Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Better Know An Owner: Part 3
Let's welcome the owner of the...New Orleans Missouri?
aaronwayne
Let's give him a warm welcome, as he just completed his first HBD season in the BIG LEAGUE, going a respectable 76-86 for a first-time owner. He does have a ridiculous record in SimLeague games -- 31795-31526. Yeah, he's played 63,000 SimLeague contest, winning 10 championships. Fun fact: aaron has been a WIS'er since 2001.
aaronwayne
Let's give him a warm welcome, as he just completed his first HBD season in the BIG LEAGUE, going a respectable 76-86 for a first-time owner. He does have a ridiculous record in SimLeague games -- 31795-31526. Yeah, he's played 63,000 SimLeague contest, winning 10 championships. Fun fact: aaron has been a WIS'er since 2001.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Market Report
The off-season is (hopefully) coming to a close and we're almost to the best time of the year -- budgeting and coach hiring. Woo hoo!
But seriously, budget time means free agency planning. Here's a look at the players looking to cash in during the signing period. Of course, these guys could resign with their current squads.
Augie Carpenter, SS, Memphis. Augie looks to be the prize of the class, with the only 1.000+ OPS on the market. He wrapped up season seven with a .307 batting average, 54 home runs and 132 RBI.
Richard Takada, 3B, Buffalo. A nice season at .275-46-113 with a .932 OPS.
Chance Ramirez, 1B, Santa Fe. Chance was more of a certainty last season, toting a .950+ OPS with 38 home runs and 103 RBI.
Troy Olerud, 3B, Little Rock. Olerud popped 38 dingers, but fell short of the .900 OPS and 100-RBI marks.
Roger Winston, 3B, Charlotte Roger jacked 35 bombs last year for the Webs and is looking for one last payday.
Denny Katou, RF, Chicago A. Denny is the top outfielder available and is coming off a solid season -- .326-24-72 with 24 steals.
Nerio Turner, OF, Minnesota. World class doper Nerio Turner is still good for run production, but without the HGH, cream, clear and horse fertility drugs, he's lost the rest of his game.
Pat Saunders, LF, Charlotte. Saunders adds an automatic .300 hitter to the lineup. He only took 400 at bats last season, after a season-ending neck injury.
Tanner Howard, 1B, Charlotte. An off year for Howard, who lost 50 points at the plate, but still hit 30 homers.
Pitchers
Mikey Hall, Chicago A. Hall was 14-4 with a 2.86 ERA and still has his stuff. Makes for an intriguing John Smoltz pre-2009 case.
Dustin Keagle, Jacksonville. A relatively low WHIP and impressive control makes him the prize of the pack.
Benny Pujols, Rochester. Pujols hits the market with a thud, coming off of the final year of a five year, $100 million pact. He never lived up to those expectations and had a not-so-Benny like performance after a season six shoulder injury which cost him huge in the rating --- seven overall points, eight stamina points, eight control points. But, even with all that, he's still a frontline starter.
Ruben Otanez, Jacksonville. Bad News: He spent the better part of season seven rehabbing after elbow surgery. Bad News II: He's 37. Good news: You know what? I'm not sure there is any.
But seriously, budget time means free agency planning. Here's a look at the players looking to cash in during the signing period. Of course, these guys could resign with their current squads.
Augie Carpenter, SS, Memphis. Augie looks to be the prize of the class, with the only 1.000+ OPS on the market. He wrapped up season seven with a .307 batting average, 54 home runs and 132 RBI.
Richard Takada, 3B, Buffalo. A nice season at .275-46-113 with a .932 OPS.
Chance Ramirez, 1B, Santa Fe. Chance was more of a certainty last season, toting a .950+ OPS with 38 home runs and 103 RBI.
Troy Olerud, 3B, Little Rock. Olerud popped 38 dingers, but fell short of the .900 OPS and 100-RBI marks.
Roger Winston, 3B, Charlotte Roger jacked 35 bombs last year for the Webs and is looking for one last payday.
Denny Katou, RF, Chicago A. Denny is the top outfielder available and is coming off a solid season -- .326-24-72 with 24 steals.
Nerio Turner, OF, Minnesota. World class doper Nerio Turner is still good for run production, but without the HGH, cream, clear and horse fertility drugs, he's lost the rest of his game.
Pat Saunders, LF, Charlotte. Saunders adds an automatic .300 hitter to the lineup. He only took 400 at bats last season, after a season-ending neck injury.
Tanner Howard, 1B, Charlotte. An off year for Howard, who lost 50 points at the plate, but still hit 30 homers.
Pitchers
Mikey Hall, Chicago A. Hall was 14-4 with a 2.86 ERA and still has his stuff. Makes for an intriguing John Smoltz pre-2009 case.
Dustin Keagle, Jacksonville. A relatively low WHIP and impressive control makes him the prize of the pack.
Benny Pujols, Rochester. Pujols hits the market with a thud, coming off of the final year of a five year, $100 million pact. He never lived up to those expectations and had a not-so-Benny like performance after a season six shoulder injury which cost him huge in the rating --- seven overall points, eight stamina points, eight control points. But, even with all that, he's still a frontline starter.
Ruben Otanez, Jacksonville. Bad News: He spent the better part of season seven rehabbing after elbow surgery. Bad News II: He's 37. Good news: You know what? I'm not sure there is any.
Lone Star Longing
If you would like a preview on your team, give me some ideas and point me in the right direction via trade chat or sitemail.
I remember when I started this franchise. I had a goal of hitting the wild card in my first year and running a successful club. My thought was that .500 should be a baseline for my team.
What the hell was I thinking? Seven seasons in and I've been .500 once. After my debut at 81-81, I've taken a steady dip, bottoming out at 52-110 in season five.
Part of it was rookie silliness. I thought that I could buy a pennant. I didn't have a focus. I figured that I could buy a playoff run early, reap success and rebuild the minors later. Yeah, what I didn't realize is the importance of scouting. Holy crap. I look back at world class stinkers I traded for and signed -- Kiki DaSilva, Alan McBride, Pinky Neal, Justin Goldberg, Andres James, Vladimir Hernandez, Vicente Nieves, Benny Baez, Al Posada...the list could go all night.
It takes some people longer than others to get their respective stuff together. I think we are on pace in Texas.
Last season saw the Texans post their highest win total since season two. Texas has a good core returning, with Rigo Cordero, Karim Castro and Ron Bessire making up the core of the offense. The season-ending injury of last year's centerfielder saw a trade for speedster Gene Koehlert and Phillip Miller made a convincing debut. Pitching will be a focus of the off-season, with only two starters returning -- Esteban Hernandez and Tom Miller.
The expectations for season eight are not Texas-sized, but they're big enough.
I remember when I started this franchise. I had a goal of hitting the wild card in my first year and running a successful club. My thought was that .500 should be a baseline for my team.
What the hell was I thinking? Seven seasons in and I've been .500 once. After my debut at 81-81, I've taken a steady dip, bottoming out at 52-110 in season five.
Part of it was rookie silliness. I thought that I could buy a pennant. I didn't have a focus. I figured that I could buy a playoff run early, reap success and rebuild the minors later. Yeah, what I didn't realize is the importance of scouting. Holy crap. I look back at world class stinkers I traded for and signed -- Kiki DaSilva, Alan McBride, Pinky Neal, Justin Goldberg, Andres James, Vladimir Hernandez, Vicente Nieves, Benny Baez, Al Posada...the list could go all night.
It takes some people longer than others to get their respective stuff together. I think we are on pace in Texas.
Last season saw the Texans post their highest win total since season two. Texas has a good core returning, with Rigo Cordero, Karim Castro and Ron Bessire making up the core of the offense. The season-ending injury of last year's centerfielder saw a trade for speedster Gene Koehlert and Phillip Miller made a convincing debut. Pitching will be a focus of the off-season, with only two starters returning -- Esteban Hernandez and Tom Miller.
The expectations for season eight are not Texas-sized, but they're big enough.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Better Know An Owner: Ralph Bedwell
Jared asked me to post a brief bio and photo, so here goes.As some of you know around these parts, I'm Ralph Bedwell, or rbedwell on WIS. To the right you can see me last summer posing with Portland Beavers' slugger Al Mendoza; now that I look at it, I can see why so many other teams have said, "That Mendoza is a monster!" As you can tell by all the gray hair, I'm an old guy. I always tell my students that I'm 112 -- which sadly some of them believe! -- but actually I'm 54. What you'd notice first thing about me is that I'm 6'3" and weigh in at around 250.
When not engrossed in HBDland, I teach tenth grade English at Kennedy High School in Richmond, CA. It's your typical inner city school, with gang violence, poverty, high dropout rate, a busy childcare center, etc. Teaching at JFK is a big challenge, but the kids there need good teachers a lot more than the kids in the 'burbs, which is what keeps me plugging through the day-to-day frustrations.
Family is the biggest thing in my life, though. Despite being a near-Methuselah, my wife and I have three young kids, daughters aged 5 and 9, and an 11-year-old son. My wife just turned 40 herself, so I have to stay young to keep up with all of them! We love going places as a pack -- museums, parks, zoos, aquariums, science centers, libraries, parks, hiking trails, book sales, etc.
Somehow I've managed to become over-educated. I have a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and two M.S. degrees from C.S.U. East Bay. For years, my secret goal has been to become a college instructor, but those jobs are hard to come by in the S.F. Bay Area, so no-go so far.
Sim baseball has been a hobby since I was a kid. I made up a dice game, sort of a crude APBA, that I played for years, then eventually got engrossed in the Bill James Classic Game, which was sort of like WIS sim baseball except it was played by telephone and snail mail (which was delivered by the Pony Express, of course). HBD is the best one yet, slam dunk. See ya'll on the virtual field in season 8!
If you're into Facebook, look me up and add me as a friend.
North Side Optimism
This is the first in a series of previews I'll do this off-season. I'll do them by request with some help. Sitemail me.
The world hasn't even filled and the optimism is overflowing from the North Side of Chicago.
"We feel really good about the upcoming season," Chicago Cubbies, of course owner bkevin wrote in an e-mail. "This is going to be a big year for us.
Not to say that the optimism is not warranted. The Cubbies get back MVP/Rookie of the Year Horacio Pujols and All-Star third baseman Louis Fleming. The rotation has a nice 1-2 punch in Louis Paul and Lou Maduro.
The Dominican sensation Pujols posted terrific numbers in his first full year, batting .294 with 64 home runs and 162 RBI. He walked 97 times and posted a 1.046 OPS. The 23-year-old also proved to be surehanded with the glove, committing only two errors in 1,446 chances. Fleming hit .306 with 41 home runs, providing nice protection to the rookie. Maduro was a 17-game winner a year ago, while Paul had 14 wins when you count his work in Seattle.
"There are high hopes at Wrigley this year," bkevin wrote.
Aren't there always, though?
The world hasn't even filled and the optimism is overflowing from the North Side of Chicago.
"We feel really good about the upcoming season," Chicago Cubbies, of course owner bkevin wrote in an e-mail. "This is going to be a big year for us.
Not to say that the optimism is not warranted. The Cubbies get back MVP/Rookie of the Year Horacio Pujols and All-Star third baseman Louis Fleming. The rotation has a nice 1-2 punch in Louis Paul and Lou Maduro.
The Dominican sensation Pujols posted terrific numbers in his first full year, batting .294 with 64 home runs and 162 RBI. He walked 97 times and posted a 1.046 OPS. The 23-year-old also proved to be surehanded with the glove, committing only two errors in 1,446 chances. Fleming hit .306 with 41 home runs, providing nice protection to the rookie. Maduro was a 17-game winner a year ago, while Paul had 14 wins when you count his work in Seattle.
"There are high hopes at Wrigley this year," bkevin wrote.
Aren't there always, though?
Same team. Different city.
Admittedly, I know nothing about Fresno. A girl I knew in college was from there. Jerry Tarkanian coached at Fresno State for a while. That's about it. I don't know if cheez791 knows much about there either, but he decided to relocate his Colorado Springs franchise to Fresno. And don't bother asking what a Yokut is. I'm not even going to ask.
What we'll notice is Grizzlies Stadium and it's slightly more friendly pitching dimensions. Colorado Springs was -1 to left and -2 to right. Fresno is now -2 to both. It's not as unforgiving as Burlington's Mustain Stadium (-4 to both fields), but not what one would call a hitter's park.
What we'll notice is Grizzlies Stadium and it's slightly more friendly pitching dimensions. Colorado Springs was -1 to left and -2 to right. Fresno is now -2 to both. It's not as unforgiving as Burlington's Mustain Stadium (-4 to both fields), but not what one would call a hitter's park.
Better Know An Owner: The Noobs Part II
When we were looking for owners, I reached out kpmclave. I got Kevin to sign on and he recommended a WIS friend of his from another world. That WIS friend is...
AndyT13
Augusta Waves
Andy comes to the Wailing Onion with 14 HBD seasons under his belt. He has two current teams, including the Waves and both are in their first seasons. Andy is 1184-1084 all-time, with six playoff appearances and four division titles. No fun fact about him since, well, I don't know him and his owner card is pretty normal. Allegedly, Andy is a native Central New Yorker, like myself and kpmclave. We don't have a stat on this, but I'm willing to bet that Syracuse leads the league in owner hometowns.
AndyT13
Augusta Waves
Andy comes to the Wailing Onion with 14 HBD seasons under his belt. He has two current teams, including the Waves and both are in their first seasons. Andy is 1184-1084 all-time, with six playoff appearances and four division titles. No fun fact about him since, well, I don't know him and his owner card is pretty normal. Allegedly, Andy is a native Central New Yorker, like myself and kpmclave. We don't have a stat on this, but I'm willing to bet that Syracuse leads the league in owner hometowns.
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