• Registration is disabled due to constant spammers. Email [email protected] and we will temporarily re-enable registration for you.

Ronald McDonald and how I fell in love with the ashes of Trump's America - The Paris Freedom Story.

hayvis

Will-Gnome Member
Welcome to the official Paris Freedom car crash thread.

Hayvis McDavis born 2051, Boston UK, a used car salesman made his fortune before the age of 22. His love of cars made in the General Motors factories in America had given him a passion for state-side culture and with $3b dollars in his bank account he set sail for Texas in 2074 changing his name in honour of the much loved American burger franchise character "Ronald McDonald". 2073 was a year that saw Ronald McDonald buy ranches in Mercedes, Cleveland, and Paris Texas, and embark on the most elaborate baseball education that a man could buy. For $10m a year, McDonald hired 69 year old Ryan Connor, former WBL Hall of Fame 1st baseman to coach him up in every facet of the game he had so loved for the last 5 years.

In 2076 McDonald then made a surprise bid for the the Istanbul Ottoman's and "brung them straight back home where they belong - PARIS TEXAS" and the rest is HISTORY.

Ryan Connor is famously quoted as saying "You gotta get a team full of Americans, because all them foreign shitbags gonna screw it up". - at which point the famous Paris Freedom's "America First" philosophy was born.
 
Last edited:

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
How to manage a minor league system, for the moderately engaged owner/manger.

1. When starting from scratch, it is important to identify prospects you care about so you don't accidentally cut them or OTTO move them where you don't want them. I find the SHORTLIST helpful for doing this. I personally have a SHORTLIST that contains all my 1-3rd round draft picks for the last 10 years (rolling style, I take players off after 10 years). I find this to be a good way to make sure I'm getting these players the proper development and this shortlist has really helped me during periods of inactivity when I otherwise didn't bother with my minor league teams. You should also add all of the draft picks you care about to the shortlist once we reach the offseason.

2. I typically manage my minor league teams twice per season - Spring training, and right around the all star break. We're already late in the year so I would honestly suggest just waiting for offseason/spring training.

3. The first step is cutting all the useless bodies so you never have trog taking up reps that your actual prospects might use. It looks like you've already done a decent job of cutting most of the old players, but you'll probably have some more work to do in the offseason. You can keep some useless bodies around as backups for the first few years, but ideally you should be able to fill all of these spots with players you draft and care about within the next few seasons. Even if they don't end up in the WBL, you can take some pride in drafting guys who do well in the minor leagues. To start, sort your A team by age and either cut or promote anyone over 24 years of age. If they have decent stats, they might do OK in AA so you can try promoting them. If they suck in A after this age, you should just cut them. This is a good first step. For example, you have 27 year old Augusto Ortiz and he's struggling. Might as well cut him in the offseason and make room for a younger player. On the flip side Gavrel Vovchenko is putting up decent numbers so you might just promote him to AA and see what he does there. He own't make the WBL but if you need bodies at another level, you might keep him until you have a PIPELINE of your own draft picks. Similarly, sort your AA and AAA teams and cut anyone over 26 years of age if they aren't putting up decent stats in the minors. Muoi Cahn is an example of a guy you can cut outright in the offseason.

4. With the remaining players, take a look at their last full season. If they played well, promote them. If they didn't play well, either leave them at the current level or cut them if you have a prospect you care about at their position.

5. Now bring in ur new players. All 18 and 19 year old draft picks (coming out of HS) should start in A-Ball and they might need to stay multiple seasons at that level, depending on their development. A lot of the good 18 year old prospects will struggle badly in their first year in A-Ball. For 21 or 22 year old college age draft picks, I recommend looking at their current ratings compared to potential. Guys who are basically fully developed can go right into AA, guys who still have some room left to develop should probably start in A-ball. Also take a look at your international complex and consider promoting any 18 or 19 year old to A ball and view them as a High School draft pick. I generally give players at least 1 season at each level, unless they are absolutely destroying the level, then I might promote them at the all star break. Make sure all of your actual prospects are always starting. The rest of the WARM BODIES can play backup or whatever.

6. Cross train your players at multiple positions. Any player who can play CF should be trained at LF and RF as well. Any player who can play SS should be trained at 2B and maybe 3B if he has an arm > 55. Any 3B should be cross trained at 1B and CORNER OF guys who can't play CF should also cross train at 1B. Occasionally you'll find a CF who can do 2B as well! Versatility is often what allows a player to make my WBL roster. I usually accomplish this by starting a player at their preferred position against RHB and then at a secondary position against LHB. Once they are fully developed at their primary position (>65) then I typically switch that up and play them at a secondary position against RHB and a tertiary position against LHB.

Sincerely,

Ryan Connor
 

hayvis

Will-Gnome Member
How to manage a minor league system, for the moderately engaged owner/manger.

1. When starting from scratch, it is important to identify prospects you care about so you don't accidentally cut them or OTTO move them where you don't want them. I find the SHORTLIST helpful for doing this. I personally have a SHORTLIST that contains all my 1-3rd round draft picks for the last 10 years (rolling style, I take players off after 10 years). I find this to be a good way to make sure I'm getting these players the proper development and this shortlist has really helped me during periods of inactivity when I otherwise didn't bother with my minor league teams. You should also add all of the draft picks you care about to the shortlist once we reach the offseason.

2. I typically manage my minor league teams twice per season - Spring training, and right around the all star break. We're already late in the year so I would honestly suggest just waiting for offseason/spring training.

3. The first step is cutting all the useless bodies so you never have trog taking up reps that your actual prospects might use. It looks like you've already done a decent job of cutting most of the old players, but you'll probably have some more work to do in the offseason. You can keep some useless bodies around as backups for the first few years, but ideally you should be able to fill all of these spots with players you draft and care about within the next few seasons. Even if they don't end up in the WBL, you can take some pride in drafting guys who do well in the minor leagues. To start, sort your A team by age and either cut or promote anyone over 24 years of age. If they have decent stats, they might do OK in AA so you can try promoting them. If they suck in A after this age, you should just cut them. This is a good first step. For example, you have 27 year old Augusto Ortiz and he's struggling. Might as well cut him in the offseason and make room for a younger player. On the flip side Gavrel Vovchenko is putting up decent numbers so you might just promote him to AA and see what he does there. He own't make the WBL but if you need bodies at another level, you might keep him until you have a PIPELINE of your own draft picks. Similarly, sort your AA and AAA teams and cut anyone over 26 years of age if they aren't putting up decent stats in the minors. Muoi Cahn is an example of a guy you can cut outright in the offseason.

4. With the remaining players, take a look at their last full season. If they played well, promote them. If they didn't play well, either leave them at the current level or cut them if you have a prospect you care about at their position.

5. Now bring in ur new players. All 18 and 19 year old draft picks (coming out of HS) should start in A-Ball and they might need to stay multiple seasons at that level, depending on their development. A lot of the good 18 year old prospects will struggle badly in their first year in A-Ball. For 21 or 22 year old college age draft picks, I recommend looking at their current ratings compared to potential. Guys who are basically fully developed can go right into AA, guys who still have some room left to develop should probably start in A-ball. Also take a look at your international complex and consider promoting any 18 or 19 year old to A ball and view them as a High School draft pick. I generally give players at least 1 season at each level, unless they are absolutely destroying the level, then I might promote them at the all star break. Make sure all of your actual prospects are always starting. The rest of the WARM BODIES can play backup or whatever.

6. Cross train your players at multiple positions. Any player who can play CF should be trained at LF and RF as well. Any player who can play SS should be trained at 2B and maybe 3B if he has an arm > 55. Any 3B should be cross trained at 1B and CORNER OF guys who can't play CF should also cross train at 1B. Occasionally you'll find a CF who can do 2B as well! Versatility is often what allows a player to make my WBL roster. I usually accomplish this by starting a player at their preferred position against RHB and then at a secondary position against LHB. Once they are fully developed at their primary position (>65) then I typically switch that up and play them at a secondary position against RHB and a tertiary position against LHB.

Eh. This should be posted under the name of Ryan Connor.
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
You should also note that if a player does well at a certain level for a full year and you don't promote them, they can get MAD AF and start playing poorly, which leads to poor development. If they play well at a level for a full season, promote them no matter what!
 

hayvis

Will-Gnome Member
How to manage a minor league system, for the moderately engaged owner/manger.

1. When starting from scratch, it is important to identify prospects you care about so you don't accidentally cut them or OTTO move them where you don't want them. I find the SHORTLIST helpful for doing this. I personally have a SHORTLIST that contains all my 1-3rd round draft picks for the last 10 years (rolling style, I take players off after 10 years). I find this to be a good way to make sure I'm getting these players the proper development and this shortlist has really helped me during periods of inactivity when I otherwise didn't bother with my minor league teams. You should also add all of the draft picks you care about to the shortlist once we reach the offseason.

2. I typically manage my minor league teams twice per season - Spring training, and right around the all star break. We're already late in the year so I would honestly suggest just waiting for offseason/spring training.

3. The first step is cutting all the useless bodies so you never have trog taking up reps that your actual prospects might use. It looks like you've already done a decent job of cutting most of the old players, but you'll probably have some more work to do in the offseason. You can keep some useless bodies around as backups for the first few years, but ideally you should be able to fill all of these spots with players you draft and care about within the next few seasons. Even if they don't end up in the WBL, you can take some pride in drafting guys who do well in the minor leagues. To start, sort your A team by age and either cut or promote anyone over 24 years of age. If they have decent stats, they might do OK in AA so you can try promoting them. If they suck in A after this age, you should just cut them. This is a good first step. For example, you have 27 year old Augusto Ortiz and he's struggling. Might as well cut him in the offseason and make room for a younger player. On the flip side Gavrel Vovchenko is putting up decent numbers so you might just promote him to AA and see what he does there. He own't make the WBL but if you need bodies at another level, you might keep him until you have a PIPELINE of your own draft picks. Similarly, sort your AA and AAA teams and cut anyone over 26 years of age if they aren't putting up decent stats in the minors. Muoi Cahn is an example of a guy you can cut outright in the offseason.

4. With the remaining players, take a look at their last full season. If they played well, promote them. If they didn't play well, either leave them at the current level or cut them if you have a prospect you care about at their position.

5. Now bring in ur new players. All 18 and 19 year old draft picks (coming out of HS) should start in A-Ball and they might need to stay multiple seasons at that level, depending on their development. A lot of the good 18 year old prospects will struggle badly in their first year in A-Ball. For 21 or 22 year old college age draft picks, I recommend looking at their current ratings compared to potential. Guys who are basically fully developed can go right into AA, guys who still have some room left to develop should probably start in A-ball. Also take a look at your international complex and consider promoting any 18 or 19 year old to A ball and view them as a High School draft pick. I generally give players at least 1 season at each level, unless they are absolutely destroying the level, then I might promote them at the all star break. Make sure all of your actual prospects are always starting. The rest of the WARM BODIES can play backup or whatever.

6. Cross train your players at multiple positions. Any player who can play CF should be trained at LF and RF as well. Any player who can play SS should be trained at 2B and maybe 3B if he has an arm > 55. Any 3B should be cross trained at 1B and CORNER OF guys who can't play CF should also cross train at 1B. Occasionally you'll find a CF who can do 2B as well! Versatility is often what allows a player to make my WBL roster. I usually accomplish this by starting a player at their preferred position against RHB and then at a secondary position against LHB. Once they are fully developed at their primary position (>65) then I typically switch that up and play them at a secondary position against RHB and a tertiary position against LHB.

Sincerely,

Ryan Connor

The cross training is the bit which I find hard to understand. At the moment I have no control over my minor league lineups. Do I have to change this?
 

jdlikewhoa

Well-Known Member
This is the first time I’m realizing that the Paris Freedom are based in the US and not France.

images
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
Michael Locke was whooping ass in AAA and you've already started his clock by promoting him, so you might as well let him stay in the WBL and get some experience this year so that he can get some of the rookie shakiness out of the way and be a good starter next season. I see no benefit in keeping him in AAA, he was ready2roll

It probably wasn't ideal for Casey Hamilton to go from college straight to the WBL because even though his bat was ready he isn't fully developed as a catcher yet and he's not getting enough reps in the WBL to improve. I would have started him in AA this year and AAA next year. I assume his C rating would have gone from 35->50 this season and from 50 -> 60 next season. You could have possibly started him at AA and then promoted him to AAA at the all star break if his defensive position rating improved drastically. I don't think demoting players is good for their morale, but he's currently VERY UNHAPPY already so giving him the inverted DEV treatment and demoting him to AAA and making sure he's the starter at catcher is probably ok? I would probably just leave him in the WBL and set him to play every every 3rd game and then make sure he gets all the starting catcher reps during next spring training. That'd probably get him from 35 C to 50 C
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
He's a really good looking catcher, you might SHOP ur #1 OVR catcher in the offseason and let CASEY AT THE BAT start for you next year while ur in rebuild mode.
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
A player's defensive position rating is a combination of their raw defensive skill set and their experience playing the position. You'll often draft a player who only has a defensive rating at a single position, but is suitable to play multiple positions. Harder positions take more experience to master, while a player with great defensive ratings can master an easy position very quickly

Defensive difficulty by position is roughly as follows: Great ratings are 60+ and good ratings are 50+ With everything else it's good to have them above 35-40 or they become a real liability.

CF needs great ratings in range, errors, and a good arm
SS needs great ratings in range, errors, turn DP, and a good arm
C needs Great or Great/Good ratings at C ability and arm
2B needs good ratings in range, errors, and turn DP but can have a noodle arm
3B needs good ratings in range, errors, and arm but can have crappy turn DP
RF needs good ratings in range, errors and arm
LF needs good ratings in range and errors but can have a noodle arm
1B fine with 35+ for range/error and the rest is irrelevant

DAVID HAMILTON is a good example of what cross-training can do for a player. When I drafted him he was a SS with good defense and minimal ratings at 2B and 3B but his infield ratings showed that he would be suitable for both positions with experience. I played him almost exclusively at SS for the first few seasons until he established a 65 OVR rating at that position, then I started cross training him at 3B and @Yankee151 finished rounding him out by getting him reps at 2B. Now he's an elite defender at all 3 positions and that and his winning OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN personality are the only things that give him any value on a WBL roster.
 

Yankee151

Hot Girl Summer
A player's defensive position rating is a combination of their raw defensive skill set and their experience playing the position. You'll often draft a player who only has a defensive rating at a single position, but is suitable to play multiple positions. Harder positions take more experience to master, while a player with great defensive ratings can master an easy position very quickly

Defensive difficulty by position is roughly as follows: Great ratings are 60+ and good ratings are 50+ With everything else it's good to have them above 35-40 or they become a real liability.

CF needs great ratings in range, errors, and a good arm
SS needs great ratings in range, errors, turn DP, and a good arm
C needs Great or Great/Good ratings at C ability and arm
2B needs good ratings in range, errors, and turn DP but can have a noodle arm
3B needs good ratings in range, errors, and arm but can have crappy turn DP
RF needs good ratings in range, errors and arm
LF needs good ratings in range and errors but can have a noodle arm
1B fine with 35+ for range/error and the rest is irrelevant

DAVID HAMILTON is a good example of what cross-training can do for a player. When I drafted him he was a SS with good defense and minimal ratings at 2B and 3B but his infield ratings showed that he would be suitable for both positions with experience. I played him almost exclusively at SS for the first few seasons until he established a 65 OVR rating at that position, then I started cross training him at 3B and @Yankee151 finished rounding him out by getting him reps at 2B. Now he's an elite defender at all 3 positions and that and his winning OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN personality are the only things that give him any value on a WBL roster.
The sims have crossed, I wasn't running Istanbul in 2076!
 

NML

Well-Known Member
Couple thoughts

1) it depends on ur scouting budget for whatever you are looking at. If you invest heavily in amateur scouting, then I’d trust ur scout over OSA. If you don’t, then don’t consider them much different

2) you should always use OSA as part of the puzzle. Ur scout, OSA, and stats can generally paint a pretty good picture of a player’s ability/potential. When one of them is an outlier, that’s when it’s tougher

3) when it comes to drafting, definitely consider OSA because that can give you an idea of how other scouts view that player
 

hayvis

Will-Gnome Member
Michael Locke was whooping ass in AAA and you've already started his clock by promoting him, so you might as well let him stay in the WBL and get some experience this year so that he can get some of the rookie shakiness out of the way and be a good starter next season. I see no benefit in keeping him in AAA, he was ready2roll

It probably wasn't ideal for Casey Hamilton to go from college straight to the WBL because even though his bat was ready he isn't fully developed as a catcher yet and he's not getting enough reps in the WBL to improve. I would have started him in AA this year and AAA next year. I assume his C rating would have gone from 35->50 this season and from 50 -> 60 next season. You could have possibly started him at AA and then promoted him to AAA at the all star break if his defensive position rating improved drastically. I don't think demoting players is good for their morale, but he's currently VERY UNHAPPY already so giving him the inverted DEV treatment and demoting him to AAA and making sure he's the starter at catcher is probably ok? I would probably just leave him in the WBL and set him to play every every 3rd game and then make sure he gets all the starting catcher reps during next spring training. That'd probably get him from 35 C to 50 C

I could start home every third game at catcher, then again as backup DH?
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
1st and 3rd I already discussed. Beyond the 3rd round, everyone has their own strategy you're just taking guesses and drafting players for something positive you see and hope they can develop the rest.

My strategy is as follows: I typically draft SURE THINGS in round 1 (college players) unless there is a GOAT potential high school player that is much better. In rounds 2 and 3, I'm looking for the few remaining super high potential players that could develop into starters or SURE THING college players that can be 4th outfielders or utility infielders.

in rounds 3-5 I typically draft lottery ticket players. High school position players where my scout likes their bat much more than OSA or guys with good defensive ratings and good intangibles and 45/50 contact potential and hope the rest of their bat improves. For pitchers I try to draft movement & control >50 and count on stuff improving either by changing them to RP (where only their best 2 pitches count for stuff) or by hoping their velocity improves (usually happens for 18 year olds).

After round 5 I often just turn to drafting well developed college players with no WBL potential because they'll help boost my minor league system, because I believe WINNING CULTURE helps development.

This year I still actually have some decent prospects on my list, so I might get another lottery ticket prospect in the 6th.
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
Sergio Flores - Will not be a good player in the WBL unless he has 50 contact. I'm guessing ur scout likes him more (everyone's scout likes different people and we all trust our guy! lol). If he ends up with 50 contact then he can be a decent 1B, especially with his intangibles. At worst you're getting a guy who can start in AA and move up to AAA after a year and improve your minor league team for his whole career.

David Ray - You're drafting a HS lottery ticket here, which is good. A DH doesn't have a ton of value in general, but having home grown DH guys that you can play on 490k contracts is nice so that you don't pull a @Yankee151 and spend $50M on washed up DHs who don't perform. I would suggest changing his position to DH so that the CPU doesn't ever try to even play him in the field. Since he's a HS guy he could see ratings movements one way or the other and if those ratings all move up 5, he could be GREENS AND BLUES type player instead of yellows and greens.

Nick Bacon - I had him on my list and I think he's good value at this point in the draft. He could make the WBL as a backup type or he's a classic AAAA who does great in AAA but can't quite make the jump for good teams. That's great value for this stage in the draft, usually these guys are gone by the 3rd round. I don't think he'd be great on ur team, specifically, because you already have good MIF players and prospects, but you should be able to trade him for something better than a 6th round pick to another HAVE NOT who needs a middle infielder. At worst, he'll do well in AA and AAA, I just wish he had better intangibles if he was going to be a system guy.
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
I like to consider both the FLOOR and CEILING for my draft picks. Ceiling is most important, but the floor breaks any ties (typically why I draft well developed 21 year olds in the 1st round)

My 5th round pick is a good example of this. There were about 10 guys left on my board who I thought had some WBL potential as starters IF ____ happens. IF my scout is correct, or IF his contact jumps 5 points, etc. I drafted the guy with the highest floor.

In this case, my scout thinks he has a 50/60/60/50/45 bat, better than OSA in the most important ratings of contact and power. My scout also thinks he has 55/50/50 OF Fielding ratings which projects him as barely a corner OF. IF my scout is right and IF he fully develops, he could be a 2-3 WAR player in left field. Now that's a lot of IFS and BUTS and they aren't all candy and nuts or we'd all have a merry draft.

The FLOOR is that he's going to do very well in A next season, then AA in 2081 and AAA in 2082-FOREVER and he's got one of the best personalities in the draft WHEN HE CATCHES A POSITIVE WAVE IT SPILLS OVER TO HIS TEAMMATES.

1565277944476.png
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
Meanwhile, I still have no idea what IFA is or when it happens, have signed a load of bums, have no idea how to run my budget and am confused at what constitutes a good SP. BRING IT ON!

You asked a question about pitching and SP in the other thread, I'm movin ur answer here for future reference. Here is the write-up I did for Moscow when @Soonerfan09 joined

PART 3 - PITCHING

Pitchers have 3 main ratings

Stuff = How good they are at striking other players out.
Movement = This rating basically affects how well opposition players hit the ball when they do make contact. Higher movement typically means when opposition players make contact it won't be as good. This is a bit complicated, but basically a high movement pitcher will typically allow fewer HRs (fly balls fall short), have a better ground ball %, and have a lower BABIP (relative to defense/park factors) because line drives and grounders won't be hit as well, allowing your defenders to make an out.
Control = How well a pitcher can place their pitches. The primary effect of this is on walks, but high control pitchers are also easier to control via strategy (pitch around or pitch to contact).

There isn't a great answer on which of these is "most important," as it depends a lot on your ballpark and your defense, but generally speaking High stuff is a good thing for all pitchers because striking a player out is always a good outcome. High movement is really important in ballparks that give up a lot of HRs and for teams that have great defense. High control is important for teams who need to limit on base percentage (typically pitcher friendly ball parks where hits are hard to come by).Ideally you can find pitchers who rock at all 3, but that's not always the case so you have to tailor it for your ballpark. If you have a terrible defense and a highly offensive ball park you'd prioritize stuff and movement and cope with lower control. If you have a highly defensive build in a pitcher friendly ballpark, you'd prioritize movement and control and be able to sacrifice stuff if necessary. If you have a terrible defense in a pitcher friendly ball park you'd prioritize stuff and control and sacrifice movement. Based on ur current terrible defense (-37.9 ZR and Defensive Efficiency = .664) STUFF is going to be the most important rating for your pitchers, since a strike out is probably the only positive outcome. (Advice for Moscow)

SO TRAVIS, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STARTER AND A RELIEF PITCHER?

A traditional starting pitcher needs to have 3 highly rated pitches and a stamina of 50+ so that they can succeed for 7+ innings (I now look at Stamina >40 because I use pitch counts more often). If they have less stamina they won't be able to pitch as long or as often. If they only have 2 good pitches, batters will start to take advantage of them as they get more at bats during the game.

A relief pitcher doesn't need high stamina and their "stuff" rating is only based on their best 2 pitches (Provided they only pitch a couple of innings). This usually results in relief pitchers having higher "stuff" (more likely to score strike outs) than an equivalent starting pitcher, since stuff is only based on their best 2 pitches. Any pitcher that is capable of starting will also do fine in relief, and I often keep a guy like this on my roster in case of injury to one of my starters.

While it is important to have a good bullpen, it is also good to remember that your relief pitchers will get 1/3 to 1/2 the innings that your starters get, so relief pitchers are inherently less valuable than starters. That's why I budget less money for them in my wage scale and typically take them later in the draft.That being said, nothing is worse than having ur bullpen blow leads so FML.

You can also experiment with non-standard GIMMICK PITCHER SYSTEMS like @ZackMills had great success with where his starters were limited to like 4 innings and he relied on really good relievers since he found it was easier and more cost effective to gather a bunch of good relief pitchers. (I now use a relief ace in a stopper/high leverage role and they often get as many innings as a SP. You can also experiment with GIMMICK systems that rely on bullpen even more, but it is still generally true that even your worst SP is going to get as many innings as your best RP)

BASIC ROSTER BUILD SUGGESTION:
To start, I recommend carrying 12 pitchers total (could use 13 if you had talent or could get away with 11 if you have high stamina relievers and make some adjustments). You will want 5 of these players to be capable starters. You will want 6 quality relief pitchers. The last player is a SWINGMAN (@Irishman) who plays in the bullpen, but has the capability to be a starter (3+ pitches and 50+ stamina). If things go well, he'll eat low leverage innings for you in the bullpen without getting tired, allowing your best lower stamina pitchers to pitch in high leverage close game situations. If you have an injury to a starting pitcher or one of your starters just plain sucks, you can plug SWINGMAN in to a starting spot and don't skip a beat.

STARTERS -

Elite Starter (Goal = #1 and #2 starter in this class. If you are cost efficient and you can land a #3 of this caliber that's even better)- You want 60+ in all 3 ratings, 3 pitches that are all 60+, 50+ Stamina and a good statistical track record. These players demand a premium and you can pay them up to $15M/year. You currently have zero of these players, but the dude you are about to draft and your prospect VIGGO Mandebacka both meet this criteria, so you should be good in a few years.

Solid starter (Goal = Starters #3-5 in this class) - Average ratings is 55-60 (ie they can have one lower 50-55 rating as long as they have ratings that fit ur system). 3 pitches at 50+ and stamina of 50+. Harrie van Kralingen on ur current roster is on the bottom end of this range and he's on a salary of 1.1 M that meets the wage scale. Adding some players in this category at the correct wages would be a good move. Cuirate could be in this category if his 3rd pitch develops and he shows the stats to prove it, otherwise he might be a better RP with only 2 developed pitches. Having your "worst" starting pitcher be at least this good is an awesome way to accumulate wins. Lots of teams have 3-4 good SPs but then lose a ton of games because their #5 sucks or they get an injury and the replacement sucks.

Serviceble/stop gap starter (Whatever you cant fill above through SP #6/SWINGMAN) - Average rating is 50-55 but every individual rating is 50+. 3 pitches that are at least 40+ and stamina of 50+. You have at least 3 players in this category (or close to it) and they are all on the correct wage scale making minimum salary (Lieu, Wilson, Lopez) and one of your other minimum players (Harle) is pretty close and statistically pitching well (if they are playing well, go with it). You have a good number of players in this category, so you want to keep the ones who are pitching well statistically and making the least. As you get better you'll want to phase these guys out and replace them with solid starters instead (while still keeping the wage scale). These guys aren't going to put up good stats unless you build your team to make them shine, but it is better than throwing some shithead with 45 ratings out there and getting CRUSHED.

Relief pitchers -
ELITE RP (Goal = 2 of these) - No rating less than 60 with 2 pitches 65+. You have nobody in this category.

Solid RP (Goal = 3 of these) - High stuff, which should be easy with only 2 pitches (65+) and movement and control both 55+ David Picket is a good example here and is making the right $. Steve Valentine is close but right at the top end of the wage scale with close to $2M salary. I don't like that his control is only 50 and he doesn't have a good track record, but he is making right at the limit (just under $2M) so given the rest of ur team's situation, he's probably a decent player to keep until you can replace him with someone better.MOAR DAVID PICKETS

Serviceable RP/SWINGMAN (remainder of pitchers) - Super high stuff player with a 50 or 45 minimum rating for the others, or a SWINGMAN SP capable pitcher with 50-55 stuff. Generic 55 rated players who play well statistically in your system can also fall into this category. Give them a try and if they pitch well then keep pitching them, since they are cheap. You've got a bunch of these types but some of them are making too much.Don't pay these guys more than $1M, and preferably pay them league minimum.
 

Travis7401

Douglass Tagg
Community Liaison
He has the same bating ratings as Emery Steele in a different order. My scout likes him more. He's going to be the GOAT

He has a decent GREEN AND YELLOWS bat, but will be a real bad liability in the field with 35 OF range and his IF range is so bad he won't even be able to play 1B, which means his ceiling is pretty low because he can't start at any position at a WBL level. Emery Steele has barely enough range that he could play in the WBL at LF without being a liability. That's still not much of a ceiling, since I'd prefer a more versatile player, but it's something. The floor of being a good minor league leader is the same for both, so he's definitely a great pick at this point in the draft!

I'll send you MY TOOL and explain how to use it to evaluate players
 
Top