TooLiveBrew

You can play high school ball and still have a lot to learn about the game like myself out of high school. Maybe I'm wrong but he doesn't seem to get into the pointed details of the game. Then again like I said I've only read a few of his columns. This is a good point. Heck, you even hear guys that played at MLB that still insist they 'know how things work' -- Dusty Baker pops into my head as the obvious first example. I think people need to contact Witrado & the MJS to convey the sense of disappointment in the inaccuracies & lack of professionalism. There's no way that just venting about it here is going to help improve things or get the distaste taken seriously.

Says one team executive: "It seems like both of those teams think they can re-sign those guys and don't need to make a trade under pressure." Why compensation picks still go unmentioned in this day & age is beyond me.

Press gets meals at ballparks. It's a nice perk, even if the food is just crummy 'catered' (aka frozen & cooked or fried stuff).

Maverick? I'll stop before I begin quoting from Top Gun. That's a negative, Ghostrider -- the pattern is full

Colby, any guesses on the #62 overall now that it's close? EDIT: Nevermind! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Southern Illinois P Thomas Adams it is.

CHICAGO (AP)-Tribune Company CEO Sam Zell says the company is pushing ahead with the sale of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field and bidders should get the financial books within the week. Zell told lenders on a Thursday conference call that preliminary bids will be due in July. He says Tribune continues to explore a possible sale of Wrigley by itself to an Illinois state agency, but won't delay the overall sale while trying to make that happen. According to Zell, there's never been a better time to market the team and the ballpark with the Cubs in first place and driving record attendance. --Link

The difference btw. .895 & .925 tells you nothing about fielding, though. In the minor leagues, where official scorers (almost always) don't have the benefit of any instant replay, errors should just be ignored. I don't think you can learn anything at all from them. I think you'd have to see a guy play numerous times, and I hope someone that has been able to see Mat play can weigh in.

Those 2 songs were the a-side and b-side of Bo's first single, released in March 1955. I feel that it is arguably the strongest single of all-time, though it failed to chart on the main Billboard chart. Probably didn't have anything to do with his skin color. Sorry to post late, but this is indeed sad news. Don't know what else to say... the man is a legend.

Below is the complete list of major new features for OOTP 9. In addition to these, there are a number of smaller improvements as well, and it would be a little too tedious to list them all! General features Built-in 2008 Opening Day rosters Revised, more realistic scouting system with less micromanaging, more realistic impact on your team, and written scouting reports on each player you scout Past scouting reports are stored, so you can see how your players developed over time. Reports are not erased when you lose your scouting director. Suspensions as a result of bench-clearing brawls, along with optional drug-related suspensions In-game add-on installer that will allow you to download and automatically install custom add-ons from the community Improved personnel contracts using a system similar to player contracts Added a streaks section to the league stats screen The league standings screen now shows the leagues leaders as well if desired Added stats to player list filters More news stories Improved simulation speed Customization features A revised playoff system, with many more customizable options Added the option to assign nations to teams in the league setup Player creation utilizes different team nationalities in a league Increased the secondary roster size max limit to 70 Increased the expanded roster size max limit to 70 Added a 'cannot be fired' option to the manager options Added personality ratings to customizeable player lists Added "turn into coach" feature for retired players In-game features In-game sound and further improvements to the realism of the play-by-play engine Simple ball animation Store & watch game replays Recoded pitcher endurance system, resulting in much more realistic results when using relievers as starters and vice-versa Increased font size of PbP in higher resolutions Financial system features Improved front office system with additional financial detail Two new revenue sharing options Greatly improved contract AI Historical features Built-in support for Lahman historical database, including neutralized stats for better results Built-in ballpark database, utilized automatically when rpogressing through history Ability to import pre-1901 seasons Added the following league totals modifiers: SP Endurance, RP Endurance, WP, PB, Balks, Double Plays, Sac Flies, Sac Bunts, SB Attempts, SB Success % Improved the automatic adjustment of the following league totals modifiers: Hits, 2B, 3B Greatly improved the defensive ratings & position calculations Improved calculation of pitcher endurance when importing historical leagues Added the option to automatically retire players according to history Added an option for historical leagues to base actual player ratings on neutralized stats Added a historical option called "Base roles/positions on...", which can be either real life stats or AI evaluation. Real life is the default when using recalc, which results in even more realistic stats as players will be used like in real life. Added a recalc option called "Double weight of current year", which will do just that when recalc is enabled. Improved historical season importing speed Features for online leagues Rankable draft lists Replays included in online league file Option to hide scores in the schedule screen for increased tension while watching replays Players now react within a maximum of 5 days when receiving and offer Other features Improved artificial intelligence across the board Improved player development that eliminates those aggravating sudden talent "jumps" or "bumps," resulting in a vast array of realistic career arcs. Improved several HTML reports Top prospect lists are now either egnerated once a year or dynamically. Players get their ranking added to the player history. Ballpark images can be loaded from any folder with select file dialog now A customizable backup function that makes it easier than ever to ensure you are getting solid backups of the leagues that are important to you Universal binary for Mac users, resulting in huge performance improvement on that platform New skin options, giving you three to choose from. Additionally, leagues can now have their own fictional logos, and logo sizes have been increased to take more advantage of our skilled modder community! Added "Disliked" as a player popularity value. This will happen for example when a player gets suspended for using drugs.

Just got an email from OOTP Developments: "We are pleased to announce that OOTP 9 will be released on June 18th! As in years past, OOTP 9 will run on both PC and Mac platforms, and will sell at a list price of US $39.99 for customers outside of Europe, and €39.99 in Europe. ... "Remember, the pre-order period lasts through 11:59 pm on June 17th, GMT-5 (Eastern), so use this opportunity to save $15 by pre-ordering OOTP 9 right now for a price of US $24.99 or €24.99! If you need a reason to pre-order, read on! ... "We have kept these gems under the hat thus far, but now it's time to publicly announce the addition of two great news features: Simple ball animations! OOTP uses Retrosheet ball locations to calculate where the ball is hit once put in play. OOTP 9 will allow you to set these exact locations in the ballpark editor so it matches the ballpark image used. Now, when playing a game in broadcast mode, you see where the ball is heading using a simple but effective ball animation! This works at all play-by-play speeds, and even if you selected the short play-by-play mode. When using instant play-by-play, the final destination of the ball is indicated properly. Now you can finally see where that 450-foot home run ended up in the stands! Save & watch game replays! OOTP 9 introduces a feature that is great for solo players and even better for online league participants. The game now allows you to store complete game replays either automatically (using similar setting like box scores, i.e. just human teams, human leagues etc.) or manually. These replay files include the complete play-by-play, ball locations for the animation and sound effects. The replays are shown in a screen similar to the broadcast game screen, so you can re-live all those exciting moments. Storing replays manually works as well, and allows you to share your greatest games with the community. Replay files even include the final box scores, so after watching a game that you got from a friend you can see the final numbers easily. For online leagues the replays are included in the online league files, and we have added a setting to the schedule screen to hide final scores, so you could update your league file, then jump into the schedule screen and watch the simulated games without knowing the result! That's extra excitement added for people who love playing in online leagues."

Well, maybe they wouldn't get so many stupid questions if the people with the smart questions thought they could be answered competently by them. Ask them about a prospect, I dare you. I ask them about anything but wins and RBIs. I'd rather just rely on the collective knowledge of the people at Brewerfan.net. Yeah, I certainly don't need to waste my time there when BF.net & its forums absolutely blow them out of the water. The resources here make the JS stuff look awful. They all hate him. His stupidity for printing bad questions is one thing, but his ignorance of answering them is off the charts. Interesting, yet painful to hear. Thanks for sharing, doa.

Well, maybe they wouldn't get so many stupid questions if the people with the smart questions thought they could be answered competently by them. Ask them about a prospect, I dare you. I ask them about anything but wins and RBIs. I'd rather just rely on the collective knowledge of the people at Brewerfan.net. Yeah, I certainly don't need to waste my time there when BF.net & its forums absolutely blow them out of the water. The resources here make the JS stuff look awful. They all hate him. His stupidity for printing bad questions is one thing, but his ignorance of answering them is off the charts. Interesting, yet painful to hear. Thanks for sharing, doa.

Well, maybe they wouldn't get so many stupid questions if the people with the smart questions thought they could be answered competently by them. Ask them about a prospect, I dare you. I ask them about anything but wins and RBIs. I'd rather just rely on the collective knowledge of the people at Brewerfan.net. Yeah, I certainly don't need to waste my time there when BF.net & its forums absolutely blow them out of the water. The resources here make the JS stuff look awful. They all hate him. His stupidity for printing bad questions is one thing, but his ignorance of answering them is off the charts. Interesting, yet painful to hear. Thanks for sharing, doa.

Well, maybe they wouldn't get so many stupid questions if the people with the smart questions thought they could be answered competently by them. Ask them about a prospect, I dare you. I ask them about anything but wins and RBIs. I'd rather just rely on the collective knowledge of the people at Brewerfan.net. Yeah, I certainly don't need to waste my time there when BF.net & its forums absolutely blow them out of the water. The resources here make the JS stuff look awful. They all hate him. His stupidity for printing bad questions is one thing, but his ignorance of answering them is off the charts. Interesting, yet painful to hear. Thanks for sharing, doa.

Actually a difference in BB rate like that is not the same as a wash. Consider what each guy projects for 650 PA from today's date for BBs: Hardy - 69; Hall - 50. That's a relatively big difference when considering season totals. I know the method is crude, but it's just for example's sake. If you're saying that you don't care about the difference of 20 BBs in a season, I get ya. I just do care, as imho that's a significant difference. Also, JJ should probably be expected to grow that BB rate as his power starts to come around, so quite plausibly he could have 10 or so more BBs. Hall really isn't off from career norms all that much, and I'd have a hard time seeing him get up to 60 BBs again without piling up the HR like he did in '06.

Witrado is not 15. I hadn't read much of his stuff, but he does have a condescending tone in most of the responses in the 5/28 mailbag. He doesn't appear to want to take the time to reply in-depth to any questions, which makes me wonder if JS has given him a certain # of responses he needs per mailbag. Also, Haudricourt may be rubbing off on him... Q: Dale Ziarek of centennial, CO. Milwaukee native - What do you think of Yost starting Bush once again. And if he leaves him in after the 4th inning where I expect he will start giving up runs? A: Anthony Witrado - He pitched pretty well last night, but how long that lasts is a question. He hasn't put together two of those nice starts this season. Actually, Bush had 3 good starts this season prior to May 28th. Why wouldn't a beat writer take the time to look into this? That's very discouraging, as all it takes is about 1 minute online. I certainly got the impression that he was either in a bad mood, or cared/s more about being condescending than informative. Don't we already have one of those guys... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Witrado is not 15. I hadn't read much of his stuff, but he does have a condescending tone in most of the responses in the 5/28 mailbag. He doesn't appear to want to take the time to reply in-depth to any questions, which makes me wonder if JS has given him a certain # of responses he needs per mailbag. Also, Haudricourt may be rubbing off on him... Q: Dale Ziarek of centennial, CO. Milwaukee native - What do you think of Yost starting Bush once again. And if he leaves him in after the 4th inning where I expect he will start giving up runs? A: Anthony Witrado - He pitched pretty well last night, but how long that lasts is a question. He hasn't put together two of those nice starts this season. Actually, Bush had 3 good starts this season prior to May 28th. Why wouldn't a beat writer take the time to look into this? That's very discouraging, as all it takes is about 1 minute online. I certainly got the impression that he was either in a bad mood, or cared/s more about being condescending than informative. Don't we already have one of those guys... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Witrado is not 15. I hadn't read much of his stuff, but he does have a condescending tone in most of the responses in the 5/28 mailbag. He doesn't appear to want to take the time to reply in-depth to any questions, which makes me wonder if JS has given him a certain # of responses he needs per mailbag. Also, Haudricourt may be rubbing off on him... Q: Dale Ziarek of centennial, CO. Milwaukee native - What do you think of Yost starting Bush once again. And if he leaves him in after the 4th inning where I expect he will start giving up runs? A: Anthony Witrado - He pitched pretty well last night, but how long that lasts is a question. He hasn't put together two of those nice starts this season. Actually, Bush had 3 good starts this season prior to May 28th. Why wouldn't a beat writer take the time to look into this? That's very discouraging, as all it takes is about 1 minute online. I certainly got the impression that he was either in a bad mood, or cared/s more about being condescending than informative. Don't we already have one of those guys... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Witrado is not 15. I hadn't read much of his stuff, but he does have a condescending tone in most of the responses in the 5/28 mailbag. He doesn't appear to want to take the time to reply in-depth to any questions, which makes me wonder if JS has given him a certain # of responses he needs per mailbag. Also, Haudricourt may be rubbing off on him... Q: Dale Ziarek of centennial, CO. Milwaukee native - What do you think of Yost starting Bush once again. And if he leaves him in after the 4th inning where I expect he will start giving up runs? A: Anthony Witrado - He pitched pretty well last night, but how long that lasts is a question. He hasn't put together two of those nice starts this season. Actually, Bush had 3 good starts this season prior to May 28th. Why wouldn't a beat writer take the time to look into this? That's very discouraging, as all it takes is about 1 minute online. I certainly got the impression that he was either in a bad mood, or cared/s more about being condescending than informative. Don't we already have one of those guys... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I know... just got me thinking.

I see lcbj68c made his pick and also that TooLiveBrew ruined my surprise pick . Anyway, with out further ado: #9 NY Mets pick Micah Owings, SP/1B, Tulane University - Bats/Throws R/R ... However, the real reason he got the nod is because of the possibility of him being 2 players in one. He has only 160 or so professional at-bats thus far, but he's been excellent in them and also hit well at Tulane and Georgia Tech. I think there is a chance that he is a legitimately good hitter. Nice! It's great to see Owings going to a NL team so his bat isn't wasted as much as it would be in the AL. Even if he's just an innings eater, at least we got some value out of the pick. And if he gets hurt as a pitcher, maybe he can try to make it as strictly a hitter. The pick may look stupid in a few years, but I feel the chance of Owings becoming a unique player is something worth maybe reaching a couple picks for. Why didn't you put any thought into your pick?

Red Canye http://www.l-r-g.com/images/kanye_skelly_hoody.jpg Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

I'd personally put the over/under for Dempster this season at 175, and that's just using Braden Looper's 2007 as the baseline.

We're drafting the players as they've developed to this very day, and for the needs of the current big league club we're drafting for. That's true... I have a hard time breaking from BPA! Luckily I have the O's, and have holes all over the diamond. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Also, thanks zzzman.

Glennron's post on Sheets/Coors Field in the "Silver Lining" thread (#23) got me wondering about park factors, which led me to an interesting THT article from Greg Rybarczyk: "Home Run Park Factor -- A New Approach". Some excerpts: What's wrong with the current HRPF calculation? Perhaps this can be answered with a single example: in 2002, the HRPF for Chase Field (then Bank One Ballpark) was 48, and then the very next year it rose to 116. Need I say more? ... Unfortunately there are LOTS of uncontrolled noise factors that influence the current park factor calculations. Here are a few: Atmospherics: conditions will vary from park to park due to differences in climate, and the weather varies from month to month and day to day at the same park. Roster makeup: a team's lineup might be heavily skewed towards either right- or left-handed power hitters, magnifying the impact of asymmetry in their home park. In-season roster changes, injuries or discretionary days off: these might lead to a slugger playing more games at home than away, or vice versa. Ball characteristics: baseballs stored in the dry heat of Phoenix will go farther than balls stored in higher humidity environments (naturally as at Dolphins Stadium, or artificially as at Coors Field) ... Multi-year Park Factors: Still Flawed A much better way of judging a park's propensity for home runs is to use a multi-year average. A multi-year park factor washes away many of the problems listed above, but not all of them. The extreme individual performances (e.g. Cody Ross' three-homer game on Sept. 11, 2006 at Dolphins Stadium) will largely balance out, but the roster makeup factor (left-handed sluggers at Yankee Stadium, right-handed sluggers at Fenway Park) will typically still be there, as will the ball characteristics factor. And of course, interleague play and the unbalanced schedule are still significant factors. Weather effects will typically be reduced, but not entirely removed; day to day variation will be smoothed out, but some weather patterns run on cycles longer than a season. Finally, the building of numerous new ballparks, and recent fence changes on existing parks (Citizens Bank Park, PETCO Park, Miller Park, Comerica Park, Kauffman Stadium, Minute Maid Park) render some of the multi-year park factors problematic for the near-term future. Overall, we should expect and demand more of a park factor. So, if we're thinking about improving the HRPF metric, what would we change? Some thoughts: HRPF should not change if the park itself hasn't changed. HRPF should describe the impact of the park itself, not the performances of the players who reside in it or visit it. HRPF should incorporate atmospheric factors such as wind and temperature that change from game to game. HRPF should include individual sub-factors for different hit directions (LF, CF, RF) rather than different hitter types (LH, RH). If this should be in the stats forum, that's fine (& my apologies). I just felt it'd get more discussion in the ML forum, and I've wondered about the problems inherent in the current PF measurements for some time now -- and also wondered how the BF.net community feels, too. I put the second bullet point just above in bold (the other bold parts are author's emphasis), because that's been my long-standing question about park factors in general.