1972 Season Thread (Classic is over. FA starts tomorrow night!)

[Cringer]

Well, finally able to check in, sorry about no preview but I had to leave the house to work again.

So, 4th place eh? No offensive all-stars eh? Bleh. I am downloading the files now, and the first thing I am looking at is Tanaka once I am up to date. I don't remember when he was NOT an All-Star.

I am happy about having a winning record again at the least. I will hold off on too many comments until I have things in game to look at. I will say this though, I was more involved in things this year then I have been since the Championship Season of '68. I love saying that, can you tell? Anyways, I made more adjustments to the lineup, more picking over it, more debating it, more research into things. So far with no All-stars I am thinking it was a bomb, which is a big disappoinment if that is the case. That or guys had drop-ff type years again, which with my teams age would not be a surprise.

[Cringer]

Well, Tanaka wasn't horrible, just average looking. I can take that I guess. Aguilera was horrible though and he may have convinced me to 'try' to move on. Not sure I have anyone to push him aside with though after looking at my AAA team. Luke Parker did not take well to the leadoff spot in the lineup. Hopefully he will bounce back next year once he is out of that spot. He was average looking there, not like I am used to seeing from him. The rest of the offensive numbers are not bad really, I think a few guys threw the team off more then it could have been. My lineups probably hurt us with that as well.

SP Sparks is a damn fine pitcher in his prime. I hate to waste him with 13-13 seasons because no runs are getting scored. Pepe Santana had 16 losses. HUGE disappointment. The bullpen was pretty darn good though I would say.

Some plusses, some negatives. Sounds like a 4th place year to me.

[Cringer]

And congrats to CR and Alan on the rematch. Valdosta needs to be toppled, and I am getting the urge to start shaking things up a little if possible.

[Alan T]

My team looks alot more like my 1969 team than either of the past two seasons. For the entire year my entire team hit only 95 home runs. I guess that is partially my fault for taking my biggest home run hitter out of the lineup.

[Alan T]

I was really close to cutting Robert Massey in the preseason for cap room after a few slightly below average seasons. I guess he got word of that and went 7-1 with a 2.18 ERA from the pen this year. Sometimes people just outright surprise me.

I must have a boatload of close games that I lose every season, once again my closer is 2nd on my team in losses with 7..

I can't tell you how much I love some of the new stats in ootp9 that are easily available. I used to do some of these things on my own on a spreadsheet to figure out how much "value" a player was bringing to the team. I love looking at the most cost effective and least cost effective players on my team.

Catcher Dan Long is just one of those players that I think I'll really like for a long time. He came in as a 2 star throw-in in a trade because I needed a backup catcher.. and now he has somehow become one of the best catchers in the game.

On the other hand, I can't begin to explain how frustrated I have gotten with Roberto Gomez. I am not in a position that I can give him the patience it apparently will take to allow him to develop to his potential. For 5 years he looked to be possibly one of the better players in the game... now he might end up being Brad Komminsk.

[Alan T]

I uhh.. change my mind about the salary cap. Let's increase it by about 30 million this offseason.



This offseason is going to hurt.. badly.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by muns

gstelmack is not gonna like that start

I pretty much never do. We always start slow. And it always kills us.

I've never figured out success in OOTP, so why start now?

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by muns

Boston has to be dissapointed, I thought he made some nice moves, that would put him over the hump... Some of those guys had to have bad years at the same time for them to finish where they did....

I'm not sure exactly where it went wrong. I mean we did end up with 80 wins and tied for 3rd, so it's not like it was a BAD year. Just where we've been for a while now.

My bullpen was a bit worse than I thought. From looking things over, I'm not sure why some guys got more innings than others; import Hawkins, for example, through fewer innings than some of my developing youngsters who were placed after him in the bullpen rotation. Castillo saved 41 games, but also lost 8. It was definitely a better pen than last year, but not the stud stable I thought it might be. Don't know if that fully explains it.

We were down on power, dropping from 1st to 7th in home runs in the RL.

Of course, Colorado just had a great year.

[graygoose12]

I am a little disappointed with my offense this year, especially the outfield.

I am happy to see that I have a good amount of cap space available for the offseason.

Now I just hope that nobody trades with Valdosta allowing him to free cap space as well, because right now it appears he is going to lose a few guys.

[Alan T]

Uploaded my changes for the FOOL Classic. I think my tinkering is going to be the death of me. Mental note: It probably is not a good idea to play a gut feel or a hunch on a player in the postseason by choosing to start two players that spent the entire year in the minors....

[Alan T]

And I have to say that Victor Gonzalez became a stud overnight, he's a pretty nice pitcher now for you Chief

[Young Drachma]

I love that players can emerge that way. It's a really neat thing, because it adds to the unpredictability of it all. It's as if all the ratings in the world don't really mean anything in the grand scheme of it all. I love it.

[gstelmack]

Note that Victor Gonzalez was a top-10 prospect not that long ago. He's been working his way toward stud for a while.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Note that Victor Gonzalez was a top-10 prospect not that long ago. He's been working his way toward stud for a while.

I would agree with this. I don't think either I or gstelmack were under any delusion he wasn't what he has become. The issue that probably surprises us both is that he has hit it so fast. I pegged him as having a season of this potential in, maybe, two years, 1974. Also, he is limited because he was either once a reliever or simply a light endurance starter (END 56). He was actually probably pulled from games he should have stayed on because I overplayed caution with him, not leaving him in as long as I do other ace level pitchers.

But, yes, he was always a top prospect to my knowledge. I am very happy to have him.

I should note that Pablo Gonzalez, while older, also had his usual very strong season for Boston. I am hoping he will resign with them and have a long and fruitful career with the Settlers.

[gstelmack]

He has always had a low endurance. He spent one season as a reliever as he was developing, as I had another pitcher (van Marshall) with about the same ratings at the time but a slightly higher endurance.

[Young Drachma]

I do like that about this version, that you can have a player with relatively low endurance find some measure of success like that. It makes things interesting.

[Young Drachma]

I'm going to Commish this year, for real. No team running for me. I'm going to get all invested in my solo FOOL dynasty. It won't make me happier, but...it'll lower my stress level with running things around here.

Not a big deal. Just wanted to let you all know.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Note that Victor Gonzalez was a top-10 prospect not that long ago. He's been working his way toward stud for a while.

He looked like he had been a pretty good prospect, but he only looked to be a prospect before this season from what I can tell (going off of the prior scouting reports). It really seems he blossomed quite nicely this year to me to become quite a stud pitcher.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Alan T

He looked like he had been a pretty good prospect, but he only looked to be a prospect before this season from what I can tell (going off of the prior scouting reports). It really seems he blossomed quite nicely this year to me to become quite a stud pitcher.

When he was originally drafted, he was a top-10 prospect for about 2 seasons. Then he fell down the top prospect chart, but never really lost his talent. He's just taken a while to develop.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

When he was originally drafted, he was a top-10 prospect for about 2 seasons. Then he fell down the top prospect chart, but never really lost his talent. He's just taken a while to develop.

Yeah, but he finally developed this year.. unless I totally missed it he was simply a good prospect before this year right? This year just from an earlier glance off the top of my head (I might be wrong since it is from memory), it seemed like he gained +10 to +15 rating points in several of the important skillsets which pretty much turned him into a stud this year. He probably had the potential all along, but there are tons of players that don't live up to their potential.

Am I just remembering him wrong? That could very well be the case, but he seemed to have come from nowhere this year for me at least, completely off my radar so to speak. He pretty much looks like a pitcher of the year candidate yearly from now on to me, whereas I don't even remember looking at him as a possible all star prior to this year.

Maybe my old age is setting in though, that is entirely possible! If so, then I take it all back!

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Yeah, but he finally developed this year.. unless I totally missed it he was simply a good prospect before this year right? This year just from an earlier glance off the top of my head (I might be wrong since it is from memory), it seemed like he gained +10 to +15 rating points in several of the important skillsets which pretty much turned him into a stud this year. He probably had the potential all along, but there are tons of players that don't live up to their potential.

Am I just remembering him wrong? That could very well be the case, but he seemed to have come from nowhere this year for me at least, completely off my radar so to speak. He pretty much looks like a pitcher of the year candidate yearly from now on to me, whereas I don't even remember looking at him as a possible all star prior to this year.

Maybe my old age is setting in though, that is entirely possible! If so, then I take it all back!

You are remembering him wrong. His potentials across the board are still the same as when I acquired him, and his Stuff and Movement were already pretty much maxed out. He always looked like a top notch prospect to me.

His Control was about 56 when I acquired him just before spring training. That is the reason his success and ratings climb is a surprise, because he met his Control potential so quickly. I thought it would take a couple more years. He jumped to 65 after spring training, and then went the rest of the way during the season. His other numbers never moved (not that they needed to).

[Alan T]

Then I stand corrected! For some reason when you traded for him, I was thinking he was someone who would be good in a few years. If he had these ratings when you traded for him, then he obviously was going to be good this year. Not sure why I had in my mind that you were rebuilding. Either way, still a nice player!

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Then I stand corrected! For some reason when you traded for him, I was thinking he was someone who would be good in a few years. If he had these ratings when you traded for him, then he obviously was going to be good this year. Not sure why I had in my mind that you were rebuilding. Either way, still a nice player!

Well, to be fair, he had all of the Potential ratings, and two of the current ratings. He only lagged in Control current matching his Control potential. You're not far off in the getting good in a couple years comment, or whatever, because that's what I thought he would do, too. I don't see 20 point jumps in a current rating too much. I really thought his the start of his peak would be 1974.

[Chief Rum]

I have exported. The machinations and analysis to which I have subjected this Classic is mind-boggling (or maybe not).

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I have exported. The machinations and analysis to which I have subjected this Classic is mind-boggling (or maybe not).

Good luck Chief. Obviously I'm rooting for my team to win, but hopefully this will be another great classic.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Good luck Chief. Obviously I'm rooting for my team to win, but hopefully this will be another great classic.

Same to you, Alan. I hope it's one to remember at least, but, really, you have been winning a lot. I think it should be my turn.

[Young Drachma]

The RL needs to win a title for goodness sakes. C'mon Chief. After the steamroller year you all had, this NEEDS to be your year.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Same to you, Alan. I hope it's one to remember at least, but, really, you have been winning a lot. I think it should be my turn.

Don't worry, I have a feeling this will be my last year of this current run for me.

[Young Drachma]

Ok, lemme log out of my solo dynasty and then we'll get going.

[Young Drachma]

Republic League won the All-Star game 6-2, John Hunt of Boston was MVP, going 2 for 3 with a triple, a HR and 3 RBI

[Chief Rum]

John Hunt wins everything.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Republic League won the All-Star game 6-2, John Hunt of Boston was MVP, going 2 for 3 with a triple, a HR and 3 RBI

Hasn't the RL won the All star game in every season it's been run? (we've only had it the past few seasons right?)

[Young Drachma]

GAME 1: Valdosta 5, Colorado 2
Carlos Gonzales throws 8 innings, giving up 6 hits on two earned and 4 strikeouts to get the win.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Hasn't the RL won the All star game in every season it's been run? (we've only had it the past few seasons right?)

We've had it every year. In the past, though, we did it at mid-season rather than at the end of the year as we do now.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

GAME 1: Valdosta 5, Colorado 2
Carlos Gonzales throws 8 innings, giving up 6 hits on two earned and 4 strikeouts to get the win.

Not a surprise. As good as my three guys are, I don't know that any of them are as good as Carlos Gonzalez, and especially when he's protected by that wall in left field, and one of the most skewed park stats I have ever seen.

[Young Drachma]

GAME 2: Valdosta 10, Colorado 6

Juan Reyes went 2 for 5 with a double and a HR in the victory. Dan Long matched his effort and Walt O'Neal got the win, to give the Peanuts a 2-0 series lead.

[Chief Rum]

So this is really the last year you'll be good right, Alan?

[Young Drachma]

GAME 3: Valdosta 3, Colorado 2

Charles Wilson throws 7 innings, striking out 5 and walking 3, as the Peanuts go up 3-0 in the series. Juan Reyes went 2 for 4 with a homer, double and 2 RBI in the win.

[Young Drachma]

GAME 4: Valdosta 5, Colorado 4

Juan Lopez was the player of the game, despite the loss, going 3 for 4 with a HR and 2 RBI for the Rancheros. Joel Garner gets the win and leave the Peanuts just a win away from the first five game sweep in Classic history and the first sweep since the 1963 FOOL Classic.

[Chief Rum]

All right, I just want to get a game now.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Not a surprise. As good as my three guys are, I don't know that any of them are as good as Carlos Gonzalez, and especially when he's protected by that wall in left field, and one of the most skewed park stats I have ever seen.

Yeah, the numbers for the park ended up just odd to me. But I honestly don't know much about ballpark factors (in how to equate dimensions to the factors) so I just gave my dimensions to DC and this is what his spreadsheet popped out with. I've had to adjust my team to play in this park because of that. Interestingly enough though, the start of my current run happened the season when all of the ballparks were normalized on accident though.

Either way, I figured it would be a bit too nitpicky of me to try to tweak the park numbers once they were posted, so just rolled with it.

[Chief Rum]

Even Garner beat us? At our place? This is embarassing.

[Young Drachma]

GAME 5: Valdosta 7, Colorado 3

The sweep is complete! Carlos Gonzales gets his second win, throwing seven innings and striking out 9, while Roberto Pagan makes it look easy, going 2 for 5 with a double and 3 RBI to give the Peanuts their third straight title, the first three-peat in FOOL HISTORY!

Amazing.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

So this is really the last year you'll be good right, Alan?

I hope not, but if you have not looked at my pending free agent list, you should do so. It will bring a smile to your face. I already know Atlanta is licking their chops.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Even Garner beat us? At our place? This is embarassing.

He went 20-1 last year!

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

He went 20-1 last year!

I know, but he's a righty going against one of the best righty lineups in the league at their place--and he walks more than Forrest Gump.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

GAME 5: Valdosta 7, Colorado 3

The sweep is complete! Carlos Gonzales gets his second win, throwing seven innings and striking out 9, while Roberto Pagan makes it look easy, going 2 for 5 with a double and 3 RBI to give the Peanuts their third straight title, the first three-peat in FOOL HISTORY!

Amazing.

That was unexpected I have to say. I don't really think the teams were that different in talent. I will have to look over the series to see how that happened. Happy we won, but I had hoped that it would have been a bit different out of respect for how good Chief's team is.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I know, but he's a righty going against one of the best righty lineups in the league at their place--and he walks more than Forrest Gump.

He's a lefty!

[Young Drachma]

Doing the awards and then uploading the file.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

GAME 5: Valdosta 7, Colorado 3

The sweep is complete! Carlos Gonzales gets his second win, throwing seven innings and striking out 9, while Roberto Pagan makes it look easy, going 2 for 5 with a double and 3 RBI to give the Peanuts their third straight title, the first three-peat in FOOL HISTORY!

Amazing.

Congrats, Alan. I shouldn't have bothered making any plans for this Classic. My team didn't even bother to show up.

Your team is truly the most dominant team we have seen in this or any era so far.

Did you really start two players from your AAA? That makes this even more hideously embarassing.