Positional eligibility

[Rangers GM (Stephen)]

For discussion, ahead of a potential rule vote later in the year:

Fantrax offers the option to "Use Fantrax's default position(s) in addition to any position(s) a player qualifies for" - an option we currently use and that has been in use since the league's inception. Fantrax describes this option as follows:
"If checked, a player will be eligible at his default position(s), determined by Fantrax's data provider. This would be in addition to positions qualified at due to the minimum game requirements above [10 appearances at the same fielding position, 5 starts or 5 relief appearances]."

Using this option means that some players are eligible to play in positions they have not qualified for because Fantrax's data provider deems them to be qualified at that 'default position' - regardless of their playing history not supporting that assumption.
A couple of examples of this in 2019 are:
Nelson Cruz (eligible at RF due to it being his 'default position', despite appearing 136 times at DH and only 4 times at RF in 2018 (Cruz hasn't played more than 10 games at RF in a season since 2016))
Evan Gattis (eligible at C due to it being his 'default position', despite appearing 110 times at DH and only 2 times at C in 2018)
Adam Conley (eligible at SP due to it being his 'default position', despite 52 RP appearance and 0 (zero) starts in 2018)

The configuration of this option within the league setup is not determined within the league constitution. Therefore, one of the following should take place:

Option A:
During the 2019/2020 offseason, remove this option so that undeserved/unearned positional eligibilities granted through 'default position' are no longer granted.
An important point is that this will not remove positional eligibilty from prospects with no MLB experience or from players who failed to reach any positional qualification minimum in the previous season. Fantrax includes this note:
"Note: If a player does not qualify for any positions based on the above selections [10 appearances at the same fielding position, 5 starts or 5 relief appearances], he will qualify at the position(s) played most in the previous MLB season. If he did not play at all last season, then the default position(s) will be used."

Option B:
Retain our current settings, and during the 2019/2020 offseason amend rule 2.17 to add Fantrax's data provider's 'default position' eligibility to our constitutions's positional eligibilty rule.

[Admin]

Thank you Stephen for writing these choices so succinctly. And thanks, TJ, for noticing that our settings have never quite matched the constitution.

I’ve personally grown accustomed to the settings as they have been, and enjoy the odd occurrence whenever Fantrax grants an unexpected position to a player. We are playing with SP,RP and LF,CF,RF distinctions, with no waiver wire, and are perhaps the kind of league that could most use the occasional bonus. I guess to summarize my feelings: if Nelson Cruz qualifies in RF, then yay, cool! Count your blessings.

It’s understandable though, that most likely a more common preference is to keep the eligibilities strictly as stipulated by our games played requirements. It makes sense and eliminates suspense.

Whatever we decide, I’ll be a happy camper, and love that this is the level of detail that is being considered for the ballot.

For quick reference, the following is a similar conversation on this topic (from 2016): mlbbaseballleague.proboards.com/thread/1147/position-eligibility

[Pirates GM (TJ)]

Just so everyone is clear, this doesn’t result in lots of players having no elibility at all.

I’m in two Fantrax leagues this season. And in the other one (which has the box toggled as proposed):

Vladito starts with 3B. All rookies still get one free position to begin their careers. So you won’t see every rookie starting as UT only.

Alex Dickerson has RF this season. He’s been out of action for two years but is still entitled to the position he played last since he’s been hurt. Similarly any pitcher who misses a whole season with TJS still carries either SP or RP when he comes back.

Christian Arroyo has 2B this season. He didn’t play 10 games anywhere last year. He had 8 at 2B, 7 at 3B and 2 at DH. Guys who play a few games but don’t get 10 anywhere still get one free position. And they get the one that makes the most sense based on where they played.

Nelson Cruz is UT only. He had 136 games at DH and 4 in RF. He hasn’t earned any position and doesn’t get one.

Guys like Cruz who wind up with no position at all are the exception. A guy has to have accumulated a large number of DH games without accruing 10 in the field.

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As you might expect, I’m in favor of this change. It would result in everyone having players qualify the same way. And no random “gift” positions like Conley at SP, Gattis at C, or Cruz in RF that can potentially imbalance the league.

When we had that last discussion, we didn’t know what exactly would happen if we changed the setting. We were worried Vladito would be UT only, that a rehabbing TJS pitcher wouldn’t qualify anywhere, etc. But I’m now in another Fantrax league that has the box toggled and I can confirm that it just gets us to exactly what we wanted when we set up the rules.

If anyone needs further reassurance, I’ll be happy to send screenshots of players from that league and what positions they were given.