I always wanted to be a GM...An OOTP2007 Dynasty

[Young Drachma]

FINAL REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS

---
 American League Standings
Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
New York Yankees	80	74	.519	-
Toronto Blue Jays	75	79	.487	5.0
New York Rens	70	84	.455	10.0
New Jersey Nine	65	89	.422	15.0
Boston Red Sox	64	90	.416	16.0
Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Portland Beavers	89	65	.578	-
Riverside Cavalry	89	65	.578	-
Los Angeles Stars	84	70	.545	5.0
Seattle Mariners	81	73	.526	8.0
San Jose Athletics	75	79	.487	14.0
Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Chicago White Sox	88	66	.571	-
Detroit Tigers	87	67	.565	1.0
Cleveland Bombers	85	69	.552	3.0
Chicago Heartland Comets	71	83	.461	17.0
St. Paul Saints	60	94	.390	28.0
Southern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Baltimore Orioles	82	72	.532	-
Kansas City Chargers	80	74	.519	2.0
Texas Rangers	80	74	.519	2.0
Washington Nationals	78	76	.506	4.0
Miami Marlins	57	97	.370	25.0

National League Standings
Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
New York Mets	83	71	.539	-
Pittsburgh Pirates	82	72	.532	1.0
Brooklyn Dodgers	67	87	.435	16.0
Hartford Whalers	67	87	.435	16.0
Philadelphia Phillies	64	90	.416	19.0
Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Vancouver Canadians	82	72	.532	-
Anaheim Angels	79	75	.513	3.0
San Francisco Seals	75	79	.487	7.0
San Diego Padres	71	83	.461	11.0
Arizona Diamondbacks	65	89	.422	17.0
Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Austin Aviators	92	62	.597	-
Chicago Cubs	90	64	.584	2.0
St. Louis Cardinals	82	72	.532	10.0
Nevada Silverhawks	77	77	.500	15.0
Colorado Rockies	74	80	.481	18.0
Southern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Florida Oranges	82	72	.532	-
Virginia Giants	81	74	.523	1.5
Carolina Reds	80	75	.516	2.5
Atlanta Braves	77	77	.500	5.0
Houston Astros	71	83	.461	11.0

[Young Drachma]

PREVIEW: AUSTIN V. VIRGINIA

If I were scheduling this in real life, the best-of-three game Wild Card Series would be an entire road series for the team with the worse record. All three games if necessary.

But since I'm not, it won't be that way.

The Aviators and Giants tied in their season series at 3 games apiece. The Aviators feature a punishing lineup ranging from rightfielder Brendan King, who can do it all. He noticed 39 steals this year, hit 41 HRs and 115 RBI. In fact, the team has four players with over 100 RBI and two others with 50+ steals.

On the pitching side of the house, the Aviators team ERA of 4.81 was 2nd in the National League this year. Johnny Sampson, who played for Virginia last year and was traded after the waiver deadline (BEFORE I ARRIVED!?!) led the team with 165 strikeouts this season and 34-year old Rich Crockett led the team with 14 wins.

On the flip side, the Giants LED the National League in team ERA with 4.78, 2nd in Starters ERA and 4th in Bullpen ERA.

Offensively, the team led the league in stolen bases, but was at the bottom of the league in home runs -- making Tyler James' heroics in the one game playoff that much more remarkable.

The team will suffer with mashing third baseman Wosene Lamaalem out for the rest of the year with a ruputured disc in his back, but in only 79 games with the team his homers were off and he had 20 fewer RBI than in Boston.

The team's top players including Aussie rookie of the year candidate Axel Collingridge whose 34 homers led the team. Allen Carlisle was panned as some as being a 32-year old waste of cash, but for the Giants, he's been a true Giant. His 30 HRs, 104 RBI were among the tops on his team and his league leading .372 batting average is the highest of his career.

For those who say that April doesn't matter, it's likely that this team's 18-9 start is the only reason they're in the playoffs. Down the stretch, they went an just better than average 39-34 from July until the end of the season.

It'll be interesting to see how this first Wild Card Series plays out. Criticism of the entire format claim that the best teams will be shut out of the World Series, making the process less interesting to fans. But all indications so far as that fans across the country are excited, as more baseball teams in history are eligible for the post-season than ever before. And given that there were six teams within striking distance of the playoffs in the final days of the season, anytime you can have fans of a team engaged down to the wire of the season, it's a good thing.

[Young Drachma]

For the record, I simmed all of these games..didn't play them.

GAME 1: Virginia 13 Austin 5
GAME 2: Virginia 8 Austin 1

It seems the story of this Wild Card Series was, offense, offense, offense.

The 8th seeded Giants needed a miracle just to get into the playoffs. But once they got their, the bats started working like they hadn't in several months and the team that Austin manager David Farley called "probably the most dangerous in the playoffs" proved him right as it sent the top seeded Aviators packing a lot earlier than they'd planned.
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OTHER WILD CARD SERIES RESULTS
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Riverside def. Los Angeles 2-1
Chicago def. Cleveland 2-1
Detroit def. Baltimore 2-0
Portland def. New York 2-1
New York def. St. Louis 2-0
Florida def. Pittsburgh 2-0
Chicago def. Vancouver 2-0

[Young Drachma]

DIVISION SERIES MATCHUPS
(Sept. 23, 2011)

AMERICAN LEAGUE
---
Chicago v. Riverside
Detroit v. Portland

NATIONAL LEAGUE
---
Virginia v. New York
Chicago v. Florida

[Young Drachma]

We're down to the final four in each league and when the dust settled, the AL's two best teams are still alive on opposite sides of the bracket. The Riverside Cavalry will take on the Chicago White Sox in their Division Series matchup and the Portland Beavers will accept the challenge in their best-of-five series of the Detroit Tigers.

In the National League, the Giants will be pitted against the NL East champion New York Mets. The Mets' Eric Gagne, who won 19 games for the team this past year got a huge blow when their ace is day-to-day with back spasms and might miss a start during the Division Series.

In the regular season, the Giants took 5 of 6 from the Mets.

In the other NL Division Series, the Florida Oranges will take on the Chicago Cubs

[Young Drachma]

GAME 1: Virginia 6, New York 4 (10 innings)
GAME 2: New York 3, Virginia 2
GAME 3: New York 5, Virginia 2
GAME 4: Virginia 7, New York 3

Mets will have Gagne for Game 5
--
Mets starter Eric Gagne will return from injury to pitch in the decisive Game Five of the NLDS in New York.

[Young Drachma]

Sylvain Belanger was on the mound for Game 5 of the Division Series versus the New York Mets. Give most pitchers, let alone a former Cy Young winner a 7 run lead going into the 7th inning and you're pretty sure that the game is going to get nailed down. But the Mets rallied in the bottom of the 7th, tacking on four runs. But the Giants added an insurance run in the top of the ninth and Jake Smith came on in the 9th and despite giving up two runs, nailed down the victory to get the save and to send the Giants to the NLCS for the first in eight years.

Meanwhile, a little bad news for the Giants as 1B Allen Carlisle was injured in the game after being hit by a pitch. and is reported out two weeks, which is a huge blow to an already battered team and that will reply on more of its depth down the road.

[Young Drachma]

BASEBALL'S FINAL FOUR UNVEILED

The dust has settled and it's October 1st. The pretenders have gone home and we're left with four teams that will seek to call themselves World Series champions when it's all done.

In the American League, the Chicago White Sox continue their quest to repeat as World Series champions and claim their fourth title in eight years. Standing in their way will be the Detroit Tigers who last advanced to the World Series back in 1973 when they won it all over the Chicago Cubs.

In the National League, the Virginia Giants are looking to get back to the World Series for the first time since they won the title -- back when they were still in New Jersey -- in 2003. Meanwhile, their opponents the Florida Oranges have never appeared in a World Series since joining the NL back in 1988.

The Tigers and White Sox tied 3-3 during their season series, while the Oranges lost their season series to the Giants 3-5 during the regular season.

[Young Drachma]

GIANTS SWEEP ORANGES, WIN NL PENNANT

[Young Drachma]

Some fans have complained in recent weeks about the Virginia Giants wallop through the playoffs that it wasn't fair that a team that was only 8th in the National League qualified for the playoffs and now will make the World Series.

But even before the expanded playoffs in 2003, the Houston Astros made the playoffs with a 75-79 record and it took seven games in the Division Series for the Giants to send them home and that was a year in which teams with better records were shut out of the playoffs completely.

Under the new format, there is almost no way for that to happen.

"Baseball's regular season still means a lot," said MLB Executive Vice President Darryl Houston.

"People are getting bent out of shape when their team fails to rise to the occasion. But when you consider that there were very good teams that still didn't make the playoffs this year in either league, this isn't a situation like in basketball, hockey or football where teams with losing records routinely fight it out for the 8th spot in their league playoffs. Let alone do those teams contend for titles.

In the case of the Giants, I think it's fair to say that the team peaked at the right time. It's not as if the system is rigged towards bad teams winning or anything close. So I think those folks probably need to relax a bit and enjoy what most have said is the most exciting baseball playoff season they've ever experienced."

[Young Drachma]

The White Sox might have won the battle, the Tigers have officially captured the war. After finishing a game ahead of the Tigers to lay claim on the AL Central title, the rematch of these two colossial opponents ended with the Tigers claimed their 13th American League title after a 10-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

It's quite a rebound for the Tigers who finished last season four games under .500 and fifth in the AL Central and last made the playoffs back in 2007 when they won the AL Central.

Meanwhile, the Giants have appreciated the rest that the seven-game series in the AL gave them after sweeping the Florida Oranges in the NL Series.

Their 2.8 million fans this past season is the most since their World Series year of 2003 (3.4 million) and third most in franchise history.

GM Tristan Schofield said he's surprised by his team's recent ascent, but not that surprised.

"We put together a team that we thought had a shot to do some pretty fantastic things. And they've managed to gel a lot sooner than I think any of us expected, especially given how we were clunking down the stretch. But in the end, we got wins when we needed them and were clutch when we needed to be and really, that's what it's all about at this time of year."

SP Scott Andrews and first baseman Allen Carlisle both came back from injuries this past week, giving the team a shot in the arm heading into the playoffs.

"To get your ace back and your best hitter just before the World Series, is a pretty big thing. It's especially interesting that we managed to do as well as we did in the last series without them. I think this team is just driven," said Schofield.

Detroit has home-field advantage in the World Series.

[Young Drachma]

GAME 1: DETROIT 10 Virginia 0
GAME 2: VIRGINIA 6 Detroit 2
GAME 3: DETROIT 8 Virginia 4
GAME 4: VIRGINIA 12 Detroit 0
GAME 5: VIRGINIA 8 Detroit 1

Heading into Game Six, the Giants will be without Larry Brafield who was injured in Game Five. He'll be out the rest of the World Series. But with just one game left to capture their first title in eight years, the Giants are strictly business.

"We can't say that during the past few weeks of the year, we thought we'd be in this position. But we're going to go out there and do our best anyway," said pitcher Eric Broadhead who won Game 5, just his second start during these playoffs.

[Young Drachma]

In Game 6, the Giants will face off against Detroit's best pitcher in these playoffs Albert Allen. The 23-year old Allen already has nearly half as many wins (6) as he had during the regular season (15), he's struck out 65 batters and it's not a stretch to say that without his arm, the Tigers would not be where they are right now.

The Giants meanwhile are sending their ace in Game 6, hoping that if he does what he's capable of, there won't be a Game 7. Aussie Brandon Cashmore is 3-0 this post-season, which completes a whirlwind tour of the world for the 29-year old hurler, who said his biggest post-season moment before this year was winning the Serie A1 baseball title in Italy.

"It was a good time, mate, lemme tell ya. But this...this is something else. I get goosebumps every few minutes."

[Young Drachma]

Albert Allen showed why he's #1 on everyone's list for World Series MVP. In a duel of top hurlers, Virginia's Brandon Cashmore and his 13 strikeouts turned out to be no match for Allen, the Tigers lineup and 7 innings of 8 hits and just 1 run.

"We managed to get on base, but we couldn't capitalize," said Giants first base coach David Patton. The Tigers now have home field and a chance to win their first World Series since 1973 right in the crosshairs.

"We knew we could make it there," said Allen, "it's just about getting things right at the right time. We're not done yet though."

Game Seven is tomorrow night at Comerica Field in Detroit.

[Young Drachma]

Axel Collinridge smacks two homers in a game that featured a combined 28 hits and 22 total runs, to lead the Virginia Giants to a 12-10 victory and with it, the 2011 World Series Championship. They were his fifth and sixth home runs of the post-season.

"This is an amazing turn of events for this ballclub," said GM Tristan Schofield about the club's reversal of fortune from needing to win a one-game playoff just to get into playoffs, but once they did they got hot and never looked back.

The Giants captured their first World Series title since 2002.

[Young Drachma]

NEW YORK -- ESPN's Jayson Stark is reporting that the GM of the World Series champion Virginia Giants, Tristan Schofield has reported been offered a four-year deal with the New York Rens to be their President of Baseball Operations.

No comment has been made by Schofield, the Giants or Rens officials, but according to Schofield's agent, he is still under contract with the Giants and has not discussed his plans with any team as of yet.

The Giants captured their fifth World Series title in franchise history Wednesday after knocking off the Detroit Tigers in Game 7 of the 2011 World Series.

Schofield, 32, was eleven years removed from his last World Series appearance back when he was the precocious GM of the Cavalry before they moved west to California.

[Young Drachma]

Giants GM Tristan Schofield has denied reports that he's leaving Virginia. "I don't know where that came from. No one from New York -- or anywhere -- has called me about anything," he said Sunday in an interview on Versus Networks' Most Awesome Sports Show Exclamation Point.

"It's awesome to call yourself World Series champions. I had no idea it would feel this good and being away from the game in this capacity for as long as I had, I didn't really think about it much. I just went to work everyday knowing that the team we'd built [in Virginia] was special and that awesome things could happen if we put our minds to it. But wow, this is even beyond anything I expected."

When asked whether he'd consider another job, mum was the word. "I'm really enjoying this right now and I'm the general manager of the Virginia Giants. Anything else, isn't really on my radar at the moment."

[Young Drachma]

DIAMOND LAKE, Va.-- The Virginia Giants gave the New York Rens permission to talk to their General Manager Tristan Schofield today.

Schofield, who is from Plainfield, N.J. is a leading candidate to replace interim Rens general manager Terry Francisco. Schofield had previously denied any interest in the position, while the team seems to have focused their attention solely on getting Schofield.

The surprising Giants took advantage of the first year of a new playoff system by qualifying as the fourth and final Wild Card in the National League -- after winning a one-game playoff against the Carolina Reds. The team managed to win that game and went on a run that led to their winning the 2011 World Series in seven games over the Detroit Tigers.

They went 39-34 after Schofield replaced manager James Barnard with Julius Thomas.

Schofield, 32, was the youngest GM in baseball a decade ago with the Cavalry. He most recently served as Director of International Scouting and Development for the New Jersey Nine during the two years before they joined MLB and left that job to join the Giants last year.

He has one year left on the two-year contract he signed with the Giants when he took over for the fired Gord Ash in November 2010. The Giants have put a 36-hour window on the negotiations, if Schofield indeed accepts the position.

[Young Drachma]

The shortened amateur draft is no more. Citing a lack of development in the two divisions of minor league baseball, MLB has announced plans for the 2012 Amateur Draft to go 100 rounds.

"We're just not developing the types of prospects we'd like to. We're looking at creating another division of the minors at some point (currently there is only a Triple-A and a SS-A division) and we need to get teams the ability to have more players in their systems.

It's expected that at least a Double-A league affiliated with MLB will be added in 2012.

Author's note: The players in most of the minors were terrible. Now that I'm actively playing, even seeing a glut of one-star players on bad teams was getting really old. I was always a fan of the fact that baseball's draft was far longer than any other sports and I think it's a necessary thing. Especially now that the game isn't generating real life players.

[Young Drachma]

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball has announced plans to attempt restarting the World Baseball Cup during Spring Training next season. The tournament's teams have not been announced yet, but recognizing the 'growth of the game throughout the world,' MLB executives have decided that "a worldwide showcase of the game is in order, featuring the best players from all over the world."

As many as 24 nations might be invited to the tournament, that if it is successful will be played annually.

[Young Drachma]

MLB Senior Vice President Marc Mienkaas, who was born to American missionary parents in the African country of Zambia and who went to university in South Africa, having a World Cup on par with what sports like cricket and rugby have in their World Cup.

"I don't think we'll get to the level that soccer has theirs, because it's just a different sport with a different following and all of that. But the fact that you have kids literally all over the world actually playing baseball is huge for us and we really are thrilled about that prospect," he said.

A recent survey of "baseball playing nations" by the International Baseball Federation showed the number of top prospects around the world growing in places that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago.

"Ghana is churning out legitimate major leaguers, while places like Pakistan and India are in an Asian arms race to see which can develop baseball players faster than China or Japan. And those countries have had a huge head start. It's amazing," he said.

Crediting a recent growth in the number of middle class families in India and the number of dot-com era companies that continued to launch and develop there by US educated Indians, baseball grew leaps in bounds in that country in the past few years, leaving many to wonder how the new 'global' game will be received by Americans who are still very used to a game that doesn't say, resemble a sport like hockey where the best players are usually foreigners.

"It'll be interesting to see as time goes on how it will all play out, but we're hoping the World Cup makes it even more interesting for fans."

[Young Drachma]

Prior to the World Cup showcase, a showcase of the best prospects under the age of 25 will take place in Arizona. The Continental Fall League will feature four continental teams of the best players from around the world under 25 from Africa, Asia (including Australia), Europe and North America.

This 28-game league will be a preview of the showcased talent around the world and a precursor to further international development.

The World Cup probably won't happen this next year. I want to do it, but it's hard to run a team and set that up, at least...for me it is because of how much I want to develop my team. So, I think the fall league will be it for now, mostly to make sure that the way I want to develop it - using existing players - will actually work the way I hope it will.

[Young Drachma]

Without much fanfare, I'm going to GM in the Continental Fall League this season. With Team Africa. The purpose of the fall league is mostly to take a look at young players who are doing well. So I'll just profile players I notice throughout the league.

[Young Drachma]

NOV. 21, 2011

So far, the story of the Continental League has been the underacheiving Team Asia and the success of Team Africa. While the Team of the Americas (12-1) was obviously going to dominate, the big question was whether Africa (7-6) had enough firepower to keep up with the Asians (6-7). And so far, the two teams are battling it out for the coveted 2nd place spot, which will give the team that gets there at the end of the season, the opportunity to play in the Under 25 World Series in December.

"We're hoping to keep our noses to the grindstone," said Team Africa GM Tristan Schofield, who said that his team's pitching (2.53, 2nd in CL) has been its biggest strength.

"If we can keep that up, we're going to be a force to be reckoned with."

[Young Drachma]

The Continental League regular season ends on December 6th and here are the records in the league:

Americas 21-3
Africa 13-11
Asia 13-11
Europe 1-23


Who was Europe's one victory against? Surprisingly enough, the Asians dropped a victory to them.

America's three loses have come from Asia (2) and Africa (1)

Africa's last four games are against Asia (2) Europe (1) and Americas (1), so the right to advance to the U-25 World Series is likely to be decided amongst those two teams in the regular season.

[Young Drachma]

December 3, 2011

Africa 8, Asia 7 (10 innings)
Americas 4 Europe 0 (PERFECT GAME!)

December 4, 2011
Americas 7 Africa 0 (NO-HITTER)

Surprising those were the first two no-hitters of the Continental League season, they just happened to be back to back.

The real story of this league is what I knew from putting the teams together. That Europe is still quite a ways off from developing any major league level talent. Asia's talent is just scratching the surface and Africa is doing pretty well, but the game will need to grow beyond South Africa and Ghana for that level to be sustained.

I'll reveal an emerging prospects list at the end of this, because a lot of the kids on some of the teams -- mostly Europe -- are still young players in college or maybe low minors at best.

[Young Drachma]

December 5, 2011

If Asia lost to The Americas (as was expected) and Africa beat Europe, Africa would've gone into their regular season ending game with a one-game lead. But the Asian team proved clutch and beat the Americas 6-4 in 10 innings. With Africa's 8-2 win over Europe, setting up a Tuesday showdown with the winner clinching a spot in the U-25 World Series against the mighty Americas team.

Africa holds a current 5-4 edge in the season series against Asia, but Asia had a better record against the Americas team (3-6 v. 1-8 for Africa)

"It'll be a huge boost for this team just to make it to the final, so we're really going to do our best to get there. But really, it comes down to doing what we've done the whole season," said GM Dark Cloud.

[Young Drachma]

Asia won 1-0 over Africa to capture in 10 innings to advance to the Under 25 World Series

[Young Drachma]

One of the things that I've learned just from doing this winter league -- which was a success, it's just tedious to move the players from team to team -- is that you get a pretty good handle on who is in your league. Which is kinda nice, because it's often difficult to get a handle on anyone but the top players. But with this, you get to really scour the universe and see the types of players and more specifically ,where they play.

It's still a bit overwhelming if you're running a non-traditional universe. But still...it's a useful tool I'm finding.

[Young Drachma]

Just a month after denying reports that he would accept the job with the New York Rens of the American League, Virginia Giants GM Tristan Schofield announced late today, after leaving the Continental Fall League's Under 25 World Series, that he would be accepting the job in New York with the Rens.

"It's a great fit for me at this point in my career. It's no doubt a rebuilding job, but they have a great core of players that I'm really looking forward to working with. It would do my heart a lot of good, having won a World Series now, to build a perennial winner in Harlem," said Schofield in an interview with the New York Sun.

Giants officials said they heard the news late last week and had no comment.

Meanwhile in New York, Rens management were ecstatic at the move as the club prepares to celebrate it's fifth anniversary in 2012. The team finished 70-84 last season, 10 GB in the American League East.

"We're really thrilled to have a proven winner in Tristan [Schofield] joining the Renaissance organization. We're delighted that he's accepted our offer to become our new President of Baseball Operations and we're looking forward to putting a winner on field next year and in years to come," said Team owner and Harlem native Colin Powell.

[Young Drachma]

Heading into New York, the goal is to win and win now. I think that the people in New York are going to get really tired of a third team there really quickly if they're not a winner early, that it's going to get tough for the new kid on the block.

But while we do that, I want to develop the minor league system to make sure that down the line we have a host of prospects that might pan out to be useful starters, so we can have players that are home grown. Because spending money isn't going to work forever.

So we'll see how this pans out. I don't really know yet.

[Young Drachma]

Starting in 2012 (and with the new patch) I added the Japanese & Cuban major leagues to the universe. I think I'll probably create an independent US league as well.

[Young Drachma]

I just ran the amateur draft. I lowered it to 40 rounds, because I thought that was more than enough. I'll do a team draft recap in a little bit.

Here are the currently active leagues in the universe:

Major League Baseball
- Triple-A Baseball
- Double-A Baseball
- Short-Season A Baseball
- National Collegiate Baseball Association (College feeder)
- Louisville Slugger National HS League (HS feeder)

Nippon Professional Baseball (Japan)
- Nippon Triple-A

Cuban Baseball League

Canadian Baseball League (12-team independent circuit)