1973 Season Thread (FOOL Classic is Sunday!)
 

File is up.

Let's get it on.

I messed up. I forgot to reset the roster size rule to 25-man at all levels. I could upload a new file for that, but...I don't know if it's necessary. If so, lemme know.

Just be sure to do it tomorrow, I think, before you sim. As long as we all know that the roster limits are going to be there, we should all abide by them.

Although if you need to fix draft pick errors, this might be a good opportunity to take care of that.

Ok, lemme do that now and I'll send up a new file. It's going up now.

Ken Kelley is the top prospect?

His potentials (he's a LF--73-66-100-71-24). Is that POW rating 180? He does have tools (topped out in speed/running ability and in defense at his position). Nothing to sneeze at, but sometimes I wonder about how game puts together its lists. I would put the recent #1 overall pick ahead of Kelley right now, much less the guys from last year's class.

I pretty much assume any of my guys that end up on the top prospect list are doomed to failure and underdevelopment.

I am a stinkin' idiot! I did my export this afternoon, and I wasn't exactly rushed so I have no idea how I forgot this.

I never set up lineups or even prepared for Spring Training. I had the rotation done by the bench coach, but that was just seeing what he thought. I am a bozo. Oh well.

Meh...it's just spring training. Don't forget tomorrow. :)

New file is up.

Well, I would have had an idea of what certain guys could or couldn't do. Still, it really won't change anything I am guessing. I just feel dump for worrying about the draft (which annoyed me and let the AI set in the end) and combing through FA's to make offers, and forgetting all about ST.

Well other than having no Centerfielder and having no confidence in any of the first basemen I have, this looks like it will be an outstanding season!

Given that finishing in first place means a whole lotta nothing in spring training, I'm cautiously optimistic about the prospects of my ballclub this year. All of the Charliemetrics (FOOL's version of sabermetrics) on the issue point to us being a year or two away from really being in our win window.

That said, I'm pretty happy with what we've been able to do, with generally speaking, lots of minimal moves this off-season compared to past years. I'd like to see us stay in contention, but I'm not going to get my hopes up overall.

We shall see.

Looking over my team, it is the first time I have been unsatisfied with it since 1966. I have a solid core, I have what I feel very solid depth at most positions. I don't feel that I did everything I could this offseason to make sure all of my holes were filled though and that in the end is my fault as GM. I have two very huge gaping holes that I am not sure if others in the CL will notice and be able to exploit. This is one time when playing the entire season in one night is a benefit for me as it allows holes like this to slip through.

Should be pretty fun to watch, but I am definitely second guessing one specific move that I made currently.

I think that this is Atlanta's year to take, if they want it. They made enough moves and the indicators point to them being able to do it. I think where they might have problems is they got a few aging guys who might not deliver, but if their numbers hold up ,this is as good a shot as they've wanted.

I as well forgot all about this being the spring training sim and completly forgot to update my team. I also would agree that Atlanta has a good chance to win the CL this year.

With everyone forgetting about their own stuff, makes me think that Hartford is in for a long long year. I used the guys that will be playing regularly in spring training and went like 9-15...... Im hoping im only 2 more years away. Watching everyone else win has become painful!

I did my normal of not starting my top 3 starting pitchers, and gave a bunch more bats playing time with a much bigger platoon at mostly every position but catcher to try to see what sticks. I pretty much finished spring training the same way I do every year for the most part, but I still don't have much confidence in my team.

I bet the CL is not an Atlanta run away either though. I bet Atlanta starts out strong, with a pretty decent lead actually (similar to Valdosta in 1967 through 1972), and I bet Atlanta comes back to the pack like Valdosta did in 68 and 69, and I can see a few teams challenging Atlanta towards the end of the season (including Valdosta). I bet the final month will be exciting in the CL though and I can see several teams having a chance to win it.

Atlantics Season Preview
 

With new management and a continued mediocre showing, 1973 can definitely be considered a rebuilding year for the Toronto Atlantics. A flurry of off-season trades and free-agent acquisitions have been made to attempt to shore up the struggling team. Now that spring training is over, and the final lineups have been set, we can get a look at who the key players in the upcoming season will be.

Pitching

Pitching has been a weak point for the Atlantics, and continues to look dubious for this year. New acquisitions Tom Williams and Sachi Yamada lead the starters. Williams is a seasoned veteran who has struggled of late, but who is being counted on to lead the underachieving rotation to something resembling an acceptable performance.

Joe Payton and Francisco Padilla were picked up off free-agency to spearhead the bullpen. Neither of them have much in the way of endurance, but stand to make decent set-up men for the Atlantics new closer, Anthony Zijm. Zijm, one of the biggest free-agent pickups, is inarguably the best pitcher on the team, and hopefully will be able to save whatever games the remainder of the pitching staff haven't managed to give up in 8 innings.

Infield

The Atlantics traded away their biggest bat, all-star outfielder Larry Richmond, for additional infield talent. Javier Medina, acquired in the return trade for Richmond, is set to be the superstar of the defense, with excellent all-around infield utility and a strong bat of his own. He and outstanding youngster Carey Andrew will be the bedrock of the Atlantics offense, as well.

Bob Arnold, also picked up from Quad City in the Richmond deal, will bring a slightly stronger bat to first base. His glovework will be reinforced when needed by veteran first-baseman Sean Evans.

Third base sees no change, as last year's starter Ramon Lopez continues to hold down the hot corner.

Also of note in the infield is four-time Glove Wizard Ramon Escobar, who will be a key utility player off the bench.

Outfield

The outfield for the Atlantics could use some reinforcement. Of note primarily is right fielder Nick Heard, picked up from free-agency this year. He is an all-around great outfielder, and may come in handy if either of the other two starters need relief. Center field continues to be anchored by long-time Atlantic Travis Henderson, while Cesar Ortiz and Gilbert Nieves, who was picked up from minor league free agency straight into the lineup, will hold down left field.

The Atlantics pitchers will be hoping for as many ground balls as possible to keep from taxing their shaky outfield too hard.

Catcher

Another off-season pickup, Dirk Fritz, will be the go-to man behind the plate. He brings an extraordinary arm to the dish, and hopefully will have the experience and skill to coach the Atlantics pitching staff through their more difficult innings.


This will likely be a tough year for the Atlantics, and they will definitely need to work on improving their pitching and outfield for seasons to come if they hope to have a chance at a pennant. However, there is a lot of promising talent in their minor league system right now, and with some careful develoment and grooming, things might not be looking too bad for the future.

This year, a finish anywhere near .500 can be considered a major victory.

posted this in the wrong thread

Well because of cap contraints it will be a very interesting year for Brooklyn as I do not want to release any players and am going to be barely over the cap. That said I am going to shake up my Rotation and go with a 23 man roster, I am interested to see how this unfolds.

Valdosta Peanuts
1972: 106-48 FOOL Champions

After becoming the first team in FOOL history to win three FOOL Championships, and having done so in consecutive years, the entire league has their sights on taking down the Peanuts. Moreso than any other season this decade, the CL have wildly felt that Valdosta was more vulnerable this year. With the most offseason defections in the team's history, Valdosta has perhaps its toughest test yet ahead of them.

If you were asked which pitchers have the top winning percentage of all time in FOOL, it probably wouldn't be a difficult guess to name Joel Garner and Carlos Gonzales as the two. The Valdosta rotation has often been overlooked by league experts as an all time great due to the ballpark they play in and the monsterous offensive lineup that the Peanuts used for years. This year after seeing 5 all stars leave in the offseason will be their chance to prove that they can indeed win with pitching. Gonzales and Garner are joined by last season's Pitcher of the year Charles Wilson and southpaw Whit O'neal to feature three previous Pitcher of the year awards among the staff.

There may be very few teams in FOOL history that could rival the offensive output of the Valdosta peanuts over the last few seasons. In 1972 they averaged 5.5 Runs scored per game, and no team can match the 1971 Peanuts 5.6 Runs scored per game since the 1963 Charleston Chew. The middle of the Peanuts lineup once again features two time Best Hitter award winner Rick Inman whom is the all time leader in doubles in the league. Joining Inman in the lineup is the familiar face of Roberto Pagan whom has the single season record for OBP with .471 in a season.

The big question for the Peanuts this year is how to replace the missing offense from the offseason loss of Juan Reyes, Edgardo Reyes, Lawrence Wyatt, Ruben Mendoza, and Dirk Fritz. Part of the equation was the move to bring back former Peanut 2B Ken Connolly whom enjoyed previous success in Valdosta with three seasons of .300 or better baseball, but suffered in Toronto resulting in being regulated to the minors last season. Valdosta will also need strong follow up seasons to Allstar suprises C Dan Long and Infielder Brian Sampson this season in order to contend.

Most of the writers this season are predicting the other Georgian team from 228 miles to the north as the CL favorite, but no one is just ready yet to rule out a Valdosta team that has only once finished worse than 2nd in the time since 1966.

QUAD CITY THUNDERSTORMS
1972: 80-74, T-3rd Republic League
1971: 83-71, 4th, RL
1970: 67-87, 6th, RL
1969: 38-116, 8th, RL

Heading into his fourth year as the GM in the Quad Cities, D.C. is at the same place he was six years ago in Compton. That team was in their fourth season with him at the helm (in their existance, actually) when they trumped the rest of the RL to capture the first pennant in league history. He became the first GM to take two different teams to the FOOL Classic, before losing out in a Game 9, 13th inning thriller that went to Brooklyn 5-4, to lose.

He left, took a Chicago team from the doldrums and has officially rebuilt the team from the ground up.

Despite missing out on some plum free agents and letting a good portion of the experience rotation go, D.C. feels the T-Storms have reached the place where they can truly contend for the RL title.

He brought in RF Larry Richmond (.277/25 HR/85 RBI) from Toronto, Tyler Reilly, a first baseman who was part of Rio Grande's '66 title team and hit 18 HRs last year and he hopes they will couple with his young bats like Marcos Montoya at 3rd base (22 HR/85 RBI) and reigning league MVP Mac Rasmussen (.377/26 HR/81 RBI) to provide run support for the pitching staff.

20-year old phenom Theirry Fournier was sent to Triple-A for more seasoning, after two years in the majors.

On the pitching side of the house, only Doug Proctor is a newcomer, after being exiled from Colorado. He had 72 career wins and the T-Storms are hoping he can return to the form that made him in all-star in '67.

Harry Mason returns after a season where he won 11 games and had 12 complete games on an 11-15 season. Sam Godbout went 9-18 in his first season in the Quad Cities, but the team is hoping that his 208 strikeouts and electric stuff can result in a better year going forward. Rounding out the T-Storms 4-man rotation is Gabriel Riggs.

Xinpeng Tien (9-1, 9 SV, 2.19 ERA) will be the closer this year, the relief corps is deep, but contains lot of guys who would not light up an all-star roster.

This has to be the biggest question mark going into the year.

It's hard to say that the T-Storms haven't improved, they have. But the real question is simply going to be how a lot of unproven guys are going to produce when the lights go on at John Deere Field this year.

After improving each year since the dismal 1969 season, the Storms faithful are hoping that '73 is the year of breakthrough along the Mississippi river.

Impressive that you already know what your record will be this year. Can i ask you what mine will be? :)

At first I thought so too and then I started to really look at both teams. I think that Valdosta still has them in the pitching department and until that get flip flopped, Im gonna go with Valdosta.

While I think Atlanta made HUGE HUGE strides on the offensive side (actually think they are a little bit better overall than Valdosta in that department) I think that Valdosta has enough guys that can hit for 300 and score runs the small ball way. Couple that with pitching I mentioned earlier and I still think its Valdostas this year.


The 2 teams that I also like are Brooklyn and Baltimore. I think these guys are gonna push both of those teams and I could easily see one of these 2 finish a top the division. Baltimore made some nice moves this offseason to get them into the position to make a decent run.

it surely is gonna be a fun division to watch this year, as it should be the frist time Valdosta has shown a chink in the armor. Gotta love the CAP :D

Im picking Valdosta, Atlanta, Brooklyn, and Baltimore.

1973 PROSPECT LIST

That list doesn't look very good for me!

PRE-START SALARY SITUATION....I'll release the official count in a half hour.

Wow.. so weird not having to worry about cap space for once.

I am guessing we are going with whatever Alan wants to do there with Compton hitting the cap. I hope Turner submitted an export with his cap situation settled.

If Compton (AI) does not fix it themselves, my suggestion can be found Here ->>> Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - 1973 Off-season Thread

I felt CF Jay Schultz looked to be the best drop candidate as an overpaid, underproducing older platoon player.

Im hoping he did too. On the last file he has 35 guys on the active roster, so it looks like he has been making some moves in game

Did we come up with what happens when a real team does not get under? I thought we talked about it somewhere but who knows where that is listed

I took care of this. Thanks, Alan.

Old rules say Commissioner decides. With the new rules, I imagine the BoD will have to chat about it and come up with a remedy for the problem.

Columbus shouldn't be a huge problem. I'm assuming Turner will get an export in for the season, but if for some reason he doesn't, he has enough minor league contract guys that can be demoted from the majors to get under the cap without having to cut anyone.

Is Columbus a big problem? I see his payroll just over 65 mil, and he has 35 guys on the major league roster. I would think it will be fine once that is down to 25 guys.....

They shouldnt be. I mean its only like 185k or something that we are talking about.

I wrote him and let him know he's over the cap. Their file has already come in, so he's officially over, but..we're waiting for Compton to get sorted out, so if he logs in and checks it out, we can solve the issue. Otherwise...well...we'll figure it out then.,

Columbus shouldn't be a problem, barely over the cap, 35 guys on the roster. ;)

Oh, can we force Columbus to trade me Jesus Lopez so he is under the cap? He wouldn't let me have him last week, and Cringer needs to get what he wants!!

:D

ill agree and well have 2/3 if you then trade me you know who :)

JK

my sorry attempt at humor

BTW, my export is in (and was ahead of the deadline, although I went ahead and added a couple things and re-exported, since we hadn't started yet).

How did you re export?

He's surely got some options of guys he can demote to get under...like guys who aren't starting who can be replaced by cheaper guys to get him under. But this will be a good test for us on the rules.

In an unrelated note, can we get the BoD to confirm here that draft pick trading is officially dead effective this season? We've all said it in other threads, but...just want to have it officially indicated.

Just sent in another export via the in game.

Wow. I'm proud of you!

;)

Just export again and it will overwrite your old one.

Oh yeah, did we do anything with steal percentages?