Preseason Baseball Is On The Air!

[BigbadB]

Woo Hoo!

 

Sleet was the name of the game in San Diego last night. Hardly seems like it's time to play baseball again, but sure enough........

 

The draft will begin March 7th. This draft will be an extended online draft where each owner should be notified by email when it is their turn to pick, and they will have a certain length of time (yet to be determined) to make their pick. We hope to complete the draft within a few weeks, as we will still need to conduct a prospect draft immediately following the major league draft.

 

I've set the major league portion of the draft to 10 rounds, and those 10 rounds are for major league eligible only players. After 10 rounds, anyone in the free agent pool will be fair game provided they are not eligible for the prospect draft. The prospect draft will be minor league eligible players only. We will continue choosing until everyone is done choosing.

 

You are allowed to draft beyond the roster limits in both the major league and minor league drafts. However, trades will not be allowed if your roster is illegal.

 

Please go to your Roadkill fantasy league page and double check to make sure your email address is correct. This is extremely important! League news, messages, updates and announcements get sent to the inbox for the email address you provide on that site. I'm aware of one manager who had the incorrect address on that site, and that the old address hasn't been valid for several years now.

[Guest]

Can you take anyone in the major league draft?

[Guest]

Players that are minor league eligible are not allowed to be drafted in the major league portion of the draft. I suppose we should also declare foreign players coming to the US on free agent type contracts (like Fukudome) one way or another, also. I guess the line is whether it is expected they will start as major leaguers (Fukudome again) or as minor leaguers (the two kids the Cubs just picked up from Cuba).

 

I'm personally fine with drafting unsigned free agents (former major league players who have not been signed by a team). For example, an injured player like Ben Sheets a few years ago and a semi retired player like Roger Clemens or Pedro Martinez. I'd use more recent examples, but I haven't paid much attention to who hasn't signed recently.

 

Anyone else I'm not thinking of?

[Guest]

Players that are minor league eligible are not allowed to be drafted in the major league portion of the draft. I suppose we should also declare foreign players coming to the US on free agent type contracts (like Fukudome) one way or another, also. I guess the line is whether it is expected they will start as major leaguers (Fukudome again) or as minor leaguers (the two kids the Cubs just picked up from Cuba).

 

I'm personally fine with drafting unsigned free agents (former major league players who have not been signed by a team). For example, an injured player like Ben Sheets a few years ago and a semi retired player like Roger Clemens or Pedro Martinez. I'd use more recent examples, but I haven't paid much attention to who hasn't signed recently.

 

Anyone else I'm not thinking of?

 

 

this has always been a little problematic - by this rule, a star rookie cannot be drafted in the major league portion - this is probably ok since star prospects tend to be on rosters already and people can always take said player in the minor league draft and then promote them.

[Guest]

I'll look around to make sure we have a sticky somewhere regarding the prospect portion of the draft, but the current rules for prospects is:

 

Anyone that is minor league eligible can be taken in the prospect draft. Once the prospect draft is finished, all minor leaguers become free agents that are minor league eligible. However, high school and college players in the June Amateur Draft and anyone added to the CBS database after that date will not be allowed to be picked up until the next minor league prospect draft.

 

So, during the regular fantasy league season, if a minor leaguer gets promoted to their major league club and they were not a recent add or June Amateur Draft player, but is listed in the free agent pool, they are considered a free agent and can be picked up by anyone.

[Guest]

Players that are minor league eligible are not allowed to be drafted in the major league portion of the draft. I suppose we should also declare foreign players coming to the US on free agent type contracts (like Fukudome) one way or another, also. I guess the line is whether it is expected they will start as major leaguers (Fukudome again) or as minor leaguers (the two kids the Cubs just picked up from Cuba).

 

I'm personally fine with drafting unsigned free agents (former major league players who have not been signed by a team). For example, an injured player like Ben Sheets a few years ago and a semi retired player like Roger Clemens or Pedro Martinez. I'd use more recent examples, but I haven't paid much attention to who hasn't signed recently.

 

Anyone else I'm not thinking of?

 

 

this has always been a little problematic - by this rule, a star rookie cannot be drafted in the major league portion - this is probably ok since star prospects tend to be on rosters already and people can always take said player in the minor league draft and then promote them.

 

Yeah, 160 of the top prospects are already on teams. Those players drafted in June that might get a call up are the ones that make this rule a bit difficult. For example, if Stephen Strasberg came up to the bigs in the same season he was drafted, he wouldn't be allowed to be picked up by a team during that season. He would be subject to the prospect draft order for the next season. However, how many times is a guy going to jump straight to the bigs in just a few months?

 

At the same time, I could see the rare instance where this occurs that this same player loses minor league eligibility, so then they would technically be eligible for the major league portion. I suppose we should discuss closing that loophole somehow. I'd prefer to hear opinions on this, though.

[Guest]

Did we previously require that players drafted in the major league draft had to spend the season on the major league roster? That isn't enough as most people would still take Harper . . . but it might help. Or you could limit it to players on a 40 man - though that is a pain to research and could also have some drawbacks.

[Guest]

Did we previously require that players drafted in the major league draft had to spend the season on the major league roster? That isn't enough as most people would still take Harper . . . but it might help. Or you could limit it to players on a 40 man - though that is a pain to research and could also have some drawbacks.

 

Harper isn't eligible for the major league portion of the draft. He hasn't played a big league game yet, let alone exceed the minor league eligibility rules, and he probably won't play one in 2011. He was also in the June draft, which makes him untouchable until the prospect portion of our draft.

 

Part of the reason we changed this rule was because we don't all spend equal amounts of time dissecting drafts and minor leagues and when players actually get added to the CBS database. Thus, a scheduled date to add these players.

 

I suppose now would be a good time to point out that not all June Amateur Draft players have been added to CBS, but if the player someone wants isn't in the database, we will create that player and when the real player is added, you just need to switch them out.

[NCCubFan]

One potential conflict is that there can be players who have played in the major leagues before but still have few enough plate appearances or pitching appearances to retain minor league eligibility. That could include players called up last September when rosters expanded or players called up earlier in the year who did not see enough regular playing time to lose minor league eligibility. Off the top of my head I can think of at least three such players on my own roster (Castro, Ka'iwhatever, and McGee). Since they'd qualify for either my major league or minor league roster, presumably players in similar situations would qualify for either draft.

[Guest]

One potential conflict is that there can be players who have played in the major leagues before but still have few enough plate appearances or pitching appearances to retain minor league eligibility. That could include players called up last September when rosters expanded or players called up earlier in the year who did not see enough regular playing time to lose minor league eligibility. Off the top of my head I can think of at least three such players on my own roster (Castro, Ka'iwhatever, and McGee). Since they'd qualify for either my major league or minor league roster, presumably players in similar situations would qualify for either draft.

 

I don't see any easier way of doing it than declaring that if they are minor league eligible, they are off limits for the major league portion of the draft, and if they aren't minor league eligible, they aren't eligible for the minor league portion of the draft. I have players like that too. I'm sure we all do. This seems like one of those situations where it's best to just police ourselves while having a clear cut explanation of who is eligible for which draft.

 

If I'm considering drafting EY Jr., I should look to make sure which draft he is eligible for before drafting him. With 16 pairs of eyes looking over each pick, we can help make sure someone isn't drafting someone they shouldn't. And I suppose if they do make that mistake during the draft and picks have already been made before we could correct it, they risk losing that pick entirely. And someone could ask before they draft someone so that they don't make that mistake in the first place.

 

It's open for discussion obviously and nothing is set in stone at this point. If people think that any major league service time should automatically make them eligible for the major league portion, I'm fine with that, too. I just think it will be more confusing.

[Quakers]

I think the way to handle this is as follows.

 

Anyone picked in the major league portion of our draft, has to to on the major league team at the start on the season. If not, the Roadkill team that drafted him loses their rights to him.

 

Anyone picked during the minor league portion of the draft has to be on a minor league squad at the start of the season. If not the Roadkill team who selected him loses the rights to him.

 

It would be possible for one team to select a player in the major league phase and another team to select the same player in the minor league phase and which team got him would be determined by which level he starts the season at.

 

The commish would have to rule on any player on an injured reserve list, etc...

 

I like the idea of keeping the rule of those players not selected in either phase of the draft becomes a free agent.

 

Where I have some concerns is where the rules have changed since last year. Players who are selected in this year's draft and then made it to the majors were available to be picked up. At least that is my memory. Also with the players that are not currently on CBS's data base. Will we easily be able to determine when a player was entered into the data base? We need to keep things simple.

[Quakers]

Also, we can't draft anyone in the major league draft that still has minor league eligibility?

 

That would be a change in the rules from last year. Someone could have kept a player with minor league eligibility on their major league squad.

 

I think we need to stick to the rules from above. Anyone you select during the major league portion of our draft better be on the major league team on opening day and anyone you select during the minor league phase better be on a minor league team on opening day.

 

But I am sure we will hear other opinions.

[NCCubFan]

I'm more concerned about the major league draft. If a player with eligibility at both levels is available to be taken in the prospect draft that means every manager had a fair chance at the player and passed (last year was different because we did the prospect draft first). So I don't really have a problem with taking a minor-league eligible player in the prospect draft and then have that player wind up in the majors. As far as the major league draft is concerned I think Al's proposal has some merit, but that would have the effect of punishing a manager with the loss of a player due to circumstances that can't be accurately predicted at this time. There could be a player who clearly belongs in the major leagues but gets sent down for a couple weeks to start the season to delay free agency by a year. This is quite common. As a variation, how about saying that if you draft a player in the major league draft you must keep him on your major league roster or release him unless he gets sent to the minors in real baseball, but if he does then you can place him on your minor league roster?

 

It would probably be simpler if we went back to the old way of having a single draft and you decided how many major leaguers vs. prospects you draft, but if we did that we might as well just concede the top prospects to Tim and be done with it since he'd use some of his hoarded draft picks to overdraft prospects before anyone else got them. :D

[NCCubFan]

Where I have some concerns is where the rules have changed since last year. Players who are selected in this year's draft and then made it to the majors were available to be picked up. At least that is my memory.

You're right about this. Navin picked up Chris Sale when he was called up to the majors by the White Sox last year (much to Clint's chagrin).