Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Season 22 AL Preview


AL North




As always I start with the greatest Division in Kaline, the AL North.







The Millers are returning the same basic core of players that saw them back in the world series. They are headed by one of the very best pitching staff in all of baseball. The bats were a little slow to get started last season but they did start hitting really well in the second half. The bullpen did take a hit with Max Encarnacion being traded away, but it is still a solid group to fall back on. The Millers are always one of the best teams with the gloves.




















Pawtucket had a very strong season even sweeping the Baybirds in the postseason last year. They bring a starter that gives them a good chance to win every game. They have an amazing bullpen that can hold leads very well. The line up is has plenty of plus .800 ops hitters and cam match up with just about any other teams hitters. They also have a strong defensive tradition.



















Seattle surpassed my expectations last season by making the playoff. This is one of the up and coming teams that will push for top seeds in the very near future. An incredible defense helps out a below average pitching staff. If your going to go with this type of rotation this is the field you want and the gloves behind you that you want. This team is stacked with good hitters that might be league leaders due to the park factors but they will hit. As is the norm in the AL North bullpen is another strong spot on the team.



Key players: David Bolivar, Jake Jennings, Tony "Two Timing" Tavarez





No team has had more shit luck then Detriot when free agency rolls around. Both of their top players declined their options and head to new team. Add in last season departure of Big Bad Bryce and you have a team in need. They should be about middle of the pack or just above in hitting. Pitching has really taken a huge hit and needs a complete face lift after having the best one two punch in the game. The pen is good enough to hold most leads but a few might get away. Defensively they are looking to be in the bottom five to me at quick glance.
Key players: Keith "The Thief" Haad, Cecil Seneca, Macbeth Billingsley

Final standings


Millers 95-99 wins
Seattle 92-96 wins
Pawtucket 91-96 wins
Detriot 58-62 wins














































Wednesday, November 2, 2011

FA Black Bet Class

You need to have both the Trade Proposal screen up (everyone knew that part) and wait for it, wait for it, World Office->Finances->Franchise Payroll Analysis up.
The Trade Proposal screen gives you the current budget with FA Negotiations like it says at the bottom above submit proposal.
The Franchise Payroll screen give you the actual current budget that is being paid to the current players.
So lets talk about Tacoma quick if you go to Tacoma on the trade screen and then click on the franchise itself you will see that their team is current paying the players 59 million right now. On the trade screen you see that their Budget is 79 million. So we now know that they have a huge offer out because of the 20 million difference. Now on the Franchise payroll screen we can go and check out what they have to pay next season and we see that they have 29.8 in current salary for next season. Flip back to the trade screen and we see that they have 53 million in season 23. Quick math and the difference is about 23 million. That is more then the max bid but you have to dig a bit and see that Wilkin Vega was extended for next season for a little over 3 million so we know that he still has 20 million out for the next season. Repeat for season 24. trade screen says 32.4 million Franchise screen says 12.4. Another 20 million Season 25 and 26 both are sladed for 0 budget right now on the franchise screen and on the trade screen we see 20 million apiece. So we know that he has at least 100 million over 5 year still out in free agentcy. We know that the max you can offer a player is 100 million over 5 years. WE know that Dick Randall is the only player currently worth a max bid in FA so we can assume that Tacoma has an offer to Big Dick of at least 100 million.
Does this make sense to every reader I have all 5 of you?
So the quick way to check it out. Go to the trade proposal screen start with the first team and hit go look at the current seasons new click on the team name and check what they are paying the players right now. If it is the same or close enough to it move on to the next team and repeat until you find a big jump in the number. When you find a big jump you can check out the Franchise Payroll screen and do the math and find out how much they are spending. There is guess work for sure for the second tier FA like this season with Hartman Xavier and Tatum but if you have a strong offer for one of them out there and you are not winning of were just over taken and you have been tracking every teams spending you will have a very good idea on who has jumped over you.
One thing to keep in mind is doing all this information gathering will not give you any bonus information. You will have to straight guess at that. One thing that can help you out though is if they are very close to the top budget. Let say that they are 4 million away from their top. Now you know that there is no way for them to give out more the that for that player. If you have a question or this does not make any sense feel free and ask. I would ask that you please not link this to other owners though and keep the FA black bets to Kaline owners only. But now I have given you good information and if you feel like sharing it I guess that is up to you.

Free Agent spending

Bonus money is not included.

Boston has a contract out worth about 68.5 million over 5 years. My Guess is he is looking at picking up pitcher Hank Xavier.

Buffalo is looking at a 69 million offer over 4 years. Probably has the same pitcher in mind.

Charleston Has a near max bid out unless he has two bids. I am thinking that he is holding a Big Dick Randall offer.

Detroit has a 60 million offer out and I think Cody Tatum is his target now. Could also be Kirt Hartman but that would be a huge contract for him.

Fargo 62.5 contract might be an effort in bringing in Tatum.

Houston is also floating around a mid 60 million offer. Must be for Tatum.

Indianapolis has a smaller 5.5x5 offer out.

Philly has a mess of things going on but I would bet 100x5 or very close to is up for Big Dick.

Salem Has the max bid in on Randall. Might have a little #1 next to them too.

Scottsdale has about 9.5x5 for someone. I don't know who is around there. I think it is a holding offer.

Tacoma has a max bid in as well and with the guys left we know who that will be.

So there it is two max bids from what I saw quick. Salem and Tacoma. Philly is holding a big bid. I think there is a bunch of teams in on the other big three left and all are going to make in the mid 60s to 70s after the next cycle.