NEWSBREAK: Welcome new owners for season 10

We have two new owners for season 10.

• Johnnydancer returns to the franchise he had previously, replacing Spainard and moving the team from Nashville to Santa Fe.
• Reigny, a hardball veteran, has replaced Jwrap and moved the AL East team from New York to Burlington. Jwrap says he is likely to return next season with a different franchise, if we have an opening.

BLOG INTERVIEW: Buddy bee

Wichita Thatita (NL) buddy_bee View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is buddy_bee?
My name is Peter. I am 22 and attend Yale University. I am from Hartford, CT and Buddy Bee was the name of the mascot of the former Red Sox AA affiliate in New Britain, CT.

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
I read an article on Slate.com about an “addiction” to online simulated baseball and figured I’d check it out. I stared playing a little more than one year ago.

Which games of ours have you played?
Except for one sad forgotten season of Gridiron Dynasty, only HBD. I bounced around a few leagues and had multiple teams at one time, but now the Wichita Thatitas are my only HBD team.

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
Music videos, movies, singing, politics.

Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
Michel Gondry, David Foster Wallace, Jhumpa Lahiri, Neil Armstrong, Jacques Cousteau, and a sixth: Magellan

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, Tony Gwynn, Ricky Henderson, (and hopefully on that list will be Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia when I am an old(er) man)

Which are your favorite teams of all-time? Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
Played baseball year-round until my size or lack thereof, 4’8” 90 lbs. soaking wet, led me to track and cross country in high school.

What is the top sports related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
Having not yet had too much playoff success, I have to say knocking off the three seed the last 2 years as the six seed in the NL playoffs.

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
I have kept my payroll pretty low (around $60 million) since I took over this team, but I am looking to make a push in upcoming seasons as I have a very solid young core of players who I think can help me move further in the playoffs. I am very interested to see how I decide to manage my payroll as they become arbitration eligible and I decide who gets long-term deals. It will really depend on how well I have drafted. I have some very big payroll decisions to make in about 3-5 seasons. I like to max out Training and keep Medical pretty high. I do about $11-$12 million for Coaches and have been satisfied with the results. I will look over my minors and see which levels have my better players and spend on better coaches there.

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
I have been really reluctant to give away draft picks in the last few seasons because players stick to singing slot money and for $10 million in a draft you can get 5 times the return on an IFA, so I have been pretty low-key in signing type-A FA’s. However, I have been able to make some solid signings with B’s and waiting until after the free-agent signing period. I prefer to have stability in my payroll and so I will usually sign a guy long-term or cut him loose after two arb-cycles at the most. I also like getting back draft picks so I try to plan to be able to let guys go and have a replacement ready so I can pick up some extra draft picks.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I hate having to re-hire coaches every year. I am willing to overspend a little money in the minors where I will have the players I see as definite future MLers and to get solid ML coaches.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision-making?
My ML roster is usually finalized before the season starts and then I use FA or trades to fill any holes that I see in my roster. Spring training is only a development tool for me and has no effect on my rosters. My ML roster is the only roster where I am looking to win. I consider all the minor leagues to be only a development tool and besides my legitimate ML prospects I could care less about most of the minor league players. I keep tabs on all my legit prospects and make sure they do not sit in low levels and try to sneak an extra promotion growth bonus. I start all prospects (good IFAs included) in Rookie ball to take full advantage of possible promotion bonuses. I move my prospects up a level a year and base promotions not on performance but on how close they are to their projected ratings.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
For batting it is all about OBP and SLG. Get guys on base and then drive them in with homers. I have made a concerted effort to get walks as I play in a pitchers park and now for the first time I am leading the Majors in BB which is pretty exciting.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
Batting Eye and Power for offense. Control and L/R Splits for pitching, although I have come to put more stock in individual pitch splits as well. I think that finding a good pitcher (aside from obvious studs) is a bit more nuanced than hitting.

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
I am always checking out waivers to try and grab some who can help. I got Scott Priest off waivers and he is a real solid SP2. I am very careful about promotions with legit prospects and try to time them to get an extra improvement cycle, and I never demote a legit prospect. But if I don’t think a guy will be an MLer I don’t care where he plays and will move guys all around my minor league system to fill holes. I like the draft a lot. First I set my draft settings and then I go through the lists of players sorting them by projected stats to eliminate high overall rated but not good players. I always hand rank through my second round picks so that I know who the worst guy I can get will be. This last draft I actually got the first guy on my board with the 19th pick because I think people had concerns about his health, but if I can keep him healthy and get him to the ML he will be probably the best 2B in the game. I only look at IFA’s after the draft. Then I know my payroll situation and can transfer extra if I want and I can go after the guys I want without having to worry about signing draft picks.

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?
If I can keep bringing in good talent in the draft I think I definitely can. Ask me in 4 seasons because I will have a lot of young talent that will be hitting arbitration and needing long term deals and if I can keep payroll under control and still bring in good players in the draft then I should be OK. I don’t think I will let myself totally sellout the future and go high payroll but if I really want a WS, who knows.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
I like Ricardo Ordonez because he was my first draft pick after I took this team over, as well as Scott Priest because he was one of the first players I brought in.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A few more hours than I should right after rollover and the draft, but besides from that just enough time to check in and maybe explore a trade now and then. I don’t think it takes too much time, but again ask me in 3 seasons after my remake of the franchise is almost totally put in place and we’ll see if I’m right.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
Play by play box scores, without those I think the game would be too shallow to really enjoy.

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’ll just say coach hiring since it always bugs me whenever I have to do it. But three changes hmmm … The only real change I can come up with would be to allow some way for established leagues and owners to exceed some of the precautionary measures against team destruction like 5 year contracts and limited budget changes year to year. I plan on staying in this league for a while and it would be nice to sign a good player to a longer deal than 5 years, as well as have total control of my budget. Just a random though I had while filling this out. I don’t expect HBD to be exactly like MLB (and don’t think it would be best), but I find the greatest disconnect is that HBD is much more of a budget management game because of the predictable player development and well defined attribute system. This means that the value of drafts picks increases exponentially because the only uncertainty is the depth a the talent pool, not the talent of individual players. When you give up a pick it is not on a possible Mler, you know exactly what you passed up immediately after the draft and it will certainly affect your team down the line. However, without solid play growth models and defined attributes it would be extremely hard to define talent and really frustrating to develop and draft players. I see HBD as much more of a strategy game between owners, especially with the same budget, as opposed to the “business” of baseball and the tough job of picking and developing possible ML talent.

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 singles hitting defensive oriented CFer with a high OBP and 35-40 stolen bags a year.

BLOG INTERVIEW: Captain10A

Tucson Scarlet Fire (NL) captain10a View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is Captain10a?
Cap is a 28 year old, youth minister at St. Joseph Church. I live in New Jersey, near the car theft capital of Newark. I graduated from Montclair State University with a degree in History and Political Science. I love the Yankees, they are my first sports passion. I am also a fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Rutgers Football, and the New York Rangers.

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
From a weekly email that I receive from a youth ministry Web site. Each week they send out a newsletter and in one of them, it had links to other interesting Web sites. I love sports, so I went to it and was hooked.

Which games of ours have you played?
Used to play Gridiron Dynasty, but didn't like that the season was so short, it flew by. I then gave HBD a try, I currently have 4 teams, which is maybe just 1 too many, but I manage well.

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
I actually started reading a lot. I love books on baseball, history, and religion. I love taking a book down to the Jersey shore. Sunday BBQ's are a favorite, I enjoy cooking outside.

Which five people, past or present, sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
Saint Paul, George Washington, John Adams, Phil Rizzuto, Joe Namath

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
I loved watching Ryne Sandberg and Jeff Bagwell. Paul O'Neill was the heart and soul of the Yankee Dynasty in the late 90's, he helped make you passionate. Dan Marino it was fun to watch him throw to Clayton and Duper. Brian Leetch was always the epitome of class for the New York Rangers.

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
The 1994 Stanley Cup championship New York Rangers. I remember every playoff game. Messier guaranteeing victory and then scoring a hat trick, Leetch, Ricther stoning Pavel Bure on a penalty shot, Graves scoring 50 goals, Matteau's wrap around to beat the Devils in 2OT. That was a great season. The 1998 Yankees were the most dominant team that I ever saw, but the 1996 team was a lot of fun and it was the first of the Yanks championships since '78, so the town was going nuts.

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
I played baseball, hockey, and football. Hockey and baseball were my favorites. I started playing Roller Hockey in high school and played in some big tounraments all over the country which was very cool. My baseball playing has turned into softball, which I actually enjoy a lot.

What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
I am currently in the midst of seeing every MLB stadium. I have 8 down , so I still have a ways to go. I enjoy seeing the different parks, the local beers and local foods at each stadium. I have also never rushed the field at a college game. Rutgers gave me some oppotunities, but I watched them on tv.

What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
I am still without a championship, so my greatest moment had to be the 20 game turn around that my Cincinnati team made in Public Works from season 5 to season 6. I took over a team and built it up with homegrown players.

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
I like to get as close to max on advanced scouting, medical and health. I then usually put more cash into college scouting. I try to keep players' salary around 70 to 60 Million.

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
I don't really sign any big free agents. Their prices get out of hand quickly. I usualy use free agency for the bullpen and maybe a platoon player. I usually try to lock up a good player by the 2nd time he is in arbitrtation.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I try to rehire as many coaches as possible, unless they are really bad ratings wise, but most of the time I get good to pretty good coaches. I may overpay for minor league coaches if I have good prospects at that level.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
I hate spring training, I shuffle line-ups a lot to keep AB's and innings pitched down. I usually have my team set, but I may try out a couple Rule 5 players that I picked up.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
I run a 5 man rotation, but have been considering going to a 4 if I can get 3 high quality pitchers. My bullpen usually has 3 LR and 4 SU. For my lineup, I usally look for guys with a good Batting Eye at the top and good splits throughout the lineup. I do platoon players, so I may have a someone with hgih vRH and another who has a high vLH.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
I love guys with high batting-eye ratings. I also like high R/L ratings. And both have to be about the same. For pitchers I look for guys with a good R/L rating with both being similar and at least 2 top pitches and a 3rd good one.

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
I spend a good amount of time preparing for the draft and I have done well recently especially in the rounds 2-8, I have found ML players even in the 10th round, there are a lot of good relievers if you look for them. I usuall sign one IFA but don't spend more than 5 million on them. I check the waiver wire all the time for a good replacement. I rarely demote players, but promote minor leaguers in season to keep them progressing.

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?
Once my strategy is in place, I think it will build a solid team for years to come. Even when I draft later in the first round, I still am able to come up with good players. I am just getting to a point where my young talent is hitting arbitration and free agency, so we will see how much I can retain with a resonable budget.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
Theodore Green is an upcoming pitcher on my Cincinnati team in Public Works, one of my first draft picks, so I have seen him develop. He is going to be a stud. Howie Thomas has been on the team since I took over, he is the proto type player for me and my teams.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I check in each cycle and usually late night is when I do a lot of catching up and looking in on the minor leagues. I micro manage a lot so, usually each day I check on a different team's minor league system. All in all, I spend about an hour a day. I like the way it helps me to unwind at night.

Who are the users you respect the most?
JJconcy helped me when I first came into the game. Pancho11 and the other long-time owners in Public Works. Jaymd is my AL East rival in there and he keeps me on my toes. Mfoster is a very involved owner and puts alot into the game, I like to see that kind of passion.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
I really like the complexity of the game. I like hobbies that make me think and this one keeps my brain going, but still distracts me from work when I need it to. I also like getting to play against others who have a passion for baseball.

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 of course is annoying. A GM should be able to sign a coach for 2-3 years. It doesn't make sense when good coaches want to leave when I am going to give them good money to stay on the team they are on. I think there are too many worlds right now and that it gets frustrating waiting to fill 4 spots in a world. Not sure what to do about that though. I also would change the GM page, so that you can do a few moves at a time. It would speed things up if I could add some one to the DL and activate a player in the same move. Maybe give each player a drop down with the options in them.

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 in HBD. I would be a SS or 2B with good contact, no power and decent splits. I would be good defensively, but my range would decline each year. After each game, I would need to ice my arm and have a few beers to recover for the next game.