FORESTERS SEEKING NEW GENERAL MANAGER
A few weeks back I posted that we had an opening as the Cleveland Foresters General Manager had to step down for personal reasons. Someone quickly asked for the job but after one or two exports they simply vanished, ghosting the league. (Why someone can't simply send a message saying "I tried it but stats-only is not for me" is beyond me, especially when this person in question claimed to run an online league of their own. I get it. Some leagues are not a right fit for whatever reason but how hard is it to simply say that instead of leaving everyone guessing.) Anyway, on to much better things as the positive is the new GM was here such a short time his inactivity did nothing to hurt the franchise.
The Foresters have had 4 GM's since the Human-GM era began 15 seasons ago. The first spent a decade on the shores of Lake Erie and the Cleveland portion of his career culminated with a World Championship Series win (the first in franchise history going back to 1892) followed by a pennant the next season. He then moved on to Detroit, which was the worst team in the league at the time and over the past 5 seasons has turned the Dynamos into a contender. The second Cleveland GM spent 3 seasons at the helm and while he did not win a pennant, he did guide them to a first division finish each of those seasons. He left Cleveland to take a job with the New York Stars and in his first season in the Big Apple took the Stars to a WCS title after finishing 6th the year before he arrived there. GM #3 in Cleveland took the team to a second place finish a year ago (1939) but had to step down part way through this season which takes us to where we are now. So Cleveland is a club that has been well cared for over the years.
There is still a lot of talent in Cleveland including 28 year old 3B Mel Carrol - the last player to hit .400 in a season - and 29 year old George Dawson who, while he may have lost a step is still one of the best shortstops in the game. There are a couple of very good veteran arms led by Dean Astle (career 121-96) who is now 31 and might be a terrific trade chip to jumpstart the franchise. Cleveland fell on hard times this past season, falling from second place in the Continental Association to the worst record in the game but the consolation prize for that is quite possibly a very special one as the Foresters will own the number one pick in the draft - which should began just a couple of weeks from now.
That #1 pick is widely expected to be Hiram Steinberg, who just celebrated his 18th birthday. Nicknamed "The Undertaker" the New York City high schooler has won 3 straight Adwell Awards (yes we have high school and college player of the year awards and All-American teams) and when his senior year is completed he will own just about every prep pitching record available. Steinberg appears to be a can't miss ace - a future award winner. Of course this is a stats-only league and players can and do fail to live up to expectations which makes our draft probably the most fun out of any online league. In stats-only 10th round picks can and do become superstars and every draft pick means something.
That is one of the things that makes Figment Baseball unique. We are stats-only, so no visible ratings. Instead GMs must rely on in-game written scouting reports, their intuition and statistical performance on the field to assess their talent. We have full minor league levels, some nice wrinkles to make the draft interesting including a regional round, independent teams you can acquire talent from, a Japanese League, a league newspaper (you are reading it now) and best of all a deeply involved commissioner who does not run a team but rather oversees the
league and gives us some incredible storylines to deal with. These primarily involve different family connections such as the much talked about
Barrell Brothers but the GMs are about to get hit with a huge challenge. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the entrance of the US into WWII is not far away and we have been warned that, just like real life, a good percentage of big leaguers and an awful lot of minor leaguers will be joining the war effort. Because the commissioner does not run a team there will be no accusations of bias, and he has promised it will be a random method to determine which of our favourite players might leave us for 1-3 years.
We have a group of 15 really good people running our clubs. The slack channel is very active and while not everyone posts there regularly those that want to are always able to participate and learn from some great discussion about our league. I might be the one who compiles this league 'newspaper' but it is truly a group effort as much of the content comes from those slack discussions. If a new GM wants to contribute he certainly can but there is no pressure to do so. All we ask is you make an honest effort to run your team and if you need help, just ask, as our GM's (the majority of whom have been around for the entire 15 seasons) are more than willing to pass on some tips or advice.
Stats-only can be a challenge getting up to speed but there is plenty of help doing so and the payoff, in my opinion, is for a much more enjoyable experience than any league with visible ratings can provide. Judging by the view count it seems a far number of people outside our league are following this thread. So why not consider being a part of it?
If you have never played in an online league and prefer solo projects and reading dynasty reports you are likely a perfect candidate for this league. I was a long-time dynasty writer who never really enjoyed online play but the rich history of the baseball world our commissioner Legendsport had created drew me in. Discovering just how much fun stats-only is added to the enjoyment immensely. If you are straddling the fence on online play, consider jumping over and joining us. We have been fortunate to not have very many open teams (average I believe is well under 1 a year) so here is your opportunity to join in and be a part of all of the fun you have been reading about.
PM myself or the commissioner
Legendsport for details.