SIM COMPLETE - 1985 - ST 2

[spot]

The Tobs and Bandits were involved in a bench clearing brawl after Jimmy Joy was beaned in the first inning of our game. Joy and Barto Ramairez were both suspended 6 games.

So, we can now take credit for the first brawl in the history of the league, in Spring Training no less.

With Tardif going down Ramairez was my #2. I have now lost him for 2 starts! I hate this game!

J/K, the Bandits do now hate the Tobs however. Just sayin'


BTW sorry for the hold up in the draft. I really didn't expect to be picking before today. It's really movin'

[Clay]

I do have an issue with the suspensions besides just being too long....

O'Hegarty got a 6 game suspension on 3/15/08. I accept that it's for the first 6 games of the regular season... that's fine... however... he never played another ST game after the 15th. That seems like a major flaw.

***

Colonials wrap up ST with only one injury. Brad Talbert, the #2 1B will go on the 60-day DL, to start the season. That means both Christian Martinez and Rodney Nakagawa will go north with the team. The two were battling in camp for the utility IFer spot.

The battles in the pitching staff resulted in some Vets likely missing the bus to Virginia. Early reports out of Williamsburg have the rotation being penciled in as Dallyn - Oyos - Magness - Arrendondo and 40 year old BLB journeyman Cortez Barrerra. Barrera, who just signed last week, showed enough in his two starts to beat out the less than impressive competition for the 5th Starter spot. However, former minor league closer Ivan Reveles is expected to break camp with the Colonials and work in multiple roles in the bullpen.

Starting the season without O'Hegarty will be a challenge, but the bats seemed to wake up, smacking 11 HRs in the last 12 games of ST. While expectations are low for the Colonials this season, there should be a lot of fireworks with last year's IL Home Run King, Wilton Harcourt as well as Danny Nelson and the youngsters Joshua Poling and Jerry Tracy expected to punish a lot of baseball around the BLB.

[Andrew]

I do have an issue with the suspensions besides just being too long....

O'Hegarty got a 6 game suspension on 3/15/08. I accept that it's for the first 6 games of the regular season... that's fine... however... he never played another ST game after the 15th. That seems like a major flaw.

I'm wondering if we should shut this off. From reading some threads on the OOTP boards it seems like the frequency and length of suspensions are greater than they should be. It was logged as a bug but Markus didn't see a problem with it and didn't change anything. Thoughts?

[Riverman]

I'm wondering if we should shut this off. From reading some threads on the OOTP boards it seems like the frequency and length of suspensions are greater than they should be. It was logged as a bug but Markus didn't see a problem with it and didn't change anything. Thoughts?

My thoughts are that we should leave them in for this season to see how it goes and then decide before next season begins. Having had no suspensions myself, and with two teams in my division starting the season down a player, this preference is clear.

More seriously, if other leagues are getting a lot of long suspensions, we should probably turn them off but I don't think a few 6 gamers or so will be a big problem. After I first purchased the game, I played a solo league for awhile and didn't notice that suspensions were unreasonalby numerous.

[mahoney2]

It was logged as a bug but Markus didn't see a problem with it and didn't change anything. Thoughts?

Yeah I have some thoughts, maybe a German who has never seen an MLB game should listen to people who actually have seen a baseball game before.

I'm fine leaving it on, with the clause that if it gets really bad then we shut it off based on a league vote. Say in June or July and a large number of team has someone suspended or the lengths are just way too long, we vote on just turning it off for the rest of the year.

[Clay]

Is it tweakable? There should be a setting like MAX number of days by offense. Like... arguing balls and strikes should be 1 game at the most. A fight... maybe 2 or 3 at the most. 6 games for balls and strikes is pretty steep.

That being said... I agree with the idea of letting it roll for a season. I think it's either turn it off now before opening day and recind all suspensions... or keep it on for a whole season.

***

Sidenote on changed settings. Another year long injury for Pardis leads me to believe that this dude would have had a CEI last season had they still been on. This cat is obviously down to next to nothing in the injury department. Tough break for Indy.

[spot]

Yeah I have some thoughts, maybe a German who has never seen an MLB game should listen to people who actually have seen a baseball game before.

Yeah, not really applicable here. He has been to an MLB game or two and has watched games on TV. Seems a bit chippy if you were serious...

I'm fine leaving it on, with the clause that if it gets really bad then we shut it off based on a league vote. Say in June or July and a large number of team has someone suspended or the lengths are just way too long, we vote on just turning it off for the rest of the year.

Not down with a mid season switch. All of the suspensions that would have been upheld prior to the switch would have negatively affected their teams so it would be unfair to them. I say we ditch it now or after the season, not in the middle.

[mahoney2]

Yeah, not really applicable here. He has been to an MLB game or two and has watched games on TV. Seems a bit chippy if you were serious...

Semi-serious I guess. He has seemed at times to not really understand how MLB has worked. I am a bit chippy this morning in general though.

I'm cool with no midseason switch, just throwing it out there.

[Jake]

I also really want to encourage teams to check out the waiver wire this next sim. This is a GREAT opportunity to land some talented players. Some of these guys have been stuck in Triple-A with their current clubs just waiting for a shot at the bigs! All of the (+) signed players in Washington are now on waivers.

Is this "waiver wire Public Service Announcement" part of Pat's probation from back in the DFA days? Do you travel the nation giving speeches about how you don't need to use your DFA to live a full life?

"The more you know...."

[Clay]

Is this "waiver wire Public Service Announcement" part of Pat's probation from back in the DFA days? Do you travel the nation giving speeches about how you don't need to use your DFA to live a full life?

"The more you know...."

LOL

Well played, Sir.

BTW - I have all of my (+) guys waived. Way less this year than last. Not much quality out there to choose from either. Then again, it's Virginia... if they had a shread of talent they'd be... well... somewhere else.

[liquidcrash]

I do have an issue with the suspensions besides just being too long....

O'Hegarty got a 6 game suspension on 3/15/08. I accept that it's for the first 6 games of the regular season... that's fine... however... he never played another ST game after the 15th. That seems like a major flaw.

Same thing happened with Joy. He played in the game the next day, but didn't see the field again in Spring Training, though the suspension is for the first 6 games of the season. Strange, but I guess the suspension didn't take effect until the next day.

With Opio out for a few weeks now, and Joy gone for the first week we're really going to struggle to score runs.

[Riverman]

This is actually the first season that I paid any attention to spring training stats as previously my roster was pretty much set. This season, there were several close decisions.

With regard to the 5th rotation spot, I got cold feet and signed Ghaniy to a 1 year $1.55 million deal at the last minute. My scout believes he still has enough left to be a reliable back of the rotation guy and since I am not risking much, I'm happy to have him. I just didn't want to go into the season with an untested rookie in the #5 spot and my only depth being another untested rookie. So even though both of those guys pitched well in ST, they both were sent down and likely will get a call once there is an injury or two or if somebody on the staff bombs at the BLB level.


Tim O'Fay and Joe Hernandez fought to standoff for the CF position. I'm going to go with a platoon arrangement for the first few sims with the hope that one or the other will step up and win the job outright. That way only one of the two will hate me rather than both as in the current situation. I am not sure if a player being angry actually affects performance or not.

Noa Barolome won the 5th OF spot more or less by default as the guy he was competing with really struggled. He has a 7 for strike zone judgement and a little bit of power so he should be a valuable pinch hitter.

As expected, Manny Patuel won the 5th infield spot as Alexander Rivera failed to hit much in accordance with Clay's prediction. Patuel has been a long-time Brawler, mainly in a backup role, who occupies a number of places on my career leader board due to his longevity in Davenport.

Bad springs by Kang, Llombart and Tarcena certainly have me concerned. Kang had an ERA over 9.00 in four starts and if he continues to struggle, it could mean that the coming rebuilding project in Davenport will start a year or two earlier than planned. My scout still likes all three so maybe there is nothing to worry about especially since Llombart and Tar didn't see that many ABs as I gave a lot of playing time to the guys fighting for jobs. Kenichi Sato also was inconsistent at the plate and could be a candidate for a sophmore slump.

On the plus side Joe Delgado showed signs that he will hit like he did in 1983 instead of 1984 for me. If I get the 1983 version of Joe and my big bats round into shape, my offense will be good. My bullpen was truly fantastic and everybody who made the team in the pen pitched well. Waiver wire pickup Valerio Mauperrin led the way, giving up no earned runs in 20 plus innings to nail down a spot on the staff.

[Jistic]

I say we leave suspensions alone, and revisit at All Star break.

[Clay]

It will be interesting to see if feuds actually develop. Like if the Tobs and Bandits are more likely to go at it again now in the future or if it's completely random.

[Ryan]

Sidenote on changed settings. Another year long injury for Pardis leads me to believe that this dude would have had a CEI last season had they still been on. This cat is obviously down to next to nothing in the injury department. Tough break for Indy.

You know, I didnt think the guy would make it through the year without an injury, but I never imagined another year long one. Know that I will never sign a guy again that missed the previous season. Probably.

On a sadder note, I was so pissed about this last night, I had a dream about waking up this morning and upon visiting the boards Andrew found that it was a bug if a guy missed two years in a row due to injury. It even ended up being a big deal on the OOTP boards, and he was going to be reinstated.

What a sad reality NOT to find that thread this morning.

Now, do I try to resign Griffe... errr, Paradis at some point this year, or do I let him walk?? Just one of the many stories you'll have to follow this year on "Clowns, season on the brink."