I hope you have found the 2005 season to be enjoyable thus far. I would like to renew the league tradition this year of getting together for a World Series game. Game 1 of the Series is scheduled for October 22, so that seems to be a good choice. If anyone out there would like to volunteer to host this event, bids are now being accepted. The other option is that the winning team can choose a restaurant to go to that has TV's and we can do the championship dinner there while watching the game. Of course, since the Pandas are winning, there is a very real possibility that the championship meal may be served by the nearest Taco Bell drive thru.
I would also like to introduce some new wrinkles for the 2006 season. The following are changes I would like to add in:
1. Stolen bases
I would like to change this category to net steals (stolen bases - caught stealing) next year.
2. Trades
First, and this is NOT an item for discussion, trades must identify how much player value is to be assigned to/retained by the trading teams. Example, I trade $25 Hideki Matsui and $5 Brad Halsey to Doug for $4 Chad Tracy and $1 Adam Eaton. Doug and I must agree on how much of Matsui and Halsey's salary Doug will pay and how much I retain. Too often this year, I was forced to guess at this and a precise value must be assigned to the players to allow them to be properly dealt again during the season, should that happen.
I also want to look at the possibility of exploring limits on retained salary. I would like to propose as a starting point that there be an absolute ceiling of $20 per player. So, if I were to deal $42 Todd Helton, the owner I was dealing with must be able to pay at least $22. We can also explore percentage limits, say up to 50% of a player's salary (always round up to the nearest dollar) can be eaten by the trading owner up to the $20 ceiling. So, let's look at the earlier example: 50% of Matsui's salary is $13 and 50% of Halsey's salary is $3. That is the maximum I can eat. In he case of Helton, 50% is $21, which is over the $20 ceiling, so $20 is the max. We can also discuss sliding scales (i.e. retain 100% under $5, 75% under $10, 50% under $20 and so on), but I see a LOT of work for ye olde commish in that option.
3. Divisional play and playoffs
This is one I have always wanted to do, but I have always wanted to stay away from doing two separate drafts. So, I talked it over with Duane and we came up with the following framework:
At the conclusion of the draft, I will conduct a blind draw that will split the league into two six team divisions. The web site will continue to reflect the standings of the whole 12-team league, but there will be separate standings, presented in the message box each Saturday, showing the standings in the 2 divisions. At the end of the season, the top two teams from each division (one of which will, obviously, be the league champ) will advance to a four-team playoff, which I will maintain via a new league blog that I will create.
The four teams will participate in a draft (which can be in-person or via the Net. I prefer the Net.). The teams will draft a roster of 8 position players, two utilities, three starters and one reliever from the 8 MLB playoff teams (draft order will be division winner with most points, the other division winner, division runner up with most points, other runner-up. Draft rounds will ALWAYS be top-down, not snake-style). The teams will compete in the same 11 categories we do today with one difference, as net wins and net saves will be combined into a single number ((wins + saves) - (losses + blown saves)). At the end of the Division Series, the team with the lowest score will be eliminated and the three survivors will participate in a supplemental draft to replace players lost in the Division Series. We then continue to the LCS round and the lowest point-getter at the end of the LDS will be eliminated and the top two will continue on to the World Series.
There is a benefit of keeping more teams interested later into the season, and it will also help (I hope) reduce the number of fire-sale trades made. Or, if it doesn't reduce them, teams will at least have to think a little bit harder about whether or not they're packing it in at trade deadline time. The drawback, and I really don't see it as one, is that the playoff-bound teams will have to commit to an extra draft round for the playoffs. I decided to do the random-draw divisions rather than simply send the top four teams to create the possibility of a middle- or lower-tier team having a chance to make the playoffs.
Woof. Long note.
