2015 Winter Meetings Thread

[Troyaof]

?The DH -> no, yes to both leagues, yes to 1 league if so which? Yes at least in my league (cant wait for 5 years when the NL has it in real life too. I am an NL guy but the time has come for pitchers to pitch and hitters to hit
?Interleague play -> 2016, just 2017, 2018 and beyond, just special seasons? (AFBL announced single season implementation for 2017) Bring it as long as schedules are balanced
?Enable international/amateur free agents-> no or yes to some sort of free agent pool/draft? (unlikely but enough interest to bring back, how to implement?) No opinion
?League schedule / number of games -> no change, add/subtract games, modify schedule of opponents (number of games, balance, etc) Fine as long as its balanced as much as possible.

[NorseKaiser]

DH= indifferent
Interleague- yes to having it permanently
International/Ammy free agents- no
League schedule/games- leave as is

[mstreeter06]

I appreciate everyone's responses so far. This is helpful for me to continue to improve the league.

Here is my game plan about our sim schedule to get us to Opening Day 2016...
11/8 (Today): no sim, continue with Ammy Draft, Voting, & Expansion Discusion
11/9-10 (Sat/Sun): no sim, same as above
11/11 (Mon): voting deadline, manually enter results from Statslab in game, sim 6 days to 11/15 (Ammy Draft), release new file/reports, continue drafting in Ammy Draft
11/12 (Tues): We need to finish the Ammy Draft this day and no later than 8pm CT, manually enter draft results in game from Statslab, sim up to start of Spring Training, release new file/reports after that, undrafted players enter FA pool, 1 FA signing per 24 hour window in effect!
11/13 (Wed): 1st half of Spring Training (12 games of 24), release new file/reports
11/14 (Thurs): no sim
11/15 (Fri): 2nd half of Spring Training (final games of ST), release new file/reports
11/16-17 (Sat/Sun): no sim
11/18 (Mon): OPENING DAY 2016! Expansion/Relocation plans for 2017 DUE!

Thanks everyone!

[BaseballAddict32]

Interleague play makes sense, with a balanced schedule, because it allows more complete interaction where all teams face each other. Give people reason to generate some back and forth with the other division. Just a thought I had on this FWIW.

[mstreeter06]

What I would like to motion is "star ratings based on all players, NOT positions" - hopefully someone else seconds this so we can vote on it.

Any other owners have an opinion on this point?

[mstreeter06]

We'll conclude the Winter Meetings on Wednesday morning to allow a few more days for teams to voice any opinions. Here's how I'm gauging everything...

DH -> seems split on yes/no/indifferent
Interleague Play -> majority in favor but wait to see how 2017 goes (I'm leaning towards making it permanent for 2018 and beyond but nothing decided)
International FAs -> mostly no/indifferent (toying with ideas to implement some sort of international FA (plus a feeder league(s)?) style draft down the line)
Schedule -> no changes

As Chappy pointed out when NPBL expanded, I'm thinking about adding a few rounds (7 to 10?) to the Ammy Draft starting for the 2016 draft and a few seasons after.

I figure if we added a few rounds for a couple seasons that'll help balance the league and its players adding 4 teams.

[LT]

What I would like to motion is "star ratings based on all players, NOT positions" - hopefully someone else seconds this so we can vote on it.

Any other owners have an opinion on this point?

I agree on this point. I think star ratings by position are not all that useful overall.

[LT]

We'll conclude the Winter Meetings on Wednesday morning to allow a few more days for teams to voice any opinions. Here's how I'm gauging everything...

DH -> seems split on yes/no/indifferent
Interleague Play -> majority in favor but wait to see how 2017 goes (I'm leaning towards making it permanent for 2018 and beyond but nothing decided)
International FAs -> mostly no/indifferent (toying with ideas to implement some sort of international FA (plus a feeder league(s)?) style draft down the line)
Schedule -> no changes

As Chappy pointed out when NPBL expanded, I'm thinking about adding a few rounds (7 to 10?) to the Ammy Draft starting for the 2016 draft and a few seasons after.

I figure if we added a few rounds for a couple seasons that'll help balance the league and its players adding 4 teams.

I think adding a few rounds to the draft makes sense. Looking at my squad I don't really have enough players to fill rosters at all levels, in fact there are a few positions where I have nobody at the lower levels and also have a bunch of 30 something year old guys who are a retirement risk any season. I'd like to have more young guys - even if they will never play at the AFBL level.

[BaseballAddict32]

We'll conclude the Winter Meetings on Wednesday morning to allow a few more days for teams to voice any opinions. Here's how I'm gauging everything...

DH -> seems split on yes/no/indifferent
Interleague Play -> majority in favor but wait to see how 2017 goes (I'm leaning towards making it permanent for 2018 and beyond but nothing decided)
International FAs -> mostly no/indifferent (toying with ideas to implement some sort of international FA (plus a feeder league(s)?) style draft down the line)
Schedule -> no changes

As Chappy pointed out when NPBL expanded, I'm thinking about adding a few rounds (7 to 10?) to the Ammy Draft starting for the 2016 draft and a few seasons after.

I figure if we added a few rounds for a couple seasons that'll help balance the league and its players adding 4 teams.

I think adding a few rounds to the draft makes sense. Looking at my squad I don't really have enough players to fill rosters at all levels, in fact there are a few positions where I have nobody at the lower levels and also have a bunch of 30 something year old guys who are a retirement risk any season. I'd like to have more young guys - even if they will never play at the AFBL level.

Along those lines I'd also suggest a special amateur draft after next season that is increased to as much as 30 rounds for one year. Here is why. If teams are already thin and you do an expansion draft it means teams will be extremely thin, especially the expansion teams. A one time really deep draft will help fill rosters upfront and then go back to 10 rounds or so. Thoughts?

[fhomess]

• The DH No, at least, not in whatever league I'm in!
• Interleague play I'd prefer to get rid of this completely.  I like the idea that separate leagues are separate.
• Enable international/amateur free agents I have no strong opinion on this.  I lean towards no as I don't think OOTP does a good job of making these players comparable to the ammy draft pool, but that might be old opinion that isn't true anymore.
• League schedule / number of games In general, I like keeping the league schedule consistent so league records are consistent across seasons.  I would most certainly not increase the schedule length.

[mstreeter06]

Anyone have any thoughts on creating a high school and college feeder leagues for future Ammy Draft pools? I'm not sure the pros and cons of this over our current Ammy Draft pool generation?

Also maybe create some international and/or independent feeder leagues to generate some extra players for when we expand? Maybe hold a separate international/independent feeder league draft somehow?

Just brainstorming to see what everyone thinks? I want to make sure we don't stretch ourselves thin player-wise as a league.

[RaySwalleyGM]

I think a college and high school feeder system is a nice idea. It gives you a better judge based on competition level compared to output and that is the way it's done in my leagues now and passed.

[24Rocks]

Anyone have any thoughts on creating a high school and college feeder leagues for future Ammy Draft pools? I'm not sure the pros and cons of this over our current Ammy Draft pool generation?

Also maybe create some international and/or independent feeder leagues to generate some extra players for when we expand? Maybe hold a separate international/independent feeder league draft somehow?

Just brainstorming to see what everyone thinks? I want to make sure we don't stretch ourselves thing player-wise as a league.

I do this for my solo league and It works very well (I have a BIG game lots of feeder league) the last league I was in used it but that was a few game versions ago, I would be very interested in this.

[mikezone13]

Anyone have any thoughts on creating a high school and college feeder leagues for future Ammy Draft pools? I'm not sure the pros and cons of this over our current Ammy Draft pool generation?

Also maybe create some international and/or independent feeder leagues to generate some extra players for when we expand? Maybe hold a separate international/independent feeder league draft somehow?

Just brainstorming to see what everyone thinks? I want to make sure we don't stretch ourselves thing player-wise as a league.

What it does is give you more info to go on at draft time. Could be interesting to include.

[BaseballAddict32]

How does the feeder league function? Never used one.