23 owners voted in the poll on preferences for blog content - here are the results (you can see the responses at:
https://www.powr.io/apps/17387993/responses):
Pre-Season Previews: 17
Power Rankings: 14
Prospect Rankings: 11
Draft Review: 11
Owner Interviews: 7
All-Decade Teams: 4
Around the League
at Game X : 2
We'll try to get the first 4 on this list done during the course of the season; owner interviews are pretty easy so we'll add a few veteran owners as soon as we get through running all the new owners' intros.
Thanks for the responses!
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
HBD Owner Interview: toddemayer
Q: Who is toddemayer in real life?
A: I am a student, living on the East coast.
Q: Best moment in HBD?
A: Winning my first World Series in "The MLB", definitely still a tangible feeling that reinvigorated my passion for HBD. However, what I really enjoy most is the challenge HBD poses every season, the competition and unpredictability keep me coming back for more.
Q: Did you play baseball in real life? Highest level played?
A: I was a football and hockey player who loved the advanced analytics and deep stats of baseball. My love for baseball actually started in middle school, where I played in my first fantasy baseball league.
Q: If you were an HBD player, what position would you play and what would your ratings be?
A: I would be a pitch calling catcher because it's probably the only thing I could ever imagine myself being good at, plus there's always a need for guys like that, which would make me some cash!
Q: What compromises do you have to make with your spouse/significant other to get permission to play HBD?
A: My partner knows this as "the baseball nerd stuff", she is extremely encouraging of time spent on HBD.
Q: The ideal dinner question: 3 people are around the table with you at dinner...who are they? (real or imaginary, dead or living, sports figure or otherwise)
A: Jesus Christ, the President of the United states in the year 2500, and Siddhartha Gautama.
A: I am a student, living on the East coast.
Q: Best moment in HBD?
A: Winning my first World Series in "The MLB", definitely still a tangible feeling that reinvigorated my passion for HBD. However, what I really enjoy most is the challenge HBD poses every season, the competition and unpredictability keep me coming back for more.
Q: Did you play baseball in real life? Highest level played?
A: I was a football and hockey player who loved the advanced analytics and deep stats of baseball. My love for baseball actually started in middle school, where I played in my first fantasy baseball league.
Q: If you were an HBD player, what position would you play and what would your ratings be?
A: I would be a pitch calling catcher because it's probably the only thing I could ever imagine myself being good at, plus there's always a need for guys like that, which would make me some cash!
Q: What compromises do you have to make with your spouse/significant other to get permission to play HBD?
A: My partner knows this as "the baseball nerd stuff", she is extremely encouraging of time spent on HBD.
Q: The ideal dinner question: 3 people are around the table with you at dinner...who are they? (real or imaginary, dead or living, sports figure or otherwise)
A: Jesus Christ, the President of the United states in the year 2500, and Siddhartha Gautama.
What Is A Replacement Player In HBD and How Many Games Would A Team of Replacement Players Win?
Since I'm starting a rebuild with a new team and employing (very cheaply) a fair number of players who will be useful to me but would not make the roster of a good team, I'm wondering how the concept of "replacement players" applies in HBD.
Obviously, "replacement value" and "wins above replacement" have come to be kind of a gold standard in the evaluation of rl Major Leaguers. I don't know how it's calculated and don't care to get into the statistical weeds of the idea, but I do have a few questions about the basic application of the idea in HBD.
Specifically:
1. What is a prototypical "replacement" player in HBD?
Is it a "4A" player (whatever that is)? Is it a player who has not been signed during the 4-day formal FA process? Is it a player who hasn't been signed by the start of the season?
2. How many games would a team of replacement players win?
Maybe there's a way to put a number on this other than anecdotally...I don't know what it is. I suspect it's higher than we all think, as the turnarounds I've taken on and populated with bargain-bin FA's have always seemed to win 65+ games and usually 75+ games.
Tossing that question out because a turnaround I took over in another world had a bunch of players on the ML roster that shouldn't have been above High A. The team won 38 games the year before and the previous owner was appropriately booted, but I'm wondering if some kind of application of the concept of replacement players could be a better determinant of "tanking" than straight wins and losses (although I think wins and losses is a pretty good measure).
Interested in all viewpoints...comment here or put on world chat or tc or whatever - thanks.
Obviously, "replacement value" and "wins above replacement" have come to be kind of a gold standard in the evaluation of rl Major Leaguers. I don't know how it's calculated and don't care to get into the statistical weeds of the idea, but I do have a few questions about the basic application of the idea in HBD.
Specifically:
1. What is a prototypical "replacement" player in HBD?
Is it a "4A" player (whatever that is)? Is it a player who has not been signed during the 4-day formal FA process? Is it a player who hasn't been signed by the start of the season?
2. How many games would a team of replacement players win?
Maybe there's a way to put a number on this other than anecdotally...I don't know what it is. I suspect it's higher than we all think, as the turnarounds I've taken on and populated with bargain-bin FA's have always seemed to win 65+ games and usually 75+ games.
Tossing that question out because a turnaround I took over in another world had a bunch of players on the ML roster that shouldn't have been above High A. The team won 38 games the year before and the previous owner was appropriately booted, but I'm wondering if some kind of application of the concept of replacement players could be a better determinant of "tanking" than straight wins and losses (although I think wins and losses is a pretty good measure).
Interested in all viewpoints...comment here or put on world chat or tc or whatever - thanks.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
First Owner Interview of the New Year - hystericslap
Q: Who is hystericslap in real life?
A: My name is Eric, I'm a 28 year old studio engineer for music. I live with my girlfriend, I have no kids yet. I'm from San Francisco but currently live in Oakland. Huge sports fan of all the local teams. Giants, 49ers and Warriors.
Q: What has been your best moment in HBD so far?
A: Best HBD moment was in season 21 of "The Show" when I made the playoffs as a 6 seed and beat teams with win totals of 103-106-109-120 on my way to the championship. In game 7 I went with a pitcher I had gotten in a trade from the team I was facing in the World Series. Gave up 1 run over 8 innings and had the game winning 2 RBI double. Very proud of that run.
Q: Did you play baseball in real life? Highest level played?
A: I played up to high school baseball I was a promising young pitcher around 15-16 but a rare elbow nerve injury kept me from pursuing baseball any further than casual leagues.
Q: The ideal dinner question: 3 people are around the table with you at dinner...who are they? (real or imaginary, dead or living, sports figure or otherwise)
A: In this version I'll keep in sports so the three people around the table would be Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Jerry Rice. Is it obvious where I'm from?
Thanks, hystericslap!!
A: My name is Eric, I'm a 28 year old studio engineer for music. I live with my girlfriend, I have no kids yet. I'm from San Francisco but currently live in Oakland. Huge sports fan of all the local teams. Giants, 49ers and Warriors.
Q: What has been your best moment in HBD so far?
A: Best HBD moment was in season 21 of "The Show" when I made the playoffs as a 6 seed and beat teams with win totals of 103-106-109-120 on my way to the championship. In game 7 I went with a pitcher I had gotten in a trade from the team I was facing in the World Series. Gave up 1 run over 8 innings and had the game winning 2 RBI double. Very proud of that run.
Q: Did you play baseball in real life? Highest level played?
A: I played up to high school baseball I was a promising young pitcher around 15-16 but a rare elbow nerve injury kept me from pursuing baseball any further than casual leagues.
Q: The ideal dinner question: 3 people are around the table with you at dinner...who are they? (real or imaginary, dead or living, sports figure or otherwise)
A: In this version I'll keep in sports so the three people around the table would be Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Jerry Rice. Is it obvious where I'm from?
Thanks, hystericslap!!
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Owner Interview - sf33
Q: Who is sf33 in real life?
A: Real life? I'm a beer & pretzel type of guy, will turn 65 during this upcoming season. I work in the DoD contractor industry in management. I try to be a good man, husband, father & grandfather.
Q: Best moment in HBD?
A: Best HBD moment? Every time one of my teams qualifies for the playoffs.
Q: Did you play baseball in real life? Highest level played?
A: Very little live baseball, many years of softball, semi-pro football, Ice hockey & box lacrosse.
Q: If you were an HBD player, what position would you play and what would your ratings be?
A: If I was a player in HBD? A solid, power hitting catcher with a mean streak during plays at the plate.
Q: What compromises do you have to make with your spouse/significant other to get permission to play HBD?
A: Finally, my wife is cool with my HBD. I even hosted a tailgate party at a Phillies home game one time with a crew of other HBD owners who traveled to have an off-season meet up to talk about HBD the entire day. I left HBD for a short time after the many changes they made & I still hate the injury choices made seemingly by the dice roll. I don't believe in season ending injuries in fantasy (HBD) baseball.
Q: The ideal dinner question: 3 people are around the table with you at dinner...who are they? (real or imaginary, dead or living, sports figure or otherwise)
A: For dinner Ben Franklin, Babe Ruth & Marilynn Monroe.
A: Real life? I'm a beer & pretzel type of guy, will turn 65 during this upcoming season. I work in the DoD contractor industry in management. I try to be a good man, husband, father & grandfather.
Q: Best moment in HBD?
A: Best HBD moment? Every time one of my teams qualifies for the playoffs.
Q: Did you play baseball in real life? Highest level played?
A: Very little live baseball, many years of softball, semi-pro football, Ice hockey & box lacrosse.
Q: If you were an HBD player, what position would you play and what would your ratings be?
A: If I was a player in HBD? A solid, power hitting catcher with a mean streak during plays at the plate.
Q: What compromises do you have to make with your spouse/significant other to get permission to play HBD?
A: Finally, my wife is cool with my HBD. I even hosted a tailgate party at a Phillies home game one time with a crew of other HBD owners who traveled to have an off-season meet up to talk about HBD the entire day. I left HBD for a short time after the many changes they made & I still hate the injury choices made seemingly by the dice roll. I don't believe in season ending injuries in fantasy (HBD) baseball.
Q: The ideal dinner question: 3 people are around the table with you at dinner...who are they? (real or imaginary, dead or living, sports figure or otherwise)
A: For dinner Ben Franklin, Babe Ruth & Marilynn Monroe.
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Getting the urge to revive the blog (and will have a little time for it in the upcoming season), curious what kinds of content you'd like to see (or even write).
This is not an exhaustive list of the kinds of things I've seen on blogs, but it's in the ballpark:
Season Previews: always popular to see what someone else thinks of your chances; downside is it's a TON of work.
Minor league system/Prospect rankings: Also popular and a ton of work...haven't done one of these in ages because my Adv Scouting is always so low. Would have to get other contributors than me.
Draft reviews: Seem to be super-popular but also need a contributor with decent Adv Scouting
All-Decade Teams: Someone did these in Kinsella or Major Leagues sometime back and they were a big hit. Helps connect with the history of the world.
Power Rankings: top has done these here periodically and they seem to have been well-read. Not sure what's involved...maybe top can comment.
"Round The World At Game #X": ends up being sort of random observations of surprises in the world at Game 40, 81, whatever. Popular? You tell me.
Owner Interviews: easy to write because they're user-generated
What other types of things have you seen on blogs that you like?
Monday, March 12, 2018
Case Study: How Do I Rebuild This Team When The Time Comes?
The recent WC commentary on top's rebuilding effort got me thinking about how I'll rebuild the Diablos.
Here are the relevant (I think) details of the current state of my team:
*** This year's total (incl MiL) payroll is at $146MM;
*** I already have committed every last dollar of next year's $115.2MM cap;
*** I have absolutely no prospects in the minor leagues;
*** I have $0 in all scouting categories;
*** The things other than payroll I spend $$ on are coaching salaries ($7MM), prospect payroll ($6MM), training ($20MM) and medical ($8MM).
*** I should be able to keep the core of the team (Polonia, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Green, Merced, Stock, Duran) together for another 3 years or so. The big loss will be Season 43 when Merced goes free agent.
*** This was probably the last year I could fill in around the core with retail-priced free agents (like Dawkins, Valbuena, Thomas, Zurburan), and I had to do some heavy back-loading on obviously declining players to manage that (not a recipe for LT success clearly)
*** Next year, and in future years, I'll have to rely more and more on bargain-basement FA's to fill in around the core...and even moreso if I want to start building up my scouting again.
*** Clearly I can keep contending for awhile, probably not at the 105-112 win level, but 90 wins seems very doable for awhile.
*** I'd REALLY like to avoid the "drive it off the cliff and then spend 7 seasons in all-out rebuild at 60 wins" plan. Been there, done that and it's boring.
How do I manage the transition so that I rebuild while at least staying in marginal contention?
Do I just start adding $$ back to my scouting categories next season and live with even more bargain-bin FA's?
Do I start trading off some of my aging-but-still-valuable players to try to get some prospects into the pipeline?
I guess the way I'm looking at it is this: between Merced, Stock and Duran I have about 500 innings of ace-caliber pitching per season, the equivalent of 2 SP aces. Even if I could squeeze into the playoffs with 85-90 wins, that trio has a chance to dominate 3 out of 5 games, or 4-4.5 out of 7 games. We've all certainly seen more than a few WS won in that fashion.
Appreciate any thoughts about how I can manage a "soft landing" transition to a rebuild. Comment here or on the WC - thanks.
Here are the relevant (I think) details of the current state of my team:
*** This year's total (incl MiL) payroll is at $146MM;
*** I already have committed every last dollar of next year's $115.2MM cap;
*** I have absolutely no prospects in the minor leagues;
*** I have $0 in all scouting categories;
*** The things other than payroll I spend $$ on are coaching salaries ($7MM), prospect payroll ($6MM), training ($20MM) and medical ($8MM).
*** I should be able to keep the core of the team (Polonia, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Green, Merced, Stock, Duran) together for another 3 years or so. The big loss will be Season 43 when Merced goes free agent.
*** This was probably the last year I could fill in around the core with retail-priced free agents (like Dawkins, Valbuena, Thomas, Zurburan), and I had to do some heavy back-loading on obviously declining players to manage that (not a recipe for LT success clearly)
*** Next year, and in future years, I'll have to rely more and more on bargain-basement FA's to fill in around the core...and even moreso if I want to start building up my scouting again.
*** Clearly I can keep contending for awhile, probably not at the 105-112 win level, but 90 wins seems very doable for awhile.
*** I'd REALLY like to avoid the "drive it off the cliff and then spend 7 seasons in all-out rebuild at 60 wins" plan. Been there, done that and it's boring.
How do I manage the transition so that I rebuild while at least staying in marginal contention?
Do I just start adding $$ back to my scouting categories next season and live with even more bargain-bin FA's?
Do I start trading off some of my aging-but-still-valuable players to try to get some prospects into the pipeline?
I guess the way I'm looking at it is this: between Merced, Stock and Duran I have about 500 innings of ace-caliber pitching per season, the equivalent of 2 SP aces. Even if I could squeeze into the playoffs with 85-90 wins, that trio has a chance to dominate 3 out of 5 games, or 4-4.5 out of 7 games. We've all certainly seen more than a few WS won in that fashion.
Appreciate any thoughts about how I can manage a "soft landing" transition to a rebuild. Comment here or on the WC - thanks.
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