GWJ OOTP League Thread

Right! So, my router and my modem just kerploded. SLIGHT delay. I will be putting up the previews and everything once I get them replaced (hopefully tomorrow). Stay tuned.

1988 Gamers With Jobs Baseball League Season Preview:

1988 marks the 88th iteration of the Gamers With Jobs baseball league. Fans are excited for another year of twists and turns at the ballpark, as 16 teams battle it out to decide who will be declared the league champion.

Can El Paso make a return trip to the championship? Can Baltimore? Will someone new supplant them this season? Or will we see another shakeup at the top of the standings? Stay tuned!

NOTE: Each team is listed by name and projected record.

National League

Baltimore Mud Hens - 115-47: Why yes, 115 wins would be a historically awesome season. But we think that Baltimore is just that good this year. The team won 103 games last year, ending a 32-year playoff drought, and barring injury, should be even better this year, and has a real shot at winning the franchise's first championship since 1952. It's one hell of a turnaround, but they've got the talent.

The Case For:

Where to start? Colton Mitchell is the two-time reigning Pitcher of the Year, and he's just 28. Their #2 starter is 27 and finished in 3rd in Pitcher of the Year voting, and their #3 starter would be a #1 starter most other places. Did we mention that they also have the reigning NL MVP in SS Steve Paske, and that LF Jack Martin is as good a leadoff hitter as anywhere in the league, and that he can do it with power too? The WORST member of their projected Opening Day lineup batted .254 last year. And that's by a distance.

The Case Against:

Meteor strike? Terrorist attack? The rapture? We guess the bullpen could still be a little stronger. That's all we've got.

X-Factor:

Jason Friesen is a 31-year-old RF who, let's be honest, is going to miss a chunk of time this season. Friesen has only played in 140+ games once in his career, so to be honest, the question is exactly how much time will he miss, and will he be able to play up to the standards he's being held to (i.e. - .300/.350/.450)?

Scout's Take:

"Just about everyone's picking them for the title this year, and for good reason. They're the best team, top to bottom, and should just about steamroll everyone in their path this year, barring serious injury to key players. But I do think that they need to capitalize on this team now, not wait until later. There's not enough in the minors to facilitate any trading, but anything less than a title will obviously be a failure, so they might want to get creative to bring in a veteran head later on this year. That said, they've already been to the title series once, so they've been blooded. Now it's about learning the lessons and taking the final step."

Phoenix Prairie Thunder - 95-67: How frustrating must it be to know that you have a genuine shot at winning 100 games in a season, and to know that you might still finish 10 games out from the playoffs?

Fans in Phoenix saw their team win in 1978 and 1981, and have been somewhere between "finishing .500" and "finishing 2nd" ever since. The Thunder actually finished 80-82 last year, but have made the proper changes to add another 15 wins to their total.

The Case For:

If SP Gus Fernandez can stay healthy, he could be a PotY contender. The 33-year-old has one of the best curveballs in the business, and if he keeps the walks under 100, he's a top-class pitcher. Meanwhile, 1B Miguel Aleman is one of the rare speedy first basemen, who swiped 77 bases last year to lead the league. Plus, they're defensively fantastic, their pitchers ERAs will be quite a bit lower than you might expect due to how amazing they are with the gloves.

The Case Against:

Justin Saunders is a great closer, but their bullpen is threadbare. If their pitchers can't give them at least 6 good innings on average, this could go very, very wrong for them. Also, Micah Friesen and Leon Ortez are young and unready, this is going to be a pretty rough season for the pair.

X-Factor:

SP Matt Smith. He went 18-8 last year, which is pretty impressive for a man whose fastball tops out at around 90 mph. His FIP and FIP- say that it wasn't a fluke, but the numbers were so good that we have a hard time imagining him putting it up again.

Scout's Take:

"I love their lineup, although Jim Granger is no-one's cleanup hitter. Devin Crawford's going to do much better this season, that 10-15 record last year was misleading. Eric Wood could be a great setup dude, but he's getting tossed into the deep end from the word go. I think they should make the call and bring up Julio Merizalde by September, he's going to be their next big-time starter."

Indianapolis Golden Spikes - 88-74: Indy won the title in 1985, made the playoffs the next year, and won 94 games last season. And while all of those are solid finishes, it's also indictative of a downward trend for the Spikes. Last year, this team relied on a miraculous season from a 42 (now 43) year old man to give them 240+ innings and 20 wins. This year? They'll be better than most, but not a pennant-winner.

The Case For:

SP Lorenzo Mercado was a great offseason signing, the 26-year old will be a fine top-of-the-line pitcher for years. Meanwhile, Luiz Esposado can't possibly be as bad as his numbers from last year (his FIP was almost a run lower than his gaudy 5.04 ERA). And SS Bill Smith is plenty capable of putting in another .300/.350/.400 season with 50 steals, assuming he can stay healthy. RF Roberto Perez was the MVP the last two seasons, and i'll probably be the MVP again this year, and could take a real crack at the 60-HR barrier.

The Case Against:

Larry Weiberg is not a closer, not a reliable one anyway. He's blown 26 saves over the last two seasons, and had a gargantuan 1.59 WHIP last year. Outside of Mercado, much of their pitching staff falls under the description of "good, but not great". Not compared to the team that's going to be leading the pack, at least.

X-Factor:

A 36-year-old isn't usually considered the "X-Factor", but 1B Danny Semidey could really be a big difference-maker for the team. Another season with a .300 BA and .400 OBP, he could knock in 80+ RBIs and push this team to over 90 wins.

Scout's Take:

"I'm not convinced by Cruz Sanchez, that 14-8 record from last year is a mirage. He is earning way more than he really deserves. I find something shocking about Steve Payne being a 40-HR hitter, but he's been in that range for several years now. Honestly, I think a lot of people have this backwards, I see a lot of people saying they'll pitch better than they'll hit. I think they're gonna hit pretty well, but pitch horrendously."

Ft. Worth Whiskeyjacks - 88-74: The Whiskeyjacks actually did a threepeat back in the teens, winning titles in 1915, 1916 and 1917. Since then, zero championships, zero title appearances. But, this year would represent a huge improvement for a team that has only finished over .500 twice since 1969. Perhaps a strong finish this season will set a mark for the years to come?

The Case For:

2B Mickey Weatherford isn't quite a 5-tool player, but he's got an all-around ability at the plate that means he should be in contention to earn his first All-Star nod this year. He and three-time reigning Golden Glove winner at SS Eric Waters form one of the more formidable middle infields in the game, and CF Jesus Gomez spent last season putting up one hell of a defensive mixtape. Respectively, this trio is 24, 23 and 23. And Tony Lopez is 21, and he's probably the best young arm in the game. It's not enough to win, but it's one hell of a core to build from.

The Case Against:

Their #2 starter, Armando Murrieta, is probably best as a #4 or #5 starter right now, but you go to war with the weapons you have. After that, it gets really iffy. SP Doug Linden's the kind of player you describe as an "innings eater", and after that, it's AA-caliber pitching. Craig Loris is a fine closer, but the middle relief is so awful, he might not end up with a lot of save opportunities. Oh, and their bats have close to zero pop. We have them penciled in as the 3rd-worst offense in the game, by runs scored.

X-Factor:

1B Mike Amico. He's actually the oldest player in the predicted Opening Day lineup at 28 (yes, 28!), but he's only put in 33 days of service time in the big league! He batted .265 in AAA last year, so expectations aren't exactly high, but he might surprise people, although we're definitely not suggesting that .300 is a reasonable expectation.

Scout's Take:

"I'm in love with all that youth they have. They've brought up basically every good prospect they have from the minors, which is good because every last one of those kids needs to get blooded. They could really use another veteran voice in the clubhouse to show them the ropes, but you work with what you've got. If Julio Arce can manage to find the power in his swing without ruining his ability to hit for contact, that'd be great too. But they should definitely consider getting rid of Danny Espinal for a strong setup man in the bullpen, he's got speed and defense, but is it worth it if he posts a sub-.300 OBP?"

Hey guys! So I've got my router and modem back, (obviously), but I have one issue.

I do enjoy doing these season previews for you, but they take a fair amount of time and energy, and recently, I've been getting home from work with less energy than usual. Moreover, I feel like we really need to start the league. I can still DO them, it might just take another few days, so I'm wondering how people feel.

More season previews? Or shall we just get started?

I always enjoy reading them. But since I'm just not familiar enough with the league/teams/players overall, I'm not getting as much out of them as I have in the past. I am also eager to get the league started and I think these write-ups (pre-/post-season) become even more meaningful after we gain some familiarity.

I love your previews but I can only imagine the amount of work it takes. I'd agree with Novocain - lets get the league started.

I will miss the pre-season writeups as they are entertaining to read and also as a benchmark for how much my team will under perform. But, that being said

IMAGE(http://www.karlakscott.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/lets-get-the-party-started.jpg)

New file!

A little birdy informed me that a few teams hadn't actually cut their rosters down to 25, so I had the AI do it for you.

The first week is done and the league is underway!

So, just to remind everyone, the sim schedule is SUN-MON-WED-FRI. So the next sim will be tonight!

says no new file, so I assume we didn't sim last night right?

Are we doing it tonight (Tuesday) or waiting until Wednesday?

Tonight, sorry, got sidetracked! There will be a sim Wednesday as well!

So, new file!

Now, let's all sit down and talk about contracts, waivers and demotions.

Young players who still have Minor League Options available can generally be demoted straight to the minor league without having to wave them first, whereas veteran players (or anyone who has spent enough time in the majors) will be OUT of options, and must be waived and designated for assignment.

But once a player has played in the majors long enough, they also have the right to REFUSE demotion to the minor leagues. I mention this because several teams, who shall go unnamed, had multiple players they'd DFA'd all refuse demotion to the minors, keeping me from running the sim as they had to be assigned. So keep an eye out for that stuff. A tenured 34-year-old player with 8-9 years under his belt is probably gonna refuse demotion to the minors.

Pleasantly, on the Rosters & Transactions tab, you can see who, exactly, has the right to refuse demotion. They'll have a ^ next to their name.

Question, so I had a SP go down for the year and I put him on the DL. Then I brought up someone from AAA, and put him in the rotation.

After downloading the latest league file, the first guy is on the DL, and the second guy got called up, but he was not in the rotation. So it ended up running the last 6 games on a 4 man rotation instead of 5.

Is this just a quirk of online games? or did I (most likely) do something wrong?

sortimat wrote:

Question, so I had a SP go down for the year and I put him on the DL. Then I brought up someone from AAA, and put him in the rotation.

After downloading the latest league file, the first guy is on the DL, and the second guy got called up, but he was not in the rotation. So it ended up running the last 6 games on a 4 man rotation instead of 5.

Is this just a quirk of online games? or did I (most likely) do something wrong?

Hm, you're sure you put him in the rotation, and then exported the team file?

Also, double-check and make sure YOU'RE the one setting your rotation, and not your Manager (found under Control & Auto-Play Settings on the Manager home screen).

Also, new file!

Boy, my Pittsburgh Fighting Pierogies are terrible!

At least we get to hoist the Stanley Cup tonight (no jinx.)

Prederick wrote:

Hm, you're sure you put him in the rotation, and then exported the team file?

I guess I must not of, just wanted to make sure that it wasn't part of the game. E.g. the game doesn't really add them to the roster until the call up is acknowledged by adding them to the league file or something

Prederick wrote:

Also, double-check and make sure YOU'RE the one setting your rotation, and not your Manager (found under Control & Auto-Play Settings on the Manager home screen).

i'll have to check that, but if someone else is doing it i'll have to fire him, he didn't put anyone in :p

Oh man, I have definitely not been paying attention to start the season at all. I've had my 1B taken out for the season due to injury and haven't done anything to fix that

Okay, definitely taking some time today and figuring this whole thing out

Anyone need a veteran backup 1B? I'd like to move Silvestre Barrote to make room for a younger guy.

Knightsabre wrote:

Anyone need a veteran backup 1B? I'd like to move Silvestre Barrote to make room for a younger guy.

possibly, what are you looking for?

Sortimat, sent you a PM

New file!

Busy-busy-busy! But, new file! (And we'll sim tomorrow too, to keep the schedule going.)

So! It's May 9th in-game, we're a little over a month into the season.

Your league leaders so far are the Baltimore Mud Hens and the San Francisco Flyers.

Phoenix's Miguel Aleman leads all batters with a .386 batting average, while only two players are currently on pace to belt 40+ HRs this season.

Baltimore's SP Colton Mitchell put on one of the best pitching performances of the season in April, tossing a 10-inning, 1-hit, 3-K shutout in a game that his team won, 1-0. Meanwhile, through 7 starts, SP Nick Baird (also of Baltimore) is 4-0 with a 1.43 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP and 50 strikeouts. And he's their #2 pitcher.

in game we don't seem to be getting the "simulation results" email until the week after now, so the week 4/25 - 5/2 email didn't show up until the most current file, which simulated 5/2 - 5/9. so it's basically showing the results from 2 weeks ago. anyone else having this happen? it wasn't like this at the beginning of the season, did something change? it was a nice little summary to start off with after each sim.

I noticed that too, I think it was an issue with some recent patches. But it should be back now.

New file!

Yet again, new file!

The Draft Pool has been unveiled, and the First-Year Player Draft is coming up soon!

So, unfortunately, as much as I'd love to, between scheduling and other issues, we do not do the First-Year Player Draft live. Here's what you CAN do though:

Check out the draft pool by going to GWJBL > Player Info > Free Agents. Next to "Find a Player" you should see the Draft Pool tab. Click it, and you can look at the whole draft pool, the draft order, and if you're interested, set up your draft list.

The draft list allows you to tell the game which players you'd like to draft by priority (i.e. - Maybe a dude who is 10th on your draft board in the 1st round is 2nd on your board for the second round, and so on). Now, you can do this by hand (quite a bit of work, I must note) or you can ask your scouting director to set it up for you.

Sadly, with online leagues, this has always been one of the weak points of OOTP.

New file! I swear, Mondays are the worst. Anyway, one more week closer to the big draft!

New file! The First-year draft is upon us!

New file! The first-year draft has ended!

New file! Wouldja look at that, we're creeping up on the halfway mark of the season!

Also, the International FA signing day is coming up too!

New file! Another week down!

Unsurprisingly, Baltimore is WAY ahead in the NL, but it's still anyone's game in the CL. Only Brooklyn appears to be "out of it", everyone else is within 6 1/2 games of the lead.

New file! Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th weekend!