March 19th, 2009 by Admirals GM
March 19th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 11:26 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 18th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:31 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 16th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 11:22 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 17th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:32 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 16th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:32 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 11th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:19 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 8th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 11:06 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM, Minor Leagues | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 8th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:54 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 8th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 02:42 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 8th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 02:22 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 8th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 03:45 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 6th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Yeah, I had pretty much the same reaction as you to both trades. You
really have to give credit to Pablo Lara, who by the way is becoming
quite the "name" GM, for really shaking things up and trying to make
the Aztecas competitive. As far as the Boston trade goes, I think it's
funny because it's so ironic with the Hearn/MacGregor talks melting
down and then they go make this move which appears to clear a slot for
Urive. However, they still have him platooning but now with Paul
Elliot. Elliot played the majority of his games at SS and 2B last
year. Keep in mind, though, that the AI rosters are still in major
disarray as all the FA's just declared and many moves are yet to come.
Urive still may find a spot in the starting lineup.
As a side note, I feel
really behind in a lot of EWB related matters and emails so bear with me as I catch up.
Posted at 12:45 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 7th, 2009 by Admirals GM
I guess maybe that's what we'll have to do. (You can't FORCE TRADE?) I'll talk more later; now I have to go eat.
Posted at 12:58 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 7th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 02:33 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 11:49 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 6th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 11:48 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 6th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:06 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 6th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:04 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 6th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:28 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 4th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 10:12 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 3rd, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 02:36 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 24th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:23 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 19th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 03:03 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 18th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:12 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 18th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 11:31 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 18th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:26 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 18th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:13 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 17th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:57 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 17th, 2009 by Admirals GM
That's pretty disheartening, in part because I spent hours on this today, taking time away from work. I was hoping that this could at least springboard into some further discussions, even if the original deal didn't work out.
Posted at 09:51 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 17th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:04 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 17th, 2009 by Admirals GM
That Vincent Carter's Contact rating just dropped a point, from 4 to 3? Bad timing given that he's about to hit the free agent market.
Posted at 10:37 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 17th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 10:36 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM, Managers | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 17th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Washington is a little better because he has more power (right now, 4 vs. 3) and because he has at least something of a ML track record -- he was a decent player in 1992. Buckley has no ML track record. How about a 7th round pick?
Posted at 11:09 AM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 17th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:27 PM in 1995, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 16th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 01:04 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 16th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 03:35 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM, Award Talk, Trophy Room | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 12th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 09:00 AM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM, Hall of Fame | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 12, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 10:23 AM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 11th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 05:18 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM, Award Talk | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 10th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 11:24 AM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM, Award Talk | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 10th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 11:23 AM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM, Award Talk | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 9th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:16 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM, Award Talk | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 9th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 03:21 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 9th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 03:20 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 8th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 04:07 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 8th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 04:06 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 7th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:59 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 7th, 2009 by Admirals GM
On the whole, I think it was a so-so year.
The algorithm has been tweaked a bit this year. In the past, I don't think it valued pitching highly enough. So, this year, I've adjusted the values just a little bit, and the predictions are slightly different than what the old algorithm would've said. If the predictions turn out more accurate, I'll stick with this adjusted algorithm in the future; if not, I'll return to the old version.AL SUNBELT1. Miami2. Carolina3. Atlanta4. New Orleans5. MemphisAL PLAINS1. Omaha2. Minneapolis*3. Denver4. Kansas City5. Chicago* = Wild Card winnerAL MOUNTAIN WEST1. Washington2. Las Vegas3. Portland4. Los AngelesNL COLONIAL1. Philadelphia2. New York3. Boston4. Montreal5. Washington D. C.NL OHIO VALLEY1. St. Louis2. Pittsburgh*3. Cincinnati4. Cleveland5. Indianapolis6. DetroitNL TEXAS1. Austin2. Houston3. El Paso4. San Antonio5. DallasALDS: Miami over Minneapolis, 4-1; Omaha over Washington, 4-1NLDS: St. Louis over Philadelphia, 4-2; Pittsburgh over Austin, 4-3ALCS: Omaha over Miami, 4-2NLCS: St. Louis over Pittsburgh, 4-3World Series: Omaha over St. Louis, 4-2POWER RANKING: The Top 10 (New Feature!!!)1. Omaha2. Miami3. St. Louis4. Pittsburgh5. Austin6. Philadelphia7. New York8. Denver9. Kansas City10. Houston(note: Washington didn't crack the top 10, but if Jose Garcia was healthy, they would rank roughly 5th, competing with Austin)WEAKNESS RANKING: The Bottom 10 (New Feature!!!)21. Las Vegas22. Washington D.C.23. New Orleans24. Portland25. San Antonio26. Dallas27. Memphis28. Indianpolis29. Detroit30. Los AngelesNOTES1. The three division races in the AL are projected to be run aways. Miami should win their division by, like, 17 games or so. Omaha should win their division by like 7 or 8. And Washington should win their division by about 20. The Wild Card race is close though, with Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Denver all neck-and-neck (you'll notice, all those teams are from the Plains Division).2. The Mountain West division is absolutely horrible, with the exception of Washington. Each of the 3 other teams in the division is in the Bottom 10 of the entire EWB, with Los Angeles projecting dead last. This continues an unbelievable drop for the Gargoyles, who were projected by the algorithm to be an unbelievably good team back in 1992 (again, the 1992 team was the strongest team ever, according to the algorithm).3. The Sunbelt gives the Mountain West a run for its money as far as most lopsided division in baseball, but loses out because Carolina and Atlanta are both a slight notch above anyone the Mountain West has to offer to compete with Washington.4. The Plains Division is the toughest in baseball, but Omaha is still good enough that they loom over everyone else by a wide margin. The Plains Division pitching staffs are unreal: Omaha has Jackson, Romano, Punk Perez, and various others; Minneapolis has Steven Ferguson, Nate Jackson, Stu MacNiter; Denver has a very underrated staff (5th best starters, 1st best relievers, 4th best closer) led by Mark Smith and Cris Rosario; Kansas City has Bartolo Barrios and Joe Murphy (they rank 7-8-1 in starters-relievers-closer); and even last place Chicago has a top 3 of Michael Bowden, Carlos Pena, and Shawn Price. You won't find better pitching anywhere else.5. To further the point about the strength of the plains, consider this. If you exclude Miami and Washington, every single Plains Division team is ranked higher that every other AL team. Or in other words, suppose you take Chicago, the worst team in the Plains. Chicago is projected to be better than every Sunbelt team besides Miami, and to be better than every Mountain West team besides Washington. So Mike is the only one who looks to have competition this year. On the other hand, Omaha is so loaded that it shouldn't matter, they should still win going away.6. After the Plains division, probably the best division top-to-bottom is the NL Colonial. Philadelphia and New York are neck-and neck once again, while Boston and Montreal are both solid teams. (D.C. is not.) Montreal might be especially a team to watch, as the algorithm has a history of underrating youthful teams. (E.g., Tommy Brown is ranked as only the 25th best LF in EWB, and this is all the algorithm knows about him. But surely, at the end of the year, Brown will be much more highly ranked that this.)7. No team made bigger strides this offseason than Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh already had a solid pitching staff, led by ace Tom Campbell and closer Jesus Villaneuva. But this offseason, they added powerful 1B Pedro Velasquez, in one of the biggest rip off computer trades in a long time, and they also signed free agent SS Norman Hopkins for just $730K! What's especially remarkable about the deal is that Hopkins is coming off a 3-year contract with Austin where he was making more than $9M a year. Hopkins still has recent contact-power ratings of 4-3, and last year at age 30 (not over the hill) he .280/15/52, which isn't horrible. But his bad, bad eye kept his salary down: he has a 1 eye rating and an OBP of just .288 (compared to his .280 BA). I feel like this is an excellent bargain deal for a small market team like Pittsburgh -- I envy their ability to sign Hopkins for so low. I regard GM Wayne Gordon as an early candidate for NL Executive of the Year.8. Don't count out Cincinnati even though the algorithm has them 3rd. I'm starting to suspect that another flaw with the algorithm is that it ranks pitching excellence too highly over pitching depth. What I mean is this. Imagine two pitching staffs: the first has two excellent starters (like Jackson and Romano) together with 3 dreadful pitchers to fill out the rotaiton, while the second staff has 5 consistently above average pitchers but without any studs. The first staff has what I'm calling "excellence," the second has "depth." Anyway, Cincinnati doesn't really have any stud pitchers, but they do have solid depth: 1992 Angel Rosa winner Scott Laws is projected as their 5th starter. So, maybe they can compete.9. In Austin, the algorithm loves the signing of Francisco Neri to play 2B, while David Waters and Jim Spencer continue to progress in the OF to give Austin the top ranked OF in the NL, with the exception of bitter rival El Paso.10. A team to really keep an eye on this year is Houston, who are projected to finish 2nd. You'll remember that the Black Gold were contending for 1st in the division last year prior to the loss of ace Scott Riley due to injury. If Houston can get even average starting pitching, they figure to be serious contenders.11. The NL has won the last 4 World Series. NL dominance might coninue, as 5 of the top 7 teams in all of EWB come from the league. On the other hand, the top two teams are from the AL: Omaha and Miami.12. Overall, I'd say that the predictions are kind of boring this year. In the AL, the algorithm is predicting the exact same playoff results we saw last year: Washington, Omaha, and Miami, with Minneapolis in the Wild Card. In the NL, the algorithm likes Austin and Philadelphia to repeat for division titles, while St. Louis is hardly a surprise pick for the other division. The only truly interesting playoff selection is Pittsburgh for the Wild Card.
Posted at 12:58 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 6th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Posted at 12:06 PM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM, Managers | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
February 6th, 2009 by Admirals GM
Alfredo Juarez now has 3 of the top 14 ranked pitching performances of the entire year, #2, #6, and #14 (strangely, his no hitter comes in at only #6).
Posted at 11:41 AM in 1994, Author: Admirals GM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)