Finally got my PC running again!! 0-6 start to Spring Training lol gonna be another long season. I hope I didn't lose anybody good in the rule 5 draft but my new scout hated everybody anyway
Don't think you lost anyone substantial. You had a few guys show up but some teams left ML ready talent hanging. The Yankees for example lost Blake Rutherford to Toronto. Rutherford was a top 10 prospect by OSA and I swapped scouts this off-season, both guys loved him too.
Drax took everyone in Rule5, I overlooked that bit as well haha
I'm in need of a 3-5 SP and some RP, if anyone is looking to trade. I'm not sure how the draft works, but I have like the 3rd last 1st round draft haha
Yeah, I thought I had a nicely balanced Rule 5 board and the rest of the league ran hard for all the position players I wanted, so I ended up over-picking pitchers.
The draft is like the Rule 5, you make your pick list in advance and the sim runs through it as a hierarchy thing. Once it's out of your list players the AI (your Assistant GM using your Scouting Director's info) will pick players. You can have your scouting director do a report on players after the draft pool is announced, but I've never had them give me anything new, so not really worth the time in my opinion.
A late 1st isn't a big deal. The real obvious elite talent goes in the top 15 in most sims. You'll see guys up there who are ready made starters sometimes. After that there is a big drop and it plateaus through about the mid/late 2nd, then another drop and plateau through about the 4th or 5th round, depending on the draft. Outside of the 5th round it's very random. A guy everyone thinks is trash could go in the late teens, show up to rookie ball and proceed to post a >1.000 OPS through the next three years of low minors ball. A guy you think is great at the draft could with the next monthly scouting report drop down to a 20/20 OVR.
The biggest things to keep in mind are:
1. signability - "impossible" isn't really impossible, but it means you'll get one shot to make him an offer, it will be a non-trivial 7 figure number, and if you miss the first time he's done. Keep an eye on that when making your board. It also lets you get better talent in later rounds if you want to splash the pot though with extra budget money. It's a one time bonus and then they're mL contracts like everyone else.
2. Save some money for IFA - the IFA period is in early July if I recall, about a month after the draft. It's as open as free agency on what you pay players for signing bonuses and the players are mostly 16-18, so not close to ML ready. Some of the best raw talent in the game comes from IFA but the bust rate is high. The high pedigree guys can easily get high 7/low 8 figure signing bonuses in a league with lots of cash kicking around (ours is borderline on that, think mid-7 figures was tops last year if I recall).
3. Any picks you fail to sign from rounds 1 through 3 roll get you a compensation pick in the next draft. How to use that is up to you. Some people like to go after big bonus guys then knowing they aren't really losing the pick. Others see that as the chance to get difference makers every year so don't want to miss on a top 3 rounds pick. All a matter of personal philosophy.
