OOTP5: FOFC Groupthink

[Swaggs]

Instructions

Since this is the first time any of us have played an OOTP-related groupthink (I believe), I've decided to set up some basic instructions regarding the league file for each staff member.


FBPRO: As the batting (position) coach, you are responsible for the following:
--announce the 14 position players that have won a spot on our major league roster.
--set the depth charts and lineups (to avoid player fatigue, please have a backup for each position).
--set any team or individual offensive tendencies from the team strategies screen.
--export the team profile:
--go to our "Team Setup" screen.
--click the "Export Team" (not the "Export Team to FTP") button.
--open your Groupthink.lg folder and your EXPIMP folder.
--email the TEAM29 (EXP file) to me at [email protected]

Cuckoo: As the pitching coach, you are responsible for the following:
--announce the 11 pitchers that have won a spot on our major league roster.
--set the pitching staff.
--set any team defensive or individual pitching tendencies from the team strategies screen.

ChiefRum: As the minor league director, you are responsible for the following:
--announce the placement of all the players included in our minor league system.
--announce any players that need outright released due to lack of potential or age.
--set the minor league pitching staffs.
--set the minor league lineups/depth charts.\
--make any appropriate position or pitching role changes. Keep in mind that MR can move to CL and back without penalty (even though there appears to be a slight penalty, it is reset after moving to another screen and back).

Cuckoo and ChiefRum, all of your instructions will need to be emailed to me at [email protected] or, better yet, posted here, as I believe it will be easier to import the offensive/positional profile from FBPRO (due to its multiple depth charts and righty/lefty splits) and importing more than one profile would not work because it would overwrite the existing one.

Please remember than not all of the recently signed players need to appear on our major league roster, although I would prefer to see those with guaranteed contracts (Rogers, Nichting, Ross) given very serious consideration. The players signed to minor league deals will not have a financial impact on us unless they appear in a major league game for us.

I won't set a hard and fast deadline for getting this information back to me, but the sooner that it comes in, the sooner we can play some games. Let's try to have them in by Tuesday or Wednesday if at all possible.

Thank you,
Charlie Swager
GM San Diego Padres

[Swaggs]

League file is available here:

League File

[Chief Rum]

Thanks for the heads up, Boss. I will ask FBPro and cuckoo to put up their list of 14 hitters and 11 pitchers here first, since I cannot properly set up the minor leagues (well, AAA anyway) without knowing who has made the major league roster.

Once that is done, I will set the minor leagues up, and we'll be ready to go.

Chief Rum
Minor League Director

[Cuckoo]

Kudos to everyone thus far. I'll make my evaluation on pitchers today and post my decisions here this afternoon.

[Tasan]

What are we looking for from the scouting postition? Do I just need to be available when someone says, 'Hey we need a power hitting RF'? Or do I need to be doing something else? I know I'll be evaluating the amatuer talent also when the draft comes around, but beyond that is there a 'daily' activity I need to be doing?

[Cuckoo]

From The Desk of The Pitching Coach

To:GM Charlie Swager

Re:Major League Pitching Staff

Date3/24/03



Mr. Swager,

Good afternoon. After a long and exhaustive evaluation process, the following are my decisions regarding our team's major-league level pitching staff:



First, in reference to pitching, the following roster moves need to be made:

1.) Promote both new signees Kenny Rogers and Chris Nichting to the major league roster.
2.) Demote left-handed Kevin Walker and right-handed J.J. Trujillo to AAA.
3.) Demote to AAA or release outright Starting pitcher Adam Eaton
4.) Promote AAA relief pitcher Brandon Villafuerte



With those transactions complete, these individuals will comprise our opening day pitching staff:

Starters - 1.) Kenny Rogers
2.) Brian Lawrence
3.) Jake Peavy
4.) Oliver Perez
5.) Kevin Jarvis

Closer - Trevor Hoffman

Set-up men - Jay Witasick
Jesse Orosco

Middle Relief - Brandon Villafuerte
Chris Nichting
Cliff Bartosh

Long Relief - Cliff Bartosh



That said, I recommend handling certain players with specific managerial tendencies.

1.) Both young arms, Peavy and Perez, should be placed on a pitch count of 100 maximum, at least to start the season. This restriction may be removed at a later date upon game evaluation, but it is the prudent move at this time.

2.) In addition, as to Oliver Perez, I feel a slightly quicker hook should be instituted. Given his history of control problems, we don't want to let walks take us out of games when we have such a talented bullpen. If and when he learns to improve this control, I will reevaluate.

3.) A slightly quicker hook should also be used for young reliever Cliff Bartosh. While I don't foresee this being necessary too often, I prefer to allow a pitcher to grow into the majors without allowing him to be consistently beaten up. Getting oneself out of a jam is certainly a skill I feel is very important for young pitchers, but at the same time, confidence at this point in their careers could be tantamount.



In addition, I offer the following observations and recommendations pertaining to our pitchers:

I believe we should explore trade opportunities for Jesse Orosco. As has been said before, he is not getting younger. I do believe we have other options in AAA lefty Eric Cyr. Cyr is ready for the big leagues and looks to be a talented hurler. It may be that we will want to begin the season with Orosco and allow Cyr to start the year in AAA. If we aren't in the playoff hunt in July, we may then look to trade Orosco. Either way, I believe he is a very good left-handed reliever who may not be in our future plans but could certainly help a team in the playoff race and may fetch us a mid-level prospect.

J.J. Trujillo, who will begin the year at AAA, is very good insurance for our major league bullpen. He is solid and could contribute at any time. As the deadline approaches, depending on the financial situation of Nichting and Trujillo, we should have one right-handed reliever to spare.

I trust you will take this into consideration and make whatever decision with these afforementioned players that you feel best suits our long-term organizational goals.


In conclusion, may I reiterate my enthusiasm. While I realize that championships may be years away, I feel that we have some of the important building blocks in place. I know others have questioned the long-term prospects of our young pitchers such as Oliver Perez. While I am certainly not guaranteeing future success, I can only speak to what these players have the potential of becomming. If, after game evaluation, they don't reach that potential, decisions can then be made. At this point, though, I am optimistic.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Cuckoo
San Diego Padres' Pitching Coach

[Cuckoo]

ADDENDUM

I also recommend the following defensive tendencies, although those not related specifically to pitching are open to discussion and ultimate decision by the GM.

I prefer, philosophically, righty/lefty matchups as often as possible. I don't know, however, how the slider would effect simulation results. Therefore, I would recommend a bump of one to more often.

While I would like to remain right in the middle on intentional walks, I would recommend a bump of one to more often in pitching around. As the old adage goes, "Don't let the super star beat ya". But I'd add, "Don't give 'em a free pass either". I think we can get a lot of free swingers out in tense situations by pitching around.

At this point, I don't recommend a quicker or slower pulling of starters or relievers.

As to fielding tendencies, I am in favor of guarding the lines and playing the infield or corners in only late in games.

[Swaggs]

Hey Tasan, I anticipate the first month of the season will be the slowest part of your season.

Once the first month is over and we begin exploring who to resign and who not to (they won't accept offers in the first month because "It is too early in the season..."), you will work with Bucc to assess that situation. This will carry on throughout the entire season.

You will, of couse, run the Padres during the Amateur draft on June 01, so that will be another busy period.

Prior to the trade deadline, we will be leaning heavily on you to target our players of interest (veterans to win now/prospects to develop, depending on our competitive appetite in any given season) and potential trade partners.

You will again become very busy during the 30 day free agent period before the season begins.

As for right now, if you have time, you may want to do a quick assessment of our division rivals and how we stack up versus them. Perhaps identifying things like (fictional scenarios for a quick example):
--The Dodgers best three hitters are right-handed, perhaps we should set our rotation to feature our best three right handed pitchers against them.
--Arizona's top starters are all left handed, perhaps we should attempt to bolster our right handed bats if the opportunity arises.
--The catchers in our division, on the whole, throw very poorly. Perhaps we should attempt to increase our overall team speed to exploit this weakness in our favor.

[Swaggs]

Cuckoo, outstanding work.

I am really looking forward to getting FBPro's data and then ChiefRum's, so we can get a few games in.

[FBPro]

OOTP5 Groupthink
Opening day position player roster and moves:

Considering the players we have acquired either via trade or the free agent market I am recommending the
following as our opening day roster:

Catchers
Dave Ross
Gary Bennett

Infielders
Ivan Cruz
Ryan Klesko
Mark Loretta
Sean Burroughs
Mike Caruso
Ramon Vazquez

Outfielders
David Justice
Phil Nevin
Bubba Trammell
Kory DeHaan
Mark Kotsay
Brian Buchanan

Brady Anderson refused minor league assignment and is to be released. While Dave Hansen and
Keith Lockhart agreed to report to the Portland AAA camp.

Respectfully submitted,

FBPro

San Diego Padres Batting Coach

[Swaggs]

Just a quick note.

We now have our profile in place and are only waiting on Matt to assign the newly demoted players to their correct spots within the minor leagues before we open the season.

There is a solid chance that we will be able to have opening day tomorrow night. Great work and thanks to everyone, as it appears as if everyone still has a strong interest in participating in this project.

[Swaggs]

San Diego Tribune-Union

AP (San Diego, CA). With the season opener against the defending National League champion San Francisco Giants tomorrow, the San Diego Padres made their final roster spots today, reassigning five players and, to some suprise, outright releasing one to get to their opening day 25-man roster.

Veteran utility players Dave Hanson and Kevin Lockhart and pitchers Kevin Walker, J.J. Trujillo, and Adam Eaton were all assigned to Padres' minor league camp. All five are expected to open the season with the AAA Portland Beavers of the International League.

The most suprising news of the day came when team officials announced that 39-year old veteran outfielder Brady Anderson had refused reassignment and was released from the organization. Anderson, who hit 50 homeruns in 1996 while with the Baltimore Orioles, decided that he would rather take his chances on the free agent market, rather than wait around for an opportunity with the Padres.

Perhaps the most excited member of the 2003 Padres was rookie reliever Cliff Bartosh. Bartosh, who has never appeared in a major league game, beat out Trujillo and Walker, winning a spot as the club's second lefty out of the bullpen. Ironically, the 23-year old Bartosh will join 45-year old Jesse Orosco to form the lefthanded portion of the bullpen. Bartosh was born in 1979--the same year that Orosco made his major league debut with the New York Mets!

A look at the rest of your 2003 San Diego Padres:


Catchers: Dave Ross, a six-year minor league free agent signee, was signed from the Dodgers in the offseason and won the starting spot as the clubs backstop. 30-year old Gary Bennett, who has spent time with 3 other clubs in his seven year career, will be the primary backup.

Infield: Ryan Klesko will be the team's first baseman and the cornerstone of the Padre offense. Klesko is coming off a .300/29 HR/90 RBI season and has established himself as a consistent producer since joining San Diego. Powerful Ivan Cruz will be the back up at firstbase.

Second base will be manned by veteran utilityman Mark Loretta. Always solid with the glove, Loretta is the owner of a .293 career batting average and will get the opportunity to start for the first time since 1999.

At shortstop, Ramon Vazquez and Mike Caruso will split time until one player wins the position outright. Vazquez, a dynamic fielder will get the ABs versus righthanded pitching while former White Sox starter Caruso will handle the spot versus lefthanded pitching.

At 3B, one-time hot prospect Sean Burroughs will get a chance to sink or swim. Still young enough to improve, the team expects Burroughs to consistently show some of the talent they saw in the former first rounder.

Outfield: Around the outfield, leftfield will be played by Phil Nevin, centerfield by Mark Kotsay, and rightfield by Brian Buchannon. Nevin and Kotsay will surround Klesko in the middle of the lineup, while Buchannon will get his first opportunity at regular playing time. Veterans Bubba Trammell and David Justice join young Kory Dehaan as reserves and bench players on the team.

Starting Pitcher: The rotation, from top to bottom, will feature Kenny Rogers, Brian Lawrence, Jacob Peavy, Olivier Perez, and Kevin Jarvis. Rogers, the winner of 145 major league games, will anchor the staff, while young hurlers Lawrence, Peavy, and Perez will try to build upon the limited success they have had as starters with the Padres. 33-year old journeyman Kevin Jarvis will man the fifth spot and try to log enough quality innings to protect the bullpen following what will likely be some ups and downs by the three youngsters ahead of him in the rotation.

Bullpen: As mentioned, young Cliff Bartosh and Jesse Orosco will act as the lefthanded specialists in the 'pen, while Chris Nichting, Brandon Villafuerte, and Jay Witasick will pitch from the rightside.

Shutdown closer Trevor Hoffman will anchor the bullpen. Entering his 10th season as the Padres closer, Hoffman is the owner of 352 career saves--good for fourth in the history of major league baseball and first among active closers.

With a new front office in place look for exciting times ahead for the San Diego Padres.

[astralhaze]

Originally posted by lynchjm24
/start standard 400 roster maker tirade
(edited) then do them your *(&#$ self.
/end standard 400 roster maker tirade.

ROFL ROFL ROFL

Edit: Sorry about the completely worthless post, but that was just too spot on.

[Cuckoo]

Uh... What?

[Chief Rum]

Oops, dropped the ball...

Sorry, guys, I thought I had allowed myself enough time to come over here and get this done before I left for work, but I miscalculated how long some of errands were going to take.

Swaggs, are you going to be on at your usual time tonight? I should be back by 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. PST and then I can get them to you.

So maybe we will have a sim tonight. It will just be late. Sorry again.

Chief Rum

[Swaggs]

Sounds good Chief. I will be around tonight and will definitely wait for you. Thanks.

Perhaps if there are enough of us around, we can do a live sim over AIM.

[Cuckoo]

10 Pacific is after midnight for me. I probably won't be on, but I'll check back early in the morning.

[Swaggs]

Looks like I'm not going to make it until CR gets home.

Assuming we get our minor league system in order by tomorrow evening, hopefully we can get some games in tomorrow night.

[Swaggs]

CR emailed me his profile, so we should be able to play tonight.

Woohoo!!!

[Cuckoo]

What time? I like the idea of live simming over AIM if it's possible.

[Swaggs]

If everyone is around at 11:15 PM Est, look for me on AIM.

Need to get the wife in bed, and then we can play ball.

[Swaggs]

Anyone interested in a live sim, look for me on AIM right now.

AIM ID is Swaggs1977

[Swaggs]

In our first sim, we started off extremely slow, going 4-8 (6.5 back of the Giants).

File will be up shortly, and hopefully Tas can unzip it sometime tomorrow and add it to the site. Also, please note that I had to name the file w/ a "2" on its end. We still have some server issues to resolve, but hopefully we can figure out how to overwrite the obsolete files soon.

[Swaggs]

Here is our new file:

League File

No significant injuries or highlights (unfortunately). Our three minor league teams are all over .500, so we do have some hope.


If we have any changes/alterations, I will need a new profile from FBPro.

Cuckoo and CR, if you guys have any changes, please let me know.

[FBPro]

I should be able to get it to you by tonight or tomorrow morning, going out of town for the day.

[Swaggs]

no problem, FBPro.

I'm not looking too available over the weekend myself. Hopefully we can get to another sim by Sunday night.

[Anrhydeddu]

I thought I had said a couple of times that I would be on vacation from March 22-27. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. I'll download the file this weekend and catch up.

[Cuckoo]

Nope, no changes from here. I try not to jump to any conclusions too early. Perez looks pretty good so far, not too bad with control issues. Peavy's been beaten up as have a few of the bullpen guys. Not too much unexpected, though, at this early point. Carry on.

[Swaggs]

Anrhy, now that you mention it, I do recall you mentioning the vacation awhile back(and CR had said you and your son were going somewhere), but for whatever reason, I thought that meant you would have time to really, really dive into the groupthink.

[Anrhydeddu]

It was too bad that I missed my first assignment, it would have been fun to do that. Just let me know what's up next.

[Tasan]

Web site is updated. Sorry about the delay.

[Anrhydeddu]

bump

?

[Swaggs]

Anyone up for a live sim tonight (roughly 11:30 PM Est)?

I was planning on doing one last night, but got sidetracked and wasn't able to get online.

[FBPro]

I should be around, no changes btw so no new file from me.

[Cuckoo]

I might be able to be here. Can't make any guarantees at this point, though.

[Swaggs]

Anyone else interested in joining in with the live sim, send me a message on AIM @ Swaggs1977.

[Swaggs]

From the Desk of the General Manager:

Attention: All Staffmembers
Date: March 31, 2003

Gentlemen, we have completed our first month in the front office with varying results.

As of right now, we are 11-16 (6 games back) and in last place in the National League West. Unfortunately, we are just 1-7 in one-run games--if we could manage to improve by just that small margin, we could be at or above .500.

We are coming up on a period of time with a bit more activity for all. I will briefly outline our upcoming goals:

--The amateur draft is one month away. Our Minor League Director must identify our areas of weakness and communicate those needs to our scout. I expect our pick to be very late in the first round (mid-season drafts in OOTP5's first season's appear to be based solely on division/alphabetically and we are it the end. There is no editing).

--Some of our upcoming free agents are now willing to negotiate extensions with us. (Negotiations Team) Let's work on identifying players whose contracts expire or are approaching arbitration and (Pitching/Hitting Coaches) identify which players fit into our future plans and how valuable they are to our future.

--We do have a trade offer to ponder: Detroit has offered veteran 3B Dean Palmer in exchange for MR Brandon Villafuerte and SP Justin Germano. Thoughts?

Thanks for the hard work. Please share any input.

Thanks,
Charlie Swager
GM San Diego Padres

[Swaggs]

File is uploading and will be posted shortly.

Tas, could you delete the first two when you get a chance?

[Swaggs]

New league file here:

League File

Hopefully Tasan can unzip to the website sometime.

Also, I talked to Marmel and he explained a few ways for me to cut down the file size, so hopefully this is about as big as it will get.

[Chief Rum]

I'll get something up for Tasan tomorrow (Tuesday) night. I have already told him directly that we are very week in hitters, and I highly recommended to him that he take an elite hitter with our top pick. He seemed to agree with that assessment.

As for the Palmer trade, I strongly recommend rejecting it. Villafuerte is a closer-quality reliever of almost elite-level talent, and Germano is one of our best pitching prospects. Yes, we're deep in major league relief and in pitching prospects, and we probably do need a better 3B, but I don't think sending two great talents like this for a veteran .220-30 HR type is the solution we need to be pursuing.

Chief Rum
Minor League Director

[Cuckoo]

I agree wholeheartedly with the Chief's assessment of this trade. Tell Detroit to shove it (this is why I'm not the negotiator).

I'll take a look at the major-league pitching contract situations and make my recommendations later today.

[Anrhydeddu]

I will start the dialog with our upcoming free agents but will not commit to anything until we received more information on our team priorities.

Palmer is almost too good to pass up. The salary increase will still be within our acceptable range. I looked at him being a LF instead of a 3B and couldn't make a fit there either. I really, really wished he was a C instead. My thinking is that since we are loaded in with pitching prospects, losing a few will not hurt us - if we can plug a big hole in our weak lineup. After all, we are targeting an elite hitter in the draft. I'm just saying that don't reject trades for our prospects out of hand.

[Cuckoo]

From The Desk of The Pitching Coach



Fellow staff,

The following are my recommendations concerning the staff and contract issues:

First, the following role change should be implemented:

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.

Now, on to pitching staff contracts:

The only potential free agent among the group is Kenny Rogers. I don't believe that resigning him is the proper move. While I anticipate a solid performance this season, he is not the future of this organization and significant resources should not be used.

There are three pitchers currently up for arbritration at year's end. I recommend keeping all of them. Arbritration should be offered for Lawrence and Nichting. If we decide at a later date that we need to free up payroll or that they do not fit into next year's plans, they both should be easy enough to move at their expected arbritration salaries.

As to Villafuerte, the third arbritration eligible pitcher, I would recommend possibly attempting to negotiate a multi-year extension. If this cannot be accomplished, he should be allowed arbritration and kept on the club. I strongly feel that he is a significant part of our future bullpen plans, especially with the aging of closer Trevor Hoffman.

It is for this reason that I previously stated the proposed trade by Detroit to be not in our best interests, not because I rejected it out of hand. While Palmer may be a significant addition, Villafuerte is not simply a prospect. He is a developed and talented young arm who undoubtedly can anchor our bullpen for years to come.

Regards,

Cuckoo
San Diego Padres' Pitching Coach

[Anrhydeddu]

Noted.

[Chief Rum]

Yeah, I know you didn't it mean it quite that way, A, but my opinion of the deal wasn't out of hand either.

To me, it's a value thing. I don't think a #2-#3 type pitching prospect and a potential closer/ace set up man should be the price for an aging veteran 3B. The longterm benefits of the first two are just too long for what we'll get from Palmer in the shortterm, IMO.

I am perfectly willing to deal prospects if it makes sense for us value-wise.

Chief Rum
Minor League Director

[Anrhydeddu]

I agree. Remember, I'm just the obnoxious bean counter.

[Swaggs]

My initial thoughts are that if we need a player like Palmer, we can probably find someone like him (Jay Bell, Jamey Carroll, Travis Fryman) from the free agency scrap bin, without losing anyone that may have current or future value to us.

If anyone feels like we have any areas of improvement, please feel free to look through the free agents and make suggestions.

[Tasan]

The web site is updated now guys. Swaggs, next time you are online and see me, please AIM me. We need to talk about some of the FTP stuff.

[Anrhydeddu]

From the Desk of the Chief Negotiator

Regarding the pitchers:

Kenny Rogers - Even at his advanced age, he still wants to come back, if we want him. Even though he would want a real SP salary, I believe his demands will plummet as the season progresses. Close to the end of the season, he may be willing to accept the same type of contract he has now (one year for about $2m).

Brian Lawrence - He is up for arbitration and given his age and ratings, his 2004 salary will be in the $500k to $700k range.

Chris Nichting - As with all of our arbitration-eligible players, he will likely be getting a salary next season for under $1m, thus only a small raise over his current salary of $500k.

Brandon Villafuerte - If we decide to give Brandon a multi-year contract, it will be under $2m. Given his age, the contract will likely not be longer than 3 years. To lock up a player of this potential for 3 years at, say, $1,750,000 per year is worthwhile.

[Swaggs]

Excellent work Cuckoo and Bucc. Bucc, we need to work out a method for re-signing players during the season. Perhaps you can make the offers and I will make them and post the replies. I'm open to suggestion here, but I think (until I go cable or dsl in mid-June or so) the fewer file exchanges, the better.

I would like to have a live sim tomorrow night (April 03) sometime (preferably after the basketball game--I think there is one tomorrow isn't there?). Any preference as to time, so we can get as many of the staffmembers there as possible?

Tas, I will look for you tonight if possible.