2014 Winter Meetings Thread

[mstreeter06]

We will hold our Winter Meetings here. We will discuss any rule changes, improvements, or anything else that needs to be addressed before the 2015 season...

[mstreeter06]

Bringing over the items from the 2013 Winter Meetings to discuss for implementation for the 2015 season or beyond...

• The DH -> no, yes to both leagues, yes to 1 league if so which?
• Interleague play -> none at all, yes but wait for special/significant season, yes implement permanently?
• League expansion (earliest 2016 season) -> none for now, yes for 2016, yes but 2017 or beyond?
• Enable international/amateur free agents -> no or yes to some sort of free agent pool/draft
• League schedule / number of games -> no change, add/subtract games, modify schedule of opponents (number of games, balance, etc)

I appreciate and will listen to everyone's input. Please discuss on these issues or anything you can think of to continue to improve our young league for the upcoming and future seasons!

[Troyaof]

I will go ahead and start this since only 6 teams are playing now.

Found this from Matt from last years Winter Meetings

Of the few questions I asked to begin the 2013 Winter Meetings, I see three issues that deserve to stay on our minds for possible incorporation in the future...

• The DH: about 50/50 on yes or no... if yes -> both leagues or just 1 if so which?
• Interleague play: seems more for yes, definitely in the plans... -> decision is when to implement it?
• Expansion: definitely in the Commissioner's office plans... -> hope to expand from 16 to 20/24/28 within the league's first ten years

I appreciate everyone's input. We'll hold off on any changes for the 2014 season but continue your input and discussion on these issues or anything you can think of to continue to improve our young league!

Per Matt's discussion from last year:
I am fine with Interleague
I believe we have 3 on the wait list. I would like to see those teams incorporated for 2015 by expanding by 4.
--If we expand to 20 I would like to see Playoff expansion. Maybe 2 divisons in each league and 2 wildcards (12 of 20 make it. Is that too many? Excitement for more longer? Have the Wildcards play a 3 game series (1h,1a,1h) MLBs 1 game series is dumb.)
I want a DH in my league, if not both.
And then new from me this year:
I'd like 3 FAs a day.


I think that's everything.

[mstreeter06]

Added my official discussion points in the 2nd post of this thread. Same points for the most part as last year. Feel free to voice any other suggestions or thoughts about the above items. Thanks guys!

[mikezone13]

My opinions:

- The DH -> no thanks, well not in the Patriot league anyway

- Interleague play - yes, but should announce it 1-2 seasons before implementation to allow a decent schedule to be created

- League expansion (earliest 2016 season) -> 2016 could be good (2 teams per league maximum), get any new GMs on board early and involved in All Star and awards voting etc to get them immersed in the league. Make a rule that you're not allowed to start a team in a state where an existing team already has a minors team.

- Enable international/amateur free agents -> I don't think there's any need, as we don't have finances drafting is fine

- League schedule / number of games -> If we go interleague with 16 teams I'd like to see the following
      - 3 x 3 game series H versus each league opponent
      - 3 x 3 game series A versus each league opponent
      - 1 x 2 game series H versus each interleague opponent
      - 1 x 2 game series A versus each interleague opponent
That's 158 games in total... or

      - 3 x 3 game series H versus each league opponent
      - 3 x 3 game series A versus each league opponent
      - 1 x 3 game series H versus each interleague opponent
      - 1 x 3 game series A versus each interleague opponent
That's 174 games in total

[24Rocks]

Bringing over the items from the 2013 Winter Meetings to discuss for implementation for the 2015 season or beyond...

• The DH -> no, yes to both leagues, yes to 1 league if so which?
• Interleague play -> none at all, yes but wait for special/significant season, yes implement permanently?
• League expansion (earliest 2016 season) -> none for now, yes for 2016, yes but 2017 or beyond?
• Enable international/amateur free agents -> no or yes to some sort of free agent pool/draft
• League schedule / number of games -> no change, add/subtract games, modify schedule of opponents (number of games, balance, etc)

I appreciate and will listen to everyone's input. Please discuss on these issues or anything you can think of to continue to improve our young league for the upcoming and future seasons!

1 yes maybe DH for one league or alternate 2015 one league 2016 another league
since we dont have FA i dont think we should have international but maybe Independant league ones
The number of games is perfect for me but interleague would be nice
Expanstion if we have enough people to expand now we should do we have a good crop of GMs so league activity is perfect i like Mikes awnser to get them involved right away with season awards.

[mukerka]

in the first place, i want interleague games. international free agents dont like me because we are playing without finances

[Cannon Fodder06]

I'm for no DH personally.
No on Interleague - old school for what it's worth
For expansion if we have enough waiting in the wings to add 4.
Since finances are not in, I'd say no to international free agents - maybe make them part of overall draft
keep at 162 for the number of games

[yuda]

The DH -> no, yes to both leagues, yes to 1 league if so which?

My preference is no. If anybody has it, it should be the league I don't play in.

Interleague play -> none at all, yes but wait for special/significant season, yes implement permanently?

I'm old-school too, so my preference is no interleague, but it's not a strong preference.

League expansion (earliest 2016 season) -> none for now, yes for 2016, yes but 2017 or beyond?

Honestly I wouldn't even worry about this until we go a couple of seasons without having to replace any owners.

Enable international/amateur free agents -> no or yes to some sort of free agent pool/draft

This could be interesting (I presume they'd just go into the amateur draft pool). The big question would be logistics - will it work with statslab, etc, etc.

League schedule / number of games -> no change, add/subtract games, modify schedule of opponents (number of games, balance, etc

I'd like to get to a place where we play every team the same number of times, with an even home/road split. If we don't do interleague, that would be 154 (7 teams in league x 22 games).

If we *do* do interleague, we could do something like 160 games (16 games each vs. the 7 teams in your league, 6 games each vs. the 8 teams in the other league)

[JKGuy16]

I say no to DH.

I say yes to interleague play.  I really think we should all be playing each other.

I'm fine with expansion but we need to make certain we have 16 active owners first.  If that's the case, then I'm all for it.

[claphamsa]

im no on DH
no on international FAs since we do no finances
I vote we go to one FA add a day, or more like expand the actual draft another round or 2 to soak up some excess players. (IE, as long as there are worthy players, they should be distributed evenly)
no on expansion

[mstreeter06]

If you haven't already chimed in about any potential changes, please do so. We'll continue this discussion until the turnover of the game calendar.

Also vote for our annual end of season awards in the Statslab utility if not already done so.

[NorseKaiser]

DH- would prefer no

Interleague- I would like interleague, but I don't really care that much.

Expansion- I like 2016, and then revisiting/voting when it comes up again.

International/Amateur FA- indifferent

League schedule- leave as is

[Ohio GM]

My thoughts

?The DH -> Yes to both leagues
?Interleague play -> wait for special/significant season
?League expansion (earliest 2016 season) -> Too early - need more of a waiting list
?Enable international/amateur free agents -> no
?League schedule / number of games -> no change

[DCHepler25]

• The DH -> no, yes to both leagues, yes to 1 league if so which?
• Interleague play -> none at all, yes but wait for special/significant season, yes implement permanently?
• League expansion (earliest 2016 season) -> none for now, yes for 2016, yes but 2017 or beyond?
• Enable international/amateur free agents -> no or yes to some sort of free agent pool/draft
• League schedule / number of games -> no change, add/subtract games, modify schedule of opponents (number of games, balance, etc)

DH - I would say no for the league I'm in. The other league can do what they want.
Interleague Play - No.
Expansion - I like the idea of waiting until 2016, if we have the owners. But get them involved now.
International FAs - No. The draft is fine the way it is.
Schedule - Keep it the same.