That ain't right

[captobvious]

Yesterday on the Kris show the subject of the draft was discussed, and I learned that teams can draft players at a position they're all ready full and trade them to the teams that need them after.

That ain't right.

If the league were a bit more like real life, it wouldn't be such a problem. But as an example, this season we've got 3 starting QB openings, so we were told to make no more than 3 QB draft players. So it's not like they can draft another player... they're being held hostage by the other teams.

Furthermore, 4 of the teams are existing teams with fairly full rosters (especially the Sharks, with only one open spot to fill in the draft). The other 2 teams are expansion franchises who need to fill out a roster. If the Sharks can grab 4 quality players out of the draft pool and hold the expansion teams hostage, then the Sharks get to leverage that to make themselves that much better at the expense of the others. In short, the expansion teams will suck. And it'll continue every year.

In the interests of competitive balance, I recommend that we institute a rule for roster limits on each team. Once that roster size has been reached, the team cannot select a player from the draft pool, the free agent pool, or the computer player pool, without first releasing a signed player.

Thank you.

[Tye Williams]

That's a pretty good idea, that would help balance the league a lot. It isn't really the Sharks' fault they're so loaded though, only one of the three players they placed in the expansion draft was taken, otherwise they would have more openings.

[Caz]

check the NBA draft for drafting a player to trade.

[captobvious]

With this rule, you could still do a draft & trade. You'd just have to put more thought into it.

[Eielson]

theunusualsuspect said:

That's a pretty good idea, that would help balance the league a lot. It isn't really the Sharks' fault they're so loaded though, only one of the three players they placed in the expansion draft was taken, otherwise they would have more openings.

Actually 2 of our 4 were drafted.

[captobvious]

It's a great problem to have, Eielson. All these draft choices and nobody to spend them on.

As I think about this rule more, I can see where there is still some opportunity for abuse. Let's say, for example, that the Sharks (I'm not picking on you, btw, Eielson, so don't take this the wrong way) decide to take an extra QB in the draft, so they decide to release a player. They reach an agreement with one of their low-paid players to refuse to sign with another team, and release him. That guy asks for $10M a year when other teams approach him... meanwhile, the Sharks trade the extra QB to the last team to draft one for cash. Once the transaction is complete, they re-sign their dropped player for a hometown discount.

This is just one scenario in which I think it could be abused. What if Eielson decided to drop his own player? Then re-sign himself for a better contract once he's got the extra cash? Not that I think he would... but we have nothing saying he can't.

So, here is the addendum to my proposal.

Once a player is released, he's placed on waivers. Any team other than the team who released him may claim him, with waiver priority based on team records, with the worst going first. Get a GM from each team to post whether they want to exercise a claim or not, and if more than one wishes to, the team with the higher priority gets him (although this might force that team to, in turn, release a player to make room). The team who wins the claim gets the player at his existing contract, though of course they can rework it if the player agrees. And if the player hates the new team, he can always hold out to be traded or released.

If no team makes a waiver claim, the player's existing contract is declared null and void, and he is placed in the free agent pool, available to sign any contract with any team. This is the first opportunity the team who released him gets to negotiate for a return.

[WilBEER]

There are 4 QBs now.

[Eielson]

Well, I think all of the GMs here want to make this fair and play it right. If it got to be a problem we would make a rule that you can't sign a player that you realease.

[captobvious]

Wilber: It's a hypothetical example.

Eielson: I'm sure that's the case. I'm just trying to be pro-active here. What ends up happening if you don't think these things ahead is that someone figures out the loophole and tries it... then people cry foul... then there's a huge stink about it which leads to some people getting fed up and leaving, and the league dynamic suffers. I'd rather avoid that so we can keep this fun.

[Eielson]

Well, we try and make sure that all of the GMs we pick won't try and screw up the league.

[Tyler Holbrook]

Sounds like a good idea to me, a well balanced league