I'm not going to stain the pool with my political views, but I'm not a big proponent of welfare programs, and worst-to-first Free Agency/Waiver Wire systems are a pretty close facsimile to that, IMO...
squistion, no offense, but this cracked me up:
"The waiver wire IMO should be structured so that it helps those owners who are not as skilled as the sharks."
:strugglestokeeppoliticstohimself:
I hate the term 'shark', but since you used it...sharks swim in the ocean. Guppies swim in a pond. Almost any League that has a mixture of the two has the potential to be thrown out of balance by the actions of members of one species or the other, via predatory instinct or blissful ignorance.
On the other hand, I acknowledge that in order to get better at anything, it's essential you compete vs your betters, rather than your peers. After all, "if you want to be the man, you've got to beat the man!" So, you're always going to have an upstart guppy or two wanting to see if he can breathe in the salt water, and that's all well and good...but if they're going to learn anything, they're going to have to work hard, learn the hard way, and take their beatings like men, and become better for it.
"Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime."
Worst to first, in my opinion, is nothing more than a free handout, and when I'm competing for money, it just doesn't sit well with me.
If you absolutely MUST do 'worst to first' waiver wire/free agency, at least balance it out by not having waivers until more than a few weeks have passed, to start letting the teams find their level. W/L sample size is way too small to determine who's really 'worst' early in the season.
Why not try this: Make your initial draft a minimum of 20 rounds...this is to ensure teams have enough players to have both depth to withstand early injuries and the ability to make it through at least the first bye weeks without having to make any moves out of necessity. This year, the NFL schedule is set up with 4-team bye weeks beginning in Week 3. Weeks 6 and 7 are 6-team bye weeks - that's going to stretch everyone thin, injuries or not. Start your 'worst to first' waiver wire after you tally the Week 5 results.
Most folks play a 13-14 Week Season. By week 5, you've got a pretty clear view of who's headed where, and due to the expanded bye weeks, a reasonable excuse to invoke the waiver wire for everyone...
Now, blind bidding, while in my opinion a far superior option than 'worst to first', still has it's flaws - it's a solid system for allocating players in 'shark' Leagues that doesn't play favorites, but savvy owners can still manipulate the system with creative bidding. Not everyone wants to do that much work, I guess...
I've run a high stakes local League ($550 per) for over 10 years, and my 'old salty veteran' owners are a good example of this; they will have nothing to do with blind bidding, as it creates too much work for them. They are, however, sick of worst to first, even starting later in the season, so I'm going a completely different route this year, modeled after one of the National High Stakes Leagues a buddy of mine is contemplating joining:
Waivers can only be invoked where injury or bye weeks compromise a team's ability to field a "competitive" starting lineup.
In the case of injury, you may drop any player you choose, as long as it doesn't create a situation that might force you to use the waiver wire down the road as a result. For example, if you have 2 QB, you cannot drop one if the one you keep has an upcoming bye week that will put you in a position to have to use the WW to field a starting lineup in future weeks. You must draft a player that can be used as a replacement for the injured player. The replacement doesn't HAVE to be used, he just has to fit the criteria.
We play a 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1 with 2 flex (QB, RB, WR, TE), so this means you can't pick up a hot PK or D/ST if you're replacing an injured RB, for example.
In the case of waiver wire, you may drop any player with the bye week you are addressing, and your pickup must either be in the position compromised by the bye week, or one that allows you to field a complete starting lineup.
As my League is a 'high stakes' League, trading is very restricted as well, but that's not the subject of this thread.
I'm still fleshing this out, so if anyone has any input, please feel free to offer suggestions, comments, etc...
