Sometimes cap space is an issue and that's an easy way to help. I've at times went high in both but one high and one low can be ideal as well.

Quote: Originally Posted By deanod on 5/05/2010
Also, I fail to see the logic in having a large differential in the two budgets. It seems horribly inefficient to constrain your selection to half of the available players. I tend to set them similarly and maybe favor HS by a mill or two since the fuzziness is more detrimental for players further from their peak.

I typically go $20M/0M in favor of college. I feel that it gives me a higher quality draft than evenly splitting the budget, since at least I know that the projections that I do see are reasonably accurate. On a doubled $10M budget I would see a lot more players, but it'd be hard to have a whole lot of confidence in the guys at the back third of the first round where I usually pick. True, splitting 15/15 might give me a better draft, but I like to invest that extra cash somewhere else.

Regarding the preference for college players, I'd add one more consideration: When I zero out the HS budget, I still see over 500 players (including about 5-6 HS guys "for free"). I seem to recall hearing from someone once that zeroed out college and didn't see at least 500 HS players on the board. Comments anyone?

I'd still rather go 7/7 than 0/14.

Then you don't see anyone very accurate. Not sure why you'd so that.

Quote: Originally Posted By carnivore on 5/06/2010

Quote: Originally Posted By deanod on 5/05/2010
Also, I fail to see the logic in having a large differential in the two budgets. It seems horribly inefficient to constrain your selection to half of the available players. I tend to set them similarly and maybe favor HS by a mill or two since the fuzziness is more detrimental for players further from their peak.

I typically go $20M/0M in favor of college. I feel that it gives me a higher quality draft than evenly splitting the budget, since at least I know that the projections that I do see are reasonably accurate. On a doubled $10M budget I would see a lot more players, but it'd be hard to have a whole lot of confidence in the guys at the back third of the first round where I usually pick. True, splitting 15/15 might give me a better draft, but I like to invest that extra cash somewhere else.

Regarding the preference for college players, I'd add one more consideration: When I zero out the HS budget, I still see over 500 players (including about 5-6 HS guys "for free"). I seem to recall hearing from someone once that zeroed out college and didn't see at least 500 HS players on the board. Comments anyone?

I have 0M$ in College scouting and $16M in High School scouting for my Twins team that just had its draft. I don't recall the precise number of prospects I saw, but even counting those college guys I did see, there were a number of ???-not scouted well enough on my Top 500 board.

On a somewhat related note, except for the one college player I moved *up* my board based on current ratings and a hunch that I took in round 1, every player I drafted was a high schooler - so I've at least managed to get the draft formula to do that part right!

I have 0 college / 20 HS in Regulars and can see a total of 186 prospects

Quote: Originally Posted By deanod on 5/05/2010Also, I fail to see the logic in having a large differential in the two budgets. It seems horribly inefficient to constrain your selection to half of the available players. I tend to set them similarly and maybe favor HS by a mill or two since the fuzziness is more detrimental for players further from their peak

It has its pros and cons; it depends on your strategy. I prefer to get dead-on projections for half the class and save money at the same time. Yes you miss the other half of the draft class but for me, if you're able to draft more effectively using what you have, you'll get better results in the long run. Plus your draft goes deeper because you might get some 2nd and 3rd round steals that other guys can't see or can't project accurately.

I once had 1/1 Col/HS and the prospect pool was mighty thin - ~110 players IIRC. Still got 500 names, just couldn't see anything about 4/5ths of the pool. Got a crap RP out of that draft and nothing more. But I won a WS, so it was worth it.

I'm a proponent of the 0/20 Col/HS spending split; IMO, players with higher ceilings come out of HS and the current ratings on a College prospect can help me determine if the guy is a top 32 prospect.

I once had some data to back this up, but I also believe the high first rounders with the higher ceilings in general are HS players. I also think there are more, undecided/probably won't sign guys in HS than college...That either won't sign or will cost more.

That's what I love about these high school (players), man. I get older, they stay the same age.