Follow up on redraft question

Question
Martin, you posted the answer below recently in response to a question about redrafting.  If you don't mind expanding, *why* would a property system not work in the other league in your district, and why would redrafting not work in yours?  Saying it depends on size and talent strength in your league, have you found that redraft systems work better for smaller, less talented leagues?  Why?  And finally, what do you consider a "small" league?  Thank you!  --Buzz

"My opinion:  It's up to your Board of Directors.  I know of many league that use redrafting... I know many leagues (including mine) that use property teams.  Your league needs to find what works best for itself.  I am positive that redrafting wouldn't work for my league.  However, Wrightwood LL, a league in my district, would not so well with property teams.

Honestly, it just depends on the size, and talent strength in the league to determine if redrafting works for your league."

Answer
Buzz,

I don't think that you can lump leagues into "redrafting" just because they are small.  In other words, not all small leagues should redraft, and not all large leagues should have property teams.

There are some leagues in my area that have gone to redrafting ever year.  Probably the best reason why we don't redraft every year is because the players on a team (regardless of talent) become friends with their teammates, and to pull them away from that every year would be wrong. However, other leagues say that redrafting gives the children a chance to meet and work with other kids in the league, and therefore have a better chance of learning teamwork and development skills (not everything is baseball centered).

Wrightwood LL (the league I used in my last example) only has two teams, and redraft because it's easier number wise.  Adelanto LL, another league in my area has about 6 Major Baseball teams.  A large league in numbers, it has redrafting every year due to the fact that team managers leave, and new managers coming in could be at a disadvantage because of the number of returning players (i.e.: one team has ten players, so the team only receives two draft picks...that's hard if you are a new coach...even harder if there is little talent on the team).  Spring Valley Lake LL once redrafted, and found, that with three teams (a small division in my opinion) that property teams worked better for them.  Why?  They don't know, it just seemed to have less problems for them in the long run, without having to have every kid tryout, and draft every kid again.

Redrafting in my league would not work because many of our managers and coaches have been associated with the same team for decades.  Players and parents become accustom to playing with those coaches and players on that team, and to redraft every year would lead to upset players and parents, plus make more work for our league.  This is the main reason of why we do not redraft every year.

Issues like this are often a "try and evaluate" sort of thing.  It's difficult because it depends on the league itself.  This is why Little League allows the local league to select the draft selection itself.  Once again, it just depends on the league you are with.

There are numerous reasons of why a league would redraft.  Your Board of Directors would spend numerous hours in debate and discussion on the pros and cons, and there are probably some I haven't listed here.  It just depends on the mood and structure of the league itself.

-Martin Hoover