A letter/comments for all in the BMFL.

[bangerball]

First of all I like to thank the executive and the Bangers for allowing me to play while I was back in Canada for holidays; I think this type of actions by the executive are what makes this a good league. That being said I think the league needs to looking making a few changes for next year.

1) The draft system, I have always been a big believer in the draft system as a way to insure that all team are equal. But over the last 5 years or so as I member of the executive I have seen a growing problem with the draft system, but never had a real good solution. The problem is how team draft and the order especially when it comes to teams that need to top up with players.

The System today is that all teams must have 10 returning players (or could be 9) if they don’t have this then a top up draft takes place before the regular draft. During a top up no player over having a total rating over 9 can be taken (can’t top up with player with a 5 rating in offence or defense) which is still a good rule. The once the top up the regular draft will begin, this is where the problem lies, some teams will only need one player some will need 3 or 4, well the team that needs a more players is punished. For example the team the topped up they couldn’t get 10 rated player but they probably will get the first overall pick which they can use to select a 10 player but they still need 3 or 4 more player so this means they will get pick 1 and 9 …. And whatever depending on what the rest of the league needs. During the draft we usually only have 3-5 highly rated player coming in which are getting on already strong teams, leaving the top up team having to draft the remaining players to fill out their roster, these players are usually fairly week to the point it outweighs the gains they received by drafting the 10 rated player.

The season starts and the team that had to top up is really weak not winning many games and finishes near the bottom of the standing, this in turn frustrates the 5-6 players on the team and they decide not to return next year or they enter the draft again leaving that team to top up yet again and have another rebuilding year. This is exactly what has happen to the Draft, Lacroix and now the Banger over the last five years. Some of these teams it has been more dramatic for than it was for other but it has affected them in one way or another. If you exclude the Rogues since they are new this year and you look at the standings there is a huge difference between where the draft and bangers are and the rest of the league, if you go back and look at the last five year it was the Draft , Banger and Lacroix that were the only teams ever have to use the top up the rest of the league only had to ever take 1-2 players each year which is usually fine and why you see a very close race in the rest of the league.

What is needed is to find a way to get teams that are on the
bottom one year to be competitive the following year. This normally happens over time as long as team stays together for the most part, prime example if the Knights they rebuilt by having only to draft 1-2 players a year it took some time but it is doable, as long as you are not needing or more player each year.
A solution that I heard and think is a good one and I only wished I had thought about it years ago when I was president we maybe could have saved one team. That is teams do not draft players until all team have the same amount of players on it. So it would work this way as I see it anyways. Teams that need to top up do so as they do today, then the regular draft would happen but the draft order would be set bases on number of player each team has and the team overall rating. So a team will 11 players would not get a draft pick until all other teams at are at 11. This will allow for a team that had to top up to pick two picks in draft before the team with 11 was allowed their first pick. I also suggest that after each round the draft order be re adjusted based on the team average. Example of this is say two team tops up and the rest of the league had 11 players and assume the top takes them to 9 players. So team A would get the first pick because their overall team rating was lower than team B, once both team have made their selection than team averages would be recalculated and now team B rating is lower than team so they get the first pick of the second round. Now all teams have equal amount of players the team rating should be adjusted and now a regular draft should happen and if teams need a 13 players then next round of the draft should be also on team average, basically a new draft order for each round.

2) The Reserve List, now this list has been a problem for years and it has been abused basically by every team one point or another in this league. The only solution to this is making this list public to all teams. When a player is added to the reserve that players rate (I know we don’t always no what the player is like, but the league need to find a way to rate player before they go on the reserve, most players are know and the ones that are not should be give a rating based on talking to them, its not perfect but better than what we have today) is then emailed out to all the executive and all the team reps. A new player should be have to give their deposit in advance (just $10) one the deposit is received the player should be informed that their name, position and rating will be emailed to all the teams and within one week they will know which teams are looking for players. If no teams need a player that player will remain on the list in order from when they sign up until a team needs a player. The way it is now if you need a player you basically wait until you know for sure that no one is on the reserve list and they you get a player you know is good to play. There is no perfect way to do this but I believe this is the best way, teams know when they are going to need a player and if everyone know who is out their available then it become more an even playing ground. The problem this cause is what happens in two or more teams what a player and there is only one player available. Will in this case the executive needs to get involve and decide which team gets the player. If you are on the executive and your team is involved then it should be 3-5 teams votes that decide who get the player. Only teams that do not want to add the player should be the teams that make up the voting. There are some problems that can always come up but I still believe this solution would be better than what we have today, it defiantly make everything out in the open and no longer leaves question of who asked for a player first and how come 10 rated players are ending up on the first place team and the last place team is getting 5 rated player. When it comes to voting I think the teams needs and position in the standing should dictate who gets who from the reserve list.

3) The Yearly Tournament: First of all I like to thank both teams that ran this year’s tournament, it is a lot of work and the more people help out the easier and enjoyable it is for everyone. Conrad’s to the winners what a beautiful weekend for ball. My only comments are I heard several time that maybe we shouldn’t have a tournament, please don’t let this happen if we ever cancel the tournament I think it will spell the end of the league, to many people love the fact that once a year they get to play ball on a weekend and drink beer between games. I agree that there are issues with this weekend with people being away and no teams from outside playing. I am all for changing the date of the tournament and I believe earlier in the season would be best, just the weather becomes an issue then. As long as we have a tournament its fun, this year guaranteeing teams a minimum of 4 games was also a great idea, now all teams were able to play a lot of ball no matter how they did.

4) Automatic outs for teams that don’t have 9 players. I understand the thoughts behind this to insure that all teams have 9 players for each game and you should always make sure you 9, this makes sense. I do think that it should be something that can be overruled by the two teams playing the game. If both teams agree not to have the automatic out that they would just lend a player then that should be the rule for that game. We had a game this year where both teams were perfectly happy with lending a player but the umpires would not allow it because of the league rules. This is a fun league if the two teams agree to something then it should be allowed. In our case were had 9 players that were suppose to show up so we didn’t get another player since we had 9 to confirm we didn’t get another player. Unfortunately one player had issues at work and was not able to come, he did not have our contacts with him at work plus it was a last minute issue and we would have been at the diamond already, the game was at 7 and impossible to pick up any player at the last minute. Now instead of having a game that was fun for all we had 8 players that were upset with the league, the player and the umpire. Again it is a fun league let’s try to make it fun for all. We ended up having a player serious hurt having to go to the hospital leaving us with 7 players so we decided not to play anymore hoping to reschedule since it was just the top of the third inning. The decision was then later over ruled by the league executive and the game will be recorded as a default. So know you have 16 players that are upset with the league, decision like this is what cause people to quit. Everyone pays to play 24 games so 24 games should be played by all teams, sometime games have to be cancelled and rescheduled but they need to be played, not cancelled outright.

Anyways thanks for letting me have the opportunity to express my opinion I know that not everyone will agree with me, but these are just my views as a onetime, player, team rep, and executive in this league. I know my comments are long and it sounds like I am complaining but I think these are just some minor issue that should be looked and some suggestion that I have myself or heard around the park. BMFL is a great league that has been around for a long time and I hope that it remains for years to come; I look forward to the day we move back and can rejoin this league as a full time member. Good Luck to all the team, but watch out for the Banger hopefully the offence from the last two games of the tournament are signs the offence has finally returned the Banger bats, here is to the Bangers getting more than 50 runs for this year (that makes me laugh, I remember when they scored more than 200 runs in a year, this has to be a first for least amount of runs in a year).

Thanks Again
Tim Keyes

[groy]

bangerball said:

First of all I like to thank the executive and the Bangers for allowing me to play while I was back in Canada for holidays; I think this type of actions by the executive are what makes this a good league. That being said I think the league needs to looking making a few changes for next year.

1) The draft system, I have always been a big believer in the draft system as a way to insure that all team are equal. But over the last 5 years or so as I member of the executive I have seen a growing problem with the draft system, but never had a real good solution. The problem is how team draft and the order especially when it comes to teams that need to top up with players.

The System today is that all teams must have 10 returning players (or could be 9) if they don’t have this then a top up draft takes place before the regular draft. During a top up no player over having a total rating over 9 can be taken (can’t top up with player with a 5 rating in offence or defense) which is still a good rule. The once the top up the regular draft will begin, this is where the problem lies, some teams will only need one player some will need 3 or 4, well the team that needs a more players is punished. For example the team the topped up they couldn’t get 10 rated player but they probably will get the first overall pick which they can use to select a 10 player but they still need 3 or 4 more player so this means they will get pick 1 and 9 …. And whatever depending on what the rest of the league needs. During the draft we usually only have 3-5 highly rated player coming in which are getting on already strong teams, leaving the top up team having to draft the remaining players to fill out their roster, these players are usually fairly week to the point it outweighs the gains they received by drafting the 10 rated player.

The season starts and the team that had to top up is really weak not winning many games and finishes near the bottom of the standing, this in turn frustrates the 5-6 players on the team and they decide not to return next year or they enter the draft again leaving that team to top up yet again and have another rebuilding year. This is exactly what has happen to the Draft, Lacroix and now the Banger over the last five years. Some of these teams it has been more dramatic for than it was for other but it has affected them in one way or another. If you exclude the Rogues since they are new this year and you look at the standings there is a huge difference between where the draft and bangers are and the rest of the league, if you go back and look at the last five year it was the Draft , Banger and Lacroix that were the only teams ever have to use the top up the rest of the league only had to ever take 1-2 players each year which is usually fine and why you see a very close race in the rest of the league.

What is needed is to find a way to get teams that are on the
bottom one year to be competitive the following year. This normally happens over time as long as team stays together for the most part, prime example if the Knights they rebuilt by having only to draft 1-2 players a year it took some time but it is doable, as long as you are not needing or more player each year.
A solution that I heard and think is a good one and I only wished I had thought about it years ago when I was president we maybe could have saved one team. That is teams do not draft players until all team have the same amount of players on it. So it would work this way as I see it anyways. Teams that need to top up do so as they do today, then the regular draft would happen but the draft order would be set bases on number of player each team has and the team overall rating. So a team will 11 players would not get a draft pick until all other teams at are at 11. This will allow for a team that had to top up to pick two picks in draft before the team with 11 was allowed their first pick. I also suggest that after each round the draft order be re adjusted based on the team average. Example of this is say two team tops up and the rest of the league had 11 players and assume the top takes them to 9 players. So team A would get the first pick because their overall team rating was lower than team B, once both team have made their selection than team averages would be recalculated and now team B rating is lower than team so they get the first pick of the second round. Now all teams have equal amount of players the team rating should be adjusted and now a regular draft should happen and if teams need a 13 players then next round of the draft should be also on team average, basically a new draft order for each round.

2) The Reserve List, now this list has been a problem for years and it has been abused basically by every team one point or another in this league. The only solution to this is making this list public to all teams. When a player is added to the reserve that players rate (I know we don’t always no what the player is like, but the league need to find a way to rate player before they go on the reserve, most players are know and the ones that are not should be give a rating based on talking to them, its not perfect but better than what we have today) is then emailed out to all the executive and all the team reps. A new player should be have to give their deposit in advance (just $10) one the deposit is received the player should be informed that their name, position and rating will be emailed to all the teams and within one week they will know which teams are looking for players. If no teams need a player that player will remain on the list in order from when they sign up until a team needs a player. The way it is now if you need a player you basically wait until you know for sure that no one is on the reserve list and they you get a player you know is good to play. There is no perfect way to do this but I believe this is the best way, teams know when they are going to need a player and if everyone know who is out their available then it become more an even playing ground. The problem this cause is what happens in two or more teams what a player and there is only one player available. Will in this case the executive needs to get involve and decide which team gets the player. If you are on the executive and your team is involved then it should be 3-5 teams votes that decide who get the player. Only teams that do not want to add the player should be the teams that make up the voting. There are some problems that can always come up but I still believe this solution would be better than what we have today, it defiantly make everything out in the open and no longer leaves question of who asked for a player first and how come 10 rated players are ending up on the first place team and the last place team is getting 5 rated player. When it comes to voting I think the teams needs and position in the standing should dictate who gets who from the reserve list.

3) The Yearly Tournament: First of all I like to thank both teams that ran this year’s tournament, it is a lot of work and the more people help out the easier and enjoyable it is for everyone. Conrad’s to the winners what a beautiful weekend for ball. My only comments are I heard several time that maybe we shouldn’t have a tournament, please don’t let this happen if we ever cancel the tournament I think it will spell the end of the league, to many people love the fact that once a year they get to play ball on a weekend and drink beer between games. I agree that there are issues with this weekend with people being away and no teams from outside playing. I am all for changing the date of the tournament and I believe earlier in the season would be best, just the weather becomes an issue then. As long as we have a tournament its fun, this year guaranteeing teams a minimum of 4 games was also a great idea, now all teams were able to play a lot of ball no matter how they did.

4) Automatic outs for teams that don’t have 9 players. I understand the thoughts behind this to insure that all teams have 9 players for each game and you should always make sure you 9, this makes sense. I do think that it should be something that can be overruled by the two teams playing the game. If both teams agree not to have the automatic out that they would just lend a player then that should be the rule for that game. We had a game this year where both teams were perfectly happy with lending a player but the umpires would not allow it because of the league rules. This is a fun league if the two teams agree to something then it should be allowed. In our case were had 9 players that were suppose to show up so we didn’t get another player since we had 9 to confirm we didn’t get another player. Unfortunately one player had issues at work and was not able to come, he did not have our contacts with him at work plus it was a last minute issue and we would have been at the diamond already, the game was at 7 and impossible to pick up any player at the last minute. Now instead of having a game that was fun for all we had 8 players that were upset with the league, the player and the umpire. Again it is a fun league let’s try to make it fun for all. We ended up having a player serious hurt having to go to the hospital leaving us with 7 players so we decided not to play anymore hoping to reschedule since it was just the top of the third inning. The decision was then later over ruled by the league executive and the game will be recorded as a default. So know you have 16 players that are upset with the league, decision like this is what cause people to quit. Everyone pays to play 24 games so 24 games should be played by all teams, sometime games have to be cancelled and rescheduled but they need to be played, not cancelled outright.

Anyways thanks for letting me have the opportunity to express my opinion I know that not everyone will agree with me, but these are just my views as a onetime, player, team rep, and executive in this league. I know my comments are long and it sounds like I am complaining but I think these are just some minor issue that should be looked and some suggestion that I have myself or heard around the park. BMFL is a great league that has been around for a long time and I hope that it remains for years to come; I look forward to the day we move back and can rejoin this league as a full time member. Good Luck to all the team, but watch out for the Banger hopefully the offence from the last two games of the tournament are signs the offence has finally returned the Banger bats, here is to the Bangers getting more than 50 runs for this year (that makes me laugh, I remember when they scored more than 200 runs in a year, this has to be a first for least amount of runs in a year).

Thanks Again
Tim Keyes

[groy]

Hey Tim,

Thank's for your comments and observations but here is why the ball bangers game wasn't reschedule, nor the Knights vs Stan's game, Knigths vs Guzzlers game and probably Blues vs Knights game for which teams didn't have sufficiant players to play.

With all the rainouts games that we had during the year, the committee didn't feel that the playoff shouldn't after the long weekend of September. Presently, the we still have 2 games to reschedule because the umpires weren't available for a double header and with that, we should expect to start the playoff the last Thursday of August or following the long weekend of September... which is ideal. If we would have to reschedule the other 4 games mentionned above, we wouldn't start the playoff at the earliest September 6st (hoping for no new rainout games), which would bring the finals in early October.

Not sure... but i don't believe players want to play in early October....

As for the rest, I'm sure it will be revisited during our AGM meeting.

Gilles

[rejtable]

Good comments, Tim.

I would only offer up a couple of thoughts:

In terms of addressing any issues (perceived or real), I would always be wary of legislating fixes if it can be avoided. The BMFL is as legislated a league as just about any I've played in since leaving senior baseball a million years ago. Not that that's a bad thing for the BMFL, it's just that you can't just micro-manage everything from a league executive and rules point of view.

This relates in particular to two points you mention: the draft and the use of external players (to a team).

If there is a good reason (for the league as a whole) to change the draft structure, great. But, I'd always be careful to change something to address a perceived problem that may or may not be temporary. Has the league really suffered a mass exodus of players who have ended up on bad teams through the draft? Maybe, but I honestly have no idea. If so, would the changes you propose really deal with that? There are plenty of mechanisms currently in place for a player to stay within the league but leave a team they aren't satisfied with.

Again, not saying I disagree with the specifics of any of your proposals, but I would simply offer up that the Powers that Be be very careful about either new legislation or changing currently rules to address either specific balance issues or player exodus.

In the end, GOB John has argued many times here that teams could have helped themselves greatly by just choosing different players on draft day. No amount of legislation will ever counter bad calls.

Same goes for the use of external players, particular using players of the opposing team during a game. At some point teams and players need to be responsible for showing up. I have played something like 60 games now in the league, and I bet nowhere near half of those games have come against a full team on the other side. Kevin and Derek have played more this year than Vernon Wells. I just think some level of punishment is justified for a team that can't even convince Kevin or Derek to show up!

Seriously though, there appear to be a number of teams who have a handful of guys for whom the BMFL would appear to be a second priority. That's fine, but it makes the league weaker for not having those bodies around every night. Teams have the opportunity to try and get someone to come around, and if they can't, well in many leagues that game would be a forfeit. The BMFL at least gives them an opportunity to play, albeit with an out-based punishment. At least that's how I understand the rules. Do correct me if I'm wrong.

If players on your team are mad at the league when only 8 of your guys showed up, then I'd humbly suggest that a good chunk of their anger is displaced. This is especially true when for many teams this is a regular thing.

Anyway, good comments and I hope the executive take your suggestions and discuss them.

Rej

[bangerball]

Rej,

I agree no quick judgement should be made and that was the purpose of my letter to get people talking to find a solution to what I see as a problem, especially with the draft, the other comments to me are minor its the draft that has been a problem for years. I make these comments as a person who has spent the last ten years on the executive/team rep in on way or another and this poblem has been around for a while now.

Years ago when the draft policies were created the balance of excellent player to league average player wasn't that great anda few years ago as other leagues folded BFML player level increased especially for the top level player. For those that don't know or remeber BMFL use to excluded players they thought were to good for the league, ever since that rule was taken out is when the draft problem started. I am not saying that my solution is the correct one just a suggestion that I believe as do others a possible solution.

I have also to agree with you and Johnny that sometime teams make bad choice in the draft, that is why it is important that the whole team participate in rating player and helps their team rep select the player they want. But sometime drafting a good player is not always the best for the team, sometime you are forced to draft a friend or a son of another player on the team so they can travel together. Or in case like I have with you, I could have trade for you so another player could return to your team but unfortunaly I had 10 people that wanted to play the infield already and only 2 outfields, so already I had to force one player to play out of position and if I made that trade then it would be 2 people. Now would the players have minded good chance they would have done it, but in the end we decide by a team vote that we would prefer getting a top outfielder over another infield. Would you have made better, defiantly but for the better of the team we decide not to make the trade. Is this something the league could have stopped, NO, nor should they. Its just an example of who you draft is not always somehting you totally control.

As for the player substitution, the number one concern the executve has is making sure he game is player an no forfeits happen. All I was saying I would prefer to see the other team lend a player if needed, having the automatic out is fine unless both teams agree before the game not to have it. It great to have rules but if teams agree to something then that should over rule suck rules at the time only in the regular season of course, since all teams makethe play off who is it really hurting. The playoff of course you have runs and of course you can't over rule the rules. All i want to see is hat the 18 or so players that did make the games have a game that is fun not oneside killing the other thats not fun for either team.

All in all I am glad people are reading my comments and I am that some have replied, that was my intent to make the awareness, hopefull more people that are not on the executive step up and give their oppinion or better yet show up at the AGM where their voice is can be heard. BMFL is a great league and I hope it is still around when I make the move back to canada full time.

Tim