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A Few Beers In 2034.3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:49 am
by bschr682
Behold!

The podcast had a bigger turnout this time. Good stuff and one horrible joke.

Episode 3

Contributors: Randy, Stephen, Ron, Fred, Me

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:02 am
by Fat Nige
Not yet having access to the file yet I’m keen to hear a discussion on whether the upcoming expansion will force some teams to switch to a 4-Man rotation (I don’t know how many already do use four only?) due to the extra starters needed and the pool of top quality starters being stretched thinner?

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:33 am
by bcslouck
Potential ML players that could be in the pool? Maybe more the borderline guys, whether they are good but have a meh contract or just are on the bubble due to good rosters. I know I probably have 2 or 3 that I'm going to have to think hard on.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:15 am
by Lane
If I join this one I plan to spend at least an hour convincing you to take Ken Jenkins in the expansion draft.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:26 am
by bcslouck
Lane wrote:If I join this one I plan to spend at least an hour convincing you to take Ken Jenkins in the expansion draft.
That may be one of those "if you take him, I'll send you X" type of deals.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:32 am
by indiansfan
bschr682 wrote:Planning stage:

Obviously the big topic will be the upcoming expansion and realignment. Not sure what date we are shooting for to do this but I will of course edit this when we decide. As usual feel free to comment below with ideas for topics and whatnot.

Discussion topics:

Realignment
Expansion
petition Havana to move to a city ending in "ville"
New schedule?
New playoff structure?
Glad to hear Margaritaville is finally getting a team

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:40 am
by ae37jr
I just made a mock list to see who I might lose. I trimmed the list down to 32 and am already feeling uncomfortable. And this is after excluding Tavio, Gonzalez, Workman, and Valentin. My problem is that I drafted a lot of 16-18 year olds who are still young but have a lot of pro experience. If Brett and Stu are the expansion teams, I know they going to go after those types of players.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:46 am
by 7teen
I'll be curious to see what the post-season structure will be now that we are back to 3 divisions. 3 Division champs and 3 runner-ups? 3 Division Champs and the next 3 wild cards in general? Does the top 2 division champs get a bye with the "worst" of the division champs being forced to play in the Geoghegan round? You can't have the 3 winners play the 3 wild cards because then round 2 gives someone a bye in round 2.

No way we go back to 3 division champs and 1 wild card do we?

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:50 am
by bcslouck
7teen wrote:3 Division Champs and the next 3 wild cards in general? Does the top 2 division champs get a bye with the "worst" of the division champs being forced to play in the Geoghegan round?
I'd think this is probably the route to go.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:52 am
by RonCo
About the only thing I would ask for is that we not expand the playoffs.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:52 am
by bcslouck
ae37jr wrote:I just made a mock list to see who I might lose. I trimmed the list down to 32 and am already feeling uncomfortable. And this is after excluding Tavio, Gonzalez, Workman, and Valentin. My problem is that I drafted a lot of 16-18 year olds who are still young but have a lot of pro experience. If Brett and Stu are the expansion teams, I know they going to go after those types of players.
I'm going to try and filter a list as best I can once I get home. Just quickly looking, I may be not being losing too much. Probably have a couple on there I'd rather not, but they wouldn't be huge losses for the franchise.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:53 am
by bcslouck
RonCo wrote:About the only thing I would ask for is that we not expand the playoffs.
I agree. I like what we have now and it seems to make some great races the last couple of season. Spreading the talent pool should some should only make it better.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:13 am
by agrudez
7teen wrote:I'll be curious to see what the post-season structure will be now that we are back to 3 divisions. 3 Division champs and 3 runner-ups? 3 Division Champs and the next 3 wild cards in general? Does the top 2 division champs get a bye with the "worst" of the division champs being forced to play in the Geoghegan round? You can't have the 3 winners play the 3 wild cards because then round 2 gives someone a bye in round 2.

No way we go back to 3 division champs and 1 wild card do we?
I'm not understanding the swap back to 3 divisions, tbh. 2 divisions makes more sense with there being 2 byes and so many wildcards, imo.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:18 am
by 7teen
agrudez wrote:
7teen wrote:I'll be curious to see what the post-season structure will be now that we are back to 3 divisions. 3 Division champs and 3 runner-ups? 3 Division Champs and the next 3 wild cards in general? Does the top 2 division champs get a bye with the "worst" of the division champs being forced to play in the Geoghegan round? You can't have the 3 winners play the 3 wild cards because then round 2 gives someone a bye in round 2.

No way we go back to 3 division champs and 1 wild card do we?
I'm not understanding the swap back to 3 divisions, tbh. 2 divisions makes more sense with there being 2 byes and so many wildcards, imo.
I assume it was felt that with 15 teams it made for even divisions. But it does complicate the post-season structure

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:22 am
by RonCo
I assume it's for scheduling simplicity. Expanding only 2 teams means 15 per league--which will make for some odd matchups no matter what. I assume we'll play 18/6/6 in our league, then one division interleague at 6 games apiece.

Personally, I think 4 Teams per expansion is the most comfortable, four divisions of 8 teams. It would make for some very clean schedules and allow us to easily get rid of interleague play.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:36 am
by ae37jr
RonCo wrote:Personally, I think 4 Teams per expansion is the most comfortable, four divisions of 8 teams. It would make for some very clean schedules and allow us to easily get rid of interleague play.
I'm assuming this is currently the long range plan, the board just doesn't want to go too quick too soon because of a variety of reasons. Some being...

1. Not enough stable GM's to fill 4 expansions plus Huntsville.
2. With the EBA player pool no longer in the mix, 4 expansion teams requires about 750 new players (30 man rosters x 6 levels X 4 teams). Teams will bitch about losing 6 players in the expansion draft and losing 4 spots in the draft. Also the free agent pool would be more desolate then it currently is.

By waiting 2-3 seasons it will make the transition smoother.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:45 am
by RonCo
I think some would be surprised at how "deep" the FA pool really is if your goal is to fill a minor league system with viable players for those levels. Every year a couple teams go through and do something close to a full refresh on their minors as it is. Louisville, us, Las Vegas, California are four teams that I know do it semi-often. There are a LOT of players in the current FA world who can play at R/SA/A/AA ... and some would wind up being bumpers.

The loss of players to expansion is always a bummer, but will generally be worth it if the league gets better as a whole because of it.

To me the only real question is the GM one. It's valuable to be as big as you have committed GMs, and no bigger. That doesn't mean the GM has to be great or win. It means the GM needs to be willing to stick around and deal with mistakes or his learning curve while having fun in the process. I never mind a GM making a mistake that kills his team (been there, done that). But I don't like seeing a newbie GM come in, make mistakes that decimates a franchise, then leave.

That said, in a league with a reasonable salary cap, almost any franchise can be raised from the dead in 3-5 seasons with a concerted plan.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:47 am
by usnspecialist
Petition denied.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:52 am
by RonCo
A quick cut of the FA pool says:

Age 15-23: 710 players
Age 24-27: 875 players

A lot of these guys are not good, but then a lot of guys in our minors are not good.

Every season our draft seems to add a couple hundred more undrafted FA, several of them being viable prospects that teams like YS (and the guys noted above as a minimum) go sop up.

Re: A Few Beers In Episode 3

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:30 pm
by RonCo
And, all that said, assuming things stay the same, there is a geographic element that makes the 5-team divisions feel good. Not that it matters to the computer, but there's that.