1973 Off-season Thread
 

Free Agency starts tonight.

Not playing is lame. No way I do this for too much longer.

I think the reason why several people mentioned having a commish without any team is so there is no conflicts of interest on things such as rule changes, sim nights (freak talent boosts/drops, sim results), etc.

I think it probably would be understood if commishing is just not your cup of tea and your true enjoyment comes from running a team that you then continue to do so or you will eventually burn out as it becomes too much like a job.

The question then is how to avoid any conflicts of interest? Well the easy solution for that is if you enjoy running a team more than the commish, then create some kind of rule committee and strip some of your "power" as commish. So proposed rule changes has to be done by a committee of teams and not just one person. If this committee is the one proposing the rule changes (either based on their thoughts, or suggestions from other team owners), and all changes to the league structure or rules are voted on by the entire league I don't see how anyone can be worried about conflict of interest on the application of the league rules.

The only issue that would be left at that point would just be that you would need a thick skin regarding any sim that happens to go your way as a team owner. I don't think that I have ever been in any league that hasn't had at least someone joke about the commish fixing the sim results when they end up doing well. I think that is just part of simming.


So anyways, that is a bit more long winded then I intended it to be.. basically what I am saying is if not having a team means this will end up feeling more like work than pleasure, I am going to guess at some point you will get tired of doing it and the league will collapse, which none of us want.

I was just being snarky. It's not a big deal, ultimately. I've got my solo league, life is getting busier for me and so, it's fine. It's fine and also lame, is all.

I think I've displayed thick skin except when Jimmy made comments and even with that, I think I handled it all relatively well, especially at the end.

We're already moving in the direction of voting on rules changes, so that's no big deal and that's with me out, so..it's all good.

It's always gonna feel like work, it was even when I ran a team. But I started the league to play in a fast solo league, so...that's really what it came down to.

It's not a big deal, ultimately. The league will continue to run as it does, I'll commish and everyone will be happy. Let's talk about the off-season. Lots of teams have a chance to get REALLY good this year. Someone needs to step it up and be an upstart. Valdosta, Colorado and Compton seem to have the league on lock. Especially Valdosta. ;)

I am losing 5 all stars this offseason. It is tough to keep a league on lock when you lose 5 all stars. :) I think the CL is wide open this year for someone else to run in and snatch it. I bet the CL is closer than the RL is even next year as Colorado is staying pretty much the same team that dominated last year. There is no question about it, I won't be as good next year..

I have everybody coming back but William Kay, who pitched all of 47 innings last year. I might get rid of a few guys to give me more cap space, which I already have nearly $20 million of. I am looking to add two or three quality players.

But I think this is where the difficulty of the quick sim comes in to play. It is much harder to get those free agents because your initial offer is basically your final offer. Couple that with a salary cap and it makes it difficult to get the free agents you want.

I prefer DC having a team, makes the league better IMO. Whatevaaaaaaaaa though.

My team is another year older, so, woohoo. After we are done being old we will probably just be crappy. :D

I suppose there is work to do now.

I feel like the clock struck midnight and my team is about to turn into a pumpkin!

Hehe...you had a hell of a run, man. And it's FOOL, you'll be back at it in a month or so. Maybe sooner... ;)

File is uploading now. 19.37 mb

File is up.

Some of the crazy ass names that are free agents this year:

Noah Wakeling, Fernando Spindola, Sancho Lopez, Juan Reyes, Lawrence Wyatt, Aaron Dailey, Steven Davis, Patrick Bentley

You arent kidding, best FA class that I can remember :)

Exhibit A on why keeping the salary cap at its current value was a good choice.

:+1:

No arguments here, sir.

Is that part of your campaign speech? :)

Heck, in my solo league, I lowered it to $55 million. So I converted my stance on the issue in recent years. ;)

I am too busy signing up fake accounts to keep voting repeatedly for Cringer.

I also like where the salary cap is at.

It's very difficult to tell where the market is going to be this offseason. A number of teams are in the 43-50 million range, with a good amount of money to spend. A few are well below that.

I am not sure what I am going to do....Put all my chips into a couple of players, and hope that I land them, or spread out the wealth. Either way you run the chance of getting beat on all your initial offers and landing nobody.

im also having a tough time...... I hate it this year because with this so many guys out there im itching and tempted to sign guys insead of giving my young guys the chance to play!!!!

I have been sitting here contemplating the exact same issue myself. There are three guys that I could go all out for to try to get, but there are a bunch of teams if they took the same approach for the same player, they could easily out bid me.

I could throw bits and pieces of money at other various guys, but I have seen in the past that several teams (ie: Hartford) can out bid me there too on those.

This offseason is like a strategy puzzle for me.

And with a bunch of teams seemingly ready to be competitive (especially in the CL), you feel like you have to make a move of some sorts.

Alan, feel free to PM with me with your plan...I promise I'll send you mine in return ;)

Please?

Ok, I'll include what my bids are too! :)

This offseason and ensuing season is going to be a lot of fun.

I think part of the fun in the FA process is trying to guess what other teams are going to do.

Now we just need to get a few more guys to join to make it even more difficult.

Imagine trying a league like this with 30 owners. That would be insane. I am not recommending it, but it would be a lot different.

I have no money, once again. I actually wouldn't mind trading away 3B Warren Lewis if anyone is interested and has the cap space.

As for the FA's, I am curious to see what happens to Juan Navarro. His stats have been pretty good through the years for me, but his ratings don't match those of other guys out there. He wanted 8 mil a year from me and is asking for 7 mil a year in FA. I can't see him getting it.

According to the stars, he is ranked somewhere in the mid-40s in terms of FAs available. I don't see that kind of money making it all the way to him, but you never know.

Exactly graygoose. I am interested to see if one of two things happens...

1)someone lands him with a cheap offer that he amazingly takes down the line
2)he doesn't play this season

I think it is one of those two things.

With AI controlled teams, I think they are more likely to snatch up a player like this as I believe they will value a player based on the same scale as the player values themselves in regards to performance vs ratings.

im guessing that he plays of an AI team after we are done bidding, and nobody picks him up for what he wants, they will snag him

How much is Higman going to get? A 23-year old who can play all IF positions. That should be interesting.

LOL alan beat me to it.. my bad

That guy is gonna set the tone....... If people go crazy offering him big contracts, the rest of the guys will get left for us small horrible teams like myself :)

he was the MVP this year, I can't imagine any team that wouldn't be better off with him, including rebuilding teams.

This league is keeping me up too late. Have to get to sleep.

Man o' man.

I neutralize things with the AI teams by only letting them bid for two days out of each stage of our FA. Otherwise, they'd really get in the way and make shit get out of whack.

The Board of Directors move was directly related to my desire to play and recognizing the fact that the league is maturing and needed a change in leadership structure. I was never opposed to it, either. It just never occurred to me to do it and I couldn't think of how...but once Alan made the suggestion, I thought about it and within an hour, came up with an idea that I think will serve us well going forward.

So I'm going to come back. Not to move a team anywhere, tho. ;) Just back to the Quad Cities.

Higman has the potential to be a Tanaka or a Rich Lang-type signing. A real game-changer for sure. It'll be really interesting to see where he ends up.

I really have no idea what the heck I want to do..... There are so many guys that I like out there.... I need some teams to trade me their over priced stars to help make my choice a hell of a lot easier :)

Most teams have about 5-20 mil to spend. With the top tier guys gonna command at or around 10 mil a piece, the choices people are gonna have to make are just crazy... This offseason is gonna be (forgive the slogan) a HOOT!!!!!

I have already exported for the night. Not a whole lot I am able to do to make sure I finish 4th again.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the league, there was a bit of drama in the Colorado office last night. The Rancheros actually elected to not accept their team option on star Teruo Miyahara's final contract year for $16 M. So there was a possibility that one of the league's top power hitters was about to hit the market--at 25 years old. Miyahara actually wanted $14.75 M per year to resign (three years), which wasn't much of a drop from what he would have been paid. So we waited for today's file in breathless anticipation that Teruo would accept the six year deal we tendered him that averages about $12 M.

And he did! Teruo has likely locked himself in as lifelong Ranchero, or pretty close to it.

On top of that, getting his contract lower in the near future should allow us to resign some key players in the near future, including the power trio of Davis, Beens and Gonzalez.

You lucky son of a gun :) Congrats on that one Chief... thats huge for you over there!!!!!

Ive finally exported. Good luck to everyone in what should be the most exciting offseason in Fool History. Cant wait to see who does what and how it shapes the different leagues.

I still can't decide what I want to do...

I am scared to miss out on all the guys I am going after though.

Export is in....I am a bit nervous about this.

I'm putting up a new file for Toronto's new owner kaosfere No changes and no exports have been taken, the only thing I did was add him as a user and assign him. With free agency being as awesome as it will be this year, I didn't think it was fair if he's otherwise set up to leave him out.

Just for the record.

Welcome him to the league, too.

Cool, my first chance to bring up impeachment. You are gone Mister!! ;)

Man I just got to see the file and am sad that Higman did not accept my extension.

Edit: I now see he wants less in FA than I offered :(

Sweet! Who know unemployment would be so easy!:D

That hurts. Sorry to hear that Commo