Custom League without a Draft

Righty Groove · 04-27-2017, 10:05 PM

Hello, all!

I'm setting up a custom league on ootp18, and my goal is to have new players join the league as 18-year old FAs.

On the league setup, I disabled the Amateur Draft, and also International Free Agents and International Scout discoveries per team. From my understanding, the league will generate, during the off-season, a batch of FAs, is that correct?

If I adjust player creation age Min/Max to 17 and 18, all those FAs will be on that age range, right?

My question is: will this FA class be created with enough numbers and quality to replace the usual Draft class? Or will they be stronger/weaker?

Would it be better to create international free agents (or Itl Scouting discoveries per team) to the number of FAs I want joining the league every offseason?

Thanks!

andyhdz · 04-28-2017, 12:50 PM

Yes the league will create FAs but it will not be nearly enough for you to sustain your league. I would say you have to supplement with the intl free agents, amateur discoveries etc to make up for it but I don't know if that's enough. Test and run a 5 year sim and see what things look like.

Righty Groove · 04-28-2017, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyhdz

Yes the league will create FAs but it will not be nearly enough for you to sustain your league. I would say you have to supplement with the intl free agents, amateur discoveries etc to make up for it but I don't know if that's enough. Test and run a 5 year sim and see what things look like.

What would I need to evaluate/measure to see if it's enough players or not?

brewdog · 04-28-2017, 08:34 PM

I could help answer some of your questions, but, we need more detailed information on your setup. i.e. how many levels of minors
In past versions I have run leagues without a draft and, what I had noticed, was alot of superstar type free agents were created. This isn't quite my flavor, so, what I would suggest is go to commissioner mode at the end of each season and create the free agents yourself. Also in the game settings is a box to check called "disable automatic creation of free agents" (If you go the route I suggested)

NoOne · 04-28-2017, 08:55 PM

1 team per level per MLB club:

~19-20 rounds worth per year with default discoveries and IA-FA etc. Simply multiply # of rounds * # of teams on your leauge for how many to create. since you are more strictly controlling age, you may be able to use less... this is based on a certain portion of players not starting in rookie league, which isn't nearly as likely if you control the age as you want.

start here, and drop it 1 round at a time... but wait between drops at least 5 years. delete excess on occasion if they are stockpiling in FA. use this method if you have more than 1 rookie team per mlb team, too.

-----------------

can you control the age when creating players with comissioner mode as you can in the league settings? not sure, something else to double check. <rhetorical>

----------------

if you have mutliple mil teams at various levels for 1 mlb team, you need more rounds... anything approaching real-MLB ~35 should do it, which is the default when you load that leage (35rounds, 36 created?)

This is the biggest factor... along with any service time limits.

Just sim out 5-10-15 years and look at the rookie league for each team - make sure they have not only enough players (>25) but also enough of each position... so more likely 35-50 players on at least one of their rookie teams.

if in that short period of time, you see even 1 team dip too low or not be able to field a team, you know you need more.... trial and error from there. 15 years won't gaurantee anything, so even be concerned with a dip in # of players at the lowest rookie league for that team. there will be fluctuation... you need enough players to withstand all situations -- including when just ONE team trades a bunch of MiL players too many years in a row.

another way to do it -- make more than enough for sure, and slowly reduce that over time... although this may cause too much talent in your league, the former method is better for immediately knowing it's good to go long term.

* if multiple rookie teams, 1 will pool 'extra' players predominantly more than others... obviously roster restrictions would influence this if you use them...

** if you use service time limits, conisder that... mostly about your rookie league, because the rest should fall into place if you applied any sane logic to the service time limits for each level above that.

2years? you need to replenish enough 18yo for all the rookie leagues... you need to base this on teh team with the most rookie teams.

3 teams? 25+25+ (35 to 50)... that's ~100 players. since you control the age, this is a bit easier, since almost all 17-19 year olds will go to rookie league. 35*3 is 105players... about enough... plus IAFA and discoveres = maybe enough.

the teams the most rookie teams will be the ones you need to watch... MLB is uneven about this... if you make a custom league, i'd suggest a more even mil system... as you can see with the example above, if one team has 4 rookies teams and another has 2, they will have way too many rookie players (with a draft, not sure how it would work the way you are doing it).

# of mlb teams isn't the key... the key is how many layers of minors at each level and enough to handle attrition (e.g. a healthy portion shouldn't make it past A/AA, for example).

Righty Groove · 04-30-2017, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewdog

I could help answer some of your questions, but, we need more detailed information on your setup. i.e. how many levels of minors
In past versions I have run leagues without a draft and, what I had noticed, was alot of superstar type free agents were created. This isn't quite my flavor, so, what I would suggest is go to commissioner mode at the end of each season and create the free agents yourself. Also in the game settings is a box to check called "disable automatic creation of free agents" (If you go the route I suggested)

Currently I'm running an 18-team Major league, with two minor league levels for each team.

My worry is not only too many/too few high potential FA's, but also not enough players to fill the minors.

If I set the player age creation to, for example, 18 years old at maximum, and 17 at minimum, will all the FAs I create be between 17 and 18? With a good talent curve?

04-27-2017, 10:05 PM	#1
Righty Groove Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 262	Custom League without a Draft Hello, all! I'm setting up a custom league on ootp18, and my goal is to have new players join the league as 18-year old FAs. On the league setup, I disabled the Amateur Draft, and also International Free Agents and International Scout discoveries per team. From my understanding, the league will generate, during the off-season, a batch of FAs, is that correct? If I adjust player creation age Min/Max to 17 and 18, all those FAs will be on that age range, right? My question is: will this FA class be created with enough numbers and quality to replace the usual Draft class? Or will they be stronger/weaker? Would it be better to create international free agents (or Itl Scouting discoveries per team) to the number of FAs I want joining the league every offseason? Thanks!

04-28-2017, 12:50 PM	#2
andyhdz All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Fresno, CA by way of Texas Posts: 1,754	Yes the league will create FAs but it will not be nearly enough for you to sustain your league. I would say you have to supplement with the intl free agents, amateur discoveries etc to make up for it but I don't know if that's enough. Test and run a 5 year sim and see what things look like. Last edited by andyhdz; 04-28-2017 at 12:51 PM.

04-28-2017, 08:34 PM	#4
brewdog Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Harrison, Michigan Posts: 213	I could help answer some of your questions, but, we need more detailed information on your setup. i.e. how many levels of minors In past versions I have run leagues without a draft and, what I had noticed, was alot of superstar type free agents were created. This isn't quite my flavor, so, what I would suggest is go to commissioner mode at the end of each season and create the free agents yourself. Also in the game settings is a box to check called "disable automatic creation of free agents" (If you go the route I suggested) __________________ “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.” - Albert Einstein

04-28-2017, 08:55 PM	#5
NoOne Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,167	1 team per level per MLB club: ~19-20 rounds worth per year with default discoveries and IA-FA etc. Simply multiply # of rounds * # of teams on your leauge for how many to create. since you are more strictly controlling age, you may be able to use less... this is based on a certain portion of players not starting in rookie league, which isn't nearly as likely if you control the age as you want. start here, and drop it 1 round at a time... but wait between drops at least 5 years. delete excess on occasion if they are stockpiling in FA. use this method if you have more than 1 rookie team per mlb team, too. ----------------- can you control the age when creating players with comissioner mode as you can in the league settings? not sure, something else to double check. <rhetorical> ---------------- if you have mutliple mil teams at various levels for 1 mlb team, you need more rounds... anything approaching real-MLB ~35 should do it, which is the default when you load that leage (35rounds, 36 created?) This is the biggest factor... along with any service time limits. Just sim out 5-10-15 years and look at the rookie league for each team - make sure they have not only enough players (>25) but also enough of each position... so more likely 35-50 players on at least one of their rookie teams. if in that short period of time, you see even 1 team dip too low or not be able to field a team, you know you need more.... trial and error from there. 15 years won't gaurantee anything, so even be concerned with a dip in # of players at the lowest rookie league for that team. there will be fluctuation... you need enough players to withstand all situations -- including when just ONE team trades a bunch of MiL players too many years in a row. another way to do it -- make more than enough for sure, and slowly reduce that over time... although this may cause too much talent in your league, the former method is better for immediately knowing it's good to go long term. * if multiple rookie teams, 1 will pool 'extra' players predominantly more than others... obviously roster restrictions would influence this if you use them... ** if you use service time limits, conisder that... mostly about your rookie league, because the rest should fall into place if you applied any sane logic to the service time limits for each level above that. 2years? you need to replenish enough 18yo for all the rookie leagues... you need to base this on teh team with the most rookie teams. 3 teams? 25+25+ (35 to 50)... that's ~100 players. since you control the age, this is a bit easier, since almost all 17-19 year olds will go to rookie league. 353 is 105players... about enough... plus IAFA and discoveres = maybe enough. the teams the most rookie teams will be the ones you need to watch... MLB is uneven about this... if you make a custom league, i'd suggest a more even mil system... as you can see with the example above, if one team has 4 rookies teams and another has 2, they will have way too many rookie players (with a draft, not sure how it would work the way you are doing it). # of mlb teams isn't the key... the key is how many layers of minors at each level and enough to handle attrition (e.g. a healthy portion shouldn't make it past A/AA, for example). Last edited by NoOne; 04-28-2017 at 08:57 PM.*