Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Discussions for the Jesse Orosco League.

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bygmester
Posts: 518
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 6:59 am
Location: Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland

Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by bygmester »

Hey all,
I'm not even sure this is possible but I was reading about Wheel Drafts on the message board and thought it might be a fun to try. I'm not sure how the rest of you feel but this league is getting a little monotonous with the same basic playoff cycle playing itself out over and over.
For those of you who aren't sure how it works I stole this from Hamilton's message.


The draft order is predetermined and set without regard for win loss record. In a 16 team league every team will draft one time in the top 4 picks every 4 years. This eliminates the correlation between losing and drafting high, which should increase overall competition for playoff spots. 

Example team draft slots (I'm making this up, it is illustrative only): 

1
16
8
9
2
15
7
10
3
14
6
11
4
13
5
12

Then back to the top of the draft.

I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks.
Thanks
-bygmester
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
-George Herman "Babe" Ruth
JPKellySr
Posts: 174
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 10:36 am

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by JPKellySr »

It makes sense. In the real world, allowing teams with the worst record to draft first, helps to keep the $$$ teams from being too dominant. There is no such worries here.

JPK
NYA
klobas2
Posts: 460
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:09 am

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by klobas2 »

I think it's possible as the Commish menu allows the Commish to change the the draft order.

I'm pretty sure we would need unanimous approval in order to implement it. I'm not 100% sold on it but I really detest tanking for the #1 pick so think this would be an interesting change.
glu24
Posts: 542
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:31 pm

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by glu24 »

This is pretty interesting to me....

The main issue I have with the JOL is the pattern of tanking to rebuild for 5 to 8 seasons and then winning for 5 to 8 seasons.

This seems like it would balance things away from tanking and if you put the time in to prepping your drafts, draft good and are open to making trades you can stay relevant for longer periods of time.

I'd vote to change the league in this way as it would create more strategy within the league and also would make this one of the most unique leagues on the site which would probably help the league recruit teams.
ay42
Posts: 235
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2017 9:38 pm

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by ay42 »

I'm in. Sounds interesting to try.

/Minn
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bygmester
Posts: 518
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Location: Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by bygmester »

I read a little more about how a Wheel Draft works today. I got this from WillyD who is a good veteran owner.


It could help bridge the skill gap a bit. Mostly it tightens up the standings from top to bottom as there usually aren't any really bad teams, and certainly not 2-4 bad teams like some divisions have. This could make it a bit harder to catch up in the standings if you have a really bad start. Maybe you'll see underdog 3rd or 4th place team have a slightly better shot at getting in. That rarely happens now, as you can pick the real playoff contenders in April with 95%+ certainty.

In terms of trading away draft picks for bums, that could still happen in any system. One nice thing about the wheel is that you don't need to sell off good vets for cheap. If you have really good player in his 30's and you know you're not competing for a few seasons, you can keep him until you get a legit offer. There's no pressure to sell off good players so you don't win too many games and hurt your draft position, as the draft position is fixed.

Trade activity is possibly less than some of the really active leagues that have a bunch owners doing the bust/boom sell off everyone and rebuild cycles. There can be some flurry of activity at the trade deadline. Early season trading might slow down as a league matures as many teams might feel they have a shot at competing early in the year. Once reality sets in, the market for vets opens up and teams realize they should be selling or buying. 

In the FRL we have our draft class come out in early August, so picks for the upcoming season can be a hot commodity before the traded deadline if the draft is good.
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
-George Herman "Babe" Ruth
JPKellySr
Posts: 174
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 10:36 am

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by JPKellySr »

Maybe just do the draft wheel for the 1st round & let the other rounds be determined by the standings? A hybrid that might be too complex.

JPK
Texas
JPKellySr
Posts: 174
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 10:36 am

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by JPKellySr »

I don't understand how the wheel works from year to year. You should not be stuck in the bottom 1/2 for 8 straight years.
Maybe list the teams 1 thru 16 for year 1. Then on year 2 invert the list. Then on year 3 shift everyone's position by 1 & then invert it & so on for year4?
How many years in a row are you stuck in the bottom 1/2 of the draft?

JPK
Texas
klobas2
Posts: 460
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:09 am

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by klobas2 »

You wouldn't be stuck in the bottom half for eight years.. I believe the concept would guarantee everyone a pick in the top four every four years. the league would be divided into four blocs of four teams each.

The four blocs would change order each year. The order within the bloc should rotate as well so that one team isn't stuck at the bottom of the bloc.

This order change could be randomized or it could be locked into a static rotating system.

I'm going to send out a mass email to all owners asking for feedback.

I'm excited about this idea.
klobas2
Posts: 460
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:09 am

Re: Any interest in changing how our draft works?

Post by klobas2 »

So for example, I put all 16 teams into an Excel spreadsheet and used a random number function to assign each team a random number. I used a rank function to assign each of the 16 teams into a group.

The groups would be as follows:

1 - Kansas City, Oakland, Baltimore, Florida
2 - Minnesota, Washington, Texas, Atlanta
3 - Boston, Colorado, Philadelphia, Montreal
4 - Seattle, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Arizona

These would be the four blocs

I then used a further randomizer to rank the blocs to determine the inital bloc order

1 - Bloc 3
2 - Bloc 4
3 - Bloc 1
4 - Bloc 2

So the next step is to determine the order within the bloc. Using the same RAND function within Excel and assigning to the teams within the bloc we get the following draft order

1 - Colorado
2 - Philadelphia
3 - Montreal
4 - Boston
5 - Seattle
6 - Milwaukee
7 - Cincinnati
8 - Arizona
9 - Florida
10 - Kansas City
11 - Oakland
12 - Baltimore
13 - Texas
14 - Washington
15 - Minnesota
16 - Atlanta

This is ONLY an example. This does not mean Atlanta gets the last pick. Please don't allow this example to influence your vote.

Then in Year 2 we would shuffle the blocs somehow...not sure if we'd want to do a random sample of the blocs that were not in the top 4...or if we'd want the first bloc to the be the last bloc now and bump every team up a slot.

Hopefully this was helpful. I tried to attach my XLSX file but the message board did not allow it.
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