Contraction and Dispersal Draft

[AC]

1. How can I delete entire organizations? For example, if I delete the Marlins from my league, do I need to manually delete all the minor league teams affiliated w/ the Marlins, or can I do that in one simple step?

2. Once I delete a team/organization, can I set up a dispersal draft for the players w/out a team?

Thanks.

[t-bone shuffle]

Originally Posted by AC

1. How can I delete entire organizations? For example, if I delete the Marlins from my league, do I need to manually delete all the minor league teams affiliated w/ the Marlins, or can I do that in one simple step?

2. Once I delete a team/organization, can I set up a dispersal draft for the players w/out a team?

Thanks.

AC;

I've been doing contraction with dispersal drafts for many years now. To get it really right it's a slightly complicated and somewhat delicate task, that's basically a workaround.

I'm fairly certain that you can delete an entire organization from the league edit page, but if it's your intention to contract and then have a dispersal draft, it's my opinion that you should delete the minor league affiliates of the teams you intend to contract individually as well.

I don't have the time to detail the whole process right now but I should be able to get back to you in the next 24 hours with details.

Feel free to pm me if you want as well.

[AC]

I'm unable to PM you so I'll wait patiently for you to reply here. Thanks!

[mgom27]

If your using a League that doesn't have Minor Leagues much Easier to do.
I thought the Game doesn't allow it.

[Questdog]

There is no way to delete entire organizations. You must delete each team individually.

Also, there is no way to do a draft of only the players in the free agent pool.

To accomplish this is possible, but requires dedication:

1) Remove teams you don't want.

2) Export rosters.

3) Release all players and schedule inaugural draft.

4) Go in commissioner mode and start the draft. "Act as" each individual team and first draft all the players by hand that they had before. After they are all drafted back to their original teams, you can let the AI draft to choose the players that are left....

Not easy, but possible.

[t-bone shuffle]

Originally Posted by AC

I'm unable to PM you so I'll wait patiently for you to reply here. Thanks!

AC:

Here goes in the order I recommend:

1. I recommend deleting each contracted team's minor league affiliate individually on a level by level basis. Once you've done this, you may need to realign the remaining teams to make sure that each league has an even number of teams. Once you've done this, make sure to re-generate the League Schedule for each minor league - VERY IMPORTANT.

2. Delete the MLB level teams you intend to contract, and realign and either regenerate or import a new schedule which fits your new league's needs.

3. At this point, I'd say it's a good idea to make a backup of the league.

4. Go to Game Setup Page. Export Rosters.

5. Now it's time to "Release All Players - Schedule Inaugural Draft", also on the Game Setup Page.

6. Still on Game Setup Page. Import Rosters.

7. Now, just to be safe, go to one of your teams and look at their roster, and change listed player to "Entire Organization" to make sure that all players have imported. They will import to the organization, but will not be assigned to the various levels until you finish the day or run a full AI Setup. Can't really say if it's a good idea to run a full AI setup prior to your draft, but it might aid the AI in making picks. Don't really know.

8. Also, check that your draftable players from the contracted teams are in the draft pool.

9. Setup you draft variable as you like, length, financials, etc and then draft.

10. When your draft is over, the game will ask you if you want it to set up your team, it's my experience that it will do it even if you tell it not to, so the only way to avoid this is to check the box in your team's setup to "Prevent Any AI Roster Changes".

11. About the only other thing I have here is that some times, with this method, the salaries don't re-import properly and you might have a look at this. If you don't like what you see, I'd recommend the "Make Fictional Player Contracts". It usually does a very good job of assigning contracts based upon player status and service time.

I know that there's a lot here, but it's my experience that it works pretty well.

My apologies for being slow to get this to you. Don't hesitate to contact me with question and please let me know how it goes and if you come upon something or a process that makes the above work better.

Good Luck!

EDIT: Based upon what I'm reading, it's probably a good idea to wait for the first patch to try all this. I'd already started with my minor leagues, so I'm going to hold off as well.

[AC]

Very helpful. Thanks a ton.

Quick question: Do I need to adjust financials at all before the dispersal draft? For example, if I contract the Twins, will Joe Mauer and his giant salary go undrafted because nobody can afford him?

[t-bone shuffle]

Originally Posted by AC

Very helpful. Thanks a ton.

Quick question: Do I need to adjust financials at all before the dispersal draft? For example, if I contract the Twins, will Joe Mauer and his giant salary go undrafted because nobody can afford him?

I haven't in the past. Particularly if you don't put any financial parameter on the teams in the draft.

The thing is, I don't think that his contract will carry over with him. It's my recollection that he'll end up with a one year deal, that's appropriate for his status, and that his service time will still be correct, so he (or others) may or may not be eligible for free agency at the end of the first season.

It's why you may want to consider running fictional contracts after you've conducted your draft.

I'd also recommend just playing with it a bit and re-loading from the back-up point if you don't get results you want or don't like what you're seeing on the financial side.

Additionally, there are lot's of little things to look at before and after the draft. For example, I'll adjust the team "focus" to "Rebuilding" for those that I feel should be, before the draft, and it's my experience that they'll draft accordingly (young/prospects rather than established/expensive).

I'd also recommend double checking market sizes, etc. after the draft, and particularly if you decide to go the "fictional contracts" route.

Don't hesitate to let me know how it's going or with any other questions.

And, I may, if I have the time, continue what I've started with the new version today just to see if the process is still working as in the past. If so, I'll let you know what I see.

[AC]

Looks like I'll have some experimenting to do tonight before the fixed roster set comes out tomorrow. Thanks again.

[Le Grande Orange]

OOTP probably should have a dedicated dispersal draft feature to make things easier for the user. (I know I included it in a list of possible draft additions/enhancements I was contemplating awhile back.)

[nedyken]

Dumb question... does contraction and a dispersal draft ever happen when playing a league with league evolution? I'm sorta new to the OOTP franchise and in the one game I played I only saw expansion teams added... no teams contracted.

[t-bone shuffle]

Originally Posted by nedyken

Dumb question... does contraction and a dispersal draft ever happen when playing a league with league evolution? I'm sorta new to the OOTP franchise and in the one game I played I only saw expansion teams added... no teams contracted.

No contraction in the League Evolution feature.

The above is just a workaround I developed to accommodate my desire to contract mlb teams.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by t-bone shuffle

No contraction in the League Evolution feature.

The above is just a workaround I developed to accommodate my desire to contract mlb teams.

A very creative idea (if it works)! I am going to try this.

By the way, #11 in your list was a bug in OOTP11 that has been fixed in OOTP12. It was one of my pet peeve bugs that I came into beta wanting fixed......

[t-bone shuffle]

Originally Posted by Questdog

A very creative idea (if it works)! I am going to try this.

By the way, #11 in your list was a bug in OOTP11 that has been fixed in OOTP12. It was one of my pet peeve bugs that I came into beta wanting fixed......

Well, it certainly worked in 10 and 11.....but you never know.

And it's not perfect, it requires pretty close inspection of a lot of things, but I've managed to make it work pretty well for what I want.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by t-bone shuffle

Well, it certainly worked in 10 and 11.....but you never know.

And it's not perfect, it requires pretty close inspection of a lot of things, but I've managed to make it work pretty well for what I want.

It certainly beats the way I've been doing it, by redrafted all the rosters.

[t-bone shuffle]

Originally Posted by Questdog

It certainly beats the way I've been doing it, by redrafted all the rosters.

I hear you. I remember the days of 6.5 where I'd have to export to an excel spreadsheet, draft for each team and make the adjustments in excel, then import. Took just a little time.

[t-bone shuffle]

Everything works fine.

Here's a screenshot from the first round of a test I just finished, except for Yankees at # 24. Contracted teams were KC, AZ, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Florida and Tampa Bay.

First 6 teams in draft set to "Rebuilding", last 5 or so to "Win Now".

EDIT: Forgot to note that Las Vegas is the White Sox relocated to Vegas.

[AC]

I just re-imported rosters and am ready for the draft. Everything appears to have worked fine. Did you tinker with any financial settings before the draft? Do you still plan to make fictional contracts after the draft?

Thanks.

[t-bone shuffle]

Originally Posted by AC

I just re-imported rosters and am ready for the draft. Everything appears to have worked fine. Did you tinker with any financial settings before the draft? Do you still plan to make fictional contracts after the draft?

Thanks.

Other than changing the focus (Rebuilding, etc.), I did not mess with any financial settings.

Can't say yet about fictional contracts, as I haven't finished the draft. My advice would be to conclude a draft and then have a look at the contractual status of both drafted and non-drafted players and see what you think.

I'll move farther along tomorrow and report back.

[Orcin]

Thank you for taking the time to detail this process! I was thinking about this type of setup, and your post probably saved me many hours of frustration and experimentation.