Rule Change 1: A FAABulous Way to Pick Up Free Agents

Okay, so.

You know how sometimes a REALLY GOOD free agent running back will pop up during the season?  And maybe it just so happens that you REALLY NEED a running back, but it also just so happens that you're at the bottom of the waiver order?  So stupid Merrill gets the really good running back, even though he already has THREE of them on his roster?

And not only that, but --- you're SO desperate at running back that you put in a waiver claim for some other guy who's only kind of good, so you're still at the bottom of the waiver order next week when another REALLY GOOD running back pops up?

Yeah.  That sucks, right?

I propose that we change the way we handle waivers.  I propose we move to blind-auction bidding on free agents, where everyone bids using a $100 Free Agent Acquisition Budget (otherwise known as FAAB --- not real money) for the whole season.  I'm guessing most of you are familiar with this process from other leagues, but for those who aren't, basically, it works like this:

1. Before waivers runs, you put in a claim for a player you want and identify a player to drop, just like you do today --- but you ALSO specify an amount of FAAB you're willing to pay for this player (you can bid $0 and hope that no one else wants him).
2. When waivers runs, the guy who bid the most money gets the player.  The money is deducted from his FAAB.
3. If multiple owners bid the same amount for the player, then the owner who currently has the lowest seed (worst record) gets the player.  This seeding is determined by an ESPN algorithm, and we can't replace it with our own, Kubicek.
4. Once a player passes through waivers, its possible to do free add/drops without spending FAAB, just like we do currently.

My reasons for proposing this change are threefold:

1. This adds an element of strategy --- you need to budget your $100 for the whole season.
2. It also insures that the guy who wants a player the most gets him.
3. It also adds fairness, because presumably if Merrill and I each spend our full $100 FAAB over the course of the season, that means we each added $100 of value to our roster.  This isn't necessarily the case if you get stuck at the bottom of the waiver order under the current system.

So --- that's rule change proposal #1.  I'll put up a poll about it in a week or so, but first I want to give folks an opportunity to ask questions, discuss, etc.

And to be clear, I think we should adopt this change whether or not we adopt rule change #2.  However, as you'll see, this change becomes especially necessary if we DO adopt rule change #2, because free agent bidding will become much more competitive.