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Friar John posted:2.70 ERA You actually redeemed yourself after the shameful display in your first appearance. And hey, at least you only gave up one run, and didn't receive our team's first loss. It's still anyone's game for the Pete Rose's Monthly Betting Bad Award. I'll also be awarding Pete Rose's Monthly Hustle and Clutch Award for Excellence. These will give me a chance to highlight goons who are doing well/badly, and hopefully give me something other than a bunch of numbers to show you guys.
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Oct 8, 2014 08:58
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Can we try using an actually efficient bullpen management strategy? Closer goes 2 innings in any tied game or 1 run lead - optionally can go 1 inning in a 2 run game and the setup guy handles 2 or 3 run saves and goes two innings, or is the game infected with SAVES. Edit: Also in the 7th or later when the game is tied we go straight to the closer. Also, looking at the strategy sliders - we should IBB people basically never. Like there is only 1 or 2 situations where it is profitable to IBB people barring ludicrous barry bonds being protected by pete kozma situations. We should shift fairly often, and is their any way to tell the idiots to bunt for a hit in a sac bunt situation if so do that, particularly in early innings. Assuming we're not playing in a steroids era run enviroment, bunting early when people have the infield back is actually not a terrible idea. We should pinch hit all the time as well. Crank that slider up. Like, letting the pitcher hit is a total disaster unless it is a blow out. I'm in favour of firing a reliever to get another pinch hitter on the bench to facilitate this strategy. In 'The Book' tango makes the argument that it would be profitable to hit for the pitcher literally every time they come to bat and use a legion of relief pitchers (well, SP 1-2 should go normally, everyone else should be pinch hit for every AB). Cthulhu Dreams fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Oct 8, 2014 |
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Oct 8, 2014 09:11
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:Can we try using an actually efficient bullpen management strategy? Closer goes 2 innings in any tied game or 1 run lead - optionally can go 1 inning in a 2 run game and the setup guy handles 2 or 3 run saves and goes two innings, or is the game infected with SAVES. The game isn't infatuated with it per se, but certain player personality types will be upset if they aren't being used as the closer. I always just set everyone to Middle Reliever and set my three or four best guys to "use more often," so the game will prioritize using your best reliever is high leverage situations instead of saving them for later in the game. If someone gets pissy that he's not getting the almighty saves I trade him for someone just as good (and probably cheaper). e: I did this in the Be A GM that just finished, this is a bit of an extreme example because my bullpen has four of the top like eight closers but it's a good example of the kind of spread your relievers can get if you do this. Champman, Romo, and Bailey were set to use more often all season and Rosenthal got added to it around the allstar break. 
IcePhoenix fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Oct 8, 2014 |
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Oct 8, 2014 15:35
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IcePhoenix posted:The game isn't infatuated with it per se, but certain player personality types will be upset if they aren't being used as the closer. I always just set everyone to Middle Reliever and set my three or four best guys to "use more often," so the game will prioritize using your best reliever is high leverage situations instead of saving them for later in the game. If someone gets pissy that he's not getting the almighty saves I trade him for someone just as good (and probably cheaper). And god damnit, they're within their rights to be pissed. I want SAVES! Thankfully, it seems like everything is going just fine so far. Two innings, clean sheet - let's keep that going.
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Oct 8, 2014 15:40
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:Good pitching advice/strats Here's the pitcher use thing as it stands, at its current default:  Feel free to make any suggestions for improvement or strategy. If you want to just throw some strategies out, unless someone contradicts them, I'll implement it. I won't force a vote on anything that isn't contentious, especially since theres only a handful of "hardcore" people suggesting minute strategies, and another layer of readers more along for the ride or big picture decisions. Since you brought up player happiness regarding saves, here's an example and explanation from our closer MacGregor:  One of the things players have is morale, which is their general happiness. Players with low morale will go into more slumps and be stuck in them longer, as well as just play poorly. Players with high morale will overperform, stay hot, and get out of slumps faster. There are four components to morale: Team Record: If your team does well, this goes up, and if it sucks, it goes down. Most players don't mind, but if their personality has a high "desire for winner" rating, they'll want to be traded and be unhappy in a lovely team. Transactions: If a player is being shopped around, wants to be traded, or fears a recent trade will take away their spot, this will go down. Basically a player cares about job security and doesn't like being unnecessarily traded. Performance: This is the one that will change the most. If a player does well, his performance rating goes up, and vice versa. Role on Team: Players will be unhappy if they don't get to play their expected role. If they want to be a starter, and are on the bench, they get upset. What this has to do with closers, is that if you stack your team with a bunch of closers with the expected role of closer, they might get annoyed, and perform more poorly. Really upset players will ask for trades. TLDR: Players want to play regularly according to their skill. Unhappy players play worse, happy players play better. Not sure why MacGregor is mad about his performance given that he hasn't allowed an earned run in all of spring or the regular season, but it should go away. JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Oct 9, 2014 |
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Oct 9, 2014 03:44
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Just curious, but does it say how many pitches these guys are throwing in game? Not that I would want to change anything like that, I'd just be interested in knowing how the sim works. Does the comp usually cap a starter after 100, or let them keep going?
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Oct 10, 2014 04:56
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   :  . Our first month, and we finish 14-7! That's a .667 winning percentage! This has been a good month for the team. We initially went 3-3 to start the first week of the season, but then this happened:  : We really can't ask for much more from our guys. They're really clicking as a team, and I think we're in great shape overall.Let's see the other stats and our lineup, then we'll get to the news and I'll introduce Pete's monthly awards! Batter Stats  Pitcher Stats  Lineups  Rotation and Bullpen   : It was kind of a slow rest of the month around the league, but let's look at news relevant to us.First, you may have noticed Franklin Fink has a little yellow cross next to his name. That indicates he has a "day to day" injury. Day to day injuries are minor injuries that do not require players stop playing, but do reduce their abilities, and increase the odds of them getting hurt in the future.   : Looks pretty minor, but it is worth noting that, at his age, these day to day injuries can become frequent. So far he's doing well on the season, and whether this is the beginning of his decline or just a blip on the radar, it's hard to tell. For now he's our fourth best hitter overall, so as long as he doesn't get severely injured, it's no need for concern. : We're gonna talk more about Cam Stevenson later in the update, but goddamn, he's absolutely on fire. This week might have stood out - posting an average of over .500 is absurd, and as we'll see later, he kept it up for most of the month.: It's... honestly been a pretty slow week. Our success has come from building a great team - and while one or two do certainly stand out, all the cogs are spinning, and the team is moving forward. Here's how we stand relative to the other teams in our division:Current Standings  : And now, let's look around the league for interesting news (because there ain't much at home). : drat! We had our chance at Qays "Melanoma" Ghassan, and now he's rolling through batters on Jakarta. Oh well. He's definitely on our radar, but if he keeps performing this well, there's no way Jakarta would let their ace (and best overall player) go.He also won the rookie of the month award, reinforcing the opportunity we missed.  : This bastard somehow took the player of the month award away from Cam Stevenson. I blame the bias in favor of dingers, though he only has one more than John Black, who has seven.: Anyways, this was an abbreviated update, being only two weeks long. So let's get right to the awards.    :  There really wasn't any contest this month, Cam Stevenson clearly deserves my Monthly Hustle and Clutch Award for Excellence. He gets a shout out all to himself, and drat if I'm not going to through that stat line and look at just what it means for our team. First off - he's leading the team in PA, which is not surprising, as he's batting leadoff. This is good because he's clearly our best hitter - he's also leading the team in walks, runs scored (28!), triples, average, OBP, OPS, and WAR. Through all this, he's only struck out twice. For the uninitiated, WAR is a stat that aggregate's a players total offensive and defensive contribution to his team. The method is complex, and many argue very flawed, but is is useful here to show the degree to whcih he is overshadowing the rest of his team in offensive and defensive skill. Let us also not ignore the stolen base count - he actually leads the entire league in stolen bases at 23, with the second place being a mere 11. He's been caught four times, but with a 23:4 ratio, that's no cause for concern. If Cam Stevenson keeps getting on base, stealing bases, and guarding the infield, we may just have an MVP candidate on our hands. And that's why he's Pete's Pick of the Month! Honorable Mentions: I really can't give out the award to came without at least mentioning some other players who have done well.  Eric Clink is worth mentioning - from third base he's silently batted an impressive .341, with a handful of doubles, triples, and homeruns to demonstrate some power. He's really contributing, and it's great to see him exceed expectations.  John "Whiteboy" Black has shown all the power we hoped for, and more, tied for second in the league with seven home runs. He's being a great cleanup hitter and complement to stevenson.  Jack Price is a bit overshadowed on a team of offensive power, but he's silently put together a 2-0 month with a 1.67 ERA. On days when our offense is slow, he keeps us in the game.  : But, not all is well. Pete's gonna point out the guys not to bet on - those who disappointed this month, and who deserve our ire (and consideration for replacement, if it's really that bad).   This one was closer, but Sai Tor is the recipient of my Bad Bet of the Month Award. His statline has many things to be annoyed at - the 5.82 ERA stands out the most, with a 1.76 WHIP, more walks than strikeouts... the list goes on. It's amazing that he has three wins and two losses, but it just highlights that that wins and losses mean little. I hope he equalizes out as the year goes on, but if this is maintained, he will get moved down our rotation. Honorable Mentions:  Albrecht Alby nearly got the award, but managed to do slightly less terribly. Still, a 5.18 is only marginally better, and he needs to pick it up.  Bolivar Mallen is probably just surprised he didn't get the award. His 7.36 ERA was much worse, but at the same time, he's our fifth starter and only has 2 weeks after I told the manager to start using a 5 man rotation. He's definitely on thin ice, and not performing that well as our fifth starter.  Prince Kelley barely made it on here because he's been exceedingly mediocre - his average is bolstered by just one walk. While expectations were never that high, it was hoped he'd post a positive WAR.
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Oct 10, 2014 07:14
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Jesterea posted:Just curious, but does it say how many pitches these guys are throwing in game? Not that I would want to change anything like that, I'd just be interested in knowing how the sim works. Does the comp usually cap a starter after 100, or let them keep going? The game actually gives the manager (including us) an indication of pitcher fatigue. It's based on stamina and how rested they were before the game, but it essentially tells the manager if they are tired by changing a little status indicator, and the manager will generally take them out at that point. As a result, there aren't the same hard pitch limits like we see in real baseball, which generally gets pitchers out at 100 pitches. We can set our own pitch counts if we so desire, and managers will pull them at that point (or close), excepting only situations where they have no hitters/perfect games, or something like that. Re: The Update I have absolutely no skill at anything outside of MSpaint. If anyone has any offerings for logos, banners, or trophies for the awards, it would really be appreciated, as this is the best I can do with my lovely mspaint skills. And if anyone has any feedback on the update, let me know. Let me know if anything is confusing, if you want to see more information regularly, etc.
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Oct 10, 2014 07:17
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Prince Kelly's a bum! A bum I say! I'm calling in to K-TURK Radio and complaining about him daily to Istanbul's top sports hacks, Wael and the Wild Wolf, but does anyone listen to Mo Erdrogan from Ronkonkoma? No! At least my boy Xerx is killing it from the pen. He's so much better than that Friar John, should get himself back to the monastery and learn how to throw something other than straight as an arrow fastballs.
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Oct 10, 2014 13:16
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Maybe I skimmed a bit, but is there somewhere that a non-baseball watcher can go to know what each of the bits on the player status screens are?
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Oct 10, 2014 13:58
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Cash Money would like to know what the criteria for honorable mentions are, because leading the team in doubles (and second in XBH) and RBI from the bottom of the lineup apparently isn't doing it. Cash Money anticipates your counterpoint of his steals, but would like to remind you that when half of your hits end up with you on or past second base, it's much harder to get steals than when you're a slap hitting wimp, and Cash Money ain't about that playstyle.
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Oct 10, 2014 15:19
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habeasdorkus posted:Prince Kelly's a bum! A bum I say! I'm calling in to K-TURK Radio and complaining about him daily to Istanbul's top sports hacks, Wael and the Wild Wolf, but does anyone listen to Mo Erdrogan from Ronkonkoma? No! Friar John may be handicapped by being forced to be "our 8th inning guy", or backup closer, which has earned him a measley 8 innings of work and no saves. Xerx actually has a save. It was suggested before, and it might be a good idea to suggest a bullpen management strategy that uses our closers more evenly, and could give xerx a bigger role than he currently has, should he continue to shine. KKKLIP ART posted:Maybe I skimmed a bit, but is there somewhere that a non-baseball watcher can go to know what each of the bits on the player status screens are? Do you mean the page with all the players' ratings? http://manuals.ootpdevelopments.com/index.php?man=ootp15&page=batting_ratings http://manuals.ootpdevelopments.com/index.php?man=ootp15&page=pitching_ratings The OOTP 15 manual does a decent job summarizing it, though I also did so during the draft. For those confused on the different statistics I post about/talk about, wiki has a summary of them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_statistics#Batting_statistics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_statistics#Pitching_statistics You'll get a feel of them as it goes on, and also if you try watching real baseball. Baseball has a lot of statistics, some more useful than others, but they do all come together at some point to give you a good idea of a player's value. If you really want a single metric to judge a player's overall value, just look at WAR. It's really flawed, but for those who are a bit unfamiliar with baseball, or who are intimidated by the other 100 statistics, its a nice one number to kind of sum it all up. Bigger is better, and negative is bad.
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Oct 10, 2014 15:21
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Is there anything that contributes to Tor's bad performance, or  ?I would've thought decent stats would mean you average out to decent.
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Oct 10, 2014 15:32
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Mr. Stalin is correct about WAR being somewhat dubious in real life, mostly because we haven't yet figured out a perfect way to evaluate defense. Luckily, this is a video game, and it knows everything that happened, so it should have a pretty good idea. Anyway, an average, regular starter should accumulate about 2 WAR in a season. If a guy gets 7 or more, he'll be in the MVP conversation for sure. Cam over here has already got 2.7 WAR in only 1/6 of the season so... he probably won't be able to keep up this pace. But it's still impressive! The OPS+ and ERA+ stats are OPS and ERA, scaled relative to the entire league. League average is defined as 100. 6 of our 8 starters have an OPS+ over 100. That is good. The pitching WAR in this game is based on FIP, as far as I know. I hate FIP-WAR. It is garbage. Ice To Meet You fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 15:35
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Saitorr posted:Is there anything that contributes to Tor's bad performance, or It could just be bad luck. A month is a pretty small sample size, and it's entirely possible that he got rocked in a couple starts and that's hurting his numbers. Pedro Martinez, the greatest pitcher of all time* gave up 8 runs on opening day in 2002 and had a 6.91 ERA after three starts... he finished with a 2.26 ERA for the season, the best in the league by over a quarter of a run. * I will brook no argument on peak greatness, if there was a single game I needed to win for my eternal soul 1999-2001 Pedro would save me. Alan Trammell posted:
Ugh, it is? FIP is useful, but I prefer the non-FIP variety. As for OPS+ and ERA+, they're both very useful statistics for comparing across teams, and especially for comparing players from different eras and decades. Carl Yastrzemski had a .922 OPS for the 1968 Red Sox, good for an exceptional 171 OPS+. That same OPS from a Colorado Rockies player in 2000 would would have been good for a measly 111 OPS+. Why? Because 1968 was the height of a pitchers era, they actually lowered the height of the pitching mound after the season to help hitters, and 2000 was the height of the recent steroid/sillyball era AND the altitude in Denver massively inflates offense. Thus a dominant, MVP worthy performance becomes merely an above average one. Essentially, a 110 OPS+ means a batter was 10% better than the rest of the league, a 90 OPS+ means the batter was 10% worse. The same concept goes for ERA+. OPS+ and ERA+ are also based upon EVERY other player's numbers, so all things being equal it's easier to find a good hitting first baseman (where you can stick a 300 lbs slugger without giving up too much defense) than an average hitting shortstop (the most difficult defensive position). Likewise it's easier to find relievers with high ERA+ than starters. IIRC (going off memory here) Average OPS+ by position: P: -5 C: 87 1B: 116 2B: 93 SS: 89 3B: 100 RF: 110 CF: 98 LF: 110 DH: 110 Average ERA+ by role: Staff Ace: 120 2nd Starter: 110 3rd Starter: 100 "Average" Starter: 96 4th Starter: 90 5th Starter: 80 Reliever: 104 TL;DR: OPS+ and ERA+ are handy at a glance guides to performance, but remember to judge based upon role because your second baseman with a 100 OPS+ is actually better than your first baseman with a 120 OPS+.
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Oct 10, 2014 16:21
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Also, re: WAR, it's a good quick and dirty look at overall performance. A 200 OPS+ is great and all, but it doesn't tell you much if the guy only played 20 games in a season. It's not the be all and end all of analysis, but it's almost always a good starting point.
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Oct 10, 2014 16:23
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The Triple Crown Stats: More Effortposting! Winning a triple crown is almost a guarantee of winning the Most Valuable Player award or the Cy Young award (or both). The hitting triple crown has only been accomplished once in the last 40 years. Batters HR: Home runs. They're the best outcome for a batter. RBI: Runs Batted In. How many runs score from a players at bat. Middle of the order hitters (3-5) tend to have the highest totals, thanks to having the most opportunities to drive in runs. Not a great stat for actually telling how good a player is because of that reason. AVG: Batting Average. Hits/At Bats, if you're a .320 hitter you're excellent. If you're a .260 hitter, you're average. If you're hitting .199 you're under the Mendoza Line* and if you're not a pitcher you're probably going to lose your job in the starting lineup. To qualify for the batting title you have to have 492 at bats in a season, otherwise some lucky kid who goes 1/1 in their first at bat at the end of the year would always win. * Named for famously weak hitting shortstop Mario Mendoza, who hit under .200 in five of his nine years in the big leagues. Pitchers Wins: An archaic stat that's held up as a model of simple old timey statistics when it's actually really damned difficult to describe. Generally, if a starting pitcher gets through five or more innings and leaves the game with his team in the lead, and his team wins, he'll get the win. 20 or more in a season is considered a major accomplishment. Ks: Strikeouts. "Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls, it's more democratic." ERA: Earned Run Average. Earned Runs/{Innings Pitched/9). Doesn't count Unearned Runs, which are scored due to errors by the fielders or even the pitcher themselves. Anything under 3.00 is solid for any era, anything under 2.00 is something people will talk about for years. Winning the title requires at least 162 Innings Pitched, or relievers with only a couple games would always win with a 0.00 ERA. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 16:39
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habeasdorkus posted:Wins: An archaic stat that's held up as a model of simple old timey statistics when it's actually really damned difficult to describe. Generally, if a starting pitcher gets through five or more innings and leaves the game with his team in the lead, and his team wins, he'll get the win. 20 or more in a season is considered a major accomplishment. I'm gonna clarify it a little bit here. Generally, if a pitcher leaves with his team in the lead and the team never loses the lead and wins, he'll get the win(so if you get pulled up 5-4 and the other team never ties it or takes the lead, even if the final score is 10-9, you get the win). If, when he leaves, the team blows the lead and it becomes tied, he loses the win and it becomes, for him, a no decision. (i.e. if you're up 5-4 and get pulled, if your replacement gives up a run to tie it 5-5 you cannot statistically get a win, even if the team wins. You cannot statistically get a loss either, with one exception, detailed below). Losses work much the same way, if when you leave you're down and the team never ties it or takes the lead, you lose. If the team ties it up, it's a no decision. HOWEVER, losses have one more caveat. Any batters a pitcher puts on (hits or walks, not errors) before he gets pulled, he is considered responsible for. So if his replacement gives up a hit that puts those runners across home to take the lead, the ORIGINAL pitcher is the one who gets the loss, not the replacement. Also, when hitting, the pitcher who gets the win is the 'pitcher of record', i.e. the last pitcher who was on the mound when the last half-inning ended. So if an inning ends when they're down 4-5 and the batters in the next half inning score 3 runs to put their team up 7-5, that pitcher who was in last gets the win, even if he doesn't throw another pitch. Wins also have different meanings to different roles. For example, a closer's most important stat is 'saves', which means he came in with a narrow lead and held on to it. Again, this stat is a bit up in the air- for example, a few years ago, as any Tigers fan will tell you, Jose Valverde never once blew a save- however, he always came very very close, which caused quite a few swear words to be thrown (especially the next year when his deal with the devil ran out and he was terrible.) Blowing a save is considered a bad thing, and even if the closer gets a win out of it, it's not good for him. Holds work like saves for Middle Relievers in that during their time, they inherited a lead and didn't blow it, but didn't end the game. They're also less important because, obviously, they don't always come in with a lead.
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Oct 10, 2014 17:06
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And that doesn't even get into relief wins, where a relief pitcher can get both a Blown Save by coughing up the lead AND get a win. I stand by my assertion that wins are "archaic."
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Oct 10, 2014 17:18
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IcePhoenix posted:Cash Money would like to know what the criteria for honorable mentions are, because leading the team in doubles (and second in XBH) and RBI from the bottom of the lineup apparently isn't doing it. Cash Money anticipates your counterpoint of his steals, but would like to remind you that when half of your hits end up with you on or past second base, it's much harder to get steals than when you're a slap hitting wimp, and Cash Money ain't about that playstyle.  : Cash what now? The fat guy? These numbers can't be right - fat guys can't hustle like that.Re: wins and other good stat stuff All of the posts above this one are good posts that you guys should read to help understand baseball statistics. if they seem overly complicated, don't worry, but take note of the three important stats to help you evaluate a players' performance (if you want to ignore the more complicated ones): OPS+ - for hitters, high = good, relative to position ERA+ - for pitchers, high = good WAR - for everyone, high = good
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Oct 10, 2014 17:23
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This stat talk needs more TOOTBLAN.
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Oct 10, 2014 17:26
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JosefStalinator posted:
That's obviously a glitch where his "rating" went so far up on the scale it caused a loop around 
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Oct 10, 2014 17:26
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TheMcD posted:This stat talk needs more TOOTBLAN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spx9ZeSYVTU This is all people need to know about baserunning. Unfortunately, OOTP doesn't incorporate truly amazing  blan's like that because it is an oversimplification. There are consistently good baserunners like Cam Stevenson, and slow guys or guys who get picked off a lot, but no truly amazing people like Ryan Theriot or Ruben Rivera.For the uninitiated, TOOTBLAN stands for: Thrown Out On The Basepaths Like A Nincompoop. A TOOTBLAN is when a player running the bases does something really dumb and results in him getting out. IcePhoenix posted:That's obviously a glitch where his "rating" went so far up on the scale it caused a loop around Hey man, I have >max allowed on the ratings scale. Is Cash Money simply that good? Only time will tell, but I'm sure it'll be worth the weight.
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Oct 10, 2014 17:33
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Well it looks like are starting staff is averaging out to their position in the rotation. Question, is a manager goon alright? Scout? Just wondering, figured we'd infect as much as possible.
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Oct 11, 2014 01:10
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Jesterea posted:Well it looks like are starting staff is averaging out to their position in the rotation. Question, is a manager goon alright? Scout? Just wondering, figured we'd infect as much as possible. I was wondering about that, and another goon expressed his interest in the goon sign in sheet. I'm fine with it, I was just hoping to hire some better managers before we did that. That's because, personnel are handled kind of poorly by the game, and are generated yearly and mostly recycled from other teams. At the end of this season, TONS of good managers and staff will finish their 1 year contracts with other teams, giving us a chance to steal them away. If people want to be any of the staff, that's fine, but it's one of those things I usually upgrade as soon as upgrades become available. I think our hitting and pitching coaches are already pretty good, but they're also the least interesting ones, so it's up to you guys. I'd rather not drop you after one year for someone less interesting (course I could always just mysteriously rename someone for roleplaying purposes).
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Oct 11, 2014 01:24
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 : April done, let's get through May boys! None of you made any suggestions, and why would you, we won 2/3 of our games. Full speed ahead!As always, let's run through our standings and lineups first (This is done more for reference and to make checking the update easier)  : Well, we ended up 15-14 on the month. After last month, we were bound to be disappointed, but who cares - a winning month is a winning month.Of course, let's see how this translates in the standings:  : Ruh roh, Baghdad had a great month, and they went 8-2 in their last ten games. They shouldn't be underestimated - the brothers Hussein are quite the team, hitting a combined 15 home runs, 50 RBI, and batting .299 and .307. While we have the edge for now, we can't let the Iraqis defeat us.Before we get to the news, let's look at our stats, lineups, and rotation/bullpen.     : While it wasn't as stellar as last month, some general trends do suggest movement in the right direction. Our pitching has stabilized quite a bit, with our bullpen in absolutely pristine shape. Our hitting has cooled off some, but that's to be expected - 23 steals by a guy in one month is completely unsustainable. We'll get into individual performances in the award period.Anyways, let's recap the month's news!  : First off, the amateur draft class has been revealed. Before you panic about endless draft votes, don't worry - there's really only one interesting round of the draft class with us, as the draft class has nowhere near the depth that the inaugural draft has. We will be lucky to get anyone of value from the draft, to be honest, because we sadly are cursed with the last place pick. The amateur draft is not serpentine, as the inaugural draft was, meaning we really suffer from the last round pick. This is by design - the amateur draft is designed to compensate bad teams and give them future talent, while the good teams have to wait their turn. Here's the draft class, with all the real first rounders shown:  The thing to go for in the amateur draft is potential talent - all of these are high school or college kids that have yet to realize their full potential. Since we don't have the first pick, usually you just want to take the highest rated potential player that will sign with you (some will want to go on to their education). We may get lucky and our scout may realize a few player's potential that others don't, as that's really our best chance to get a future star. I'll check with you, goon voices, before I draft, but it should be a quick decision. The draft is on the fifth, so I'll just do it before the next update. : Anyways, onward! : Looks like the league has seen its first cycle! This isn't our guy, but it's one of those cool baseball achievements that people like to follow.A cycle is when a player hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run all in one game. Eventually one of our boys will hit one, and I'll let you know when.  : Looks like Riyadh's team is having some internal difficulties, as it was rumored that some of the foreign players on the team were playing loose with Saudi Arabia's strict Wahabbi prohibition on alcohol and other activities of vice. With the press in Saudi heavily controlled by the King, it is likely that the slander is intended to shame the manager and his players into following their strict interpretation of the Wahabbi faith.The following video was released on Saudi television, showing one of their star players at a club enjoying his newfound wealth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbxQGUBGcQ4 Tut tut. Treat women with class, not as objects. That's why Pete has no trouble with the ladies.  : Remember Moyenda, the catcher we nearly drafted? :  Good thing we didn't draft him. He's played in 8 games all season, being horribly injured throughout. His ratings have suffered a bit too - he's now a 70/79 catcher, having lost some of his abilities to injury. Good job voices, we dodged a bullet!Also don't forget - he's on Baghdad.   :  And yet, for every bullet dodged, we have another missed opportunity. Melanoma continues to wreck opposing batters, and is doing quite well on the year. Oh well. : One little tid bit of interesting news was one of the first big baseball brawls. While our league was founded to avert conflict, and seems to have worked so far, it didn't stop the benches from clearing and a fight breaking out in one of the games in Jakarta. This gave us our first suspensions - two 6 day suspensions. Oopsie!: Anways, Smooth sailing for us so far, what could go wrong! :  Ugh, Black was doing really well, but we finally suffered our first injury, tearing a ligament in his thumb. The nice thing is that it was our first baseman, so while he will be very much missed for four weeks, his position is easy to replace.Jub Jub has been tapped to fill first base for now. While Fink might be a good replacement, freeing up Left Field for a better defender, he has no experience at first, so starting him there will be risky for a bit until he gets the experience he needs to play it well. Let me know if you think you want to try it. Lufti Imad, one of our minor league outfielders, has been called up to replace him on the roster.  : Great job Franklin Fink! He won player of the week with a brilliant .433 average with 2 HR's and 4 RBI's, helping fill the hole left by Black's injury. Key performances like this will help lift us past injuries and get us on the track to victory. This also helps his chances for my own monthly awards! : More injuries! Poor Imad only got a week to play, then our backup 3B got hurt, and now our backup catcher is hurt. He only just got hurt, so we don't know the details yet, but hopefully it's not too bad.I called up another backup 3B and 1B to cover our infield with the injuries, and we have a minor league catcher that can cover for KKKLIP ART if need be. Our bench is hurting a bit, but at least our main guys have only suffered a bit from injuries. Let's hope it stays that way.  : Looks like Saddam's team is having a bit of trouble, with some serious discontent within the clubhouse. The rumor is that he is heavily favoring his two sons, Uday and Qusay, who have somehow become stars on the Baathists' team. Bin Qays, their best all around player, will need to play peacemaker. The more trouble in Baghdad, the better for us!  :  Well, like I said, the Husseins are getting fair treatment. The "thirty year old"  son of Saddam Qusay Hussein had a great month, and he stole the honors for batting from any of our guys.  : Aww yeah.  Rob "The Freak" MacGregor has managed to win the pitcher of the month award, which, honestly, I'm kind of shocked by. Relievers generally don't get the award, but MacGregor managed to be so impressive, he forced their hand. He's recorded some 17 saves already, only blowing one, which was a one-run game which became tied (hence why he has no losses). Good work MacGregor, you're the anchor of our bullpen, and it's really good for our team to have someone who can reliably lock down the ninth inning.Now, before we move on to awards, I really want to just show the statistics of Zayd "The Machine" Abdul, ace starter on the Teheran Mahdis:  This guy has 7 complete games in ten starts, as well as three shutouts. This means that 7/10 of his appearances, he pitched the whole game, and in three of them he gave up no runs. This won't be sustained, but holy poo poo this is impressive. He got 2 shutouts this month alone, and somehow MacGregor got the award.  : But ultimately, we all really care about Pete's Awards, because I know baseball better than the bastards in the commissioner's office, right?So, without further ado, the good set of awards - Pete's Hustle and Clutch Award for Excellence!   : Franklin Fink had a great month, and won my Hustle and Clutch Award for Excellence. Given his early struggles and Black's absence, it was at a great time. He managed to hit 6 homeruns, 19 RBI's, have an OBP of .415, and record an OPS+ of 171, leading all the rest of the team in each category. Cam Stevenson still had a better WAR, mostly because of his defense, but Fink contributed offensively at a key time, and he wins the award by blowing Cam out of the water on offense.He also had one stolen base, despite being a 235 pound man with a speed rating of 18. Honorable Mentions:  Rob "The Freak" MacGregor really could have won this award. He recorded a 0.8 WAR, better than two of our starters, with 18.1 innings with only one earned run and eight hits, putting up an ERA+ of 804. He contributed in the best way a reliever can, but I'm not going to lie, winning the pitcher of the month award broke the tie and gave my award to Fink. If MacGregor keeps this up however, he will not be snubbed for long. Eric "Eager Beaver" Clink shows up here again, continuing to be the Jeff Kent to Fink's Barry Bonds. He led the team in doubles, hit a nice .296, and has been a defensive boss from third base. I expect him to be around for a long time, and eventually in my elusive award.  Friar "Very Reverend" John knows about being overshadowed, but he accepts with great humility. He is playing second banana to the unstoppable MacGregor, yet he also pitched 13.2 innings on the month, not even giving up a run (earned or otherwise). His ERA+ was actually 999, mostly due to the small sample screwing up the rating (as with MacGregor). Between John and MacGregor, the 8th and 9th innings are wastelands for the opposing offensive. Remember that across the whole month, our 8th and 9th inning guys (who pitch when we have small leads, typically), only combined to give up a single earned run. Should anything happen to MacGregor, John has shown he's next in line. : Yet months cannot be all great. Let's see who is my Bad Bet of the Month   Alas, Jub "Jubs" Jub is the recipient of Pete's Bad Bet of the Month Award for May. Jub came into the month as our dedicated pinch hitter, but got upgraded to first baseman after Black's injury. Thrust into the spotlight, Jub failed to shine - and instead began a long cold streak that saw him post an OPS+ of a measly 44, batting .203 with 16 strikeouts. Given that he's batting second against righties, and represents one of the most offensively powerful positions (1B), this is not acceptable. We may consider a replacement, or hope that Black returns soon. Honorable Mentions Bolivar Mallen may be our fifth starter, avoiding the award itself, but he's probably going to show up here with some frequency. He posted a 5.19 ERA and 1.59 WHIP, continuing to struggle as a starter, with an ERA+ of 78. Again, he's our fifth starter, so there's no need to panic, but it really doesn't help.  Fat  Cash Considerations continues to weigh down a spot on this dishonorable list, largely due to his obesity and lack of hustle. His offense was fairly bad, hitting a paltry .205, managing an OPS+ of 58. His defense was also bad, though defensive metrics really aren't the best, but he has the lowest defensive efficiency outside of the expectedly terrible Jub Jub. Pick it up! Reeve Tresher made it onto the list because of his absolutely abysmal month offensively. He hit .163 with an OPS+ of 44, lowest on the team (among starters). He's managed a few walks to make it up, and his defense is solid at SS, but he is becoming a bit of a liability offensively. Hopefully he improves with time. JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Oct 11, 2014 |
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Oct 11, 2014 06:05
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 Things to Consider First off, you may be wondering what the little snowflake and fire mean. The blue snowflake next to our hitters/pitchers names indicate they are on a cold streak, while the fire means they are hot. These actually mean something in the game, and sometime it is wise to bench people who are cold, or start hot hitters who are over performing, until they normalize. Be careful though - cold players might get more upset at being benched, and stay cold! Their work ethic and happiness helps pull them out. Now, I just want to make you award of potential players in our minor leagues who we could call up to fill our 1B or SP roles if you feel like players are underperforming. This doesn't mean we need to do so right away - I just wanted it to be available for your reference.   Mohammad Jihad is still our top prospect, and he's a first baseman, so he could fill the hole we have at first. Problem is, he's still young and untested, and probably needs more time in the majors. He's wrecking AAA right now, posting an OPS+ of 168, so he may be ready, but it's really hard to tell. Calling him up when he's unready could hurt the team, his morale, and his development, as well as make us pay him more in the long run.   Carlos Reyes is the only backup SP we have in our minor leagues. He's doing alright in AAA, posting a 4.39 ERA, but he might not do as well in the majors. Still, if Mallen continues to struggle, we may need to watch him.   Brahim Akinshiju is sitting in our bullpen, having recorded a nice 1.59 ERA. This is only over 11 IP though, so who knows if he could withstand the rigors of starting full games. Still may be a good replacement for Mallen, even with a low stuff rating. JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Oct 11, 2014 |
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Oct 11, 2014 06:14
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JosefStalinator posted:Melanoma continues to wreck opposing batters, and is doing quite well on the year. Oh well. If his batting average is over .200 I will be very angry at you
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Oct 11, 2014 07:19
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Alan Trammell posted:If his batting average is over .200 I will be very angry at you His average is .130 right now, but he has a 39 contact rating, and 50 eye, so I wouldn't be surprised if it goes up over time.
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Oct 11, 2014 07:49
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Hey, Wael and Wolf, Mo from Ronkonkoma here. That Prince Kelly, what a player! I never doubted him! But I wanted to talk about bin Ayman, that listless bum. What is the Gambler thinking throwing up a guy with a .215 batting average into leadoff? That's stupid, Wael, just stupid. And don't get me started on Cam Stephenson. Everyone was loving him at the start of the season, but what has he done for me lately? I don't know if he has the poise to play in a big city like Istanbul. Some players just don't. Wael, are you there Wael? (Also, we should absolutely call up Mo Jihad Mo Problems, we can always send him back to the minors when Black is healthy again)
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Oct 11, 2014 12:46
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BOOM! That's the power of an elite closer. I'm telling you, that elite bullpen will go a long way.
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Oct 11, 2014 13:24
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While I don't forsee it being a major hole, center-field is really struggling right now. I would have thought Cash might have been able to hold it down, but he was abysmal this month. I was think looking for outfielders might be the way to go, especially with Fink getting up there and cf hurting. Think we could see the rating for a few of the outfield prospects from the amateur draft? Props to Freak and the bullpen. They keep performing like that and we'll steal some games we probably shouldn't. Edit: I'm go ahead and vote to call-up Mo Jihad as well. Also, it might just be me, but as bad as Tresher's been, the guy he's platooned with is doing worse. Might be worth it just to stick with him full time, if not only for his glove, and hope his bat comes around. Jesterea fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Oct 11, 2014 |
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Oct 11, 2014 16:04
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I think my guy is doing alright, not really sure as I have no idea how baseball works
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Oct 11, 2014 16:07
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Kingal posted:I think my guy is doing alright, not really sure as I have no idea how baseball works You've been buried at the back of the bullpen, only pitching 1/3rd of an inning. Not much to say beyond that, except that you're entitled to complain to the manager about not getting enough work. JosefStalinator posted:I was wondering about that, and another goon expressed his interest in the goon sign in sheet. I'm fine with it, I was just hoping to hire some better managers before we did that. If you could install me as the best manager in the game (whoever that is), that's what I'd go for. Doesn't matter what team, if any, I'm with. The God-King is taking his talents to the Middle East, and if he can turn a small town in Wales into the shining capital of international football, he can turn Muscat or wherever into the greatest baseballing city the world has ever seen.
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Oct 11, 2014 16:50
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habeasdorkus posted:if he can turn a small town in Wales into the shining capital of international football[/url], he can turn Muscat or wherever into the greatest baseballing city the world has ever seen. Speaking of which, in this game you use your hands! not feet (about the only thing i know about baseball, me being british and all). Get back to Work! the treble ain't gonna win itself! :P
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Oct 11, 2014 23:54
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habeasdorkus posted:
Jesterea posted:Think we could see the rating for a few of the outfield prospects from the amateur draft? If I see this right, you'd like to place stephenson first in the LHP lineup, put tresher back in the LHP lineup at SS and call up Mohammad Jihad to play first. Unless anyone objects to these proposals, I'll do them for the next update. Jesterea posted:Think we could see the rating for a few of the outfield prospects from the amateur draft? I'm going to sim to the draft in a minute, and show you what our options are. We draft 16th, so it may not be that great. habeasdorkus posted:If you could install me as the best manager in the game (whoever that is), that's what I'd go for. Doesn't matter what team, if any, I'm with. The God-King is taking his talents to the Middle East, and if he can turn a small town in Wales into the shining capital of international football, he can turn Muscat or wherever into the greatest baseballing city the world has ever seen.  (I swear I had nothing to do with those stats) After Sandy, the best manager is this guy from the New Dehli Sliced Meats:  He's only stuck at New Dehli for one more year, meaning we could poach you over to us next year Kingal posted:I think my guy is doing alright, not really sure as I have no idea how baseball works Your guy is doing fine, it's just that he's not getting a lot of work, and the season is still young. You could propose we use him more, or use him as a long reliever, and we might see him play a bit more (with all the associated risks)
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Oct 12, 2014 00:05
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Goon Participation Time The Amateur Draft is here! Batters Potential  Pitching Potential  That's the draft class that's left, as we have the 15th pick. Let's look at the top handful, and you guys can decide who we pick. I'll auto-draft after that. There is one more thing worth noting in this draft, and that is that players have a signability rating. Many High School kids will be tempted to continue on with their career, and won't sign unless you give them really good offers (and even then might not sign). Others are just hard to sign for mystery reasons. As such, I've listed their signability below their stats. Pay attention - drafting a guy who has an impossible signability rating may waste our draft pick, or make it much more expensive than it otherwise would be. Also note that High School kids are necessarily younger and less tested, while college kids are a bit further along in their development. Wamochia Akili, SP  Signability: Extremely Hard Overall: The best pitcher in the draft - this guy is the pick to make if you want to bolster our pitching staff. He's not bad, and might even be a good future fourth or fifth starter in the future. Big flaw is low stamina, though. Rahman Fahad, 3B  Signability: Extremely Hard Overall: The best hitter by potential rating, has good potential power but at a position we have relatively filled. Sharaf Abdul-Muhaimin, SS  Signability: Impossible Overall: Brilliant defensively, but mediocre offensively. Might be really hard to draft. Draft this guy if you feel we need a SS. Adal Harun, SS  Signability: Normal Overall: A shittier but more signable SS than Sharaf, something of a liability defensively. Kalema Garang, CF  Signability: Extremely Hard  Overall: This guy would be unremarkable aside from the fact that he's got a potential rating of 49 at CF AND at SP. This is really bizarre, and really rare, as he might even be a lovely fifth starter AND a lovely CF all rolled up in one. A bit of a joke pick, I just wanted to make that weirdness clear, because he could come off the bench or the bullpen in any given game. Jibril Nabeel, 1B  Signability: Easy Overall: Probably the best pure offensive player in the amateur draft, he's unfortunately at 1B, a position we have more than full. He also has an abysmal eye, meaning he will strike out constantly. Aftab Kakakhel, C  Signability: Hard Overall: The best catcher currently left, might be a workable backup catcher. Decent contact too, which could be nice. Nowhere near as good as KKKLIP ART defensively, though. So Goons, pick who you think we should draft
JosefStalinator fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Oct 12, 2014 |
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Oct 12, 2014 00:43
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JosefStalinator posted:
Oh yeah, that'll do nicely.* My manager in the FM LP has built his team around young players, four of our current starting eleven started getting playing time when they were teenagers. Also, I would much rather be a badass starting pitcher than any other position in any sport. A starting pitcher who does his job perfectly never loses. Also, Mo from Ronkonkoma might not always be giving the best advice. He is someone who calls into sports radio shows, after all. So everyone else might want to keep that in mind when he makes suggestions. * Other than his being from America Jr. instead of America proper, if you can't change that it's no problem. I was born only a few miles from the bottomless pit that a mass delusion believes to be the "largest country in the world"- so close enough.
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Oct 12, 2014 01:00
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Nevermind, reading the update answered my own question. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Oct 12, 2014 |
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Oct 12, 2014 01:02
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habeasdorkus posted:
Actually, he has a low eye but also a high potential avoid K's. What this means is he will ground out a lot instead of strike out - which is better, but he will still have a hard time drawing walks or picking good pitches to hit.
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Oct 12, 2014 01:10
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