All the World News that's unfit for print.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
AL West Preview S26
Vancouver - 100+ wins blah blah blah $100M+ payroll blah blah blah Wascar Rosado blah blah blah. But hey, everyone in the AL, the good news is the Coastals lost a below average bullpen guy. Woooooo, maybe the rest of you will have a chance. The defense is maybe a hair below average, but the pitching and the hitting are some of the best in the league. Good luck AL.
Best Hitter: Wascar
Best Pitcher: Javy Gonzalez
Prediction: 110 wins
Colorado Springs - They've come back down to earth a bit, but they're still quite solid. Can they crack 100 wins? Well with a $100M+ payroll, they'd better. But I'm not sure if I see it. The defense is really good, I like what they've got going on there. The bullpen makes me hard. The starters might be even better. Maybe they're lacking some long relievers, but that's really the only negative I've got so far. And I guess the hitting is just kind of average. Not sure if 100 wins are going to be in the cards for them, but they'll be in the hunt for a wild card spot I bet.
Best Hitter: Ozuna
Best Pitcher: Donte
Prediction: 90 wins
Honolulu - Unfortunate that they are stuck in this division, kinda like the AL North. 90+ wins each of the last four seasons, but only two playoff appearances to show for it. $84M in payroll, they're not exactly going cheap, but I'm not sure if they can keep up with Colorado and Vancouver. They've got a lot of depth and solid defense, but the hitting is very blah, and the pitching is better than average but not great. Maybe they can fight for a wild card, but.......
Best Hitter: Julio Armas
Best Pitcher: Morris Truman
Prediction: 80 wins
Scottsdale - Hovering around .500 the last couple of seasons, we're hoping these guys can get above that mark this year, but again, this is a rough division. Meanwhile, they let some Type B's get away, but made no big signings or trades of their own. But....the youth. Some of it is already there. Some of it is coming soon. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not next season. But it's coming. All over the place.
Best Hitter: Espada?
Best Pitcher: Velazquez
Prediction: 85 wins
Best Hitter: Wascar
Best Pitcher: Javy Gonzalez
Prediction: 110 wins
Colorado Springs - They've come back down to earth a bit, but they're still quite solid. Can they crack 100 wins? Well with a $100M+ payroll, they'd better. But I'm not sure if I see it. The defense is really good, I like what they've got going on there. The bullpen makes me hard. The starters might be even better. Maybe they're lacking some long relievers, but that's really the only negative I've got so far. And I guess the hitting is just kind of average. Not sure if 100 wins are going to be in the cards for them, but they'll be in the hunt for a wild card spot I bet.
Best Hitter: Ozuna
Best Pitcher: Donte
Prediction: 90 wins
Honolulu - Unfortunate that they are stuck in this division, kinda like the AL North. 90+ wins each of the last four seasons, but only two playoff appearances to show for it. $84M in payroll, they're not exactly going cheap, but I'm not sure if they can keep up with Colorado and Vancouver. They've got a lot of depth and solid defense, but the hitting is very blah, and the pitching is better than average but not great. Maybe they can fight for a wild card, but.......
Best Hitter: Julio Armas
Best Pitcher: Morris Truman
Prediction: 80 wins
Scottsdale - Hovering around .500 the last couple of seasons, we're hoping these guys can get above that mark this year, but again, this is a rough division. Meanwhile, they let some Type B's get away, but made no big signings or trades of their own. But....the youth. Some of it is already there. Some of it is coming soon. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not next season. But it's coming. All over the place.
Best Hitter: Espada?
Best Pitcher: Velazquez
Prediction: 85 wins
AL South Preview: S26
KC - After a few down seasons, the ***gots are back. 105 wins last year, after 93 the year before. But.....Wascar is gone.....ouch. But Benny and Hideo still hold down the pitching staff, and the budget is actually over $120M this season, so they're clearly not rebuilding. On top of their not-too-shabby pitching staff, they still have some of the biggest sluggers in the world. But how many wins was Wascar worth? Can they crack 100 wins again this year? I don't think so, but I think winning the division is doable.
Best Hitter: Merrick
Best Pitcher: Benny
Prediction: 92 wins
Richmond - 93 wins last season was pretty impressive, but that's a trend these guys have been on the last few seasons. On the surface, they don't look like much. But the defense and pitching are really good, and the offense ain't nothing to sneeze at either. What can I come up with that is negative? I guess they're kinda slow. And it's kind of a high payroll. That's all I've got.
Best Hitter: Phil Wiggington
Best Pitcher: Jim Hitchcock
Prediction: 91 wins
San Antonio - I just threw up on my computer. Do you know how long it takes to get vomit out from under the keyboard? The defense is just acceptable. The bullpen is decent, and the starters can eat up some innings. But the offense is very meh. They're on pace already for another 100 loss season, but maybe they can get up to 70 wins. Maybe.
Best Hitter: Horton
Best Pitcher: Kurt Piersoll
Prediction: 999 losses
Houston - We still have a problem. These guys might be the only thing keeping San Antonio out of the basement, yet again. I know, I know, I know.....overalls don't mean anything. But there are only five guys on the ML squad at 70+ for an overall. And why is Bittle hanging out in AAA when he could help the ML bullpen? Shockingly, no big FA signings or trades. The defense is sub-par, as is the pitching, while the offense is not as shabby as you would think. But it's gonna be bad news bears.
Best Hitter: Borbon?
Best Pitcher: Soriano?
Prediction: 1000 losses
Best Hitter: Merrick
Best Pitcher: Benny
Prediction: 92 wins
Richmond - 93 wins last season was pretty impressive, but that's a trend these guys have been on the last few seasons. On the surface, they don't look like much. But the defense and pitching are really good, and the offense ain't nothing to sneeze at either. What can I come up with that is negative? I guess they're kinda slow. And it's kind of a high payroll. That's all I've got.
Best Hitter: Phil Wiggington
Best Pitcher: Jim Hitchcock
Prediction: 91 wins
San Antonio - I just threw up on my computer. Do you know how long it takes to get vomit out from under the keyboard? The defense is just acceptable. The bullpen is decent, and the starters can eat up some innings. But the offense is very meh. They're on pace already for another 100 loss season, but maybe they can get up to 70 wins. Maybe.
Best Hitter: Horton
Best Pitcher: Kurt Piersoll
Prediction: 999 losses
Houston - We still have a problem. These guys might be the only thing keeping San Antonio out of the basement, yet again. I know, I know, I know.....overalls don't mean anything. But there are only five guys on the ML squad at 70+ for an overall. And why is Bittle hanging out in AAA when he could help the ML bullpen? Shockingly, no big FA signings or trades. The defense is sub-par, as is the pitching, while the offense is not as shabby as you would think. But it's gonna be bad news bears.
Best Hitter: Borbon?
Best Pitcher: Soriano?
Prediction: 1000 losses
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Rules rule!
So, ya. Some of you's guys wants a prospect cap. Some of you's guys wants a minimum win requirement. Well, I've got some things to say about these matters.
First off, let me point out two examples of what I absolutely don't ever want to see in this world:
Toronto FivTs
This team is in Hometown. He tanked his first couple seasons, back in the prospect rich days, then has proceeded to systematically trade rape, season after season, possibly with aliases in the early days. This situation doesn't happen in good worlds, Check out his AAA team. Now some might say he's a savvy owner. I think it's bullshit. I was in that world but left after a couple seasons when it just seemed pointless.
And:
Tacoma Tomahawks
Yes, that's right 60 million spent on prospects this season. Less than 17 million in payroll, and shockingly just a .337 winning percentage. I just threw up in my mouth.
Oh, and this:
Baltimore Blue Crabs
Last season we saw a 154 million payroll with 0s in all scouting and medical. Same story season before, and to slightly lesser degrees the previous few seasons. Consequently there is nothing in the system, and when the owner bailed, the new owner is left with a first season budgeting nightmare.
I don't want to see any of that in BPF.
Now all these calls for a prospect cap/minimum win floor, seem to miss the point of the 60/40 rule. As nj mentioned earlier, we had an owner, mira21, who was able to field very competitive ML teams while keeping his payroll really low. Now he tanked his face of the first season and if the 60/40 rule was in effect then, he'd would've been here for the one season. But the franchise won 95 games with a sub 15 million payroll and often won 100+ sub 30 mil. To me, that's good management. He kept his other budget departments really high, which I respected. That's why I'm not so excited to enact a minimum payroll on it's own. I want owners to play many ways, and allow for some freedom. If you think you can compete and still add young talent, more power to you. What gets me is when I see decent FAs go unsigned while some team fields lesser, but cheaper, talent in a concerted effort to lose. While saving on the payroll, they load their prospect. I also hate seeing prospects being kept down when they are ML ready. No team in real life, would keep a player ready for the bigs, in the minors. When a player is ready, he plays, it's that simple. Whether the team is bad or good. In fact, he's more likely to in the Bigs earlier the worse the team is. And sometimes there are situations where an owner takes over a team with awful, awful contracts. This hampers efforts to improve quickly, so the owner just has to ride it out for a few seasons while the contracts expire. I know, I've taken over reigny teams. This might mean some terrible records, but the payroll is, say 80 million. That to me is not tanking. So it just seemed fair to say "spend less than 40, win more than 60". It accomodates for poorly run teams to get their shit together, and for freedom to budget for prospects while remaining competitive.
One thing that I don't like to see though is both declining records and payrolls. I've rebuilt, but my rebuild history shows a general pattern of declining payroll with increasing wins. What is crap is having, say, a 33 million/56 win team that next season has an even lower payroll and worse record. That, folks, is tanking. Not rebuilding, but balls out tanking. I do disagree with bluegreyjay that a team should never lose more than a hundred. Hey, it happens. it just shouldn't happen more than two seasons in a row. But I'm open to what the world thinks so let's get voting.
First off, let me point out two examples of what I absolutely don't ever want to see in this world:
Toronto FivTs
This team is in Hometown. He tanked his first couple seasons, back in the prospect rich days, then has proceeded to systematically trade rape, season after season, possibly with aliases in the early days. This situation doesn't happen in good worlds, Check out his AAA team. Now some might say he's a savvy owner. I think it's bullshit. I was in that world but left after a couple seasons when it just seemed pointless.
And:
Tacoma Tomahawks
Yes, that's right 60 million spent on prospects this season. Less than 17 million in payroll, and shockingly just a .337 winning percentage. I just threw up in my mouth.
Oh, and this:
Baltimore Blue Crabs
Last season we saw a 154 million payroll with 0s in all scouting and medical. Same story season before, and to slightly lesser degrees the previous few seasons. Consequently there is nothing in the system, and when the owner bailed, the new owner is left with a first season budgeting nightmare.
I don't want to see any of that in BPF.
Now all these calls for a prospect cap/minimum win floor, seem to miss the point of the 60/40 rule. As nj mentioned earlier, we had an owner, mira21, who was able to field very competitive ML teams while keeping his payroll really low. Now he tanked his face of the first season and if the 60/40 rule was in effect then, he'd would've been here for the one season. But the franchise won 95 games with a sub 15 million payroll and often won 100+ sub 30 mil. To me, that's good management. He kept his other budget departments really high, which I respected. That's why I'm not so excited to enact a minimum payroll on it's own. I want owners to play many ways, and allow for some freedom. If you think you can compete and still add young talent, more power to you. What gets me is when I see decent FAs go unsigned while some team fields lesser, but cheaper, talent in a concerted effort to lose. While saving on the payroll, they load their prospect. I also hate seeing prospects being kept down when they are ML ready. No team in real life, would keep a player ready for the bigs, in the minors. When a player is ready, he plays, it's that simple. Whether the team is bad or good. In fact, he's more likely to in the Bigs earlier the worse the team is. And sometimes there are situations where an owner takes over a team with awful, awful contracts. This hampers efforts to improve quickly, so the owner just has to ride it out for a few seasons while the contracts expire. I know, I've taken over reigny teams. This might mean some terrible records, but the payroll is, say 80 million. That to me is not tanking. So it just seemed fair to say "spend less than 40, win more than 60". It accomodates for poorly run teams to get their shit together, and for freedom to budget for prospects while remaining competitive.
One thing that I don't like to see though is both declining records and payrolls. I've rebuilt, but my rebuild history shows a general pattern of declining payroll with increasing wins. What is crap is having, say, a 33 million/56 win team that next season has an even lower payroll and worse record. That, folks, is tanking. Not rebuilding, but balls out tanking. I do disagree with bluegreyjay that a team should never lose more than a hundred. Hey, it happens. it just shouldn't happen more than two seasons in a row. But I'm open to what the world thinks so let's get voting.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
AL East Preview: Season 26
Syracuse - World Series champs last year, they're back again this year, just as strong as before. The only problem is that if you're not moving forward, then you're moving backwards, and they made no moves during the offseason. But they have a nice mix of youth and veterans on their squad, and the roster clearly didn't slow them down last year. I think they'll back in the mix again this year, but maybe not fighting for the WS this time around.
Best Hitter: Walter Atkins
Best Pitcher: Casey Becker
Prediction: 90-72
Cincy - 88 wins last year, and they still missed the playoffs. Playing in the AL must suck. But these guys are so young, they're going to be solid for a long time. They made the playoffs two seasons ago, can they get back this year? I'm thinking maybe. Possibly? I dunno, the AL is tough. They won't jump over Syracuse, so they need to get one of the wild cards, which ain't easy.
Best Hitter: David Moreno
Best Pitcher: Alex Hernandez
Prediction: 82-80
Chicago - The boys have been down for quite a few seasons, with sub .500 records seven seasons in a row. They should be due for a big one, right? I dunno, and I don't care, I'm just excited that they have Uncle Ben on their team. The hitting is pretty solid, and the pitching is above average, so they are improving, but.....not enough yet.
Best Hitter: Odalis 'Pablo' Escobar
Best Pitcher: Bobby Slaughter
Prediction: 81-81
New York - Car fire. Dancing With the Stars. A man plunging to his death from a skyscraper. All go under the category of "things I would rather watch than a New York game."
Best Hitter: Travis 'Tritt' Tresh
Best Pitcher: R.J. Arredondo
Worst Contract in BPF: R.J. Arredondo (seriously jubs, why was this not done with an option?)
Prediction: sadness and despair
Best Hitter: Walter Atkins
Best Pitcher: Casey Becker
Prediction: 90-72
Cincy - 88 wins last year, and they still missed the playoffs. Playing in the AL must suck. But these guys are so young, they're going to be solid for a long time. They made the playoffs two seasons ago, can they get back this year? I'm thinking maybe. Possibly? I dunno, the AL is tough. They won't jump over Syracuse, so they need to get one of the wild cards, which ain't easy.
Best Hitter: David Moreno
Best Pitcher: Alex Hernandez
Prediction: 82-80
Chicago - The boys have been down for quite a few seasons, with sub .500 records seven seasons in a row. They should be due for a big one, right? I dunno, and I don't care, I'm just excited that they have Uncle Ben on their team. The hitting is pretty solid, and the pitching is above average, so they are improving, but.....not enough yet.
Best Hitter: Odalis 'Pablo' Escobar
Best Pitcher: Bobby Slaughter
Prediction: 81-81
New York - Car fire. Dancing With the Stars. A man plunging to his death from a skyscraper. All go under the category of "things I would rather watch than a New York game."
Best Hitter: Travis 'Tritt' Tresh
Best Pitcher: R.J. Arredondo
Worst Contract in BPF: R.J. Arredondo (seriously jubs, why was this not done with an option?)
Prediction: sadness and despair
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