MikeT23 on 10/08/2009
I think you're attempting to do something good that will backfire all over you. Put the best current players at the top. Ones that you think might be able to help with a 2-3 seasons of development. When you're done with those, nothing but guys who aren't likely to sign.

I agree that this would be the best way to go if I were planning to be around long-term with this franchise. But I'm just a caretaker for the current season. I'm half-thinking that I'd rather just defer the first round draft picks for the next owner for next season via type D picks. Hopefully (for this team and this world) the next owner will stick around long-term and be able to reap the benefits of probably three first round picks next season.

But this is something to consider as an option. I've got until Tuesday night to finalize my draft strategy.