Evangeline League

EVANGELINE CHAMPIONS - 17

2011-01-15T13:42:00.070-06:00

The 17th season turned out to be another interesting one in Evangeline League. Despite nordique93 having the top record in the ML for the 7th time his bid for a 7th pennant was ended early by the stiff competition coming from Arizona and captain10a. The two have been trading off NL World Series appearances the last three seasons. In the end there was upset as left32 and the Austin Black Socks came out of the AL to take the pennant, the first for the AL since season 3! The AL has only won 3 times, twice it has been lefty32 who also won in the AL when he was managing the Honolulu Haloes in season 2. This also marks the first time the AL has won both the ML and AAA pennants in the same season. Congrats to Augusta winning two of three appearances in pennant series this season and also to Syracuse who set a new wins record in the High a with 111 wins! Good luck down the stretch in season 18 all! Enjoy!

Rookie League
Season (NL-AL)

17. Richmond (1) buckeye0611 - Seattle (2) sbarrouque
Best season record - Pawtucket (AL) soxyanks12, 57-19

16. Cheyene (2) Schlemiel - Augusta (2) mgraczykowsk
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 59-17

15. Chicago (5) trapapoodle - San Diego (5) cobcommish
Best season record - Arizona (NL) captain10a, 58-18

14. Pittsburgh (2) Philpitt - San Diego (6) cobcommish
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 61-15

13. Louisville (1) buckeye0611 - Seattle (2) sbarrouque
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 53-23

12. Jacksonville (1) mpate10 - Houston (3) blownranger
Best season record - Augusta (AL) mgraczykowsk, 54-22

11. New Orleans (3) kbrick - Augusta (1) mgraczykowsk
Best season record - Augusta (AL) mgraczykowsk, 56-20

10. Pittsburgh (5) Philpitt - Salt Lake City (6) eyetoeye
Best season record - Chicago (NL) reggie988. 56-20

9. Tuscon (1) captain10a - San Antonio (2) PoconoMets
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 57-19

8. Cheyenne (6) Schlemiel - Cincinnati (1) minor3rd
Best season records
- Cincinnati (AL) minor3rd, 53-23
- St. Louis Coyotes (NL) Cubrunner, 53-23

7. Chicago (1) reggie988 - Cincinnati (3) minor3rd
Best season record - Chicago (NL) reggie988, 59-17

6. Pittsburgh (3) Philpitt - Salem (2) lenbo1212
Best season record - Cincinnati (NL) minor3rd, 63-13

5. Los Angeles (4) DodgerBlue13 - Seattle (3) sbarrouque
Best season record - Austin (AL) noccolo, 59-17

4. Chicago (1) reggie988 - Houston (6) blownranger
Best season record - Chicago (NL) reggie988, 62-14

3. Mexico City (1) joeboxer73 - Omaha (2) lankford16
Best season record - Houston (AL) blownranger, 56-20

2. NO PLAYOFFS
Best season record - Jacksonville (NL) mpate10, 63-13

1. NO PLAYOFFS
Best season record - Santa Cruz (NL) vdaino, 56-16

Low A
Season (NL-AL)

17. Scranton (2) bingles - Augusta (2) mgraczykowski
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 108-36

16. Richmond (5) buckeye0611 - Augusta (2) mgraczykowsk
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 111-33

15. Pittsburgh (1) Philpitt - Helena (1) eyetoeye
Best season records
- Helena (AL) eyetoeye, 103-41
- Pittsburgh (NL) Philpitt, 103-41

14. Richmond (1) buckeye0611 - Las Vegas (1) campbell1972
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 107-37

13. Buffalo (6) cusumano3231 - Augusta (3) mgraczykowsk
Best season record - Austin (AL) lefty32, 102-42

12. New Orleans (2) kbrick - Salt Lake City (6) eyetoeye
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 105-39

11. Scranton (6) bingles - Houston (4) blownranger
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 110-34

10. Kansas City (1) nordique93 - Salt Lake City (1) eyetoeye
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 107-37

9. Chicago (1) reggie988 - Pawtucket (5) phillyfan33
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 98-46

8. Syracuse (3) eacadca - Seattle (5) sbarrouque
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 106-38

7. Los Angeles (4) DodgerBlue13 -Salt Lake City (5) eyetoeye
Best season record - Salem (AL) lenbo1212, 113-31

6. Syracuse (1) eacadca - Boston (4) jedielvis
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 106-38

5. New Orleans (1) kbrick - Salem (5) lenbo1212
Best season record - Washington D.C. (AL) sean102385, 106-38

4. Syracuse (1) eacadca - Salt Lake City (2) eyetoeye
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 106-38

3. Syracuse (1) eacadca - Columbus Clippers (2) basilleaf
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 105-39

2. Syracuse (6) eacadca - Salt Lake City (2) eyetoeye
Best season record - Columbus Clippers (AL) basilleaf, 104-40

1. Trenton (1) shiffy - Omaha (6) lankford16
Best season record - Trenton (NL) shiffy, 112-32

High A
Season (NL-AL)

17. Pittsburgh (5) Philpitt - Augusta (3) mgraczykowsk
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 111-33

16. Syracuse (5) eacadca - Montgomery (3) ovechkin008
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 107-37

15. Richmond (2) buckeye0611 - Las Vegas (1) campbell1972
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 105-39

14. Buffalo (1) cusumano3231 - Helena (5) eyetoeye
Best season record - Augusta (AL) mgraczykowsk, 95-49

13. Trenton (3) shiffy - Las Vegas (5) campbell1972
Best season record - Buffalo (NL) cusumano3231, 99-45

12. Pittsburgh (5) Philpitt - Salt Lake City (5) eyetoeye
Best season records
- Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 100-44
- Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 100-44

11. New Orleans (2) kbrick - Las Vegas (2) campbell1972
Best season record - Augusta (AL) mgraczykowsk, 105-39

10. New Orleans (6) kbrick - Salt Lake City (1) eyetoeye
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 104-40

9. Kansas City (1) nordique93 - Salt Lake City (5) eyetoeye
Best season records
- Houston (AL) blownranger, 102-42
- Salem (AL) lenbo1212, 102-42

8. Burlington (3) nordique93 - Houston (2) blownranger
Best season records
- Houston (AL) blownranger, 94-50
- New Orleans (NL) kbrick, 94-50
- Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 94-50

7. Trenton (2) shiffy - Salt Lake City (2) eyetoeye
Best season record - Austin (AL) noccolo, 101-43

6. New Orleans (1) kbrick - Seattle (2) sbarrouque
Best season record - New Orleans (NL) kbrick, 100-44

5. Syracuse (5) eacadca - Houston (6) blownranger
Best season record - Austin (AL) noccolo, 101-43

4. Santa Cruz (1) vdaino - San Antonio (2) PoconoMets
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 107-37

3. Syracuse (1) eacadca - Houston (4) blownranger
Best season records
- Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 103-31
- Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 103-41

2. New Orleans (1) kbrick - Salt Lake City (1) eyetoeye
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye

1. New Orleans (1) kbrick - Salt Lake City (2) eyetoeye
Best season record - Atlanta (AL) dawgfan1974, 100-44

AA
season (NL-AL)

17. New Orleans (4) kbrick - Tampa Bay (2) gomiami1972
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 98-46

16. San Francisco (5) tricky24 - Seattle (3) sbarrouque
Best season record - Helena (AL) eyetoeye, 94-50

15. New Orleans (1) kbrick - Las Vegas (1) campbell1972
Best season record - New Orleans (NL) kbrick, 99-45

14. New Orleans (1) kbrick - Augusta (2) mgrczykowsk
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 105-39

13. Syracuse (1) eacadca - Salt Lake City (5) eyetoeye
Best season records
- Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 96-48
- Augusta (AL) mgraczykowsk, 96-48

12. Pittsburgh (5) Philpitt - Las Vegas (5) campbell1972
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 103-41

11. New Orleans (4) kbrick - Pawtucket (1) phillyfan33
Best season record - Pawtucket (AL) phillyfan33, 107-37

10. Syracuse (1) eacadca - Pawtucket (3) phillyfan33
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 105-39

9. Pittsburgh (6) Philpitt - Seattle (2) sbarrouque
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 98-46

8. New Orleans (4) kbrick - Seattle (2) sbarrouque
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 99-45

7. Syracuse (2) eacadca - Seattle (5) sbarrouque
Best season record - Pawtucket (AL) phillyfan33, 107-37

6. New Orleans (1) kbrick - Salt Lake City (1) eyetoeye
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 100-44

5. Syracuse (2) eacadca - Houston (2) blownranger
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 101-43

4. Syracuse (1) eacadca - Boston (5) jedielvis
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 103-41

3. New Orleans (3) kbrick - Omaha (5) lankford16
Best season record - New Britain (AL) 2U23L, 109-35

2. Chicago (3) reggie988 - Atlanta (2) dawgfan1974
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 109-35

1. Syracuse (2) eacadca - Houston (5) blownranger
Best season record - Santa Cruz (NL) vdaino, 94-50

AAA
Season (NL-AL)

17. Kansas City (2) nordique93 - Augusta (2) mgraczykowsk
Best season record - Helena (AL) eyetoeye, 97-47

16. Kansas City (2) nordique93 - Helena (5) eyetoeye
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 111-33

15. Syracuse (5) eacadca - Helena (5) eyetoeye
Best season record - Pittsburgh (NL) Philpitt, 100-44

14. Burlington (2) Nordique93 - Ottawa (2) rdorrian
Best season record - New Orleans (NL) kbrick 100-44

13. New Orleans (3) kbrick - Atlanta (1) dawgfan1974
Best season record - Trenton (NL) shiffy, 94-50

12. Pittsburgh (6) Philpitt - Austin (2) noccolo
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 99-45

11. Philadelphia (2) trapapoodle - Seattle (2) sbarrouque
Best season record - Augusta (AL) mgraczykowsk, 104-40

10. Trenton (6) shiffy - Austin (2) noccolo
Best season record - Seattle (AL) sbarrouque, 100-44

9. Tucson (3) captain10a - Las Vegas (1) campbell1972
Best season record - Las Vegas (AL) campbell1972, 94-50

8. Burlington (6) nordique93 - Honolulu (5) slider15
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL) eyetoeye, 95-49

7. Burlington (3) nordique93 - Salt Lake City (1) eyetoeye
Best season record - Salt Lake City (AL), 111-33

6. Los Angeles (2) DodgerBlue13 - Austin (2) noccolo
Best season record - Salt Lake City, 100-44

5. Santa Cruz (6) vdaino - Austin (1) noccolo
Best season record - Austin (NL) noccolo, 98-46

4. Cheyenne (6) Schlemiel - Toronto (1) phillyfan33
Best season record - Cheyenne (NL) Schlemiel, 101-43

3. Chicago (1) reggie988 - San Antonio (2) PoconoMets
Best season record - Salem (AL) lenbo1212, 96-48

2. Cheyenne (1) Schlemiel - Atlanta (1) dawgfan1974
Best season record - Cheyenne (NL) Schlemiel, 111-33

1. Kansas City (5) desi1180 - Salt Lake City (5) eyetoeye
Best season record - Atlanta (AL) dawgfan1974, 103-41

ML
Season (NL-AL)

17. Arizona (4) captain10a - Austin (1) lefty32
Best season record - Kansas City (NL) nordique93, 109-53

16. Kansas City (1) nordique93 - Seattle (4) sbarrouque
Best season record - Kansas City (NL) nordique93, 128-34

15. Arizona (3) captain10a - Augusta (1) mgraczykowsk
Best season record - Augusta (AL) mgraczykowsk, 116-46

14. Trenton (5) shiffy - Augusta (1) mgraczykowsk
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 111-51

13. Burlington (1) nordique93 - Austin(2) lefty32
Best season record - Burlington (NL) nordique93, 115-47

12. Wichita (5) buddy_bee - Houston (6) blownranger
Best season record - New Britain (AL) 2U23L, 111-52

11. Kansas City (1) nordique93 - New Britain (1) 2U23L
Best season record - Kansas City (NL) nordique93, 121-41

10. Kansas City (1) nordique93 - Houston (2) blownranger
Best season record - Kansas City (NL) nordique93, 121-41

9. Kansas City (1) nordique93 - New Britain (1) 2U23L
Best season Record - Kansas City (NL) nordique93, 119-43

8. Pittsburgh (2) Philpitt - New Britain (5) 2U23L
Best season record - Burlington (NL) nordique93, 110-52

7. Burlington (2) nordique93 - New Britain (1) 2U23L
Best season record - Pittsburgh (NL) Philpitt, 110-52

6. Syracuse (1) eacadca - Boston (2) jedielvis
Best season record - Syracuse (NL) eacadca, 111-51

5. Pittsburgh (1) Philpitt - Seattle (2) sbarrouque
Best season record - Pittsburgh (NL) Philpitt, 108-54

4. Santa Cruz (3) vdaino - Hartford (4) mr_stickball
Best season record - New Orleans (NL) kbrick, 106-56

3. Los Angeles (6) DodgerBlue13 - Houston (2) blownranger
Best season record - Pittsburgh (NL) Philpitt, 107-55

2. Santa Cruz (2) vdaino - Honolulu (4) lefty32
Best season record - Seattle (AL) sbarrouque, 110-52

1. New Orleans (2) kbrick - Baltimore (2) slider15
Best season record - Kansas City (NL) desi1180, 110-52

THE TALLY

Rookie - Pennants - NL 8, AL 7, Best Season Records - NL 7, AL 11
Low A - Pennants - NL 11, AL 6, Best Season Records - NL 6, AL 12
High A - Pennants - NL 8, AL 9, Best Season Records - NL 5, AL 17
AA - Pennants - NL 8, AL 9, Best Season Records - NL 4, AL 14
AAA - Pennants - NL 13, AL 4, Best Season Records - NL 5, AL 12
ML - Pennants - NL 14, AL 2, Best Season records - NL 14, AL 3

(Ties for Best record count as 1 for each team)

NEW WINNING RECORDS

2010-07-29T09:31:00.007-05:00

Here are the winning percentage records as they stand at the end of season 16. Congratulations to Nordiques93 on a new ML record and good luck to all future challengers!

League - Current Record Holder (S. W-L, W%), Season 16 records are bolded.

ML - Nordiques93 (16. 128-34, .790)

AAA - campbell1972 (16. 111-33, .771), eyetoeye (7. 111-33, .771), Schlemiel (2. 111-33, .771)

AA - 2U23L (3. 109-35, .757), eyetoeye (2. 109-32, .757)

High A - campbell1972 (16. 107-37, .743), eyetoeye (4. 107-37, .743)

Low A - lenbo1212 (7. 113-31, .785)

Rookie - minor3rd (6. 63-13, .829), mpate10 (2. 63-13, .829)

RECORD BREAKING WINS IN SEASON 16?

2010-07-09T11:46:00.014-05:00

With only a dozen or so games left in the minors and into the stretch drive in the ML it looks like we have a few teams competing for the record books in winning percentage. Here are the best season records of all-time in the Evangeline League and this season's closest competitors. Congrats to all on a very competitive season. (GR - Games Remaining)

League - Current Record Holder (S. W-L, W%)
- Current Leaders (W-L, W%, GR)

ML - Nordiques93 (10. 121-41, .747), Nordiques93 (9. 121-41, .747)
- Nordiques93 (99-33, .750, 30)

AAA - eyetoeye (7. 111-33, .771), Schlemiel (2. 111-33, .771)
- campbell1972 (102-30, .773, 12)

AA - eyetoeye (2. 109-32, .757), 2U23L (3. 109-35, .757)
- ovechkin008 (85-47, .664, 12), Schlemiel (85-47, .664, 12)

High A - eyetoeye (4. 107-37, .743)
- campbell1972 (98-34, .742, 12), mtorabdaddy (98-34, .742, 12)

Low A - lenbo1212 (7. 113-31, .785)
- campbell1972 (102-30, .772, 12)

Rookie - minor3rd (6. 63-13, .829), mpate10 (2. 63-13, .829)
- campbell1972 (52-15, .776, 9)

INSTANT IMPACT

2009-03-09T17:33:00.003-06:00

Mgraczykowsk has a chance at an Evangeline League record. He is 15 wins shy of the record (held by Phillyfan33) for biggest turnaround in a GM's first season after taking over a franchise. Here's a look at the 19 franchises that have improved under new management in EL history (original owners don't qualify, since we don't have records from the season before you took over):

Dif..Prev..1syYr..GM/Owner
+45...42.....77...Phillyfan
+37...57.....94...JohnnyDancer
+34...40.....74...Bigstegs
+30*..49.....79+..Mgraczykowsk
+28...53.....81...Spainard
+18...68.....86...Buddy Bee
+18...50.....68...Noccolo
+16...51.....67...JoeBoxer
+16...66.....82...Wigsluvslave
+13...42.....55...Deerhunter63
+12...78.....90...MrStickball
+11...81.....92...Lefty32
+10...52.....62...Bingles
+10...42.....52...Chowren
+9*...62.....71+..Pboys
+8....43.....51+..Rdorrian
+7....68.....75...BigOrange64
+4....72.....76...Rawagman
+3....82.....85...Slider15

Blog Interview: Dawgfan1974

2009-03-02T10:48:00.003-06:00

Atlanta Peaches (AL)
dawgfan1974
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is Dawgfan1974?
I am a 34 year old husband, father and businessman residing in the NE GA mountains.

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
Through an internet search for sports fantasy simulators

Which games of ours have you played?
Sim baseball, basketball, football, clutch racing, gridiron and hoops dynasty, and of course HBD.

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
Drawing and architecture, reading (mostly Ayn Rand), and a renewed interest in video games with the Wii

Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
Ayn Rand, Ty Cobb, Warren Buffett, Andrew Jackson, and the most odd man out Willie Nelson

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Ty Cobb, Greg Maddux, Walter Payton, Mike Singletary, Jack Lambert

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
die hard Braves and GA Bulldog fan.

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
baseball, basketball, football

What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
a hole in one.

What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
Recently my HBD team in sharkey's world won 102 games and took our lcs to 7 games, but lost. not much, I know, but the season before I took over they won 47 I think and their minors were decimated. The 5-season plan worked.

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
I like to keep player payroll below 85 and ideally around 60-70M. Of course I have not had a team that was worth 100 M yet. I'm usually moderate on training and medical and try not to go over 15 on coaches which is a lot easier since we can retain them now. I have spent more on scouting recently which seems to have improved my drafts at least.

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
I have learned many hard lessons in both. In free agency I try to weigh who is leaving us against who I have coming up and who may possibly be available. I don't mind paying for consistent talent, but have had to overpay to get by. I usually go through arb. with every eligible player once, then go long term with core players, and either trade or release the backup types.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I try to rehire as many as possible as long as they are quality to begin with, then try to scoop up some blossoming minor league talent where possible.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
I promote future ML talent every season, and fill out the rosters with whatever I can get. Some may spend 2 yrs in AAA waiting for someone to leave. ST plays very little role in my ML roster unless I have two good players at the same pos. that I am considering putting on the ML squad.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
I like to have 5 starters, 3 LR, 3 SU, 2 CL in the rotation. in the lineup I just basically try to start w/good eye or contact and speed, then contact/power, then fill it out with your weaker guys. It just depends on what you have I guess.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
For hitters i like good contact and a good eye above all, and for pitchers good splits and gb/fb.

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
I have learned to build through the draft, look for superstars in international. I will try to go all out for 1 or 2 intl. guys a season but that's about it. I don't really do much with waivers, although I probably should. I like to keep the future ML'ers on a steady rise and rarely demote anyone except the "fillers".

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?
Apparently not at all effective here. This was my first team and I really screwed up some things, but my other team, the 2nd team, is starting to look somewhat like a dynasty type team.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
In Evangeline it would have to be John Hernandez from a few seasons ago, and in the other league I currently have a great young trio at 2nd, SS, and 3rd.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
not enough. probably 15 min. each day. would like to double that at least to be more competitive.

Who are the users you respect the most?
I have been fortunate to be in two very good worlds w/a lot of good long-term owners. for the most part I respect all of them. It's only occasionally that I run across someone I have a problem with. GD and HD brought out the worst in people when it came to recruiting. But in HBD there seems to be enough continuity with owners that most co-exist very well.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
The complexity. the ratings that make the players and trying to fit them all together under a salary cap to produce a winner.

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?
Of course I would like to be able to sign coaches long-term, fire them etc., more flexibility to transfer budget, and would like to see the pitching/hitting balanced a little better. The game has always seemed to me to favor offense. but understand for a guy who used to buy games (sports only) just to sim. them over and over HBD is great. no real complaints here.

If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?

I would probably be a AAA, possibly ML, backup 1B with a good glove, good patience, makeup, avg. durability/health, 15 speed, 70 contact, 30 power, 50 rhp, 70 lhp, 80 eye. yeah a definite rule 5 journeyman type.

2009-02-23T22:52:00.002-06:00

Cheyenne Raptors (NL)
Schlemiel
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Q: Who is the Schlemiel?
A: I am a 67 year old man who tries to do things right but screws it up each and every time -- hence, schlemiel

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: That is a fine question, but I plead oldheimers disease because I just don't recall.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Sim baseball and football and HBD. Came to Evangeline thru Kbrick's AAA league (probably following vdaino - going to beat him one of these days.)

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Backpacking with background of wildlife and range management. Women.

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: The Lord Jesus (OMG), Carol my deceased wife, Lonna my murdered fiance, St. John of the Cross, and Al Kaline

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Al Kaline, Bob DiPietro (a minor league 3b), Willie Mays, Y.A. Tittle, Greg Minton (load the bases 1st then get them out - lights on closer).

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: '53 and '84 49ers, '55 SF Seals, all Giants good and bad.

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: baseball and some football. Lots of tennis out of high school.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Win the California State 65-70 Mens Tennis
Championship. Tour the 4 grand slam tournaments in one year.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Breaking a eleven game losing streak even more than the World Championship.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: Growing up before free agency I still try to emulate those days, so am more loyal to my players than real life is now. So, I sign my core to long term contracts and allocate that to my player budget with 3 million extra. Get max scouting all departments except international which I avoid (too costly), training more and more.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: I don"t yet allow enough players to go into free agency until they approach ages just over 32. Core players I sign longterm, others I let go thru arbitration and take those as they come. I rarely sign free agents for the Major club but fill in the minors thruout the season.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: Generally rehire to avoid hassle and frustration. Generally stress hitting coaches in pitcher home parks and pitching in hitter parks. Sometimes wait till end to pick up pretty good talent.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: Good spring training stats consideration in first call to majors, parttime for major plyrs to avoid injury. Watch who computer selects for particular situations off the bench or bullpen. Promotion based on merit as well as talent and letting 3A older players leave determine roster levels.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: Use APBA technique: 1) on base % and speed and SB success. 2) Bat control and speed to avoid double plays and enable hit and run and sacrifice. 3)Best all around hitter on team for rbi - should not be slow speed. 4) Very good power and on base % to lead off an inning. 5) High average hitter to bat in leavings. 6) hitter with more power than #7 ) (and maybe even #5). 8)on base % and SB success to set up sacrifice by pitcher.
Start with best 5 rotation. Observe quality starts and make adjustments. Sometimes drop down to 4 man rotation and back to 5 towards end of season. For me, many good relievers because I tend to end up with quality but not great stamina starters.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: For batters power (groundballs thru the infield travel faster for power bats and thus more singles than same ball hit by low power bat) and batting eye combined with pushpull. For pitchers patience rating (home runs seem to occur more often by pitcher challenging the batter early in the count with to good a pitch) and control with lefty-righty almost as important.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: I love prepping the draft knocking down for injury, no control, difficult to sign potentials. I don't mess with internationals directly - let someone else sign them. I check waivers every cycle especially for minor league critical positions. Promotions made infrequently during season when obvious mismatch develops. Demotions rarely also, except into rookie league roster. Otherwise, promotions at end of season or beginning of next depending upon money available.

Q: 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?
A: My strategy develops a team into a every year dynasty capable of attaining new lows each subsequent year. More trading or free agent adroitness would help but goes against my baseball old time (never thought I would say that) roots.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: Each of my teams seem to have maybe two - no coincidence they do well which helps. Always a fan.....lol

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: I have time usually to spend about 10 minutes per team per cycle and do. The change in the minors they made allowing several players to be switched in or out at the same time allowed me to buy into another world.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: Vdaino because I am always looking at his backside in the standings it seems. Actually all of them that sustain themselves thru the difficult times. Like in tennis which I teach - there is little sympathy but a whole lot of empathy.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: The building of teams in the minors and watching the progress on their cards.

Q: 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?
A: Coaching so can hire a manager at the major level for 3 years with several subcoaches associated with him, and perhaps one coach position missing occasionally allowing promotion of minor league coaches. Second, scouting which misses ratings (what was the name of that dodger catcher- Giants fan here) and allows a top prospect to be way down in the draft and upon signing realization is made that guy has major league potential. Third, a ruling that allows me to have a 151 game lead on Vdaino before the season gets underway.

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: I would be a bench coach in this league at the major level roasting opponents, moving my fielders around to parts of the dugout where the beer can be found, intercepting opponent signs as to where their beer can be found, and otherwise being my usual obnoxious good self.

2009-02-17T00:24:00.003-06:00

Durham JAGUARS (NL)
PBOYS
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Q: Who is PBOYS?
Paul Chastain, 40-year old married Florida boy with a 9-month-old baby boy, born in Orlando, sales manager at auto dealership, spent ten years in the air force.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: don't really remember, probably search engine

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: mostly dynasty but have tried them all at least one time.

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: I don't really have time for hobbies with a nine-month-old. This is my first baby and after doing what I want when I want for 20 years its a shocker to say the least. lol

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Elvis, Travolta, Hugh Hefner, Ty Cobb, Joe Namath

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Cal Ripken, Pete Rose, Dale Murphy, John Smoltz

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: 1991 Atlanta Braves

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: Baseball every day

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Be at a world series game seven

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Season 3 gerhinger, world series winner

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: I look at free agency first and if i have a chance to win this season will make bold moves to get certain players that will help, doesn't always work out though. If I have no shot I will build through international free agency and draft prospects.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: If its a player I plan on keeping for a while and can afford the salary in the budget I will pay what he wants so that he doesn't get negative

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: I hate hiring coaches, more and more of my budget is going towards coaches now just cause you can't lock them up for more than one year.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: I look at my 40-man roster mostly at what they did the year before at what level and their age plays into it also.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: Same as everyone else, put your best players on the field and hope for the best

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: Hitters - contact and vs rhp, pitchers - walk ratio and vs rhb

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: Do your homework early on what players I would like to focus on.

Q: 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?
A: Dynasty

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: If they are on my roster they are my favorites

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: I'm off and on all day until I get home then the wife and baby occupy my time

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: av84aal and Pubs

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: living the baseball dream through the internet with other washups like myself around this great country of ours.

Q: 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?
A: Coach hiring, coach hiring and coach hiring

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: Shortstop 80 good contact, great range, good speed with a hot head

Blog interview: Gibbog

2009-02-09T22:40:00.002-06:00

Honolulu Breeze (NL)
gibbog
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Q: Who is Gibbog?
A: Geoff Noseworthy

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: From nhl.com

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Hockey, Baseball, Basketball, Football, Clutch Racing, Soccer, including the dynasty games

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Writing, reading, movies & music

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Clint Eastwood, Frank Zappa, my grandfather, my uncle and my grandmother

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Patrick Roy, Guy Lafleur, Larry Bird

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bears

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: Hockey, Baseball, Softball

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Attend an NHL game

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: It hasn't happened yet. I am at the top of the 'most wins, no championship list in hockey, and have had a string of losing seasons in HBD. I play the games purely for fun, though a championship would be nice

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: Depends on a lot of factors, but lately player payroll has taken a back seat to other areas in an attempt to try and rebuild

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: Same as above

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: I actually look at loyalty ratings, and if the coaches ratings are high in the other essential areas, I bring him back

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: I tend to have a good idea who will make my ML roster before ST. That might change from here on in

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: (Lineups: A good baserunner at the top, power in the middle, and I usually put my lower averages at the bottom. Pitching: varies at each level depending on energy levels. I look closely at records and ERA and not so much at ratings)

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: For hitters and pitchers it would have to be L/R splits

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: The draft will depend on my budget. IFA's the same for the most part, but if it's late in the season and I have salary left, I may sign some marginal guys. I try and check the WW daily. Promotions and demotions are all ratings-based and sometimes have little to do with performance.

Q: 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?
A: The latter, but without the 'great' part

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: None. None of them have wowed me or the rest of the league. Though on one of my other teams I keep re-signing a pitcher with L/R splits of 22

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: At least a half hour, sometimes up to an hour. I think to keep everything running smoothly you have to spend at least that

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: Coming over from hockey, I would have to say Cam & nordique, as both encouraged me to join this league

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: The off-season. Though it needs a few tweaks, it is the most enjoyable part by far. If I actually make the playoffs in the bigs that might change

Q: 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?
A: Coach hiring. Too long a process and slightly unrealistic. You can offer a Low A coach triple his previous salary and he comes back saying it's not about $$$, but he has a family to feed. Coach hiring needs to be seriously overhauled

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: It would be hockey. I would be a goalie, I would have about a 50 stamina, a 60 saving, and would be a 60 overall, including a Ron Hextall temper

Blog Interview: Kbrick

2009-02-01T23:25:00.004-06:00

New Orleans Pelicans (NL)
kbrick
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Q: Who is Kbrick?
A: A 45-year old sports copy editor from New Orleans. Married for 22 years, two teenage daughters, three labradors.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: I work with Spainard and JohnGPF, and a few members of this league, too. One of those two, I can't remember which, came in one day and organized a sim league. I was hooked.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Baseball sim leagues, one uneventful season of NFL sim, one season of NBA sim, many seasons of Gridiron and Hoops Dynasty, and of course Hardball

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Economics, politics, cooking, music (metal and hard rock mostly, a little jazz for sanity sake), good sci-fi

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: This is the toughest question of the bunch. If we're all talking about the same topic, it should be five people with some interest in common? Here's five different groups from different subject matters, you can pick one from each to get the traditional five (it's good to be the king, or commissioner in this case):
-- BASEBALL: Whitey Herzog, Bob Costas, Hank Aaron, Mel Ott, Joe Morgan
-- POLITICS: Ronald Reagan, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman
-- MUSIC: Kirk Hammett, John Bonham, Angus Young, Geoff Tate, Dusty Hill
-- ENTERTAINMENT: Rockne O'Bannon, Ridley Scott, Pen Densham, John Carpenter, James Cameron
-- OTHERS: John Paul II, Pierre LeMoyne d'Iberville, Jesse Marcel, Criss Angel, Pete Maravich

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: I grew up an Astros fan. Morgan, Cesar Cedeno, Bob Watson, Larry Dierker, then Biggio, Bagwell, Caminiti, Berkman, Oswalt later on. Non-Astros would include Hank
Aaron, George Brett, Kirby Puckett, Reggie Jackson. And I have to admit, I was a Clemens fan.

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: In baseball, any of Herzog's teams in the 80s, the A's of the 70s. The '98 Astros should have gotten a lot further. In football, the Saints of '91 and '92.

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: Played baseball and basketball as long as I could; was out of organized sports by my sophomore year of high school. Played in flag football and overhand softball leagues until about 10 years ago.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: First would be to witness the Saints winning the Super Bowl. Two would be to spend a year touring the country, seeing a different sporting event or facility every day.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: I've got titles in Hardball and Gridiron, but I got more of a sense of accomplishment from two second-place teams. In Gridiron, I had a team that went 7-6 in the regular season in I-AA and fought all the way through the playoffs before losing in the title game. In Hoops, my Loyola-Chicago team reached the national title game after not being ranked most of the season. In both instances, I was able to game-plan my way past better teams, and that was the most satisfying part of those games.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: First I figure out how much I absolutely have to have in the big league payroll, and add 3 million for callups and unforseen situations. Then I try to max out on High School, college and international signing and on training. Coaching usually takes 12-14 million, depending on how many want to return. I leave 10 in medical, since even at that low level injuries seem to occur at a much slower rate than in real life. I figure on 4 million-5 million to sign draft picks, and then figure out the other budget categories after adding all the preliminary stuff.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: Obviously arbitration is changing, since some players that go to arbitration three times will now refuse to resign afterward. I think the optimal now is to go to arbitration twice, then decide if you want to commit to that player long term. Free agency, I rarely find worth the price you have to pay to land someone who will make a difference. I spend a lot of effort on developing my own prospects, so unless there's a free agent too good to be true, I usually pass. After spring training, I may sign a couple of minor-league guys to fill in holes on those rosters.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: In case no one has heard me say this before, I HATE the coach-hiring process. It seems like they loved the way the recruiting software works in gridiron dynasty and HAD to carry that over to this game. I'd be in favor of a much more realistic approach - since we're all basically serving as GMs, not managers (we don't make any in-game decisions), I think we should negotiate a contract with a manager, who could get up to 7 or 8 million. That manager would bring his staff with him, or at least offer the GM a choice of a few options, and he would also limit the ranges in the manager's settings page. That way we would be seeking to hire managers that fit our style of play - just like in real life. And you should be able to sign up to five years at a time, just like with players. If you have money left over during the season, you could fire the manager, and promote someone out of the minors. Think of the dimension that would add to the game, if they worked out the bugs.

With that rant out of the way, I used to try to hire the best possible coach at every single spot, and it got ridiculous. So now I just re-hire everyone I can, then identify a few candidates for the spots left open and try to go after them as hard as possible.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: I view spring training the way NFL teams view preseason - do whatever you want, just don't get injured. I usually make most of my roster decisions before spring training begins.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: I've toyed around with a few ideas here. I like speed in the No. 1 and 2 spots, and insist on above average defense at catcher, short, second and center. I find myself platooning a lot the past few seasons, with mixed success. As for pitching, I stick with a five-man rotation. I begin the season with one pitcher set as closer, the rest as setup A, and I let Simmy pick and choose who to use in what spot. If someone is struggling, I might move them to Setup B. If they really suck (Royce Goodwin, for example), I set them at mopup. But I'm wondering about the closer setting - seems a lot of pitchers perform better in the ninth if they're called SETUP (with no one listed as closer) instead of CLOSER. I haven't done any statistical study of this, just something that seems to be the case in my franchise.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: Depends on the player and the strategy. Catchers MUST have a high pitch-calling number, I'm convinced they help some pitchers who have a few poor pitches in their mix. Shortstop must be high-glove and range. Batting eye I like to be high, and I try to avoid the Rob Deer approach, so contact has to at least be a passable number. After that, the lefty-righty splits for both hitting and pitching seem to be the most reliable.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: for the draft, I have to be creative. I try to identify players my scouts rated as second or third-round picks that i think can make a difference one day in the bigs, and move them up the board. International prospects I divide into two spots - one, a player that is likely to be a big-league contributor, I'll bid on. Those are rare, though. two, at the end of the season, I empty the prospect budget on leftover internationals, and carry them on the rookie squad at least until the draft the next season.

I find waivers can have some pretty good deals if you keep your eyes open. Shooter Donatello, one of my favorite relievers in HBD, was claimed off waivers in season 1.

Promotions and demotions, I tend to be very deliberate. I believe the game has a mechanism built in to stunt the growth of players that get rushed through the minors; there are a lot of examples of this in our league. So I almost always limit a player to one, or in very rare circumstances, two levels of promotion per season. College players, since they're starting out at 22 or 23, obviously I'll be a little less patient with them, but I don't expect to see a high school prospect reach the big leagues until age 22 or later.

Q: 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?
A: I don't think there will be any dynasties in our league, there are too many good players that know what they're doing. My goal is to just make the playoffs each year, and see what happens from there. If a pitcher or two get hot, you can win the title.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: Bruce Hayes always seemed to win big games. My first acquisition was Brian Sakamoto, he was the backbone of my franchise for a long time. Brandon Standridge, because he seems to pitch better than his rankings every season.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: 10 minutes per cycle, three times a day for the simple management part. It takes me about two hours to set up all the minor leagues and managerial settings before the season, and several hours to rank the draft picks. After that, you can spend as much time as you like looking for trade possibilities and the like. I find now, in my 11th season, I finally know who most of my players are, so I don't spend as much time figuring out who can play and who cant.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: I love the fact that we have such a stable league, returning 29 or 30 owners every season. I have great respect for guys like Nordique and 2U23L, who took over losing teams and proved you can build a winner on your own. And I work with Sbarroque and Philpitt, so we talk a lot of baseball anyway.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: It's like a dream career, building a major-league franchise. The detail in this game is stunning, and the fact that they update every couple of months with improvements shows they still put a lot of attention into improving it.

Q: 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?
A: One - see coaching discussion above. Two - Individual player settings more similar to sim baseball. I hate when the backup catcher gets thrown out stealing 10 times a season, just because I have the steal setting on 5, when in sim ball you just tell him to never steal. Three - In Gridiron and Hoops dynasty, the game creates "filler" players when a team comes up short in recruiting and such. I think we should have a similar concept to fill minor-league rosters left short by the owners. We haven't had that issue this season, but last season one rookie team didn't have a pitcher all year.

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: In my playing days I would be a catcher, with good ratings for pitch-calling, contact and left-right splits, bad numbers for arm strength and accuracy and batting eye, and I would have the first negative number in Hardball history for speed. Today, I'd be a bench coach, with no particular area rated very high, probably a low discipline rating.

Blog Interview: Sbarrouque

2009-01-25T18:48:00.002-06:00

Seattle Pilots (AL)
sbarrouque
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Q: Who is SBarrouque?
A: A 40-year old journlist from Metairie (suburb of NOLA) who should learn to evacuate for hurricanes instead of staying to work.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: Kevin Spain (aka spainard555)

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Everything but Car Racing.

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Traveling, reading, music, the American West and Ireland.

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Ronald Reagan, Sir Alex Ferguson, Michael Collins, Walter Hagen and Lewis Grizzard.

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Ryne Sandberg, Ernie Banks (never saw him play, met him..great guy), Roy Keane, Archie Manning and Guido Merkins.

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: '87 Saints (famous Mora speech 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' then went to win the NFC West for the first time), '84 Cubs, '03 and '07 LSU Tigers. '06 Saints, '07-08 Manchester United.

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: Baseball, football, soccer and lawn darts.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Shoot even par or under so I can put on my tombstone 'he shot par'.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Winning a couple baseball championships (none in the HBD).

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: Try to keep payroll in the 80s or lower, budgeting extra for training and college draft. For the first time in seasons, I budgeted money for international prospects although I don't have the funds to bid on the high end players.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: I go to arb with first and second year players depending on their demands . if the long term deal seems good, I will take it. And it depends on if I have a good replacement in the minors. As for free agency, I only sign backups and minor leaguers to fill holes.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: Rehire whenever possible.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: I promote my prospects to the best level for them. Spring Training plays no role in my decision making. I use it to help my players progress.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: Early in the season, I set up my lineup for the best righty-lefty combo. After a week or two, the hot hand players. As for pitchers, I try to find the best RH/LH, control, stamina and pitches.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: Not sure. Power seems important for hitters but it seems to vary from player to the stadium your team is playing.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: Love the draft . It took me a few seasons to figure out what I wanted in the draft. Now I spend time trying to set up my top 100 whenever possible. At worst Top 50....I always check waivers for players that could help....as for promotions, lately I have been trying to be patient with my prospects by bringing them along a bit slower.

Q: 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?
A: I hope. I made the playoffs the first 8 seasons but did not win the WS (lost to philpitt). Sometimes, I feel the need for a couple of bad seasons to get some good young pitching.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: Giovanni Dawkins. If he played in a smaller stadium, his numbers would be out of this world. John Mullin is another favorite. He ratings are not good, but he is Rob Deer-like in homers.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: Depends on if I am at work!

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: kbrick, phillyfan...and the owners who have been in this league for many seasons.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: I enjoy being the GM. Making all of the decisions.

Q: 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?
A: Coach hiring. Just awful. You be able to hire coaches to multi-year contracts.

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: I would play CF with good speed, good fielder with a strong arm. A line driver hitter who could steal a few bases. Batting second in the order would be ideal for me.

Q&A: Phillyfan33

2008-11-26T10:12:00.005-06:00

Pawtucket Penny Pinchers (AL)
phillyfan33
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Who is phillyfan33
38-year-old man from New York, now living in Tennessee. Married 8 years, to a wonderful wife, and have a 18-month-old son we adopted when he was 3 days old.

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
Was actually a part of kbrick's AAA league, and heard about this through that.

Which games of ours have you played?
Sim leagues basketball, and baseball, tried Dynasty basketball, 1 season of football, and now only am involved in HBD

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
loving spending time with my wife and son, after being in a family that was not close, I vowed to be the opposite with my family.

Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson, Ronald Reagan, Pete Rose , and finally for comedy Dean Martin

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Mike Schmidt, John Kruk, Steve Carlton, and Cole Hamels

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
Phillies, long time fan since 76'

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
played baseball for 12 years, some in college, tried football a couple years in High school, we won state title 1 year, and lost in the second.....13-0 12-1, last game of the year I got 5 ribs broke on a sandwich hit across the middle....that was enough for me to see I was not a "football" player

What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
I want to take my wife and son to a pro game, when he is old enough, experience it, and have the memories I have of being at a game.

What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
just last season in another league. I made it as a division winner, 81-81, and knocked off 2 teams in the playoffs with over 100 wins, 104 and 100 wins. than lost in the LCS....

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
honestly it depends on my plan for that year, whether I need more for free agents, or if I try and rebuild, and allocate my money to prospects and scouting.....

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
I honestly have a plan before the season ends, and I look at all franchises, to see who is up for free agency, and if I would be interested in pursuing a certain player.....about half way through the season, or later, I always make some "cheap" FA signings and to this point, they have been great.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I try to see who wants to stay, and re-hire them, and the ones that want to change levels, I try to balance who I want where, and if I need to pursue a big time coach or not.....If I am allocating money to rebuild, I want a great coach at the levels my young guys are in

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
before spring training was a time to play some young guys and get them the experience at the Ml level, but with the rule passed a little while ago, players ratings could be affected by not playing them, so now I try to play my starters at least half of the games, and than spot fill the young guys here and there.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
starting line-up really needs a speedy guy, and than a contact player to set the table for a few power hitters. After that, a couple of middle of the road hitters, followed by a good contact hitter, or sacrifice bunt guy, before the pitcher's position.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
batting eye, glove, and gb/fb ratio's

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
most of the time, I see what my players at the Ml level would be doing in a few seasons, I.E. retiring, free agents, etc. I try to visualize that and then build my draft settings to help my ML team out by their departures. waivers have been great to do right as the season is coming to an end, players are cheap, and they have signed back with me at least 75% of the time the following season.

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 feel that someday I will get a nice system, after being so 'trade happy" early on, I am finally learning a bit on how to run a team, but I feel my team always under achieves for some reason.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
one of my favorites was from my early season in philly, was StuffY O'Malley. 100 power 0 contact. Ronnie Dunn was my biggest mistake, should have never traded him away. Julio Salinas is my best pitcher, keeps plugging along near the end of his career. I have a guy in Mr. October, Mel Elder, he is going to be a beast, and I would love to see how many MVP awards he will receive

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I think your should spend at least 15-20 minutes a day for each team you have....at least I do

Who are the users you respect the most?
many many users, included are kbrick, schlemiel, ferguson, sbarrouque, goldenboy, basilleaf, nordique, yanks21, mrploppie, blownranger, eacadca, philpitt, poconomets, koby, and many more from previous leagues

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
no matter how poorly I do, or how bad I stink, no one can fire me, all I have to do is re-up and try it again next 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?
coach hiring, way too long, and If I could change it, there would be 3 year deals for all coaches, and eliminate part of the frustration before the season begins. Also a button to automatically re-sign your minor league players, instead of having to submit an offer to one at a time. Kind of long if you have 30 or so.

If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
HBD baseball....third base/outfield decent power, contact, very good defense, and I am very patient.

2008-11-02T22:59:00.003-06:00

New Britain Bombers (AL)
2U23L
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Q: Who is 2U23L?
A: I am a 36-year old child in view of God's mercy, from Manchester, New Hampshire.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: I don't recall exactly, but I am positive it was inevitable.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: All simleague games, Basketball Dynasty, and this one.

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Sports is my passion. It helps pass the time in this facade. Besides sports, it would have to be everything behind the curtain.

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Michel de Nostradamus, Enoch, John Titor, king Kukulkan, and my best freind Aaron all hosted by Jesus Christ.

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Reggie Jackson, Ozzie Smith, Pete Rose, Mario Lemieux, Barry Sanders, Tom Brady, Pedro Martinez, Spud Webb, and Michael Jordan.

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: Montreal Canadiens, Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, and the Boston Celtics.

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: I played Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, and Tennis

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Play pro ball

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Winning the American League 3 years in a row

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: Right now it's all about signing my core players to long term contracts and keeping them healthy, and giving them the best chance to win through coaching.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: I do not haggle wth free agents. I wait until the moment the free agency period is over and sign quality players who weren't acquired probably due to a draft pick that noboby wanted to part with. Case and point Kordell Hollandsworth. As far as arbitration is concerned, if i feel a player will be a "core" player I will sign him to six-year deal. If not I may arbitrate him once, and release him the following year or try to trade him during that year.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: I try to hire the best coaches I can. Top 5 if possible. Loyalty is a key factor in how I hire.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: Best players possible, spring training play is of no importance to me.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: Again best players possible

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: All of them. Different kinds of players need to excel in different ratings.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: Right now i have scrapped the entire prospect part of the game to focus on keeping my team competitive and healthy for a good length of time. I will however take for instance a number of first-round picks from previous years and try to package them for 1 good prospect that could eventually become a core player.

Q: 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?
A: I think my strategy is definitely conducive to building a multi-season dynasty.....Unfortunately the National League will not comply.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: I only have 1 team, and my favorite players are the Benson brothers, Roger O'Donnel, and John Hernandez.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: Alot!! I couldn't say how much is needed

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: I respect all the users in this league . . . but if i had to name-drop. I think nordique93 makes me angry with his ability to acquire players. As good as I think I am at this game I am always learning or being beaten to the punch by him. I also think that phillyfan33 embodies the entire soul of all the users who make up the general personality of this league.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: All

Q: 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?
A: None

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: I would be Todd McLain of the Cinncinatti organization - take 40 rating points from his power and distribute those points equaly between health, durability, and arm accuracy. Man would I love to get McLain on the Bombers!

Q&A: Lenbo1212

2008-11-02T13:53:00.003-06:00

Salem Buck-Toothed Walruses (AL)
lenbo1212
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Q: Who is (Lenbo1212)? A: My name is Len. I'm a 44 yr old tax accountant, married, and father of two boys, ages 10 and 8.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: Saw it mentioned in a Sports Illustrated note in 2001, logged on, tried a spring training team and have been hooked ever since.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Sim League Baseball, Hoops Dynasty, Hardball Dynasty and recently Clutch Racing Dynasty.

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Astronomy (and the US Space program history in particular), orienteering and strategy games.

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Hmmm, first would be any of the astronauts who walked on the moon. I'd love to hear a first-hand account of the experience. Otherwise anyone who was a pioneer in his/her field to try and gain insight into their motivations, thought processes and inspirations - people like the Wright Brothers, Beethoven, any of the founding fathers.

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: I always had a soft spot for Jay Johnstone. Currently I'd go with Chase Utley.

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: Any Philly team will do but no season will ever compare to the 1993 Phils (although this year's edition is giving them a run).

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: I ran track until sophomore year in high school.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: I'd love to attend a World Series game involving the Phils. Short of that a Ryder Cup match will suffice

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Has to be my first World Series win with a $160M White Sox team. Ed Walsh single-handedly carried that team through the playoffs.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: As I was too loyal in the beginning to the veterans on the team most of it goes to player salaries. I've totally bagged international scouting for all the reasons previously mentioned and used those funds for advance scouting and training/medical.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: I try to avoid arbitration if at all possible by either signing them to contracts or releasing them if the demands are totally ludicrous. I'll use free-agency to fill a hole or two where my minor leaguer is still a year or two away.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: Rehire anyone who wants to come back and then find the best value for the open positions.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: You know spring training messed me up for a few seasons and I got caught up in some gaudy numbers from some prospects only to have them bomb in the regular season. Then I remembered the words of Lou Brown regarding Willie Mays Hayes hitting off a guy who'll be "bagging groceries next week" and I took it for what it is. Give the prospects a look and avoid injuries till the season begins.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: I'll look over the sims suggestions and laugh. Then I go for speed at the top, good contact at 2 and 3 and the power at 4. If the makeup allows I'll repeat the same pattern for 5-8.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: Judging from my past performances I have no clue, lol. For hitters I look for high contact and a similar rating against both righties and lefties. For pitchers I'm a control freak (Mitch Williams in 1993 taught me the value of control) and similarly the ability to get batters out from both sides of the plate.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: I just be sure to draft enough at each position to fill the rookie league. I don't do much in-season promoting except for the higher round draft choices who will hopefully be the nucleus in the near future.

Q: 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?
A: I fully expect to have to rebuild almost every year.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: Calvin Cho was a favorite even though he frustrated me to no end. Currently Josh Davis would be my favorite.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: I usually get about 20 minutes a day which is probably at least half as much as is needed for sustained success in this game.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: I've always had great respect for eschwartz67. He's always been willing to offer advice to the newbies or just provide insight on something he's discovered.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: Watching the draft picks develop to the point they are ready for the bigs.

Q: 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?
A: Can't find much fault with the game. I do go along with the hire coaches for multiple years idea. Or at least make loyalty rating mean something. It drives me nuts when a 70 loyalty is ready to go in one year.

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: I'd like to think I'd make a decent AA bench coach.

Q&A: Vdaino

2008-11-02T13:52:00.003-06:00

Santa Cruz Zumans (NL)
vdaino
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Q: Who is vdaino?
A: vdaino is a 39 year old entrepreneur from New Jersey. I am married and have a beautiful 3 year old daughter who is the center of my world.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: Bill Simmons, of course.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Everything except Hockey and Car Racing (are you kidding? CAR RACING? LOL).

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: reading, writing, guitar, music, coaching and eastern "religion"

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Muhammad Ali; Buddha; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Neil Young; and Jenna Jameson

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Pete Rose; Steve Carlton; Charles Barkley; Moses Malone; Marvin Hagler; Aaron Pryor; Evander Holyfield

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: '80 Phillies; '82-83 Sixers; '86 Penn State Nittany Lions

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: I played baseball and basketball . . . SS, 3B and pitcher (usually after a flame thrower, my painfully slow stuff would throw them off) and point guard (who liked to post up Moses-style.)

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: I want to participate in a white-collar boxing match.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: beating the heavily favored schedule1's New Orleans Magnolias in 5 games to win the L.E.G. championship

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: mid-level payroll, heavy on all scouting, medical and training, zero international

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: I usually go through arb with 1st year arb eligible players, 2nd year players I sign long term if they are core players and release/trade players with high demands. Free agency, I usually pick up bullpen help, backup catchers and OF bats.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: Re-hire as many as I can. I HATE COACH HIRING

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: I do not pay much attention to the minor leagues. I just make sure my top prospects advance and that I have every position covered . . . and still my pitchers get fried.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: High OBP players at a premium, control and vs. RH and LH is what I look for in starting pitchers. I always seem to have shut-down closers.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: Good question. let me know when you know the answer.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: I am spending more time on the draft as a series of poor ones have hurt me. I am ranking my top 50 - 60 now. I target 5 - 6 players at levels I think I can get them. I do not chase international players anymore, too expensive. I check waivers every so often and let Sparky handle in-season promotions in the minors.

Q: 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?
A: my strategy is to have a competitive team every year with a chance to compete for the championship every year.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: Sam Rodgers; J.D. Seneca and Jake Berry from Evangeline; Adam Foster; Chad Lee (never should have traded you, Chad); Footsie Stewart; Matty Fernandez and Hal Sheldon from L.E.G.; Bosco Morton, Magglio Bennett and Bartolo Escobar from Stickball . . . no one from the Negro League yet . . . BUMS!

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: I spend too much time and not enough time . . . I am competitive but I'm no sched.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: kbrick; Schlemiel; schedule1 and bbqjason are all great owners

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: the sheer depth of the game. . . It is amazing and an incredible value at the price.

Q: 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?
A: Did I mention that I hate COACH HIRING? 1) Coach hiring sucks 2) and Coach hiring; and 3) Coach Hiring

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: I would play SS in HBD. i would be a speedy great fielding SS with a great eye, a real pest at the plate; a clutch hitter who delivers in the crunch.

Q&A: Eyetoeye

2008-11-02T13:51:00.003-06:00

Salt Lake City Steamboats (AL)
eyetoeye
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Q: Who is eyetoeye?
A: John, 40 year old living in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. Have also lived in Ohio, California, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: I was a Strat-o-Matic freak as a kid and found their online game through the Sporting News web site (I believe). One of the owners on that site asked if I had ever heard of WhatIfSports and suggested I try it.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Just Sim League baseball.

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Reading, TV, current events.

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Jesus, Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson, Hank Aaron, and Jim Tressel.

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Being a Reds fan, any of the Big Red Machine of the 70's. I also loved Nolan Ryan and George Brett.

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: The '76 Reds, the greatest lineup in the modern era. Also a Cowboys fan in football and Ohio State fan.

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: Just baseball. I was a fairly good player in my younger days. I led my little league in home runs one season, and led my junior high team in batting one season, hitting over .500. It started to go downhill once I hit high school.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Attend a Game 7 Reds World Series victory, or attend a Super Bowl. I would also like to visit Wrigley Field.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: I still remember my first sim league champion. It was a very low salary cap league and every platoon I had worked perfectly. I also won a league with only players from 1985. I remember the 1985 John Tudor was pretty unbeatable.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: I play with a low player salary, just because it interests me more. Therefore I am usually heavy into scouting. With the lower player dollars I am able to place more than average dollars in most categories.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: Arbitration is on a player-by-player basis. I don't mind paying for producers and want no part of underachievers. I am not a big player in free agency, other than filling a spot, here and there, with someone who I think I can develop.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: I rehire everyone I can. There are certain coaching spots that I won't overpay for, and I really haven't noticed any difference in my team's performances. I think if you have solid players, you win, regardless of the coaching. Although I don't despise coach hiring as much as most owners, it would be nice to sign them for 2-3 year contracts. Everything in this game is so realistic, I don't know why they haven't added that, yet.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level?
What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: I usually use spring training to determine my 24th or 25th roster spot. However, it seems that a sizzling spring training usually translates into a lousy first month of the regular season. As for minor-league promotions I make sure my major-league prospects keep on track, and moving up, based on performance.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: Nothing high tech, my best players play. I do value good defense up the middle and will sacrifice a little offense for it. As for pitching, I had several years of agonizing bullpens. I made a focus of fixing that, and I finally have a group I like.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: Splits for hitters and pitchers. Control for pitchers, since there is enough offense in the game, I don't need to help by walking alot of people. I like starting pitchers with three good pitches.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: I take the draft very seriously. I usually spend a few days reorganizing my draft list, and have gotten some really good 3rd-7th round picks, as a result. I enjoy trying to find the diamond in the rough. I've recently cut back on the international prospects, even though there are superstars to be had, there. . . I just don't like the huge price tags. I'll keep an eye on the waiver wire when I feel like I need to add someone at a specific postion.

Q: 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?
A: I always laugh at this question. I'm waiting for the first person to say "Yeah, I shut down my entire minor-league system to try to win this year." I like having a competitive team, but haven't quite gotten over the hump, yet.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: Wesley Jordan has been my catcher since year 1 and just produces every year. I had to let Bobby Joe Monroe go, this year, which was tough. He is my franchise's all time wins leader. I also like any player who exceeds his ratings. I root for them even if they never make it out of Low A ball.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: I check in every cycle and spend 10-30 minutes "managing." As for how much time is necessary to be competitive, I would defer to the guys who have won titles, on that one.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: Kbrick is great and has always runs a great league, even back to the AAA sim leagues. I also respect all of the owners who have won titles. It is so difficult to do and I try to analyze their strategies.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: Just managing "my team." It is such a great stress reliever to log on and disappear into the fake world that is HBD.

Q: 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?
A: I don't hate anything about the site, I really like that they are constantly tweaking the game, making it better. Three things I would like added, or changed are the multi-year coaching contracts. I wish there was some benefit to keeping the older vets on your roster; like a coaching or mentoring rating that would mirror their value in real life. And I wish 100 health rating players wouldn't get injured.

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: Definitely HBD. I would be a first baseman, good glove, no speed, good eye, doubles power, and good makeup. A Mike Lowell type player.

Q&A: Johnnydancer

2008-11-02T13:50:00.005-06:00

Santa Fe Conquistadors (NL)
johnnydancer
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Q: Who is JohnnyDancer?
A: My name is Johnny and I am a dance instructor by trade. I am in my early forties, married, a native Texan and am a die-hard sports fan.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: Three years ago, I was surfing the net in search of a challenging sports game to play when I came across whatifsports.com. I have been hooked ever since.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: All of the dynasty games, but HBD is by far my favorite. I currently have three squads in HBD: the Conquistadors (formerly the Texas Swingers) the Florida Mojitos in OCD World and the Los Angeles Avengers of The New Guys World

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Movies, reading and dancing.

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Roger Staubach, Fran Tarkington, Hank Aaron, Nolan Ryan and Carl Yastrzemski

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: Dallas Cowboys

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: Played football, basketball, baseball, soccer and track from childhood up until my senior year in high school.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Play one game of hockey and see what it is like.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Making the playoffs for the first time in HBD.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: I spend most of my budget on returning players and coaches.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: In order to fill holes in my lineups, due to retirements, free-agency or injuries, I usually like to promote players from within my farm leagues first. I will only use free-agency as a last resort. I usually try to make my team as young as possible (easier said than done).

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: Besides their loyalty to the team: Wins and losses.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: At the beginning of the season, I pretty much know who is, or not, going to be on my team. Spring Training has little to do, if any, on who is going to be on my final ML roster. I rarely do trades and I use free agency to fill in gaps.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: I prefer to have a five Starting Pitcher rotation, one Mop-up, two Long Releivers, four Set-ups and one closer. I prefer pitchers with control and stamina. Having an offensive-minded philosophy for my team, I tend to favor players that specialize in power hitting.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: Pitching Control

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: Although I prefer offensive-minded team, I still try to draft the best pitchers possible and then gradually work them through my farm system

Q: 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?
A: In my experience, my teams do pretty well for a couple of seasons and then they go into a major slump fo a couple more. At this time, I'm still looking for the right balance i order to sustain winning seasons.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: On average, I spend at least a half hour a day on my teams.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: kbrick and leecountry (OCD World)

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: The opportunity to rebuild and improve your teams over a period of seasons.

Q: 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?
A: Coaching, Coaching and Coaching. Coaches should be allowed to sign muti-year contracts with their respective teams.

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: I would want to play football and be the quarterback.

Q&A: Reigny

2008-11-02T13:38:00.003-06:00

Burlington Mountaineers (AL)
reigny
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Who is reigny?
Reigny is really Jeff, a 41 yr old from Northern VA who only has two beliefs to base his life on. 1) Baseball is Life... the rest is just details. 2) I don't wanna grow up...I'm a Toys R Us kid.

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
I played a free season of SIM baseball and got hooked.

Which games of ours have you played?
HBD, GD, Clutch Racing, SIM baseball, Soccer Dynasty, and HD

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
I tend to read a lot, and I'm a couch potato for the History Channel and the Fox Soccer channel.

Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
Albert Einstein, Atilla the Hun, Thomas Jefferson, Ted Williams, Sarah Pallin (sorry, she's hot)

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
2004/2007 Boston Red Sox, 2005 Washington Nationals, and any Green Bay Packer team

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
Baseball from T-Ball through high school, Soccer from first walking through my scholarship at Loyola

What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
I want to finally pass my Scuba Instructor's licensing test and then open my own scuba charter company in Australia.

What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
Winning the division in the ARomano world with a team that had no chance

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
I used to follow the Yankees.... buy buy buy. Now I keep payroll low and try to build up with IFA and draft. All scouting is at least 20 MIL per year.

How do you approach offseason events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
I've never had reliable results with FA, so I pretty much let them go. In terms of arbitration, if the player has performed well, I'll sign for the long term, if not.... I release them.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I try to keep them as long as possible. But when the salary demands get too high, it's just time to hire new.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
Spring training decides my ML, AAA, and AA teams. The Hi-A, Lo-A, teams are made up of my Rookie team getting promoted.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
Strategy is pretty much going with the flow. If a player or pitcher is on a roll, they play. If they hit a wall, I bench them.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
The R/L splits, but also the temper and health numbers.

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
The draft takes me about two days to evaluate who I think I want. Out of 25 picks, if I can land 5-8 of my "wish list", then I'm happy. IFA players only if their numbers look good, waivers to help my minors more than anything. Promotion/demotions are always happening in my organizations.

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 still looking for my first year of a multi year dynasty.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
Khoury Shaw (DH Monterrey Desert Dawgs/ Rice Not Lynn). He was my first trade and he'll retire a Desert Dawg when he wants.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I spend about 2 hours a night on my teams. (After my wife and my daughter go to bed, because family is still more important)

Who are the users you respect the most?
ewd330 (allowed me to join the RNL league which got me hooked. madmuldoon -- My mother in law was diagnosed with M5 Leukemia and I was missing major time with all my teams. Patrick sitemailed me and took over all of my teams for awhile. He pretty much gave me the time needed to work through it. He was the reason why I play.... he's become my best friend (my worst enemy when we play)and I think he's the perfect example of what this game should be to us..... Friends coming together not only in game but in real life if needed.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
the amatuer draft

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?
1. Let's be able to hire coaches for multiyear contracts
2. We should be able to trade RL players the year they are drafted and also be able to trade away or trade for draft picks
3. Instead of FA demanding a certain amount of pay and refusing all, we should be able to negotiate more with them.

If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
HBD... third base ... and I'd be a player rated in the high 60's or low 70's at the 27 yr old mark.

Q&A: Campbell1972

2008-10-27T21:13:00.003-06:00

Las Vegas One Arm Bandits (AL)
campbell1972
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Q: Who is campbell1972?
A: I am a Winnipeg (Canadian) born high school geography and history B.Ed. graduate who is currently seeking work in Korea for a second tour. My first name is Campbell and am married without children with my wife of four years, Tiffany.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: Some North American teachers were playing it in Korea to pass the time while I was there the first time. They got me hooked.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: I have been into the hockey for three years now and am now coming up to 10 months in this league.

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Tons. Outdoors and film, music and travel, geography and history, whatever hits me at the moment. I am currently working on designing my own home which I hope to have built within the next five years.

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Gene Roddenberry, Leonardo DaVinci, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Herbert Hoover, Queen Elizabeth I, the inventors, the intiators of development and change and the ones who saw it all. King and Hoover were odd ones but they were privvy to the goods of the 20th century. There are many others I would add like Kennedy, Roosevelt, Churchill, Trudeau, Castro, Gorbachev, Reagan, Mandela etc., etc.

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: I am primarily a hockey fan and loyal to the home team but I would have to say my favorites to watch were Wayne Gretzky and Dominic Hasek in hockey, Michael Jordan in basketball, Rickey Henderson and Nolan Ryan in baseball, Doug Flutie and Warren Moon in both CFL and NFL and Tiger Woods. Only the best here.

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: Winnipeg Jets, Quebec/Colorado, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, Detroit Red Wings (NHL). Toronto Blue Jays (sorry Dique) MLB, Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL). Most other sports I am impartial. Maybe Buffalo Bills (NFL).

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: Hockey, soccer, swimming, diving, track.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: It would have been nice to compete at a professional level but it was never quite in the cards. I am now working on the golf and curling skills. Still into rec hockey though. I have no real designs on awards or championships other than WIS now, lol.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Currently have back to back Stanley Cups in one of the hockey Dynasty leagues I created. I have created a true Dynasty team. I am looking forward to going for a third.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: I am still green at HBD but I have been trying to plan for the major changes in veterans and much of the rest of it is for rookies. I would like to increase my scouting budget because I know I am missing some of the prime picks. I don't like missing out on the good ones.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: I just decide whether they will be valuable to the team the next season or not. I have a tendency to be too loyal at times though. I probably should have cut ties with Eugene Morgan but signed him on this season anyway. He has been on the ML with the franchise since game 1.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: Loyalty is important as is potential. I have been doing the same thing with the coaches as I have with the players, youth movement. I only have 3 coaches over 45 and they are highly skilled and highly loyal. I will spend big money on coaches who will negotiate less often. Saves money in the long run I think and reduces the PITA (pain in the ass) factor during the hiring process.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: The rosters are based on many factors. Performance, price and protected list are the three main things I look at when deciding on season rosters. Who is going to put up the numbers, who is going to put up value for the money and who is most likely to do so down the line. Spring training is restricted to the ones who have the most potential to make the ML. More towards the developing players than the veterans too. This is why my preseason stats are never very good, lol.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: Go with the best one with the most energy. That's it. I am hands on with this though. I hate the AI.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: I avoid assessing single stats. I look for the peaks and valleys. If they are lacking in one area they better have some really good stats in another area or I won't take them. From my International Signing history I am not overly picky though, lol. Some stat combos will only reach certain levels but I don't focus too hard on one stat or another. How they fit with the team is more important.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: I look at everything and give them a shot if I can. The numbers can be unpredictable sometimes. You never really know what is going to work. I keep a few mobile utility players and have a system for placement, releases/waviers and substitution that seems to be working as well. I believe in building from within too so you won't see me trade very often.

Q: 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?
A: nordique93 and I seem to have the hockey worked out though our styles are very different. More often than not it has been one or the other of us running the dynasties in hockey (mostly him, lol). I think I can work out a consistent strategy and perform at a high level mostly because I don't like to lose.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: I am not really a 'favorites' person. I enjoy the whole picture.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: Too much just ask my wife, lol. I can spend hours on the WIS every day. I am an addict. I like to spend at least a few minutes checking things out before every game. I have also spent 12 hours or more through both days of a weekend doing hand-picked drafts in hockey. My wife is a good one for sure. She has done a bit of both hockey and baseball on WIS herself.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: Again I am not a favorites person. I have respect for most of the users out there. The hockey guys here and in my dynasties and the rest of the owners in this league all show good sportsmanship and attitudes. Honorable mention to steveajolie in hockey. He is a real leader inside and outside the game.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: The extent of management and variability in strategies. Hockey, I hate to say, is far more limited in this. Most of the time I only spend a few minutes on hockey. Most of my time is spent here because there is so much you can do.

Q: 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?
A: My least favorite aspect is the contract bidding and lack of long-term coaching contracts. I want to know who else is bidding how much and reduce the tedious amount of time wasted guessing how much I should be offering to land a player or a coach. I would also like to see more variety in the AI settings and heirarchies to save some time.

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: If I were a hockey player I would be a two-way, playmaking corner-digging, shorthanded specialist, right shooting left-winger with good skates and shoft hands or an offensive right defenseman 95 in both cases with high defense and speed and fairly high shooting. I would be a catcher in baseball because I need to be in the action all the time. I'd be about a 75 with solid fielding and a solid leadoff basestealing batting skill. Not a home run king but I'd keep the pitchers honest. I would be a point guard in basketball or a wide out or punter in football. Speed and finesse is my game no matter the sport.

Blog Interview: Noccolo

2008-10-19T23:46:00.003-05:00

Austin Black Socks (AL)
noccolo
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Q: Who is noccolo?
A: My name is Nick, 27 years old from Austin Texas. I work in property management. Favorite team is the Texas Rangers (we're getting better, watch out).

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: Someone mentioned it one day on a Rangers blog, lonestarball.com, I checked it out, and have played it since.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Just Hardball Dynasty.

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Damn, besides watching baseball, bit of a computer nerd, and enjoy movies, and shiner beer.

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: I'll limit it to baseball, Nolan Ryan, Orel Hershisher, Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente, and the man in the original San Diego Chicken suit.

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., Bobby Brower.

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: Texas Rangers.

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: In middle school we didn't have baseball, so I played everything, football, baseketball, soccer, track, in high school i played baseball, pitched a few times though no one was fooled by my 60mph fastball.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Well theres sports related things that I wish I could do, like throw a 95mph fastball or an 80mph curve without my arm falling off, but I would love to attend a WS game at the ballpark in arlington watching my rangers.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Making it to the playoffs with this team. It was my first team, and I did good job of butchering it the first 2 years learning how to play, so to come back from that and make the playoffs was something special.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: 20m for Prospects, try to get 20m for Advance scouting, the rest I play with, Keep my Player budget near what it is, rarely do I budget for a bigtime FA, figure that money is better spent in keeping my current players from getting hurt, or better hs and coll scouting.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: FA try to sign my guys before someone else can, typically cheaper to do that. Arb, if its a guy that I know I want to have for years, I may sign him in his 2nd or 3rd year of arb before he hits FA, a little more money now but saves you some in the long run.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: Oh wow, is there a more annoying part to WiS, can't even talk about it.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: Spring training very little if any. I already have a good idea where I want my guys, and have a good idea who the future ML are going to be. Try to be aggressive on the promotions of thsoe guys unless they have a long way to assume their max potential then I'll drag their development a bit. Also to finalize rosters, always pick up 2-3 pitchers and a position player or 2 per level to sit in inactive in case of injuries.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: Starting Lineups, kinda like the pros, fast OBP guys at the top, mashers in the middle, and fast not so OBP guys at the bottom, though the bottom typically becomes your slick fielding no bat SS. Rotations, many stats i look at there, sta/dur vR/vL Control, Pitches. I keep 5 starters, 2 Long men, 3 set up guys, Closer, and Mopup.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: For hitter, Most important to me Power, but batting eye, splits and contact are also very important. For pitchers control. but again they have a lot of other very important ratings as well.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: International Prospects is random, unless I really need a certain position at my lower minors I hold out for the sure thing MLers, draft I try to set my top 50 guys, again typically guys I know will make the majors in some capacity, after that if I have time I'll set up for decent minor leaguers and the off shot MLers.

Q: 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?
A: My current team is still young but getting expensive, the trick to continually contending is good drafts, smart trading to get younger, and getting lucky in the International draft

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: Yes, but I just traded him, he'll hit 40+ homeruns and steal 70+ bases for a long time for the Expos. With him gone probably Tommy Sweeney, my first 1st round pick so I'm a little partial to him too.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: it varies usually multiple times a day for only about 15-30 min at a time. Of course during the draft and preseason you need a lot more time to get things set and going.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: I typically dont interact much in chat, typically just to congratulate a division mate or the WS winner, or to announce a firesale. But being my first league all the owners here have been awesome and informative and I've appreciated this league immensely.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: The fun of it all.

Q: 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?
A: Coach hiring, make it shorter, maybe make even a higher percentage of current coaches stay. and the only other complaint would be a little more stability in RPs. It seems they can have awesome ratings and still end up with ERAs above 5, then have a sub 1 era the next year then back to above 5 again. Too random in my opinion for being a randomized game

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: I'd be in this one, as a Pitcher still hanging around in Rookie League praying for a Diamond in the Rough.

Week 1 Blog Interview: PoconoMets

2008-10-13T17:37:00.004-05:00

San Antonio Cowboys (AL)
PoconoMets
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Q: Who is PoconoMets?
A: 45 M from NY PA and now Vegas

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
A: playing sim baseball

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
A: Tried Basketball

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
A: Fantasy Baseball, Football

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
A: Roberto Clemente, Nostradamus, Bill Clinton, Ponce de Leon, Princess Diana

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
A: Roberto Clemente, Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
A: NY Mets, NY Giants

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
A: Baseball and Football

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
A: Visit other major league parks

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
A: Haven't had any yet.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
A: I'm a Steinbrenner type, so I have extra cash for Free Agents and trades

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
A: Try to keep those players that are worth keeping, but always looking for that impact player, mostly pitchers

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
A: Absolutely hate it.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
A: Look at the players coming up in the system and try to move them up accordingly.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
A: I like to keep the same lineup until i start losing then change it around a bit.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
A: Glove and speed

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
A: Try to recruit as many pitchers as possible, mostly for trade bait. I don't like bidding wars for Internationals

Q: 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?
A: I've gotten close a couple of times to the playoffs. Apparently my strategy to win now hasn't produced a winner, so maybe i need to change my thinking.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
A: My favorite would be a pitcher with a good era and lots of strikeouts.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
A: I'm on every cycle and spend about 30 minutes. I think you have to keep a limited number of teams to devote enough time to be competitive.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
A: I respect the commisioners, you do a great job of keeping us informed and keeping the league running smoothly

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
A: the 31 other owners, it's a great place to have fun as we compete

Q: 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?
A: Coach hiring is the worst. We should be able to hire for multiple seasons and be done with it.

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
A: HBD Baseball, Second Base. High contact, great glove and base stealing threat.

NEWSBREAK: Welcome new owners for season 10

2008-09-29T15:44:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-15T13:15:00.003-05:00

Wichita Thatita (NL)
buddy_bee
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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

2008-09-07T23:57:00.003-05:00

Tucson Scarlet Fire (NL)
captain10a
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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.

BLOG INTERVIEW: Trapapoodle

2008-08-25T00:20:00.003-05:00

Philadelphia Athletics (NL)
trapapoodle
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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

2008-08-21T11:43:00.002-05:00

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

2008-08-18T02:57:00.003-05:00

Jacksonville Suns (NL)
mpate10
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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

2008-08-10T13:00:00.004-05:00

Chicago Wavelands (NL)
reggie988
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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

2008-08-06T08:53:00.003-05:00

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

2008-08-02T23:37:00.005-05:00

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.

BLOG INTERVIEW: EACadca

2008-07-27T16:07:00.003-05:00

Syracuse SwordWhales (NL)
eacadca
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is EACadca?
My name is Mike. I'm going into senior year at Hamilton College in upstate New York, double majoring in creative writing and computer science. EACadca doesn't mean anything, and I've been meaning to change my username for a while.

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
I found the baseball simleagues linked from MLB.com ... geez, five years ago.

Which games of ours have you played?
Besides HBD, I used to play all sorts of baseball theme leagues, and I've tried out football, HD, and GD for a season or two.

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
Songwriting, fiction/comedy writing, and playing guitar. I'm a pretty big geek about music, sports, and video games.

Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
I have no idea ... Kurt Vonnegut, Jon Bois, Isaac Brock, Benjamin Franklin, and Jorge Luis Borges.

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Greg Maddux, Tim Naehring, Christy Mathewson, Pedro Martinez, Edgar Martinez, Lou Merloni

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
'97, '02 Red Sox, '95 Mariners. Apologies for my limited lifespan.

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
I played rec baseball and basketball, but was never very good. I was a decent junkball pitcher.

What is the top sports related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
Realistic: Start up an IM baseball or basketball team with my friends. Learn to throw a knuckleball.
Unrealistic: Play baseball at a major league park. Learn to throw a gyroball.

You have won a Hardball Dynasty Major League World Series, and a few in SimLeagues. What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
Once I made a crazy SLB team with Mark Bellhorn, Matt Williams, and no pitcher over 160 innings or .190 BAA. A bunch of people in the league forum remarked that it was a terrible idea. It was #1 on the Top 25 teams for a while, and won about 120 games.

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
I put whatever I need into players, max out training, and put a bunch into prospect budget. I haven't figured out a good balance for the different types of scouting yet.

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
Free agency was insane a few seasons ago, but now it's cooled down and it looks like you can get some pretty good deals. I try to keep players until they start declining, which luckily is pretty easy to predict. I have no idea what I'm going to do when all my pitchers get old at the same time in a few seasons.

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I don't really care about the strategy rating for my bench coach. I try to get a low discipline in my hitting coaches, because who needs bunting and contact? I used to save money by hiring top minor league coaches to higher level jobs, but I can't get away with that anymore. I find that 12-13M is still usually enough to get top tier major league coaches.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
I just let the prospects play spring training. Usually I'll have a few good (future ML) prospects at every level, and the rest of the minor leagues is pretty much interchangable filler.

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
I think defense is important up the middle, but mostly I go with whoever will produce the most runs. I'm trying a catcher in right field this season, that will be interesting. I've also switched from a more conventional lineup to "just put your best hitters up top," so I'll have to see how that goes.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
Batting eye and control are probably most important. A hitter can succeed with good power and little else, but I try to hold out for the best possible splits. I used to value pitching splits way more than pitch ratings, but I'm starting to weigh them more equally.

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
I rank all the players that could make the majors or even AAA. Then I rank players with funny names. I promote/demote sparingly, and try to get one great player per season internationally (though same with everyone). I usually take somebody in the Rule 5, moreso because it's cool than because it's helpful.

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 keep enough cost-controlled players to keep my payroll low enough to acquire good prospects. I don't know if I'll be able to keep it up, though. I'll have to be able to trade off some expensive players for prospects, and make some "few good prospects for one elite prospect" trade.

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
My favorite players are probably Rex Wilkerson and Damon Cornelius. It was cool seeing them go from top prospects to good ML players.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I spend a bunch of time in the offseason getting everything ready. I rarely spend more than a few minutes a day during the season to check lineups and pitching staffs, though sometimes when I'm bored I spend a while thinking up possible trade proposals.

Who are the users you respect the most?
Everybody in my league, of course, especially kbrick for the ton of work he's done back since the old AAA theme leagues. Back when I was starting out, I got a lot of help from the people on both sides of jmbreslin's Veterans vs. Newbies Challenge league.

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
I like drafting players. Sometimes I wish I had a crappy team so I could stock up on top prospect, like Tampa Bay ended up doing in MLB. I also like trying out crazy strategems to try and "beat the system." And of course, I still always read the boxscores in play-by-play mode.

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 don't like how predictable player development is. With decent advance scouting, you can pretty much tell exactly how good a player will be and when. There's not a whole lot you can do to fix that short of something completely radical, such as replacing projected ratings with automatically generated scouting reports, but anything like that would end up angering way too many people. I'd like to add player search by projected ratings, and individual SB settings instead of pitching settings for position players. My dream addition would be a graphical browser app that lets you watch a simmed game. That would be a good work time waster.

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 one of those HBD pitcher with great stamina and control, but terrible splits. Pitches: Changeup, curveball, slider, cutter, palmball, none rated over 30.

BLOG INTERVIEW: Nordique93

2008-07-20T02:40:00.003-05:00

Kansas City Expos (NL)
nordique93
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Who is Nordique93?
Longhaul otr trucker from Montreal, Canada

How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
From tsn.ca

Which games of ours have you played?
HBD and hockey

Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
Antique car collector

Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
Jesus, Cesar, Nostradamus, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte

Who are your favorite players of all-time?
Bobby Orr and Gary Carter

Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
93 Nordiques and 81 Expos

Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
I was a pretty good rushing defenseman in hockey and love stealing bases in baseball since i was a 100-yard dash sprinter.

What is the top sports related thing you want to do in life that ou have not yet done?
I'm satisfied with winning 3 stanley cups for the Quebec Nordiques

You have won one Hardball Dynasty Major League World Series. Congratulations. What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
Rebuilding the team after trading JD Seneca to my friend PhillyFan

In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
Since i have a young team, I try to re-sign my guys long term

How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
I give the players whatever they want in arbitration and try to fill the major holes in free agency

What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
I go for the best coaches, I spend at least $20 million.

How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
I play the kids a lot and if a player earns a spot out of spring training I'll give him a shot

What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
10 pitchers in the majors and as many as possible in the minors. My starting lineups are built on speed.

What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
Control for pitchers and power for hitters

How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
I analyze the draft by position separately. Always an eye open for waivers and not afraid to promote the young players.

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?
This team is very young so the future looks bright

Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
I get cranky whenever teams ask about Rick DeHaan in trade chats.

How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
I spend a lot of time on my team, this is why I only have one. Once you get the hang of it, you don't have to worry much.

Who are the users you respect the most?
All the guys from New Orleans are great, my hockey friends - this league is filled with good guys. But if we were going to have a mascot, it would be PhillyFan. (just kidding)

What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
Player progression

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?
This is the best game ever, so were adding on to the best
1. power hitting should be toned down, as it is the single most important category as of now. contact hitters aren't close.
2. defense needs to take its right place, its basically worthless right now. lets remember that pitching and defense wins championships.
3. the coach hiring process is the no. 1 cause for divorce in america. We should be able to sign them long-term.

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 rushing defenseman with pretty good defense ratings

BLOG INTERVIEW: Blownranger

2008-07-12T23:32:00.003-05:00

Houston Toros (AL)
blownranger
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Q: Who is blownranger?
BR: Dave G. 50 years old. Sr. Systems Analyst for regional healthcare provider in Austin, TX. Graduated from Univ of Kansas in '80.

Q: How did you learn about whatifsports.com?
BR: From a friend.

Q: Which games of ours have you played?
BR: Used to play Hoops Dynasty with mixed results. Just HBD now, and just this one team. It boggles my mind that folks can juggle so many franchises.

Q: Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?
BR: Poker, Military History

Q: Which five people, past or present sit at your dream roundtable discussion?
BR: Chester Nimitz, Phog Allen, John Cusack, Winston Churchill, Bob Uecker.

Q: Who are your favorite players of all-time?
BR: Doug Rader, Jeff Bagwell, Frank White

Q: Which are your favorite teams of all-time?
BR: '80 Astros

Q: Did you play baseball or basketball (or other sports) growing up?
BR: Played Little League baseball, football, basketball, and soccer. Pared it down to soccer and running track in high school.

Q: What is the top sports-related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?
BR: Either attend an EPL soccer game, or see the Astros win the World Series.

Q: What would you consider your greatest WIS moment?
BR: Winning the Season 3 World Series after being down 3-0.

Q: In Hardball Dynasty, how do allocate your budget?
BR: I've punted International scouting because the bidding wars are insane; therefore my prospect budget is also low. Always heavy in Advanced Scouting and Training. Pretty strong in Medical and Coaching. HS/College scouting fluctuates depending on my current player payroll needs.

Q: How do you approach off-season events with players such as arbitration and free agency?
BR: I tend to offer arbitration players what they're asking since there's some thought that it makes them happier and more likely to stick around as FAs. As for Free Agency, I'm not a big player, although I have signed some decent starting pitchers. If I think a guy is truly a keeper, I tend to offer a long-term deal earlier than I have to, figuring I'll come out ahead in the long run.

Q: What is your general strategy for hiring/re-hiring coaches?
BR: My coaching budget has always been in the "upper middle class" range, and the key ratings of my coaches usually reflect that - slightly above the World median. I care about some staff positions more than others.

Q: How do you finalize rosters at each level? What role does spring training play in your decision making?
BR: I think teams in real baseball that put any stock in Spring Training stats are making a huge mistake, and I carry that same philosophy into HBD. ST has never affected a single roster decision. As for the minors, I'm more concerned that my key prospects are progressing at the pace I want than I am in whether I'm fielding a competitive team at each level.

Q: What is your basic strategy for setting your starting lineups and pitching rotation?
BR: I've stuck w/a five-man rotation at the big league level, and 5 or 6-man in the minors. I don't mess much with the minor league batting orders, but I'm very hands-on during every cycle in trying not to throw any pitchers who aren't 100%. I'm not adverse to a platoon situation if the L/R ratings call for it.

Q: What do you believe are the most important individual player ratings for performance?
BR: For pitchers, I look for good L/R numbers and the lack of any terrible pitches. I'll take three pitches in the 60's and no bad ptiches over two kick-ass pitches and a bad pitch. I would just as soon my pitchers have good control, but I've never considered it THE key rating like so many others do. It's tougher to put a finger on what I look for in hitters. I've seen guys succeed with good contact/eye ratings and lousy L/R numbers, but I've also seen the reverse. If you're a hitter with decent numbers across the board and a good glove, I'll employ you.

Q: How do you approach in-season player events like the draft, international prospects, waivers and promotions/demotions?
BR: If I get one legitimate prospect in the draft, I'm happy. Two prospects makes me esctatic. I will prioritize a few dozen players, but that's about it. I no longer do much with international players. I used to find a decent player on waivers every now and then, but not so much any more. I try to be patient with my key prospects, and stick pretty much to a level-per-season approach.

Q: 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?
BR: I wouldn't call it a dynasty, but my approach has yielded consistent results so far. I think that's going to be tougher as everyone learns the nuances of HBD.

Q: Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?
BR: It wasn't hard to recognize Danny Lincoln as my franchise's future when I opened the package prior to Season 1, and he certainly has not disappointed. Juan Fernandez and Max Izquierdo are also favorites.

Q: How much time do you spend on your Hardball Dynasty teams? How much do you think is necessary to be competitive?
BR: I'm very hands-on at every cycle. Even with just one franchise, I probably average 30 minutes per cycle, so 90 minutes a day, and every now and then I'll take stock of the organization's Big Picture and spend 2 or 3 hours making sure everything's in order. I don't know if it's necessary, but it's what I do.

Q: Who are the users you respect the most?
BR: I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge kbrick and the outstanding job he does as Commish. If I started listing the others, I'd undoubtedly forget someone, so just suffice to say that I'm really glad I've been in the Evangeline World since its inception. The World is stable, competitive, and manned with owners who care about fielding a good product.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of HBD?
BR: I hate to cop out, but I would really have to point to the entire package. The ability to take a shot at running your own baseball organization in a framework that is a helluva lot more realistic than I would have thought possible is pretty damn thrilling.

Q: 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?
BR: The clunky Roster Management screen is without a doubt the worst aspect of HBD. That is definitely my biggest beef with the game. The ability to assign baserunning aggressiveness to individual players would be nice. I'd like to see a good pitching coach occasionally convice a pitcher to drop a bad ptich. (I've heard that this happens, but I've never seen it).

Q: If you were in one of our games, which sport would you play? At which position? And, what would you be rated?
BR: I'd be an HBD bench coach with no patience or discipline.

WELCOME TO SEASON 9

2008-07-11T11:37:00.002-05:00

BLOG ISSUES: I am in the process of researching All-Star and Awards sections. They will be completed, hopefully, by Season 9's All-Star rosters.

I will sitemail the WIS Interview formats to the first few owners sometime soon. Complete it when you can. If you decide not to participate, that's fine, too, but the more that do, the better reading it will be.

Also, any submissions from other owners are accepted. All you need to do is send me an e-mail address (that you will use to gain access to the blog - not to receive junk mail), and the rest is easy. Any ideas welcomed.

NEW OWNERS: Gibbog has replaced Cubrunner with the LA/St. Louis franchise, and moved them to Honolulu. He is a four-season veteran of the Greenberg league.

Knightthorn replaces Jacoby66 and moved that team from Iowa City to Yankee Stadium.

Let's all welcome the new owners, and help out where you can with advice.

ON THE MOVE: Slider moved the Honolulu team to Vancouver.

WEEK 17 AND MONTH 4

2008-05-21T03:31:00.029-05:00

WHO'S HOT:
6-0: New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake
5-1: Austin, Chicago NL, Honolulu, Syracuse

WHO'S NOT:
1-5: Boston, Cincinnati, Trenton
0-6: Mexico City

MONTH 4 STANDINGS:
NL NORTH: Pittsburgh 19-8, Chicago 16-11, Syracuse 15-12, Philadelphia 12-15
NL SOUTH: New Orleans 17-10, Jacksonville 13-14, Nashville 11-16, Mexico City 5-22
NL EAST: Burlington 18-9, Trenton 14-13, Scranton 14-13, Wichita 11-16
NL WEST: Santa Cruz 15-12, Tucson 14-13, Cheyenne 11-16, St. Louis 11-16
AL NORTH: Seattle 14-13, Pawtucket 13-14, Chicago 12-15, Columbus 11-16
AL SOUTH: Austin 17-10, Atlanta 16-11, Houston 15-12, San Antonio 10-17
AL EAST: Boston 18-9, New Britain 14-13, Cincinnati 10-17, Iowa City 7-20
AL WEST: Honolulu 20-7, Salt Lake 17-10, Las Vegas 13-14, Salem 9-18

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY:
NL BYES: Pittsburgh and Burlington
NL FIRST ROUND: New Orleans vs. Chicago, Santa Cruz vs. Syracuse
AL BYES: New Britain and Salt Lake
AL FIRST ROUND: Houston vs. Boston or Austin, Pawtucket vs. Boston or Austin

WEEKS 15 (ALL-STAR BREAK), 16

2008-05-19T00:34:00.002-05:00

WHO'S HOT
9-2: Boston
7-4: Austin, Honolulu, Las Vegas, New Orleans

WHO'S NOT
2-9: Iowa City, Salem

TRANSACTIONS

Scranton acquired pitcher Pedro Siquieros, pitcher Pedro Owen, outfield prospect Carson Monroe and cash from Burlington for infield prospect Al Roberts, the fifth pick in the draft last season

Week 14

2008-05-15T02:43:00.002-05:00

WHO'S HOT
7-0: Honolulu
6-1: Boston, Burlington
5-2: Atlanta, Salem, Trenton

WHO'S NOT
0-7: Las Vegas
1-6: Columbus, Mexico City
2-5: Iowa City, Pawtucket

ALL-STAR FESTIVITIES IN NEW ORLEANS

Rico Peron of Santa Cruz won the home-run derby, edging Miguel Lee of Mexico City. Ruben Aguilar of Scranton and Karim Baez of Columbus reached the second round. Giovanni Dawkins of Seattle, Harry Gutierrez of Syracuse, Darrell Cohen of Cincinnati and John Hernandez of New Britain were eliminated in the first round
The American League topped the National League in the second annual All-Star game. Harvey Ward and Harry Gutierrez each homered for the NL. Joe Lockwood of Iowa was selected the game MVP.
The US beat the World team 9-7 in the Futures Game. Omar Torres, a AA-prospect for Cincinnati, was selected MVP.

Week 13

2008-05-11T23:38:00.002-05:00

WHO'S HOT: Columbus 6-0, Las Vegas 5-1, Pittsburgh 5-1, Scranton 5-1

WHO'S NOT: Mexico City 0-6, Cincinnati 1-5, Salem 1-5, Tucson 1-5, Wichita 1-5

DEALS:

Santa Cruz acquired SS Josh Howell from Chicago NL for catching prospect Joshua Pose.
Chicago NL acquired closer Happy Smart and catching prospect Benny Sierra from Atlanta for 1B Marshall Simas, catching prospect Mikey Swann and pitching prospect Wilson Ardoin

THREE-MONTH UPDATE

2008-05-11T00:25:00.003-05:00

Third-month standings:

NL NORTH: Syracuse 21-6, Pittsburgh 19-8, Chicago 13-14, Philadelphia 10-17
NL EAST: Burlington 21-6, Wichita 15-12, Scranton 16-11, Trenton 13-14
NL SOUTH: New Orleans 16-11, Jacksonville 14-13, Mexico City 11-16, Nashville 9-18
NL WEST: Santa Cruz 16-11, Cheyenne 16-11, St. Louis 15-12, Tucson 14-13

AL NORTH: Columbus 16-11, Pawtucket 13-14, Seattle 12-15, Chicago 7-20
AL EAST: New Britain 16-11, Boston 14-13, Iowa City 9-18, Cincinnati 3-24
AL SOUTH: Houston 17-10, Atlanta 14-13, Austin 12-15, San Antonio 7-20
AL WEST: Salem 17-10, Salt Lake 14-13, Honolulu 14-13, Las Vegas 8-19

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY:
NL BYES: Pittsburgh and Burlington
NL FIRST ROUND: New Orleans vs. Chicago, Santa Cruz vs. Syracuse
AL BYES: New Britain and Houston
AL FIRST ROUND: Salt Lake vs. Austin or Salem, Pawtucket vs. Austin or Salem

Week 12

2008-05-09T14:11:00.004-05:00

WHO'S HOT
6-1: Syracuse
5-2: Atlanta, Burlington, Cheyenne, Columbus, Honolulu, Houston, Pawtucket, Santa Cruz, Seattle

WHO'S NOT
0-7: San Antonio
1-6: Chicago (AL), Nashville,
2-5: Chicago (NL), Cincinnati, Iowa, Jacksonville, New Britain, Philadelphia

TRANSACTIONS

Burlington acquired second baseman Theodore Zaun from San Antonio for P Nash Hayes and OF Corey Wagner
Nashville acquired pitchers Del Castro and Midre Santiago from New Britain for pitcher Al Smith
Chicago NL acquired 1B Anthony Carter from Pawtucket for prospect Juan Valdes

Week 11

2008-05-07T08:58:00.003-05:00

WHO'S HOT:
6-0: Burlington
5-1: Houston, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Salem, Syracuse

WHO'S NOT:
0-6: Cincinnati
1-5: Atlanta, Boston, Columbus, Iowa City, Las Vegas, Mexico City, Pawtucket

TRANSACTIONS:

New Britain acquired SP Al Smith from Nashville for pitchers Del Castro and Midre Santiago and SS prospect Rube Pearce

raising the pennant on the overpass night

2008-05-07T08:55:00.011-05:00

hello deer hosers.

Burlington Chiefs management(see photo) would like to invite all league owners to "raising the pennant on the overpass night".

State Troopers will shutdown the Interstate at 7pm. The raising of the world series pennant will begin hopefully before it gets dark...Master of Ceremonies will be my childhood idol; i give u Hall of Famer, Gary "the kid" Carter. We will try to center the pennant between the famous "Welcome Home Santiago Urbina" and of course "Welcome Home Troops" pennants. A big rock show will follow.

Opening the night will be "Da Yoopers" as suggested by our good friends from New Britain and World Series participants. Next is Toronto's own "Helix"as suggested by our dear Commish. Internationally renowned band also from Toronto "Rush" will join Bob and Doug Mackenzie. Free 2-4 to anyone singing "coooooooooo looooooooooo koooooooooo kooooooooo koooooooo koooooooo". To keep rocking in the free world, legendary singer "Neil Young" so the Santa Cruz Zumans will not want to miss this. The Centerpiece of this show will end with the future Queen of Canada, from Napanee, Ontario, "Avril Lavigne" and her husband's band "Sum 41". Everyone is welcome to bring the kids...

Fireworks will follow(provided by our troops). We might blow up the overpass folks, u never know. To end the night, everyone with decent lights on their pick-up trucks is invited to go deer hunting thru the woods all the way to Quebec if they like. Customs officers have been instructed to let anyone through if they can name any Stanley Cup winning team. Have a good one.

Baseball notes; Burlington Chiefs assign infielder Vladimir Rios to Siberia, Russia.

Week 10 update

2008-05-05T00:22:00.025-05:00

WHO'S HOT: Cheyenne 5-1, Mexico City 5-1, New Britain 5-1, Pittsburgh 5-1, Santa Cruz 5-1, St. Louis 5-1, Syracuse 5-1

WHO'S NOT: Cincinnati 0-6, Honolulu 0-6, Las Vegas 0-6, Chicago (AL) 1-5, Nashville 1-5, San Antonio 1-5, Seattle 1-5

TRANSACTIONS: None this week

DRAFT MASTERS
Ranking franchises by number of current ML players selected in our 7 previous drafts (175 players per team).

Salt Lake 13
New Britain 12
Jacksonville 11
Boston, Honolulu, Scranton, Seattle, Tucson 10
Atlanta, Burlington, Toronto, Trenton 9
Austin, Cheyenne, Chicago NL, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Mexico City, Santa Cruz 8
Houston, Philadelphia, Wichita 7
Nashville 6
Chicago AL, Iowa, San Antonio, St. Louis 5
Columbus, New Orleans, Salem, Syracuse 4
Pittsburgh 2

Week 9

2008-05-02T21:41:00.004-05:00

WHO'S HOT
Burlington 7-0, New Britain 6-1, Boston 5-2, Chicago NL 5-2, Columbus 5-2, Honolulu 5-2, New Orleans 6-1, Pittsburgh 5-2, Seattle 5-2, Trenton 5-2, Wichita 5-2

WHO'S NOT
Nashville 0-7, Philadelphia 0-7, Cincinnati 1-6, Austin 2-5, Cheyenne 2-5, Chicago AL 2-5, Iowa City 2-5, Mexico City 2-5, Scranton 2-5

TRANSACTION REDO
Rudy Jacobsen, a four-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young winner for St. Louis/LA, finally accepted his trade to Pawtucket. The Penny Pinchers gave up pitcher Brad Marshall, outfielder Benny Cruz and pitcher Roger Ohka to get Jacobsen, who earlier this season declined a trade to Pawtucket.

TWO-MONTH UPDATE

2008-04-30T22:01:00.005-05:00

Standings in the second month of play (27 games, 1/6 of the season)

NL NORTH: Pittsburgh 16-10, Chicago 14-13, Syracuse 13-14, Philadelphia 7-20
NL EAST: Burlington 19-8, Wichita 15-11, Scranton 12-15, Trenton 11-15
NL SOUTH: New Orleans 17-10, Mexico City 14-13, Nashville 13-14, Jacksonville 11-16
NL WEST: Tucson 15-12, Santa Cruz 14-13, Cheyenne 14-13, St. Louis 9-17

AL NORTH: Pawtucket 17-10, Seattle 14-12, Columbus 11-16, Chicago 8-19
AL EAST: New Britain 22-5, Boston 14-12, Cincinnati 13-14, Iowa City 12-14
AL SOUTH: Austin 13-14, Houston 13-14, San Antonio 12-15, Atlanta 10-17
AL WEST: Salt Lake 16-11, Salem 13-13, Honolulu 13-14, Las Vegas 13-14

IF THE PLAYOFFS BEGAN TODAY:
NL BYES: New Orleans and Pittsburgh
1ST-ROUND MATCHUPS: Santa Cruz vs. Syracuse, Burlington vs. Chicago
AL BYES: New Britain and Austin or Salt Lake
1ST-ROUND MATCHUPS: Austin or Salt Lake vs. Seattle or Boston, Pawtucket vs. Houston

Week 8

2008-04-30T10:21:00.002-05:00

WHO'S HOT
Seattle 6-0, Burlington 5-1, Houston 5-1, New Britain 5-1

WHO'S NOT
Honolulu 0-6, Atlanta 1-5, Jacksonville 1-5

DEALS

Pawtucket acquired OF Tom Zambrano from Boston for IF prospect Vin Romero
Pawtucket acquired OF Benny Cruz and pitcing prospect Damaso Barajas from Wichita for SS prospect Jordan Everett

Week 7

2008-04-27T19:15:00.014-05:00

WHO'S HOT:
New Britain 7-0, Burlington 5-2, Cincinnati 5-2, Honolulu 5-2, New Orleans 5-2, San Antonio 5-2

WHO'S NOT:
Chicago AL 0-7, Trenton 1-6, Atlanta 2-5, Houston 2-5, Las Vegas 2-5, Philadelphia 2-5, St. Louis 2-5

TRANSACTIONS:
none this week

ROAD WARRIORS:
Pittsburgh is 20-6 on the road this season. The EL record for best road record:

'06 Syracuse..........59-22
'01 New Orleans...58-23
'06 Pittsburgh.......57-24
'01 Kansas City.....56-25
'07 Burlington.......56-26
'07 Pittsburgh.......56-26
'01 Seattle..............55-26
'02 Santa Cruz......54-27
'02 New Orleans...54-27
'03 Pittsburgh.......54-27

Week 6 update

2008-04-25T01:53:00.007-05:00

WHO'S HOT:
Pittsburgh 5-1, New Britain 5-2, New Orleans 5-2, Pawtucket 5-2, Tucson 5-2

WHO'S NOT:
Philadelphia 1-6, Chicago (AL) 2-5, Scranton 2-5

ML TRANSACTIONS:

Pittsburgh acquired P Wascar Gandarilla from Chicago (AL) for P Yamid Camacho and SS prospect Oswaldo Hernandez

HOME SWEET HOME:

Austin (15-4) and New Orleans (17-5) are setting a torrid pace at home in the first six weeks. Here are the best home records in EL history:

Syracuse '07 60-21
Pittsburgh '05 59-22
Syracuse '05 57-24
Seattle '02 57-24
New Orleans '04 57-24
New Britain '07 56-25
Chicago NL '04 55-26
Houston '02 55-26
Pittsburgh '01 55-26

Week 5 Update

2008-04-23T03:58:00.002-05:00

WHO'S HOT:
Burlington 5-1, Salt Lake 5-1, Pittsburgh 5-2, Salem 5-2

WHO'S NOT:
Chicago AL 1-5, Seattle 2-5, St. Louis 2-5

ML MOVES:
Pawtucket acquired 1B Melvin Hudson from Pittsburgh for prospects Aurelio Hernandez, Pepe Lee and Zephyr Clement

INNING EATERS
So your minor-league staffs are fatigued? Here's some inning-eating free-agent pitchers with great stamina ratings and decent control that will accept AAA contracts:

Ray Anderson, 26, 80 stamina, 81 control
Butch Roberts, 28, 83, 65
Rabbit Grace, 27, 80, 55
Wes Booker, 29, 84, 54
Trevor Rivera, 23, 80, 54
Omar Samuel, 29, 82, 53
Spud Eldred, 28, 70, 63
Glen Glanville, 28, 71, 63
Neifi Soto, 29, 76, 62
Brett Hartman, 26, 73, 60
Tomas Machado, 29, 73, 57
Billy Jacobs, 27, 73, 56
Carter Robinson, 27, 76, 55
Donovan Dorsey, 28, 76, 54

AA level

Vic O'Shea, 26, 71, 54

Rookie level:

Jamie Stephenson, 21, 70, 57

One month checkpoint

2008-04-21T13:19:00.005-05:00

Standings after 1/6 of the season:

NL NORTH: Pittsburgh 20-8, Syracuse 17-10, Chicago 15-12, Philadelphia 13-14

NL EAST: Burlington 15-12, Scranton 11-16, Wichita 11-17, Trenton 8-20

NL SOUTH: New Orleans 20-7, Jacksonville 14-13, Nashville 13-14, Mexico City 7-20

NL WEST: Santa Cruz 21-6, St. Louis 13-15, Cheyenne 11-16, Tucson 9-18

AL NORTH: Columbus 17-10, Seattle 16-12, Pawtucket 15-12, Chicago 3-24

AL EAST: New Britain 16-11, Boston 16-12, Cincinnati 11-16, Iowa City 10-18

AL SOUTH: Austin 20-7, Houston 18-9, San Antonio 14-13, Atlanta 10-17

AL WEST: Salt Lake 17-10, Salem 15-13, Honolulu 11-16, Las Vegas 9-18

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY:

NL BYES: Santa Cruz and New Orleans or Pittsburgh

NL FIRST ROUND - New Orleans or Pittsburgh vs. Chicago, Burlington vs. Syracuse

AL BYES: Austin and Columbus or Salt Lake

AL FIRST ROUND - Columbus or Salt Lake vs. Seattle or Boston, Houston vs. New Britain

Week 4 update

2008-04-20T19:27:00.012-05:00

WHO'S HOT:
Columbus 7-0, Syracuse 6-0, Houston 6-1, Philadelphia 6-1, Salt Lake City 5-1, New Orleans 5-1, Austin 5-2, Chicago NL 5-2,

WHO'S NOT:
Chicago AL 0-6, Trenton 0-6, Cheyenne 1-5, Iowa City 1-5, Cincinnati 2-5, Las Vegas 2-5, Salem 2-5, Scranton 2-5, St. Louis 2-5

ML TRANSACTIONS
There were no major-league trades in the past seven cycles

ALL-UNEMPLOYED TEAM
Best veteran players that remain as free agents:
C: Andres Pulido, 33 - Decent defensive catcher who hit .240 last season
C: Chris Cooper, 27 - Strong arm, hit .285 last season, career SLG of .460
1B: Will Hill, 27 - .291 career hitter with .452 SLG in eight ML seasons
3B: Nolan Martin, 35 - hit .320 last season
CI: Nelson Rivers, 27 - career .297 hitter over 1,446 ABs
2B: Murray Byrne, 28 - hit .282 with 87 RBIs last season
SS: Phil Baek, 27 - 92 range, 82 glove
MI: DT Rushford, 30 - good glove, great arm, hit .282 last season
LF: Juan Urbina, 30 - career .275 hitter with .521 SLG
CF: Quilvio Rivera, 33 - career .289 hitter with 21SB last season
RF: Wes Finnesey, 32 - hit .317 with 26 HR and 92 RBI last season
OF: Jose Marin, 33 - former All-Star and Gold Glove CF
DH.: Stephen Osborne, 32 - hit .314, .494 SLG last season

SP: Galahad Moss, 33 - 8-11 with 1.45 WHIP last season
SP: Bill Higginson, 34 - 9-5, 1.51 WHIP
SP: Sam Callaway, 28 - 6-7, 1.46 WHIP
SP: Robert Randolph, 31 - 12-14, 1.55 WHIP
SP: Vic Winchester, 30 - 7-3, 1.29 WHIP
LRP: Dave Davis, 31 - lefty with 1.49 WHIP
LRP: D.T. Myers, 31 - lefty with 1.52 WHIP
LRP: Lazy Clayton, 28 - lifetime 30-30 with 1.53 WHIP
RP: Rudy Purcell, 37 - WHIP of 0.93 last season
RP: Quilvio Gil, 33 - 26 saves lifetime with WHIP of 1.38
RP: Steve Ojeda, 34 - 1.40 WHIP in 425 ML games
RP: Teddy Farr, 29 - 1.50 WHIP in 301 ML games

Week 3 update

2008-04-18T12:04:00.002-05:00

Who's hot: Austin 5-1, Salem 5-1, Cheyenne 5-2, Pittsburgh 5-2, Santa Cruz 5-2, Seattle 5-2

Who's not: Chicago (AL) 1-6, San Antonio 1-6, Cincinnati 1-5, Tucson 1-5

This week's ML moves

Pittsburgh acquired 1b Rigo Miranda from Toronto for prospects Juan Valdes and Zephyr Clement.

Week 2 update

2008-04-16T05:12:00.001-05:00

WHO'S HOT:
Austin 6-0, Burlington 5-1, Houston 5-1, New Britain 5-1, Santa Cruz 5-1, New Orleans 5-1

WHO'S NOT:
Chicago (AL), Iowa City, St. Louis, Trenton, Jacksonville all 1-5

There were no ML trades in the past seven cycles.

Week 1 update

2008-04-13T21:35:00.022-05:00

WHO'S HOT (6-1): Pittsburgh, Santa Cruz, St. Louis, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Pawtucket, San Antonio
WHO'S NOT (0-7): Tucson, Mexico City

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: BENCH COACHES
The W-L records of each active bench coach with:

7 YEARS
671-463 - Hugh Goulet, Seattle
666-468 - Will Thome, NO, Bos.
614-520 - Pablo Villa, KC, Jax, Chi.
611-523 - Ken Seaver, SLC, NO, Tor., Paw.
530-604 - Ricardo Nieves, LAA, Col, Aus., LA, Bos., Clb.
468-666 - Al Sanchez, Cin., MC, Jax., Pitt
Note: Bryan Fabregas was 665-469 with Houston, now retired

6 YEARS
521-451 - Rabbit Lamb, Texas, Pitt., Burlington
508-464 - Vicenzo Lloyd, LA, Hon, NB, Jax
471-501 - Ralph Hubbard, SLC, Burlington, Hartford, Wash., Atlanta
455-517 - Javier Merced, SAL, LV
Note: Dale Jacobsen is 447-525 with five different teams, now in minors

5 YEARS
345-465 - Fred Collins, Durham and Chicago

4 YEARS
330-318 - Will Clemens, Philadelphia
318-330 - Lefty Michaels, Atl., Trenton, Austin
290-358 - Louie Crespo, Syracuse and Tucson

3 YEARS
284-202 - Bing Schneider, SCZ, Bos.
236-250 - Walt Coomer, Cheyenne
199-387 - Ted Simmons, SWB, Cin.

2 YEARS
186-138 - Ismael Moreno, Omaha, NB
183-141 - Carlos Lucano, LA-StL
144-180 - Benji Sojo, Texas, Wic.
142-182 - Willie Soto, MC

1 YEAR
82-80 - Jose Sardinha, Hon.

Down on the farm

2008-04-11T12:39:00.002-05:00

So how does WIS decide where your minor-league teams are located? Is geography a concern, or is it completely random?

By comparing our AAA ballpark effects to the master list of stadiums available, we find there are only 21 different ballparks in our AAA, some repeated several times. That leads to the "random" theory:

St. Louis, Honolulu, Salt Lake, Cheyenne, Jacksonville, Mexico City, Cincinnati, Wichita, Trenton and Santa Cruz are all in the neutral park group that could play in Vancouver, Richmond, Rochester, Ottawa, Little Rock or Charlotte

Chicago AL, Columbus, Pawtucket and Seattle are in Omaha, Sioux Falls or Sacramento

Pawtucket park (Philadelphia, Nashville)

Oklahoma City (Las Vegas, Salem)

Jacksonville park (Houston and Atlanta)

Fresno, Cal. (Pittsburgh and Chicago)

Mexico City (New Britian, Iowa)

Honolulu (Boston, Austin)

Scranton and Burlington are in a park that could be in D.C. or Toledo

Norfolk, Va. (Syracuse)

Jackson, Miss. (N.O.)

El Paso (Tucson)

Buffalo (San Antonio)

TRADE UPDATE

A few more deals have occurred during spring training:

Pittsburgh acquired left fielder Albert Valdez and pitcher Yamid Camacho from Salt Lake for outfielder Lorenzo Ozuna, a two-time All-Star
Honolulu acquired catcher Stephen King from Burlington for pitching prospect Eduardo Rincon
Iowa City acquired 3B Miguel Franco and pitching prospect Willie Carrasco from Pawtucket for pitching prospect Pepe Lee.
St. Louis acquired pitcher Scott Gordon and prospect Pat Huang from Pawtucket for pitcher Napoleon Fossum
Iowa acquired reliever Luis Mendez from Burlington for prospect Benji Prieto

No Commitment Issues

2008-04-03T21:51:00.006-06:00

When Houston bench coach Bryan Fabregas retired after seven seasons with the Toros, it raised the question: how many coaches in eight seasons of HBD have stayed with the same team?

An unofficial count finds six major-league coaches with the same team all eight seasons:

Cheyenne pitching coach Harry Campbell
Chicago Hound Dogs hitting coach Billy Helms
Las Vegas base coach Al Jose
Salem hitting coach Pascual Gutierrez
Salem fielding instructor Joshua Conway
Seattle bench coach Hugh Goulet

Five other coaches are on major-league staffs this season and have remained in the same system all eight seasons:

Cheyenne bench coach Walt Coomer
Honolulu bench coach Darryl Cohen
Houston third base coach Al Valenzuela
Las Vegas hitting coach Andre Fordham
Santa Cruz hitting coach Goose Gordon

Five coaches would have been on this list last season and joined a new team this year after seven seasons with the same franchise:

Boston pitching coach Bum Taylor to Columbus
Seattle 3B coach Vinny Scott to Pittsburgh
New Orleans 1B coach Patrick Coco to Salem
Los Angeles hitting coach Diego Bonilla to Salt Lake City
Cheyenne bullpen coach Ned Crosby to Seattle

The Blog will take a closer look at coaches, specifically bench coach W-L records, in a later edition.

MORE WINTER TRADES

In case you missed it, the biggest commotion of the offseason came from St. Louis pitcher Rudy Jacobsen, a three-time Cy Young winner who was 25-2 last season. The Coyotes attempted to trade Jacobsen to Pawtucket, but Jacobsen has a no-trade clause and declined to move north.
The Penny Pinchers did get three-tme All-Star outfielder Oscar Edmonds from St. Louis for three players - left fielder Lefty Torres, a four-time minor-league All-Star, right fielder Diego Palmeiro and minor-league first baseman Darryl Castillo
The Coyotes also acquired one-time All-Star SP Vladimir Blanco from Pittsburgh for infield prospect Miguel Ortiz and pitcher Kordell Carew
The Coyotes acquired pitcher Carl Cooper, infielder Benny Castro and prospect Tim Fultz from Philadelphia for pitching prospect Tomas Javier and catching prospect Angel Barcelo
Burlington received SP Dan Christensen, 10-14 last season, from St. Louis for pitcher Damaso Rodriguez (10-2 last season) and pitching prospects Gerald Kendall and Dee Dee White.
Burlington also reliever Osvaldo Tavarez from Syracyse, along with infield prospects Sean Green and Ed Flanigan, for 1B prospect Cory Wiggington.

FREE AGENCY HIGHLIGHTS (for more details, see transaction page)

Jacksonville signed Mexico City catcher Wilfredo Navarro, a former All-Star
Pawtucket signed Blake Carlson, a two-time All-Star left fielder, from Atlanta, and pitcher Steve Richard, a one-time All-Star pitcher from Boston, plus Frank Zambrano, once an All-Star infielder with LA
Wichita signed Alfonso Juarez, a one-time All-Star pitcher from Chicago, and infielder Jesus Campos, a three-time Gold Glove winner with Seattle.
Iowa signed pitcher Orlando Rosario, once an All-Star with Pittsburgh, former All-Star pitcher Moose Minor, last with Atlanta, and Charles Wainhose, a two-time All-Star last with Syracuse
Chicago (Wavelands) signed pitcher Billy Mayne, once an All-Star with Honolulu
Chicago (Hound Dogs) signed former All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder Jose Marin
Santa Cruz signed former Mexico City All-Star pitcher Albert Flores
St. Louis signed Samuel Sheldon, a former Gold Glove catcher for Pawtucket
Columbus signed second baseman Benito Mondesi, a former Silver Slugger and All-Star with Pittsburgh
Austin signed pitcher Marco Jackson, a two-time All-Star with Seattle
Salem signed former Columbus closer Taylor Wickman, a three-time All-Star and once Fireman of the Year

Winter trades

2008-03-30T10:35:00.002-06:00

Offseason trading has been slower than usual this season.

Scranton acquired third baseman Ruben Aguilar from Philadelphia for two prospects. Aguilar hit .314 with 40 homers and 113 RBIs last season. Philadelphia gets catching prospect Angel Barcelo and pitching prospect Tomas Javier.
San Antonio acquired center fielder Carlos Santos and pitching prospect Ross Andrews from Syracuse for pitching prospect Glen Perkins, a first-round draft pick last season. Santos hit .291 with 30 homers and 95 RBIs last season.

Coach negotiations have begun, without a few of the regular in-demand candidates:

Veteran hitting coach Lou Jones, who twice got $6 million contracts, has retired. Jones coached for five teams in seven seasons, most recently for Pittsburgh.
Pitching coach Junior Flores also retired. Flores worked one season for Omaha, four for LA and two for Columbus, and six of his seven teams had winning records.
Houston bench coach Bryan Fabregas, who had a record of 655-479 in seven seasons, all with the Toros, also retired.

WELCOME TO SEASON 8

2008-03-27T01:54:00.002-06:00

Season 8 is underway.

Cubrunner has replaced Dodgerblue13 and has moved the franchise from Los Angeles to St. Louis. The Coyotes are the second St. Louis team to play in the Evangeline League. In Season 1, the St. Louis Hoosiers were 74-88 for Mslonin. They moved to Dallas, Texas, under JohnnyDancer.

In the AL East, Jacoby66 replaces BigOrange64, and has moved the team from Washington to Iowa. The Cyclones are the first Iowa City franchise in the Evangeline League.

The Evangeline League has become one of the more consisent leagues in HBD. Here's a breakdown:

Class of '01 (18 original owners still remain):

Sbarrouque
Jhillblom
basilleaf
Phillyfan33
Jedielvis
Dawgfan1974
Blownranger
Slider15
EyetoEye
Lenbo1212
Eacadca
Philpitt
Reggie988
Shiffy
Kbrick
Mpate10
Vdaino
Schlemiel

Class of '02:

Noccolo
Nordique93
JoeBoxer

Class of '03:

2U23L
PoconoMets
Bingles

Class of '04:

Trapapoodle

Class of '05:

GDfan

Class of 06:

Minor3rd
Buddy bee

Class of '07:

Campbell1972
Spainard555

MONDAY UPDATE

2008-02-25T16:48:00.004-06:00

PLAYOFF RACES

Pittsburgh's magic number to clinch a playoff berth is one, and only Nashville could eliminate them.

No one has clinched in the AL.

If the playoffs started today:
NL SEEDS

Pittsburgh
Burlington
New Orleans
Los Angeles
Syracuse
Wichita

AL SEEDS

New Britian
Seattle
Austin
Honolulu
Boston, Atlanta or Houston
Boston, Atlanta or Houston

WEEKEND TRANSACTIONS

AUSTIN BLACK SOCKS: Placed P Victor Winchester on the DL promoted P Marvin Wayne
BOSTON DEAD KENNEDYS: Placed OF Alton Ramsay on the DL. Promoted OF Tom Zambrano
BURLINGTON BILLYBALL: Placed IF Santiago Urbina on the DL. Promoted P Buddy Kent and designated him for assignment
CINCINNATI BUCKEYES: Signed free agent pitchers Vance Green, Hiram Woo, Allie Simas and Greg Pendleton.
LAS VEGAS BANDITS: Placed OF Omar Arias on DL. Promoted Octavio Johnson, 1B Lorenzo Martin, DH Trot Cashman and OF Delanor Berroa. Demoted 1B Willie Ramsey, P Vitas Podsednik, DH Phil Zoltan and IF Reagan Kinkade. Released P Howie Knorr.
NASHVILLE PIGS: Promoted P Will Johnson.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: Promoted IF Julio Ozuna. Demoted IF Nelson Rivers
SALEM WALRUSES: Promoted IF Jeffrey Justice and C Frank Hernandez, released IF Lyle Cook and demoted C Donnie Olerud.
SALT LAKE STEAMBOATS: Placed P David Cruz on the DL, activated P Hal Hemphill. Extended the contract of P Bobby Joe Monroe.
SAN ANTONIO COWBOYS: Placed P Danys Rivera on the DL
SCRANTON K'S: Placed P Davey Miranda and P Louis Mills on DL, promoted P Lawrence Grant and P Cole Brower. Demoted P Carter Robinson.
SYRACUSE SWORDWHALES: Promoted IF Damon Cornelius. Demoted P Stevie Bonds.

Friday update

2008-02-22T15:03:00.002-06:00

TRANSACTIONS

BURLINGTON: Promoted P Abdul Clinton, placed P Mickey Matheson on the DL

CINCINNATI: Placed P Tommy Pryce and SS Peter Rothschild on the DL. Demoted SS Al Maradona.

JACKSONVILLE: Released P Albert Cordero

PHILADELPHIA: Placed IF Ruben Aguilar on the DL. Promoted OF Al Saez.

SALT LAKE: Promoted P Louie Navarro, demoted P Rafael Pujols

SCRANTON: Placed OF Vladimir Guerrerro on the DL, promoted P Carter Robinson

WASHINGTON: Promoted IF Alex Houston, demoted IF Rafael Gil

Wednesday moves

2008-02-20T20:24:00.002-06:00

ATLANTA: Promoted pitcher Junior Roque.

BOSTON: Placed IF Matthew Blake, OF Willis Beck and OF Roosevelt Barnes on the DL, promoted outfielder Edgar Figueroa, OF Wilfredo Izturis and P Greg Clemens.

BURLINGTON: Placed IF Enrique Reynoso on the DL. Promoted IF Danny Meares.

COLUMBUS: Activated infielder Esteban Santayana from the DL. Demoted IF Carlos Borbon.

HOUSTON: Signed free-agent pitcher Walt Goodwin.

LAS VEGAS: Promoted P Greg Hamilton and OF Richie Kidd. Demoted OF John Leon and P Don Nicholson

PHILADELPHIA: Activated pitcher Kory Griffith from the DL. Demoted P Chili Whang.

SALEM: Promoted OF Wilfredo Wilfredo and P Albert Cordero. Demoted P Orlando Johnson and OF Karim Santos.

SAN ANTONIO: Released P Rodrigo Paz. Promoted IF Carlos Fernandez.

SEATTLE: Activated IF Pablo Lee from the DL. Demoted IF Ismael Castillo

SCRANTON: Released P Doug Sweeney

SYRACUSE: Promoted pitcher Stevie Bonds.

TUCSON: Promoted OF Edge Reed. Placed 1B Cam Calderon on the DL

Competitive

2008-02-18T18:41:00.002-06:00

The AL South has 4 teams that are over .500, this also includes home and away. It will come down to the wire as the Houston Toros, Austin Black Socks, Atlanta Peaches and the San Antonio Cowboys march to the finish line. With 3 players in the top 13 in HR's, the Cowboys are trying to muscle their way to the top. Brian Peterman with 46, Nate Nichting with 34 and Tim Sauveur with 30 homers. Looks like it's going to be a fight to the end. The Cowboys are trying to make it to the playoffs and continue the barrage as we head down the stretch. So grab a cold one and watch the fireworks, cause it's going to be exciting.

2008-02-18T18:41:00.001-06:00

SUNS MAKE MOVES

2008-02-18T15:28:00.002-06:00

JACKSONVILLE: The Suns called up four players - pitcher Francis Stokes, shortstop Ray Decker, second baseman Warren Ruffin and pitcher Darren Jenkins. They also demoted five players - pitchers Blade Hudler, Oscar Tanaka and Ralph George and infielders Matthew Olson and Felix Jiang.

LAS VEGAS: The Bandits released pitcher Vince Wall and demoted outfielder Delanor Berroa, and promoted outfielder Omar Arias.

SALT LAKE: The Steamboats promoted pitcher Rafael Pujols and demoted pitcher Louie Navarro.

IF THE PLAYOFFS BEGAN TODAY

NL BYES: Pittsburgh, Burlington
NL first round: New Orleans v. Wichita or Nashville, Los Angeles vs. Syracuse
AL BYES: New Britain, Seattle
AL first round: Austin vs. Atlanta, Honolulu vs. Boston

Satou smoked by Pigs

2008-02-17T16:57:00.000-06:00

NASHVILLE: Veteran pitcher Paul Satou was designated for assignment by the Smoked Pigs. The Pigs, who currently hold a one-game lead in the race for the second wild-card spot in the National League, also demoted pitcher Ozzie Wang (1-0, 12.00 ERA), activated outfielder Bonk Tapani from the disabled list and signed free-agent infielder Joe Clinton, who most recently played for Honolulu.

PITTSBURGH: The Steelheads demoted reliever Alex Romo to AAA and promoted
pitcher Hector Hughes, who had nine wins as a starter in AAA.

SALEM: The Walruses placed reliver Phil White on the DL with elbow tendinitis and called up reliever Tim Duncan from AAA.

LAS VEGAS: The Bandits recalled pitchers Doug Governale and Josh Wyatt and infielder Ivan Wilfredo and optioned veteran pitchers Calvin Cho and Alfredo Norman.

JACKSONVILLE: The Suns released outfielder Stuffy Sherman.

ATLANTA: The Peaches promoted outfielder Pedro Sierra, who hit .349 in AAA ball this season.

BOSTON: The Dead Kennedys placed pitcher Ramiro Garza on the D (shoulder inflammation) and promoted Lonny Santiago.

HOUSTON: The Toros designated catcher Fonzie Chapman and activated catcher Graeme Walsh from the disabled list.

COLUMBUS: Promoted infielder Louis Brosius from AAA, placed infielder Roy Wallace (bulging disc) on the DL

Upon further review

2008-02-16T01:46:00.000-06:00

This page will take on an entirely new look soon, whenever I can figure out how to use some of the tricks on the site.

Some pages I've seen get pretty sophisticated; we'll see what we can do here.

First post

2008-02-16T00:30:00.000-06:00

The Evangeline League of Whatifsports.com enters the world of blogging.