Roster Balancing Procedures

(for drafts by mail)

The way our draft program works is that for each round, when your turn comes up, the computer goes down your list, giving you your highest ranked available (undrafted) player, subject to the roster-balancing rules. The purpose of these rules is to give you a starter at each position before you start receiving second string players. For example, if you think a good shortstop is very important you might rank 4 of them in your top 10 choices. Once you get one shortstop we skip the next shortstops listed and draft your highest ranked non-shortstops in subsequent rounds. However, since you need 3 outfielders, and 5 pitchers to fill your rotation, we will NOT skip over outfielders until you have 3 of them, and will NOT skip over any regular pitchers you've listed until you have received 5 of them. At the end of Stage 1 you'll still have 4 starting spots to fill. In the second stage, at the end of round 15, or possibly later if you've used the plus option discussed at the end of this draft packet, you should have one C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, three OF's, five regular pitchers, one short reliever, and a player from our DH list or an extra 1B or OFer to bat as a DH. **NOTE: It is best to NOT try to guess how other owners will set up their lists. The best method is just to list players in the order you think they'd help your team!

During the second stage, after you have a starter at every position (including the 3 OFers and 5 regular pitchers), the computer goes back to the top of your second stage ranking sheet, and starts similar roster balancing procedures for your backups. By the end of round 30 you should have 2 players at each of: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, and SS; 6 OF's; a DH or extra 1B or OFer to bat as DH; and 13 pitchers, at least 8 of which are not listed as short relievers on the draft lists. (You may feel that there are not enough good first basemen left as backups. So, instead of always assigning you a second one, we allow you to draft a fourth reserve outfielder or a second DH instead of a backup first baseman.) Once you have received a backup at every position - usually at the end of round 30 - we will once again go back to the top of your (third stage) ranking sheet and start down again. These final picks can include up to: 4 more pitchers, 3 more outfielders, or up to 2 additional players at each of the other positions.

If you do not list enough players at each position, you may be assigned players to your team by default. The order in which players are assigned by default is by player number (which is set by their major league playing time last season) - if you need both pitchers and position players, default drafting is based on 1 inning pitched equaling 2 plate appearances. To avoid receiving players by default, be sure to list players on your sheet from many different positions.