Introduction of an actual Rule 5 draft

[Ft. Myers Marauders]

We have a lot of downtime between the end of the World Series and when our minor league draft kicks off in mid-Jan. I propose the introduction of an actual Rule 5 draft (I say actual because the offseason draft in our other league used to be called the Rule 5 draft, though it bore no resemblance to the MLB version) in early December. My half-assed idea would be that each team can protect 7-10 minor leaguers on their roster, leaving any others available to be drafted. It would be one round, picks not available to be traded. If voted yes, we can iron out details at a later date, as it wouldn't be started until next offseason.

[Bedford Bulldogs]

I’m all for having stuff to do in the offseason but would be greatly opposed to this idea in this format

[Ft. Myers Marauders]

Why's that?

[Bedford Bulldogs]

rule 5 draft in real life is meant to prevent teams from stockpiling young guys on their teams that are good enough to play in the bigs on other teams. We dont have that problem in fantasy cause you can only keep a player on your farm until he has accumulated the rookie eligible stats in the bigs. Also these are players with 5 yrs of minor league service time accumulated i believe that are needed to be added to the 40 man roster to protect them from a rule 5. If you wanna do it where only players you have had on your farm for 4 plus yrs already are eligible and then also protect the top 10 maybe it makes it more feasible but in a fantasy league usually the teams that are rebuilding have the most top prospects so why make those teams lose assets for nothing. What would it do to the market for prospects in general ?, knowing you can only keep 40 percent of your spects . I dont see logic in losing assets for no reason other then to have another draft to keep teams engaged. If you want to add more layers add like a franchise player option like in football where you can keep someone on your roster for 1 yr who would otherwise be a free agent if you pay them the average of whatever the top 5 players at their position make. Or make a diff option where say you can extend a player while in their rookie contract for us at a price of say 20 times( just a number , could be whatever makes sense) what they make for up to three extra years. Or open up bidding for intl prospects instead of having a draft where they are included have people have to big money on a Ohtani type. Id be more for any of those options , and im sure i can come up with others, that dont necessarily take away assets from teams for no reason other then they have built a really good farm system.

[Ft. Myers Marauders]

ya i get what you're saying. I would like to add in some sort of mid-offseason activity even if this isn't the right option. this league is dead 90% of the year, we need to do something

[Bedford Bulldogs]

its always gms, not really rules or drafts. if you got active gms then wont matter what sort of stuff you got in place, inactive gms.. same scenario.. Make trillian mandatory somehow so guys can easily communicate , might lead to more activity!

[Ft. Myers Marauders]

Easier said than done. We have a good core here, but we do have some owners that essentially show up for drafts only. If it were easy to find active replacements, I'd give ultimatums, but whoring the league out on classified boards isn't very fun for me.

[Bedford Bulldogs]

No sir, def not easy i know very well, id say closer to impossible . Was just stating all the extra stuff in offseason doesnt matter if the gm isnt into it yr round or active it wont change. You Can lead em to water but cant make em drink it.

[Ft. Myers Marauders]

After thinking about it, I'm changing my vote to no. Poll will stay up obviously.

[Newcastle Red Star]

I can see the thinking behind it, but not sure it's compatible with the other rules we have, as Bedford has outlined above.

[Ft. Myers Marauders]

There will be no implementation of a rule 5 draft.