League Concept
I will go into more detail below, but basically this will be like many other rookie progressive leagues that have been started with one exception. We will start with players who are in their rookie year and then progress through their careers one season at a time. The difference is, instead of starting with the entire rookie player pool, we will have a predetermined list of rookies that are available in the initial draft. After each season, we will add a set number of rookies to the draft pool and continue on for as long as the league is viable. I expect to set it up on a 16 team format, however if interest warrants we may consider expanding to 24 teams.
All players on the list have been randomly sorted using random.org. I built a spreadsheet using the downloadable player database in excel, used only rookie seasons and weeded out all duplicated player seasons to ensure that no player is listed twice. I then broke the list up by position and randomly ordered each player within their position group list. A certain number of players at each position will be in the initial draft player pool. Then each year, I will sprinkle out a small number of additional players from each position. It will be broken down as follows (this assumes 16 teams; these #’s will be adjusted if we switch to 24 teams):
- C: 150 in initial pool and 15/yr thereafter
- 1B/2B/3B/SS: 100 in initial pool and 10/yr thereafter (per each position)
- OF: 300 in initial pool and 30/yr thereafter
- DH: 15 in initial pool and 5/yr thereafter
- P: 700 in initial pool and 70/yr thereafter
The 1B/2B/3B/SS total player pool ranges from the low 600’s to the low 800’s per group. The catcher total player pool is over 1110, the DH pool is only 64 and the pitcher pool is over 5600.
For example: There are 639 rookie 1st basemen in the database. I randomly ordered them 1-639. Those numbered 1-100 will be in the initial draft pool. Assume only 40 of these players get drafted. The other 60 will be tossed out. In the season 2 draft, I will select #’s 101-110 to be added to the draft pool. Assume 6 of these 10 get drafted; the other 4 will get tossed out. In the season 3 draft, I will select #’s 111-120….and so on and so forth. The same will be done at each position group based on the above formula. I have already built the spreadsheet and will email each owner the excel file that indicates the initial pool and the future pools that way everybody has the list and will be working with the same information.
League Rules
League Format: WIS Format E (4/4/4/4 – 4 total playoff teams and interleague play). If we get a lot of interest, I will consider switching to a 24 team league and using the standard WIS format.
Salary Cap: Will be set high enough to be a non-factor
Ballparks: Prior to the start of the draft, each owner who signs up will have the power to blacklist one ballpark. All other parks will be available to be chosen through the initial draft. Ballparks are unique to each team. Once a team selects a ballpark, they may not change. If a new owner takes over a team, they may make a change provided it is prior to the start of their first season and it cannot be one of the previously blacklisted ballparks.
League Settings: No to WW, AAA and DH. Trades are allowed. The league will be randomly aligned in the first season and will keep the same alignment thereafter.
Disabled List (DL): Teams may maintain a list of players who don’t have a WIS season for the appropriate year but that do have a future season that they wish to utilize in the future. There isn’t a limit to the number of players that may be placed on the DL at any one time; however owners may not keep a player on the DL once they have a WIS season available in the database (even if it is a crappy one).
Draft Format
The initial draft and all future drafts will be conducted in the forums. Initial draft order will be determined at random and will be 26 rounds (25 players + ballpark). It will be a snake style draft except we will utilize a technique called 3rd round reversal. Basically the draft order for the first 4 rounds will be 1-16, 16-1, 16-1, 1-16. After the 4th round, it will snake back and forth each round like any other snake style draft (5th round 16-1, 6th round 1-16, etc). Each team can draft their ballpark at any point during the draft that they so choose.
All future drafts will take place before keepers are named. The draft will consist of 10 rounds and upon completion most teams will probably have more than 25 total players for which they have “rights”. From this basket of players (returning players from previous season + drafted players + former DL players), they will choose the 25 players they wish to keep. Any players not kept will be deleted from the player pool and will no longer be eligible to be used in the league. If a team doesn’t wish to utilize all 10 draft picks within a given draft, they may declare that they are finished and their position will be skipped for the remainder of the draft.
Draft format will be worst to first each round based on record at the 120 game mark. Ties will be broken by Expected Win % (worst goes first), then H2H (worst goes first), then coin flip.
Initial Player Pool Link
http://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?ForumID=2&TopicID=478730&page=-1&TopicsTimeframe=30#postBox
7/8/2014 10:16 AM (edited)