never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut

Friday, January 27, 2006

Another proposal

I think we might benefit from assembling with beer, Harold's, and any other medicines to talk about these issues. Not to make anything binding, since the East Coasters would be left out, but to try and come to some common understandings (the main factions are out here anyway) and be able to judge tone instead of reading hatred out of bland text.

Also, if people feel strongly enough about particular stat categories, why not make it truly democratic, or at least totalitarian exercised democratically, and go with a 10 category format where everyone just picks a stat. We'd have a quick draft to establish the pick order, sandwich pick gets the last batting and the first pitching stat. That would actually be sort of fun, because we seem to be spread evenly between stat conservatives, state libertines, and odd, stat fetishists to make it worthwhile and balanced. Think of it as the Iraq model. And while you might feel horribly, horribly wronged when you are forced to deal with RBI because of me, you would have the sweet revenge of knowing how I was kept up past 3AM, away from working on my diss, trying to find someone with the best "put outs made after stroking a double on grass/smarmy Joe Buck comment" ratio stat. If you really wanted to have fun, people could trade player draft picks for their stat pick...that way those who cared more about rosters and those who cared more about stats would find a market in each other and it would all balance out. The complex permutations ought to keep people engaged for the next several years of keeperdom as well.
Again, I'm being serious and so if any new polls emerge on stat format, I want this included as an option.


Random note: I don't mind team dependency and think it adds something that we should not excise. I like having to take into consideration who a guy has around him and I like that new sleepers get created each year as a result of this.

And since this post has exhibited not quite enough randomness for my taste, as far as negative stats go, why not strikeouts for hitters? I'd rather have a Nomar, who makes a lot of line drive outs, than Sosa (the old, "good" Sammy).

Finally, when we do have future votes we ought to think about whether we want to unreflectively reproduce our cultural norms of "majority vote, winner take all" for league structure elections or do we want something else (as Mo was saying). The founders, after all, were quite concerned about minority rights/representation. Perhaps it could be done AP-poll style, then just add up the points (again, notice how the 10x10 format eliminates the headache of votes, and creates an enjoyable and exciting new draft possibility).

czap

5 comments:

ptb said...

i really, really like czap's proposal to just everybody pick one stat they want. that seems like the one true way. am i totally wrong here? no one will get exactly what they want. no one will get exactly what they don't want, since at least 1 of the 10 stats will be theirs. i realize this might create a slightly "unbalanced" (we have no obligation to be balanced) or just crazy system, but there are some limits -- for instance, what yahoo proscribes, etc. and you have to think it's going to look a lot like what we're talking about it, with one or two exceptions. and we can make awesome threats, like "if you pick Wins, I'm totally picking Losses" plus there will be all kinds of strategy related to how many pitching/hitting stats are left to be filled.

carter said...

i have way too much of a command and control type personality to really get behind this idea. while i can see its benefits, and while i don't really think the stats matter than much, i do think that a completely irrational stats system would be annoying.

that being said, if a majority get behind this, i will not raise a stink about it. as long as we are allowed to trade stats picks for draft picks, which is my favorite part.

Bench said...

While I appreciate Czap's attempt to calm the storm, I don't like this idea much either. While I'd be fine with most stats, having a league filled with a bunch of stupid stats - many based on spite - would be just horrible. Wins and Losses? Slugging and TB? Average, Hits and ABs? I mean, I know we're not stupid but I see this as a potential for disaster and a way to ruin what should be a really fun experience.

I don't remember who said it, but someone brought up the point that stats matter way more in relation to what other stats we have than they do on their own. Think about the way a season works. You have to balance out players based on all the factors. I fear this will end the league before it begins. Sorry Mike.

CZA said...

I count on the rational irrationality of all of us to make things come out fairly normal in this scheme. That being said, if this plan loses out, can we at least have a state draft anyway, just to see what people would have picked. I'm curious as to the ONE stat each person really wants to have. And come on, you know you want to trade for stats. Might it not be worth a 2nd and 3rd rounder to pick three of our categories?

alm said...

i endorse the idea of doing this at the draft as a thought experiment even if it has no bearing on the league itself. who takes the vanilla K pick for their spot?