OOTP5: FOFC Groupthink

[Anrhydeddu]

I definitely agree on limited file exchanges (I'm in the same boat). I can take care of the off-season stuff, as we discussed earlier but in-season, as much as I would love to handle the negotiations and publish the results or decision points, I think it would be better just to have us give you direction (based on my analyses).

To start off, if the concensus is to lock up Villafuerte, let's start with an offer of $1,500,000 for 3 years.

Do I assume we are going with the rule that as soon as a player says "that's enough" (or something similar), all negotiations must cease?

[lynchjm24]

I think it's time to break down and see what Tom Lampkin wants. That catching is pretty ugly and Tommy has a 9 eye rating.

Edit: Free Ryan Drese.
Well he looked good at AA for a week at least, and I bet he takes a free agent deal.

[Chief Rum]

JUst in case you guys get to a sim before I come home, I just thought I would toss these notes out.

Tasan, I really don't have much to offer you about the team's organizational strengths and weaknesses that you aren't already aware of.

We have lots of good starting pitching prospects and a young bullpen (if not a lot of prospects in the minors for the pen).

We have a string of good 2B prospects. You can regard LF Xavier Nady, 1B Tagg Bozied and SS Khalil Green as legit players.

But in reality, outside of 2B, we're pretty weak in hitting prospects, and we have no truly elite hitting prospects to speak of. I would not let position guide my picks if I were you, but would simply go with the best hitting talent available. And after the third round, the best talent period, regardless of position (hitting or pitching).

I would also remind Tasan or Swaggs thatthe draft order is likely messed up. The Padres should have a high pick, based on 2002 records. Resetting the order to the proper records from last year is an annoyance, but I think it's worth it.

Swaggs, please promote Jake Gautreau and Josh Barfield from AA and A, respectively, to AAA AA. Make what necessary adjustments you can to get all players (particularly the promotees) intot he lineup, with a preference to playing the actual prospects at their natural positions, while teaching lesser players and minor league vets other positions if needed to get them into the lineup. Otherwise, you can pretty much leave well enough alone with the minor league lineups.

Good luck, Padres!

Chief Rum

[Tasan]

Before the draft, I can go back to last years records and rearranged the draft order based on those finishes. I think its a smart thing to do, so the WS champ Angels don't get pick #1 while the crappy Padres get pick #28 or something ;- )

[Swaggs]

I would love to change the order, but I'm fairly certain that we will not be able to do any editing (beyond nicknames) while we are in a manager dynasty mode.

[Swaggs]

Padres have a great sim!!!

We moved to 21-22 and into sole posession of 2nd place in the AL West.

File will be available shortly.

[Swaggs]

Here it is:

League File

Next sim will take us up to June 1st and the Amateur Draft.

If we can have another good showing (like tonight's), let's try to have another live sim on Sunday evening.

[Tasan]

I'm not going to be able to update the web page til Sunday night, sorry guys.

[Swaggs]

Hey guys, sorry I have not been around.

As some of you know, my wife and I are moving soon and we spent the weekend in North Carolina looking at houses. After much drama (mostly caused by my wife), we have a contract in place--so that is good.

If folks are interested, we can look to have another live sim, up to the ammy draft, tomorrow night and then have some draft discussions afterward. Let me know if some or all of you will be available. Thanks.

[FBPro]

I should be around for a live sim, provided it is 11:00 pm est or later....but not too late.

[RPI-Fan]

Heya' - great dynasty. If you need somebody else to handle a low-maintenance position at some point (don't have OOTP5 so would need to rely on HTML) I'd love to hop on board.

If not, I'll just follow enthusiastically.

Good luck!
~rpi-fan

[Cuckoo]

I should probably be able to pop in around 11:00 EST. I'm not sure what time the game will end, but I'll probably be watching that.

[Chief Rum]

It's iffy right now. I have some possible plans tonight, and I am also waiting for my CM4 delivery. I may or may not be around.

But I have already made my general feelings known about the draft, so I'm not concerned about that.

Chief Rum

[Anrhydeddu]

The only thing I am waiting for is the report from FBPro on the batters for possible extensions/arbitrations.

[Swaggs]

From the desk of the General Manager

Attention: All Staff Members
Date: June 01, 2003

Re: State of the Franchise

Greetings to all.

As you all know, we anticipated a rough first season when we all agreed to take over the San Diego Padres. Competing in a division against the Giants and Diamondbacks, the two prior National League World Series representatives, as well as the financial resources of the Rockies and Dodgers will not be easy.

However, I am pleased to announce that two months into the season, our San Diego Padres own a strong 29-26 record, just 4.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West. Our team's performance has exceeded my expectations.

Our offense has been lead, as expected, by Ryan Klesko (.303-11-50). Our outfield of Mark Kotsay, Phil Nevin, and Brian Buchannon has been very solid, as has our SS tandem of Mike Caruso and Ramon Vasquez. We can proudly present a major league caliber player at every position and our pre-season signings have created a deep and balanced bench.

Our pitching staff has been unspectacular, but very consistent. Our starting pitching has been consistently average, giving us an opportunity to win on most outings. Our bullpen, as expected, has been among the best in the league and is truly the strength of the team.

The financial state of our team is very strong as well. Although it is too early to forcast our balance sheet for the 2003 season, I feel confident in predicting that we will have a profitable year. In addition, it appears that we will improve on the profits of the 2002 season.

Our minor league system features five of the top 100 prospects in all of major league baseball. We have a great deal of depth and quality of pitching within the system. We also have some infield depth, but need to improve the hitting in our minor leagues. We also need to add more impact-type players to our system.

All in all, I would like to congratulate the staff for a job well done throughout the first two months of the season. Thank you and keep up the hard work.

Charlie Swager
GM San Diego Padres

[Swaggs]

League file is available here:

League File

From here Tasan will run the amateur draft. Perhaps, if some or all are available in one of the next few nights, we can run it online on AIM.

[Cuckoo]

Originally posted by Cuckoo
From The Desk of The Pitching Coach
Place MR Chris Nichting into the primary right-handed set-up role and move Jay Witasick to middle relief. I'm going with the hot hand here, hopefully to help us close out some more games effectively.

Hey Swaggs, Is there a reason this wasn't done? Not that it much matters now. Witasick seems to have rebounded, but at the time I think it would have helped us.

[Tasan]

I have tried to run the draft up to our pick, but every time I have the computer pick for their teams, the game dies on me. Swaggs, are you having a similar problem?

[Swaggs]

Hey Tas.

Just checked out your problem. Not sure what is causing it, but it is also happening with my file.

I think I found a workaround. If you go to the league setup screen and move the amateur draft from June 01 to Pre-Season and then back, it should work. I think it replaces or adds to the draft class, but I guess we will have to live with that.

Let me know if it works.

Thanks.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally posted by RPI-Fan
Heya' - great dynasty. If you need somebody else to handle a low-maintenance position at some point (don't have OOTP5 so would need to rely on HTML) I'd love to hop on board.

If not, I'll just follow enthusiastically.

Good luck!
~rpi-fan

[Cuckoo]

RPI,

I don't think we need anyone else at this point, but you are sure welcome to stick around. If nothing else, you can help me out with the pitching staff. I've been looking for an assitant to help me cover if I can't be around. Either way, welcome.

[Tasan]

Okay, I did what you said Swaggs, and it let me start the draft, but all the player cards for the rookies are wrong, its like it kept the old cards but made new guys. i.e. you click on a LF and you might get a starting pitcher's info. Also, without being able to edit the draft order, there are only 3.5 star hitters by the time we draft. Oh well on that though.

[Swaggs]

Originally posted by RPI-Fan
Heya' - great dynasty. If you need somebody else to handle a low-maintenance position at some point (don't have OOTP5 so would need to rely on HTML) I'd love to hop on board.

If not, I'll just follow enthusiastically.

Good luck!
~rpi-fan

Hey RPI.

If you are interested, you could act as the Padres' Beat Writer and put together a short article once every game month or so. Perhaps cover who's hot/not, prospect watch, etc.

That would probably be the best role for you, if you do not have OOTP5.

Let me know.

[Swaggs]

Originally posted by Cuckoo
Hey Swaggs, Is there a reason this wasn't done? Not that it much matters now. Witasick seems to have rebounded, but at the time I think it would have helped us.

Sorry Cuckoo.

I thought I made that change, but I must not have.

[Swaggs]

Originally posted by Tasan
Okay, I did what you said Swaggs, and it let me start the draft, but all the player cards for the rookies are wrong, its like it kept the old cards but made new guys. i.e. you click on a LF and you might get a starting pitcher's info. Also, without being able to edit the draft order, there are only 3.5 star hitters by the time we draft. Oh well on that though.

Anyone have any ideas or fixes?

The only solution I have, other than drafting the mis-assigned players, would be to reset the draft back to the preseason and not having a draft this season.

[Cuckoo]

Not having a draft would hurt us since we're in such need of depth. Has anyone tried posting over at the .400 forums and asking Marcus & co.? I remember hearing vaguely of this issue, but have no idea how to fix it.

[Cuckoo]

Bump?

Not even on the front page anymore.

[Swaggs]

Apologies on the delay. I had to go to a wedding in Conn. this weekend and ended up leaving much earlier than I intended to.

I guess our option here are the following:

1.) Have the draft and tolerate the errors. From my own toying with the file, it appears that new rookies have been generated each time we changed the time of the draft, and some of the players on the list no longer exist b/c when you click on them they are someone else entirely. I guess the pros of running a draft now are that we will get 7 new players in our system. It seems like we might be able to some quality players, even if we just run a computer generated draft. This obviously will not be anywhere near as fun as I had hoped and really slights Tas's role in the groupthink for this eason. We can do this in one of two ways: Allow Tas to rough through and see what he can find (through all the crap) or let the computer draft for the entire league and see what we end up with.

2.) Move the draft back to the preseason--virtually eliminating it from taking place this season. This also slights Tas's role and keeps us from adding new players to our system this season. I'm not so sure it is a negative, because, comparatively, with us holding the 29th pick, we were not going to have a a very favorable draft this season compared to other teams in the league. Still, I'm sure we are all eager to have our first #1 pick.

My early thoughts are to definitely keep the draft "as is," and, if he is willing, allow Tas to draft for us. It will be a pain in the ass and will not permit him to allow for much discussion, but it is better than nothing and would only be a one-time thing (hopefully).

Tas, please let me know if you would be willing to do this in the next day or two. I know neither solution is ideal, but the longer we wait to get back underway, the more likely that people are going to lose interest. I think things will get more fun begining next season, so hopefully everyone is still interested in participating.

Everyone else, please chip in with feedback/thoughts/opinions.

Thanks.

[Anrhydeddu]

Actually, I vote for #2. I don't think we are that hard for players right now that we can't wait to the next offseason to have a draft done right with good discussions.

[Anrhydeddu]

dola

Swaggs, how about just continue on simming up until we need to make a critical decision?

[Swaggs]

Thanks Bucc.

Anyone else have any thoughts/input before I make a move?

[Swaggs]

After thinking it over (and discussing w/ a few of you), we will simply postpone the draft until next Spring. It kind of stinks, but I don't see any decent workarounds.

I would like to have a sim tonight and play about three weeks. If anyone is interested, let's plan to livechat on AIM around 11:30 PM (Est).

We are getting to the point of the season where we need to decide whether to get into contender mode or whether to rebuild/retool for future years.

I hope some of you are available tonight.

[Anrhydeddu]

After JBL?

[Swaggs]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
After JBL?

Sounds good to me...

[Marmel]

Swaggs, you were in CT and didn't even stop by for a beer?? I am insulted.


were in CT did you end up?

[Swaggs]

Hey Marm,

I was in Groton, CT for two nights.

Went to a friend's wedding there on Saturday and then went to the Mohegan Sun on Saturday night (lost about $25).

I thought we weren't going to go until this weekend, so I got a little screwed time-wise. If I make it back up there, we will have to go to Foxwoods.

[Swaggs]

A few bits of news:

I was unable to eliminate the draft, so I allowed the computer to draft for us. We have some new players in our system now, so you all can check them out. The draft behaved, not suprisingly, in an irregular manner, so disregard the draft list in our Team History.

I went on a head and simmed out the month of June. I'm sure we are all looking forward to getting to, provided we don't make the postseason, the offseason.

We now stand at 41-41 (8.5 back of the Giants). We had one young player make a pretty big jump in talent and he is now our finest hitting prospect (good work CR ).

File will be up shortly.

[Swaggs]

League File

It is still uploading, but should be up by around 1:00 AM. With all the screwing around w/ the file, I forgot to cut out the last set of boxscores, so the file is bigger than it should be. Sorry.

[FBPro]

Hey guys, sorry been kinda "out of the loop"....just d/l the file and will get back on the job.

[Cuckoo]

From The Desk Of The Pitching Coach


To: Swaggs: San Diego GM

Re: Current Pitching Staff Status

Date: April 19, 2003



Mr. Swager,

I would like to implement the previously mentioned change in pitching roles. Please move Chris Nichting into the primary right-handed set-up role. Mr. Witasick continues to struggle, giving up far too many hits. Perhaps a lessened responsibility for a time may improve his performance.

At this point in the season, I am overall very pleased with the performance of our staff. On the whole, while our bullpen has not been as stellar as I had expected, our starters have given us solid innings, kept us in a number of games, and all maintain respectable numbers. For that reason, I don't advocate any change to our strategies and tendencies regarding that group.

As for the bullpen, I'm beginning to have some questions about the left side. Mr. Orosco seems to be fading fast. His control is dwindling along with his velocity, and his late inning walks are hurting us. Cliff Bartosh, although very promising, likewise is having a few control problems. For him, though, the problem mainly lies in his giving up a dangerous number of hits per inning worked. While I expect right-handed hitters to do better off him that the lefties, opponents average from the left side is still .270. If we are to neutralize some of the left-handed hitters down the stretch, this area must be addressed.

I am aware that at this point a decision has not been made as to our organizational direction for the stretch of this season. I cannot with great confidence say that we have the pitching pieces in place to make it happen. I think if everyone pitched to their potential and the starters maintained their solid performances, we may have a shot at a run. That if, however, is a big one. At this point, I'm not sure I'm prepared to say definitively in regards to this decision without some feedback in minor league pitching options from Mr. Rum or free agent/trade opportunities from our chief negotiator and scout. I will say, though, that my leaning is toward continued building for the future. I'm just not sure I can advocate giving up our valuable young pitching prospects for an improbable postseason run.

I intend to continue monitoring our bullpen efforts. If another option from the left side is known to any other staff members, I would certainly appreciate it. If we do intend to continue our rebuilding, Mr. Orosco should be one of the first to go.

Thank you very much for your time, and congratulations to all other staff members on an impressive start to the 2003 campaign.

Regards,
Cuckoo
San Diego Padres' Pitching Coach