Multiplayer OOTP Dynasty: FOBL's Kentucky Juggernaut

[DukeRulesMAB]

I've had a lot of fun with my Hattrick dynasty, so I figured I would give it a roll with my first online league love.

The Front Office Baseball League (FOBL) was founded in April of 2001, sooner after the release of OOTP3. The league had several owners with OOTP experience, but most of the owners were coming in fresh. Ownership was pretty fluid in many cases the first season, but after the first offseason, there have been few leagues around with less turnover than FOBL has been blessed with.

The greatest strength of any good league it its ownership, and that is certainly no exception with FOBL. The leadership of the league, under commissioner Simms, has been a guiding light. The forum and "day chat" (a site chat roomed where bored FOBLers at work/school congregate) are heavily active. Potential rules changes are the focus of constant "lively discussions". We argue and fight all the time on the boards, but it's all in good fun, and largely the result of too many lawyers in the league (of which I am one). Many of our outside rules (specifically our homemade financial system, extensions, and free agency systems) are what make the league great, though they are also the focus of the greatest controversies.

----------------------------------------

Anyway, enough of that background. This dynasty will be about the Kentucky Juggernaut, the team which I took over immediately following the 2003 Solecismic Series (FOBL's championship). I will cover the entire history of the franchise, including the 3 seasons before I took over. Once I get up to now (we are in early May of the 2010 season), I will give updates after each sim, discussing the latest in the Juggernaut world. To a lesser extent, the other Calzone Division franchises will be spotlighted here, as it's really impossible to tell a baseball story without talking about division rivals. The other 30 teams in the league will only be covered as they relate to my team, or as they win the championship.

[DukeRulesMAB]

2001

2001 was an era of ridiculously high offense. Two factors controbuted to this, both the result of leaguewide inexperience. First, park factors were allowed to get out of control, especially in the Gindin League (which you won't see much of in this dynasty). Second, the league totals were completely off. This would eventually be corrected, but for the first two seasons, understand that leaguewide offense was ridiculously high.

When FOBL was formed, I was just an occassional lurker here at FOFC. In fact, I didn't even know it existed until a note was posted after the 2001 season. I went over and got hooked quickly. For now though, the Rockville Punks were founded by The David Reborn (aka TDR). TDR was not an extremely active owner, which stood out in the hyperactive trading and posting environment that was and is FOBL, but he built a fine team. Rockville circa-2001 had a pitchers park, something that continues for the franchise even to this day.

One last note about 2001, it was the only season in FOBL history that the designated hitter was not used. Once the owners saw how terrible OOTP was at pinch hitting, the DH was employed.

The Punks finished 2001 with a very solid 89-73 record, 7 games out of first place, and 5 games out of the Wild Card (note that very soon, 89 wins will be nowhere near any playoff berth; FOBL quickly stratified into rebuilders and contenders. For this one season, however, the FOBL was extemely balanced).

Offensively, the team was led by its first ever draft pick Ralph Willis, but it was truly a team built to run. Willis, Richard Campanella, Charles Sweeney, and Ray Smitherman all stole at least 46 bases, with Campanella leading the Vaughn League with 67.

The team was, though, led by its outstanding run prevention. As you can tell from the above players, Rockville had an amazing defense. The staff ace for 2001 was Jason McAllister, who led the Vaughan League with a 2.91 ERA, but Danilo Jones and James Wright also had outstanding years before injury ended them early. The pen was led by closer Adam Chamberlain and his 49 saves, which are a Vaughan League record to this day. McAllister, Jones, and Chamberlain all made the Vaughan League All-Star team, but no one took home any post-season hardware.

The Rockville 2001 team page

Elsewhere in the Calzone division...

Columbus Crocodiles

Get used to hearing this name. Team owner The Mike quickly adjusted to what was good and what wasn't in FOBL. Faster than anyone in the league in fact. Team did not actually have a strong initial draft; only
1B Carlos "El Nino" Gatton (2nd round) would be one of the cornerstones. But Columbus quickly started adding through his now famous trades. Before the year, SS Robert Maddox was brought in for very little. And then near the trade deadline, it got truly ugly. Daniel Berman and Joel Grasso were brought in from division rival Pasadena for a song. Then, first round underachiever Darrell Stowers was dealt in a series of trades that led to the acquisition of the man who would soon be 2001 FOBL MVP (the only year that the award was not split between leagues) Richard Berglund. Finally, in the waning moments before the deadline, Kevin Ben (Virginia) and Derek Comerford (Philly) were brought in for a collection of mediocre players. Together with Gatton, most of these guys would form the core that made Columbus the best team in FOBL for the greater part of its existance (though there was still one more huge acquisition to come...). And only in the Berglund acquisition did the team actually give up much of value.

Not shockingly, the team cruised in the second half, finishing 96-66, and taking the Calzone.

Greenbelt Gophers

Led by Scotsman-turned-American immigrant Critch, this was an otherwise ordinary team, led by its outstanding first round draft pick (fourth overall) David Tiffany. He had power, speed, defense, the whole package. This year, the club got workman-like efforts from several players, including the owner's favorite C Bryce Balbuena and closer Robert Papp. They put it together for a very solid 87-75 campaign.

Indianapolis Ice Weasels

Initial Vaughan League President kurtism was one of the few FOBL owners with extensive OOTP experience when the league was founded. Unfortunately, that did not show in the initial draft. Other than superstar third baseman Gayle Robicheaux and staff ace Paul Parker, the team didn't have much to show for their efforts after 2001. "Robi" (as he is known by people who don't want to learn to spell his name, like me), had a miserable first season, along with most of the rest of the offense, but Parker was joined by Alejandro Sanders and a good bullpen to carry the team to a respectable 80-82 mark.

Springfield Renegades

This squad was helmed by Double A, taking over the Ann Arbor Prickly Pears at midseason. It was not a good first year, but the team had a full on mess of talent. The hitting was led by 1st rounder Elvis Cianciolo, and also included very good young players such as Gary Davila and Pedro Boone. The pitching staff was not as solid, but had a legitimate staff ace in Maurice Young. Despite that talent, no one had anything better than an average year for the talent on offense, and the pitching staff after Young imploded. The team struggled to a 74-88 mark.

Pasadena Voodoo

To cover every trade made by voo would be a dynasty in and of itself. It would suffice to say that more talent passed through Pasadena in 2001 and 2002 than passed through any other organization in FOBL. In fact, the extreme level of trading in the 2001-2002 offseason was referred to as "invooenza", due to this team being the most active (though that will be covered as such later on). The problem for the franchise in this era was that almost none of that talent actually ended up in Pasadena.

Among those who exited Pasadena during the year (some were initial draft guys, others were players acquired in other trades): The aforementioned Berman and Grasso, David Bier, Thomas Read, Timothy Enyeart, Robert Hipp, and John Hadlock. And that's just the players who were really good then, there were numerous other players who would eventually make their marks in FOBL.

With all that talent exiting, wasn't much left to win games in Pasadena. Only Ruben Vasquez and Samuel Medlock were worth a damn on the pitching staff, and there wasn't even anyone that notable in the lineup. The team limped to a 68-94 first year record.


---------------------------------

In the post-season, Columbus swept the Wild Card Essex Cougars. Then came one of FOBL's early defining moments, the 2001 VLCS. Facing the best team from the regular season, the Montana Monarchs, Columbus fell down 3-0. Montana's owner TRO was feeling confident, so he rested his two best starters, hoping to save them for the Solecismic Series. That backfired a touch, as Columbus stormed back to take the last 4 games and the series, capped by Berman's "Shot Heard Round the World" home run. After that classic, they then swept the ownerless Norman Tornadoes to take the inaugural league title. Columbus had their first title, and with young stars like Gatton, Berman, and Comerford there was no obvious reason that they wouldn't take many, many more.



The 2001 Season

[Subby]

Outstanding narrative...

Look forward to following this one as the season progresses.

Point of order on Kevin Ben - the guy Virginia acquired for him - LH SP Darren Hittle - received a crushing dev hit right after the trade, making him practically worthless. At the time of the deal he was an up and coming 5 AR 22 year-old about to make his mark in a park that favored lefties...

They die so young...

[Swaggs]

Didn't the Juggs used to have a much different logo?

[sjshaw]

Great stuff, Duke. I can't wait for the anti-Hollywood rants.

[DukeRulesMAB]

2002

2002 saw the introduction of FOBL's financial system. Unhappy with the default OOTP system, the league adopted its own, designed by ez and Morgado. The most notable feature of the system is that it is a "zero-sum" system, meaning the revenues and expenditures are the same. Over time, if total salary were to drop, so would total revenues. Teams that overspent for bad or mediocre teams immediately felt the pinch.

Very little change in the land of the Punks. With the addition of the DH, Edward McFarland was brought in from Seminole, but that's it. Don't get too excited about that 900 OPS in 2001, Seminole was the most extreme offensive park in the most extreme offensive league in the most extreme offensive era.

On the field, Willis improved on his 2001 with an even better 2002, and again the team was steal happy. Campanella led the VL again, this time with 82 steals, while Willis, Smitherman, and Sweeney all topped 45 yet again. Dee Jin added his bat for what was a relatively potent offense.

But there was no question who the team star was. Danilo Jones put an injury plagued 2001 behind him to go 24-5, 2.92 to pace the VL in ERA. He would take home the Vaughan League Platinum Pitcher (our top pitching award) at the end of the season. Behind him, though he had less saves, Chamberlain had an even better second season.

Unfortunately, the rest of the staff collapsed, and while Rockville was largely stagnant, the stratification of the league had begun. They finished 85-77, and 11 games out of the Wild Card. As for first place in the Calzone...well...let's just say they finished more than 11 games out.

Along with Jones's PP, Smitherman made the All-Star team for the team's only other award (Jones didn't even make it).

Rockville's 2002 Team Page

In the rest of the division:

Pasadena once again was ridiculously active in the trade market. They traded Vasquez and Medlock and, ironically, Read and Hipp again. They even traded star 2002 draft pick Darryl Medina, though they did get Pete Gilford in a nearly simultaneous deal.

The only star remaining on the major league roster was the annually disappointing Michael Beckles. He managed to go 10-16, 4.75, and he was still by a huge margin the best player on the pitching staff. Lewis Walther hit a little, but this was a terrible team. They finished 47-115. Unfortunately for them, that was two games out of the #1 overall pick. How much that would come to smart would become clear in the future.

Greenbelt also took a dive. The pitching completely went to shit, and only Lester Locke really hit. Eventually, much of the older talent went to Virginia. And what happened to young superstar David Tiffany? Well, we'll get to that in a minute. Greenbelt finished 67-95, and the future did not look bright.

Indianapolis traded Parker before the year, hoping to get younger and cheaper. They also traded their older closer, but it didn't hurt them one bit as they finished with the same 80-82 record. Robi bounced back from his awful 2001, while Claud Guth, who had a quietly great 2001, had a not-so-quietly great 2002. Meanwhile, Ronald Hoover was able to step up his game in Parker's absense, and the end result was the same record as the year before, but with a younger team.

Stepping it up for 2002 was
Springfield. Gone was Boone, but in was Fred Jones, who ably stepped in. Elvis had a season worthty of his superstar calibre, Davila bounced back from his sub-par 2001, and Billy Meece had a wonderful season before a late season injury ended it. The pitching was horrible, but the offense was so good that it did not matter. The team went 96-66, and won the Wild Card by 3 games.

Oh yeah, and they also finished 25 games behind division winning Columbus. That's right, they went 121-41, a FOBL record which still stands despite years of more stratification, and a record which I can reasonably predict will never be broken.

How did they do this? More shrewd trading by Mike, and more bad trading by other owners. The aforementioned David Tiffany? Now a Cutthroat for almost nothing, in a trade that really crippled Greenbelt. With him there, there was no more need for Berglund, so he was shipped to Las Vegas in the one relatively even trade of the offseason for Jacob Bush. Finally, to put a cherry on top, the second best catcher in FOBL, James Rone, was acquired from Essex for almost nothing.

When it was all said and done, 3 Columbus pitchers won 20 games, led by Grasso's 27-3 mark. Seven Columbus players had 100 RBIs or more, headed by Gatton's 146. They even had 3 guys with at least 39 steals, bed by Berman's 42. And to think it could have been better: Their closer, Patrick Crumbley, had a 6.58 ERA.

Needless to say, the Columbus dynasty was well entrenched.

----------------------------

And then came the playoffs, where they were promptly bounced in 4 games by Springfield. Note that Columbus had gone 15-3 against Springfield in our unbalanced schedule. That's baseball, though, anyone can win a short series. Springfield, of course, was shot after that, and got swept by the Philadelphia Billyclubs (still, I might add, smarting from the Comerford trade ).

CJP then led Philly to a Championship, beating an injury-plagued Seminole Honkies in 7 games of the finals. Representing the traditionally weak None Weaker...er...Nor'Easter, Philly was led by doubles machine Vernon James, on-base machine Jose Brisco, and the really, really old Jose Coppage..

FOBL 2002

[DukeRulesMAB]

Subby - Point well taken on Hittle. Even when Mike didn't win a trade right off, he'd win it anyway in the end.

Swaggs - Guessing you mean this one? (Thanks to Fritz for that one, though we've never "officially" used it).

Shaw - We won't be discussing you inferior Gindin League sides. Hollywood sucks.

[DukeRulesMAB]

2003

2003 saw offense finally start to decline a bit league-wide. It was still high, but lower than 2001-2.

No major moves for Rockville this year. And everything was much the same. Willis was still the team's best hitter. The big 4 continued to steal a ton of bases, with Campanella again leading the league. Hitting teamwide was a bit down on the whole.

And once again, Danilo Jones was the Vaughan League Platinum pitcher, going 20-7, 3.04. By this point, he had more or less established himself as FOBL's best pitcher. Jones was also the team's lone All-Star. Unlike last year, he had some support on the staff, especially from the pen. Chamberlain won his first VL Fireman of the Year award, and the rest of the pen had good years as well. Defensively, the team was solid as always, with catcher Dee Jin taking home the team's first ever Gold Glove, somewhat overcoming his down year with the stick.

All in all, the team was about the same as usual, going 87-75, finishing in 3rd place in the Calzone.

Rockville 2003 Team Page


In the Calzone...

Pasadena had a bit of a bounceback year, going 61-101. There were two downsides to the season. First remember how they missed the #1 pick by two games the year before? Well it was the difference between they guy who went to Virginia and the guy who went to Pasadena. The other, lesser, downside, was that Pasadena got off to a hot start, and traded their 2004 first rounder for Swervin' Mervin Collins. Then Pasadena collapsed, and that first rounder turned into the 5th overall pick. Collins was fine for Pasadena. As for the 5th overall, we'll come back to that.

Greenbelt bounced back nicely from their down 2002. Mark Hurtado, sadly the main thing they got for Tiffany, had a great year, and for a brief moment took some of the crud off of that trade. The pitching also had a nice year, led by Octavio Epp and the return to excellence of closer Robert Papp. They finished 79-83, amazingly only good enough for 5th place.

Springfield was back to earth after their 2002. Predictably, some of their excellent 2002's did not repeat, and the pitching did not improve enough to overcome it. Elvis was still excellent, and young third baseman Tim Gerow brought some hitting. Just not enough pitching to get to closer Patricia Heckler (yes, there are female names in FOBL, all over it in fact), who had an excellent year. The team went 85-77, which was a disappointment considering 2002.

This year, Indianapolis rose up to challenge for the division title. In fact, they led the division much of the year, before a late season fade put them in their place. This year, the team was built on offense, as the team dealt Hoover for superstar first baseman William Remy. Predictably, Remy fell from his park-inflated Seminole stats, but he was still very good. Meanwhile, Robi and Guth had their typical great years. Matthew Hammond was brought in to get on base and steal bases, and he did exactly that. In the end, the pitching let them down, other than closer Walter Riley, but it was still a good season. They finished 92-70, 4 games out of the wild card.

Columbus fell apart and dropped 21 games from 2002. Of course, they still won 100 games and won the Calzone. For financial reasons, Rone and Maddux were gone, stripping the team of half of its up the middle prowess. They were replaced with heavily inferior replacements. The one major addition was Scott Stout, and on-base machine brought in during the Rone trade, but he was not enough to overcome the loss of the two stars. Still, they had more than enough to take the division. Gatton had 63 HRs and 180 RBIs, but wasn't even the best hitter on his team. That honor went to Berman, who had a .469 OBP, and took home the Vaughan League Silver Slugger award (goes to the best hitter in the league). Comerford, still just 23, tossed in a .300 average and a 30-30 season. The pitching didn't have the star performances of the prior year, but it was still very good. 100-62, and taking the division by 8 games was the end total. Despite all the downgrades, they still tied for the best record in the Vaughan League.

---------------

Despite having the best record, however, it was to be another disappointing playoffs. Capital City, after taking the Wild Card, dropped Columbus in 4 games. They then went on to take the Solecismic Series title, sweeping Wichita in 4 very close games. They were led by VL MVP Brian "Potatopants" Devinney and FOBL's most talented starting pitcher, Jorge Romriell.

Finally, late in the season, Rockville owner TDR resigned; a new owner took over right after the SS ended. Thus, the dynasty gets a little more interesting.

The 2003 Season

[Subby]

One wonders what would have happened had TDR really tried to improve that team. It had such a nice core, starting with Jones and Willis. While the Crocs/Cutthroats were certainly unbeatable, the WC was very available during those first three seasons...

[DukeRulesMAB]

2004

First off, one major rule change this year. We moved outside of OOTP3's suspect free agency process to FishWare, an auction software written by league member FishFan. When FishFan left the league, Scarecrow wrote a follow-up, FOBLWare, that we use to this far. Anyway, this new FA system did not affect Kentucky very much this year, but it would in the future.

Offense was back up nearly to 2002 levels this year, due to a league totals snafu. Offense would drop the following year, and finally get to a normal level for 2005, and onward.

Anyway, I took over the team at this point. When I received the team, it was at a crossroads. On one hand, it had been extremely successful. On the other hand, the team was old, and very highly paid. There was also only one player of note in the farm system: first baseman Russ Weeks. Because of the latter reasons, and a general urge to build the team to my own specs, I decided to rebuild the team and break up the former punks.

My strategy was amorphous at the time, as I had literally no experience with OOTP. I prefer walks and defense and pitchers with duration, but none of those to any sort of extreme. Mostly, I just want to have the best franchise I can get. The park was built to be a moderately strong pitcher's park.

It took no time at all for the destruction of the team to get going. Within the weekend, Danino Jones, Adam Chamberlain, and another old starting pitcher were gone to Utah. In return, we received a mess of picks and minor prospects, headed by the 5th overall pick in the 2004 draft. That's right, Pasadena's pick ended up right back where it could haunt them.

Next to go were Ralph Willis and Charles Sweeney, both to Montana after a marathon negotiating session. The primary return value was starting pitcher Bobbie Applegate (seen here as he was when I acquired him). Applegate was a young left-handed starting pitcher with outstanding duration and talent. His stats look bad, but remember the extremes of Seminole's park. He was actually quite good there, especially in 2002. He was even better in 2003 in Montana (another hitter's park). His one downside? He was injury prone. And not just kind of prone, but really prone. He had taken several long injuries already at this point, but a recurring theme for Kentucky has been not fearing the prone player. Applegate was the start of that, and he was the building block around which I would build my new team. (As an aside, Willis would go on to win the 2004 VL MVP, but would take part in a freak barfight following the 2005 season and never be the same again).

By the end of the offseason, Campanella was also gone, and Jin followed shortly after the season got underway. Very little of the Rockville core remained.

When the draft rolled around, I had 2 first rounders, including the #5 overall, a second, and a third. With those picks I took:

- Starting pitcher Bryce Fiqueroa, a righty with a broad base of skills
- Toolsy, but prone, outfielder Brian Humble
- Another defense first guy in infielder Edward Johnson
- And Michael Duval, a closer with intereting duration

While it doesn't look special now, it would turn out to be one of the best drafts in history. 3 would become superstars, and the fourth a very solid player. Unfortunately, 2 would do so elsewhere...tune in to find out.

We filled in with some ok players in free agency, and whatever was left over from Rockville, and went on into the season. Surprisingly, we came out hot. Addressing a perceived need on offense, we picked up Jeffry Renick in late May. When injuries and age started to creep into the rotation, we added Jonathan Martinez right at the deadline. Both of those Seminole pickups proved to be invaluable. Kentucky was right in the wild card race at the deadline, but in the end, we didn't have the talent. We limped to the finish line, but still finished a respectable 86-76, and second place in the Calzone. Considering we were predicted for 4th/5th place by almost everyone, including ourselves, coming into the year, that was quite the finish.

Leading the way on offense was a surprising candidate, firstbaseman/catcher Andrew Effird, who had the first .300 season in Kentucky history. McFarland and John Harper were strong, as were my short-side platoon duo, Timothy Estrada and Tracey Sanchez. Montana import Rafael Robinson was strong as well, and provided great defense in addition.

In the rotation, Applegate struggled, but he still led the rotation until Martinez came over, and was our lone All-Star.. Our defense was not particularly strong at this point, especially at shortstop, so that contributed. the pen was up and down, but was led by arguably our most valuable player for the year, Kevin Solem. Not only did he have a ludicrously low ERA considering the league, but he pitched 149 innings. Amazing season; he was completely hosed in the post-season awards, not that I am bitter. Free agent signee Carlos Matthews also helped out.

2004 Kentucky Roster

2004 Kentucky Win Shares (calculated by me, along with the rest of the league, after every year)

-----------------

Pasadena started to rebound. They acquired Brian Prins and Terrance Morales before the year, and both paid off. Thomas Tulley even set a record with 26 triples!Collins anchored the staff. They finished 77-85, and were clearly on the upswing. The one downside; they finally gave up on Beckles, sending him to Capital City for a mess of prospects and decent players, most of whom bloomed elsewhere.

Indianapolis, on the other hand, collapsed somewhat. The offense was still there, led by Robi and Remy, even butressed by several other nice years. The pitching went to shit though, and they finished 78-84, only a game out of last.

Greenbelt at this stage was pretty dull, but they got the job done with a 79-83 record. More importantly for my purposes, they firmly established themselves as a giant thorn in my side, by going 13-5 against Kentucky. Balbuena led a poten offensive attack in great hitter's park. Brent Barbosa was the leader of a pitching staff that was brutalized.

One game ahead of them was Springfield at 80-82. Out of Springfield and to Virginia were longtime stars Elvis Cianciolo and Maurice Young. In were a mess of picks and prospects, including what would turn into the #1 overall pick in the 2005 draft. Still the team help it together, getting a strong Rookie of the Year performance from Johnny Thaler, an "up" year from the inconsistant Davila, and a reasonable effort from staff ace Donn Summerville (one of the Virginia imports). As usual, though, not quite enough pitching to go with the typically solid hitting.

And then, of course, there is Columbus. Gatton won the Silver Slugger award, setting FOBL records with 68 homers and 212 RBI. The usual suspects had typical years, and David Tiffany had his long-awaited breakout year. The pitching side was not as strong, but it was more than enough. Columbus went 108-54, and was on complete cruise control the whole way.

----------------------------


...and then lost in the first round again, this time to Nor'Easter champs Utica. It was a really bad pattern by this point.

The 2004 FOBL Champs were none other than the Virginia Woodchucks. A true conglomerate of superstars, Virginia had a number of ex-Calzone names like Rone, Cianciolo, Stowers, and Young, along with original Woodchuck Mark Flakes, and GL Rookie of the Year (and 2002 #1 overall) Larry Goguen. Much like Columbus in 2001, they seemed prime to take a plethora of titles, with not only this collection of stars, but also a fabulous minor league system.

[DukeRulesMAB]

2005

2005 was the first season that was played in OOTP4. We also adopted a mandatory 5-man rotation starting this season. SPs became in hot demand leaguewide (and they were always in some demand, as FOBL at this point still had a strong pitching shortage, dating from the initial draft). This was also the year that leaguewide offense dropped to reasonable levels permanently.

The offseason got off to a rough start, for Kentucky, as we were unable to reach terms with Rafael Robinson and Ray Smitherman, one of the few remaining Rockville holdovers. We were also unable to move any of several large and cumbersome contracts, so the team went into free agency appearing to be deeper into rebuilding than the previous year. But the team then made its mark in free agency:

- Renick was brought back at a bargain price of 450K/year.
- Marvin Boehme was inked to provide his strong long-side play and defense at the hot corner.
- Walk-machine Matthew Hammond was stolen from division rival Indianapolis, fitting in with the team philosophy of defense and getting on base.
- And the biggest move, 22 year-old bonus baby Randy Walker was signed to a fat 3 year, 18 million dollar contract. He had been declared a free agent due to a little known OOTP function, and was in Kentucky management's view a must have. 22 year-olds with average, power, and patience talent do not go to free agency every day.

Finally, right before Opening Day, the team received the league's best relief pitcher, Robert "The Lover" Casanova in what amounted to a salary dump from division rival Columbus (more on the sequence of events that led to them getting him later). Due to what were anticipated to be extreme free agent demands, he went on the market quickly. About two months into the year, Casanova was dealt for what ended up being (after a couple quick deals) Richard Papadopoulos (who carried a much friendlier contract) and a 2nd round pick.

The team again got off to a decent, but unspectacular start. Management filled a massive hole at second by acquiring Jonathan Odom from Philadelphia. Shortly thereafter, the team made a huge move and got the second ace to match up with Applegate in Keith Kelley, a late bloomer from Long Beach. At the deadline, we were in the thick of the Wild Card race, and made the biggest in-season deal in the franchise's history, trading for slugging first baseman Ralph Teachout from the broken up Montana Monarchs. At least we thought it was a huge deal. Unfortunately, Teachout proceeded to lay an egg the last two and a half months, and the team faded from Wild Card contention. We finished 88-74, 10 games behind the Cap City Metropolitans (who were smoking hot late in the year).

On offense, the team was led by Hammond, who walked and stole his way to solid year (the stats look much worse than they really are, remember Kentucky's pitchers park). Two rookies took home the team's only awards, as Walker rode a decent year (and name value) to an All-Star berth, while Russ Weeks was named to the All-Rookie team at first base. Odom and Boehme were quite solid as well, but the latter was forced into full time duty by the lack of a decent short-side third-sacker, and it hurt his rate stats. But mangement's favorite player, and the team MVP, was short-side shortstop Christopher Escarcega. He couldn't play defense or hit righties to save his life, but all he did was absolutely crush left-handed pitching. Every time he came into the game to pinch hit and every time the opponent started a southpaw, we were comfortable, because he spent the entire year crushing them.

The pitching staff was a bit of a disappointment, but there were bright spots. Jonathan Martinez, despite being the least talented pitcher in the rotation, went 18-7, 3.82 to pace the staff. He would depart via free agency after the year, but his 1 and a half season in Kentucky will always be fondly remembered. Old-timer (and original Punk) James Wright had one last good season in him, as he was smoking hot down the stretch. Unfortunately, Applegate and Solem were massive disappointments, and PapaDop was even worse after coming in.

Kentucky's End of Season 2005 Roster

Kentucky's 2005 Win Shares

---------------------------

Indianapolis entered full rebuild mode, trading much of the talent on the team: Remy (Utica), Stitt and Finlay (Richmond), Riley (Greenbelt), and Sanders (Shreveport). Left over were Robi (who had by far his best year to date), Guth and amazing relief pitcher Chad Decarlo (177 relief innings?!?), but that was not nearly enough to compete. The team made a ton of cash, because they were so cheap, but they plumetted to the bottom of the Calzone, and finished 64-98.

Springfield did not have much to talk about during the year. Davila and Thaler had solid campaigns, but everyone else stunk. The team did have a mess of draft picks this year, though, and traded down to select uber-stud high schooler David Rasco with the 4th overall pick. They finished 74-88

2005 was a bit of a reversal of roles for Greenbelt, as they had pitching this year, led by staff mainstays Octavio Epp and Kentucky-killer Brent Barbosa, but did not have enough offense considering their hitter's park. Still nothing exciting in the system yet either. Like Springfield, they finished 74-88, but unlike them they did have have an exciting future, seemingly.

It was the best of time and worst of times in PasadenaPasadena. This was the year they made their move. Before the year, in came familiar name James Rone and famously injury-prone SP Steven Andujar. Then early in the year, they added the single best hitter in FOBL, Paul Pina. In late September, the Voodoo found themselves in serious Wild Card contention, and even threatening the 500 pound gorilla of the Calzone, the Columbus Cutthroats (remaned after 2002 by The Mike).

Then came SkatesGate. Voo may correct me if I have some of the details wrong. After a sim where Pasadena swept Kentucky and took 2 of 3 from Columbus, it was discovered that there was a problem with the sim. See, Gindin League President (and overall doof ) sjshaw was simming, when his cat unplugged the computer. There was a slight snafu in starting over, so after the sim was completed, it was discovered that parts of the game had included the obliterated games from the first attempt. With concerns for the validity of league statistics, and more importantly the stability of the league file (OOTP files were famous for having been corrupted in the past), it was decided to completely scrap that sim and do it again to be safe. This time, Kentucky swept Pasadena, Columbus took 2 of 3, and the Calzone title hopes (and soon the WC hopes) were gone.

It was truly a great year, as Pina, Morales, Prins, and Rone anchored the offense, while Andujar and Collins took care of the rotation and Silas Baxter controlled the pen. But this season will always be a question of what might have been. Pasadena limped to the finish after SkatesGate, finishing 90-72, 8 games out of the Wild Card, and only 2 games ahead of Kentucky for second.

Finally, there was Columbus. Before the year, Berman was sent to Montana (against whom he had hit the Shot Heard Round the World to win the 2001 VLCS). In return, the team got young strikeout artist David Meany, along with the afrementioned Casanova and a mess of draft picks. To help replace Berman's offense, Fred Jones was signed, and star shortstop James Frederick was acquired from Wichita.

Jones and Frederick both produced, while Gatton and Comerford had typically excellent years. Meanwhile, ex-Ice Weasel Paul Parker gave the team a staff ace performance for the team's first since 2002. After benefitting from SkatesGate, the team tore through the rest of the season, finishing 105-90, 15 games in first place.

-----------------------

And this time, they got out of the first round! They got some revenge against Utica, taking the series in 4. However, they were no match for a very solid Green Bay squad, who swept the Cutthroats in the VLCS, on the way to beating Durham for the title. Green Bay was led by an amazing pitching/defense, including three-headed staff aces Henry Cansler, Paul Pastore, and the ultimate underachiever (who came alive for the playoffs) Kenneth Schrupp. The team also featured the most valuable player in FOBL for the first 5 seasons of its existance, Barton Emrich.

The 2005 Season

[Voo]

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAR

[sachmo71]

Was this the league Hornsmaniac screwed up?

[DukeRulesMAB]

Nope, that one was RWBL. This league's about a year older than that.

[sachmo71]

Great! Carry on. I'll be watching from the shadows.

[DukeRulesMAB]

2006

Unlike the previous offseason, there were no pretenses of rebuilding in Kentucky. This was the year we wanted to make our move.

The first move of the offseason saw the depature of Teachout and Escarcega to Durham. Teachout was a bum for us, but trading Escarcega was tough. This was doable because we acquired Robert Banister from Hollywood. The main trading cog was Edward Johnson, one of the 4 guys from our initial draft. Johnson would develop into a rangy, error prone, OK hitter, no superstar, but a very useful player at shortstop. Banister, however, was what we believed to be the missing piece, a switch-hitting high range short stop, after two years of low range killing us there.

Next up, with Utah breaking up, we brought in two players. One was Carlo Lawler, a lefty on base machine. He played no defense, but we were willing to sacrifice a corner outfield spot to help the offense. The other was a faimilar name to franchise fans, as Adam Chamberlain returned to the closer role for the team that made him famous. Coming off of two solid years in Utah, we expected big things.

The final big acquisition before the 2006 season was Albert Blevins, who was the 3rd cog in our potential playoff rotation. We were confident enough in his ability to help us that we traded our entire 2007 draft, plus a little more, for him.

One final offseason note: With our only pick in the draft, we took switch-hitting singles hitter Freddie Richerson.

------------------------------------------------

The team got off to a good, not great, start. Halfway through the year, we were, as per usual, in the race, but certainly not doing all that well. Cap City had about a 6 game lead on us. At this point, I realized that Lawler, as great as he was, was killing me against left handed pitching. I started platooning him with Ben Palacios, and the team took off. I'm not silly enough to think that was the reason we took off, but I do believe that helped us win a couple extra games, between Palacios hitting well, and his improved defense.

The team went on a tear, finally going up several games, with the last week of the season on the horizon. Applegate had gotten himself hurt the previous Saturday, but that would be no big deal, we figured. The bigger problem was that a couple weeks earlier, Blevins had suffered a career ending injury. So much for that great playoff rotation, but we were still in good shape for making it, right?

Wrong. Indianapolis and our old, hated, rival Greenbelt Gophers combined to go 5-1 against us. Cap City played just well enough to tie up the Wild Card, and we ended the season all knotted up at 98-64. Even worse, starting the game for us was mid-season acquisition Herbert Ebert. He had been picked up midseason when James Wright finally succombed to age, and proceeded to suck out loud for the rest of the year. Sadly, he was the best rested pitcher when the playoff game came about.

Despite this, Ebert pitched well, keeping the game close, but Cap City's Donald Mays was even better. The Metropolitans took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the 8th, but a Boehme single and a Banister 2-run home run tied the game in dramatic fashion. The Kentucky pen pitched a combined 4 scoreless innings, and in the bottom of the 10th, Ben Palacios hit a solo home run to send Kentucky to its first playoffs!

There, we met the defending FOBL Champion Green Bay EZ Riders. We were at a disadvantage, as Applegate would miss the first 3 games of the series. We lost the first two games in Green Bay, but Clarence Plotkin pulled a miracle out of his ass in Game 3, and Applegate returned triumphantly to win Game 4 with 8 2/3 1 run innings. Alas, it was not to be, as Green Bay's Paul Pastore completely shut us down for the second time in the series, and we lost Game 5 3-2.

'Twas a great year in Kentucky, though. Applegate exploded, going 18-5, 2.53 to lead the team. Kelley and Blevins were also predictably excellent. Chamberlain anchored the pen in his return after a rough start of the season.

Offensively, there were many stars. Lawler was always on base, bargain FA pickup catcher Billy Meece was arguably the team's most valuable player, and Walker / Weeks both had standout sophomore campaights. Meece and Applegate both were named All-Star reserves, and I was named Vaughan League Manager of the Year. All in all, it was a fabulous season for the Juggernaut.


The 2006 Kentucky Juggeraut

2006 Kentucky Win Shares

--------------------------

Greenbelt finally hit bottom in 2006. After years of treading water, the finances were close to a disaster, so long time favorites like Epp and Balbuena were shipped out. Except for Jonathan Vila, the team had a miserable year, finished 60-102, and last place in the Calzone.

Indianapolis thought they were still going to be bottom feeding in 2006. Didn't happen. Rookie starting pitcher Roderick Pickens came out of the gate playing very well. Pedro Boone, who was acquired in a trade for Claud Guth in an effort to get Indy younger, had a big second half. And Chad Decarlo had another amazing year in relief. Indy finished 78-84, with good young players on the horizon, and was ready to make their move.

FOBL's most famous, and arguably best, player arrived in the Calzone in 2006, as Darrell Behm was acquired by Pasadena in a deal that shipped Rone out of town. It was the move that was supposed to push the Voodoo into the playoffs, but it just did not happen. Behm had a sub-par year by his very high standards, and the pitching after Collins and Chet Brooking was simply miserable. Pina and Prins still brought the noise, and mid-season acquisition Steven Ruf was an OBP machine, but again, it was not enough. Pasadena actually dropped 7 games from the prior year, and finished 83-79.

The first FOBL ownership change in two seasons occurred before the 2006 campaign, as long time friend of FOBL, Drake, took over the Springfield Renegades and rennamed them the Boston Pagans (a natural rivalry with the Voodoo, eh?). The team responded well to the new owner, as they spent 2006 hitting the tar out of the ball. Davila put together the best year of his career, and Thaler was yet again very good. On the pitching end, young enigmatic starter Jack Thorsen put together a pretty nice campaign, and longtime closer Patricia Heckler closed things up. The only reason the Pagans were unable to make a move? The underachieving of young starters Carl Curlee and 20 year-old ex-#4 overall David Rasco. The Pagans finished a very nice 85-77, but safely out of the playoff race.

2006 was Columbus's least active year in a while. The only major move was trading an injured Grasso for HOFer (who was now pretty damn old) Danilo Jones. Other than that, a typical Columbus year. Tiffany was Silver Slugger and MVP. Ben was Platinum Pitcher with a ludicrous 25-3 record. Fred Jones and Gatton also brought the offense. They finished 104-98, first place by 6 games, though it was never really very close. Kentucky closed the gap late.

--------------------------

It was yet another disappointing post-season in a series of disappointments for Columbus, as Utica beat them in 5 games in the Division Series. That was the second time in 3 years Utica had knocked them out.

The Solecismic Series was a rematch of 2005, but this time, Durham came out on top. Lots of familiar Calzone names on this squad, like Rone, Teachout, Sweeney, and Guth, and the team was led by ace starting pitcher Jorge Romriell (who came over to Durham immediately after his 2003 championship in Cap City) and Durham's favorite son Gary Frances.

Kentucky ownership was very happy for Durham, moreso than usual. Why? Because the walk-off home run to win Game 5 and the title was hit by a familiar name to Kentucky fans. Christopher Escarcega.

2006 FOBL

[DukeRulesMAB]

2007

After the great success of 2006, it was time for Kentucky to break up some. We had a good team, a playoff contender, but it was getting old, and about to get more expensive. While we could have put everything into another year, that was never the plan in Kentucky. We always want to be decent, and never have to do a total rebuild.

Blevins was already gone, due to his career ending injury. Next, Kelley and Meece went to Philly, primarily for stud left-handed pitching prospect Roscoe Palazzolo. Lawler, Boehme, and Ebert all also departed for mid-low draft picks, while Odom left via free agency. In their place was a motley crew of defensive studs with no bats, and starting pitchers who no one wanted. We buckled down for a tough year.

A tough year that never came. We got off to a suprisingly good start. Then as Boston was struggling, a huge trade fell into our laps. We traded 3 prospects, including Brian Humble and our 2008 first round pick for starting pitchers Carl Curlee and Jack Thorsen. We had long lusted after Thorsen and his amazing duration, but Curlee was a true gift. With 3 really strong starting pitchers, and a fabulous defense, the team was amazing in run prevention. The truth is that we were never in truly serious playoff contention, but a team that was projected to win about 70 games going into the year went 95-67, finished with the 5th best record in the VL, 4 games out of the Wild Card.

As expected, pitching and defense was the hallmark of the team. Applegate was amazing, going 22-4, 2.82, then made the All-Star team and 2nd Team All-FOBL. Chamberlain also made the All-Star team and won the VL Fireman of the Year (his second) with 47 saves and a 2.82 ERA. But the glue to hold together the bullpen was Michael Duval. You may remember him as our 3rd round pick from our first draft. By the time he reached the majors this year, he was the second most talented relief pitcher in FOBL. He did not disappoint, giving 110 high quality relief innings. Defensively, Banister, James Okane, and Shon Washington all won Gold Gloves. The latter two could not hit their way out of a paper bag, but they were slick with the leather.

Offensively, there were very few highlights. Banister was very solid, and team MVP. Hammond was nearly the team's 4th Gold Glove winner and was always on base. But Weeks and especially Walker took significant steps back. The highlight was probably again a short-sider, as unheralded free agent pickup Michael Ruelas was a beast against lefties.

While 2006 was the best year in franchise history, this was the most satisfying year. 95 wins with a makeshift team, with star prospects on the horizon? It was looking good in Kentucky.

The 2007 Kentucky Juggernaut

2007 Kentucky Win Shares

---------------------------------------

Greenbelt continued to hit bottom. The sole bright spot was Julian Barthel showing signs of being able to replace team favorite Balbuena at catcher. However, former ace Brent Barbosa was a shell of his former self by the end of the year, and Papp completely bottomed out. They finished 61-101, and had to settle for another high draft pick.

Boston got off to a rough start, and jettisoned lots of talent, including former 1(4) David Rasco. Rasco would eventually take two season ending injuries, and lose talent; as of this time he's still around, but it seems he will never live up to his high expectations. What was left was not a very good squad, especially as Davila had a down year. On the postive side, Thaler continued to hit the ball well, and rookie starting pitcher Jospeh Riley showed some interesting flashes of talent. Just not enough offense, though. They won only 71 games and finished 5th.

Pasadena began their rebuild. Long gone were Behm and Prins by the time the season started, and Collins followed by the deadline. What was left was Paul Pina and a lot of leftovers. Of course, Pina was firmly establishing his credentials as the best player in FOBL history by this point, so he could carry a team a long way. William Outen gave the team some pop at shortstop, and Ruf was still an on-base machine, but the pitching was way gone by this point. Pina almost single-handedly got the team its 75 wins.

One of the shortest and most successful rebuilds in FOBL history paid off in 2007 for Indianapolis. The team traded for the eventual VL Rookie of the Year, Peter Smitherman before the year, and he combined with Pickens and Larry Peppers to form one of the most potent top 3 SPs in FOBL. James Rone returned to the Calzone yet again, for his 3rd team, and was a monster yet again. Robi and Boone provided the offensive support, and Chad Decarlo gave the team one last great year from the pen before a freak late season accident crushed his once formidable talent. Indy went 99-63, and won the Wild Card for their first ever playoff berth.

Columbus went 106-56, and won the division, but that was the least of the news surrounding them this season.

First, in the offseason, they sent Tiffany and a fleet of picks and prospects to Virginia for Pat Gordon and Larry Goguen, then sent Goguen to Dakota for Andy Gonzalez and a new fleet of prospects. At the time, it appeared this would cement Columbus into the future, but in reality, this was the first of two major moves that would end the Columbus dynasty. When Gordon and Gonzalez hit their paydays, they made a whole lot more than Tiffany and those prospects sent to Virginia would be making. It did not help that several of the former Columbus prospects became big stars, while none of the new Columbus prospects have really done much of anything.

In happier offseason news, the team acquired Jorge Romriell, a.k.a. the best pitcher in FOBL. All he did was go 21-2, set the FOBL ERA record, and take VL Platinum Pitcher.

But the biggest shock happened once the season started: The Mike resigned as owner. Scarecrow took over, and bowing to tradition kept the team in Columbus, but re-named it the Crows. More tragedy struck soon thereafter, as reigning Platinum Pitcher Kevin Ben took a crushing injury and would never be the same.

Still, the team had more than enough to take the Calzone. Gordon was a monster, as was Romi, and returners like Gatton and Patrick Crumbley pitched in. They took first place handily.

---------------------------

Indy did not last long in their first post-season, getting swept quickly by Utica. But Columbus was able to exorcise some post-season demons by sweeping Green Bay, then taking out the nemesis Wombats in 5 games in the VLCS.

But it was not to be, as the Crows lost the Solecismic Series in 5 games to Hollywood. The Media Whores, despite their doof of an owner, had an amazing team led by Solecismic Series MVP Tony "HYPE" Ehmann, and supported by such FOBL stars as Mark Smolen, Mohammed "Jihad" Amann, Isidro Ehlers and Steve Chastain.

FOBL 2007

[sjshaw]

Number of SS rings owned by "doof" vs. rings owned by Duke

1-0

Doof vs. Duke, head-to-head

1-0

Who is the doof again?

[RealDeal]

Shawsucks Redemption

[DukeRulesMAB]

Only a doof would latch onto what was largely an exhibition tournament for head-to-head results. Say, how has HOL done since 2007?

(Note to others reading this, this is what we like to call "lawyer-smack" in FOBL )

[Thomkal]

:::sniff::: Albert Blevins :::sniff::: You'd think Kentucky management would swear off Poughkeepsie pitching after that disaster wouldn't you?

[DukeRulesMAB]

Haha...actually, I have no hard feelings about Blevins, he pitched very well for my up till the injury.

[Frozenrope]

That's some great read, there, Duke!

This FOBL must be some kind of league. Look forward to reading more

[DukeRulesMAB]

2008

Coming off of our very successful 2007, we went into the offseason hoping to make a big move. And it happened, just not the way it was expected.

The draft class of 2008 was one of the best in history at the top, with 5 legitimate hitting studs, the best of which were catchers Harvey Adkins and first baseman Arthur Shaeffer. Adkins was taken second overall, but due to some critical mistakes in picking, Shaeffer was still available at 1(5). We struck, trading Curlee and a couple minor draft picks to acquire the pick, and Shaeffer. This was not something that would help us for 2008, but it certainly would make a great long-term impact.

Our moves to improve the team for 2008 itself were pretty conservative. The most important acquisition was the return of Claud Guth to the Calzone. In Indy, Durham, and Green Bay he hasd continued to be one of FOBL's best hitters, a switch-hitting on base machine. We considered him the missing link to our offense. We were also desperate at second base, so we made a sentimental free agent signing, bringing back Marvin Boehme to long-side.

But the most important addition of 2008 was to be from in-house, as my team's first ever draft pick, Bryce Fiqueroa was ready to go. He looked even better at this point than he did when he was drafted, and he certainly would not disappoint, setting a rookie wins record, and going 21-7, 2.55. He was named to the All-Star team, the All-Rookie Team, and was Vaughan League Rookie of the Year.

The team spent most of the year in the wild card or division slot, but started to fade at midseason. With that in mind, we made two major moves to bolster the offense. First, were traded our bounty from the Kelley trade, Roscoe Palazzolo, and orginal franchise draftee Kevin Solem to the hated Media Whores for Steve Chastain and Byron Mauzy. Chastain was a low average, switch-hitting catcher with power and patience, while Mauzy was a middle reliever with more talent than Solem, but who had underachieved of late. Of course, he was playing for Hollywood, can you blame him?

The second move was to acquire aging lefty slugger Brian Prins from Milwaukee. Prins crushed right-handed pitching, a major team weakness of ours. He was a bit error prone in the field, but how much could that really hurt us? (Tune in to find out)

The trades worked out beautifully, as Chastain and Prins combined for 31 home runs and both had over .500 slugging percentages over the last two and a half months. Mauzy was very effective, posting a 2.87 ERA for us, and even slipping into the closer's role late. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the team stopped playing. And once again, we couldn't beat Greenbelt as much as we should have. By the last week, our fate had been sealed, and we finished 94-68, 4 games out of the Wild Card.

Once again, we were led by our pitching, as Fiqueroa was joined by Applegate to be dual All-Stars and Platinum Pitcher candidates, until Applegate faded badly late. We also got amazing production out of the 5th slot with Clarence Plotkin going 8-4, 3.41. The bullpen was more of a mixed bag. Duval put up 124 awesome innings (2.09 ERA), but was injured for 6 weeks during the critical post-break period. Papadopoulos was unhittable for most of the year, becoming our third All-Star pitcher of the season, but also became mortal down the stretch. But most damning, Chamberlain collapsed, posting over a 4.00 ERA, and pissing me off until he was finally pulled from the closer role (albeit too late).

Offensively, it was a very disappointing season. Guth put up career worst numbers. Weeks hit 17 home runs, but did very little else. But the final straw was a terrible first 2/3 of the season by Randy Walker. This resulted in a comically mishandled (largely by OOTP) attempt to platoon him; he eventually got his stroke back late, but it was too late, his time was up in Kentucky.

We only won one less game than we did the year before, but it was a much, much worse season. We spent more money, and had much higher expectations. This was the first year I truly felt we had underachieved. Changes would be coming.

2008 Kentucky Juggernaut

2008 Kentucky Win Shares

-------------------------------

Pasadena started a major rebuild, trading almost every player of worth on the roster, including Ruf and Outen. They finished 56-106, way into last place. But ownership was still thrilled, as team favorite Paul Pina cemented his status as the best player in FOBL history with the best season in FOBL history. .362/.459/.686, 54 HRs, 134 RBIs on a bad team in a very average offensive era, this was by all standards the best offensive season FOBL has seen. He won VL Silver Slugger, and was probably robbed of VL MVP due to his crappy teammates.

Greenbelt started their climb back up to mediocity with a 77-85 campaign. Their big accomplishment was, as per usual, winning too many games (in this case 9, half of them) against Kentucky. The team was led by 3rd-year catcher Julian Barthel and singles hitting first baseman Willis Galiano.

Boston had a torrid first half of the season, even leading the Calzone most of the way. They rode a ridiculously strong 1-run record to this, and their pythagorean record predicted a second half downfall. It inevitably came, and they finished 80-82, well out of contention. Sophomore Joseph Riley was the team's star, winning tons of games in the first half, and not dying in the second. Offensively, the usual suspects, Davila and Thaler led the way. Particularly notable for Drake was the acquisition of his favorite player, Walter Crow, from Minnesota.

The biggest Calzone news was that it finally happened: Columbus was dethroned. Though it was unrelated to this year, the second thing that would bring down Columbus happened in the pre-season. Fresh off their VL title, and his Platinum Pitcher campaign, Romriell was inked to a thoroughly ridiculous 60M/5 years contract. The salary wasn't the ridiculous part, but to give a 34 year old 5 years? He became immediately untradable, and would eat up too many financial resources for a long time. Romi had a good season, 2.28 ERA, but was hurt late and just didn't provide enough value.

The other shocker was management sending Columbus-lifer Carlos Gatton to Seminole after a slow start, getting mainly singles hitter Toby Folger in return. Folger was a lot cheaper but a major downgrade. Some bad luck also hit the franchise, as its closer from day one, Patrick Crumbley had his career cut short by a major injury.

Despite all of these problems, the team still made the playoffs, largely because their offense was still great, led by Gordon and Comerford, as well as a breakout year from youngster Manny Diaz. They finished 98-64, great for most franchises, terrible for them, but it was good enough for second place and the Wild Card.

They were relegated to that spot because, for the first time in the 8 season of FOBL, they were dethroned from the top of the Calzone. And it was Indianapolis that did it. The team made two big inseason moves, bringing ex-Kentucky star Keith Kelley back to the Calzone to shore up an already incredible rotation, and trading for ancient, but still productive, slugger Joaquin Broomfield. The rotation was the key though, as Kelley was only 3rd best, behind last year's Rookie of the Year/This year's Platinum Pitcher Peter Smitherman and his counter part Roderick Pickens. Combined, they went 40-11, and had a ERA around 2.60. Offensively, the team was of course led by Robi (in a down year for him), as well as the declining but still effective James Rone. Indy went 101-61, taking the first Calzone crown by anyone not named Columbus.

---------------------

And they promptly made sure that everyone knew they were the new rulers of the Calzone by dismissing Columbus from the playoffs in 5 games. The VLCS was against a strong Trenton team, led by MVP John Johnson, but Indy was able to ride their staff to a 7 game victory, putting a Calzone team in the Solecismic Series for the second straight year.

Unfortunately, a Calzone team then lost the SS for the second straight year, as Santa Cruz beat the Ice Weasels in 6 games. Santa Cruz was a balanced team, led the super talent with an ordinary name, Joe Smith. The team also featured original team members Harry Mayer and Joan Cross. The series MVP was another familiar Calzone name, Donnell Parker, who won his first SS MVP award in 2001 for Columbus, then won his second this year.

2008 FOBL

[RealDeal]

He won VL Silver Slugger, and was probably robbed of VL MVP due to his crappy teammates.

Actually Pina wasn't robbed so much by his teammates, as by the collective brain cramp of the FOBL owners. I say this as someone who has no connection with Pina, but that was one of the worst award votes in FOBL history.

[PineTar]

The "V" in MVP is for VALUE. The Voodoo were a last place team with or without Pina, very little value added in that regard.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Simms]

Originally posted by PineTar
The "V" in MVP is for VALUE. The Voodoo were a last place team with or without Pina, very little value added in that regard.

Amen.

Jaw-dropping offensive performances get rewarded with the Silver Slugger award. He won that. There were likely several players (of whom Trenton's Johnson was certainly one) who were FAR more valuable to his team.

Just because MLB sportswriters are too stupid to vote with that in mind doesn't mean I'm not. (Admittedly, they are handicapped by not having a prestigious offensive award to fall back on, as we do.)

[RealDeal]

Pina was more valuable than Johnson, and shouldn't have been punished for the shitty teammates surrounding him, which of course a fake player doesn't control. Pina won an assload of games singlehandedly for that shitty team.

Instead of giving Johnson the award, we should have just given it to his teammates. They won the award, not Johnson, because Johnson wasn't in the same universe as Pina that year:

I would assume that being "valuable" means your performance translates into the most wins. Luckily, we have win share stats for the season. Win shares factor in the whole package, including defense, where Johnson would have a natural advantage. (sarcasm on) I'm sure Johnson was at least close to Pina... (sarcasm off)

Pina 48 WS
Johnson 35 WS

Oops. Johnson wasn't even close.

I've seen the same thing the last couple of years with Bonds: when a player is so incredibly, historically good as Pina was, voters tend to outthink themselves. The last two years when Bonds was head and shoulders better than everyone, you would still see articles where writers would try to figure out who was more "valuable," basically looking for excuses not to vote for the guy who was the no-brainer MVP.

We vote every year for awards. Some I agree with, some I dont, but that was the single most egregious award error in FOBL history.

[Marmel]

Hey, is the FOBL forum broken or something?

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Marmel
Hey, is the FOBL forum broken or something?

I think this must be part of a membership drive.

(good read duke)

[Malificent]

Plus, what's the fun in doing this on our own forum? We know all of this already...

[Marmel]

Originally posted by Fritz
I think this must be part of a membership drive.

(good read duke)

They are like the Mormons. They go house to house (or forum to forum) selling their story.

[Simms]

Originally posted by RealDeal
I would assume that being "valuable" means your performance translates into the most wins.

No, being "valuable" means being the single biggest difference-maker for a given team. It means being the person whom, if you took him off his team, would have the greatest effect on the success (or lack thereof) of that team.

When it comes to MVP, I couldn't give a flying fuck about win shares. They look nice and I appreciate the effort Duke puts into them, but so what? Pina had an offensive year for the ages. He put up ungodly numbers. Nobody's arguing with that. But you know what? He was duly honoured for his achievements -- he was named (probably be a large vote margin), hands-down, the best hitter in the league that year. He won the Silver Slugger award. *golf clap*

But if you take him off that Pasadena team, they're a 40-win team instead of a 56-win team. Big whoop. On the other hand, take Johnson away from Trenton, and they don't even sniff the playoffs. *That's* being valuable.

I don't recall, but I would be willing to bet that Pina didn't even get so much as a 3rd place vote from me for MVP. And you can cry about it being "egregious" and a travesty of justice all you want, but the fact that he didn't win leads me to believe that of those who voted, there are more people who disagree with you than agree.

And if good offensve numbers and win shares are all it takes to be "valuable", then what's the point in having two different awards (MVP and SS)?

[Malificent]

What irks me is the writers and such who say:

A) "he's not on a good team, so he's not deserving of the MVP"
AND
B) "his team was so good, they didn't really need him"

leaving the MVP to become the "Best Player who played on a Marginal Playoff Team"

[Frozenrope]

Originally posted by DukeRulesMAB
He won VL Silver Slugger, and was probably robbed of VL MVP due to his crappy teammates.

What they said; plus he's a DH. Laziest position in sports. Silver Slugger, no problem. MVP? Nope.

[Bing]

Pina as Player of the Year? No question

Pina as MVP? Not a chance in hell.

[DukeRulesMAB]

Simms sez:

And if good offensve numbers and win shares are all it takes to be "valuable", then what's the point in having two different awards (MVP and SS)?

MVP includes positional value and defense. Both of which Pina produced zero of as a DH, of course, but when you lead offense by that much, you're the MVP.

And I agree with Mali; should Johnson have not won MVP the next year (2009) because his team won the division by about 20 games? If he'd spent the entire year hitting .000 and taking naps while playing defense, Trenton still would have made the playoffs. Does that somehow make him less valuable? Similarly, Pina could have gone 1.000/1.000/4.000 and Pasadena wouldn't have been within 20 games of the playoffs, but would that not be the most valuable player in the league?

Seems to me the "popular" method of voting redefines the award to be "Most Valuable Player with good teammates". Oh yeah, and MVP's going to players on bad teams is not unprecendented in FOBL (see: Reedy, 2005).

Fritz - Thanks for the compliment! Part of the idea is showing off the league to others, but most of it is a) I'm a dork, and b) I'm bored.


Everyone else reading - Yep, this is our league. We're lame enough that we're still arguing over awards two season after the fact. It's pretty fun.

[RealDeal]

The reason there were two awards was to differentiate best hitter from a player who didn't hit quite as well (or a pitcher) whose defensive or pitching contribution made him more valuable overall.

In this case, the two awards gave people an excuse to give Johnson an award he didn't deserve.

Johnson got credit for his defense in WS calculations, and Pina didn't get credit. Nonetheless, Pina was 13! WS better. Pina was as much better than Johnson, even factoring in defense, as Gregory McIntosh was better than Clyde Nieburh that year!!!

When it's close, I think you can fudge it for the guy who played in the field or the guy on a playoff team, but these two guys weren't even close to each other. That's why the 2008 MVP was an embarassing travesty.

[Daimyo]

I agree with RealDoll.

[DukeRulesMAB]

2009

The post-2008 offseason saw the most controversial change in FOBL history take effect (it was actually voted in after 2006, but the lag time didn't have it starting until this point). Seasons of unhappiness with OOTP's extensions led to the adoption by the narrowest of margain of a new system of restricted free agency. Basically, all players go the open market, but those who a team wants to keep are sent to RFA (in exchange for some guarantees being made about salary by the team), which is an auction just like normal free agency, except that after the auction has ended a team may "match" a player's highest offered salary with some discounts.

This year's RFA, prices were generally lower than expected, and 2 of Kentucky's 3 RFAs came in well under expected salary. Steve Chastain signed a ridiculously low contract for less than 5 million a year (had we not dealt for him at midseason, we were prepared to offer 10 million for him in RFA), while Byron Mauzy signed a nice, cozy 2.8M/year deal. The bidding got out of hand, though, on the 3rd RFA: Jack Thorsen ended up getting nearly 6 million per season, well more than he was worth in the eyes of Kentucky ownership. However, the team couldn't acquire another SP before having to make a decision on him, so the team put much of its Chastain/Mauzy "savings" into re-inking Thorsen.

Aside from the RFA doings, the team only made one major offseason move, but it was a biggie. The first trade of the offseason was a 3-way deal between Des Moines, Davenport, and Kentucky; the second was a follow-up between Kentucky and the hated Media Whores. In the end, Kentucky finally gave up on Randy Walker, sending him, some picks, and some cash, and receiving Carl Sletten in return. Sletten was among the best defensive right fielders in FOBL, and had a very underrated bat due to spending most of his productive years in the two most extreme pitching parks in FOBL (Green Bay and Davenport). Also attractive to us was his "loyal" rating, meaning we would get a substantial discount on him in the next season's RFA.

The team got off to a decent start, and added a very strong 4th pitcher in Utah's Augustus Gerace at the end of April. He improved greatly at a relatively advanced age, but spent much of the year growing into his new-found talent, and was much more of a factor at the end of the year than the middle.

At this point, disaster struck. First, management's second favorite player, Robert Banister, went out for the season. We decided to move rangy, but error-prone Brian Prins to short, figuring it would be easier to get a third baseman in trade. And shortly thereafter, the team traded for Clyde Tokarz to man the hot corner. He was expected to be average, didn't manage that, but at least was ludicrously cheap.

Then, around a month later, came the darkest day in franchise history. Bobbie Applegate, our first major acquisition and favorite player, was off to a slow start due to a very early injury, but seemed to be rounding into form. But in early June, he was injured, and became our second star out for the season. It became clear rather quickly that he would never be the same, and in fact would be a sub-average pitcher when he was able to do so again. We couldn't complain much: He was a prone pitcher with a history of injuries. Still it was a crushing psychological blow to see the franchise's greatest player struck down so early in his career.

The team was a mediocre team for a while after that, but was helped greatly by no other VL team stepping up in the Wild Card chase. In August and September, we heated up, dominating the last round of inter-divisional play, and doing well enough in the final go around in-division. Even another mediocre year against Greenbelt couldn't hold us back: we went 96-66, and took the Wild Card by 3 games over Montana. (Note: Playoffs down below the division run-through; believe me you'll want to read. )

This was not our strongest starting pitching year (as you might expect with Applegate contributing almost nothing). Gerace was largely ineffective, and Fiqueroa had something of an sophomore slump. The staff highlights were Jack Thorsen (with his fat wallet, 12 complete games, and 4 shutouts), and someone who we'd never have expected. We picked up Derek "Druken" Sailor to serve as an emergency starter, and someone to spot against lefty-heavy teams. He played that role to perfection, going 5-0, 2.48 in 8 starts. Doesn't seem like much maybe, but considering who would have gotten those starts in his absense, it is not a stretch to say he won us the Wild Card.

As bad as the starting staff was, the bullpen was awesome. Duval firmly established himself as a major FOBL force, pitching nearly 120 ridiculously great innings. He made the All-Star team, and was voted 1st Team All-FOBL. Meanwhile, Mauzy was excellent as closer, piling up 39 saves with a good ERA, while Papadopoulos and the last remaining original Rockville player, Raymundo O'Neill provided support for Duval in middle relief.

The calling card of this team, though, was on offense. More specifically, 2009 saw the return of the franchise to the stolen base, for the first time since the team was sold to me. Star rookie Freddie Richerson got on base (.387 OBP), stole bases (45 steals), and even improved his defense. Star import Sletten hit for average, patience, and power (considering our pitcher's park), played great defense, and stole a team record 53 bases. In total, the team led the FOBL in steals, and did so at an extremely efficient 75% rate.

There was more to the offense than just speed, though. Chastain showed just how much of a bargain his contract was by becoming the first 30 home run man in Kentucky history. And Russ Weeks had a breakout season (in his contract year, of course), setting career highs in homers, runs, OBP, and slugging.

It was an amazing regular season; to overcome not one by two crushing season-ending injuries with neither the money nor the trading capital to replace them as they should have been was an amazing task. I also won my second VL Manager of the Year award (albeit one I likely didn't deserve) More importantly, we made the playoffs, and Hollywood didn't.

2009 Kentucky Juggernaut

2009 Kentucky Win Shares

--------------------------------

Pasadena retained Pina in RFA, but thought better of it at midseason, and traded him to Trenton. What was left? Pretty much nothing at that point. You may recall how bad they were last season; without Pina, it really got bad: 44-118. They tied for the worst record in FOBL, but lost the coin flip with Utah for the #1 pick. It was not nearly as crushing of a decline from 1 to 2 this time at least.

Greenbelt continued their mediocre ways, going 73-89, and getting 5th. But astute watchers saw signs of a turnaround incoming. Strikekout prone (he set an FOBL record), but powerful rookie Desmond Lorenz made his debut to some success. Barthel continued to be very effective behind the plate. And the team had some interesting minor league prospects. Most importantly though, the team had a nice stash of cash, and a very low payroll, meaning additions would be relatively easy. Definately a team on the rise.

Boston's terrible 2008 second half carried over into 2009, and they only won a disappointing 76 games. Davila had his best year by a huge margin, but the rest of the offense flopped. Even the normally reliable Thaler has his worst season. The team tried to shore up its pitching staff by acquiring 2008 GL Platinum Pitcher Steven Andujar and 2006 GL Rookie of the Year Ossie Anthony from Hollywood, but it was for naught, as the team limped to a 4.71 ERA. Still, there was a lot of talent in the minors, so this was another team to watch into the future.

The collapse finally came for Columbus, as after a simply awful start, upcoming RFAs Gonzalez and Gordon were shipped elsewhere, with the team only dumping some bad salaries as compensation. Before the year, it looked like the old Columbus magic was back, as the squad picked up three-time GL Platinum Pitcher Lester Olson and big time middle relief prospect Von Bench for very little, but it was just not to be. Without Gatton, the offense was limp, especially after several players underperformed, led byJames Frederick. Romriell started showing signs of age with a bad season for him (and especially for 12 million dollars), and besides him and Olson, the staff was awful. Not only did the team miss the playoffs for the first time, but they finished under .500 for the first time. 79-83 and third place. (Note: This left only 3 franchises with winning records in all 9 FOBL seasons: Virginia (led by pantsless genius Subby), Green Bay (led by reclusive genius ez), and, of course, Rockvile/Kentucky).

Indianapolis's offense declined with the inability to replace the departing James Rone, but still they had enough pitching to drag the team to a 98-64 record, and first in the Calzone. For the second straight year, the Platinum Pitcher came out of Indy, with Pickens taking a close race, despite only making 28 starts. Kelley led the VL in wins, while Smitherman was still excellent and Peppers was the best 4th starter in FOBL. Offensively, the team had just enough, led by Robi (duh), Des Moines import Ross Heater and the retiring Broomfield, having one last good season in a Hall of Fame career.

------------------------------

The first round of the VL playoffs saw Indy matched up against Trenton in a rematch of the 2008 VLCS, and Kentucky playing against an old nemesis, the Dola champ Green Bay EZ Riders, in a rematch of our only previous playoff series. The bad news: Chastain would miss the whole series with an injury that wouldn't allow him to play until late in the VLCS if we could make it that far without him.

After we took the first game, Green Bay struck back to take games 2 and 3. After Green Bay took a 9-1 lead after 5 innings in game 4, the series looked beyond over. We never said die, though. Kentucky erupted for 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th, capped by a 3-run double by Chastain's replacement Hugo Neu (who came over in my first ever trade, the Jones/Chamberlaim/Fiqueroa swap). Green Bay got one back in the 8th to take a 10-6, lead, then Hammond hit a 2-run homer and Sletten sac flied home Neu to bring it to 10-9 going to the ninth inning. Duval shut down the EZ Riders, then offseason unrestricted free agency signing Eric Kuiper singled home Prins, who had doubled, to tie the game! In the 10th, Mauzy got us out of a jam, then we took advantage of some odd substitution patterns in the 11th, as Green Bay brought in a lefty to face Sletten and a righty to face Weeks. Predictably, both singled, with Weeks' scoring Richerson to win the game 11-10! It was one of the best games in FOBL history.

Green Bay's spirit was broken, and we routed them 8-1 in Game 5 to take the series, behind two homers from Prins and one from Weeks. We were headed to the VLCS! Our opponent would be a familiar face: The Indianapolis Ice Weasels, who had beaten Trenton in 5 games.

Game 1 went to Kentucky 5-2, behind a strong performance by Fiqueroa. Game 2 went similarly, 5-1, with Thorsen going 7 2/3 3 hit innings, and with Sletten, Weeks, and Kuiper homering. The scene shifted to Kentucky for Game 3, but Indy regrouped, with Broomfield hitting a 2 run homer and Kelley pitching well to take a 4-2 win. Fiqueroa, Duval, and Papdopoulos combined to shut out Indy in Game 5, but Smitherman took a hammer to us in Game 5, putting the series at 3-2. Back in Indianapolis, Gerace paid for the high draft pick we spent on him: 7 2/3 5 hit, 1 run innings leading to a 3-1 Kentucky win. We were going to the Solecismic Series!

There we would meet the Seminole Honkies. They had struggled through a long season of injuries and such, but one could not let their 99-63 record fool you. This was probably the most talented team in FOBL, and certainly the most talented offense in FOBL. They featured two faces very scary to Calzone teams: Carlos Gatton and Daniel Berman, but were led by 2005 #2 overall Charles Dorazio, who won the GL Silver Slugger and MVP in 2007, and would soon be named the 2009 GL MVP. Oh yeah, one more face: Brian Humble. Yes, our second pick from our great 2004 draft had gone on to become a superstar in Boston, was immediately dealt in a blockbuster to Seminole, and now was back to haunt me in the SS. Truth be told, we were outmatched on paper, but we had a better pitching staff than them, and anything can happen in a 7 game series. Semonole also featured the worse defensive catcher in FOBL, so our running game might be on fire against them. As it would turn out, it was the best series in FOBL history.

Game 1 went Seminole's way, 6-3, as Dorazio homered and we couldn't get anything going on offense. We struck back in Game 2, winning 5-2, behind 8 big innings from Jack Thorsen and 2 homers from Brian Prins. Moving to Seminole, Game 3 did not go well, as a Prins error led to a 5 run 4th inning, and we had no offense. Seminole took that one 8-1.

This brought us to pivotal Game 4. Seminole took a 2-0 lead into the 9th, with Kentucky only getting two hits against the two pitchers they'd seen so far. Star closer Santiago Dion was brought in to presumably finish it off. Not so fast. For the second time this playoffs, with their backs against the wall, Kentucky responded. Singles by Weeks, Prins, Chastain, and pinch-hitter Rodney Gellar gave Kentucky a 3-2 lead. The pen was burnt by this point, but we were able to survive some harrowing moments in the 9th, winning 3-2, with none other than Derek Sailor getting the save by getting Dorazio to ground out to second with the bases loaded.

Seminole responded, again shockingly with their pitching staff, as 25-game winner Michael Stthomas came through big time with 8 4-hit innings. Seminole hit 3 homers, and took a 5-1 win, and a 3-2 series lead. Back in Kentucky though, Gerace justified our faith in him yet again, with 8 shutout 3-hit innings, and a 3-0 victory.

This took us to Game 7. The home Juggernaut came out of the blocks hot early, scoring 3 runs in the first inning, capped by a 2-run double from Chastain. We put runners on 2nd and 3rd in the second frame, but couldn't score any of them. Regardless, we were crushing the SEM starter, it was looking good. Eventually though, he got run and in came Seminole's lefty relievers. They combined for 4 no-hit innings, and our offense was dead. Meanwhile, Carlos Gatton, quiet all series, woke up and pasted two homers off of Fiqueroa, the only runs he would allow in 6 innings. Duval and Mauzy relieved him, and got us to the 9th inning up 3-2.

It all started innocently enough. Seminole's leadoff man drew a walk, then, by the book, was bunted over to second base. We induced a ground out to short, then walked the leadoff hitter to bring up Daniel Berman.

At this point I need to backtrack. You may remember Prins is error-prone. Because of this, I had Boris Garcia, a total defensive whiz, on my roster. And of course, he was slotted as a defensive replacement. OOTP, in its infinate wisdom, decided that up one in the top of the 9th of Game 7 of the Champioship was not an appropriate time to use a defensive replacement. Already, we'd had a harrowing moment, as the ground out had been to Prins, but he handled it deftly enough.

Unfortunately, Berman's ground ball, he did not handle deftly. He booted it to load the bases. I believe this is worse than Bill Buckner, even though the winning runs did not score here because 1) This was Game 7, not Game 6, and 2) we would have won the game had the play been made, while Buckner's error was in a tie game. Needless to say, Dorazio stepped up to the plate and hammered a double off the center field wall to score 3 runs and put Seminole up 5-3.

But it was not over even then! Kuiper led off the 9th with a walk, then Tokarz singled, and Richerson grounded out, scoring a run and putting Tokarz at second. That brought up Sletten with 2 outs, but it was not to be: he popped out to second, and Seminole was the ninth FOBL Champions.

2009 FOBL

[sjshaw]

Long live Brian Prins

[Subby]

Great stuff, Duke...

Brian Prins was sold to VIR in the off-season and had his glove confiscated the moment he arrived at The Tater Farm. He is strictly a (good) long-side DH for us...

I may be slightly exaggerating here, but SEM winning the 2009 SS may be the low point in the history of fake organized sports.

[Daimyo]

It is hard to express how happy Seminole management was when we first found out that we'd get to face Brian "MVP" Prins 18 times this season... Getting to face Loin Cloth 5 or 6 times pales in comparison.

[Ryan S]

Originally posted by Subby
I may be slightly exaggerating here, but SEM winning the 2009 SS may be the low point in the history of fake organized sports.

I thought that was Ayr beating Virginia in the 2009 season series.

[Subby]

Originally posted by Daimyo
It is hard to express how happy Seminole management was when we first found out that we'd get to face Brian "MVP" Prins 18 times this season... Getting to face Loin Cloth 5 or 6 times pales in comparison.

Considering you have the "Greatest Team Ever Purchased" and our lowly team is 3-3 against you this year, I would say Herr Goat is like a good luck charm!

And as far as Loincloth goes - he could never win another game and I would be blissful. He single-handedly upset the winningest regular season GL team in the history of FOBL, knocking them out of the playoffs in the FIRST ROUND. If memory serves, your team was 159-3 that season...

[Subby]

Dola

Originally posted by Ryan S
I thought that was Ayr beating Virginia in the 2009 season series.

Ryan, baby...

Make the playoffs and then you can have your smack card back...

[Drake]

You have been way too kind to Boston by far. I have single-handedly strangled the franchise that Double A worked so hard to build.

Just because I love fake baseball doesn't mean I know fake baseball.

[sjshaw]

So, Duke, how is the season going for KEN so far?