1858 Season Preview & Thread (Sunset Series XXI)

Young Drachma · 09-07-2012, 02:39 AM

1858 Draft Order
1. Kauai
2. Shem Creek
3. Hilton Head
4. San Diego
5. Columbus
6. Gettysburg
7. Lake Tahoe
8. Brooklyn
9. Syracuse
10. Chicago
11. Memphis
12. Carolina
13. Gettysburg (via Milwaukee in 1st & 2nd rounds)
14. Los Angeles
15. Rio Grande
16. Winnemucca

Young Drachma · 09-07-2012, 03:18 AM

Speaking of the draft, here are the top 10 guys who are draft eligible this year:

1. Colin Baxter, SP
2. Ernie Hanlon, SP
3. Miguel Jimenez, SP
4. R.J. Conlon, LF
5. Javier Fernandez, CL
6. T.J. Graber, C
7. Ethan Hyatt, SP
8. Quentin Stretton, 3B
9. Jimmy Ziegler, LF
10. Ricky Chavez, CF

Young Drachma · 09-07-2012, 11:30 PM

SPRING TRAINING
AL
Memphis 17-7
Winnemucca 17-7
Lake Tahoe 17-7
Milwaukee 14-10
Columbus 10-14
San Diego 8-16
Syracuse 8-16
Hilton Head 5-19

NL
Carolina 18-6
Rio Grande 17-7
Brooklyn 15-9
Chicago 15-9
Los Angeles 10-14
Kauai 9-15
Shem Creek 7-17
Gettysburg 5-19

Young Drachma · 09-07-2012, 11:36 PM

File is up. We'll sim the first half on MONDAY NIGHT.

Young Drachma · 09-08-2012, 12:46 PM

Los Angeles is $245k over the cap and Winnemucca is $150k over the cap. Need to get at or under it by export deadline on Monday night.

Young Drachma · 09-08-2012, 01:54 PM

The once proud and mighty NL is down 12-8 in Sunset Series victories since the league started 21 years ago. After losing their 3rd straight Sunset Series in Series XX, the league looks to boast its patented depth as usual. Insiders grumbled about the new playoff format, griping that their league is the harder league and that the 3rd playoff spot in the NL is "good enough for tops in the AL probably."

All of that bluster aside, we'll take a look at the squads who want to contend for playoff gold as another season rolls around.

BROOKLYN TITANS
WINTER GRADE: C-
After finishing 4th in the NL last year, the Titans did little to indicate they're in anything other than that weird place where they're too good to secure a high lottery pick and not good enough to claim the 2nd wildcard spot. Bobby Rodriguez came over from Syracuse, but besides that, this team is a shell of itself with a lot of big contracts. There's always a chance that lightning strikes and they manage to find themselves in the thick of the NL Wild Card race this year, but their best course would be to sell of those reasonable star contracts for some prospects & draft picks at the mid-season break if things aren't going well.

X-FACTOR: Carlos Sanchez is the kind of guy with the talent to win 30 games. A dominant 250+ K power hurler who had a bad year last year. If he can come back strong, it's going to make an impact on that whole rotation.

CAROLINA KINGS
WINTER GRADE: B
You might be wondering how a team that made absolutely no off-season moves gets a B, right? Well, because they didn't lose anyone. This club has won 100+ games three straight years, boasts the best Top 4 anywhere this side of the Mississippi and is just a well-oiled machine that should easily make its 14th playoff appearance in their SLOP history.

X-FACTOR: 3B Danny Salazar The defending NL Silver Glove at 3B is the sort of guy who is young and has power potential. If he can learn to use his stick to belt the ball, Carolina has a guy who would be positioned to help them towards a title run.

CHICAGO HORNETS
WINTER GRADE: C
The Hornets also stood pat this off-season, one in which they narrowed missed the NL playoffs and settled for a relatively high draft pick instead. While season predictor seems to think these are the Same Ol' Hornets (tm) of yesteryear, I'm saying it's just not so. You can't count out a team with three top-tier starters and a middle of the order that's as good as anywhere. But they're lacking the depth they've grown accustomed to and with up-and-comers like LA on their heels constantly improving, the Hornets are going to fall short again without some help at mid-season break.

X-FACTOR: 1B Stephen Chowen If Chowen continues playing like an MVP well into his late 30s, then the Hornets have a chance. If his production dips this year? It's going to be rough times in Hornetsville.

GETTYSBURG GOMERS
WINTER GRADE: D
Gomer's boys are playing the long game. Assemble draft picks for a decade and eventually, maybe, you start to be good. They've got some quality that other teams could probably use on the resale market.

KEY QUESTION: Which way is up? The Gomers have a few high-priced assets that keep them competitive, but are still a few critical pieces away from contending for a playoff spot. So what are they going to do with this year? They've got some nice prospects coming up the pipe in the next year or three, so they've got potential, but are they going to add salary in an attempt to make a run at it? Or keep treading water?

KAUAI EMERALDS
WINTER GRADE: INC
We're talking about a 2nd year expansion club that, in contrast to many other expansion teams in SLOP is operating like a real-life one. They don't take on big salaries, they're just standing pat and waiting it out for a while. Nothing wrong with that at all.

The best player in SLOP you've never heard of is Shakil Sa'eed. This Newark, New Jersey native born to a Saudi father and an African mother is tearing up baseball after getting his first deal at a tryout camp out of Florida when the Emeralds first joined SLOP. Teams ring the phones in Kauai a dozen or more times a day asking what it would take to pry this franchise-eligible 19-year old away, but my sources tell me that wolvie isn't letting that kid go anywhere for a bit. He's SLOP's King Felix. Book it.

LOS ANGELES BANDITOS
WINTER GRADE: B-
The defending NL finalist returns with basically the same club. With closer Dennis Nii moving to the rotation from the bullpen, questions abound about how the team with easily the best bullpen in the NL will perform, still the Banditos are a balanced squad that you have to pencil into that 3rd spot again this year.

KEY QUESTION: Will the pitching hold up? If that rotation can't manage to perform as it did last year over an entire season, they're going to dragged into a battle with Brooklyn and Chicago for that 2nd wild card spot. Both of those teams are more complete from the star-studded perspective whereas LA is a rag-tag band of characters who were built with playoffs in mind, coupled with some nice young talent who play their parts well. Lots of things can go wrong in a recipe like this. They might win it all or could lose 90 games. Anything is possible here.

RIO GRANDE ROUGH RIDERS
WINTER GRADE: A
You don't get a sense of how conservative this league is until you look at the transaction log for the off-season. It ebbs and flows, but the Rough Riders are another one of those NL teams that sat out the big money spending this year. Who can blame them? They have the best outfield in baseball hands down. Jimmy Ridgeway, Robby Braden, Pedro Garcia, Lowell MacNeill and Junior Garza are quite simply the best outfield under 30 ever assembled anywhere. Seriously. Like we said last year, they're good. They picked up Walt Thomas in a trade with Winnemucca that gives their rotation another quality arm. Their guys might be unheralded compared to the big names in SLOP, but they're not defending NL champs based on reputation alone.

X-FACTOR: PITCHING. If the Rough Riders want to repeat and perhaps win it all this time, they're going to need their rotation to respond as well as it did last year. Last year, they basically assembled a bunch of dudes who went out and had career years. When that's your strategy towards a title, you have to hope that you've just managed to uncover top talent and didn't ride a fluke towards gold.

SHEM CREEK SHRIMP
WINTER GRADE: INC.
Like Kauai, 2nd year expansion team that's acting like one. They'll get there someday, but someday ain't now. Their best prospect is Jamaican Andre Knox who dazzled fans in STREP for years. Dave Renninger will probably make his ML-debut this year too. The Shrimp just hope this year's draft lottery is kinder than last years, bumping down from #2 from #1.

Young Drachma · 09-08-2012, 01:56 PM

I'll probably do the AL tomorrow. Or later, if I'm feeling ambitious.

You guys still need to chime in on this Hall of Fame cases:

Ok, veterans committee. I have my thoughts, but I'd rather punt on these ~~two~~ four. Please decide on the HOF candidacies of:

1B Jim McLean

and

1B Henry Jones

and

1B Bruce Skinner

and

IF Freddie Hurley

Young Drachma · 09-08-2012, 02:02 PM

To see the draft class before it's released by the game, you just need to go to STREP, do a "List all STREP players" under Transactions and then do a custom search for anyone who is 18 or older. That'll give you the class by and large. A few extras will manage to get in based on their birthdates, but it's a nice way to see things if you want to see when future players might show up.

Also, future Hall of Famer Ed Saunders is just 29 home runs away from 800 HRs and is a free agent. I had to drop him in MKE because that contract was too much, even though we loved having him. Still, might be nice for a ticket turner to attach their wagon a la Tampa Bay to a guy who I think has earned the MVP named after him.

Young Drachma · 09-08-2012, 02:35 PM

I like retrofitting the naming of the SLOP title series because the chronology works better given our odd dating which I regret in retrospect, but I did precisely in case the league managed to last that we'd take several calendar years to reach modern times.

Anyway, if none of those names (or one you come up with) appeals, we can stick with Sunset Series.. I'll just start using the # of the event, rather than the calendar year. It matters only for reference purposes anyway.

Young Drachma · 09-10-2012, 08:54 AM

FIRST HALF TONIGHT!

Young Drachma · 09-10-2012, 03:12 PM

Cap space can be dealt.

Quote:

CAP SPACE TRADING
It's legal only for the active season (or upcoming if we're in the off-season) and it's akin to trading draft picks. A team can deal it's cap space to another team for the active year only. The dealing team needs to receive something of value in return obviously, it can't just be a cap space dump

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 12:55 AM

Ok, here we go.

Los Angeles is $245k over the cap at the deadline. Usually I will release the cheapest non-min sal guy you have to get you under the cap. In this case, that was MR Ramon Santos. I brought up a minor leaguer to fill the spot.

If it happens more than once, a players gets dropped and we'll forfeit a pick depending on the severity of the cap infraction.

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 01:02 AM

This year's draft will include players who turn 18, so it should be a bit deeper than the past few years.

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 01:04 AM

STANDINGS AS OF MAY 1, 1858

Code:

NATIONWIDE LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Chicago Hornets		25	13	.658	-
Carolina Kings		25	13	.658	-
Rio Grande Rough Riders	24	14	.632	1.0
Brooklyn Titans		25	15	.625	1.0
Gettysburg Gomers	18	20	.474	7.0
Los Angeles Banditos	16	23	.410	9.5
Kauai Emeralds		12	27	.308	13.5
Shem Creek Shrimp	10	30	.250	16.0

ASSOCIATED LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Winnemucca Choo-Choos	30	10	.750	-
Lake Placid Miracles	23	17	.575	7.0
Milwaukee Blue Sox	19	19	.500	10.0
Memphis Smokers		19	19	.500	10.0
Lake Tahoe Syndicate	18	20	.474	11.0
Hilton Head Heroes	18	21	.462	11.5
San Diego Fathers	17	21	.447	12.0
Columbus Crusaders	11	28	.282	18.5

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 01:05 AM

STANDINGS AS OF JUNE 1, 1858

Code:

NATIONWIDE LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Rio Grande Rough Riders	43	23	.652	-
Brooklyn Titans		40	27	.597	3.5
Carolina Kings		37	29	.561	6.0
Chicago Hornets		36	30	.545	7.0
Los Angeles Banditos	31	36	.463	12.5
Gettysburg Gomers	29	36	.446	13.5
Shem Creek Shrimp	23	45	.338	21.0
Kauai Emeralds		21	46	.313	22.5

ASSOCIATED LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Winnemucca Choo-Choos	47	20	.701	-
Lake Placid Miracles	40	28	.588	7.5
Memphis Smokers		38	28	.576	8.5
Hilton Head Heroes	36	31	.537	11.0
Milwaukee Blue Sox	32	34	.485	14.5
Lake Tahoe Syndicate	30	36	.455	16.5
San Diego Fathers	29	36	.446	17.0
Columbus Crusaders	20	47	.299	27.0

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 01:08 AM

STANDINGS AS OF JUNE 20, 1858

Code:

NATIONWIDE LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Rio Grande Rough Riders	55	29	.655	-
Carolina Kings		51	31	.622	3.0
Brooklyn Titans		48	36	.571	7.0
Los Angeles Banditos	42	43	.494	13.5
Chicago Hornets		41	43	.488	14.0
Gettysburg Gomers	35	48	.422	19.5
Kauai Emeralds		29	56	.341	26.5
Shem Creek Shrimp	28	57	.329	27.5

ASSOCIATED LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Winnemucca Choo-Choos	59	25	.702	-
Lake Placid Miracles	51	34	.600	8.5
Memphis Smokers		47	37	.560	12.0
Hilton Head Heroes	43	41	.512	16.0
Milwaukee Blue Sox	42	42	.500	17.0
San Diego Fathers	41	42	.494	17.5
Lake Tahoe Syndicate	36	46	.439	22.0
Columbus Crusaders	23	61	.274	36.0

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 01:09 AM

Winnemucca & Rio Grande get to pick the all-star teams this year, provided they want to. Otherwise, I'll have the game do it on Wednesday night in advance of the draft.

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 01:10 AM

Will prep the file now and let you know when it's up. Our next sim is Wednesday night for the draft. So you have 48 hours or so to get a draft list in.

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 01:18 AM

File is up. HTML to follow.

Subby · 09-11-2012, 07:35 AM

Ugggh. WTF.

claphamsa · 09-11-2012, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Ok, here we go.

Los Angeles is $245k over the cap at the deadline. Usually I will release the cheapest non-min sal guy you have to get you under the cap. In this case, that was MR Ramon Santos. I brought up a minor leaguer to fill the spot.

If it happens more than once, a players gets dropped and we'll forfeit a pick depending on the severity of the cap infraction.

really? crap! thought I was 300K under... sorry

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by claphamsa

really? crap! thought I was 300K under... sorry

No biggie.

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 10:11 AM

The record for highest batting average in a single-season is Cesar Espinoza in '46 with .396. Carolina's Elvis O'Connor is currently hitting .413

muns · 09-11-2012, 10:45 AM

Hilton head above 500 is pretty good for having rookies and scrubs lol

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muns

Hilton head above 500 is pretty good for having rookies and scrubs lol

I was totally impressed!

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 10:06 PM

So no one wants to pick all-star teams after all. Ok, fine.

Young Drachma · 09-11-2012, 11:13 PM

No changes. Tomorrow is draft.

Ramzavail · 09-12-2012, 09:01 PM

Hurley is got to make it, McLean too. I don't think Skinner is THAT far off though.

Young Drachma · 09-12-2012, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

Hurley is got to make it, McLean too. I don't think Skinner is THAT far off though.

Luckily, the teams haven't been done yet. Haha...there's a power outage affecting my block and a few others tonight. I'm at my office right now. So tonight's file probably won't run on time because I'm not going to sit at my office much longer.

So the file tonight will run later.

Young Drachma · 09-12-2012, 11:59 PM

I'm home, internet works and I'm going to get the file going now. It's draft time.

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 12:18 AM

The NL won the All-Star game 7-4. They will have home field for Sunset Series XXI.

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 12:44 AM

Ok, file is up. We'll do the 2nd half tomorrow. Trades will be processed through 5pm eastern time in case anyone wants to be daring.

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 07:56 AM

HTML updated.

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 02:16 PM

Reminder we'll do the 2nd half tonight.

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 10:44 PM

Getting things ready...

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 11:18 PM

Ok here we go.

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 11:24 PM

STANDINGS AS OF JULY 19, 1858

Code:

\NATIONWIDE LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Carolina Kings		66	39	.629	-
Rio Grande Rough Riders	67	40	.626	-
Brooklyn Titans		64	42	.604	2.5
Chicago Hornets		60	48	.556	7.5
Los Angeles Banditos	52	57	.477	16.0
Gettysburg Gomers	46	60	.434	20.5
Kauai Emeralds		33	74	.308	34.0
Shem Creek Shrimp	33	75	.306	34.5

ASSOCIATED LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Winnemucca Choo-Choos	74	32	.698	-
Memphis Smokers		61	46	.570	13.5
Lake Placid Miracles	59	49	.546	16.0
San Diego Fathers	54	52	.509	20.0
Hilton Head Heroes	53	54	.495	21.5
Lake Tahoe Syndicate	50	55	.476	23.5
Milwaukee Blue Sox	51	57	.472	24.0
Columbus Crusaders	33	76	.303	42.5

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 11:25 PM

STANDINGS AS OF AUGUST 1, 1858

Code:

NATIONWIDE LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Carolina Kings		74	43	.632	-
Rio Grande Rough Riders	71	48	.597	4.0
Brooklyn Titans		69	49	.585	5.5
Chicago Hornets		66	53	.555	9.0
Los Angeles Banditos	60	59	.504	15.0
Gettysburg Gomers	52	66	.441	22.5
Shem Creek Shrimp	38	81	.319	37.0
Kauai Emeralds		37	82	.311	38.0

ASSOCIATED LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Winnemucca Choo-Choos	80	38	.678	-
Memphis Smokers		67	52	.563	13.5
Lake Placid Miracles	67	52	.563	13.5
San Diego Fathers	61	57	.517	19.0
Hilton Head Heroes	59	60	.496	21.5
Milwaukee Blue Sox	56	63	.471	24.5
Lake Tahoe Syndicate	55	62	.470	24.5
Columbus Crusaders	36	83	.303	44.5

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 11:26 PM

STANDINGS AS OF SEPTEMBER 1, 1858

Code:

NATIONWIDE LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Carolina Kings		93	52	.641	-
Brooklyn Titans		86	60	.589	7.5
Rio Grande Rough Riders	85	61	.582	8.5
Chicago Hornets		85	61	.582	8.5
Los Angeles Banditos	75	72	.510	19.0
Gettysburg Gomers	63	84	.429	31.0
Shem Creek Shrimp	49	98	.333	45.0
Kauai Emeralds		42	104	.288	51.5

ASSOCIATED LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Winnemucca Choo-Choos	99	47	.678	-
Memphis Smokers		85	61	.582	14.0
Lake Placid Miracles	85	62	.578	14.5
San Diego Fathers	73	74	.497	26.5
Hilton Head Heroes	71	75	.486	28.0
Lake Tahoe Syndicate	67	78	.462	31.5
Milwaukee Blue Sox	66	80	.452	33.0
Columbus Crusaders	46	101	.313	53.5

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 11:27 PM

While the AL races seem about set, the NL has Chicago on the heels of falling Rio Grande for that last playoff spot, Brooklyn in the mix and Carolina emerging on top of the fray.

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 11:31 PM

FINAL 1858 STANDINGS

Code:

NATIONWIDE LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Carolina Kings		104	58	.642	-
Rio Grande Rough Riders	97	65	.599	7.0
Brooklyn Titans		96	66	.593	8.0
Chicago Hornets		92	70	.568	12.0
Los Angeles Banditos	85	77	.525	19.0
Gettysburg Gomers	69	93	.426	35.0
Shem Creek Shrimp	52	110	.321	52.0
Kauai Emeralds		46	116	.284	58.0

ASSOCIATED LEAGUE STANDINGS
			W	L	PCT	GB
Winnemucca Choo-Choos	112	50	.691	-
Memphis Smokers		93	69	.574	19.0
Lake Placid Miracles	92	70	.568	20.0
San Diego Fathers	82	80	.506	30.0
Hilton Head Heroes	75	87	.463	37.0
Lake Tahoe Syndicate	73	89	.451	39.0
Milwaukee Blue Sox	72	90	.444	40.0
Columbus Crusaders	56	106	.346	56.0

Young Drachma · 09-13-2012, 11:36 PM

Going to run the draft lottery now while the file preps.

Young Drachma · 09-14-2012, 12:01 AM

File is up for you playoff contestants. We'll sim the whole shebang tomorrow. Draft lottery to follow.

Young Drachma · 09-14-2012, 12:01 AM

Young Drachma · 09-14-2012, 12:04 AM

Young Drachma · 09-14-2012, 12:05 AM

San Diego moves from the 8th best chance to claim the top pick to nab it anyway and the draft lottery offers intrigue for the first time.

Gomer · 09-14-2012, 08:57 AM

HTML?

Young Drachma · 09-14-2012, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gomer

HTML?

It's going up this morning.

Young Drachma · 09-14-2012, 10:53 AM

HTML is updating and it seems team pages are done.

Young Drachma · 09-14-2012, 11:12 PM

ALES
Lake Placid 8, Memphis 7

NLES
Brooklyn 9, Rio Grande 8

09-07-2012, 11:30 PM	#3
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	SPRING TRAINING AL Memphis 17-7 Winnemucca 17-7 Lake Tahoe 17-7 Milwaukee 14-10 Columbus 10-14 San Diego 8-16 Syracuse 8-16 Hilton Head 5-19 NL Carolina 18-6 Rio Grande 17-7 Brooklyn 15-9 Chicago 15-9 Los Angeles 10-14 Kauai 9-15 Shem Creek 7-17 Gettysburg 5-19 Last edited by Young Drachma : 09-07-2012 at 11:30 PM.

09-08-2012, 12:46 PM	#5
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Los Angeles is $245k over the cap and Winnemucca is $150k over the cap. Need to get at or under it by export deadline on Monday night. Last edited by Young Drachma : 09-08-2012 at 12:46 PM.

09-08-2012, 01:54 PM	#6
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	NATIONWIDE LEAGUE PREVIEW (1858) The once proud and mighty NL is down 12-8 in Sunset Series victories since the league started 21 years ago. After losing their 3rd straight Sunset Series in Series XX, the league looks to boast its patented depth as usual. Insiders grumbled about the new playoff format, griping that their league is the harder league and that the 3rd playoff spot in the NL is "good enough for tops in the AL probably." All of that bluster aside, we'll take a look at the squads who want to contend for playoff gold as another season rolls around. BROOKLYN TITANS WINTER GRADE: C- After finishing 4th in the NL last year, the Titans did little to indicate they're in anything other than that weird place where they're too good to secure a high lottery pick and not good enough to claim the 2nd wildcard spot. Bobby Rodriguez came over from Syracuse, but besides that, this team is a shell of itself with a lot of big contracts. There's always a chance that lightning strikes and they manage to find themselves in the thick of the NL Wild Card race this year, but their best course would be to sell of those reasonable star contracts for some prospects & draft picks at the mid-season break if things aren't going well. X-FACTOR: Carlos Sanchez is the kind of guy with the talent to win 30 games. A dominant 250+ K power hurler who had a bad year last year. If he can come back strong, it's going to make an impact on that whole rotation. CAROLINA KINGS WINTER GRADE: B You might be wondering how a team that made absolutely no off-season moves gets a B, right? Well, because they didn't lose anyone. This club has won 100+ games three straight years, boasts the best Top 4 anywhere this side of the Mississippi and is just a well-oiled machine that should easily make its 14th playoff appearance in their SLOP history. X-FACTOR: 3B Danny Salazar The defending NL Silver Glove at 3B is the sort of guy who is young and has power potential. If he can learn to use his stick to belt the ball, Carolina has a guy who would be positioned to help them towards a title run. CHICAGO HORNETS WINTER GRADE: C The Hornets also stood pat this off-season, one in which they narrowed missed the NL playoffs and settled for a relatively high draft pick instead. While season predictor seems to think these are the Same Ol' Hornets (tm) of yesteryear, I'm saying it's just not so. You can't count out a team with three top-tier starters and a middle of the order that's as good as anywhere. But they're lacking the depth they've grown accustomed to and with up-and-comers like LA on their heels constantly improving, the Hornets are going to fall short again without some help at mid-season break. X-FACTOR: 1B Stephen Chowen If Chowen continues playing like an MVP well into his late 30s, then the Hornets have a chance. If his production dips this year? It's going to be rough times in Hornetsville. GETTYSBURG GOMERS WINTER GRADE: D Gomer's boys are playing the long game. Assemble draft picks for a decade and eventually, maybe, you start to be good. They've got some quality that other teams could probably use on the resale market. KEY QUESTION: Which way is up? The Gomers have a few high-priced assets that keep them competitive, but are still a few critical pieces away from contending for a playoff spot. So what are they going to do with this year? They've got some nice prospects coming up the pipe in the next year or three, so they've got potential, but are they going to add salary in an attempt to make a run at it? Or keep treading water? KAUAI EMERALDS WINTER GRADE: INC We're talking about a 2nd year expansion club that, in contrast to many other expansion teams in SLOP is operating like a real-life one. They don't take on big salaries, they're just standing pat and waiting it out for a while. Nothing wrong with that at all. The best player in SLOP you've never heard of is Shakil Sa'eed. This Newark, New Jersey native born to a Saudi father and an African mother is tearing up baseball after getting his first deal at a tryout camp out of Florida when the Emeralds first joined SLOP. Teams ring the phones in Kauai a dozen or more times a day asking what it would take to pry this franchise-eligible 19-year old away, but my sources tell me that wolvie isn't letting that kid go anywhere for a bit. He's SLOP's King Felix. Book it. LOS ANGELES BANDITOS WINTER GRADE: B- The defending NL finalist returns with basically the same club. With closer Dennis Nii moving to the rotation from the bullpen, questions abound about how the team with easily the best bullpen in the NL will perform, still the Banditos are a balanced squad that you have to pencil into that 3rd spot again this year. KEY QUESTION: Will the pitching hold up? If that rotation can't manage to perform as it did last year over an entire season, they're going to dragged into a battle with Brooklyn and Chicago for that 2nd wild card spot. Both of those teams are more complete from the star-studded perspective whereas LA is a rag-tag band of characters who were built with playoffs in mind, coupled with some nice young talent who play their parts well. Lots of things can go wrong in a recipe like this. They might win it all or could lose 90 games. Anything is possible here. RIO GRANDE ROUGH RIDERS WINTER GRADE: A You don't get a sense of how conservative this league is until you look at the transaction log for the off-season. It ebbs and flows, but the Rough Riders are another one of those NL teams that sat out the big money spending this year. Who can blame them? They have the best outfield in baseball hands down. Jimmy Ridgeway, Robby Braden, Pedro Garcia, Lowell MacNeill and Junior Garza are quite simply the best outfield under 30 ever assembled anywhere. Seriously. Like we said last year, they're good. They picked up Walt Thomas in a trade with Winnemucca that gives their rotation another quality arm. Their guys might be unheralded compared to the big names in SLOP, but they're not defending NL champs based on reputation alone. X-FACTOR: PITCHING. If the Rough Riders want to repeat and perhaps win it all this time, they're going to need their rotation to respond as well as it did last year. Last year, they basically assembled a bunch of dudes who went out and had career years. When that's your strategy towards a title, you have to hope that you've just managed to uncover top talent and didn't ride a fluke towards gold. SHEM CREEK SHRIMP WINTER GRADE: INC. Like Kauai, 2nd year expansion team that's acting like one. They'll get there someday, but someday ain't now. Their best prospect is Jamaican Andre Knox who dazzled fans in STREP for years. Dave Renninger will probably make his ML-debut this year too. The Shrimp just hope this year's draft lottery is kinder than last years, bumping down from #2 from #1. Last edited by Young Drachma : 09-08-2012 at 02:09 PM.

09-08-2012, 02:02 PM	#8
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	To see the draft class before it's released by the game, you just need to go to STREP, do a "List all STREP players" under Transactions and then do a custom search for anyone who is 18 or older. That'll give you the class by and large. A few extras will manage to get in based on their birthdates, but it's a nice way to see things if you want to see when future players might show up. Also, future Hall of Famer Ed Saunders is just 29 home runs away from 800 HRs and is a free agent. I had to drop him in MKE because that contract was too much, even though we loved having him. Still, might be nice for a ticket turner to attach their wagon a la Tampa Bay to a guy who I think has earned the MVP named after him. Last edited by Young Drachma : 09-08-2012 at 02:05 PM.

09-08-2012, 02:35 PM	#9
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	REBRANDING THE SUNSET SERIES I like retrofitting the naming of the SLOP title series because the chronology works better given our odd dating which I regret in retrospect, but I did precisely in case the league managed to last that we'd take several calendar years to reach modern times. Anyway, if none of those names (or one you come up with) appeals, we can stick with Sunset Series.. I'll just start using the # of the event, rather than the calendar year. It matters only for reference purposes anyway. Last edited by Young Drachma : 09-08-2012 at 02:36 PM.

09-07-2012, 03:18 AM	#2
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Speaking of the draft, here are the top 10 guys who are draft eligible this year: 1. Colin Baxter, SP 2. Ernie Hanlon, SP 3. Miguel Jimenez, SP 4. R.J. Conlon, LF 5. Javier Fernandez, CL 6. T.J. Graber, C 7. Ethan Hyatt, SP 8. Quentin Stretton, 3B 9. Jimmy Ziegler, LF 10. Ricky Chavez, CF

09-07-2012, 11:36 PM	#4
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	File is up. We'll sim the first half on MONDAY NIGHT.

09-08-2012, 01:56 PM	#7
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	I'll probably do the AL tomorrow. Or later, if I'm feeling ambitious. You guys still need to chime in on this Hall of Fame cases: Ok, veterans committee. I have my thoughts, but I'd rather punt on these ~~two~~ four. Please decide on the HOF candidacies of: 1B Jim McLean and 1B Henry Jones and 1B Bruce Skinner and IF Freddie Hurley

09-10-2012, 08:54 AM	#10
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	FIRST HALF TONIGHT! __________________ Current Dynasty:The Zenith of Professional Basketball Careers (FBPB/FBCB) FBCB / FPB3 Mods

09-11-2012, 12:55 AM	#12
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Ok, here we go. Los Angeles is $245k over the cap at the deadline. Usually I will release the cheapest non-min sal guy you have to get you under the cap. In this case, that was MR Ramon Santos. I brought up a minor leaguer to fill the spot. If it happens more than once, a players gets dropped and we'll forfeit a pick depending on the severity of the cap infraction.

09-11-2012, 01:02 AM	#13
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	This year's draft will include players who turn 18, so it should be a bit deeper than the past few years.

09-11-2012, 01:09 AM	#17
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Winnemucca & Rio Grande get to pick the all-star teams this year, provided they want to. Otherwise, I'll have the game do it on Wednesday night in advance of the draft.

09-11-2012, 01:10 AM	#18
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Will prep the file now and let you know when it's up. Our next sim is Wednesday night for the draft. So you have 48 hours or so to get a draft list in.

09-11-2012, 01:18 AM	#19
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	File is up. HTML to follow. Last edited by Young Drachma : 09-11-2012 at 01:18 AM.

09-11-2012, 07:35 AM	#20
Subby lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: sans pants	Ugggh. WTF. __________________ Superman was flying around and saw Wonder Woman getting a tan in the nude on her balcony. Superman said I going to hit that real fast. So he flys down toward Wonder Woman to hit it and their is a loud scream. The Invincible Man scream what just hit me in the ass!!!!! I do shit, I take pictures, I write about it: chrisshue.com

09-11-2012, 10:11 AM	#23
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	The record for highest batting average in a single-season is Cesar Espinoza in '46 with .396. Carolina's Elvis O'Connor is currently hitting .413

09-11-2012, 10:45 AM	#24
muns Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore MD	Hilton head above 500 is pretty good for having rookies and scrubs lol

09-11-2012, 10:06 PM	#26
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	So no one wants to pick all-star teams after all. Ok, fine.

09-11-2012, 11:13 PM	#27
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	No changes. Tomorrow is draft.

09-12-2012, 09:01 PM	#28
Ramzavail College Starter Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Strong Island, NY	Hurley is got to make it, McLean too. I don't think Skinner is THAT far off though.

09-12-2012, 11:59 PM	#30
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	I'm home, internet works and I'm going to get the file going now. It's draft time.

09-13-2012, 12:18 AM	#31
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	The NL won the All-Star game 7-4. They will have home field for Sunset Series XXI.

09-13-2012, 12:44 AM	#32
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Ok, file is up. We'll do the 2nd half tomorrow. Trades will be processed through 5pm eastern time in case anyone wants to be daring. Last edited by Young Drachma : 09-13-2012 at 12:50 AM.

09-13-2012, 07:56 AM	#33
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	HTML updated.

09-13-2012, 02:16 PM	#34
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Reminder we'll do the 2nd half tonight.

09-13-2012, 10:44 PM	#35
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Getting things ready...

09-13-2012, 11:18 PM	#36
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Ok here we go.

09-13-2012, 11:27 PM	#40
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	While the AL races seem about set, the NL has Chicago on the heels of falling Rio Grande for that last playoff spot, Brooklyn in the mix and Carolina emerging on top of the fray.

09-13-2012, 11:36 PM	#42
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Going to run the draft lottery now while the file preps.

09-14-2012, 12:01 AM	#43
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	File is up for you playoff contestants. We'll sim the whole shebang tomorrow. Draft lottery to follow.

09-14-2012, 12:04 AM	#45
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001

09-14-2012, 12:05 AM	#46
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	San Diego moves from the 8th best chance to claim the top pick to nab it anyway and the draft lottery offers intrigue for the first time.

09-14-2012, 08:57 AM	#47
Gomer H.S. Freshman Team Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Central PA	HTML?

09-14-2012, 10:53 AM	#49
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	HTML is updating and it seems team pages are done.

09-14-2012, 11:12 PM	#50
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	GAME 1 ALES Lake Placid 8, Memphis 7 NLES Brooklyn 9, Rio Grande 8