The Brewster

Well, here I am as the new General Manager of a team that is basically flawed from top to bottom.

Start with the damn park factors: Nerf hitting from all sides of the plate and then Nerf LH HR's and boost RH HR's (but Nerf RH batting average)...did someone roll dice for these settings? And now it will cost me $15M and a billion PP's (which I guess all my prior PP's expired...sigh) in order to set up the park reasonably. These settings are so bad that my brain can't even hardly function when I look at them and then try to come up with a team that will benefit from them. We play 162 games and only 81 of them are in this shitty park.

Then, we are in IDAHO...and we have that logo...can that be changed? Do I have to be the "spuds?" C'mon....

Then (yes I use "then" twice in a row), the pitching...sigh...I guess with this park, the impression was that the "movement" rating that is acceptable (at best) in this league didn't matter...

Then (3rd time) how does one even get their brain around ignoring the "contact" rating required in this league after you nerf the stadium of hitting????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Top that off with signing of a 32 Year Old to a 4 year $88M contract (last year a team option) who bats from the LEFT SIDE OF THE PLATE. He's a proven bat, I know, but Boise is invested in a guy that is being nerfed in his own stadium...He is so confused by the park that he has a reverse Home/Road split vs what logic would even dictate. I expect that the initial shock will wear off and he will be fine, but it seems like a lot of money to invest in...him...I think....

Dennis French is good (despite a park created to nullify his goodness), but like every other "prospect" he isn't aware that the strike zone doesn't involve the entire park...Although that seems to be consistent with many OOTP prospects in the current upgrade/version (whatever they are calling it).

All that said, I gotta get back to work...this may be the weakest constructed "organization" I have ever inherited...That's all for now, but you can look forward to more angst and frustration along the way...I need PP's badly Fellas!

I'll happily take CarGo off your hands.

Lane wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:01 pm

I'll happily take CarGo off your hands.

It's not that I don't like him or see his value. I could trade him if you are truly interested.

The team name, location, logo, park factors and Car-go contract all suck - I concur. That said, most won't cause you TOO much PP (or dollars). A rebranding (ie. team name change) and logo change costs you 30 PP and 0 dollars. The stadium factor reset will cost you anywhere from 20 PP and 5M dollars (if you change fix the averages) to 60 PP and 15M dollars (if you change everything about the stadium). If you do both side averages and either lower RH power or raise LH power it (ie. do 3 things) it'll be 30 PP and 7.5M dollars. The location will cost quite a bit to change, though. And the Car-go contract you're probably stuck with unless you package a middling prospect with him to get him off the books (just my opinion).

As an aside, I always thought Boise's park settings were a pretty clear example of "over thinking it". If you want to build a HR happy stadium and skew it more to one side of the plate than the other (like HSV or CAL) then that makes sense, but nerfing the average on top of that feels like it does more harm than good since most HR hitters aren't also high average hitters (unless they are one of the top 20 bats in the league or something). And raising rates for one handedness and then lowering them for opposite falls under gaming the system in my book, but that's a whole 'nother topic.

I feel you on the park stuff, man. It's why I "fixed" California after a decade of not being able to tell if any of my hitters (or pitchers) were any good. I agree with what Kyle said. Pick something you want to do and fix a couple park factors to do it. My stadium was just like yours, and so I bumped LH avg a bit and LH homers a LOT. Now I have an advantage to play. You could go for a one sided power split, or you could go for a high avg no power split. A high homer both sides but nerf avg might be fun too, but I've never seen anyone pull it off. I think it could be amazing though. Lots of people like high contact bats and low motion pitchers. If you were to stockpile a bunch of low average power hitters and high motion starters, it could get really interesting. your best bet though is to look at what your team will be in a few years and just play that advantage and start drafting towards an identity. I said it in another thread, but you pretty much HAVE to pick a model. This league is too competitive to try to be good at everything.

Was California a Brett Schroeder designed park as well? I know boise was which is why I ask. Definitely agree it is worth it to alter the park and build an identity that way.

P.S the pun in the title made me laugh.

usnspecialist wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:55 pm

Was California a Brett Schroeder designed park as well? I know boise was which is why I ask. Definitely agree it is worth it to alter the park and build an identity that way.

P.S the pun in the title made me laugh.

I thought it was, but apparently no. At least, that's what I remember him saying.