[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Big Six

I just took a look at the free agent list for the BBL, and there are a number of players there who would probably make very good football or basketball players.

For example, I found Antonio Reyes, a 21-year-old middle reliever whose ratings are mediocre at best. He'll probably never sign a baseball contract with any team, but he's 6'10". I have a feeling somebody would want him on their basketball team, don't you?

Allen Hess, a 27-year-old first baseman, is 6'7" and weighs 249 pounds. He can move well for a big dude (Speed 12), and he's agile (Fielding 9. He would be an absolute beast on the football field or the basketball court.

Right fielder Lawrence Jermy stands 6'3", weighs 200 pounds, and has 19 Speed. He apparently can't hit a baseball to save his life, but I can imagine he'd make a pretty fair running back or linebacker.

I'm wondering what to do about guys like Reyes, Hess, and Jermy, who were generated for the player pool in OOTP but aren't on any team's roster.

There are several possible things I could do:

• Should I disregard them completely? That would make them the equivalent of the kids you knew in high school, the ones all the coaches begged, unsuccessfully, to come out for sports.
  
• Should I allow teams to "draft" players for football or basketball only? In a sense, it's a little unrealistic to assume that all the athletes in each town play baseball; some would play only football, only basketball, or both other sports. I'd end up having to assign the non-baseball players to a town manually.
  
• Some of the free agents were once signed to baseball contracts but have been released. Lawrence Jermy, for example, was drafted by Pittsfield in 1972, but was released. Should Lawrence be eligible to represent Pittsfield in other sports?

If any of you have an opinion, please post and let me know.

Just my opinion, but I like the second option, allowing teams to "draft" players just for one sport if necessary. I'd kind of see those baseball free agents as guys baseball isn't their best sport, but who knows, one of those kids might be a heck of a kicker or center. It does seem more realistic if some guys play all three sports, others could play two, and others would just want to play one sport.