OOTP question

[Ryche]

For some reason I can't post on the OOTP board, so I thought I'd throw this out here.

I'm seriously considering bringing Barry Bonds into my Rockies team to take a shot at the division title. The price tag would be Jeremy Burnitz and my top two prospects. One is a first basemen who can't field, not a big loss for me.

The other is 22 year old Chin-Hui Tsao, a 4.5 star SP prospect who looks potentially awesome. But he has a 7.67 ERA in AAA after 5 starts and he is listed as injury prone. Another odd thing, while he's listed as my top prospect, he's not on the top 100 list, even though I have several others who are. Am I wrong to think trading him may not be a bad idea with all these potential red flags?

[thomamon]

Well, if winning now is important to you, I say go for it. There has been some discussion in my online league about what you said about your prospect being your #1, but not in the top 100. We are guessing that its because they are judged differently. I wouldn't worry too much about the high ERA in AAA, sometimes it takes a while to adjust, but the injury prone thing makes me say do the trade.

[ISiddiqui]

Also the high ERA in AAA may be because he is too young for that level (He is only 22). What are his ratings right now?

[Franklinnoble]

Fuck. I gotta stop reading these OOTP threads... I don't have the time or the money for another game right now...

[Ryche]

50 stuff, 51 movement, 45 control. I'm inclined to think he just had a rough start.

Damn, I keep flipping back and forth on what I want to do. I started out the season with this wonderful plan, clear some salary, pick up some prospects and then ride the pitching prospects in my minor leagues. Now I find myself a month into the season over .500 with a much better pitching staff than I started the year with and a weak looking division, especially if San Fran trades Bonds.

If nothing else, I think I'm learning that I need to get some solo play in, just to get a better feel for the game. This is the first version of OOTP I've had since 2 or 3.

[thomamon]

Are you using version 5 or 6? If 6, don't worry about rushing up minor leaguers, you can call them up in August or September and not lose a years worth or arbitration :-)

[ISiddiqui]

Can you afford Bonds? How's your pitching look? Will it suffer without Tsao in the future?

[Maple Leafs]

The Top 100 prospect lists includes everyone under 25 who has little or no MLB experience. Your team's Top 10 list allows players to have more MLB experience (up to a fill year or more) before they're no longer considered prospects.

So if Tsao is on your Top 10 but not the Top 100, I'd be willing to bet he has some MLB experience already. That would cause the discrepancy.

I'm not sure yet whether minor league stats are a good indicator of MLB performance, but injury prone pitchers are very dangerous. If you can trade them for good value, it's usually not a bad idea. Just be aware that Bonds will probably play well for one season and then be considered "too old" by the OOTP game engine.

[Ryche]

We're using version 6. Next year will be a major youth movement for the team. I traded a number of players tied to longer contracts (Larry Walker, Todd Helton, Charles Johnson, Preston Wilson) so I'll have 30+ million available in free agency. Tsao was one of my 'four horsemen' starting staff that I planned on riding for several years. I do have a number of other pitchers with potential though. And the 9th pick in the upcoming draft.

I was also wrong about Tsao's ERA, it's down to the mid 5s now.

I think I'm going to wait through another sim and see if my team as it currently stands can maintain it's pace. The allure of Bonds is huge though. He already has 21 HRs in 33 games. Imagine if he plays in Colorado

[Ryche]

Bonds is retiring after this season.

[Young Drachma]

Did you do the deal?

[Ryche]

I've decided to put it off until after the next sim to make sure my team's performance isn't just a mirage. I originally offered him a similar deal, but with two lesser prospects rather than Tsao, so maybe he'll accept that. Don't think he's gotten any other offers yet.

[Shkspr]

Flags fly forever.

[Ryche]

I chose to pass on the deal. After the next sim, my Rockies were still sitting at .500, 7.5 behind the Dodgers. Unfortunately, I also lost Burnitz for 10 weeks to a fastball to the face that broke his cheekbone. My offense wouldn't have been able to protect Bonds in the lineup sufficiently.

[MizzouRah]

Bonds+Steroids+Rocky Mountain High= Mega HR's!!!




Todd

[Ryche]

Bonds+Steroids+Rocky Mountain High= Mega HR's!!!

I know. Sooo tempting, but the price was too high for a novelty. I think 80 HRs would have been a possibility.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Ryche

I know. Sooo tempting, but the price was too high for a novelty. I think 80 HRs would have been a possibility.

Bah. It's a game... have a little fun with it.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Bah. It's a game... have a little fun with it.

Live a little?

[Ryche]

Lol, the thought did cross my mind......but the potential of giving a division rival a future 20 game winner and 40 home run hitter.....I don't think so :P

[MizzouRah]

From a GM standpoint, I think you made the right choice... but from an owner standpoint, I see the dollar bills floating away.

Could you imagine the impact on ticket sales from a trade that lands Bonds in Colorado? Wow...


Todd

[Philliesfan980]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

From a GM standpoint, I think you made the right choice... but from an owner standpoint, I see the dollar bills floating away.

Could you imagine the impact on ticket sales from a trade that lands Bonds in Colorado? Wow...


Todd

Too bad OOTP doesn't account for this really..

[Ryche]

Too bad OOTP doesn't account for this really..

Very true. In real life, I think you'd sell out Coors Field every game with Barry playing there, win or lose. Doesnt' work that way in OOTP as far as I know.

[Young Drachma]

Yeah, attendance seems pretty haphazard. I mean, some teams will sell out regardless. I think the game needs to do a better job of figuring out "markets" and then perhaps having them change over time. Because right now, the cities mean nothing and in a game where the financial aspect is a huge part of it, that seems to be a great chunk that doesn't really mean a whole lot.

But there is no financial co-efficient so I think that's more important when you consider how many historical simmers that are out there.

[Ryche]

Well, Bonds is in Colorado now, sent a nice little group of prospects that we're going to be major players in my future. This should be fun.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Ryche

Well, Bonds is in Colorado now, sent a nice little group of prospects that we're going to be major players in my future. This should be fun.

You go Ryche!


Todd

[kingnebwsu]

You're a brave man Ryche. I wouldn't have done the trade, but then again I only play solo leagues where I make fannnntastic trades with the AI. Sweet sweet AI trading. I have bad experience doing a trade for an older player (older=37+). They always seem to drop in abilities and end the season sucking bad (like I did with Bonds in my OOTP 5 career, his OBP was awesome but he only hit like 5 HR after the break). Just now in my solo league, I picked up an expensive but 3.5 star old-man Bagwell off the free agent market. He sucked bad, hitting .110 in 40 AB's in the playoffs. I dunno why the hell he had so many AB's, he was listed #3 on my pinch hit chart, and my top 2 guys didn't get ANY AB's in the playoffs. Something's broken there.

[Franklinnoble]

Dammit. I'm *this* close to having to buy that game now...

Doesn't help that I just picked up "Moneyball" in paperback the other day...

[Ryche]

If nothing else, instead of waiting through a .500 season like I was doing, I should have a shot at the pennant. None of the players I gave up fit into my long term vision for the team, although they should be pretty decent.

My team will be very young next year, I don't think I have anyone signed for next year for more than a million dollars. Should be able to bring in two good young players in their prime. I'll probably have 4 1st and 2nd year starters in my rotation along with Jason Jennings. I also have 3 good young hitters waiting in AAA. And the 9th pick in the current draft, which may bring a player who can help next year.

Overall, I think Bonds is a small gamble. And like people said on here earlier, the point is to have fun.

So, steroids + thin air = ___ HRs...the over under is 70. Now if I can just get someone on base in front of him.

[Franklinnoble]

Stupid OOTP 6 question...

Will the game run in a window, or does it overtake the entire screen? How will it run on older hardware?

[korme]

wondow, but full screen

[Ryche]

I'm running it on a 1 ghz, 256 mb ram computer just fine. I suspect you could run it on quite a bit lower, although the sims might be pretty slow.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

wondow, but full screen

No way to run it in a smaller window?

[Ryche]

It doesn't fill the whole screen on my computer, I think it depends on the resolution you use. You can't resize it though as far as I know.

[korme]

1024x768 = full screen

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Ryche

It doesn't fill the whole screen on my computer, I think it depends on the resolution you use. You can't resize it though as far as I know.

Ah. That's a big negative for me. Thanks.

[kingnebwsu]

What I do (to be able to see my taskbar at the bottom of the screen) is click on the top bar in OOTP's window. Then I can move it up a little. It cuts off part of the top and bottom of OOTP (not a big deal though), and I still get to see when I get IM's. Just my story.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by kingnebwsu

What I do (to be able to see my taskbar at the bottom of the screen) is click on the top bar in OOTP's window. Then I can move it up a little. It cuts off part of the top and bottom of OOTP (not a big deal though), and I still get to see when I get IM's. Just my story.

Well, I prefer it if I can keep the app running with no more than half my total screen space, just because it's a little easier to multi-task, and hide the app at work if somebody walks into my cubicle.

[kingnebwsu]

Ah yeah...like the classic tetris that when you hit escape would display a black screen with "C:/" Ahhhhhhhhh memories

[Ragone]

Ryche.. i was looking for a team to take in a solo dynasty thats a pain/struggle to rebuild.. would Colorado fit that mold in your opinion

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Ragone

Ryche.. i was looking for a team to take in a solo dynasty thats a pain/struggle to rebuild.. would Colorado fit that mold in your opinion

I know the Brewers are!


Todd

[Ryche]

Ryche.. i was looking for a team to take in a solo dynasty thats a pain/struggle to rebuild.. would Colorado fit that mold in your opinion

My approach with Colorado is going to be defense and putting the ball in play as much as possible. I'm pretty much ignoring power hitters, with Bonds being an obvious exception, because I figure runs will be scored in Coors regardless. I want a good defense to help my pitchers as much as possible and pitchers that get strike outs and ground balls for double plays.

The Rockies actually have a lot of nice pitching prospects in OOTP, but not much position players in the minors.

If you don't go crazy with the trading in a solo league, I think they'd be a good challenge. They have an enormous amount of money tied up with Preston Wilson, Larry Walker, Todd Helton and Charles Johnson, so making a splash in the free agent market wouldn't be possible for a few years. And you have a large market team in your division in Los Angeles.