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Supplemental Draft

Old Timers Fraternity (Minor Leagues)    Draft mechanics    How to Prepare your Draft Card

Orientation and Rules

The Supplemental Draft provides an alternate means of acquiring talent. Here wealthier owners have a place to spend their extra units, while poorer owners have a way to invest for the future. 

• The Supplemental Draft is tied inseparably to a second financial account called the Supplemental Account. 
• Units deposited into this account earn interest. The interest is lower for teams that have enjoyed success in their recent franchise history, and higher for those who have hit upon hard times. 

A poorer owner, for example, might put in 100 units and, over a two season span, make a considerable interest return.  This is a form of investing for the future, something struggling franchises are supposed to do. For wealthier owners, that same 100 units will not grow very much, but they can spend it in the next draft and immediately pick up new talent. This is analogous to signing free agents, which is something that wealthier franchises are prone to do.

• After you deposit units in this account, you may transfer them back to your regular account at a later time if desired. Warning! a considerable interest penalty is automatically assessed against such transactions. To see how much the penalty is, consult the Values Table in your software.
• The supplemental draft is held concurrently with the regular draft.  Just like regular draft era players, supplemental era players can be put on your card and arranged like others.
• The supplemental era for each season is chosen at random by the computer following the final iteration of the draft. 
• There's an important "catch" when acquiring players by means of the supplemental system: you must have funds deposited beforehand in your "supplemental" account. See supplemental deposits and withdrawals. Unlike your regular account, you cannot operate with a negative balance in this account.  If you don't have enough units come draft day, you can't get the players.   
• The deadline for investing in the supplemental system is August 31st, coinciding with trade, waiver. and stadium lottery deadlines.
• Getting players from the supplemental era is expensive because there is far less competition for them in the draft. Depending on the economic condition of your franchise, it may be all but impossible to make the necessary deposits into this account. 
• How expensive are these players? It depends on how many seasons are represented in the pool, and whether they are "regular" or "odds and ends" players.

For odds and ends players, the cost is a flat rate of 1/4 the player value. If you drafted a backup catcher costing 32 units, 8 units would then be charged to your supplemental account.  For regular players, it's a bit more complicated. Imagine you are interested in drafting player X at first base, valued at 167 units. To figure out how much it costs for the rights to draft X and sign him, look to see how many seasons he was in the first base pool, then deduct 1/6 of 167 for every season less than 6. Here is the formula to apply:

Cost to Draft  =  ( ( Seasons in Pool / 6 )  * MPV )

The table to the left gives you a rough idea what the financial impact will be. If your supplemental account does not hold enough units to draft such a player, he will be automatically removed from your draft card during draft card processing. Once drafted, you must pay this player's salary over and above the units it costs to acquire him. 

Important! If obtaining supplemental players during a bid-pattern draft, the difference between the bid and the player's value will be deducted from your regular, not supplemental account.