Questions about drafting

We always get many questions regarding draft procedures, and I'm sure many of the same questions will arise this year. The most asked question is: Can I draft a player to fill a position other than what he is listed at on the player lists? In other words, many of you want to do something like draft a guy we might have listed at SS to play 3B for you, and then draft another guy listed at SS to play SS for you. Once the season starts you can play a player at a position without an out of position penalty, as long as he is shown as qualifying at that position on these player lists. But for draft balancing purposes, a player can ONLY count at the position he is listed under on our player lists. (This does NOT mean a player counts for roster balancing at every position he qualifies at. During the draft a player only counts at the position he is listed under for roster balancing purposes.) In the past we tried listing some players at two positions, and it seemed to cause much more confusion than it was worth. Also, we really believe you will do better in Scoresheet Baseball if you stick for the most part to our recommended positions. We have found in the past that if we let owners list additional positions for players during the draft process that many teams will NOT end up with a balanced roster.

But, we do have an advanced option you can use. If you choose, you can put a plus sign (+) next to a player's number on your ranking sheet. What this means is that you want to draft that player even if you already have a player at that position. For instance, you may have already gotten someone as your third baseman, but a second 3B is still undrafted when his spot on your list is reached. If you have a plus sign (+) next to the second 3B's player number you will get him also, even though you already have a third baseman. (A plus sign will only override roster balancing for one extra player at each position. For example, you could get a second shortstop, or a 4th starting outfielder, before you get a starting catcher. However, you will NOT get a second backup at a position before you get a starter everywhere else.) Once you get a plussed player he does count at that position. We feel the number of times you should use this option is very limited (in fact we feel most of you will not use it at all). Do not get carried away. Our roster balancing procedures are designed to help you get a balanced team. (We recommend keeping the number of plusses you use under 10!) This plus option is the reason that some teams may NOT have a starter at every position exactly at round 15, or have a starter and backup players everywhere by round 30 exactly.

Many owners write detailed notes asking if they can get a different number of players at a certain position under special circumstances. For instance, they write and say: "If a short reliever that I have listed in my top 30 picks is still available then I'd like two short relievers before I get a starting second baseman, but not before I get a starting shortstop". Unfortunately, there are limits to what can be done with a draft by mail. We do our draft with a computer (we type in player numbers, check for typos, then the computer does the actual draft.) If we tried to manually draft and included every owner's individual request for draft balancing, we would never get the season started. We want everyone in the same league to draft using the same rules, and so we WILL stick to the rules as listed in this packet.

Miscellaneous Rules

1) Your team will not have more than 8 pitchers and 16 position players appear in a single game.

2) In this winter game you can only draft players from the player list included with this draft packet - if a player is not on this list, but played a significant amount of time in 1973-76, then he is on the other league's player list, and so is not eligible in your league. Also, these lists are final as far as qualifying for fielding purposes - if a position is not listed for a player as one he qualifies at then he does not qualify there in any of the 4 years! The same thing is true for pitchers - if a pitcher is listed on the short reliever list then he can not start a game in Scoresheet, even if he may have had a couple of starts that particular year in the majors.

3) Once games are played they are final

4) The player lists are also available on our web page. For links to the player list, rules packet, your league page, etc. go to: www.scoresheet.com/winterbb.html Please feel free to access our site. You can also create and send your ranking sheet from the web's player list. Just go to the player list and click on the link titled 'create ranking sheet' page.

5) 10 team leagues are split into two 5 team divisions. At the end of the regular season the 2 division winners make the playoffs (no wild card!) The playoffs are a best of 16 series, with 4 games being played using each segment (4 games using 1973 stats and the roster and lineup you had in effect for that segment, 4 games using 1974 stats and the roster and lineup you had in effect for that segment, etc.) If there is a tie after the 16 games the tie-breaker is run differential in the 16 game series.

6) In this winter game, after both stages of the draft are completed, you can trade just one or two years of a player. For instance, you could trade one player's '74 and '75 stats for all 4 years of another player's stats, meaning that in 1976 you'd still keep the player you traded for, and you'd also get the player you traded away back. However, you can NOT make partial year trades in between the first and second stages of the draft. We make those trades before we do the second stage of the draft so that they affect roster balancing, and our roster balancing program can not handle a 'partial year' trade!

Let's all have a great time - we're looking forward to a great winter season!

AL Draft Packet                    NL Draft Packet    
Complete AL packet in PDF          Complete NL packet in PDF 
Introduction - How we draft        Introduction - How we draft
Roster Balancing Procedures        Roster Balancing Procedures 
Playing Limits                     Playing Limits     
AL Player Lists Explanation        NL Player Lists Explanation 
Fielding numbers                   Fielding numbers 
Hitting and Pitching Stats         Hitting and Pitching Stats   
Statistics Used:                   Statistics Used:
  Batting and Base Running                 Batting and Base Running
  Pitching                                 Pitching
  Fielding                                 Fielding
Additional SS Baseball Rules       Additional SS Baseball Rules  
Questions about drafting           Questions about drafting  
AL Ranking Sheet                   NL Ranking Sheet     
AL Winter Baseball Player List     NL Winter Baseball Player List
AL Winter player list in PDF       NL Winter player list in PDF
BL (both league) Winter Baseball Player List
BL Winter player list in PDF
Sample Batting and Bench Lineup Card
Batting and Bench Card Instructions
Sample Pitching Lineup Card
Pitching Card Instructions

Scoresheet Winter Baseball Rules and Customer Support