Post by Serge (Yak The Faulk Upov Me) on Oct 23, 2014 9:03:21 GMT -5
I thought it might be a good idea to start a conversation about how we will treat farm teams and draft picks moving forward. There was a decision to limit every team's number of farm team spots as opposed to having it be a free-for-all where GMs can add as many guys to their farms as they wish - I think this was the right approach and that it should absolutely continue.
Having said that, I think it's now important to reach a decision now on how we'll treat upcoming drafts and farm team sizes moving forward. The reason I bring it up so early in the season is that the decision we reach will have ramifications when trading and/or acquiring draft picks. The way I see it, there are two main options to choose from:
Option 1 is to increase farm sizes from year to year. So if we chose to increase farms by say 2 spots per season, next year we'd go from 10 farm spots to 12 and the following year we'd move from 12 to 14 and so on. The advantage to this option is that GMs wouldn't have to cut anyone from their farms in order to make room for newly available prospects every year. It would also allow us to know exactly how many draft picks everyone has available, for example if we increase farm sizes by 2 per year, we have a 2 round draft each season which means everyone starts off with 2 picks - a first and second rounder. Simple. The disadvantage with this option for some will be that larger farm sizes could prove to be more difficult to manage and it would also mean that there would be fewer options available to be plucked from the free agent pool.
Option 2 would be to leave farm sizes the same (i.e. 10 spots) from year to year which would force GMs to make cuts to their farm team before each draft in order to allow them to draft players from that year's class. The advantage to this option is primarily that it leaves some interesting options in the free agent pool for GMs to pick up. The disadvantages are that it complicates things with regards to trading draft picks and forces GMs to drop guys they may not want to drop. For example, I've traded away my first round pick next year so I assume that, at the very least, I'd have to cut one player from my farm before next year's draft (i.e. I no longer have the option of standing pat). Sly's team has acquired 2 first round picks and traded away a second rounder which would mean that, at minimum, he'd have to cut 4 players from his farm before next year's draft. The other complication is that it becomes harder to gauge the value of picks outside the first round since we have no way of knowing how many players each GM will cut from year to year. I could send someone my 6th round pick which could really end up being something like 9th overall or 72nd overall depending on how many cuts the other GMs in the league make.
As mentioned above, I think these are important considerations when trading and/or acquiring draft picks. A GM may be less apt to acquire picks if every pick represents having to cut a player from his farm team.
Anyway, food for thought,
Cheers,
Serge
Having said that, I think it's now important to reach a decision now on how we'll treat upcoming drafts and farm team sizes moving forward. The reason I bring it up so early in the season is that the decision we reach will have ramifications when trading and/or acquiring draft picks. The way I see it, there are two main options to choose from:
Option 1 is to increase farm sizes from year to year. So if we chose to increase farms by say 2 spots per season, next year we'd go from 10 farm spots to 12 and the following year we'd move from 12 to 14 and so on. The advantage to this option is that GMs wouldn't have to cut anyone from their farms in order to make room for newly available prospects every year. It would also allow us to know exactly how many draft picks everyone has available, for example if we increase farm sizes by 2 per year, we have a 2 round draft each season which means everyone starts off with 2 picks - a first and second rounder. Simple. The disadvantage with this option for some will be that larger farm sizes could prove to be more difficult to manage and it would also mean that there would be fewer options available to be plucked from the free agent pool.
Option 2 would be to leave farm sizes the same (i.e. 10 spots) from year to year which would force GMs to make cuts to their farm team before each draft in order to allow them to draft players from that year's class. The advantage to this option is primarily that it leaves some interesting options in the free agent pool for GMs to pick up. The disadvantages are that it complicates things with regards to trading draft picks and forces GMs to drop guys they may not want to drop. For example, I've traded away my first round pick next year so I assume that, at the very least, I'd have to cut one player from my farm before next year's draft (i.e. I no longer have the option of standing pat). Sly's team has acquired 2 first round picks and traded away a second rounder which would mean that, at minimum, he'd have to cut 4 players from his farm before next year's draft. The other complication is that it becomes harder to gauge the value of picks outside the first round since we have no way of knowing how many players each GM will cut from year to year. I could send someone my 6th round pick which could really end up being something like 9th overall or 72nd overall depending on how many cuts the other GMs in the league make.
As mentioned above, I think these are important considerations when trading and/or acquiring draft picks. A GM may be less apt to acquire picks if every pick represents having to cut a player from his farm team.
Anyway, food for thought,
Cheers,
Serge