BLOG INTERVIEW: Trapapoodle

Philadelphia Athletics (NL) trapapoodle View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is trapapoodle?
Just another guy who doesn’t like poodles. However, I don’t actually condone cruelty to animals (even poodles).

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
Back in 2001, I was surfing the web at work, and somehow I came across Whatifsports. At the time, there was no HBD. I won the World Series in my first Baseball Simleague, but I got bored with it after a few seasons. Then, a year or two ago, a friend introduced me to HBD, which is much more interesting (and addictive) than simleague baseball.

Which games of ours have you played?
As noted above, I played Simleague Baseball in 2001. I just played my last season of Hoops Dynasty after about 8 seasons. Now I play only HBD. I also did one free season of College Football Dynasty, which was not really that interesting to me.

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
Reading, writing, hiking, playing guitar, spending time with the wife.

Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
Alice Cooper, Don Knotts, Aleister Crowley, Abraham Lincoln and Torquemada.

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Graig Nettles, Don Mattingly, Mariano Rivera, Dave Stewart, Dennis Eckersley.

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
1998 New York Yankees; 1989 Oakland A’s

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
Played football constantly growing up. Also played some baseball, softball and went through a brief interest in basketball, but I’m too short, and can’t shoot, which is a bad combination.

What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
Visit all the Major League baseball parks, including sites of the historic ones.

What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
I guess it’s winning the SimLeague World Series when I first started WIS. I’m still working on achieving some great moments in HBD (especially in this league).

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
I try to trim my player budget as much as possible, though I may go a bit overboard in this respect. I’ve recently realized that training is extremely important, so I’m trying to set it and medical as high as possible (which was not the case in the past). I max advance scouting and prospect budget, about $14 mil for coaches and try to make all other scouting respectable.

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
If I sign a free agent, it’s usually after the free agency period has run. I generally have no interest in competing for free agents. I usually sign long-term players in the second arb period, and release others in the first or second arb period.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
As a general rule, I re-sign as many as I can, unless they are clearly inferior or it’s a very important coach. In the minors, I try to select bench coaches with high pitching or hitting ratings, and concentrate less on strategy.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
I use Spring Training for prospects, primarily. Generally, I know what all my rosters will be going in to Spring Training, though there may be a player or two up in the air.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
Nothing startling. I platoon only if necessary, but I prefer to have everyday players at each position. I tinker with the lineup throughout the season based on performance. I generally keep 13 pitchers with 5 starters, three long relievers, four short relievers and one mopup

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
On offense, it is batting eye and splits. In pitching, splits and control. But they’re all important.

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
I had a terrible draft in another league last year, and I feel like it was a real setback. So, I’m very careful to put in the necessary time. First I eliminate players with very low health, bad splits and, for pitchers, poor control. Then I see if there are any gems hidden at the bottom of the draft. Then usually about three times, I go through the whole mess via each individual player up to about #80 to try and get them in the best order I can. I try to get one stud international, or a few good ones, though I’ve been left holding a bunch of cash at the end of the season a few times. I pretty much ignore waivers now, though I’ve gotten a few good players there in the past. I usually pull a decent player or two from the Rule 5 draft.

Do you think your strategy will be conducive to building a multi-season dynasty? Or, do you feel that your team may be great for a couple seasons, but then must rebuild?
Well, I hope I’m building, because I haven’t had any great seasons. When I inherited this team, it was pretty good, but aging. After trying to compete (in a ridiculously tough division) for a few seasons, I decided it was time to rebuild. I feel pretty good about the future, but it would be nice just to hit .500 this season.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
I’ve got some players that have done some good work, especially in Hornsby. However, I try not to “like” them, because I don’t want to hold onto players for sentimental reasons if it’s not going to benefit the team. Athletes in the real world complain that management has no loyalty (and vice versa), but in this case, I don’t think HBD has built in a loyalty factor affecting performance. Of course I could be wrong.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I spend probably at least an hour a day on three teams. I do it because I enjoy planning and looking at numbers and, generally, avoiding work and other unpleasant things. As for the second part of the question, I’m plenty competitive no matter how long I spend at it. It’s my teams that aren’t.

Who are the users you respect the most?
If I don’t say Philpitt, eacadca and reggie988, they might pin it up in their locker rooms as some kind of challenge before our next series.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
I love the draft and the preaseason. I just love evaluating talent and making plans for the season and the future.

What is your least favorite aspect of Hardball Dynasty? As it is still a relatively new game, if you could change three things about HBD, what would they be?
I do think coach hiring could be more realistic, but it doesn’t bother me as much as it does many others. I definitely think the turnover rate for coaches should be much lower. I might make finances a little easier to transfer. Why, if you don’t spend money on coaches, would you have to forfeit half of it to spend it on something else? It’s good to budget, but moving available money around shouldn’t be so difficult. In the management console, I would allow moves to be made en masse, such as assignments, etc. It can be monotonous to check each player and make moves individually when you have several players with whom you are doing the same thing.

If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
I would be a Rookie League bench coach wishing multiple-year coaching contracts were available.

NEWSBREAK: Jwrap takes over N.Y. franchise

Jwrap, a longtime Sim League baseball and Gridiron Dynasty player, has replaced Knightthorn as owner of the AL East franchise in New Y0rk. No word yet on where that team will play next season.

BLOG INTERVIEW: Mpate10

Jacksonville Suns (NL) mpate10 View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is mpate10?
A 46 year old software engineering manager living in Jacksonville, Fla. Married with 2 'kids' (23,20) . . . I've lived most of my life in this area, although I have moved away a few times (job related) and have migrated back both times. Played three sports in high school (although I'm not sure my basketball teammates would agree) and played 4 years of college baseball. Grew up following the Braves, the Georgia Bulldogs (I was actually born in Georgia), the Dolphins (both Miami of the NFL and Jacksonville University where I went to college) and most recently have become a rabid Jaguars fan and have held season tickets since season 1.

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
I think I saw an advertisement for it on a Web site somewhere. I've been playing it for so long now I've forgotten.

Which games of ours have you played?
Started with the baseball sim theme leagues and moved over to the dynasty leagues. HBD was actually the last game I have tried. I seem to be most addicted to the College Basketball Dynasty game. I have several teams there but this is my only HBD team.

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
I spend a lot of time with my family. I'm one of those lucky guys whose whole family is addicted to sports. My wife played sports in high school, both kids played multiple sports in high school and my daughter is a college volleyball player. So I get to combine my two favorite things a lot.... being with my family and my love of sports. I also run/work out 3-4 times a week and we really enjoy watching movies (NETFLIX loves us!). I also love to read, mostly history stuff, and we try and travel as much as we can.

Which five people, past or present, sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
Jesus, George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Leonardo Da Vinci and Babe Ruth.

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Dale Murphy and Dan Marino . . . when the Braves used to come on TBS all the time my wife used to tell me that my world would stop every time he came to bat.

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
1972 Undefeated Dolphins team and the Herschel Walker years at Georgia . . . I also loved the 1983 Braves team that started 13-0 and won a division title. They also blew a 9-10 game lead over two weeks during the season but recovered to beat out the Dodgers. Man, I almost punched holes in the walls a few times over that summer! The JU Dolphins team of 1970 that lost to UCLA in the NCAA final is up there as well (Artis Gilmore was awesome!).

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
As mentioned above I played a lot of sports in high school and played baseball in college. It was a dream to play professionally but I wasn't drafted. I did have a few free agent opportunities but was realistic enough to know that I was fortunate to have it pay for my education and I moved on to the corporate world (in other words I needed to start making some money).

What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
I'd love to get to every current major league baseball park for a game. I've been to roughly half of them and I'm working on the rest. I'd like to get to a Super Bowl as well.

What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
OK, I really don't have a lot of great WIS moments in HBD. I did win one National Championship and one Postseason Invitational Chamionship in College Basketball Dynasty.

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
I really struggled with a strategy for this early on. My first season I inherited a pretty good team but an old one, so I was spending a lot of money on payroll. I've since started to spend more than my fair share on prospects and scouting. I do agree with some of the other owners that have mentioned that your straegy for this does seem to change year to year based on the current situation with your team.

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
I try to identify good young players and lock them up for as long as possible. I don't really go after free agnets too much, although I do like to look and see what falls through the cracks at the end of the free agent period. I got Trent Jefferson that way this season.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I've tried several different strategies here, hiring good minor league coaches when I have good prospects, hiring better major league coaches when I have lots of young ML talent, etc. I can't say that I have ever really noticed much of a difference no matter what I do. This is my least favorite part of the game.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
For spring training, I usually concentrate on giving the bulk of the playing time to the guys I know I will be using during the season and the guys closest to making it to the majors. As far as the minor league rosters, I try to balance the need to migrate guys up through the minors and the need (my competitive nature) to be competitive at all levels as much as possible. However, individual development is always the top priority.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
I like to do the same sort of things that most baseball teams do. I like to try and balance speed with power, have guys that get on base a lot, have decent defense at the most important spots, SS/CF/C. I have never been a big fan of platooning guys but that has probably hurt me in the past. I use a 5-man rotation and lately have to mix in a 6th guy occasionally since I have been sadled with a few guys with low stamina ratings.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
I have been slower than most (I think) to get a handle on this but I guess I'm starting to look mostly at the R/L and power ratings for hitters. I like the R/L ratings to indicate that a guy doesn't need to be platooned (so, roughly the same). I usually look at the R/L ratings for the pitchers as well, and obviously the stamina ratings depending on what type of player I need (starter vs. reliever).

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
To me, the draft is a crapshoot unless you are picking near the top. Unfortuantely I have lately, so I did get a few decent players in the last couple of seasons. I pick and choose who to bid on in the international arena and will go hard after a guy that fills a need but the spending usually gets so high that you really can't count on getting players there each year. I usually promote guys through the minors based on performance and try to be patient, although I think I've been too patient sometimes.

Do you think your strategy will be conducive to building a multi-season dynasty? Or, do you feel that your team may be great for a couple seasons, but then must rebuild?
I'm trying to build a team where I can be competitive and just have to replace a part here and there from year to year. I like this game, so I plan on being around for a while.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
R.A. Johns from my current team is probably my favorite since I've had him all along and he has worked out pretty well. And I am partial to CFers.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I usually only get to check things in the early morning and in the evenings. I spend more time on the Major League team but check the minors each day as well. I figure maybe 30 minutes a day, although I would spend more time if I had it. Based on how I have done in the last few seasons you need to spend more time than I do!

Who are the users you respect the most?
I think this is a great league with many awesome owners, and very knowledgable. I have to say I think the job that kbrick does organizing this thing makes it more enjoyable for everyone, but I do wish he would over to another division.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
I like the idea of being in control and making ALL the decisions involving your franchise.

What is your least favorite aspect of Hardball Dynasty? As it is still a relatively new game, if you could change three things about HBD, what would they be?
I really don't like the coach-hiring process. I think the draft settings could use some work, and I think that established players' performance can flucuate too much from year to year. Obviously, players can have bad/career years, but it seems to happen quite often.

If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
If I go back to my old college days I'd be a LHP/CF (I pulled double duty). My pitching ratings would include decent control and good ratings on 3 pitches. I would be an above average defensive outfielder with good speed, mediocre R/L ratings and absolutely NO power. If I rated myself now I'd probably be a coach.

BLOG INTERVIEW: Reggie988

Chicago Wavelands (NL) reggie988 View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is reggie988?
My name is Nick. I’m a 27 year old bachelor and live in Bloomington, IN. I work for Comcast (boo, hiss, I know) doing advance troubleshooting/quality control.

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
I became a member in March 2003 after reading about the Baseball simleagues in Bill Simmons column. 5 years now…wow!

Which games of ours have you played?
Simleague Baseball and Football, Hoops and Gridiron Dynasty, and HBD. Currently I only play HD and HBD.

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
I’m really into music and the local music scene here in town. It’s a college town, so there are a lot of great bands around. I’ve played in a few bands myself, but don’t have anything going on currently. I guess I spend most of my time out on the town, when I’m not plopped in front of a computer.

Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
I’d have to go with Bruce Springsteen, Kurt Vonnegut, Prince, Stanley Kubrick, and Winston Churchill…I have no idea what we’d talk about.

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
I’m a huge Cubs fan who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, so as a kid, I idolized Ryne Sandberg. I also loved Andre Dawson (he needs to be in the HOF) and Greg Maddux.

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
Despite the letdown, I loved the 2003 Cubs team. When I was a kid, it was the ’89 Cubs. I’m also a Colts fan (before Manning even) and have to put the Super Bowl team on the list.

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
I played baseball, soccer, and ran track. Baseball was what I played the longest. I was just good enough to play in high school, but not good enough to play after that. Fittingly enough, I played 2nd just like Ryno.

What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
I want to be in Wrigley Field while the Cubs play in a World Series.

What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
Well, I’ve only won 1 championship in my entire WIS career. So it’d have to be the Simleague Super Bowl title I took.

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
I try and budget my player payroll pretty tight so I don’t have to skimp elsewhere. I generally keep it pretty even across the board, except a little more in scouting and prospect payroll.

How do you approach offseason events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
With arbitration, I generally offer just below what they’re asking. I win 50 percent of the time I guess. With free agency, I usually only need 1 or 2 players, so I seek out who I want, and go hard after them. I’ve overpaid a couple times, but I don’t think I have any contracts that are too out of control. I also like to pick up a couple cheap, scrapheap style relievers towards the end of the period and see if they can make the team.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
Cheap, cheap, cheap. I only spent $8 million on coaches this year. I try and make sure they have decent ratings in what they’re doing, and above average in discipline and patience. Overall though, I don’t know if they matter all that much.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
Spring training usually doesn’t play much of a role at all, except to decide the last bullpen spot, and maybe the last position player. I like to keep a lot of pitchers available. In the ML I go 13 position and 12 pitchers, but every other level I go 12 position and 13 pitchers. 6-man minor league rotations, and switch guys out pretty regularly. I pretty much always have the max amount of people on my rosters.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
With lineups, I tinker around with it a lot. I like to mix and match depending on righty/lefty matchups, especially in the minors. I feel like the better position I put my players in to succeed, the more improvement I’ll see out of them. Rotations in the minors are always 6-man, and I activate and deactivate relievers quite a bit.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
Lefty/Righty splits seem pretty important, as well as control, batting eye, and power now seems to be big.

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
I sign quite a few internationals, but I’m very selective about who I go for. As far as the draft, it sort of seems like a crapshoot, and I don’t spend too much time setting up for it. Due to signing a type A free agent most years, I tend to lose my 1st round pick a lot, and after that, it usually seems to come down to luck. I monitor the wire often, and have picked up quite a few useful players from it. As far as promotions, I usually do one waive of in-season moves after the all-star break, and that’s about it.

Do you think your strategy will be conducive to building a multi-season dynasty? Or, do you feel that your team may be great for a couple seasons, but then must rebuild?
Well, I feel like I do a good job of keeping things balanced and giving my team a chance to win each year. So far, I’ve had 6 out of 8 seasons with a winning record. Unfortunately, I think I’m in the hardest division in the whole world (NL North). Pittsburgh and Syracuse seem to win 100 games every season.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
Luis Chavez (reigning MVP) is my boy. I’ve decided that I’ll do everything I can to make sure he plays his entire career with the Wavelands. He seems to be on track for the HOF as well.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I spend too much time I’m sure. During the season, probably a half hour to an hour a day, but during the off season, its well over that.

Who are the users you respect the most?
Kbrick has done a fantastic job running the league. My fellow NL North owners are all excellent too. I don’t know how Philpitt and Eacadca keep it up every season, but the 3 of us have been battling since day 1. You also can’t help but respect the fearless dealing of phillyfan.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
I really like developing players. That is what really keeps me interested. I also just like to navigate through all of my levels and just check on how players who I know are never going to make it to the bigs are doing. I really do root for all of my guys to play well.

What is your least favorite aspect of Hardball Dynasty? As it is still a relatively new game, if you could change three things about HBD, what would they be?
Coach hiring is terrible…but everyone knows that. I like the idea of “diamonds in the rough,” but they don’t seem to make any sense. It just seems like random guys improve without the performance. I feel like it should be the fluke player in high A who has a great season should be rewarded, not a 24 year old backup catcher with 100 plate appearances who then retires at the end of the season. Also, when negotiating with internationals, if you get outbid, I think you should always have at least one cycle to counter.

If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
I’d be a 2nd baseman with decent fielding ability. Much like in real life, I’d be a good contact hitter, with a good eye, and decent speed. However, my power rating would be abysmal.

NEWSBREAK: New owner in NL West

Captain10A, a veteran of three hardball leagues, has replaced Gdfan in Tucson. Captain 10A has three playoff appearances in seven previous hardball seasons. Please welcome him.

Gdfan requested earlier this week that we find a replacement for him. We wish him the best of luck.

BLOG INTERVIEW: Philpitt

Pittsburgh Steelheads (NL) Philpitt View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is Philpitt?

Phil W., 51-year-old sports journalist now living in Mandeville, La. Just outside New Orleans. Originally from Pittsburgh and spent grade-school years living in Oregon until moving to Louisiana about 40 years ago, the past 24 in the N.O. area. Lifelong Pirates, Steelers, Penn State and Lakers fan. Saw first major league game at Forbes Field in 1968 (Pirates lost to Reds in 13 innings).

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
From co-workers who appeared to be having a good time with it. I started in 2002.

Which games of ours have you played?
Used to play baseball sim theme leagues and AAA leagues until moving up to HBD. I have one HBD team right now, which is about all I have time for.

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
My wife and kids -- son age 7 and daughter 6. (Also have son who's 27 from first marraige.) Pretty much full-time job keeping up with their school and extracurricular activities. Also have extensive collection of baseball cards and enjoy walking, bike riding and working in yard. I know, ZZZZZZZZ. Big Coors Light fan (I love to vent!).

Which five people, past or present, sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
George W. Bush, Shaquille O'Neal, Joe Paterno, Rush Limbaugh and Jessica Simpson (minus Romo).

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. So glad I got to see them play in their prime. Clemente still had a few good years left at the time he died.

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
1971 Pirates were really good, but '79 We-Are-Family Pirates are by far my favorite. What a bunch of characters. The Lumber Company. Pops, Scrap Iron, The Hitman, Sanguillen, the Candy Man, cocaine-snortin' Dave Parker, just to name a few. The guy was a hell of a player before he got hooked on that stuff. Steelers' Super Bowl teams of the '70s evoke great memories; Penn State 82 and 86 national championship teams were strong. 1994 Penn State team was probably best of all but got voted out of title. Still kind of burns me.

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
Played Football, basketball, baseball and track (discus) until junior year in high school, then just concentrated on basketball and baseball. Played several years of American Legion and one year of semi-pro baseball but gave it up when I had to find a way to make a living.

What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
I really want to get back to Pittsburgh to see a game at PNC Park, it looks wonderful. Dream of hitting lottery and buying Pirates and finally investing money in some quality players to stop this ridiculous damn string of losing seasons.

What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
I thought winning World Series in Season 5 would be hard to top. That season I swept through the playoffs (11-0). But winning World Series last season (Season 8) after trimming more than $20 million in payroll was extremely satisfying -- and shocking!

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
Early on I used a lot on payroll to build up the lousy team I inherited. But now I am leaning more toward prospect payroll, training and medical. It's tough to nail down because situations can change from season to season.

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
I try to lock up any arbitration players worth a darn long-term by second arbitration season. I've been known to just release some arbitration guys whose salary was exceeding their worth. ... I haven't signed any major free agents in quite a while.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I try to allow enough in the budget for coaches without going overboard. $15 million might be the most I alot for it. I welcome coaches who want to return if they have a proven record but usually it seems most want to leave no matter how much success they've had. I never pay more than minimum for minor league coaches.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
Spring training usually doesn't play much of a role, I usually know what I'm going to do before spring training. I go into most seasons knowing who my top 23 or 24 guys will be. In the minors I identify maybe 15 to 20 guys who I believe can play in the majors some day and concentrate on them. Rest of my minor league teams are usually full of garbage.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
I am a big believer in a six-man rotation, especially at the major league level. I know it's hard sometimes to find six quality starters but even if sixth is just so-so, it seems the added day of rest for the other starters makes them more effective. I like speed and baserunning ability at top of order, of course, and always like to have guys with good batting eye ratings high in lineup. The top five guys in my current lineup have batting eye ratings over 90.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
Once again, I love guys with high batting-eye ratings. I also like high R/L ratings. And both have to be about the same. I don't like guys that are good on one side and lousy on the other. They must be consistent on both sides. For pitchers I have to have good control ratings and again a good R/L rating with both being similar. No one-sided guys.

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
I haven't had a whole lot of luck in draft recently but I usually have settings set to try to take the best players on the board. I try to grab at least one stud international prospect each season, even if they cost $13, 14, 15 million. I see it as the best way to build for the future. I will usually waive a player if he's out of options and I want to demote him or if I'm trying to drop some salary. Promotions/demotions are strictly based on performance or injuries.

Do you think your strategy will be conducive to building a multi-season dynasty? Or, do you feel that your team may be great for a couple seasons, but then must rebuild?
I hope it's a plan for having a competitive team for many years. I want to avoid rebuilding years. I plan to be in this for the long haul.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
Johnny Hughes was an original Steelhead and was MVP in Seasons 1 and 2. He was a stud then. Never got tired and came through in clutch more often then not. I remember winning a game 11-10 in which he hit four solo homers. ... John Hernandez is another stud. I traded for him and right away won World Series in Season 5. He won MVP next season and then I traded him for three key guys who helped me win Season 8 WS. Two of the greatest players in Evangeline League history.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I try to check in each cycle (a few minutes each time) but the bulk of my time spent on this is in the overnight hours, after I get home from work. ... I would figure 30 minutes a day at least is needed to do it right.

Who are the users you respect the most?
sbarrouquerre and kbrick used to beat me unmercifully in the sim leagues when I started, but I learned from it. They are still pretty tough to beat. I have enjoyed my dealings with Phillyfan and nordique, I admire their passion.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
Just being able to shape your team season after season. I always hated it in the AAA leagues that when I had a good team it would be gone after one season.

What is your least favorite aspect of Hardball Dynasty? As it is still a relatively new game, if you could change three things about HBD, what would they be?
The coach hiring process just doesn't make sense. You should not have to budget/spend that much on coaches. One thing I would change is the interleague schedule. Why do we play the same teams every season? They should be able to mix it up. Another annoying thing is when a draftee asks for a certain amount and you offer it to him and maybe more and he still turns you down.

If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
HBD. I'd have to play in the AL because DH is about all I could do now. But I still bet I could hit a little. I can't begin to guess my overall rating but I would have a good contact rating with decent power and equally effective against righties and lefties. My baserunning and speed rating, however, would be zero. As would my defensive ratings if I ever had to play in the field.