Free Agent Compensation

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

To my knowledge, there is no cutoff and compensation is always awarded. I believe this is true in real life too, but if not let me know and I'll see if Markus will add one.

There is definitely a cutoff in historical games. Right now I have my draft date set for Dec. 31st in order to try to catch as many teams as possible signing Type A free agents. Once that date passes and we're into the new year teams seem to be able to sign without having to give up a pick. If I put it in November, as is suggested by a lot of historical players, I may as well turn off the free agent compensation option because generally no free agents have been signed by then. It would be nice to be able to schedule a Dec. 31st draft and have all the Type A free agents that were signed from January 1st of that year be subject to actual compensation. As it stands, only a six week window of free agent signings is covered because of this limitation, when it should be 52 weeks. I tried setting a March draft (prior to the season that the players in the pool actually appeared first in), but that resulted in one year's draft class being bumped for a draft class that was actually a year too early in arriving. I hope this makes sense (a little tired) because I would love to be able to use this feature and if someone could show me a draft date that will make it work, it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your responses.

[JTSMOOTH]

Yeah the FA comp was fixed in a recent patch to no longer award picks for type A and B FA once the draft has passed.

I have my draft set for March 31st and I havent had any problems with the FA comp or funky draft classes.

I think sometimes when you re-schedule things in game, it can get a little screwy the first year after the change but everything usually gets back in order the following year.

Probably not much help, but those are my observations after having moved alot of dates around in game over the past couple months.

Originally Posted by actionjackson

There is definitely a cutoff in historical games. Right now I have my draft date set for Dec. 31st in order to try to catch as many teams as possible signing Type A free agents. Once that date passes and we're into the new year teams seem to be able to sign without having to give up a pick. If I put it in November, as is suggested by a lot of historical players, I may as well turn off the free agent compensation option because generally no free agents have been signed by then. It would be nice to be able to schedule a Dec. 31st draft and have all the Type A free agents that were signed from January 1st of that year be subject to actual compensation. As it stands, only a six week window of free agent signings is covered because of this limitation, when it should be 52 weeks. I tried setting a March draft (prior to the season that the players in the pool actually appeared first in), but that resulted in one year's draft class being bumped for a draft class that was actually a year too early in arriving. I hope this makes sense (a little tired) because I would love to be able to use this feature and if someone could show me a draft date that will make it work, it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your responses.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Right now I have my draft date set for Dec. 31st in order to try to catch as many teams as possible signing Type A free agents. Once that date passes and we're into the new year teams seem to be able to sign without having to give up a pick.

If you think about it, you can see why that is and why certain scenarios are problematic.

In the real world, the free agency period is held during the off-season, while the amateur draft for which compensation is awarded occurs in the following June. So there's plenty of time separation between the two, so the possibility of not getting a compensation pick awarded is very low. (I checked into some MLB articles I have, and per those there is no specific MLR rule or CBA provision saying compensation picks disappear as of the amateur draft date, though MLB's position is that, pragmatically, once the draft passes you obviously can no longer get compensation for that draft.)

In your scenario, you've got the amateur draft happening in the off-season, thus greatly shortening the free agency off-season period. So it is much more likely that the draft will pass before some qualifying free agents have signed, thus the compensation is lost. Honestly, I think you just have to accept the limitations of the scenario you've chosen to create.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by JTSMOOTH

I have my draft set for March 31st and I havent had any problems with the FA comp or funky draft classes.

I think sometimes when you re-schedule things in game, it can get a little screwy the first year after the change but everything usually gets back in order the following year.

Here's the thing. I used March 31st. I started a game in 1871, setting the draft date for March 31st, 1872 in the Advanced Mode setup, so that players who debuted in 1872 would be in it. Upon reaching March 1st when the pool was announced I checked it and it was the players who debuted in 1873. Maybe I have to have the draft shortly before the impending free agent class is announced in November, but I'm not sure that will produce what I'm looking for. I'll try the first week of November and see what happens, because it looks like free agents file in the second week. Thanks for your input, but that's not what I'm seeing. Hopefully this will work.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

If you think about it, you can see why that is and why certain scenarios are problematic.

In the real world, the free agency period is held during the off-season, while the amateur draft for which compensation is awarded occurs in the following June. So there's plenty of time separation between the two, so the possibility of not getting a compensation pick awarded is very low. (I checked into some MLB articles I have, and per those there is no specific MLR rule or CBA provision saying compensation picks disappear as of the amateur draft date, though MLB's position is that, pragmatically, once the draft passes you obviously can no longer get compensation for that draft.)

In your scenario, you've got the amateur draft happening in the off-season, thus greatly shortening the free agency off-season period. So it is much more likely that the draft will pass before some qualifying free agents have signed, thus the compensation is lost. Honestly, I think you just have to accept the limitations of the scenario you've chosen to create.

I know how baseball works in the real world. This is not a scenario that I've chosen to create. This is the scenario that the game creates by having players that debuted the following season (let's say 1872 using my example above) immediately following the June draft, which gives them a half season jump on when they debuted in real life. One either chooses that option, which is distasteful or an offseason draft, which is also not the greatest for the reasons you stated. I'll see how the early November thing goes. Thanks for your help. If you play historicals, what draft date do you use? Anyone can feel free to jump in on that one. Thanks in advance for your responses.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Here's the thing. I used March 31st. I started a game in 1871, setting the draft date for March 31st, 1872 in the Advanced Mode setup, so that players who debuted in 1872 would be in it. Upon reaching March 1st when the pool was announced I checked it and it was the players who debuted in 1873.

The first idea that comes to my mind is to edit the Lahman Database to add one year to the Major League debut date for all players after 1871. That would, in your example, push the real-world 1872 debuts to 1873, and thus would have appeared in your March 31, 1872 draft (since it brings in players from the subsequent year).

Originally Posted by actionjackson

I know how baseball works in the real world. This is not a scenario that I've chosen to create.

Which is perfectly fine, but certain limitations and issues will arise from that choice. Part of that is procedural, and part of that is implementation.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

The first idea that comes to my mind is to edit the Lahman Database to add one year to the Major League debut date for all players after 1871. That would, in your example, push the real-world 1872 debuts to 1873, and thus would have appeared in your March 31, 1872 draft (since it brings in players from the subsequent year).

Which is perfectly fine, but certain limitations and issues will arise from that choice. Part of that is procedural, and part of that is implementation.

Got the solution (I think). It's complicated and some may not want to bother. That's cool. You have to use a floating draft date and hold it the day after game 4 of the World Series. This becomes more complicated from 1969 forward because there are more rounds in the playoffs, but pre-1969, you can set it for five days after the playoffs are scheduled to begin. Post 1969: At the start of the season maybe schedule it for November 1st, but once the date for game 1 of the World Series is set, move the draft to five days after: Game 1, Game 2, Day Off, Game 3, Game 4...next day draft. The offseason starts two days after the final World Series game, so this is the latest you can push it back because once the offseason starts the draft order is shifted to reflect the standings of the just completed season. When this happens it screws things up big time because of the teams in the top half of the draft having their picks protected. The AI continues to protect the picks based on the prior season regardless of the order of finish in the just completed season.

I'm confused as I write this, so I'll explain using an example. Using the November 1st draft date for the 1877 draft, Cincy had been slotted to pick 5th, while Balt was in the 6 spot based on the 1876 standings. Cincy signed Andy Leonard, a Type A free agent away from Baltimore. Therefore now Baltimore correctly had the fifth and sixth picks. However when it came time for the 1877 draft Cincy had risen to the 2 spot in the draft by sucking in 1877, while Baltimore was number 7. The AI couldn't keep up, probably because it's not designed to deal with offseason drafting and the result was that Baltimore now had the 2 and 7 picks in the 1st round, while Cincy whose pick should've been protected had the 5 pick and I have no idea why. Bottom line: Offseason drafts make the AI dizzy. Put it as late as you can, which is the day after game 4 of the World Series and the draft will be properly based on the previous season's final standings as it would be in June. Anyone follow this or have I completely confused you all? Thanks for all of your input and if anyone is still confused ask away. I know I'm confused , but all I care about is that I can get it to do what I want it to, with minimal "integrity issues".

EDIT: Just don't set the Nov.1st draft date without changing the year immediately after you've conducted the World Series for what should be obvious reasons (though they weren't obvious to me until I did it a minute ago ) or it will redo the draft without comp picks, based on the just concluded season's order of finish. D'oh!

[robc]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

At the start of the season maybe schedule it for November 1st, but once the date for game 1 of the World Series is set, move the draft to five days after: Game 1, Game 2, Day Off, Game 3, Game 4...next day draft. The offseason starts two days after the final World Series game, so this is the latest you can push it back because once the offseason starts the draft order is shifted to reflect the standings of the just completed season.

So, wouldn't you want to set it to the day after the final game of the World Series? If you set it after game 4, there may still be a game 5, 6, or 7. Wouldn't any drafted player possibly be put on the roster, or is that prevented?

With your method, are you also changing the years in the Lahman DB before the draft?

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by robc

So, wouldn't you want to set it to the day after the final game of the World Series? If you set it after game 4, there may still be a game 5, 6, or 7. Wouldn't any drafted player possibly be put on the roster, or is that prevented?

The only thing about that is that you'd have to keep knocking it back every day that the World Series got extended beyond game 4 plus off days, which of course can be done (I think...still testing...I'll report back on this in my next post). The main thing to avoid is an offseason draft because the AI cannot handle it at this time and it would be remarkable if it were able to, although it might mess things up for those that want an in-season draft, which I don't think is fair to those that play in fictional mode.

Originally Posted by robc

With your method, are you also changing the years in the Lahman DB before the draft?

Nope. I'll be messing around with the Lahman DB enough as it is. I'm trying to dump 17,500 ish randomly generated names in there and delete obvious tells like birthState, birthCity, nameNote, nameGiven, nameNick and play with ratings off in order to make things tougher and more interesting - you know the whole "Fog of War" argument.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

(I think...still testing...I'll report back on this in my next post).

Once the draft pool has been loaded, you cannot change the date of the draft. Doing so will result in the pool being loaded again. Doing so again, will result in another re-load and you'll be completely confused as now you'll have players in triplicate. Might work in the military (I wouldn't know), but it doesn't work in OOTP, unless of course you feel like it's a fun exercise deleting all the extras. Ugh, but understandable. Eyeball a date sometime after the end of the regular season and in the playoffs and stick to it and don't worry about players being drafted onto teams in the playoffs. This is baseball. Most teams don't make the playoffs , so it's a small percentage of players anyway.

[actionjackson]

Different post-season scenarios and the day to schedule your draft on (set it on opening day each season or before you get too close to the end of the regular season) using this method (assuming sweeps in every series in every round, with one day off between series). If you go to the auto-player (the baseball thingy at the top of the screen in between the "Game" and "Manager" functions), it'll tell you the date that the regular season ends. Add the number of days below to that date and you've got your draft date.

1) Best of Five World Series: 6 days after the final day of the regular season

2) Best of Seven World Series: 7 days after final day

3) Best of Nine World Series: 9 days after final day

4) Best of Five LCS + Best of Seven World Series: 12 days after final day

5) Best of Seven LCS + Best of Seven World Series: 13 days after final day

6) Best of Five LDS + Best of Seven LCS + Best of Seven World Series: 18 days after final day

Also, I'm not sure what OOTP does with roster eligibility in the post season, but if it's like real life the players you draft will not be eligible to play anyway because they have to have been on the roster on August 31st in order to be eligible.