League idea. Need help setting up

Sven Draconian · 12-19-2012, 09:34 PM

I have an idea for a fictional league based on a quasi European/Retro player movement concept. I call it retro because it isn't exactly historical more of a re-imagined history.

In short, I want too have a 12 team league, 2 divisions with no interleague play (Adhering strictly to geography). 1 level of minors following the same setup.

I would then like to setup a system of "minor" leagues/independent leagues for the major leagues to pull players from. I would ideally like to setup in the neighborhood of 40 of these teams split into 4 leagues (though, not 10 teams per league. Some with 6, others with 12 ect...).

The major leagues would then come in and sign the best players from those teams. Ideally I would set them up like u19, u23 and then a couple of regular independent leagues.

Financially it would be complete free agency. Maybe add something like 1 season of team control and 1 or 2 years of arbitration. Fringe and bench players should freely move between the major leagues and "independent" leagues (even during the season. Is that possible?)

In Summary:
1 major league
1 minor league
4 independent leagues

Is this type of setup possible? Could the AI even handle it?

jb28 · 12-20-2012, 01:23 AM

A setup like that is possible. I don't know if you can create exactly what you want but you'll definitely be able to create something close.

Here's how I'd do it:
create template > start game > sim a couple seasons > evaluate > create new template > start new game > repeat until you have a league setup that works for you

Sounds like you want to create:
1 major league
1 affiliated minor league
2 international leagues
1 U/23 league (rookie or college level)
1 U/19 league (college or high school level)

Set all four independent leagues to feed the major league draft pool. This enters every player in every independent league into the major league draft pool.

Alternatively you can have the age-restricted leagues feed the other independent leagues and have those leagues feed the major league. As you want to have two non-restricted independent leagues you'll need to create a league association with a shared draft in order to do so.

For the age restricted leagues make sure you set both the age rules and created player age options to an appropriate level.

For your purposes you'll want to look at the service years settings for free agency and arbitration.

Use player creation modifiers to adjust the talent of new players in each league as required.

Just play around with the settings and experiment until you have a league setup that works for you.

nebradska · 12-20-2012, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jb28

Set all four independent leagues to feed the major league draft pool.

This works fine for the U19 and U23, but it will release all players that are eligible for the draft from their teams, so unless the other indy leagues have an age limit as well, it will release every player on every team in those leagues.

jb28 · 12-20-2012, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nebradska

This works fine for the U19 and U23, but it will release all players that are eligible for the draft from their teams, so unless the other indy leagues have an age limit as well, it will release every player on every team in those leagues.

That's true. All players undrafted by major league teams will be free agents after the draft. The indy league teams will then fill their rosters from the free agent pool. Basically every player not in the majors gets a new team and every indy team gets a new roster every season with everyone going through free agency every year. I once created a world league with a setup like this, with a world league fed by players from national/continental leagues.

If you want more stable rosters in the indy leagues then let each league have its own draft and don't have them feed the major league. The problem I've found with that is that the teams hold onto their top players so they don't get a chance at going to the majors with free agency. I suppose the way to get around this is to setup the financials so the indy team's can't afford to resign their star players, but that's not something I've tried or tested.

nebradska · 12-20-2012, 10:54 AM

The case you already made is the only one that really works in my experience, but like you said, you're sacrificing stability in the indy leagues. The financials can be a workaround but even then if the teams lock up a player in a long term deal prior to his free agency, there's not much that can be done. Although I wonder if normalizing the indy financials relatively low and then setting a high average pay for 'super star' players would keep that from happening. Shortening the 'years to free agency' setting might help get them up faster, as well. And one could, again, set an upper age limit on the indy leagues so only players of a certain age would be drafted, but I don't much care for that method and I don't think the OP would either. If all else fails, he could manually release the best players from the indy leagues every year and see who signs them.

12-19-2012, 09:34 PM	#1
Sven Draconian Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 432	League idea. Need help setting up I have an idea for a fictional league based on a quasi European/Retro player movement concept. I call it retro because it isn't exactly historical more of a re-imagined history. In short, I want too have a 12 team league, 2 divisions with no interleague play (Adhering strictly to geography). 1 level of minors following the same setup. I would then like to setup a system of "minor" leagues/independent leagues for the major leagues to pull players from. I would ideally like to setup in the neighborhood of 40 of these teams split into 4 leagues (though, not 10 teams per league. Some with 6, others with 12 ect...). The major leagues would then come in and sign the best players from those teams. Ideally I would set them up like u19, u23 and then a couple of regular independent leagues. Financially it would be complete free agency. Maybe add something like 1 season of team control and 1 or 2 years of arbitration. Fringe and bench players should freely move between the major leagues and "independent" leagues (even during the season. Is that possible?) In Summary: 1 major league 1 minor league 4 independent leagues Is this type of setup possible? Could the AI even handle it?

12-20-2012, 01:23 AM	#2
jb28 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 21 Blog Entries: 7	A setup like that is possible. I don't know if you can create exactly what you want but you'll definitely be able to create something close. Here's how I'd do it: create template > start game > sim a couple seasons > evaluate > create new template > start new game > repeat until you have a league setup that works for you Sounds like you want to create: 1 major league 1 affiliated minor league 2 international leagues 1 U/23 league (rookie or college level) 1 U/19 league (college or high school level) Set all four independent leagues to feed the major league draft pool. This enters every player in every independent league into the major league draft pool. Alternatively you can have the age-restricted leagues feed the other independent leagues and have those leagues feed the major league. As you want to have two non-restricted independent leagues you'll need to create a league association with a shared draft in order to do so. For the age restricted leagues make sure you set both the age rules and created player age options to an appropriate level. For your purposes you'll want to look at the service years settings for free agency and arbitration. Use player creation modifiers to adjust the talent of new players in each league as required. Just play around with the settings and experiment until you have a league setup that works for you.

12-20-2012, 10:54 AM	#5
nebradska Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Illinois Posts: 229	The case you already made is the only one that really works in my experience, but like you said, you're sacrificing stability in the indy leagues. The financials can be a workaround but even then if the teams lock up a player in a long term deal prior to his free agency, there's not much that can be done. Although I wonder if normalizing the indy financials relatively low and then setting a high average pay for 'super star' players would keep that from happening. Shortening the 'years to free agency' setting might help get them up faster, as well. And one could, again, set an upper age limit on the indy leagues so only players of a certain age would be drafted, but I don't much care for that method and I don't think the OP would either. If all else fails, he could manually release the best players from the indy leagues every year and see who signs them.