Unofficial SDMB OOTP Blog

It's no secret that finding a quality third baseman is one of the hardest tasks to accomplish in this league, along with actually winning the league. Well, to go with my four championship rings, I have four major league third basemen on my roster, and, one (or two) of them's gotta go!*

• Bill Johnson
• Jeffrey Drewry
• Spencer Solomon
• Dennis Chase

In return, I'd like a LHP reliever and/or those odd minor league players with more than one blue star next to their names. I think they're called prospects? I dunno, we don't have too many of them in my organization.

But, we have plenty of rings and third basemen!



* The players, not the rings.

The Seattle Monarchs proudly announce the acquisition of a new executive, William Shultz. Born just six days ago, William has already risen to the post of Assistant Director of Player Personnel. Unfortunately, William remains on the DL (and in the hospital) and won't be able to join the rest of the team for another four weeks or so.

Team owner and patriarch Mack Shultz believes he will be a worthy addition to the front office. The team also employs Michael Shultz as Special Assistant to the General Manager (six years old as of Sunday) and Katie Shultz as Team Spokeswoman (four years old).

I forgot to pull the Caroll for Caroll trade again!!

Los Angeles: LF Gary Giles $2,000,001 per year, for 1 years.
Denver: P Matthew Mccloud $450,000 per year, for 2 years.
Los Angeles: LF Silas Caruthers $400,000 per year, for 1 years.


Preliminary Schedule:

Days 18-23 Free Agency on Thursday Night
Days 24-30 Free Agency & the rest of the amateur draft (computer run, since no one had any objections) on Saturday Night
Rule V Draft next Tuesday
Spring Training next Thursday
Season Opener the week following that.

Zev

Los Angeles : 3B Bill Johnson, 1,000,000 per year, for 1 year.
Houston : P Santos Gonzalez, 3,525,555 per year, for 3 years.
Denver : CF David Rivard, 850,000 per year, for 2 years.

I didn't get to run the sim on Thursday night, so the fifth round of the draft will occur with the next sim on Tuesday night.

In addition, unless anyone has any objections, I'm going to have the computer run rounds six through eleven.

Lastly, I forgot to make the Carrol for Carrol trade. I'll do it for the next sim.

Zev

Free Agent Signings:

River Cities: Free agent P Albert Boll has been signed to a contract of $6,950,000 per year, for 3 years. Los Angeles: Free agent P Jonathan Starner has been signed to a contract of $1,234,567 per year, for 1 years. Walla Walla: Free agent RF John Mcnabb has been signed to a contract of $2,500,000 per year, for 2 years. Brooklyn: Free agent P Wilburn Brown has been signed to a contract of $2,500,005 per year, for 4 years.

Denver: Free agent 2B Micheal Salzman has been signed to a contract of $4,250,000 per year, for 2 years. New York : Free agent C Willie Kenna has been signed to a contract of $5,500,000 per year, for 4 years. Walla Walla: Free agent P Joseph Pompey has been signed to a contract of $6,500,000 per year, for 3 years.

Draft Picks:
Covington pick: 3B Jon Alva. Signing Bonus: $45,500
Denver pick: C Marvin Lance. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Danville pick: P John Haase. Signing Bonus: $50,750
Houston pick: C Jerry Vogan. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Hickory pick: 1B Baldo Castro. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Walla Walla pick: SS Justo Muñoz. Signing Bonus: $56,000
Brooklyn pick: P Jeffrey Fort. Signing Bonus: $25,000
New York pick: 1B Preston Giorgi. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Seattle pick: P Roger Painter. Signing Bonus: $64,750
Saskatoon pick: 2B Maurice Yee. Signing Bonus: $47,250
River Cities pick: P Cipri Paras. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Walla Walla pick: RF Jesse Carroll. Signing Bonus: $25,000

Days 10-13 Free Agency Thursday night
Round 5 Amateur Draft & Days 14-17 Free Agency Saturday Night

Hickory : 3B Waylon Sullivan, 950,000 per year, for 1 year.
Los Angeles : 2B Spencer Solomon, 1,000,000 per year, for 1 year.
Houston : 1B Patrick Peralta, 550,000 per year, for 1 year.
Los Angeles : P Rocco Wojcik, 2,250,000 per year, for 1 year.

The third annual SDMB OOTP All World Team include the following:

Catcher: Herman Gossard, HOU
First Base: Gregory Mudge, SEA (unanimous)
Second Base: Bill Turek, BRK
Third Base: Ronald Quijada, SAS
Shortstop: Ricky Peppers, SB (unanimous)
Left Field: Alan Callahan, RIV
Center Field: Sean Arant, SEA (unanimous)
Right Field: Brian Frison, SAS (unanimous)
Starting Pitcher: Chad Nelligan, SEA
Relief Pitcher: Junior Cuomo, SB

Some fun facts:

1. Junior Cuomo is the only three-time winner, being voted best reliever all three seasons. It will be interesting to see if his streak can survive a move full-time to the starting rotation.

2. Gregory Mudge, Bill Turek, Ricky Peppers, Brian Frison, and Chad Nelligan all won their second All World Award.

3. There have been four different All World catchers (Blassingame, Barrera, Guzman, and Gossard) in the three years due to a tie in the 2009 voting and the failure of any winner to repeat.

4. All six Adams League teams have had All World performers. Only three Zotti League franchises (Walla Walla, River Cities, and South Bay/Los Angeles) have had winners. Adams leads Zotti all time in total awards 17-14.

Free Agent Signings for Day 5:

Houston: 3B: Chet Edwards $5,995,121 per year, for 3 years.
Los Angeles: P James Markovich $400,000 per year, for 2 years.

Round 3 Draft Picks:
Covington pick: CF Gonzalo Valenza. Signing Bonus: $62,500
Denver pick: 2B Aurelio Moniz. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Danville pick: 1B Steven Jackson. Signing Bonus: $100,000
Houston pick: P Carl Pagano. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Hickory pick: 2B Nathanael Burton. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Walla Walla pick: CF Bruno Carmona. Signing Bonus: $75,000
Brooklyn pick: P Matthew Vowels. Signing Bonus: $50,000
New York pick: CF Dave Quiñones. Signing Bonus: $72,500
Houston pick: P Hipolito Hernandez. Signing Bonus: $25,000
Saskatoon pick: CF Edward Foster. Signing Bonus: $50,000
River Cities pick: 3B Hugh Fortner. Signing Bonus: $60,000
Seattle pick: P Steven Mattice. Signing Bonus: $25,000

Round 4 picks due on Tuesday night.

Feb. 4. 2011 -- SEATTLE

Seattle Monarchs Director of Player Personnel Michael Shultz, son of team patriarch Mack, announced a minor deal made early this morning. Seattle sent minor league pitcher Ricky Gauna and its fourth and sixth round picks in this year's draft east across the Cascade Mountains in exchange for three Walla Walla minor leaguers.

The minor leaguers, all 27, are former top prospects. Outfielder Peter Garlow hit only .201 in limited duty in AAA Mississaagua last year. Infielder Marvin Cardoza, returning for his second tour of duty in the Monarchs organization, hit .268 with 29 home runs with the AA Brighton Apples. First baseman Gavin Mendelson hit .314 in his eighth year in A ball for the Sharron Beauties.

"We picked them up hoping that our minor league staff might be able to bring out their talent. Maybe they'll be late bloomers," explained Michael Shultz. "It's admittedly a minor deal, which is likely why Dad let me announce it."

Gauna, 25, was included in the deal to make it comply with league rules. Seattle drafted him in the seventh round in 2007. Gauna posted a 4.07 ERA for the A Kent Kings last year.

Free Agency Signings:

Walla Walla : CF Jerry Dehaven, 3,500,000 per year, for 2 years.
Hickory : 2B Robert Pink, 820,000 per year, for 2 years.
Los Angeles : 1B Dennis Chase, 400,000 per year, for 2 years.


Covington pick: CF Christopher Pearsall. Signing Bonus: $87,500
Denver pick: P Antonio Cuellar. Signing Bonus: $203,000
Danville pick: CF Roger Nichols. Signing Bonus: $136,500
Houston pick: SS Bruce Gehrke. Signing Bonus: $126,000
Hickory pick: P Michael Lawrence. Signing Bonus: $94,500
Walla Walla pick: RF Darrin Gammage. Signing Bonus: $182,000
Brooklyn pick: P Bill Hofer. Signing Bonus: $108,500
New York pick: C Morgan Luu. Signing Bonus: $35,000
Denver pick: P John Cooper. Signing Bonus: $91,000
Danville pick: 1B Donald Alarcon. Signing Bonus: $87,500
River Cities pick: LF Jesse Dubreuil. Signing Bonus: $101,500
Seattle pick: P Jaime Cruz. Signing Bonus: $115,500

Walla Walla : CF Jerry Dehaven, 3,500,000 per year, for 2 years.
Hickory : 2B Robert Pink, 820,000 per year, for 2 years.
Los Angeles : 1B Dennis Chase, 400,000 per year, for 2 years.

Day 4 Free Agents and Round 2 Amateur Draft tomorrow night.

Zev

Need talent? I got it.

Alan Callahan: http://ootp.izev.com/p432.html
George Aguinaldo: http://ootp.izev.com/p458.html

One of them is gonna go! Which one will it be? Maybe YOU can make the choice!

In addition there's quality pitching such as:

Larry Dull http://ootp.izev.com/p570.html
Willie Egan http://ootp.izev.com/p340.html
Harold Beeks http://ootp.izev.com/p569.html
Jefferson Theriault http://ootp.izev.com/p480.html

That's most of a championship quality bullpen right there for the taking, people!

Other minor leaguers and major leaguers can be available! Contact Crazy Nate for details!

I have Franklin Jackson pining away the best years of his life on my bench. He's a 2.5 star leftfielder on the web (2 in the game) and offers a legitimate power bat in the corner. He's got 88 home runs in just 1723 career at bats, which works out to 30 home runs per full season of at bats. He's also got an unbeatable $1.5 million contract for the next two years. His biggest flaw is that he is ... defensively challenged. But, his bat makes up for that in my opinion.

I'm perfectly willing to keep his power bat on my bench as he can do some serious damage there (witness last year's Cecil Cup where he was 2-3 with a double, a home run, and 3 RBI), but I also recognize that he may have a lot of value to someone looking to fill a starting outfield spot who has looked at free agency and realized what a wasteland it is this year.

If you're interested, contact me at the usual email address. I'd be looking primarily for prospects or draft picks.

P.S. I also have swingman and two-time Cecil Cup hero Peter Bird available for a team looking to add a capable pitcher and who has unused salary room to spare. Remember the $10 million cash cap. Any unused profits vanish into thin air. There's no sense saving salary if it's just going to go up in smoke at the end of the year. I recognize Bird is overpaid given his 1.5 star rating, but he still posted an ERA of 3.84 last year, so he should have some mileage left. Given his salary, he would be essentially free to a good home.

Free Agent Signings:

Walla Walla : LF George Rawlins, 9,000,000 per year, for 1 year.
Los Angeles : 3B Jeffery Drewry, 600,000 per year, for 2 years.
Los Angeles : P Casey Plunk, 300,001 per year, for 1 year.


First Round Draft Picks:

Covington pick: 3B John Grondin. Signing Bonus: $1,287,000
Hickory pick: LF Robert Estill. Signing Bonus: $2,880,000
Danville pick: 3B Telmo Dalmau. Signing Bonus: $811,200
Houston pick: 2B Timothy Mendiola. Signing Bonus: $422,400
Denver pick: P Jose Lamela. Signing Bonus: $262,600
Walla Walla pick: RF Santiago Salazar. Signing Bonus: $864,000
Brooklyn pick: P Nelson Coghlan. Signing Bonus: $418,200
New York pick: 2B Danny Lorenzen. Signing Bonus: $803,400
Los Angeles pick: P Cesar Almendarez. Signing Bonus: $196,000
Saskatoon pick: 1B Santiago Delrosario. Signing Bonus: $234,600
River Cities pick: P Frank Wooster. Signing Bonus: $181,800
Seattle pick: CF Bill Elder. Signing Bonus: $172,800


Zev

5.000

It's not just the perfect GPA of a student taking advanced level classes, it's also the highest OPS possible. And, now, the Los Angeles Scorpions are proud to announce the acquisition of a player with a 5.000 career OPS: 26-year old right-handed middle reliever Dale Beene, from Houston in a three-player deal.

"No," Owner/GM Michael Weintraub said. "We didn't acquire Dale for his bat, but for his arm."

And what an arm it is. Dale hasn't distinguished himself in his stats except for his sole homerun in his only big-league at bat, but he has all 9s and 10s for his pitching ratings. "It's for players like Dale that we signed legendary pitching coach Samuel Dibble this offseason" Weintraub stated. "I consulted with Sam before making this trade, and he's confident he can turn Dale around on the mound."

Also heading to Los Angeles is low minors CF prospect Jose Diaz. Heading east to Houston is CF Kenneth Philpot and LA's third round pick in the 2011 amateur draft.

"Yes, it's true," Weintraub said. "We finally traded for a prospect. We hope new AA manager Roger Ku can use his legendary skills in instructing hitters to fast track Jose to the big league club soon. After all, I don't think we're allowed to have any hitting prospects in our franchise."

Thus far this offseason, Los Angeles has acquired Paul Shunk and Beene, strengthening the team's outfield and bullpen at little cost to the team's future prospects.

"And we're not done yet," Weintraub said. "All of the good free agents have heard from us, and we're always looking to improve the greatest franchise in league history."

A family algebra crisis (don't ask!) prevented me from doing last night's sim. We'll try again tonight... so those of you who haven't handed in your Round 1 picks get another day.

Zev

Denver is pleased to announce a new addition to its roster of starting pitchers, acquiring 23-year-old rightie James Turner from Hickory in a trade designed to fill a hole in Denver's rotation.

Hickory's key motivation behind this trade appears to have been a desire for an earlier first-round selection in this year's draft. Denver and Hickory exchanged first-round picks in the trade, leaving Hickory with #2 pick overall and dropping Denver down to #5.

As well as the #2 pick, Denver also sent LF David Naumann to Hickory.

Hi guys,

Just hoping for a bit more advice to help me through my first preseason.

Firstly, regarding free agent signings. I made some offers, some of which are the best offers and some of which are not. Now, obviously if i want to sign the players where i was not the best offer, i need to make a new offer.

But my question is about the cases where my own offer IS the best offer. If you have the best offer, and there are other teams who have made offers, is the best strategy generally to sit back and see what happens? For example, if i've offered a guy $2million for 2 years, and i have his favorite offer, but there are two other teams in the mix, will i be likely to lose him if i just wait and see? Or if one of the other teams beats my offer, will i generally have a chance to come back with another offer later?

Also, if my offer is the ONLY offer to a particular player, what is the protocol regarding making a REDUCED offer in the second round (on the logic that, if no-one else wants him, i might be able to get him for less)? Is that possible? Is it considered bad form? Is the player likely to tell me to take a hike?

My other question is about the in-game emails. I have 10 messages from the games internal email; 1 from my team's PR director, and 9 from the players i made offers to. I can see the name of the sender, but there is nothing in the Subject box, or in the main body of the message. Is this normal? If not, does anyone have any idea of how to fix it?

Finally, is there a comprehensive set of instructions anywhere for the OOTP game and software. There doesn't seem to be a Help file with the software, and i can't find a comprehensive online guide. If i could find one, i might not have to bug you guys with basic questions like this.

cheers,
michael.

Day 2 Monday night, along with Round 1 of the amateur draft. Please send in your pics if you haven't already done so.

Zev

Los Angeles, CA -- January 31, 2011

The most successful franchise in league history, the Los Angeles Scorpions, is proud to announce the acquisition of young LF Paul Shunk from the Denver Zephyrs.

"We got him!" Owner/GM Michael Weintraub announced this afternoon to a hastily-gathered press conference at the Scorpion Pit.

Heading to Denver in exchange for the 23-year old left handed hitting outfielder are C Gerald Odum, LF Josais Juarez, 2B Roy Fredrickson, SP Brian Hersh, and Los Angeles's 2nd round pick in the forthcoming amateur draft.

"We had an abundance of catchers on our roster, so Gerry was available. The recent trade for Charles Novotny similarly created a log jam at 2B that squeezed Roy out. We hate to lose Josie and Brian, but we feel we are a much better team than we were last night," Weintraub explained.

"Paul gives us not only an extra bat, but some balance as we'll be able to offer three left-handed hitting starters to our previously-righty stacked lineup."

Reached at his winter home in Albuquerque, NM, Shunk was surprised to hear he was dealt. "Yeah, this is a shock. I knew the new owners were looking forward to rebuilding, but I thought I'd be part of it. I'm thrilled to get the chance to win now, though, and I hear the weather is great in L.A.!"

As promised here, the time period for nominations has closed. Voting is open from now until next Friday (10/19).

I've circulated the voting by email. If you haven't received it, send me an email at the address in the owner's directory link on the league page..

Free Agent Season is upon us!! Please have your bids for Day 1 of free agency in by Sunday morning.

The list of available free agents is here. Free agent bids can be submitted via the game interface or via email to me.

In addition we'll also be doing the first round of the amateur draft on Monday night. The draft order is as follows:

1. Covington (49 wins -- determined by coin flip)
2. Denver (49 wins -- determined by coin flip)
3. Danville (59)
4. Houston (61)
5. Hickory (68)
6. Walla Walla (80)
7. Brooklyn (86)
8. New York (93)
9. Los Angeles (94 wins as South Bay)
10. Saskatoon (108)
11. River Cities (111)
12. Seattle (114)

The list of available players for drafting are available here.

Just as a reminder, if you have the first pick, send me one name; if you have the second pick, send two names (and you'll receive the highest ranked available player); if you have the third pick, send three names, and so forth and so on.

Zev

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

Saskatoon: Minors Manager Shad Baisden, $400,000 per year, for 1 year.
Saskatoon: Minors Manager Michael Marcell, $450,000 per year, for 2 years.
Saskatoon: Pitching Coach Oliver Casteel, $400,000 per year, for 2 years.
Hickory: Minors Manager Ahmed Kelm, $355,000 per year, for 3 years.

Day 5 (last day) coaching signings are due by Tuesday night.

In addition, you might want to start looking to protect those players who are eligible for the Rule 5 draft.

Zev

Once again, Zev has authorized me to run an SDMB OOTP All World Team. (See the 2009 Team and 2008 Team).

As in the past, I will be sending out an email to everyone with an attached .pdf file listing potential candidates at each position (each of the eight field positions, one starting pitcher, and one reliever). I list the players at the positions they actually played, not the position assigned to them in the game.

This first round is just to see if anyone thinks I've missed anyone that should be nominated. I'll give everyone until next Friday to send me their candidates for inclusion on the list. After that, I'll send out a final list for voting.

As before, when the voting round is upon us, I'll ask people to vote for their top three selections at each position. I'll then tally the votes and, presto, we have our 2010 All World Team.

P.S. This struck me as a very strong year for first basemen in particular and weaker at third base. If I'm missing a deserving third baseman, let me know.

Danville: Scout Jonathan Hanks, $300,000 per year, for 4 years.
Denver: Minors Manager Barney Barnes, $1,250,000 per year, for 4 years.
Danville: Hitting Coach Frederick Cabrales, $750,000 per year, for 4 years.
Danville: Pitching Coach Mark Bargo, $750,000 per year, for 4 years.
Houston: Minors Manager Monty Rimmer, $500,000 per year, for 2 years.
Danville: Minors Manager Tracy Cloer, $750,000 per year, for 2 years.
Danville: Minors Manager Gary Keeley, $1,000,000 per year, for 4 years.

Day 4 will be run on Saturday night. Please note that I will be out of touch from tomorrow night until Saturday night.

Zev

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The most illustrious franchise in the SDMB OOTP league is proud to announce a trade with the Seattle Monarchs. "We have acquired the key to winning the Cecil Cup," Los Angeles Scorpions owner/GM Michael Weintraub stated from his office at the seaside Scorpion Pit in Redondo Beach, CA.

Coming to Los Angeles is 2B Charles Novotny and Seattle's 11th round draft pick in the upcoming amateur draft. "We really wanted that draft pick," Weintraub said. "But, we're also glad Charles is back in our organization."

Sensing the confusion on this reporter's face, Weintraub explained. "Four times we've had the last pick in the draft, and three of those four years, we followed that pick with a championship. We hope to make that four-out-of-five this season.

"Some people call that pick Mr. Irrelevant, but, to us, he's Mr. Win-the-Cup-again."

After a three year drought without a championship, the team is clearly desperate for any sort of advantage in the upcoming season, this reporter believes.

Heading up the left coast are minor league CF Clarence Horta and Los Angeles's 4th round pick in the 2011 amateur draft.

Novotny returns to the Scorpions franchise after two seasons in Seattle, where he won two Cecil Cups with the Monarchs. "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to perhaps start again,"Novotny announced from his home in Boise, Idaho. "I'm tired of riding the pine."

"Yes," Weintraub answered. "Charles will get a chance to start at 2B for us next season. But, we really wanted the last pick in the draft. Hopefully we won't need to trade for it next season!"

Here they are:

Seattle: Scout Keith Smith, $240,000 per year, for 4 years.
New York : Minors Manager Peter Eisenberg, $1,200,000 per year, for 5 years.
River Cities: Pitching Coach Clayton Tritt, $1,500,000 per year, for 2 years.


Day 3 bids due by tomorrow night.

Zev

The Seattle Monarchs announced today that John Willer has returned just months after leaving and one day after his formal retirement, taking the helm as field manager. Larry Hockett, who guided the team to the 2010 Cecil Cup, will return as bench coach. Willer also announced the return of hitting coach William Kroeker to the staff, joining pitching coach Marcus Burke.