[IBL] Fwd: IBL Off Season Ballot - PLEASE RESPOND

[Joel Roberts]

 I'm not so sure I buy the "no difference between left fielders and right fielders" argument. I think the data may support this in the case that the player was a true outfielder who spent time at both positions. But this data doesn't capture a different class of outfielder, which is the first baseman who is shoehorned into an outfield position. In this case they are often pushed almost exclusively into left or right field (where the place to hide him is determined according to the individual player). In this case they might well be of different quality at one than the other and, since they would have played much fewer games at one position than the other the "data supports the positions being the same" might not sufficiently capture this. 
In this case the rule change would allow "first basemen grudgingly turned left or right fielders under duress" to freely play both positions which would artificially raise their value as outfielders. 
But that's not the reason that I am mainly against this. I am against the idea of rule changes that make it even easier to make usage for players, as I am of the opinion that it is already too easy (almost pro-forma) for usage to be made. I wasn't around for the very inception of the league but I joined early enough to gain the understanding that the usage rules were at least in part to insure that owners couldn't hold onto everyone forever but had to make choices about who to keep and who to let go. Over time the hard choices that have to be made have been diminished as owners have gotten much better on figuring out how to manage usage but I am against any meaningful changes that would make getting usage for players substantially easier.
It's true that this means that occasionally we have to manage the "I have three left fielders and no right fielder" or "I have two shortstops and no second baseman" problem, but this is part of managing an IBL franchise. It provides the closest approximation to the real-life management of impending free agency of key players and to get rid of it would be to simplify the IBL-game for the worse.
In my opinion, at least. Vote your own conscience, but I've already voted "no."
JoelCAN

  
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