*chuckles* Your answer amuses me. Very well, Emu can stay - though I doubt he'll ever see C ball unless something REALLY goes wrong in Oakland :)
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*chuckles* Your answer amuses me. Very well, Emu can stay - though I doubt he'll ever see C ball unless something REALLY goes wrong in Oakland :)
Healthy ego there. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by CatKnight
I really dont want to give anything away about your feud with Charlie Finley, but are you going to incorporate how he is perceived by players in the future? Thats one thing I notice about him thats not mentioned at all.
I'm sure the owners will be happy about New York moving out of the cavernous, multi-seat Yankee Stadium. Now, if you could keep them in New Jersey...doesn't that field seat about 20,000?
--Pet
Lol. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by CatKnight
Imgran: :)
ragecage: Well, so far he's kept the Athletics..er..A's.. from exploding. To quote one player, they must be playing so well because they really hate him. If Oakland gets in trouble, like last year, then things could get real ugly.
petrel: Historically the Yanks wound up at Shea, which might well be where they go for a few years. The Yanks and Mets as roommates must have been real interesting.
Coach Owens: Yeah. That was kinda my reaction :)
*******
Winter Meetings III
The day after the League Meetings, there's usually a joint session with the Commissioner...and usually it amounts to nothing. We've already conducted all our business, thank you. It's a chance for Bowie Kuhn to remind us he's the big cheese, and for us to gossip. There's no real seating hierarchy here (other than the presidents flanking Kuhn), so I usually end up sitting next to Gary.
This time Kuhn had things to discuss however. He stood, sipped from a glass of water, and gripped his podium tightly. "Gentlemen. I know you have drafts to prepare for, so I'll try to keep this brief."
"First, as you know, for the past three years we've followed a policy of trying to contest the National Football League by moving our playoffs into late October and early November. A number of you have lodged complaints about the schedule structuring for the past few years as well." Cincinnati led the charge there: They opened last season with 58 consecutive games and threatened not to field a team if the league pulled that trick again.
Kuhn nodded at Cronin and NL President Chub Feeney. "We have hired a seperate staff to draw up future schedules. We anticipate the 1972 season to end in the last week of September, with the playoffs completed well before Halloween. Though taking 1-2 weeks off the schedule would seem to create longer stands of games, I'm assured there will be adequate breaks for each team next year at regular intervals."
I nodded. That 60 game stretch from July to September didn't help us at all.
"On a related note, while the NFL acknowledges the convenience of having football and baseball teams share stadiums, they'll probably limit this in the future. It's getting harder for them - and us - to schedule games that don't conflict."
A National Leaguer I didn't recognize raised his hand. "Mister Commissioner, given football's growing popularity, does your new policy of not seeking conflict mean we're conceding that they're the number one sport in America?"
Kuhn started. The rest of the room silenced and glanced at the National solemnly.
"No, Chris. Not in the slightest. Baseball will always be the American Pasttime. I simply believe that there is no need to fight the NFL. Studies show that fans who support football teams in the same cities as baseball ones support us too. We can coexist."
"Second regards the White Sox/Brewers situation. When's the federal court date, Bud?"
Selig, who sat with one hand half covering his lips, lifted his head. "February."
"You may be called upon for opinions or articles as the day grows closer. Again, I must ask you to remain as neutral as possible. We do not want to antagonize the city of Chicago, nor do we want to undermine the American League's decision. As far as you know, the Brewers will play in Milwaukee as scheduled."
Keith Clay of the Yanks raised his hand. "If the papers ask, can we tell them how we voted?"
"Yes, and you may give the final vote count, but that's all."
Kevin stirred. "What happens if we lose?"
"I'm sorry?"
"What happens if Chicago wins their injunction? Will the...Brewers...play at Comiskey?"
"The Brewers won't play!" Selig spat. "Anyway, they have no case other than whining. We still have a lease at Comiskey, but that just means we have to pay and upkeep. It doesn't mean we have to actually do anything with it. If Chicago keeps this up, and I will announce this, then I'll pull the 20 games from Comiskey and let the d*** stadium rot!"
Chub Feeney stirred. "Threatening is probably not a good idea right now, Mr. Selig. We need to maintain a united, calm front. Teams have obviously moved before. We'll get through this."
"Third," Kuhn said, "is the designated pinch hitter rule. The Rules Committee recommends the Leagues to study its effect on minor league play over the next year, and come to a decision at the next Winter meetings. I'm sure you know what advocates and opponents say. It's been in some leagues for three years now. Take a good look at the results, then next year we'll decide."
Silence. We all knew the arguments. I remembered my first conversation with Warren Spahn in Tulsa: 'It's a mess,' he said.
"Lastly, as you know we are still in contract negotiations with the Players Union. They are being particularly...disagreeable on some of the finer points, notably pensions. All the major ones have been dealt with, such as our agreement to take the reserve clause out of our boilerplate contracts and let it naturally expire as players come up for renewal. They're also asking for a guaranteed 9% hike in base salaries per year, while we're looking at something tied to inflation."
Gary raised his hand. "What will happen if you can't come to an agreement?"
Kuhn shrugged. "Continue under the old one, I suppose. After all, what are they going to do? Strike? The players would never agree to losing wages like that."
Dun dun dun...
PotatoofCouch: Shh!
COMMENTS: My own commentary is in italics, partly so you can see exactly what I'm doing and why because I ask you at the end whether you think it's worth it or not. :)
*******
Rule V Draft
Rule V (in this universe) states that each team must prepare a 25 man roster before entering Winter Meetings. Those not on the 25 man roster are considered 'minor leaguers.'
Any minor leaguer who is:
a) 29 years old or over, and
b) Has been on the team for one year
...may choose to enter the Rule V draft. There's a little randomness in there for reasons that were never clear to me, (it amuses me) but generally in reverse order of finish each team may then take a draftee. They must be able to offer this draftee a spot as a starter next season, otherwise the choice is void.
Overall, 85 players were declared eligible, and 36 took the Commissioner's Office up on their offer. Of those 36, eight changed teams. They were:
1. RP Tom Hilgendorf (82) [29] from St. Louis to Cleveland
2. RP Bruce Dal Canton (79) [29] from San Francisco to Seattle
3. RP Frank Linzy (78) [31] from Pittsburgh to San Diego
4. RP Ron Herbel (77) [33] from San Francisco to LA Angels
5. RP Tom Timmerman (77) [31] from Detroit to Montreal
6. C Larry Haney (73) [29] from Seattle to San Francisco
7. RF Bernie Smith (76) [30] from Seattle to NY Yankees
Round 2:
8. 2B Ike Brown (77) [29] from Detroit to Seattle
Everyone else returned to their original team. No Royals were eligible.
COMMENTARY: Someone, I think it may have been kevarms or Potato, argued that a minor league redraft really has no effect on the game's competitiveness. They are absolutely...right. Changing a few 80s and 70s around isn't going to make or break any team.
This isn't very hard to do really. I located all the eligible players using Player Search, and wrote down their overalls. Then I rolled: Only half the players would actually declare. (The others liked their teams, didn't want to move, liked it in the minors, whatever.)
Then I went team by team looking at their starting lineup, their top three starters, closer and setup guy. If a 'draftee' had a higher overall and wasn't new to their team in the last year, then they would be forcetraded. This USUALLY guarantees the draftee a starting spot, and almost always a spot on the 25 man roster. Good enough since I don't want to babysit every team.
While it has very little effect on competitiveness, I think it's realistic in that 30+ year olds really shouldn't be in the minors.
Rule VI Draft
The Rule VI draft looks at 'free agents' - amateurs who weren't picked up in the June (Rule IV) draft but deserve a second look. Again, it goes in rough reverse order of record.
Last year we picked up a starter, Randy Tate (now 51/74). This year we get reliever Gary Christensen (46/78). God knows if either of these boys will ever actually see the majors.
The Rule VI draft this year, similar to last, was almost all pitchers...and like last of very limited quality.
COMMENTARY: As you know, those not picked up in the amateur draft move to free agency. Fine. However, I tested it..and they never develop. They don't get better and just sit there. Seeing as some of these people not picked up are historical and had big league careers, I saw a problem with that and drafted them. To qualify for this draft, they must have an overall of 69- (to keep the big leaguers out), and a peak of 75+ (ML or at least AAA potential).
I'm not sure whether to continue this. It is a MUCH bigger pain in the butt than the Rule V because I have to go into every team, 'sign' the player, then later edit every player. I give them 6 year contracts at or near minimum so the team isn't constantly wrestling about what to do with these twits. The other problem is it adds A LOT of relievers to the game...and there are already plenty out there. The total player count is slowly rising league wide.
On the other hand, as I said some of these peeps WERE major leaguers...and might be again with enough development, which I don't think they can get sitting in FA. Is it 'realistic' to just let them sit there?
*******
So those are the results. The question is: Do you think it's worth it/adds something to keep the Rule V and VI drafts, or let 'em go? As I said, neither one really does a thing for competitive balance or other metagame issues, but one or both are realistic.
It's your party. The question that's really on the floor is whether you're going to spend the time to do this. That's pretty much your call and no one else's.Quote:
Originally Posted by CatKnight
First: no DH. Not now, not ever!
Second: when kevarms or Potato did his study of the Rule V draft, did he project it into time and keep everything else consistent.
Right now, I'm doing three things to try to introduce some balance.
a) shorten the spectrum of fan loyalty
b) the Rule V draft
c) revenue sharing.
It might be worthwhile to see which of these has the greatest effect.
-Pet
Who wants to pay to watch a pitcher hit?Quote:
Originally Posted by petrel
More seriously, Chuck Hunter would probably want the DPH because it would give him a chance to keep his promise to Mays. Right now if he gives Mays too muych playing time Cardenal might wind up Coco Crisp'd
I never did a study about the Rule V draft, I just delayed implementing it because the Rule IV (amateur) draft was originally designed in 1965 to limit the Yankees' dominance. I felt that adding another draft immediately was a little hasty, so i decided to see what the real draft could do to help with parity.
I agree with Imgran. You should at least try the DH for a year, just to see how it will affect the league. It's like when your mother tells you to eat your vegetables: they may be good for you... :D
Well, I've been reading on and off for about a month and a half now and finally caught up. Very, very good story. The behind the scenes stuff is more exciting than the games itself. If you wrote a book, I'd buy it.
Anyways, nice job with the Royals to keep them competitive.
I was surprised you didn't give Satchell a chance to pitch with all the injuries :D
I wonder if Podres (I think that's his name) will be interested in coaching now.
It looks like you're going to have to do some salary dumping in the next few years in order to afford your young guns.
It'll be interesting to see Mays' chase for the HR record. If Thompson struggles you should give him, or another OF a shot at 1B.
I really like what you've done for competitive balance with drafts, young spects signing, etc.
Well, that's it for now. I look forward to the next season.
If he let Mays play first he'd be getting death threat notes from Oliver.
Besides, Thompson is going to kill the ball this year.
Actually just as glad to see a good deep outfield. Robinson's on the old side after all and if someone goes down as they always seem to in Mogul, you've got some insurance.
Imgran: Yes, time is the thing.
petrel: Not sure how the DH vote will go yet. Finley certainly favors it right now (as he did historically), and he has plans for his emu.
I dunno what studies were actually done on the Rule V, just the argument that it didn't really do much.
Shortening the fan loyalty spectrum will help I think. That's my primary means of controlling teams now. It's by no means perfect, but it helps.
Revenue sharing...only partially works. Taking money away from the big teams seems to help a little, as they start taking precautions to try not going bankrupt. However, no amount of cash will induce a small team to start spending it.
Imgran: Chuck probably DOES favor the DPH (or will if/when he thinks about it.) The Royals have several players that would benefit.
PotatoOfCouch13: As I said, dunno how the DH vote will go yet. For 'league changes' I roll a die: On a 1-5 things go historically, on a 6 things get weird. That seems to keep the league recognizable, while allowing for some change (CHI-MIL, WAS staying), etc.
gosensgo101: Good to hear from you!
The behind the scenes stuff interests me too. I like having the game around for ideas (and to move the season forward), but it's the intrigues I keep coming back to.
I probably SHOULD have let Satch try to pitch. If he can get through 3 innings in 1965, he should still be good for a handful in 1971 :)
Podres is probably out of the story. "He" rebuffed my last few attempts to get him to come over. I will probably have to consider salary dumping - as it is I'm over budget if I want to maintain the top farm system et.al., but I can live with that for a year.
Strangely, 'this' Mays does not have 1B as an available position. In fact, checking the skills page, he'd be terrible. Hmm.
Imgran: Yes, Oliver's very jealous of his position on the team.
I've just stripped some depth from my outfield, but I think it should still be viable for this season. Remember help (Jim Rice, etc.) is on the way.
*******
January 1972
1972 began with two more trades, both involving my old friends, the Oakland Athleti..er.."A's."
Trade # 1:
SEA-OAK: SP Fritz Peterson (83) [29] (17-14 4.46 5 CG for NYY)
OAK-SEA: SP Sean Long (66/83) [19] (0-1 9.00 0)
Another trade that looks rather odd. Seattle picked up Peterson in FA, and is immediately giving him away? Seattle has many weak spots, but would at least break 60 games if they could get their rotation and bullpen under control.
(Peterson is the other pitcher I forced SEA to pick up to make them competitive. Grr!)
Then, Charlie Finley really did it. We'd heard rumors but thought he was kidding around or just making headlines.
The man signed an emu to play baseball.
The American League cracked down, reminding him that all contracts need to be approved by the Commissioner's office. Finley replied that all Major League contracts need to be approved, whereas this emu will be 'training' in D-ball. Anyway, and this is true because no one but Finley would exploit it, there is nothing in the rules that says a player MUST be human.
After much wrangling, Joe Cronin finally threw up his hands. If he wants a bird as a publicity stunt, then that's his problem. So long as the bird stays in Coos Bay (D-league)...
Naturally, the San Francisco Giants are thrilled. They're threatening to sue for causing their player and team stress. Giant reliever Ed Halicki threatened to kill the bird.
A's outfielder Reggie Jackson said he'd probably let Halicki. "They're gonna teach that bird to play my position," he told the media. "It's an insult! What the h*** is Charlie thinking? Maybe it's his way of giving baseball the bird!" He grinned at his joke. "But seriously. What's going on here? Bonds' boy dies, and Charlie thinks it's funny!?"
That was it. No one publicly criticized Charlie O. Certainly not some lowly player who couldn't stop striking out on command.
Trade # 2:
OAK-LAD: RF Reggie Jackson (94/95) [25] (.284 43-139 3)
LAD-OAK: C Dennis Paepke (72/73) [26] (.264 7-12 0)
LAD-OAK: 2B Jon Lefebvre (85/93) [30] (.264 18-58 1)
LAD-OAK: SP Doyle Alexander (87) [21] (14-10 4.55 1 CG)
LAD-OAK: $1,020,000
I'm inclined to say Oakland lost thanks to Finley's pique, but $1 million in cash? That devastates the Dodgers' cash reserves.
Meanwhile, I decided it was time to deal with our outfielder problem. (Since the AI can trade in winter now, I gave myself one more for the offseason only.) After much fiddling about, calls, returned calls, and outright debates I decided to offer:
KC- : RF Fred Rico (74/75) [27] (.277 4-21 3)
* Fred's been a loyal backup since the team's founding. He'd probably be in Omaha this year. Maybe he can do better elsewhere.
KC- : LF Lee Maye (75) [37] (.281 6-42 5)
* The only reason Maye avoided the Rule V is because Mays was still on the DL, and so we had room on our 25 man roster. Again, I can't offer him better than Omaha, and at 37 I think Maye deserves better.
KC- : CF Scott Northey (79/91) [25] (.304 3-19 3)
* Scott's at the point in his career where I can't really 'hide' him in Omaha anymore if he's to develop. He has a tremendous bat..and no glove. He fielded .909 at left, .953 at center last year and that was a good showing. He's the kind of guy a DPH rule would benefit. I have other people (like Mays or Hart) who could benefit as well, so someone has to go.
Surprisingly, my first taker is Kevin Calahan! He sounded morose, perhaps even ill as he asked if the outfielders are still available. Then he made the best offer I'd get. Marty Pattin.
Pattin (92/93) [28] (7-9 3.63 3 CG) is the Pilot ace, their one bright spot in an increasingly shaky rotation. His # 4 guy belongs in B ball! On the other hand, as I said - he was the best offer I'd get. His $126,000 contract wouldn't hurt, and I knew from the rumor mill that Pattin would love to come to KC.
Yet. Gary taught me something useful when I first started out. It's easy to forget, but I try to keep it in mind: In baseball (and life), of course you try to win and do your best...but you also make sure everyone else can stay in the game. What good is it to be the champion if you've completely wrecked the league doing it? Only by keeping everyone else at least viable does the game, and therefore your prospects, thrive.
Doing this would destroy the Seattle Pilots - even worse than they already were, which was approaching legendary status. Sure, they could use my outfielders...but they needed an ace.
Kevin mistook my silence. "I can throw in a little money," he offered. "Maybe a prospect?"
"Why are you doing this, Kev?"
"Doing what? You made the offer!"
"Marty Pattin for all those fielders hurts your rotation more than it helps your field."
"Hey! I think Northey's going to be great! If you don't want him, then..."
"You pick up two pitchers in FA to shore things up, then you deal them away to the division champion. That doesn't make sense. That's the kind of thing the old KC Athletics would..." I gripped the phone tighter. "What's going on with Finley?"
"Nothing!"
"You trade away two good pitchers for two long term prospects in the last year of your contract, and now you want me to take Pattin? What's going on? Does he have something on you!?"
"Stay out of this, Chuck!"
"Stay out of WHAT?"
Silence. "Do you want my pitcher or not!?"
"No."
"Fine." He hung up. I stared at the receiver for a long time, then dialed a direct line.
"Joe Cronin."
"Joe? It's Chuck in KC. Listen, I think something's wrong in Seattle..."