2013 smack talk

looking back, drafting mantle #1 was a mistake. he was probably a 3rd round in term of value. that set off a domino's effect that i didn't like for my picks in the earlier rounds. i actually liked what i did toward the end, i'm gonna sub some bench guys into the starting lineup real early. all new guys so we'll see what they can do.

time to choose a stadium.

I've got speed at the top of the lineup. Power three through six. Good hitting at the bottom too. My pitchers are all solid. My bullpen is stacked with all star closers. My bench is deep with good pinch hitters and legitimate starters.

Of course I'm not going to win anything.

Since I do not know anyone here, understand the SIM, and want to unnecessarily lose potential friends, Quan, if you had not selected Mantle #1, I might have selected him #2 or #3, and I agree with you: your stadium choice matters, so choose well, my potential friend; and Chris, I will trade my club for yours if I can move out of my stadium (just kidding, but I really like your club).

Cheers!

Good luck to all

I suppose I should comment on my club, too. I took some of the advice in the earlier posts. I like my pitching staff, even if I have too many lefties that will be up against your righties. I think that my fielders can field well, can get on base, and I think that they can run in the base paths. I selected a pitcher friendly home park that is murder against lefty sluggers (I hope Ruth and Bonds struggle) and in a year that hurt hitters. I am concerned that I do not have enough power, but then, I'd drop Bench in a minute for a different catcher.

I would say that my team is loaded on the offensive end, probably the line-up has an average OPS of about .950. The only trouble is that I'm not sure that the sim really likes modern players. There is the issue with the sim ending in 2006, that could be problematic for a team with ARod, Chipper, Vlad Guerrero, etc. But we've got speed, power and OBP, plus lots of righties, yet lefty relievers in the pen to deal with the big lefty hitters. Also, going with Fenway Park and it's cavernous rightfield for Vlad to run around in.

As far as the pitching goes, I have no clue whether it will hold up respectably, but the pitchers all have low career ERA's. Just seems like the sim is erratic and hard to trust, so who knows what the final results will be???

The sim takes the best 10 year run, and with someone like Vlad, the first 10 years are probably his best.

Not sure how my team will do. I don't have the speedsters like I have in years past, which I love. I've got good power ad the ability to get on base. I think my pitching is rock solid as long as the core stays healthy. Guess I'm going to have to pick a new park since the old one was very conducive to triples.

I took Mantle mid-2nd round last year. He was good for me, but got banged up and missed about 30 games. I think if he can play 150+ games he's 1st round pick value, but he obviously missed time during his career. I doubt he will ever last to the 3rd round, he is simply too good (led league in OPS+ something like 8 times).

I feel like I drafted a bit better than last year, but who knows what the SIM will think. I like my hitting quite a bit with speed/on base at the top (Rickey/WBoggs) and power/speed in the middle (Charleston/Mays/Gehrig/Stearnes). Pitching is the great wild card.

Should we post lineups/settings now? I am ready to get this started!

I think that Andrew and Lee have really strong teams this year. Of course, you can't underestimate Jay, either. But the West should be a powerhouse.

The Oppie Dildocks will be moving from 1911 Robison Field in Brooklyn to the 1922 Sportsmans Park in St Louis

I tried to draft high average guys for my starting lineup with Greenberg and Banks for a little added puch, also tried to secure a good closer and 4 top notch starters. The relieving has always been a crap shoot so I filled in. we'll see where this goes.

Just saw Lee's pitching rotation.

Just started planning my 2014 team.

I'm going to be out of town for the weekend so the league games won't start until Monday at the earliest. So get your line ups and settings in so can get things going right away on Monday.

Ed Walsh is on a short leash. What a bum.

Who said Matty was the Christian Boy, out 32 games for brawling, also lost Plank, my guys can't hit, some how 6-8.

Lee

bowlingshoeguy wrote:Who said Matty was the Christian Boy, out 32 games for brawling, also lost Plank, my guys can't hit, some how 6-8.

Lee

Lee, he probably turned the other cheerk.

happy with my O, pitching needs some work. we will get better.

sabrjay wrote:Just takes the stats, as is. No park factor, league adjust or other sabrmetric.

Turns out this is incorrect. From their website:

"All of the players have been selected and rated based on their best series of peak seasons, with each season evaluated relative to the norms for that era and adjusted for park effects."

jbonie wrote:

sabrjay wrote:Just takes the stats, as is. No park factor, league adjust or other sabrmetric.

Turns out this is incorrect. From their website:

"All of the players have been selected and rated based on their best series of peak seasons, with each season evaluated relative to the norms for that era and adjusted for park effects."

And this is what I meant in my other rants that I always smell something funny with these leagues. "Unreliable administrator", as it goes. To me, it is extremely unlikely that Jay didn't know that the sim really does factor in league and park factors because it says so right when you are about to purchase the game!

So I am going to be direct here and say that I don't believe that the person running the sim is entirely honest. Surely, many, including myself, would have drafted differently if we knew that park and league factors did count, but we were given misinformation, most likely intentionally.

So this just goes to show, I know a cheater when I see one, and Jay, YOU ARE A CHEATER!!!

That's a little harsh.

I love conspiracy theories as much as the next guy, but consider this.

We've been playing the same game, with the same rules, with the same database for years now.

The draft takes a month. And now that we're going week by week that's going to take forever too.

So you're accusing Jay of putting in all this time and work to 'cheat' at a game with no financial reward and only close internet friends playing?

So his grand prize for all this nefarious scheming is 'bragging rights' for a calendar year?

It just doesn't fit. I would certainly hope neither Jay, nor any of us, needs anything that bad in life.

Jamie, as Quan pointed out, this takes a lot of work on my end (especially with having to run it on an ancient computer) and there is no reward, so I don't need your grief. I can't manipulate the draft. I can't manipulate who gets injured or outcomes of games. People have noted dark horse players that have performed well for me that I drafted late. They no longer last very long. Wilbur Wood is the best example. He was a stud for me the first years. People took noticed and I wasn't able to sit and wait on him. Besides, why would I cheat to try and make myself win every year? If I did that, no one would want to play if they thought they had no chance and I love doing this. So doing something that would ruin the league would be stupid on my part.

So if you think I am cheating, pack up and go. I'll have no hard feelings towards you.

good grief, I am ready for week 3. May the higher power(s) bless our friendly ATG League as well as motivate the stars and grove on to victory. And if purpose pitches are allowed, i want my pitchers to hit the next batter after you guys keep bombing my pitcher. And I want that batter who hit the homer hit the next time he's at the plate as well.

change your pitcher's setting to not challenge the hitters as much. we've also already given up 19hrs in 11 games.

I am just saying that I drafted my entire team based on your answer to one of my questions - are there league and park adjustments? You said no, so I loaded up on modern hitters and a 19th Century pitcher, now I'm doing okay in the league, but that is irrelevant - perhaps I would be doing even better if I was given the straight poop.

And you don't deny that you knew it, you just wrote about how hard it is to run the sim, etc., etc. Well, that's not really fair.

As for Chris's statement that people don't cheat unless there's money involved, that is an entirely flawed assertion. I have seen people cheat all the time when there is no money involved. It is just human nature.

So now if I don't like it, I am supposed to quit the league. What does that say? "I have a right to give everyone the wrong information so they draft weaker players, and if they don't like it, they can quit?"

The funny thing is, people make it out like I'm the one creating the drama in the league, but it isn't me. If people were straight dealers, this wouldn't happen. We've all put a lot of time into this, wouldn't have been better if it were a straight deal, so we could have really seen who was best, and not the commissioner handing out misinformation so that he can get an edge???

Jamie, the last time I read the description of the data disk was when I initially bought it. I never bothered to go back and read it again. My bad for not doing so. But you obviously could have answered your own question since you seem so convinced that I am cheating that you have now taken the time to look it up yourself.

My draft was based on numbers I was looking up on baseball-reference.com like just about everyone else. So no, I don't have some secret advantage other than I have my SABR books on the Negro Leagues that might give better insight into those players than most of you have access to.

I find no honor in cheating to win. I don't even use guide books to play video games because I view those as cheating.

Well, what can I really say? Obviously, there is a trust gap here. It's just frustrating to me to wind up on the wrong end of it. I've seen other problems in the 19th cent. league, now perhaps that was an issue with the pitcher's stamina, but going over the stats and wondering why they didn't update the league is why I went to their website. I guess they have updated other parts of it, but not the ATG section. They are due. Anyways, cheating or not, it leaves my team completely at a disadvantage, not really fair.

Just for once, for chrissakes, I would like to play in one of these leagues on an even playing field because I am sure I would kick some ass. But there is always funny business going on, something goes goofy and I get screwed. That's why I was so hesitant to get into this league in the first place. Oh, hell.