League idea, help fill in gaps

[Loompa17]

Maybe this has been done before but I didn't find anything on a quick search. I don't know a league will ever happen, but I wanted to float the idea out there to get opinions.

The idea is a mirror-image league. Each team will be made up of players with the exact same ratings as every other team in the league. So each team will have, for example, a left-handed 33 year old starter with a 7 in avoiding run, an 8 in avoiding hits, etc. Each team's 33 year old lefty would have the same initials. So you could know that Arthur Baker on Team A is the same as Team B's Andrew Black.

The only thing that would be different about each is the way they are managed. The created players will have strengths and weaknesses. So each manager can try to set the roster and lineups,etc to try to emphasize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses.

That is the basic idea, but there are some unresolved issues. I'd be interested to hear comments about how to handle some of these issues and still stay close to the mirror-image philosophy.

* Trading - Trades will go against the mirror-image premise of the league. Just one trade and the teams are no longer mirror images. But a league without any trading??? Also, the way in which a GM trades is a reflection on how he/she runs the team.
* Rating bumps, injuries, etc - Although rating bumps and injuries will make the teams no longer identical, I am inclined to not interfere in this area because the way in which a team in managed effects ratings and injuries.
* Career - How to handle play over several years? I figured that finances would be off so as not to have free agent movement. What about drafting rookies? I had a few thoughts about this, but wanted to hear other comments before I share. I have some concern about teams with poor records and keeping them interested.

What other pitfalls am I not seeing?

At this point, I'm not trying to recruit owners because this league is not close to starting. I just wanted to hear opinions about this idea and get some help on the above issues.

[UKSubs]

The other question would be finances and free agency.

In theory you could keep all teams financially equal and allow for free agency.

All teams would start equal and get an equal infusion of talent each season (though you would probably need to add ten new players every year and work out drafts at least 3, but probably 5 seasons in advance to ensure you added enough players at each position).

The differences would come from managing, trades and free agency moves. Basically, an owner would always feel that they won on their own merits, since only the luck of the talent and rating changes would add any non-controllable difference. As fictional league ideas go, I think this is the best one I've ever seen.

I assume all the stadiums would have equal features as well.

The other suggestion I would have is to keep the league small. No more than 16 teams. This way you could have two leagues and since the teams are always equal in revenue and initial talent, each league wouldn't need divisions, since there should always be heated pennant races with the similar level of talent.

[Loompa17]

Originally posted by UKSubs
As fictional league ideas go, I think this is the best one I've ever seen.

Thank you. I've been thinking about this idea for a while. I've gone from thinking this was a great idea to a lousy idea to where I don't even know what to think any more.

[CommishJoe]

Interesting idea to start a league off as the same in everything, but I think you need to let it diversify as the life of the league goes on. That would be the interesting part I think. Seeing how different owners, and even some luck, makes the different teams progress differently.

[spleen1015]

Another thing that may make the league vary is retirement. If you start out will identical players, eventually they will deviate some where and you might have that 33 year old lefty retire at 36 for one team and 39 for another.

As far as the rookie draft goes, maybe you could just add identical players to the teams every year.

[Loompa17]

Originally posted by CommishJoe
let it diversify as the life of the league goes on.

This is a little different direction than I had originally thought. Depending on the degree of player movement, after several years (possibly as quick as one or two) the teams would look nothing like each other. This may not be a bad thing, but it really doesn't seperate this league from all the other ones out there.

Another idea that kind of compromises the ideas is that the league has it in mind to sim 5 years and then start over. Within that 5 year period, allow all player movement.

Originally posted by UKSubs
The other question would be finances and free agency.

In theory you could keep all teams financially equal and allow for free agency.

I think this goes along with CommishJoe's comments. My original thought was to turn finances off and not have any free agents so as to lessen player movement (with trading and outright releases/pick ups being the only player movement, if I even allow that). I don't know though, maybe by removing player movement, I am removing too big a piece of the game and not making it fun?

Originally posted by UKSubs
All teams would start equal and get an equal infusion of talent each season (though you would probably need to add ten new players every year and work out drafts at least 3, but probably 5 seasons in advance to ensure you added enough players at each position).

Not sure I agree that I'd need to work out drafts into the future. I figured if I can stock the minors with enough "fill-in" guys at all the positions and then just keep an eye on the retire list, I should know what positions to put into the rookie draft.

Originally posted by UKSubs
The other suggestion I would have is to keep the league small. No more than 16 teams. This way you could have two leagues and since the teams are always equal in revenue and initial talent, each league wouldn't need divisions, since there should always be heated pennant races with the similar level of talent.

I was planning on keeping the league small (that makes for less player input too). I have a feeling that there may not always be the heated pennant races you expect. I think that managing your team effectively has quite a big impact.

Originally posted by spleen1015
Another thing that may make the league vary is retirement. If you start out will identical players, eventually they will deviate some where and you might have that 33 year old lefty retire at 36 for one team and 39 for another.

True. I'm not sure if the age at which a player retires is any reflection on the way you manage. There are bound to be some random factors that a manager will just have to adapt and overcome.

Originally posted by spleen1015

As far as the rookie draft goes, maybe you could just add identical players to the teams every year.

Another thought I had was to give each team a choice of say, 4 different players. Then the next year, the team could choose between the remaining 3 players and so on. In the span of 4 years, the teams would all have the same players again, although they would now have different ages and years of experience.

Thanks for the comments!