The purpose of the draft in any sport is to distribute amateur talent in such a way that it allows the weaker teams the opportunity to catch up to the stronger teams. Due to the fuzzyness of real life and signability issues, the actual MLB draft does a terrible job of this.

The HBD draft, on the other hand, actually does this quite well. If you have a top-5 pick and a scouting budget over 12, you are going to get a future All-Star, provided he stays healthy. If you were a playoff team, you will get a solid MLB player but you need to get a little lucky to land an All-Star there. This means that there is a guaranteed advantage to picking #5 vs. #25, which is not true in real life.

The HBD draft shouldn't be trying to mimic the real draft because the HBD draft actually works better than the real thing.

one way to increase draft uncertainty would be to have more uncertainty in the health and makeup ratings...as it stands now, even the guy with 1/1 budgeting will have a very good idea of both of these ratings, as they rarely increase by more than 10 from their current and usually less than that...i know personally i do not even look at projections for these ratings

a solution could be having every prospect show a current of 50 for these ratings along with a projection, where the accuracy would be based on college/hs budget...upon signing these ratings would jump (or fall) to where the current system shows them (as to not mess with how the current engine runs) and then continue to progress the last few points from there

OK, a non tanker needs a future SS with a great glove who can hit ML and he spends 20/20 coll/HS. he drafts 25th. he selects a good fielding SS, but after the draft he notices 2 better options were drafted after 25 that he was not allowed to view/see. whats the logic? random.

Does that really happen?

And current ratings have to remain accurate. You can't muddy them and maintain any integrity to the draft.

sure it does/can under the current system. its very possible there is one SS prospect above all others, one true CF option above all others, if you miss out on a phenom C... you might have to wait 2-3 years for an equal to come his way.

imagine this....

what if....

the yankee scouts never knew derek jeter existed? fathom that, it might ruin your ability to enjoy football.

I'll need an example.

Quote: Originally posted by coldfeet on 2/07/2010sure it does/can under the current system. its very possible there is one SS prospect above all others, one true CF option above all others, if you miss out on a phenom C... you might have to wait 2-3 years for an equal to come his way. 

I'm not trying to be a dick, but the HBD league you play in doesn't revolve around just your team. If you miss out on that stud SS, that sucks, but you still got a player of relatively equal ability. The ability to build your franchise need not hinge around being able to draft one guy.

Draft, IFA, Free Agency, trades, etc., there's tons of different ways to build a team. Missing out on one or two guys (and receiving a player of comparable value instead) should not prevent you from building a competitive franchise.

As said before, the HBD draft manages to distribute the talent in the most fair fashion. Any of these other solutions would result in screwing over the bad teams even more.

Right now, in a competent league, the best player in the draft will never fall out of the top 10. The 10th-best player will never fall out of the first round, etc. This assures that a team that did poorly has a chance to rebuild it's talent to compete with the better teams down the line.

just being fair sucks. I'd rather have more strategy involved.

Quote: Originally Posted By raidersfan on 2/07/2010
Not sure if this was stated and don't feel like looking through this whole thread, but do people always really know who will be the studs and stars in a draft class? The draft should have some big time surprises, not all "Studs" should be great and there should be some surprises as well.

Horrid #1 picks in the last 15-20 years or so:

Matt Bush
Brien Taylor
Bryan Bullington
Paul Wilson
*Matt Anderson*

Amazing late round picks:

Mike Piazza (62nd Round)
Jeff Conine (58th Round)
Kenny Rogers (39th Round)
Roy Oswalt (23rd Round)
Russel Martin (17th Round)
Albert Pujols (13th Round)
Dan Uggla (11th Round)
Mike Lowell (20th Round)
Clint Barmes (10th Round)
Jason Bay (22nd Round)
Nate McLouth (25th Round)
Ryan Church (14th Round)
Jake Peavy (15th Round)
Jermaine Dye (17th Round)
Ian Kinsler (17th Round)

I went to the same college/same time as Matt Anderson. He got kicked out (temporarily) for throwing a sofa off a 10th story balcony onto a sidewalk, nearly killing two girls. Someone should have sent up the "character issue" red flag on that guy.

The "I need to see every player" crowd is missing half of the point here: Draft scouting is not just about who/what you do see, but equally it's about who/what you don't see.

If you have the #1 pick and you don't see the 3 best players, but you do see the 4th best player and he looks like the best player on the board to you, then you get the 4th best player. Not ideal, but still should be a cornerstone superstar player. So it really doesn't matter that much who you do see.

By contrast, if you have the exact perfectly accurate ratings on 499 out of 500 guys, but you also have one guy who looks to you like he'll be a 90 OVR stud SP and the best player in the draft, when really he's going to be a mid-70s OVR middle-of-the-rotation type who's about the 20th best player in the draft, then you just drafted the 20th best player in the draft. So you see, the biggest value of high draft scouting is in not getting suckered by inaccurately inflated ratings and blowing your pick. What matters is what you don't see (specifically, it matters that you don't see any of these trap players who look much better than they are).

Wow long thread so, I have read most but not all. My two cents. It is stupid that I don't see all the top picks. That is the dumbest thing about the draft.

The entire prospect system (Draft and IFA) can be made better by raising all players projected ratings to the 70s-90s range and adding a rating for percentage chance the player gets to that projected rating.

Think it through... Guy A is a 95 projected with a 35% chance he gets there and Guy B is 75 projected with 85% chance he gets there. Who is worth more.

In the draft and IFAs you should see all the top prospects regardless of budget and your budget should change the mid and long shot prospects.

Just my opinion but I think it would add depth.

i dont understand the logic, so what if you dont see the young joe mauer, just take the second or third best C available. take the very good corner OF. thats silly. some positions come at a premium.

there is sometimes a very large drop off between the best at one position and the second best at that position.

http://http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3045116

http://http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3045110

http://http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=3045115

here are the top 3 catchers drafted in the GAP last season. do you notice a signifigant drop in value?