Draft

Prepare for Drafts

You can prepare for the draft by clicking the Manage Button on the main toolbar, then selecting the Draft Planner Tab as shown below.

Draft Planner Tab in the Manager Window

How-To Video

Sometimes it's better to learn by watching. Have a look at this video to get an idea how to prepare for the draft.

[Video - How to research available players and fill out a draft card.]

Sign up for Draft Reminders!

Since drafts can make or break a competitive season, we recommend signing up for TXT alerts when drafts are approaching. To get an alerts click the Logo/Txt Button on the Main Screen Toolbar. In the window that loads you will see a section devoted to TXT/SMS options. Enter your cell #, select your carrier, select the event(s) for which you want reminders, and click the Apply/Update Button.

Available Players

Which players are available in the draft depends on your league's current draft configuration setting (FYI, some leagues allow owners to vote for changes to these configurations and some do not). You can access this information from the 'Definition' Tab/Button on the main screen of the software. Here are the 3 possible ways player lists have been determined:

1. Random Player Sets, which means that for every upcoming draft the sim chooses at random a set of MLB seasons 1871-present. Players who made their MLB DEBUT during one of those seasons (and meet other criteria for getting into our draft pools) are listed.
2. Sequential Player Sets, which cycle through a rotating and repeating set of year ranges. This is the way we handle leagues that are confined to certain eras, like Dead Ball, Modern Times, or Millennium. For example, in our Dead Ball league drafts cycle continuously through these ranges (1901-1905, 1906-1910, 1911-1915, 1916-1920). All players who DEBUTED in that range are draft-eligible.
3. Traditional NSB Eras, which means that for every upcoming draft the sim chooses at random an NSB era to feature. Any player making their MLB DEBUT in that era is draft-eligible.

All Players are organized into pools that correspond roughly to the positions they played. When researching for the draft you select a pool (SP,SSP,RP,C,1B …) to view all the available players in that pool. See the video above for a visual on how it's done.

Strategy

Drafting takes strategy. If you have a low seed, it will be hard to get a superstar. Sometimes great players can be had late in the 1st round. But not usually. So, if you load up you card with ALL the BEST players you're not being very strategic. Keep in mind that others are also competing for the best players. So, by all means have your "wish list." But be realistic, too. You can put up to 32 players on your card, but most owners probably stop at 15-20 in a established league because they've already got a good-sized roster and are trying to improve rather than build from scratch.

Note: League-Owned teams also participate in the draft. They are instructed NOT to vie for the very top players so that live owners have a little advantage. But they will still draft good players in order to be as competitive as possible.

Creating Contingencies and Setting Pool Limits

These options help you fine tune your draft preparation. Use the sliders as shown below to set the maximum # of players you would want to draft from a given pool in any draft event. Say you have 8 SP (starting pitchers) on your "card" but want at most to pick up 2 of them. So, set the SP Slider Control to 2 to tell the sim to stop drafting SP if/when it reaches that limit.

The Draft Limits Sliders on the Draft Planner.

Contingencies allow you to line up a sequence of players and make the drafting of them contingent/dependent on what happens to players higher on the card, e.g., draft player Y only if I don't get player X. Place the MOST desirable player above the less desirable. Say you really need a shortstop and you want to get one in the first round. In the example below Boudreau is the SS you prefer, but you are willing to take Lary if you can't get Boudreau. By stacking contingencies you can create a more organized and effective draft plan. Note that the SS Slider is set to draft only 1 SS. This is vital because if you had your SS limit set to 2, the sim may take a second SS and thus prevent you from getting other choices further down on the card. Always check your pool limit sliders carefully!

To set a contingency, click the small icon in the column headed 'C' to the left of the player's name.

Example showing how to use contingencies.

Selecting Career Mode (New for 7.0)

In the example above, note the 'Y' next to Lyn Lary in the column headed CAR. This indicates your choice to draft Lary in Career Mode. The 'CAR' column is hot, i.e., clickable. You can toggle any player into career mode before (and only before) drafting him. For a complete description of CAR mode and its advantages, click here.

Supplemental Draft Pools (Changed for 7.0)

If your league uses the Supplemental Draft Option, you can toggle the Supplemental Radio Button in the Filter Quadrant of the Draft Planner to load available players into the list. To improve parity, beginning with Version 7.0 Supplemental Pools exclude players who have earned a top 10% ranking in their pools.

Drafting from the Supplemental Pools requires that you fund your Supplemental Account BEFORE THE FIRST DRAFT EVENT (i.e., during the transactions event before the draft or during the previous season). To fund your account, open the Financial Ledger Window by selecting the button on the main toolbar.

While a surcharge/luxury tax is applied to players drafted from these pools, this is compensated by the fact that any funds allocated to your Supplemental Account accrue an interest rate determined by the quality of your recent W/L performance. The more you lose the higher the rate of return. If you use the Supplemental Pools regularly it's a good idea to move some units into the account and let them earn interest. You may store up to 500 units in the account.

Draft Organization, Method and Flow

Drafts are either SEED, STRAIGHT SEED, or BID. Note the following details:

1. If your league allows the trading of draft picks, the first 4 rounds of the draft will be SEED, meaning that whoever currently owns the seed owns the pick. Since some seeds may have been traded teams may have more or less than 4 picks in the first four rounds.
2. Rounds 5-8 are typically organized as a STRAIGHT SEED. Even if you are in a league that can trade picks, picks beyond the 4th round cannot be traded, so these rounds proceed based on the established seed order.
3. Rounds 9-16 are typically of the BID type. When more than one owner wants a player, he will go to the highest bidder. To set a bid, click in the column with the header '$' to the left of the player for whom you are willing to place a bid. If you get the player this amount will be deducted from your account.
4. Drafts always come in 3 'iterations' or 'events'. The descriptions in 1-3 above correspond to the 3 iterations. So, you plan these events separately by creating a new draft card on your draft planner for every iteration or event, which is published on the league event calendar.

Tell me more about draft seeds and how they are assigned.

How Many Rounds are there and How Many Players can I Get?

Every draft has 3 iterations (or drafting events). In the 1st event, there are 4 rounds. So, you can get up to 4 players in the 1st iteration. The 2nd iteration (or event) is identical. Another 4 players are possible. In the 3rd iteration (or event), you can get up to 8 players. At that point you're trying to fill out the bottom of the bench and bullpen, and maybe trying to get a decent pinch hitter or defensive sub. So, that's a maximum of 20 players obtainable in every draft.

However, it's likely you don't have room for 20 players on your rosters. Keep in mind that good players can be gotten off the waiver wire once the season gets into May. You can also get good players from your auxiliary roster. So there's no need to get 20 players in the draft UNLESS you are in a new league with a totally empty roster. In that case, go for it!

Using the Pre-Draft Transactions Event to Your Advantage

A couple days before the draft there a single transaction event in which you can dump/waive eligible players to make room on your roster. This is a very important event because if your roster are full the sim can't pick up any more players and you will forfeit draft picks. There's simply no remaining place to put them.

If you submit a draft card for the first iteration but have no roster space, the sim will try to remove up to 4 players (from OEB,OEP, and RP pools) for you, but depending on contract statuses this may not be possible.

Pay attention to the roster limits for your particular league(s) because roster limits vary! On the Main screen, click the league definitions tab (button) to see what the roster limits are for your league.

After the draft you'll have 3 opportunities (these are post-draft transactions events) to sign contracts, drop players, and prepare for opening day.

What if I'm Done Drafting Before the Final Draft Event?

If you are satisfied with the depth on your roster or have run out of space, you can communicate to the sim that you are done drafting by (1) clicking the ERASE CARD button on the toolbar and then (2) clicking the STOP button on toolbar. This sends in a blank card, telling the sim to forfeit your remaining picks.

Advice from an Experienced Owner

The time has come upon your league to prepare your draft cards in anticipation of the upcoming draft!

First things first, as an experienced owner, I can tell you that I start building next year's team the minute the Waiver Wire opens (after the league has played past April on your league's calendar).

You may ask, how do you prepare for a draft when you don't know what era or what players are available? Well, to me, it's pretty simple. You can ALWAYS improve your roster, period. With over 15,000 players in NB, there's a small handful that will be signed to Type 1 contracts and never be released from a team, other than that, you're going to have players on your team that are either going to be released or traded or have a contract that expires at season's end.

Your Auxiliary Roster is the simplest place to look for any replacement, you may not find one, but there could be a SP down there to replace one of your five or six, and you could trade a SP off to improve at SS! Now, depending on how many years that are left on contract or what other positions that particular SS is rated for this season, well it's not too complicated, and I'm sure you'll figure it out!

Having numerous seasons under my belt, this is a process that has become second nature to me, and rarely do I make a mistake when it comes to roster construction; however, Draft Card Construction is a completely different animal! I've NEVER not put a superstar on my card because that position was already filled. If the top 7 teams in the league don't feel it necessary to draft Rogers Hornsby because they already have a 2b, then so be it, I'll draft him from any position in the drafting order! I can always trade him to a team in need, or send off my unwanted 2b to a team in need, whatever my finances dictate.

Where you put players on your draft card is probably the toughest thing to 'teach' in NSB...

Some owners have the philosophy that the higher the PV (Player Value), the higher that player belongs on your draft card...well...if that player is a one or two year player, do you really value that player higher than a 5 or 6 year player that could sustain your team's winning tradition for a longer period of time?

Some owners will put all their needs first and their wants second...in other words, because they need a SP, they'll put a lower quality SP above a superstar on their draft card. To each his own, I say, but imagine this, there are those owners who use the wants first/needs second philosophy, and trading off who they don't need because got what you wanted.

Personally, I mix my needs and my wants, and there are players that I have never had on a roster, simply because every league is different, every owner is different, and every draft is different, it's a complex mathematical equation, I'm sure!

I go through each position in the draft and place the top 3-4 from each position on my card, and I may write down any others I'd like to have on the card (if there aren't 3-4, then go back and add the positions that had more than the 3-4). I ALWAYS go through the Regular Draft Era first, then the Supplemental Draft Era (if your league is using this option).

In the Supplemental Pool, I'm only going to add players that are of utmost quality (Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, etc.).

You then have to determine which players are more important than others according to your roster and the status of your OTF.

Like I said, the most difficult process is just beginning! Good Luck! Ask veteran owners specific questions, and I'm sure they'll give you an honest answer. And remember, just like a baseball game, the draft is very unpredictable!