[Pelican]

I confused how the new teams will find 150 players for their organizations, with no expansion draft, no amateur draft, only free agent signings. By simple arithmetic, there will be 200 new major league roster spots (8 X 25). Suddenly there will be 600 “major league” players, where there were just 400 in 1960. Where do these 200 new major leaguers come from, exactly? Presumably they will mostly be AAA players. As the Continental League teams sign free agents, established major league teams will need to fill out rosters with these AAA players. In a perfect world, with the AAA guys spread evenly among 24 teams, that would mean 8 or 9 AAA guys per team (active roster).

I ask these questions not to criticize, but wondering aloud how this will shake out. We know that the staggered MLB expansion in 1961 and in 1962 skewed a lot of statistics. And that was only 100 new roster spots. With 200 new spots in one year, talent will be suddenly diluted to an even greater degree.

Not that this is a bad thing. At least, in your scheme, there is some possibility of talent being spread more evenly, than with an expansion draft as the main mechanism to supply players. Yours is more comparable to the Federal League in 1914-1915, and we all know how that ended. [But I am a huge FL fan, and some of those teams were legit good!].

So, if I’m the GM of the Houston Colts, I could make offers to Mays and/or Clemente and/or other MLB roster free agents, at least until my money runs out. And take a look at more fringe MLB players who are not under contract. What about AAA and AA guys who are not on the active roster of an MLB team? Are they fair game to sign with the Continental League? Is this war?

How, as an expansion GM, do I fill out my minor league system? I will need over a hundred more guys. So will the other seven expansion teams. That’s over 800 new players in one year. Without fictional players, even allowing for the guys who started IRL in 1961, how do we fill 800+ new slots? In my 1960 Season sim, with full minors, I don’t recall many minor league free agents (and obviously, these were not quality players). I guess you have reduced somewhat the number of minor league teams, and that would create a pool of unaffiliated players. And with full TCR, some of the worst guys would improve.

Your idea is an inspiration to try. I would have an accurate scouting setting. Finding a dependable head scout is hard enough, without the worry that he will be doomed to failure. But I’m persuaded that a relatively high TCR, at least 150, will effectively mitigate the advantages of hindsight. (And/or I could have a house rule, not to take advantage of then-unheralded future greats.). As with the Federal League, any player on an established MLB roster without a contract would be fair game to sign a Continental League contract. And so would any minor league player. But I wonder if the AI would react to the new reality, by locking up the best players in better deals?

How will you handle the money available to the 24 teams for all these free agent contracts? Same budget for each team? Salary cap? Use the existing 1960 budget framework for the established teams? This is all fascinating stuff. I hope the game software is capable of adapting to this scenario.