Current smack

The Blundering Dunderheads proudly announce that due to last seasons success, we have secured a corporate sponsor. The will be changing its name to the Oppie Dildocks and the ballpark will be named Close's Candy Ballpark at Elysian Field.

Jay
GM of the Oppie Dildocks

**BREAKING NEWS**

The Cleveland Spiders have relocated to Brooklyn, N.Y. and will be called the Bridegrooms. The Bridegrooms will be managed by the distinguished mr. Bill McGunnigle, and are looking forward to a successful draft and 2009 season.

The draft is certainly shaking differently this time around. It's interesting to see who has moved up and from the first draft.

Jay

It's pretty sad when an owner can't even spell the name of his player correctly. Rajah was born with the name Rogers, with an "s".

Jay

I was waiting to see how far Ted Williams was going to fall. This will probably be the biggest surprise for a drop. He went with the #3 pick overall the first time and slide to #10 this time. Pedro Martinez will most likely be the owner of the biggest moving from #83 to #8 overall

Jay

I was shocked to see Ted W. still available so i grabbed him. I am going to bolster my hitting this time, i had great pitchers last year and i think i ended up in last place.



Mark

You and Gil battled it out valiantly for the worst team, but Gil and his 19c strategy beat you out.

Jay

Yeah, you are right. The .340 BAverages did not translate well, there was no bonus to bring double digit HR production into the 40+ range of current stars, and 19c pitching took even a bigger hit. For example, Grin Bradley who started his team's first 88 consecutive games, was not allowed to pitch on consecutive days.

So, weve got a new strategy -

......................... i wonder what that is.

My strategy this year is to be managed by a mad man and strike fear into my opponents. The Commish is on the top of the list right now.

I pick first in this draft, because I have proven my incompetence in this better (yes, I am the best) than anyone else has. My first pick was Ruth. Then after everyone else got their two picks, I got mine.

So, there I sat with Ruth, while everyone else had selected the two players who they most wanted to draft. I thought for a while about my two selections. You know, at that point I could have chosen Bonds and Williams as outfield partners for Ruth. But I didn't.

I chose good hitting middle infielders instead. What would you have done?

Ruth, Williams and Bonds.
I think that I would bat Williams third.

There are plenty of Outfielders to chose from but the middle infielders can get kind of thin. I am in the wise decision department.

Yeah,
In the final analysis, that is how I voted too.
But part of me thinks: "Wouldn't it be fun to have those three outfielders; then concentrate on pitching selections; then pick up whatever good field/no hit players remain after I have the best of the rest".

A team based on the top slugging outfield + the best pitchers + the best fielders available.

Maybe we can run the Sim with some dummy teams to fill out the schedule.

I thought Lajoie and Dimaggio were excellent value where you got them, Gil. Nice picks. The Glavine pick surprised me, but he did put up good numbers in last year's simulation.

I understand the positional strategy when drafting (getting middle infielders early) but in the earliest rounds, I tend to focus on getting the best players available.

Oh - and Teddy was a steal for sure, can't believe he fell that far after going #3 overall last year.

Ben,
I do not follow modern baseball. To me a "closer" is that push button electronic gizmo which operates my garage doors. So, in addition to the household name guys which I will select from, and some from the 50s and before, I chose, as you noticed, to see who did well in the last Simmed league. Glavine's performance exceeded what could be reasonably expected from his stats. So, I figure it is just random luck, or maybe he has that magical Sim Friendliness that my team lacked last time around. I am going for a long shot picking him first, but I'd really kick myself if someone else picked him, and he performed as well again.
Its Just a Riddle.
Gil

Gil, the sim has the ability to draft computer generated teams. They would have had to have been incorporated in the draft to make it work this time around. Might be something to try next time around if we can't get 16 people to sign up next time.

Jay

I just noticed that Dan selected Dazzy Vance ahead of Bob Gibson. Can't I would have done that given the choice.

Jay

Dazzy Vance can now claim largest leap as he was drafted 128th last time went 23rd overall this time.

Jay

Todd, I can't believe that The Met is not in the stadium database. You want to stick Yankee Stadium 1937-66? That is the stadium you used last time.

Jay

The Vance 100+ leap from 128 to 23rd is challenged by that of Glavine from 17.189 to 4.32 this year.
A 150+ leap !

I think the first run of sim surprised people with who did well and who didn't. I'm sure the more we do this, more we will start figuring out who the really good players are int he sim, who the ones are that we think are great but aren't quite so great according to the sim.

Jay

Last season Jay ran the Sim with an initial set up using the Sim default settings for the season strategy. The results are shown below.

Mgr. Default Settings
AL-------------------------W----L----
Blundering Dunderheads...99.....61
Baltimore Orioles..............84.....76....15
Windmakers....................83.....77....16
Joe Schlobotniks..............81.....79....18
Big Macs.........................79.....81.....20
Boston Red Stockings......59.....101...40

NL
Cleveland Spiders............90......70
Chambana Bridegrooms...89......71.....1
Pray for Rain...................81......79.....9
Minnesota FieldOfDreams.74......86.....16
Riddlers Medieval BBC.....61......99.....29

Then he allowed us to decide on our own management strategy matrix. Which then was entered into the Sim for the actual season results. As you can see below, some teams were managed well enough to improve their positioning in the standings and some were not. The results of this Owner Strategy season is shown below.


Divisional
Year Team W L Pct
AL
0 Blundering Dunderheads 91 69 .569
0 Baltimore Orioles 90 70 .563
0 Big Mac's 89 71 .556
0 Boston Red Stockings 79 81 .494
0 Joe Schlobotnik 72 88 .450
0 Windmakers 64 96 .400
NL
0 Minnesota FieldOfDreams 95 65 .594
0 Pray for Rain 89 71 .556
0 Cleveland Spiders 83 77 .519
0 Chambana Bridegrooms 74 86 .463
0 Riddlers Medieval BBC 54 106 .338

Wow, MN Field of Dreams improved 20 games I hope he got Manager of the year.

Lee

All Ihat I know is that I did 7 games worse than the computer - and If I don't get out of the basement this time, ItsOnly is going to kick my arse out to do some scouting in the boonies.

Taking Vance ahead of Gibson was a clerical error on my part...I have a list and I crossed off Gibson for some unknown reason (No I wasn't drinking). I think most people can see what I'm doing so far....a bit of an experiment...if I don't finish in last place I will consider it a success.

My placed got flooded Wednesday. My computer is fried and have limited access. I am at my GF's place this weekend, so I can stay on top things better, but come Monday, I will only be able to get to a computer once a day some time after 3pm. To make things worse, my place got flooded again on Thursday, even worse. Fortunately the only damage was to my computer, a tower speaker and the surround system for my computer. No baseball cards were damaged