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Yes, Nuzhet, No.
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Nov 2, 2014 13:57
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Yes, Nüzhet Ebûssüûd (impossible name?  ), HELL NO
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Nov 2, 2014 14:32
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Make the following choices: 1. Should we hire Firas as new manager, and demote our current manager to bench coach? Yes 2. Who should we hire as scouting director, Ridwan - I feel like Ridwan being exceptional in a couple areas more than makes up for him being average in 2 areas. Also, I like favor ability over favor tools. 3. Should we adopt the DH rule in the Sunni League? Yes I like DH leagues because it allows you to load up on good defenders and then add a veteran (or someone else) on the cheap who isn't so good at defending but can rake.
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Nov 2, 2014 14:50
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Yes. Nizhet. No, we play real baseball in our league.
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Nov 2, 2014 16:13
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Yes, Ridwan, Noooope.
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Nov 2, 2014 17:08
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Val Helmethead posted:Yes. Also voting this way, DH is a tool of the devil.
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Nov 2, 2014 19:56
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I'm not surprised people resisted the DH, and I've noticed that the AI absolutely loves the DH in every league that I've ever created. This will be something like the third time I've had to actively disable the DH after the commissioner's office has tried to impose it upon me. Pretty clear consensus on hiring a good manager, and I'll open up the new manager, new players we acquire, and our more promising prospects up to being made into goons once our team's makeup is a bit more clear. More on that later. Feel free to keep voting for scouting director, and I'll get the more substantive budget stuff up soon.
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Nov 3, 2014 00:40
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If you want to stick with no-DH like a fool, then you must trade for Melanoma. I don't care what it takes. Also if JosefStalinator still wants the Emperor Nortons to be in the Super League, he should make a post, because the draft is going to start without him in a week or so
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Nov 3, 2014 01:04
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Alan Trammell posted:If you want to stick with no-DH like a fool, then you must trade for Melanoma. I don't care what it takes. I'll make sure to take a look at what Melanoma's up to when I update. Also, how the gently caress am I supposed to follow a six hundred page thread with concurrent leagues at different levels, with confusing promotion rules  . I'll watch for when it's my go, though, and post when i figure out what do to.
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Nov 3, 2014 01:39
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1) Yes. 2) Nuzhet. 3) Yes.
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Nov 3, 2014 02:25
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Yes. Nuzhet. YES!!!!
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Nov 3, 2014 04:43
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Rene Bork posted:Yes. Nuzhet. YES!!!! What he said.
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Nov 3, 2014 04:56
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 Pete Rose posted:Make the following choices:  : Some good choices, this is likely how I woulda picked even without your advice. Anyone who can't field has no business hitting, drat it!First, we demote our current manager and send an offer to Firas.   : Then, we need to send an offer to Nuzhet : Both wanted long term contracts, which given their skill, should be fine. We will have some great staff in our two more important decisions. I feel kind of bad demoting Belciler after he did an excellent job, but Firas should do even better.Last, I stormed over to the commissioner's office, and ensured that no DH reforms would occur in our league!  : There. With that settled, we wait for responses from our new staff.   : Excellent! Firas is our new manager, and Nuzhet is our new scouting director! Now we can review our rosters. I didn't want to force us to look at the awful ratings done by the OSA (default scout-less ratings) because they suck. You're gonna notice some ratings change here and there, but for the most part, things line up with our previous scout's assessments. A few things have changed due to players aging or the normal process of development.First then, before we do anything, here are the stats from the 1980 season, as well as updated scout ratings. Forgive the information dump - but they will be re posted periodically for reference. Batter Stats 1980    Pitcher Stats 1980    Current Lineups  Current Rotation and Bullpen Situation  : So now that you have the stats, here's the really tough part. We need to talk finances, and figure out which of our players will have their contracts renewed, expanded, or released from the team. Keep in mind that not everyone's contract is up - whether we like it or not, we are stuck with some of our shittier players for a while longer. Before we look at whose contract is coming to an end, here's our budget situation:  : Our generous owner Abishalom Menahem has given us considerable funds for our budget this year. He has asked that we spend no more than 3.7 million dollars on extending our own players, and 3.5 million on free agents this coming year. Any money we save in extensions will be available to use for free agents, so we need not spend it all if we want more money to spend on new players.This is a lot of money, and since this is a new league, there is still something of a disconnect between player salaries and budgets. While we might be poised to score many free agents, so are all the other teams, meaning free agents may be able to ask for a LOT of money compared to some of our existing contracts. One more expense we should briefly consider is arbitration eligible players. Don't worry about doing anything here, it's just good to know that the following players are going to get raises next year. We have them under contract, so we aren't losing them, but there is a system in place to ensure we don't criminally under-pay them relative to their skill. Notice how Eric Clink is getting a raise from 55k? Yeah. The big take away is that these raises will add new expenses to our extensions budget. It's something like 500,000 dollars, so it's significant but shouldn't derail any of our plans. I can't give an exact number, as players themselves may demand more money, and a neutral arbiter decides the ultimate cost of their new contract. Arbitration Eligible Players  Current Salary Commitments, by year  : Finally, with all that reference material done, here's what I need assistance on. Some of our players were only signed to one-year contracts, and are now going to be released to be free agents if we don't offer them a new contract. If they become free agents they can then be hired by any team. It is in our interest that we sign them now - most players will accept better deals (for us) if we re-sign them without having them become free agents, if only for the loyalty/convenience that it brings. We also don't have to out-bid any other teams, which can become very, very expensive.Player Contract Demands  Contract Player Batting Stats  : The above chart shows what each player is demanding from a new contract. The "demand" is the amount of money they are asking for per year. I'll list the number of years they're asking for below, since there's no convenient display that demonstrates that for me.Now, I can negotiate them down, and I will be doing so where possible, but it can be difficult. They typically won't budge much in their yearly demand, but may be negotiated down to a shorter contract (i.e. from a 5 year to a 4 year contract) with some haggling. I can sometimes also negotiate players into allowing team options for their final year - a nice way to get rid of players a year early, or keep them if they don't suck. Before I do a comprehensive list for you to choose from, a quick bit of analysis based on what we can see in the chart: One thing to note is that some of our older players are now showing lower values in their "overall" rating versus their "potential" rating. This implies that some of our older players are beginning to decline. The overall rating reflects this, while recognizing what their previous peak once was. In John Black's case, the decline is not that serious, but we will likely see his abilities slowly decline with age. Fortunately for now, it doesn't include his defensive abilities at first base. The big players we want to consider re-signing are John Black and Rob MacGregor. They are asking for big contracts, but both were also big producers in our lineup and bullpen. Black may be a bit of a risk due to his age, but he's not asking for a long contract (see below), so it shouldn't be too risky. For the rest of the players, I recommend checking their regular season statistics. (I've included the batting stats below for the two players who are now in the minors and weren't on the 25 man roster stats before). Some have deceptive ratings relative to their skill - for example, Alex "This isn't cricket" Campbell put up a solid 2.53 ERA in our bullpen, but has poo poo ratings. He may be over performing, but for a one year cheap contract, it's probably worth the risk. Rahim "Hefty" Lefty and Abdul Rashid-Husain are other such examples.  Goon Participation Time So, here's the list of each player's demands and the number of years they are asking for. Quote this part and bold the players who you wish for us to offer new contracts: Total money for extensions: $3,700,000
Rob "The Freak" MacGregor, CL, Age 28, 79/79. Demand: 3 years/$330,000 Prince Kelly, RF, Age 30, 46/45. Demand: 1 year/$320,000 Abdul Rashid-Husain, MR, Age 39, 60/60. Demand: 1 year/$190,000 Lufti Imad, RF, Age 42, 22/23. Demand: 1 year/$170,000 Alex "This isn't cricket" Campbell, CL, Age 38, 36/53. Demand: 1 year/$150,000 Rahim "Hefty" Lefty, SP, Age 36, 20/41. Demand: For some reason refuses to negotiate with me  Yoonus Tamam, C, Age 36, 23/23. Demand: 1 year/$135,000 Clement Gueguen, 3B, Age 34, 32/34. Demand: 1 year/$125,000 Hoshi Uemura, C, Age 32, 23/27. Demand: 1 year/$120,000 Next time: Awards! JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 10:50 on Nov 3, 2014 |
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Nov 3, 2014 05:38
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In case it's not clear, here's what a sample vote might look like. I'm just gonna go with a majority of the people's will on each player. Bolding indicates a desire to re-sign them.quote:John "Whiteboy" Black, LF/1B, Age 39, 66/71. Demand: 1 year/$500,000 Sorry for the  longpost above.
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Nov 3, 2014 05:43
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Votin' posted:
Let's get us some fresh meat! LambdaZero fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Nov 4, 2014 |
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Nov 3, 2014 07:42
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Value Voter posted:
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Nov 3, 2014 09:21
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Vote Quote posted:John "Whiteboy" Black, LF/1B, Age 39, 66/71. Demand: 1 year/$500,000 I agree with Soviets, let's get some fresh blood, but we've got to keep Uemura.
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Nov 3, 2014 11:23
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quote:
Piling on the bandwagon. Just marathonned this thread over the last day and a half; I'll pop onto the list of Goon Participation names later today, too.
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Nov 3, 2014 16:00
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John "Whiteboy" Black, LF/1B, Age 39, 66/71. Demand: 1 year/$500,000 Rob "The Freak" MacGregor, CL, Age 28, 79/79. Demand: 3 years/$330,000 Prince Kelly, RF, Age 30, 46/45. Demand: 1 year/$320,000 Abdul Rashid-Husain, MR, Age 39, 60/60. Demand: 1 year/$190,000 Lufti Imad, RF, Age 42, 22/23. Demand: 1 year/$170,000 Alex "This isn't cricket" Campbell, CL, Age 38, 36/53. Demand: 1 year/$150,000 Rahim "Hefty" Lefty, SP, Age 36, 20/41. Demand: For some reason refuses to negotiate with me Yoonus Tamam, C, Age 36, 23/23. Demand: 1 year/$135,000 Clement Gueguen, 3B, Age 34, 32/34. Demand: 1 year/$125,000 Hoshi Uemura, C, Age 32, 23/27. Demand: 1 year/$120,000 i'm voting for my guy because he did a decent job and i think (though i am willing to stand corrected) that he's asking for a fair bit less in wages for a short contract.
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Nov 3, 2014 20:17
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John "Whiteboy" Black, LF/1B, Age 39, 66/71. Demand: 1 year/$500,000 Rob "The Freak" MacGregor, CL, Age 28, 79/79. Demand: 3 years/$330,000 Prince Kelly, RF, Age 30, 46/45. Demand: 1 year/$320,000 Abdul Rashid-Husain, MR, Age 39, 60/60. Demand: 1 year/$190,000 I think everyone else is replaceable. If you're advocating for keeping MacGregor and dropping Kelly, you're really advocating for keeping the less valuable player from last season. I don't know how good OOTP is actually at getting advanced stats correctly but Kelly was worth twice what MacGregor was worth by WAR and he's asking for less money. I mean pitcher WAR is bullshit but usually it's bullshit on the high side. We have enough to keep both and will have a decent amount of money left over. Even if we don't want Kelly on the team next season, I think we should extend him and then shop him around for trades. tadashi fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Nov 3, 2014 |
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Nov 3, 2014 20:26
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I don't get the Kelly hate either.quote:John "Whiteboy" Black, LF/1B, Age 39, 66/71. Demand: 1 year/$500,000
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Nov 3, 2014 21:46
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Poor Kelly, apparently a 3.0 WAR at right field isn't enough to get you an extension. Better be ready to dish out a ton of cash for a new right fielder, cause Imad was our backup! For reference, Qusay Hussein put up similar WAR this season, and was paid 860,000. We pretty much have no organizational depth at any position. We have two good prospects, both 60-something potential guys in single A (one SP and one SS). We have one 36/41 third baseman in triple A, and that's it. This happens a lot in early OOTP leagues, as it may take the game a bit to properly sim the ebbs and flows of teams' seasons. The first season is always front-loaded from the inaugural draft.
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Nov 3, 2014 23:09
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Season One Conclusion: Peace in Our Time Iran, late 1980  Defense Minister Chamran Ayatollah, Iraqi forces have begun moving into the Shatt al-Arab. They are demanding our forces withdraw within 24 hours, or they are threatening to remove us by force. Our soldiers are requesting orders on how to respond. I have ordered the deployment of our regular forces to the area to counter-act any additional moves by the Iraqi army -  Stop. Do not mobilize our armed forces in any aggressive manner.  : Excuse me? Are you suggesting we simply roll over and let the Iraqis take our sovereign territory? : And what would you do? We did not win their ridiculous baseball game: the damned Jews and Soviets did not deliver their promised "ringers". Now the United Nations has officially recognized Iraqi control over the entire Shatt al-Arab, and voted into place sanctions to go into effect against our regime if we do not comply. Not even our allies in Syria or the Soviet Union were willing to stop this motion. And on top of it all, the Americans have begun fully cooperating with the Iraqi army, bolstering it's capabilities well beyond our own.Our revolution is young and weak, as is our nation. We spend decades being raped by the Shah and his lackeys. We do not have the resources to repel the Iraqis. : Think of how weak this will make us look! We roll over on our territory simply because we lost a sporting game, one decided by Jews and Americans?: This is more than just a game now. I suggest you prepare defensive positions, just in case Saddam tries to pull something and invade the rest of our territory. For now, tell the men on the river islands to begin packing. They are coming home.: Your orders are acknowledged, Ayatollah, but will be conducted under severe protest. I really hope we don't come to regret this.: Don't worry - there's always next year. And we have established a precedent. I may need to pay a visit to this commissioner to decide on other territorial disputes...Istanbul, 1980  I've done my time, drat it! Let me go back to the States and play! I'm not too old yet, I've got at least five or six good seasons left. Do you realize how much good play I've missed because of this ridiculous scheme? A whole year!  Settle down Pete, your job isn't done yet. You managed to do very well, crafting together the best record in baseball. We recognize that the playoffs are difficult, even with your not fully resting Price before they started... : drat it, how long do I need to be here? I know I screwed up, taking a few bets and killing a few hookers, but that stuff should have blown over now. And can't the CIA just sort of, make these things go away?I have a career to build, and I'm on the path to set the hits record. The goddamn hits record! Do you know how hard that is to set? I'll be a shoe-in for the hall of fame!  *sigh* Pete, we have something we need to tell you. You weren't recruited to this position just for your skill at managing, considerable as it may be. You were recruited to this position for a very specific reason. You see, the CIA has perfected technology well beyond your understanding, and we won't bore you with the details. But in another reality, one in which you didn't come to manage the Constantinoples, the world is a different place. The Middle East is wracked by war and conflict, the Iranians and the Iraqis fight a brutal decade long war, and many more die in a series of civil wars and conflicts across the world. Not only that, in this alternate reality where you remain in the United States, you are banned, for life, from baseball for betting on your own team. Your records are tainted, and you never enter the Hall of Fame. *The man flips a switch, and the following video plays on a television behind him* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm_baoPBC-c : I... I don't understand. Can't you just let me go back to America now, replace me with some other fool here in constantinople, and with this knowledge, I just won't bet on baseball? I can probably overcome a lost year and still accomplish everything I was hoping for... It's too late for that now, Pete. The die is cast. You aren't ever going back to the United States, your role here is too important. Too important for peace, and too important for our national security. : But... but then, this isn't any better! I won't get my records AND I won't make the hall of fame!You misunderstand us, Pete. We aren't just saving the world, we're saving you. There is only one reality where your accomplishments transcend the game and your own moral shortcomings, and make you a true legend in the annals of history and the sport. Only one reality where your name becomes synonymous with baseball across an entire region, and where you are treated as a man of great integrity and virtue. There is only one reality in which you make the hall of fame. That reality, Mr. Pete Rose, manager of the Istanbul Constantinoples, is this one.  Beirut, 1980  I'll be damned. The Iranians are withdrawing.  I told you pa! I told you all we needed to do was get the Ay-rabs to play baseball! Export our values and what have you. Next thing you know, they'll be playin' nice just like we do back home.  : There's still plenty of ways this can go wrong. Iran is withdrawing, but there's no guarantee that madman Saddam will stop there. Don't count your eggs before they hatch junior, international politics is a complicated game you can't even begin to understand. : God dang it pa! Don't you see! I did it, I finally accomplished something. I know I screwed up when I went to Iran by myself, but I'm now the head of a baseball league covering the whole Middle East, and now we stopped a whole war, and made America stronger. If this keeps a goin', we're gonna make this baseball thing a regular deal, and we might even make some money ourselves!: *sigh*, I guess you're right junior. It may be a bit early, but I guess I have to admit, for once, you did well.you did well. you did well. you did well. 
JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Nov 4, 2014 |
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Nov 4, 2014 00:56
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John "Whiteboy" Black, LF/1B, Age 39, 66/71. Demand: 1 year/$500,000 Rob "The Freak" MacGregor, CL, Age 28, 79/79. Demand: 3 years/$330,000 Prince Kelly, RF, Age 30, 46/45. Demand: 1 year/$320,000 Abdul Rashid-Husain, MR, Age 39, 60/60. Demand: 1 year/$190,000 Lufti Imad, RF, Age 42, 22/23. Demand: 1 year/$170,000 Alex "This isn't cricket" Campbell, CL, Age 38, 36/53. Demand: 1 year/$150,000 Rahim "Hefty" Lefty, SP, Age 36, 20/41. Demand: For some reason refuses to negotiate with me Yoonus Tamam, C, Age 36, 23/23. Demand: 1 year/$135,000 Clement Gueguen, 3B, Age 34, 32/34. Demand: 1 year/$125,000 Hoshi Uemura, C, Age 32, 23/27. Demand: 1 year/$120,000
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Nov 4, 2014 05:29
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Votin' posted:
Changing my vote because smarter people said I should.
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Nov 4, 2014 05:52
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I got this game and made a norwegian baseball league because of this thread
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Nov 4, 2014 07:39
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Slaapaav posted:I got this game and made a norwegian baseball league because of this thread Man a Scandinavian league sounds fun, of only because of the ridiculous names all the players would have. Keep voting on contract extensions - I'll get to awards soon, and then we can start doing trades and checking out the free agent market. I'll sim up to free agency so we can see which guys got last minute offers from their teams, and which are now free. Also, once we finish that up, I'll re-open the team to new goon players. I'm thinking of changing the system slightly, and asking goons to simply post their desire for players (I'll make a list of all the players plus our manager when the time comes) and do a first come, first serve basis. But, to honor the goon sign in sheet, people near the top of the list get priority, and can thus claim their desired player if they want. This is to prevent some of the people who have since gone inactive from claiming the best players and then never posting, and reward those who regularly participate in thread. The goon sign-up sheet is still useful for getting on the list, and for giving me information about what exactly you want. So, everyone should sign up Here if you wanna join next years' team. Also, if your player has retired, feel free to re-add yourself to the bottom of the list. Just think of something new, though I guess if you wanna do Jub Jubs II, that could work too.
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Nov 4, 2014 08:51
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Very impressed with the LP so far and it's been fun to be a part of as baseball season wraps up. Just wanted to say thanks for the entertainment Stalinator, hopefully we can keep it going.
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Nov 5, 2014 06:34
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Sentimentality posted:John "Whiteboy" Black, LF/1B, Age 39, 66/71. Demand: 1 year/$500,000 I'm too sentimental. And yeah, I haven't posted much since my knowledge of baseball only really scratches the surface, but I'm loving every moment of this LP.
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Nov 5, 2014 11:21
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Jesterea posted:Very impressed with the LP so far and it's been fun to be a part of as baseball season wraps up. Just wanted to say thanks for the entertainment Stalinator, hopefully we can keep it going. We will - mid-week is the time I have to actually do poo poo and teach my class, which means a slow-down in the LP. Plus, it's a bit depressing writing my lecture for my students about current events after last night's election Arquebus posted:I'm too sentimental. Knowledge of baseball is not a requirement, and I fully accept that we will make horrible managing decisions for entertainment value or sentimental value. I include stats for the people who know them, but hopefully reading the LP or just seeing what decisions people make help people learn a bit more about the intricacies of baseball statistics and strategy. That said, you guys have done a really good job letting the more knowledgeable readers make important strategic decisions. I hosed up more than anyone by not resting Price before the playoffs. Even then we probably would have lost, since the playoffs are a crap shoot.
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Nov 5, 2014 23:23
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 : Your votes are tallied my advisory angels, and I shall extend the following contracts:quote:
: And I shall say  to the following players:quote:Lufti Imad, RF, Age 42, 22/23. Demand: 1 year/$170,000 : Not sure I totally agree with dismissing Alex Campbell given the amount of extra cash we have lying around and the chance of him repeating a great year, but whatever, I gotta do what you say! The offers have been made, and they may work out a bit different in reality after the negotiation process is complete.Good luck elsewhere Alex, and let's hope you get another good year or two in before retiring. Goodbye to Rahim Lefty too - I don't know why you hate us so, but you did a great job filling in as fifth starter! While we wait for their responses, something very important has begun. One of the marquee events of any baseball season is the series of acclamation we place upon the players, who are recognized for their greatness and performance across the year. The MaILB has decided that the commissioner will be the one who makes the majority of the award decisions, and he is set to announce his awards over the coming week. Since we are mostly waiting for free agency to kick in so we can determine our offseason strategy, this gives us a good chance to relax and negotiate extensions with our current players. I'll be giving my own awards at the end, of course, but for now, let's sit back and see how our boss does in determining who are the most deserving players in the league.  Howdy ya'll! I'm quite pleased to be bringin' ya'll the first annual MaILB awards ceremony. Now, as ya'll know, I tallied all the votes between myself and myself, and I ranked all the players in each of the leagues, Sooni and Shite, and determined which I thought was the best and the brightest o' the bunch. Without further ado, the first of my awards! The Stay the Course Fieldin' Award   : What does it take to win this award? Determination and cajones, cajones in the face of danger, criticism, and really fast balls. Those who won this award should be congratalated for stayin' the course when it might otherwise have been easier to just move outta the way or drop the ball.: drat, not a single award for any of our boys? I guess none of our defenders stood out above the rest. drat it KKKLIP ART, weren't you supposed to be the best defensive catcher?: Next up, another important award that's close to my heart. We all know the pitchers are out making tough decisions each day, choosing between a bunch of different pitches and locations and all that jazz for every pitch they throw. That's why I made this next award:The Decisive Decider Pitchin' Award   : Again, we got completely blanked. But let's be realistic here, Jack Price was the only one even worthy of consideration, and his late season troubles screwed him out of a second or third place spot.I think more shockingly, Qatar's pitching staff won first, second, AND third place in the pitching award. That's some goddamn pitching dominance. Makes me feel a bit less bad about losing to them too... : Next up, my personal favorite award. Batting is hard, and it takes real swagger to pull off the job of hittin' balls hard. That's why the next award bears the name of the greatest country in the world!The Texas Swagger Award for Hittin' Good   : Yes! Cam Stevenson managed to win the Texas Swagger Award for Hittin' Good, the MVP award for best hitter in the league! This is great news, and I'm definitely pleased to have Stevenson on the team. He's our anchor, and we can expect great things from him in the future. We made a great pick taking him as our first round pick.: Last, but definitely not least, I want to recognize the newbies that have come up in the league to show their skill. These guys come up alone, but boy howdy they leave as legends with a whole lotta friends!The Lone Star Rookie Award   : Ugh, so close! Cash "Money" Considerations came in second place for the voting for the best rookie of the year in the Sunni League. That's really disappointing, but Fida did put up some pretty good numbers throughout the year. Either way, Cash Money has shown great potential, and he should be a solid center or left fielder for some time.Overall, we did alright, netting the MVP batting award and Second place in the rookie award. Considering we are competing against EVERY player in the same league as ourselves, I consider us fortunate to have won one of the most prestigious awards, and fortunate to have a rookie with such skill. Now, these awards are lacking because they lack that Pete touch. As such, I've done my own awards for the year as a whole. Prepare yourselves for the true winners of the MaILB!  : Things are gonna be a bit different this time around. I'm gonna award three medals - Gold, Silver, and Bronze to the players that contributed most to the team. Separate awards will be given to pitchers and hitters, with no honorable mentions. Nor am I going to give negative awards - this is a positive time of year for encouragement!Without further ado, the bronze medal winner:    : Prince Kelly is my pick for the Bronze Medal in the Hustle and Grit award. Why Kelly, when there's many superior players? Kelly was consistent as hell across the year, missing games only due to not being started (an error we probably should rectify), playing great defense in right field (one of the top 4 defensive RF in all of baseball), and batting for average and a bit of power. His on base percentage leaves something to be desired as he strikes out more than he walks, but he clearly defied our expectations to become a great contributor to the team. We don't have to worry about right field as long as he keeps this up.For the silver...    : Eric Clink is my pick for the 1980 silver medal. This guy is an absolute monster, and if it weren't for Cam Stevenson, he'd get a lot more attention. He led the team in doubles and RBI, struck out less than any of our regular starters, and still managed some power and a high average. On top of it all, he was one of the top third basemen in baseball. Oh, and remember the hitting streak record? Yeah, he holds that too. Eric Clink is a great player and is still only 26 years old. With him at third and Stevenson at second, we have one of the best infields in all of baseball.Now, Gold:    : Suprising no one, Cam Stevenson receives my gold medal for 1980. Do I even really need to say anything about this guy? He led the team in virtually every non-power related metric, with a blistering 171 OPS+, only 41 strikeouts across 767 plate appearances, led baseball and holds the record for stolen bases, runs scored, hits, and walks. He also leads baseball in assists and double plays as a second baseman (with the small flaw of having a lot of errors). This guy is an elite, once in a generation level player, and we should do whatever it takes to keep him on our team, no matter the cost.I really wanted to give this award to someone else, just to keep Cam from hogging it. But when you lead in so many different metrics, you deserve all the awards you get. Now, pitching! These were a bit tougher, given our pitching woes throughout the season.     : Xerxes Ironfist is the easy pick for bronze medal in the 1980 pitching award. He almost received silver, because just look at those stats! .83 ERA? That led the league among qualified relievers. ERA+ of 462. This guy is one of the better relievers in the league, and if he had pitched more innings, could easily have been my silver award pick. We need to make sure Xerxes gets more pitching time next season, and probably promote him to our setup guy or more regularly used reliever. It's possible his numbers will go down slightly if he's used more, as they may be a bit of a fluke, but who cares if he's already so strong?   : Silver goes to Rob MacGregor, our faithful closer. He performed his job extremely well, stretching out a brilliant ERA and a filthy .151 opposing average as the second-most used reliever in our bullpen. He would have led the league in saves too, if we didn't constantly oscillate between blowouts against us and by us. He led all of baseball (by relievers) in WHIP, opposing average, H/9, and put up great numbers in strikeouts and K/9. MacGregor is a legendary closer who should keep us in the game when our starting pitching manages to actually get us there.   : Jack Price is my pick for the gold medal in pitching for 1980. This was a tough choice, because our two relievers were lights out, while Price managed a respectable but not spectacular 3.12 ERA and 123 ERA+. These stats may be a bit misleading, and it should be noted that his ERA was something like 2.50 going into September, only to be trashed in a few really bad starts. Given how necessary he was in resting our bullpen for the disastrous starts before and after him, he nay have been slightly overworked. Either way, Price is our ace, and it's very unlikely we would have put together the season we did without him holding down the rotation with one solid start every five days. Any one of our stellar relievers could be replaced with another, but of the starters, Price was completely irreplaceable.Well, those are my picks. Let's get through contract negotiations and move on!   :   : That's more like it! Every one of the players we extended signed a 1 year deal, with the exception of MacGregor. I was able to negotiate MacGregor down to a 3 year deal, but the third year is a team option, so if he declines enough we can decline his third year and re-negotiate something better.Everyone else will be back on the chopping block next year. This may or may not be a good thing, especially in Kelly's case, as he's still relatively young.  : Some of the league's players have begun their offseason activities. One of our opponents' pitchers managed to concuss himself in an "off season incident", but perhaps more interesting, one of the Baathists' pitchers has opened a winery in Sonoma.Honestly I just wanted to show this because I've never seen this event before and it's very random  : Arbitration results finally came through, and went more or less as expected. Many of our better players received a raise, as arbitration gives an opportunity to our younger players and players under team control to get raises without having to negotiate an entirely new contract. Teams and players both submit a desired salary to a neutral arbitrator, who rules in favor of one or the other. Eric Clink, Cam Stevenson, and Xerxes Ironfist all received notable raises in line with their demands, while the arbitrator ruled in favor of the team in the other cases. Can't argue too much that, given how crucial these players were to our team's efforts. : A few days later, it became official, and free agency began for players across the league. We said goodbye to Alex "This Isn't Cricket" Campbell and a group of other backup guys.That's all for now, next time, free agent signings! Pete Out And thus begins the most important part of the offseason: the free agency signing and trading period. I'll brief everyone on our relative strengths and weaknesses, what we should look to acquire, and what our options are across the league in the next update. For now, here's how our budget stands:  I kind of misinterpreted the numbers regarding free agents versus extensions because it was the first season, but know that we have about 1.9 million to sign new players this year. This is actually quite a bit of money, and there are a number of desirable free agents on the market. I'll look at the top ones in depth, and it may be best for us to first target one big pick up, see what we have left, and work down from there. That's because we now have to bid against other teams for players. I checked, and there's not a whole lot of pitchers this time around, and the first year is always a big salary inflation year as salaries start to line up with budgets. Here's our current off-season summary (I can't really make it look any better than this): 
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Nov 7, 2014 00:15
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JosefStalinator posted:
i'm glad at least one other person misses me, though when/if i get picked up and have a terrible season then the naysayers are going to be vindicated
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Nov 7, 2014 02:24
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Kingal posted:i'm glad at least one other person misses me, though when/if i get picked up and have a terrible season then the naysayers are going to be vindicated Don't worry, I'll update periodically on where you go and how you're doing. And of course once you retire, you can rejoin as someone else (and knowing your luck get promptly traded or dropped).
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Nov 7, 2014 03:51
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Bah, my performance this year disappoints. There anyway you can petition the Pope to bless my pitching hand? 
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Nov 7, 2014 04:00
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I'd be glad to hear what Lefty gets up to in his travels. Part of me hopes he'll go on to be a successful manager much like his counterpart Jared Lorenzen. The man was GM of an IFL team and mid-way through the season decided to resign so he could go on to lead them to a successful season as the starting QB. He won MVP that year. Post-football he ended up coaching at his old high-school while simultaneously being the commissioner of the IFL
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Nov 7, 2014 04:18
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No pitchers? That's okay, we already have Bolivar Mallen to handle our 5th slot in the rotation, and at a reasonable price too!
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Nov 7, 2014 04:43
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Jesterea posted:I'd be glad to hear what Lefty gets up to in his travels. Part of me hopes he'll go on to be a successful manager much like his counterpart Jared Lorenzen. The man was GM of an IFL team and mid-way through the season decided to resign so he could go on to lead them to a successful season as the starting QB. He won MVP that year. Technically we can still offer Lefty a contract, and I hope you'll be first in line to at least push for it. He has to get over his irrational hatred of us first though - I really don't understand why he won't negotiate with us. I'll update you once he stops hating. Val Helmethead posted:No pitchers? That's okay, we already have Bolivar Mallen to handle our 5th slot in the rotation, and at a reasonable price too! Oh there are pitchers, but just not as many, and they'll command more money each due to scarcity.
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Nov 7, 2014 04:43
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I was poking around the league just to see what our Free Agency options were, and stumbled upon this chart  Damascus shed tons of players. Taking a closer look, Damascus has only three of its starting lineup, 4 starting pitchers, and three relievers.Keep in mind that Damascus has the biggest budget in baseball, and now has the lowest payroll.  I don't get this AI. EDIT: And Kabul has the 2nd highest payroll. JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 08:32 on Nov 7, 2014 |
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Nov 7, 2014 08:28
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We were the only ones to gain WAR so far. And since SABR was formed in 1971, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that there are some sabermetricians following this league. Doubt anyone would go the Moneyball route though.
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Nov 7, 2014 08:56
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| # ? May 25, 2024 13:59 |
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 : Alright, if we are going to figure out what to do with our free agency budget, we first need to know our team's relative weaknesses and strengths. To do this, I'm going to repost our stats and lineups, then go through each position, our bench, our rotation, and our bullpen to determine what needs strengthening most urgently.First, here's stats, lineup, and bullpen status. These are updated to reflect our roster changes in light of letting some of our players go. Batting Stats  Batting Ratings  Lineups  Pitching Stats  Pitching Ratings  Rotation and Bullpen  First, let's meet the new players who have been promoted in light of our changes: New and Overlooked Bench Players   Mensu Moosa looks to be a mediocre but suitable relief pitcher. His overall rating seems a bit harsh given his otherwise alright pitch ratings, but he's definitely not as good as the rest of our bullpen. He's filling in with Rahim Lefty and Alex Campbell's departure. Given his low ratings, he's likely an innings eater who we can effectively use in games when we are down or when we need to rest the bullpen. Probably won't keep games close, but he won't blow them entirely either. He's also young, so he may improve.   Carlos Reyes was almost our fifth starter before we went with Bolivar Mallen, and is now an exceedingly mediocre long-relief type pitcher. His pitch selection and stamina are quite nice for a reliever, but his lack of movement and control make him our emergency starter, and nothing more. He's nice for depth, and will hang around AAA waiting for promotion if we replace him and anyone in our staff gets hurt, but I wouldn't want to rely on him for too long.   Bin Diya Al Din is one of our more useful defensive guys, as he is great defensively at both third and second, and can play a competent shortstop. Probably could play first with practice too. His big downside is he's abysmal offensively, though he has a bit of power so may hit a dinger every so often. This guy is nice to give us some corner infield/middle infield defensive depth, and likely will stick around as a utility guy.   Bin Ayman an exceptionally good defensive outfielder and pinch runner, but he cannot hit for poo poo. His only saving grace is that he rarely strikes out, but across 171 plate appearances he hit .178 and his on base percentage was barely any better. This guy is really, really nice to have around for his speed, and he can fill in at center if Fink poops out and we move Cash Money to left field. I would likely keep him around just for the defensive outfield depth and pinch running capabilities.   Jalil is new, and has never seen time in the majors. He's basically a more balanced Bin Ayman - he's slightly better at hitting, but slightly worse defensively and speed wise. In that he fills the same role as Bin Ayman slightly less effectively, he's probably not worth keeping around. His ability to play second/third is nice, but not really necessary. This guy will be first to be demoted to AAA if we find a new batter. His one nice virtue is, should anyone else get hurt, he can add some additional depth to virtually every position outside of SS. : That out of the way, let's analyze each position for its need and depth. Catcher Starter: B- Depth: B+ KKKLIP ART is something of a liability offensively, and despite his high ratings, has not really been all that stellar as a catcher. In fact, he was second in errors and lead baseball in passed balls, though that's also with being the catcher who did the most catching. His other stats were mediocre at best, and it's questionable whether his catching is worth it. He'd make a great backup catcher, though. This might be a position we consider upgrading in the future. In terms of depth, Hoshi Uemura has actually proven to be nearly as good as KKKLIP ART offensively, and about as good, if not better (small sample size) defensively. Will be perfectly fine as backup for the foreseeable future. First Base Starter: A Depth: A- John Black is our first baseman, and is stellar, with injuries being the main lingering concern. Should he ever poop out, Mohammad Jihad is not great, but he will serve and give us plenty of time to find a replacement if he doesn't develop himself. Another reason depth isn't an issue here is that virtually anyone can play first base, so it really doesn't matter all that much. Second Base Starter: A++ Depth: B+ Cam Stevenson is unstoppable, and this position can't be improved. Our depth isn't that great offensively, though Reeve Tresher could be moved there, and Al Din could fill the spot defensively for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't target 2B specifically. Short Stop Starter: B Depth: B- Reeve Tresher is a good shortstop, but not great. He's done solid defense and put up enough numbers that I wouldn't target replacing him with anyone other than a star. Depth isn't that great, but Al Din could play a mediocre shorstop for a while. If there's any utility spot we need most, it's here. It should be noted that we have a good defensive SS in our AA team, but he'd be worthless offensively. He's fast though. Third Base Starter: A+ Depth: B+ Eric Clink holds down third without competition, and both Jalil and Al Din could handle the defenses should he be knocked out. I wouldn't worry about this position. Left Field Starter: A- Depth: B Franklin Fink was great last year, but at 41 years old, our scout thinks he is beginning his decline. While this hasn't manifested itself yes, it is cause for concern, as his absence would open up a bit of a hole in left field. This is less concerning when you consider Cash Money, who has a blistering 102 LF ability, but that then opens up center field to Bin Ayman or Jalil, both of whom wouldn't really be that great. Left might be an area we target for future improvement, or at least hedging our bets in case Fink gets hurt. Center Field Starter: B Depth: B- Cash Money currently does well at center field defensively, though his offense is not stellar. Really, Cash is waiting for Fink to retire so he can move to Left Field where his fielding would be elite, rather than just good. This is why the rating and depth is so low - Bin Ayman is, as always, an elite outfielder, but we wouldn't want to rely on him offensively. If we wanted to move Cash money to left, this would be one of the better positions to seek an upgrade at. Right Field Starter: A- Depth: B Prince Kelly overperformed, demonstrating great defensive and offensive skill in right field. Bin Ayman and Jabril can cover for him defensively if he ever gets hurt. Given our left/center field woes, having Prince lock down right is nice, and I would target the other two outfield positions if any upgrade is desired. Bench and Utility Pinch Hitter Rating: A- Mo Jihad does alright as a pinch hitter, and Uemura actually serves as our second most effective pinch hitter. I wouldn't worry about this. Corner Infield Utility Rating: A+ We have no need for more corner infielders, as Mo Jihad has first down, while Al Din has third down. Middle Infield Utility Rating: C+ This is a bit weird, for second base is covered alright by Al Din, but SS is a huge hole. If Tresher gets hurt, Al Din will be a liability probably not worth his abysmal offense. This is our weakest utility position. Pinch Runner Rating: A+ Bin Ayman is fast as hell and can't be stopped.  Starting Pitching First Starter: A Second Starter: B- Third Starter: B Fourth Starter: A- Fifth Starter: D+ Our starting pitching is a huge, huge liability for the team. Price is fine as a first starter, but Flex Townshend had a dismal year and actually performed worse than our third and fourth starters. Tor put it together to be an alright third starter, and Albrecht Alby actually turned into a really effective fourth starter. Our fifth starter spot, however, was not good. Rahim "Hefty" Lefty did well in his short stint, but has now left, putting the terrible Bolivar Mallen back in. If any one position needs replacing, it's this one. Depth/Emergency Starters Right now, Carlos Reyes is our best bet as emergency starter. He's not very good. This only adds more urgency to finding a better fifth starter, demoting Mallen to our emergency starter... Bullpen Closer Rating: A++ Setup Rating: A++ Short/Middle Relief: B+ Long Relief: B- Our bullpen is great, and we honestly don't need much help here. Xerxes, Friar John, and MacGregor have been lights out and are our go to guys in close games. Husain and Khoury are still wonderful, and keep us in the game if the others are tired or if we are slightly behind. They are getting a bit old though, and it's tough to say whether they'll both make it through the year in tact. The innings-eaters, or guys who aren't that reliable, Reyes and Moosa, are untested but should be alright. I'm optimistic on Moosa who may yet prove himself to be good enough to replace some of the aging veterans, while Reyes will be mediocre as long relief. It might be worth investing in a decent reliever to pull up the back of our relief staff, and to hedge our bets on one of the older guys getting hurt or retiring. They're pretty cheap and the league is flooded with good relief talent. We can get top notch talent for 200k, and a solid younger guy for less.  One thing to consider when looking for free agents is what our current prospect situation is. You don't want to sign a big name player to a long contract if you're expecting a top prospect to come to that position in the near future. Currently, however, we only have two prospects worth taking a look at.   Akili is our top prospect, a starting pitching showing considerable talent. He's not a future ace by any means, but if he comes together, he could be a good third our fourth starter for our staff. Given our current starting pitching woes, this would be a significant boost. He's going to need at least another year or so to develop.   Macias is our next big prospect, but honestly, he's only highly rated due to the dearth of good shortstops in the league. He might be a servicable hitter if he develops well, but he's going to need to hit his upside big if he wants to be a starter. Might be a good bench player in a few years. That's... pretty much it. Most of our other prospects have fizzled, and our AAA team only has four players, all of whom suck (the AI fills the rest with generic made up "ghost" players). Our farm system is abysmal, but don't worry, so is everyone else's. It will fill out as the seasons progress.  : All that out of the way, it's time to take a look at the Free Agent market. I'll start first by showing the top players overall, including their yearly salary demands, and their statistics. An important thing to remember: Most star players will demand long contracts relative to their age! The top guy, Bin Yasr, wants four years because he's 37. Qusay Hussein wants 6. Some will want seven. What free agents are looking for is job security and to get paid. Also remember that the total we end up paying will almost certainly go up if others bid.One kind of irritating thing is that I can't keep the order the same between charts. I'll sort by WAR in stats and overall in rating, to at least provide SOME consistency. Sorry about that. Top Batter Rating/Demand  Top Batter Stats  Analysis: There are some interesting players here worth considering, if you want to go the offense route. Fudail is a good left fielder if we want to retire Fink sooner rather than later, though he'd be expensive, and we'd likely blow all our money on him. Amid (he'll be unhurt by the time next season begins) could be interesting at center, but he's a bit older and expensive too. Sanin might be a cheaper, slightly younger CF option. These guys are really the big market outfielders/first basemen, so let's look at shortstops and catchers next, as those are the weakest non-OF positions on the team. Top Shortstops   Shortstop is the position with the greatest scarcity in the league, by far. There are only three guys better than Tresher, and even then, it's questionable whether they'd be worth the cost. They're all about equal to tresher defensively, and stat-wise, only Victor Torres came out ahead of Tresher on the year. He has really good scouting ratings, showing as a 75/75 contact hitter, and may actually have underperformed. If we target any SS, this is probably our man. He would want a four or five year deal. Top Catchers   Yikes. If you thought SS was a bare field, catcher is even worse. Batur and Aswad (lol) are dismal defensive catchers, but at least beat KKKLIP ART offensively. Kahig is pretty bad defensively too, but at least he put up some great numbers across the year. I'd target him more aggressively if he weren't demanding so much money, but he's worth looking at. Top Starting Pitchers   Pitchers are actually looking a bit more fertile after looking at SS and Catchers, but still not too many big names. Do you remember Kashkeli? I do. He beat us three times, going 8 innings with one earned run, once at the end of the regular season and twice in the Abu Bakr series. He also threw a complete game against Tel Aviv in the Caliphate series. That guy is a beast, and if you're willing to dish out the cash, could be another ace alongside Price in our rotation. He wants a big, big contract though. Expect something like 6-7 years. It should be noted that his rating is a 61, and it's very, very likely that he over-performed this year. You have been warned. Abdul-Haqq Imad Al Din might be a more moderate option - he had a good year, with alright ratings. He's also young, making his own super long contract demand seem a bit more reasonable. I would suggest Mfukunzi, but holy poo poo, he wants a four year contract at 41. No thanks. Some of the others might be worth considering for fifth starter/long reliever, if you're so inclined. Top Relievers   Relievers are very plentiful in the league, though be wary of their stats. Relievers often suffer from small sample size, as even good ones may be underutilized. Pay some heed to ratings, as relievers are also more prone to over/underperform if they're being used more sparingly. We may want to target some of the lower demand ones once we figure out our financial situation after bigger starter/offensive grabs. Still, if you have your eyes on anyone, feel free to suggest I start courting them. Another thing to watch - relievers can crash, and when they do, they tend to crash very hard. Don't get caught giving a star reliever a huge contract, only to have him become an unnecessary drain for 3-4 seasons. The nice thing is that most only ask for a few seasons to begin with. Goon Participation Time I know this is tough, as Free Agency is very fluid and difficult to do collaboratively. Here's our budget: What I need you to do, is suggest who we should start targeting. With our budget we can go after one big contract, or two medium ones, and a number of smaller ones if we so desire. If we decide upon one big one, I might focus on that until we secure them (since we will need to bid, and that might derail our other plans). If you want to simply suggest a position to target, but leave the individual choice to me or more knowledgable goons, that works too. I'll count your vote toward whatever that consensus candidate is. Quick summary of top targets: C - Kahiga 1B - Kasaba 2B - Why SS - Victor Torres 3B - Why LF - Fudail, Jamal, Amid CF - Sanin RF - Qusay Hussein SP - Kashkeli, Al-Din RP - So many, just choose one or wait to see what our budget looks like If you want any stats, details, or additional info, just let me know. Also if you want to avoid making a big splash, feel free to suggest it and I can try to bargain hunt instead. JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 11:21 on Nov 8, 2014 |
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Nov 8, 2014 11:15
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