[uruguru]

Oct 21,1960 (start of Off-Season) to Nov 10 (last day before veteran FA filings)

A running ramble of my activity.

Oct 21 - my last act of Day 1 was to convince the Judge to lower ticket prices from $1.90 to $1.50... the lowest in the MLB by a penny (just ahead of the Senators). Our team will have to play in a substandard ballpark until our newfangled DOMED STADIUM is ready for play in 1965. They haven't even broken ground on it but its already generated a ton of interest outside of the sport. They even say it will be air-conditioned! Imagine that, indoor baseball always at the perfect temperature. What an incredible world we live in.

Anyway, the goal now is create a good selling point ("cheapest baseball tickets in the league!") to bring lots of fans to the games despite the temporary ballpark. We'll need to sell 27% more tickets than planned for this to be a break-even move. The Judge is skeptical but he's also a good businessman and sees the potential upside in revenue.

Oct 25 - after 4 days of silence, my GM phone starts lighting up with a wave of players happy with their offers so far

Oct 30 - SP Sammy Ellis 5/9 and 1B Dick Nen 5/10 want better offers.

I had offered Sammy Ellis 120K over 10 years, but now he wants 156K over 10 years. Haha, if I pass then I have potentially saddled the Twins with what might be an average pitcher for 10 years. He was the least desirable of the big contracts I offered so I will pass.

I offered Nen 23K over 5 years, but now he wants 28K for just one year. I don't think he got a counter-offer since he didn't mention a team. His Avoid K rating is 1/5 so I think his 5/10 rating might be understated. Our scout says he is a natural leader and I believe in having good team chemistry, so I'll offer him the 28K over 5 years.

Oct 31 - minor SP prospect Jose Tita 3/5 is trying to convince me that he is going to take a better offer from the Erie Sailors in the independent New York-Pennsylvania league. I seriously doubt he is going to turn down a $1500 signing bonus and a chance at the bigs to play in an Independent league. I am calling his bluff. If he signs there, I can just buy out his contract anyway.

Nov 1 - CF prospect Mickey Stanley 2/7 wants a better deal. This is the one milb contract I screwed up and didn't offer a signing bonus so this was expected. I will now give him a new offer with the appropriate signing bonus.

Nov 2 - SP prospect Cal Koonce 1/5 is pulling a Tita and trying to leverage an independent league offer into a better deal. Not biting. If you like Idaho that much, go play in Boise, Cal.

Nov 3 - the Tita brigade continues with 2B Bernie Allen 1/6, SP Clay Caroll 1/6, and SP Jack Billingham 1/6 all threatening to go play in an independent league. You know what this tells me? That major-league teams are not topping my signing bonuses. Which is a good sign. I am hopeful these guys will come crawling back.

Nov 4 - now SP Tommy John 3/8 is threatening to go independent. If he signs I will freaking buy out his contract in a heartbeat. On the contract screen, he wants me to raise the signing bonus from $6000 to $6200. He expects me to believe that the Billings Mustangs offered him a bonus between those amounts? Nope. Not buying it.

Nov 5 - the Bisons have topped my offer for Tony Oliva 5/8. This will not stand. However, I have to be careful because this Oliva may not break out like the real Oliva. He's still a 5 overall at Low scouting accuracy, but I think is 8 potential is real based on meta knowledge. But then again he's already 22 years old so his window for development is rapidly closing. I bump his offer to $40,800 over 5 years, but I'm getting a little nervous about this.

Nov 7 - prospect SP Thomas Moser 3/6 has joined the Tita brigade. Good luck in the independent leagues!

Nov 8 - prospects LF Lee May 3/10 and SP George Nanton 2/5 are pulling the same Tita schtick. The only thing that makes sense is that these kids read about the new domed stadium and concluded that the Judge is made of money. Still, the Tita brigade is up to 8 players now so I'm starting to wonder if I'll actually lose any of them. I'm tempted to call up one of these teams and ask them what the hell is going on?

Nov 9 - prospect SP Gene Brabender 1/6, SP Darold Knowles 3/9 and SP Aubrey Greenwood 1/5 are now threatening to go independent. That's 11. However, the Cubs have outbid me for SP Lew Krausse 3/8 who now wants a major-league option. Not doing it, so the Cubs win this round. If he doesn't make the MLB team 30 days into the season, they could lose him to free agency. I don't want to play that game.

Nov 10 - the veteran free agency filing is just one day away and now SS Bob Baily 1/10 wants to go independent. Exactly zero of my 151 contract offers have been accepted so far. The other 7 expansion team each have over a dozen players signed, but they are all lower-rated prospects that I didn't bid on. So I'm not too worried, yet.

Tomorrow is the day that veteran free agents will become available. It would be nice if some of my 150 contract offers were accepted so that I would have a better idea how to navigate through the veteran free agents.