The Brewster

Ok, so due to some life stuff on my end as well as some technical difficulty (and user error, of course) this is now over a week old. Our hot takes have become luke-warm and taste like refrigerator and I offer my humblest of apologies to my co-casters, Randy and New Brett for that but, as always. we had fun making it and I for one hope you guys enjoy listening.

Without further ado, for your enjoyment or whatever, I present A Few Beers In: 2035 #3.

Participants: Fred Holmes [Mexico City], Randy Weigand [San Fernando], Brett Golden [Nashville].

So I didn't manage to keep track of when we talked about what. I am currently working on a way to make that easier on myself but it is what it is for now.

Also, due to the technical hiccups I experienced, you all get my screen cap video in super duper, 1998-ish pixellated low res!

Thanks Fred, I enjoyed it. Sooner or later I'll be able to keep up with how you guys manage to fly through player and team pages so quickly.

Just a point of emphasis on the way the game works now: Ed's trading of Wulms and my subsequent returning of him did nothing to start his Rule 5 clock. It's been a couple seasons since the OOTP design change that made it so that a player's clock starts the minute he's signed, a factor that's been discussed on the boards before. If you look at all IC players, you'll see they are now accruing time as a professional. So the decision to get players out of the IC should never have anything to do with that.

Why anyone would say they wouldn't sign the Jose Chavez deal boggles my mind.

1) Chavez would make at least $15M in the open market...probably more.
2) I pay him $12M for three years and $11.5M for two more with an $11M vesting year.
3) So I'm getting a star-quality starter for $3M (or more) less than market value (and $6M less than he's making now).
4) At 33, he's a bit of a performance risk, so I agree that his performance could drop to under that value any time.
5) If that happens, I'll just release him.
6) As long as my revenue stream continues to keep my budget at > $125M or so, that release will not impact my ability to compete in any way. This is a small concern, but a concern.

Guys like Brett 1 think about item #6 (or don't) in strangely hypocritical ways--remembering it when it pisses them off, but mostly ignoring it for any one of a few possible reasons that run from simple ignorance (used in the real meaning of the word, not to offend) to inability to think from other people's positions, to not running big budget teams, to just not thinking about the system, to << insert any other opinion here >>. In reality (using the stupid Wulms arguments as an example) you guys should be saying "this is no freaking fair! Ron can sign this top-10 kind of pitcher to a cheap, long-term deal at no risk!"

The bottom line right now is that, for YS9, signing Jose Chavez is about as close to a zero-risk move as I can make, and in return I get a stud pitcher for several million dollars under market value for as long as he remains effective.

I've got much more risk in the player opt out for LaLoosh.

Yeah, the LaLoosh and McNiel opt outs in the same off season could be killer. Imagine they both leave and a then 35 year old Chavez lumps. I think it's safe to say the Heartland would definitely not be the best division in the BBA at that point.

Listened to this podcast yesterday. Fun as always. Miss old Brett's rants about Jon Reed though.

"stupid Wulms arguments", lol... really want to go there again?

The only place I'm going is to always say it's a stupid argument. Make of it what you will.

I like podcasts.
What I'd really like see is 20-30 minute podcasts that address one or two topics.
There's no way I'm ever going to listen to 2+ hour podcasts.
Just me, maybe, but I thought I'd say it.

scottsdale_joe wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:57 pm

I like podcasts.
What I'd really like see is 20-30 minute podcasts that address one or two topics.
There's no way I'm ever going to listen to 2+ hour podcasts.
Just me, maybe, but I thought I'd say it.

Sounds good. List some topics you'd be interested in. I'm going to need to start coming up with some different formatting for the GMs Corner as we get around the league a second time ...

scottsdale_joe wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:57 pm

I like podcasts.
What I'd really like see is 20-30 minute podcasts that address one or two topics.
There's no way I'm ever going to listen to 2+ hour podcasts.
Just me, maybe, but I thought I'd say it.

we have a variety of podcasts in this league. This one is the rambling winding one where we just go and riff. Ron has his GM corner (which sounds more up your alley), Ted has the FA and trade review pods.

I have no problem with the rambling winding podcasts.
It's just I'm not going to listen to them Two plus hours is just too long.
The thirty minute jobs would be ones I can listen to while I'm doing OOTP stuff.

Ron, the topics are not as important as the length.
I'm happy to invest 30 minutes to hear what people think about almost anything.
But I will think about podcast ideas and maybe suggest some.

scottsdale_joe wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 09, 2018 6:31 pm

Ron, the topics are not as important as the length.

Come on Randy....its the motion in the ocean, not the size of the waves.

scottsdale_joe wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 09, 2018 6:31 pm

Ron, the topics are not as important as the length.
I'm happy to invest 30 minutes to hear what people think about almost anything.
But I will think about podcast ideas and maybe suggest some.

I agree on the whole. I tend to shoot for 20-30 minutes and am fine if it runs a little shorter or longer if it seems interesting enough.