"Trader Lee" takes over the Yankees

[nyy26wc]

It's time to start my OOTP 14 world. As Trader Lee, I will be taking over the 2 time defending World Champion New York Yankees at the start of 2000.

But, I'm going to have a little twist to my world. I'm going to try to have a hybrid OOTP/reality world. I may eventually decide to drop the reality aspect, but I want to give it a shot for as long as I can.

I have some interesting house rules for this league.

I have designated a bunch of players, who are sufficiently identified with a team and/or played long enough with them, that they will get no trade clauses. And, when they hit free agency in OOTP, they will immediately be re-signed by their existing team. For some players (looking at you, Chipper Jones and Todd Helton), this will be the entirety of their OOTP lives. For many others (like you, Lance Berkman and Eric Chavez), their automatic ties to their team will expire in OOTP when they did in reality (but, that doesn't necessarily mean they will leave their teams. It will simply make them eligible to do so).

I will be running the Yankees. The AI will be running everyone else. But, I will have major real world trades/signings be enforced in OOTP. Obviously, that involves a lot of subjectivity and I'm going to use the know when I see it standard for what moves. I will be especially vigilant in making sure that real world moves that benefit Yankees rivals will be enforced.

Here's how my budgets will be determined. I will be comparing my payroll figure to the real world Yankees's Opening Day figures in 3 different areas--(1) absolute figure, (2) percentage the Yankees exceed the #2 spending team and (3) the percentage I exceed the MLB median team. In any given area, if I exceed the real world figure by more than 7.5% (couldn't decide if it should be 10% or 5%, so I split the difference), I will impose the following sanction upon myself. I will take over either the Red Sox or Rays and make a move beneficial to them.

I will be serving as the Yankees GM/owner until I hit real life in 2013. Then, I will split my world into 2. In 1, I will continue in those roles and will continue to play out seasons in the faster mode. In the other, I will add manager to my roles and will most likely play a single game a day and let the world continue to evolve in real time.

For my dynasty reports, there will be some reports written in the 1st person, some in the 3rd person. And, in my world, the tampering prohibition against publicly mentioning a player on another team does not exist. So, there can be some quotes from myself and other GMs.

[nyy26wc]

Trader's Lee perspective--

January 1, 2000--I've done it. I've bought the New York Yankees. 2 time defending World Champions. 25 time World Champions. Team of the century. Most successful franchise in sports history. And, now it's my responsibility to keep that going.

One thing I want to do about this team is we've got to add power. Yes, we won the World Series last year, but I don't like the fact that the 1999 Yankees finished 9th in the AL in HR. That's unacceptable to me. And, the Yankees haven't led the American League in HR since the legendary 1961 team. That WILL change under my leadership. It's not going to happen this year. But, it WILL happen.

I like what I see with this team. Our pitching, led by Roger Clemens, along with Andy Pettitte, David Cone and Orlando Hernandez is a major asset. I've got Ramiro Mendoza penciled in as #5, but I might have to see what options are available there.

In the bullpen, Jeff Nelson and Mike Stanton give us a formidable setup. Mariano Rivera has excelled in the 9th inning the past 3 years. But, I know, I know. He turned 30 a few weeks ago. He doesn't show any signs of slowing down, but we all know what happens to relievers. One day, we'll wake up and I won't be able to wait to show his ass the door. It would be nice to say he's part of our very long term future. But, to paraphrase the immortal Sheldon Cooper, I believe in an infinite number of Mariano Riveras, in an infinite number of universes, but in no possible universe could a closer be effective until he's in his 40s. Yeah, I know. I shouldn't even be thinking that long term right now. But, just something told me I should preserve that thought for historical posterity. Future Yankees historians need to know how right I will unfortunately be in this area. But, of course, that's a problem for another day. Maybe 2002, maybe 2005, but not today. It better not be 2000 or 2001. I better not have another Mark Wohlers on my hands. If so, this is going to be a long season.

The core of our lineup excites me. Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Chuck Knoblauch, Jorge Posada--now that's a core to build around. I think we can get a couple of more good years from Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez. We don't have the power I want yet, but we'll get there.

My minor league system isn't too promising at the moment. I've got this kid, Soriano. My scouts tell me he has good major league power. I'm excited about his 40 HR a year potential and he might also be able to steal 40. But, I'm worried that he might 40 HR in a season and only reach base 41 times that year. Right now, he's a 3B, he could play SS and his projected future is at 2B. I just don't know if it will be for me. He's not on the trading block today, but if I need to make a major move in 2000, I don't know if I even have a 2nd bullet in my gun.

[Simmo13]

Interested to see how this develops.......and reminds me, I must buy the latest version of your encyclopaedia

[majesty95]

Interesting idea. I love replays so ill be following along.