Life is Full of Ups and Downs in the Otis Association

[luckymann]

The Otis Association is a promotion / relegation setup featuring three tiered leagues.

• PENTHOUSE LEAGUE (TIER 1; REPUTATION 10)
• SKYLOBBY LEAGUE (TIER 2; REPUTATION 8)
• BASEMENT LEAGUE (TIER 3; REPUTATION 6)

Each season will see one team relegated from and promoted to the various levels in the traditional manner according to their record in the 162-game regular season, with tiebreakers applied if necessary.

Each league is comprised of ten MLB teams, ranked initially according to their current IRL payroll.

Which means, at inception, the three leagues will look like this, with their financial standings as at Opening Day, 1980:

Penthouse League

Skylobby League

Basement League

Each of these clubs has a AAA franchise at which to develop their prospects and playing group. These clubs will stay in their original formation throughout, without being subject to promotion and relegation.

In lieu of League playoffs, there will be an end-of-season tournament in which the Skylobby and Basement League winners will play off in a best-of-five series, with the winner then taking on the Penthouse League Champion in a seven-game series for the Otis Cup.



Settings

For the most part, I am applying the appropriate settings to make this as challenging and different to my other saves as possible. In other words:

• Stars / 2 to 8 / cut off above max / low scouting with no stats.
• Coaching is on with defaults left in place.
• Owner goals / storylines both on.
• Injuries on and set to classic for Short-term and low for long-term, with the players’ injury ratings hidden. Position player fatigue set to high.
• Suspensions on and set to low.
• Personality / Chemistry / Morale all on.
• Aging / development speeds at default with target at younger for dev and older for aging.
• TCR at 175.
• Trading one short of hardest / prospects one toward hardest.
• AI eval at 54/24/16/6. Lineups sabermetric.

I have spent a big chunk of time testing the financials and think I have got them set up in a way that both reflects the IRL and is manageable and effective within the promotion / relegation structure.

To protect the integrity of this financial ecosystem, I will be applying the following settings from inception in 1980:

• All clubs start with 50 fan interest / 5 loyalty.
• Inflation set at -2 / +4%, but will move around to keep things in check.
• Cash compensation for lost FAs.
• FAs allowed in and out of the three leagues.
• No service time reset.
• Opt-outs permitted / min buyout 10%.
• Extensions permitted with max contract duration set at 5 years.
• No salary caps.

Most of the other game settings are at default, so I won’t bore you with specifics but feel free to ask if you want to know any of them.

There will be a communal Rookie Draft consisting of six rounds on December 1 each year, and a communal Rule 5 Draft two weeks later. The order for the Rookie Draft will be set in a way that respects the Association’s hierarchy, with the higher-up teams getting more early picks.

One of the unique elements of this will be the almost exclusive use of historical minor league players. Basically, anyone that has a Lahman ID is ineligible, although a handful of randomly-chosen players with MLB experience will enter the Association each year as Free-Agents.

The peripatetic nature of these MiLB players’ careers and the hit-or-miss element of their statistical IRL output will make this an absolute crapshoot, even though I have switched recalc OFF and will just be letting the dev engine do its work. In the sim testing alone, I could already see this league was going to be a ton of fun on so many levels, not least the annual drama of the promotion / relegation itself.

[Makonnen]

Sounds like fun. In!

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Makonnen

Sounds like fun. In!

Nice! Yes, I do believe it will be a little off the hook.

[luckymann]

To enable me to ensure the game was running properly, I sat on the sideline from the commencement of the Otis Association in 1980 thru the 1989 season and merely acted as Commish. I will give a short summary of what happened during this first decade in a wee while.

Now I am ready to get my hands dirty.

And this will be a dirty job in all the best ways.

Eventually I want to take control of my beloved, impoverished Oakland A’s. But I’m not sure I’m ready for that just yet. This will actually be the first time I’ve done GM only, and I know I have plenty to learn. So I am going to hone my skillset elsewhere first, make my mistakes and hopefully get to Oakland primed to perform the requisite miracles. Basically take a cushier job that should take me longer to stuff up...

Ahhh, decisions, decisions...

I don't want to kick off my career in the OA by cutting someone else's grass, which rules out my first choice of club. It has to be a franchise where the GM spot is vacant. It also has to be one of the teams in the Basement.

The stars align perfectly.

For the 1990 season, I will be the GM at Toronto, signing a sweet 5-year contract at $120k per. The Jays, relegated from the Skylobby in 1989 after having been promoted just two seasons prior, found a suitable scapegoat in my predecessor Ross Atkins.

Time to meet my new charges.

[luckymann]

Here's a very minimalist season-by-season recap of the OA's first decade.


1980

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Twins (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• A’s (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Braves (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Rangers (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• A’s beat Twins 3-2
• Mets beat A’s 4-0

ROOFTOP PASS (Champions)

• New York Mets [1]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM (Cellar Dweller)

• Arizona Diamondbacks [1]

1981

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Rockies (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Rangers (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Phillies (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Blue Jays (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Rockies beat Rangers 3-0
• Astros beat Rockies 4-1

ROOFTOP PASS

• Houston Astros [1]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Arizona Diamondbacks [2]

1982

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Phillies (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Reds (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Twins (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Brewers (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Phillies beat Reds 3-2
• Phillies beat Reds Mets 4-3

ROOFTOP PASS

• Philadelphia Phillies [2]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Arizona Diamondbacks [3]

1983

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Twins (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Mariners (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Angels (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Cubs (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Mariners beat Twins 3-2
• Mets beat Mariners 4-2

ROOFTOP PASS

• New York Mets [2]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Pittsburgh Pirates [1]

1984

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Mariners (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Cubs (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Rockies (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Tigers (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Cubs beat Mariners 3-1
• Phillies beat Cubs 4-0

ROOFTOP PASS

• Philadelphia Phillies [3]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Arizona Diamondbacks [4]

1985

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Braves (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Guardians (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Red Sox (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• A's (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Guardians beat Braves 3-0
• Guardians beat Phillies 4-0

ROOFTOP PASS

• Cleveland Guardians [1]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Milwaukee Brewers [1]

1986

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Cardinals (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Orioles (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Mariners (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Reds (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Cardinals beat Orioles 3-1
• Phillies beat Cardinals 4-0

ROOFTOP PASS

• Philadelphia Phillies [3]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Oakland Athletics [1]

1987

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Angels (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Blue Jays (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Mets (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Mariners (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Angels beat Blue Jays 3-2
• Dodgers beat Angels 4-3

ROOFTOP PASS

• Los Angeles Dodgers [1]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Pittsburgh Pirates [1]

1988

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Mets (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Tigers (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• Cardinals (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Orioles (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Mets beat Tigers 3-0
• Phillies beat Mets 4-3

ROOFTOP PASS

• Philadelphia Phillies [4]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Kansas City Royals [1]

1989

UP THE VIP EXPRESS LIFT

• Tigers (from Skylobby to Penthouse)
• Mariners (from Basement to Skylobby)

DOWN THE GOODS LIFT

• White Sox (from Penthouse to Skylobby)
• Blue Jays (from Skylobby to Basement)

OTIS CUP

• Tigers beat Mariners 3-0
• Braves beat Tigers 4-3

ROOFTOP PASS

• Atlanta Braves [1]

OFF TO THE GIMP ROOM

• Kansas City Royals [2]

[luckymann]

So where does this leave us?

Well, it's actually fairly orderly going into the 1990 OA season.

• Two clubs - the Red Sox and White Sox - have moved down from the Penthouse to the Skylobby.
• Two clubs - the Tigers and Twins - have moved up from the Skylobby to the Penthouse.
• Two clubs - the Brewers and "my" Blue Jays - have moved down from the Skylobby to the Basement.
• And, finally, two clubs - the Guardians and Mariners - have moved up from the Basement to the Skylobby.

You saw earlier how the franchises' respective finances looked at the outset. Here's how they look on the day FAs declared in 1989.

It took a fair bit of "guidance" from me in the early part, but they seem to now have settled down. Over the course of the 1980s, the average budget went from $47.6m to $72.5m, a jump of 52.3%, with the outliers changing from $83.5m / $21.9m in 1980 to $138m / $36.5m now.

One aspect that is inexplicably strange is how strong the fan interest is for the Basement League - every club bar the O's at 100, whereas only three clubs in total from the other two levels are at the max, with the M's - recently promoted from the Basement - at 99. Of those three, two - the Mets and Tigers - were recently promoted. Still, that bottom level scenario is baffling.

[luckymann]

Here are the seasonal and career leaderboards to this point:

Penthouse





Skylobby





Basement

Here are the combined Top 25s by WAR for both hitting and pitching in the entire OA:

A few fun facts for your enjoyment now.

Merely cosmetically, without editing them to match their IRL counterparts, I put the current personnel for each franchise in as owners and GMs.

No changes in ownership so far, but quite a few of those GMs have lost their jobs in the years subsequent:

• Peter Bendix (Rays) 1982
• Kim Ng (Marlins) 1984
• AJ Preller (Padres) 1985 - hired as Tigers GM from 1988
• Matt Arnold (Brewers) 1985
• Brandon Gomes (Dodgers) 1985 - signed as A's Manager in 1988
• Mike Girsch (Cardinals) 1985 - hired as Dodgers GM in 1986 but fired from there last season
• Rick Hahn (White Sox) 1986 - hired as Rays GM from 1990
• James Click (Astros) 1986 - hired as Cubs GM from 1989
• Billy Eppler (Mets) 1986 - hired as Mariners GM from 1990
• Chaim Bloom (Red Sox) 1986 - hired as Mets GM from 1987
• Bill Schmidt (Rockies) 1986 - hired as Astros GM from 1987
• Brian Cashman (Yankees) 1987
• Carter Hawkins (Cubs) 1988
• Sean Hobbs (Nationals) 1988 - hired as Cardinals GM from 1989
• Ross Atkins (Blue Jays) 1989

• Jerry Dipoto left the Mariners for the Phillies at the end of 1989.

Amazingly, without my involvement, Rocket Clemens and two of his sons - Kody and Koby - are all in the league. Kody and Koby both came into the system in 1987, with Kody going 5th overall to the Yanks in that year's Draft, while Koby was pushed back a year and went 10th to the Dodgers in 1988. Kody was traded to the Rangers before ever playing a game in Pinstripes, and is still there. Koby's first year was spent with the Dodgers' AAA club at Oklahoma City. Roger entered as an MLB Free-Agent just this offseason and is yet to be signed by a club.


A quick sidebar, these MLBers are being imported via their MiLB IDs, so for example this will be Roger's age-22 season.


It took until the most recent 1989 season for the first big final day drama, with a three-way tie between the Yankees, Braves and Phillies for the Penthouse League title. In the tiebreaker round-robin, the Braves beat the Phillies 4-3 in a walkoff thriller, then beat the Yanks 5-2 to get the win. They would go on to win the Otis Cup in seven over the Tigers - quite the ride!


Some individual acts of brilliance to finish up with:

• Mike Bouza had a 4-HR game while playing in the Penthouse for the Dodgers in 1982. George Witt did likewise while playing in the Basement for Seattle a year earlier.
• The first few seasons in the Penthouse saw fairly moderate power numbers. That all changed when Gerald McNab hit 52 in 1985. He is, as you can see above, the current all-time leader with 319. Peter Shurman is the only other player to have hit 50 in a season, achieving this in the Basement while playing for the Brewers.
• Nelson Dean, who you'll get a bit better acquainted with in a wee while, won the Skylobby pitching Triple Crown in both 1984 and 1985. His entire exemplary career has so far been spent with the Braves, who drafted him 1st overall in the 1980 Inaugural Draft. So, I guess you could say he is the OA's Adam.
• There have been a host of no-nos, but the OA is yet to see its first perfecto.
• No pitcher at any level has won more than 23 games in a season.
• The OA's longest consecutive games hitting streak came fairly early on, with Robert Hardaway getting to 29 while plying in the Penthouse for the Padres in 1981.

[luckymann]

There’s a psychological benefit of sorts gained by being in the bottom tier: you can’t go any lower. Sure, you can finish in the Gimp Room and lose your job and all that, but with regard to strategy there are certain pluses to be had. Even more so the first season after you have been relegated.

For starters, because the budgets are derived from the previous year when your club was at the higher level, you end up with a decent wad of cash at your disposal.

In our case, Owner Mark Shapiro has given us $75m to play with. With our current payroll sitting at just over $20m, that leaves us with $55m to spend.

But…

The flipside of this is made manifest the following year, when the economics of being in the lower level take root. The trap as I see it is in overcommitting yourself that first year, leaving yourself vulnerable with little to spend the next season. So, while our official budget might be where it is, I’m actually working off my own ceiling of $50m.

Another corollary of being in the bottom league isn’t so obvious at first look: the inability of players to exercise a relegation opt-out. Sure, this caveat can be included in the contracts we sign this season, but they are only enforceable from Year 3 at the earliest, and then only if we get promoted and then relegated in successive years. These sorts of factors are more important than they might seem, not least because they offer you some security and stability in your playing group moving forward.

I am most keen to make a “statement signing” – a big-name (and, therefore, big-money) acquisition that lets the other clubs know we mean business. But, given the circumstances, this has to be for the right player. Even with our budget leeway, we have very little room for error. Roger Clemens, for example, simply isn’t that type. $10m per for a young player who only makes an appearance every 5 days isn’t the sort of bang for our buck I am after.

One who undoubtedly is: Bill Pierce. In addition to his proven skills on the diamond, he is a true leader who plays both Catcher and CF and is extremely popular with the fans. Sadly, after we make a 3-year / $35m pitch to him (which is at the very top of our range), we are quickly priced out of the running. He ends up signing with Philadelphia for less. Go figure. Guess he’s chasing the Penthouse life. Kids these days...

Next, we try IF Vinny Castaldo, but this also goes nowhere.

So much for that idea. I'll revisit it in the new year.

In the meantime, we’ve made offers to SP Mike Witt (3-yr/$8.5m), SP Dave Fleming (2-yr/$8.4m) and RP Mike Stanton (1-yr/$300k). Of these, only Witt has signed up by the time the Draft is upon us.

[luckymann]

The rolling nature of the annual six-round Rookie Draft is another unique feature of the Otis Association. In each decade, six of the Drafts heavily favour the Penthouse League; three – those in years ending in 3, 6 and 9 – the Skylobby League; while the rollover years – those ending in 0 – give the Basement League a chance to procure some quality players, perhaps even an out-and-out gun or two.

With all of the movement from level to level and the seedings based on the results from the previous season, this means that luck can play a huge part. You can catch a break and get a nice run of high picks or exactly the opposite. Or, as is the case with us here, you can get a bit of both.

For this 1989 Draft, with our seeding derived from when we were in the Skylobby League, we have the 9th, 12th, 29th, 32nd, 50th and 72nd selections. But we better use them wisely, because next year our picks are much less favourably positioned – the 101st, 130th, 141st, 160th, 161st, and dead last 180th – and the three subsequent to it aren’t much better unless we move up the hierarchy.

We have a fairly solid squad, especially for the bottom rung, but are in dire need of quality at both IF corners. Redressing this is our number one drafting priority.

With our list of preferred players drawn up, we get into it.

None of those we are interested in are taken by the time our first pick rolls around, and after some final deliberation, we go with Vic Ramirez, a high-contact hitter with OK pop who is only OK on D but plays the corners in both the IF and OF.

Once again, the gods are kind to us and none of our wants are taken in the next two picks.

With our second selection, 12th overall, we opt for Tim Torres, a rangy switch-hitter who offers the complete package and plays all four IF slots with average or better proficiency.

After a slightly longer wait for our next opportunity in which a couple of our guys going elsewhere, we call a last-minute audible and take OF Denzel Clarke, a local boy who looks like he'll compete for batting titles if he delivers on his promise.

We take a bit of a gamble with our 4th pick, using it on two-way player Michael Kmet. Scouting reports profile him as a strong enough hitter to be an everyday position player if the pitching goes awry, and it is on this basis that we form our judgement. At just 19, he's perhaps an investment in the club's future rather than an immediate solution. We'll have to wait and see.

We do want to grab a pitcher, but with the general tendency toward picking position players still in evidence, we decide to follow suit and select utility James Rich with our next-to-last pick.

The final addition to our club is southpaw Gerard Thomas. GT needs to tighten up his control and further develop his off-speed pitch, but still should prove a more than handy type for us over the oncoming years.

A really good Draft for our franchise.

[luckymann]

So you have seen the WAR totals to date a few posts earlier, but I thought I'd just go one step further before the 1990 season gets underway and give you my Top 3 hitters and pitchers throughout the first decade of play.

HITTERS



OF Gerald McNab

It's a massive stretch, I know, but McNab has a sort of Ruthian status in the OA. His overall numbers in no way stack up to The Bambino, but it was his breakout 1985 season that set the scene for the power hitting to follow. Taken in the 4th Round (34th overall) of the Penthouse Inaugural Draft by the Phillies, for whom he's played his entire career, his 292 HR in that league (with 27 more in 1992, which the Phils spent in the Skylobby after unexpectedly being relegated the previous season), top all others, as do his 842 RBI and he has been integral to Philadelphia's dominance in winning four Otis Cups.

Gerald's IRL career was a far more modest affair, consisting of a single season at the Wytheville Reds in the 1967 Appy League, where he showed some power with 12 HR in just 183 AB and slashed 262/389/563.

C Felix DeLeon

While "Cy" Pierce might be the OA's best-known and most-loved backstop, there's little argument Felix is the OA's best at the position, and perhaps even its best all-around player. 60.7 bWAR in ten seasons is an amazing feat in and of itself, but to have done it at the most demanding position on the field (while notching a career ZR of more than 20) makes it all the more remarkable. It's hard to fathom that he is yet to win an MVP Award, with his final season at Houston in the 1985 Penthouse one of the best we've seen - a 361/425/552 line with a 172 OPS+, 20 homers and 88 ribbies that added up to a league-best 8.4 bWAR.

IRL, Dominican-born Felix was the quintessential minors journeyman, bouncing around all over the place between 1961 and 1966 and finishing up with more than 100 career longballs.

OF Tom Wolfe

Another whose dearth of major individual accolades is most perplexing, The Werewolfe enters the new decade as one of Gerald McNab's main rivals for the clubhouse HR lead, having put 281 into the seats since joining the OA in 1980 as a teammate of Felix's at the 'Stros. He'll reach the 1000-RBI milestone this season unless the sky falls in on all of us, and will be looking to help guide the BoSox back to the Penthouse from the Skylobby, where they have been stuck in a form of hellish purgatory since 1986 (not a good year for Red Sox nation in any timeline, apparently...).

Tom spent his entire, relatively short, career in the Piedmont League for a number of North Carolinian clubs - mainly the mighty Durham Bulls - during the 1920s and 30s. MiLB stats from that era are scarce, but he is recorded as having belted 39 HR in 1930 for the Bulls.

PITCHERS



RHP Nelson Dean

While I had to make some difficult choices with the featured position players here, there was no such issue with the pitching side of things, with these three guys pretty much in a league of their own, excuse the pun.

Nelson Dean, as I think I mentioned previously, can be thought of as the OA's "first man", given he was taken 1st overall by the Braves in the Inaugural Penthouse Draft. While his club was immediately relegated and didn't make it back to the top flight until 1986, Nelson hit the ground running and hasn't stopped yet. The winner of 8 Pitcher of the Year Awards, two of which came with an MVP Award as well, Dean has been a towering figure on the mound throughout the OA's existence, racking up a stupendous 90 pWAR - with his total of 8.5 in 1986 the lowest of his career. Nelson enters the 1990s with 179 career wins - the leader in this stat cat - against just 85 losses, and has logged an almost unthinkable 60 FIP-. His knuckle curve, it is universally acknowledged, is as close to unhittable as a pitch can be.

The real-life version of this OA legend put together a solid if unspectacular career in the NeL during the Depression years, with Seamheads having him down for a 46-55 lifetime record and an ERA+ of 123. Born in Muskogee OK, his life was tragically cut short at the age of 40, although all of my efforts to unearth additional information about the circumstances have come to nought.

RHP Leniel Hooker

"Elbow" Hooker's career numbers to this point might sit a notch beneath Nelson's, but it must be taken into consideration they have been achieved entirely in the Penthouse, with his outstanding play one of the key elements in those good early Mets sides that won the Otis Cup in 1980 and again in '83. The fact also cannot be ignored that, when he was let go and joined the Phillies after the 1985 campaign, they went on to win it all the following season, while the Mets were relegated to the Lobby. His first ten season have netted him a 161-110 record with a sparking 2.87 ERA and, at just 30, he looks set to be a major factor in the OA for a few more years yet.

Leniel also played his actual career in the NeL, mainly for the Newark Eagles during the 1940s, finishing at 43-47 with an ERA+ of 102.

RHP John Forizs

John, to whom I have given the nickname "Jolly" (think about it...), was a rotation mate of Leniel's for those memorable early Mets squads and is now in Philly after a somewhat disappointing 1988 with the Cards. 1982 has been his high-point so far, with his 9.2 pWAR, 19-9 effort winning him the Pitching gong that season, and he looked back to his best last season, locking down 18 wins to take his career total to 143.

The real John Forizs started his MiLB career in fine form, going 20-8 for the Greenwood Dodgers in the 1952 Cotton State League. Sadly, that was his summit and he only managed 10 more over the remainder of his career before retiring in 1958.

[luckymann]

Ahhh, what's that old adage about gods laughing while men make plans?

Let me begin from the start.

One thing I hadn't mentioned was that, along with my predecessor Ross Atkins, the managerial purge at our club had been quite extensive, including the manager.

After a fairly difficult process to find the right guy, we finally got him: Jon "JG" Garcia, who had piloted the Marlins over nine seasons to a 741-717 mark, pretty impressive given their financial constraints.

The rest of the pre-season has been frantic to say the least, with us having turned over a good portion of the playing group. I think we've put together a really strong squad for this level and that we should compete well in the season ahead. Most importantly, we have done so barely touching the purse strings, with our OD payroll sitting at just $21m, next-to lowest in the Basement. This means we should have plenty of firepower over the next few seasons to try and achieve a long upward trajectory, not the whippiness in performance that has been our bugbear in recent campaigns. A deal that offloaded Catcher Kyle Sorrels and his $4.5m salary to the Dodgers was a big factor.

And so, with all that in mind, we enter Spring Training primed for a big year.

Then in our very first game we lose Michael Kmet, who had fairly exploded with the bat in our intramural games and was locked in to be our everyday 1B. A broken hand means he will be out until July or August. A huge loss, but one we'll just have to deal with.

We begin ST slowly after that but recover to finish 7-5.

So here's our position player group as at OD along with the lineups and depth charts JG will be working from:

As I said, I think this is a strong group for this level. Decent speed throughout and, while Kmet's big bat will be missed, we've still got some sneaky pop with guys like Clough, Clarke and Leslie. Ramirez might take a while to acclimatise, but his sweet swing should make him a fixture at 2 or 3, although JG has him leading off against lefties to begin with.

And here is our staff:

A fairly workmanlike bunch of starters just at the moment, but we feel confident they'll improve from there. I'm keeping Gerard Thomas down at AAA to begin with. At just 19, I don't want to rush him.

Personality-wise, we are looking good, with the group seeming to have gelled nicely and a good core leadership group headed by Carl Armstrong and Bill Jester in place to keep it that way.

The boss has gone pretty easy on me with regard to demands for my rookie season, asking only that we perform well.

With regard to our prospects, we are looking really good with our system the top-ranked and a bunch of highly-rated guys:

We like us, then, but what about those in the know? Not quite so keen I'm afraid, picking us in mid-standings with a slightly losing record. Unsurprisingly, they see pitching as our weak spot, expecting us to post an ERA above 4. That's alright, I prefer it that way. Lowered expectations keep young feet on the ground.

Back at the halfway point for an update other than news of vital importance, which I'll report as it comes to hand.

[luckymann]

So we'll be keeping an eye on the rest of the Association as well, after all it is our goal to see these other leagues up close and personal in the not too distant future!

A couple of pretty cool incidentals to begin with.

I mentioned that Rocket Clemens and his two sons have all miraculously landed in the OA at the same time. well, as it turns out, Roger has signed with the Dodgers, where Koby is, and amazingly they respectively head the Penthouse prospects list for hitters and pitchers.

Another touch of serendipity, as IRL Nick Pratto made his MLB debut yesterday for KC, going 0-3 against... would you believe it... the Jays! It just so happens that Nick is a bit of a fixture in the OA and, as you can see below, has done pretty darned well for himself, winning back-to-back Skylobby MVPs for the Nats in '87 and '88 and racking up 43 career bWAR.

OK, so here are the BNN prognostications for the Penthouse and Skylobby:

We'll check back in throughout the season to see how things are panning out - I'm especially keen to see if the White Sox can avoid the dreaded double drop after being relegated last season.

[luckymann]

Well that didn't take long! John "Neck" Stanley opens his Blue Jays career with a stunning no-no against the Brew Crew.

[luckymann]

Stoopid OOTP - this sort of thing would never happen IRL... wait, what? Oh, OK, never mind...

[luckymann]

This is tough! But I'm loving every minute of it so far.

Our bats have been frostbitten of late, with OF Eugene Clough (156/256/312 slash) among the worst offenders. But his walkoff big bang gets us out of jail and hopefully reignites our offensive spark.

[luckymann]

Just gotta love how the universe works sometimes...

[luckymann]

We've had our challenges in the first half of the 1990 season, injuries and consistency with both bat and ball being the main ones, so to sit at 43-38 and just one off the lead at the midpoint is more than acceptable. The guys are having a go, and that's all I ask of them.

BATS

While our contact hitting isn't where we'd like it - a 7th-ranked BA of 256 - we are banging out our share of big flies to compensate somewhat. Still, we need to be more selective and patient to get more aboard to take full advantage of the ones that do leave the park. We are walking too seldom and whiffing too often.

Tim Torres, Vic Ramirez, Sam Leslie, Denzel Clarke, Frank Benites and Alex DeGoti have been the pick, while we need more from Juan Silverio and Dustin Delucchi.

BALLS

We wouldn't be where we are without our staff. Far from perfect, granted, but they have kept us in plenty of games we've ended up winning late. Ed Galasso has been outstanding, clearly our ace so far. Both Mike Witt and Dave Fleming started poorly but seem to be finding their feet now. Neck Stanley's run of injuries has forced us to promote Ger Thomas ahead of time, but so far he has done well.

The BP is too patchy for my liking and will be one of my main focuses in the second half. Easier said than done - the OA has a lot of MOR relievers getting paid a premium, making the truly good ones tough to find and even tougher to procure. Will Robertson has 18 saves from 20 chances but an ERA north of 5 and will send me to an early grave if he keeps that up.

INS, OUTS, UPS, DOWNS

I am still working hard to find that perfect mix of players or at least as close as we can. One nice get was OF Earl Hill, a true leader who we picked up on waivers from the Marlins. On the min this year and we'll be looking to extend if the price is right.

With both Sam Leslie and Jay Wright looking for multimillion dollar deals and me still uncertain either is worth it, this trade just gave us some other (read: cheaper) options in the OF moving forward. Denny is with us at Toronto, while Mullins is at Buffalo and doing well.

A slightly cash-positive deal that netted us a handy C / utility for two older relievers who had no future with us.


1B/DH Michael Kmet is finally off the 60-day but I sent him for some rehab at AAA just to sharpen him up. The biggest issue here is who loses their spot to him when he does return. At this stage, Delucchi seems the prime candidate.

OF Denzel Clarke and P Neck Stanley are still a month or so away, 3B Carl Armstrong should be back next week.

We have extended SP Ed Galasso (2-yr / $4.8m), IF Juan Silverio (2-yr / $6m) and SP Neck Stanley (2-yr / $870k), and will keep doing this over the duration with players we see as pieces in our puzzle.

AAA Buffalo is doing well, leading their div by a game. Our system is currently ranked 4th but will drop substantially from that when Thomas and Stanton hit the cutoff.

[luckymann]

PENTHOUSE





SKYLOBBY





BASEMENT

[luckymann]

With Kmet's long-awaited return imminent and with us both loaded up at OF and in need of a lights-out Closer, I shop Sam Leslie around and eventually make this deal with the Cubbies.

Sam's a good player, no doubt of that, but he thinks he's worth north of $4m per and I don't, especially at rising 32. Plus, as I said, we are well-stocked out in the paddock.

I won't be getting into the habit of acquiring big money relievers all over the joint, but we need some quality there all the same. Chicago was happy to eat a decent chunk of his salary, which in turn made it far more palatable for yours truly at less than $4m all up thru the end of next year.

This move also solves the "problem" of making space for Kmet, and I take this opportunity to call him up.

[luckymann]

We're still not doing this sort of thing - or, even, hitting well enough in general - anywhere near as often as I'd like, but this is a sweet little glimpse into what I hope our future holds, as we rack up 21 hits in a 14-3 win at the Bucs, with two of our key prospects running amok.