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I mentioned I was overwhelmed (but in a good way) so I decided to break things done to pieces. Rather than concentrate on the whole league and the draft pool I figure step one is get to know my team. I have seen others who manage teams use a lot of detailed spreadsheets so I thought any easy way to look at my team was to have a 1 page spreadsheet organized by level and position and color coded so I could see at a glance the current state and future prospects on my roster.
BROOKLYN KINGS INITIAL ROSTER
I went through the scouting reports and stat history for all of the players in my organization to create a depth chart. To start getting used to my team I color coded everyone in my organization in one of 6 categories.
Red - Superstars or for prospects ones I thought could potentially become superstars. I have only one guy I would rate that high. A 26 year old outfielder by the name of Bud Rogers. He won the league batting title (.348) and led the Association in doubles last season - his third in the FABL but first as an everyday player. None of my prospects I would rate this high.
GREEN - reserved for players who I felt were or would become above average in the league. They included my starting catcher, first baseman, shortstop and other two outfielders on the big league club as well as 6 minor leaguers - 3 of them outfielders and none pitchers.
ORANGE - Players I felt were or could become average major leaguers. My starting second baseman and third baseman fell into this category as did 9 position player prospects and 2 minor league pitchers. I also might have been generous in declaring 2 of my major league pitchers as average- although one was a 39 year old former star clearly on the downside of his career. I just hope he has one more year left in him.
YELLOW - Players I thought could be back-ups or marginal major leaguers. Here is where most of my pitching staff falls and nearly all of my better (or more accurately less worse) pitching prospects.
BLUE - Just for prospects. Career minor leaguers at best. Guys I will jettison as soon as I need roster space for a guy I consider a real prospect.
GREY - The veteran version of blue. Guys who are no longer prospects and have no real future in the organization...basically just filling up roster space primarily on my AAA farm team.
I was trying to find an easy way to take a quick glance at my organization as I learn all the names and I think this was the easiest way to accomplish that. In addition to the players name, his coloured box also includes his age, any additional positions he has played and if he is on my 40-man roster or if he is rule V draft eligible.
So that's what I did to get to know my team. I made another spreadsheet for my draft board taking the advice I see from my scout (who was rated GOOD in assessing amateur talent) and from what I saw in looking at a player's feeder league stats. It took a lot of time but was well worth it and when I talk about the draft you will hear things went well for me...at least I think they did, but it will take a couple of seasons to see how these guys pan out.
I thought about posting an image of my depth chart spreadsheet but not sure if that gives away too much of my thinking to any of my competitors in the league who read this.
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