Broken Bat - Discussion Forum: Best Farm Systems

Forum >> Discussions >> Best Farm Systems

Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date	Function

#27645	12/04/2015 8:51:50 am
Slug5373 Joined: 12/23/2014 Posts: 376 Inactive	Ok, I will tell you my opinion. Anyone who says that you need 14 POT/15 POT to succeed are wrong (except probably legends and level II). No matter what, there are always undervalued players. Before, dedicated players who had time to invest could easily find 13,14, or even 15 POT players in waivers with only a few claims due to the lack of POT search. However, now that there is POT search, what is the logically undervalued pool of players? That's right -- all 11-12 POT players. Currently, I do not have any 12 POT players in minor leagues, but that is because I have not had time of late to sift through 12 POT players in waivers and FA. However, on my major league roster, I have 6 12 POT or lower. (My aging four time all-star closer is 11 POT. He pitched a season while still in his prime in D III with a sub 3 ERA and 45 saves. He was all-league that year.) The two 12 POT hitters I have both start, and the four 12 POT or less pitchers either have two all-star appearances, or a ROY award. The trick is to find 12 POT players that specialize in certain areas that you value more than others. You can easily find a solid 12 POT DH sitting around somewhere if you look long and hard enough. 1st basemen, corner outfielders, and catchers are relatively simple too. Bullpen pitchers with low fielding and stamina can make excellent relievers. And if you are able to draft a few 13 POT players to play the more difficult positions such as 2B, 3B, SS, and CF, you have yourself a team! I take it that anyone who even somewhat knows what they are doing can draft at least 2-3 13+ POT players in a season or pick one up from waivers. This is what the movie Moneyball was all about -- finding bargains, undervalued players, etc. The problem I'm having right now is that when I became the owner of my team, I had a good roster, but the bot had drafted horribly the past two seasons and I had basically no minor leagues, especially pitching. So, right now I'm waiting for my wave of young pitchers to come through, which is why I'm struggling so much this season. It is not because I'm playing lower POT players, as I have had a winning record in DIII the past two seasons with a similar roster. Anyways, long story short -- teams of 12/13 POT players can be made and can be successful. Yes, higher POT players are better in general, but don't claim that if you can't get a 14/15 POT player in a season that your life sucks and you'll never get a good team. Put in the time, find bargains or fill-in players to take the reigns until a better player comes along. I'm not talking to anyone specifically, this is just an in general speech. Updated Friday, December 4 2015 @ 8:55:11 am PST

#27648	12/04/2015 9:22:28 am
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9596 Haverhill Halflings III.1	Generally agree, although I would say getting 2-3 13+ POT players is a good draft season from my experience. You could easily get shafted with just 1 even if you know what you are doing. Also, I think SS is the only player I would say HAS to be a POT 13 because you want Fielding, Range, and Arm all to be as high as possible on a SS. 3B doesn't need much range, 2B doesn't need any Arm, and CF can just be average on Fielding and Arm. Certainly its even better to have a CF with a gun, its just that you can get away with a little less Arm at CF then at SS. My current 3B for the future is only a POT 12. I am looking for a LHB with a better Hitting scout report, but I think he is a good example of a POT 12 who can be a solid contributor on a team at any level. Updated Friday, December 4 2015 @ 9:24:00 am PST

#27650	12/04/2015 9:40:44 am
Crazy Li Joined: 01/25/2015 Posts: 879 Inactive	To further my point about low-100 SI being survivable in LL5... my average SI in the majors right now is 101.875. This is gradually going up as my players develop... so I most likely had a slightly lower average the past 2 seasons in which I stayed at that level without dropping to VI. Granted, I don't expect to promote either but that's more because I have a lot of holes in my offense and has nothing to do with SI. Some of the higher SI guys are the ones who are hitting like crap :p I could have easily been competitive this season had I been able to address the gaps in my team with waivers this off-season, but as I said before, I lost all claims. Not a normal occurrence... so I figure I'm just another season out from being able to get to IV again.

#27659	12/04/2015 11:01:18 am
PrivateSnowflake Joined: 01/06/2015 Posts: 1166 Bloomington Thunder Legends	Slug, I appreciate your post. It stinks being the one without the luck. Guys like Mike have the luck and for them the waiver wire isn't needed. He's got just as many keepers last season as I've had in 4.5 seasons. I get that. It's an anomaly. But he misses the fact that not everyone is as lucky and needs to hit on those "fringe" players if they want any hope of moving up. Guys like Rock are holding their league as the pipeline dries up. His 12's aren't helping him win (4-7, 5.2 era), and those minor league 12's aren't going to be relied upon. I would think you of all people would want another way of player acquisition, a way to acquire better talent. I put a lot of work into finding players. A lot. Don't you two dare say I'm not putting in the work. My transaction page clearly shows that. My roster is nothing but those "fringe" players you say I shouldn't rely upon. But, I do rely on them. That's why the rant, Mike. Don't look down your nose at us and give the broad assumption we aren't working as hard as you or aren't as smart as Rock. Mike you want an even playing field. Parity. Currently there are two ways to get players. Let's dilute that some to even out the field even more. To give others a "fairer" shot. Broken Bat needs a trade pool.

#27660	12/04/2015 11:29:59 am
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9596 Haverhill Halflings III.1	You are absolutely wrong. I've relied on those 12s for many seasons. Instead of taking a convenient snapshot with a small sample, why not look at their long term contributions. Everyone's stats are all over the place right now. My 15 POT batter is hitting .169. If I use the same logic as you, POT 15 players are all useless.

#27661	12/04/2015 11:43:36 am
Crazy Li Joined: 01/25/2015 Posts: 879 Inactive	No on the trading. It would likely ruin the game. Trading is all about how well you can manipulate others and get their good players while unloading your garbage. I've seen it all too much in other games... the only way to get ahead when there's trading is to cheat others. In another sim, I try to build through the draft and free agency, partaking very little in trades. I feel like my team is going nowhere and has no real chance of improving. When I traded more actively, I was even worse off because I can't bring myself to rip people off and thus never offered deals that greatly benefited my team. So the ones that did screw everyone over are at the top. I would hate for broken bat to become that. Under the current system, I feel like I have a reasonable chance to improve my team by learning how to properly assess talent and build a good farm with future planning on mind. I can obtain my future in the given system without needing to be a shark and no other owner can weasel their team into being better or have an advantageous spot.

#27669	12/04/2015 12:54:02 pm
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9596 Haverhill Halflings III.1	I agree with Crazy Li. I like the fact that the game as is, is more focused on talent assessment then business acumen. There are already far too many games focused on the later and very few focused on the former. Also, just to note, if you are drafting every week you WILL eventually pull some 14s. That's why older teams have a lot of 14s. If you are a smart GM you won't necessarily keep all of those 14s, but some will make your system. You really need to play like 10 seasons before you will see a drastic impact on your team based on the strategy you've employed. After 4 1/2 season, most of your real improvement are still going to be sitting in the minors. EDIT: BTW, Nice pickup of Little (POT 14), I had a claim on him too. Updated Friday, December 4 2015 @ 12:56:47 pm PST

#27673	12/04/2015 2:34:23 pm
MukilteoMike Joined: 08/09/2014 Posts: 3294 Inactive	Once again I'm completely perplexed by your post Snowflake. First of all, I've had slightly below average luck with the draft. If you think otherwise, you should check out the good ones. I've gotten zero 15s in 7+ seasons. My 13s and 14s are barely short of par. Second, I wasn't "looking down my nose" at anyone and have no idea where you got that. Wherever you came up with me saying you aren't smart or don't put in enough effort is completely on you; I said no such thing. Mike you want an even playing field. Parity. Currently there are two ways to get players. Let's dilute that some to even out the field even more. To give others a "fairer" shot. Yes, I do want an even playing field. What do your comments mean? What are you wanting or suggesting? I know you concluded that you want trades. I fail to see how that makes anything more fair. I'm suggesting more evenly distributed drafts because I think that's essential in creating a fair game. Other than trades, what exactly are you suggesting? Also, I think you're lumping free agency and waivers into one group as if they're the same. They aren't. While the numbers continue to go down, waivers has many quality guys to be claimed. However, there are very few impact players that make it past that and into free agency.

#27674	12/04/2015 2:40:04 pm
newtman Joined: 11/02/2013 Posts: 3343 Inactive	I had no interest in this discussion until the word trades came up. I liked Haselrig's idea provided the players traded to the trade pool were not deleted from the game. I still feel exactly the same way I did then about two team trades, no way it could work without exploit.

#27677	12/04/2015 3:39:41 pm
Crazy Li Joined: 01/25/2015 Posts: 879 Inactive	The trade pool idea sounds like an awkward system to me... but maybe I just didn't understand it :x