American Baseball Association.

[gehrig38]

I have decided the IBL has ended its run. I want to move to a new league to be able to take advantage of all the stat fun I can have. Anyone that's followed me knows that the stats are my pride and joy in this game.
I decided I'll run 10-20 seasons before jumping in, but I stop at all star break for mid season standings leaders and pre playoffs for standings leaders and then post world series for wrap. I also save the ASG box.
I keep track of some insane stuff.
Anyway, I started the 1st season and just finished the 2nd. EXACTLY like the IBL the 1st 2 years saw the same team win it all. The Kansas City Spartans won both World Series.
Oh and I also created a feeder NCAA. It took me a few days to get every single team in the game their jerseys and all that as well as logos but I'll be posting shortly.
I did want to drop this little tidbit here.
Check out Erick Crouch. 6th overall pick in the inaugural draft and 32 years old so it's likely he won't have a long enough career to warrant HOF. But check out the awards section.



2 years, 2 WS titles but clutch?
How about:
ASG MVP
Division Series MVP
NLCS MVP
World Series MVP TWICE!
Oh and the 1991 Hank Aaron Award (Leagues most valuable offensive player)

[gehrig38]

Oh and the 65 HR's are NOT the league record. The league record is 68 set year one by Jeff Evans who took home the Triple Crown .363-67-172.
Settings are 1990, going to tweak them a bit as it feels just a tad offense heavy but I do like the era.
Also something I wished I'd done last game too was to keep the year unchanged from a stats/strategy perspective. I think I may like this format a bit better.

[gehrig38]

Not so fast...
It appears I've got some bugs.
I have many players age 45-60 and MANY players 6'8" to 7'8" tall and 300+ pds...
Also it appears the uniforms and logos/hats folder is not being directed to by the game since I can't get the game to uniform all my leagues. Every team has a full complement of all logos, jerseys and hats and what not but I can't get the game to load jerseys in my minor leagues. Just realized the settings for those things are GAME wide and not league wide. So I copied all my stuff into one single folder, still no luck

[gehrig38]

7 years in as I sim. Orcin could attest to why it takes me so long.
I keep track of EVERYTHING stat wise. So each ASB I make sure I compile the NCAA final standings, leaders, AS break Standings and Leaders in the big leagues, then the ASG Box score.
Also note any milestones and save those boxes as well as record breaking games (19K's 4HR etc..)
Just had a 5 day period 5/1-5/5 in which there were 3 no-hitters.....

[gehrig38]

The American Baseball Association announces expansion.

The ABA today announced it has awarded two new franchises to the cities of Miami, Florida and St Louis, Missouri. The Florida franchise, purchased by the Medina family, will be named the Florida Tarpons while the St Louis franchise, owned by the Umemoto family, will be called the Surge.

“I am realistic, while I know we cannot win a world series tomorrow there is no reason what so ever we cannot be competitive within the next 5 years and I expect that to be the case” Surge owner Koichi Umemoto said at the leagues press conference to announce the clubs.

Both groups paid the 250 million dollar expansion fees and will participate in the 1st ever ABA expansion draft. Both teams are also immediately able to sign free agents, international amateurs and to fill out their organization's rosters. Both clubs will field the standard 5 team organization with teams in AAA, AA, A as well as short season and rookie league clubs. Both teams have also opened up international complexes to house and develop talent from around the world.

They will also enter the market for players from the Nippon, Korean, Mexican and Chinese pro leagues as well as have their rosters open to its members playing for their respective nations every 4 years in the WBC (won by the USA in 2004).

The Tarpon franchise will be holding its initial press conference prior to the entry draft.

[gehrig38]

Venezuelan billionaire Juan Medina stood next to a very young Latin player, and his new manager and GM as he announced the birth of the franchise to be known as the Florida Tarpons.
“I've always dreamed of this day and today I am proud to introduce to you our Manager, GM as well as the first ever Florida Tarpon player”.

Formalities ensued but suffice to say, GM Curt Schilling, manager Kevin Jackson and the first ever member of the organization, 17-year-old Dominican Republic right-hander Juan Portio met the media.

The summary was that the GM understands Mr. Medina demands perfection from a process standpoint, has patience enough to not expect a world series tomorrow (within 5-8 years he's tasked with creating a “Dynasty”, which no one was sure how that was defined). Mr. Medina has made it clear he will allow the baseball ops folks to run the franchise's baseball focused machine and he will be forthcoming with financing as long as it provides visible results in short order. He also made it clear the owner's expectations were that this franchise field an elite farm system as its first priority.

“I will do everything I can to make sure KJ has what he needs to build an ever-improving team on the field. We will focus on character as we work to create a franchise that players want to come to, want to play for and a city they want to call home”.

####
(I will post as the GM underneath the ## in each in-game post as I go forward)

"I'd like to introduce the three young men seated next to me. The man to my right is Juan Portio. Juan was the 1st player signed by the Florida Tarpons. As a 17-year-old our scouts believe has an unlimited ceiling. Hopefully, you are looking at the future ace of the Tarpon pitching staff. Next to him is Taichiro Tatsunami. Tai is a young catcher we have signed out of Japan. At just 16 he will join Juan and the next gentleman I am about to introduce at our newly opened International Complex here in Miami. Layne Jardin will be known as the Tarpons 1st ever Canadian born player. This young centerfielder will one day be leading this franchise on the field."

Over the coming days, you will have a chance to meet our staffs. We have filled all available coaching and staff positions except for my Asst GM and our Rookie League managing jobs but have offers out now to prospective candidates.

Also I'd like to inform you that we have many offers on the table to a slew of players as we look to build and fill our minor league rosters. We hope to be able to also use the upcoming expansion draft to start assembling our first ever Tarpons club."

[gehrig38]

The St Louis Surge had the 1st overall selection in the draft. Each team was allowed to protect 30 players and no team could lose more than 4.

With their 1st selection, they chose 26-year-old RH starter Andy Berg out of the Ohio Generals system. I had intended to have complete oversight on draft day but the closer it got the more I realized I needed to find out about my scouts and the baseball ops people. With our 1st selection, we chose 26-year-old Closer from the Denver Minors Jeremy Morrison. A 2000 graduate of Arizona State an integral member of the Saints 2004 World Series winning team he's coming off a 3-6 43 Save 2.96 ERA season which saw him place 3rd in the Mariano Rivera Award voting (Best closer in the game award). We were blown away at the availability even more so since he's making the minimum and doesn't hit arbitration until after 2005. Apparently, Denver has given their closing job to 26-year-old Ben Austin. A flamethrower for sure but a guy who has spent his share of time on the DL. Jeremy was the Saints 1st rounder in 2000 (14th overall). His value is obvious but in approaching this draft, at least early on, with the mindset of picking players OTHER teams want we felt we could find ways to enhance our standing at the deadline. Having back to back picks our scouts decided on a solid backstop in Jeff Burwell out of the KC organization. Signed after the 1999 draft as an undrafted free agent. BC grad who has been an all-star at all three minor league levels as well as scouts calling him the best defensive catcher in the AAA Pacific league this year.

[gehrig38]

Our scouts started their work 3 years ago, scouring the globe with an organizational approach to work ethic as our #1 priority and tools #1A. There will be an organization-wide philosophy from the top down that focuses on work ethic. The fact of the matter is if you have the tools and the work ethic you WILL play in the ABA someday. It's up to our scouts to find them, and our coaches to coach them That being said there was an enormous incentive to find 'live arms'. Putting massive effort to that end and at the same time making sure we knew the players would work their asses off. Making the Tarpon uniform something you are proud to wear is a lengthy process that can only happen if the same work ethic is demanded of all players from the 25 man roster to the international complex. The upside of a live arm is that even if they don't work out there is always a team out there believe 'they'll be the one' to turn a kid around.

[gehrig38]

The ABA made some early decisions on saving money. One of those was to place each team's minor league system, their entire system, within one state. We were allowed to choose amongst the remaining choices and we ended up with New Mexico as our choice. We did so mainly for the weather. Warm weather year-round allows our international complex and winter leagues to avoid delays and stoppages. Our AAA team is in Alamogordo (Rivermen) AA is Clovis (Kangaroos) A Farmington (Yaks) Short Season A ball is in Hobbs (Blue Claws) and our rookies play in Rio Rancho (Steeldogs).

Meanwhile, the Surge took it to another level by keeping EVERYTHING in house. Having Missouri be their home not only for the new franchise but all their minor league affiliates as well. Choosing Blue Springs (Eskimos) as their AAA affiliate Independence (Broncos) for AA Lees Summit (Sailfish) for high A and St Charles (Arrows) for their short season club and ending with their Rookie league team in St Joseph (Gophers).

[gehrig38]

Suffice to say I'll be breaking down the team, the personnel and the organization as we near opening day.
But I did want to give you guys insight into this first winter and the effort put forth in building the initial roster for this franchise.
I've never taken the day to day as serious as Orcin did and I now know that is a big reason his dynasties were so good, so interesting and so fun.
Oh and he's a hell of a writer too.

Here's a rundown of everything that happened from my GM seat this winter leading up to the pre-season.

Next up I'll give you guys a summation of the 1st 15 years of the ABA and the NCAA feeder league.

[gehrig38]

I was actually expecting a pre season meeting sometime near the end of camp with all parties involved.
Both to get Mr Medina's input and offer him a chance to have his say but more importantly to table any and all differences and make sure everyone leaves on the same page.
This surprise meeting was actually called by the owner and I, along with Mgr Kevin Jackson met him early Wednesday morning in late January.

"Gentleman thank you for coming on such short notice. I wanted to inform you of a few things. First off season ticket sales, while not through the roof, are better than expected. and that is with the 11% price increase.
We are well ahead of our financial projections and to that end I wanted to let you know I am raising your budget for baseball ops a further 3 million dollars. That is not only due to the ticket increase but more importantly to the sheer amount of work, the effort that's been put in since day 1. Just as you both know I am as demanding as any owner alive, I am also adamant about rewarding people I feel go above and beyond. The goals we laid out last winter were "long-term". I wanted you guys to not suck this year, that was the only true short-term goal and regardless of our record I know we will not 'suck' for any reason within the baseball ops control. I was hoping you'd be able to garner a top prospect within our first two seasons and I see from the recent Baseball America that not only is our first player ever, Juan Portio, considered a 'top prospect' but many have him at 17 years old as high as top 20. We are a long ways from a top 5 farm system but I have few doubts given what I've seen that it will happen. I told you last winter, and I will reiterate it again today. I expect this team to contend for a league championship by 2009. "

######
Well, I can honestly say I never saw this coming. You have seen from the last post he wasn't lying when he was talking about the effort. That's a staple here. Contrary to my old ways I have zero desire to go out and spend this money. Having said that I have increased our scouting budget to 2 million up from 1.28, our dev budget from 1.2 to 1.35 and our draft expenditures sits at 4.58 million. That's where I am hoping to find a use for this extra money. Being able to have the latitude to select an impossible sign late can be a game changer.

I've also attached the game settings for this league's financials. Now that I am no longer a player I want to salaries to NOT be 100s of millions, but rather numbers that are easier to compare and contrast.

[gehrig38]

A quick synopsis of how we got here. BTW this was the 1st year of HOF balloting and there was 1 elected, the first ever member of the ABA HOF and I gotta tell you one of my all-time favorite OOTP names.

[gehrig38]

I should also bring you guys up to speed on rule changes. The Secondary roster limit was reduced to 38 players after the 1991 season and Free Agency was reduced from 6 to 5 years in 1992.

Also, the league has informed all 26 teams that their plan is to expand by 6 teams over the leagues next 20 years.

(So if anyone has a can't miss set of jerseys and logos for a team please, by all means, recommend a city to 'expand' to!)

[gehrig38]

For anyone wanting to follow along I use an NCAA feeder league as part of my drafting process. Complete with full unis and logos thanks to this amazing community.

Here's a quick look at the 1st 15 years of the NCAA

[gehrig38]

2005 Spring Training Preview-Florida Tarpons
The pundits have us as a 118 loss team (44-118) with St Louis losing 106. I don't think this club is that bad but we are heading to camp so let's see how it all shakes out. Detroit, Memphis, and Denver are predicted to take their respective divisions and experts have 4 of Denver's starters as top pitchers this year. Over in the NL Washington, Oklahoma and LA are the picks with the Jets staff ranked up top and the Texas offense scoring close to 1000 runs.

The only real concern is to get out of camp healthy with no major injuries. Other than that this is going to be about looking for potential waiver claims and trying to assess how much talent we truly have. I don't have the first idea where out staff sits nor how good/bad this offense is and pretty much every job is open for the taking.

2005 Spring Training Recap
1. If winning 11 of 30 games is anything but sucking to Mr Medina we will be surprised.
2. 1 significant injury as reliever Ismael Ybarra, one of the top prospects to take a bullpen job, strained a forearm muscle and will be sidelined until mid May at the earliest. Closer Juan Pedemonte suffered a forearm “issue” as well and that was on the next to last day of camp. However trainer Chris Buchanan is telling me 1-2 weeks for this one. He starts the season on the 10 day DL.
3. While the offense could have been worse, the pitching could not have. An abysmal spring saw the staff getting pounded to the tune of a 5.88 ERA.

[gehrig38]

26-year-old Jamie Baldwin, fresh out of AA, won the opening day job with 20 superlative innings, giving up just 9 hits to an ERA of 2.25. Jeremy Morrison will close to start the season until Juan comes off the DL and/or a short rehab stint. There is no depth to this rotation and just 1 lefty, Jared Neuman, and he's a LOOGY at best. Starting ERA's 4.66, 5.95, 7.20 and 9.39 were compiled in 15 or more innings of work. Those were the starters that made the team....

With the DH in both, leagues Kevin and pitching coach Ismael Guerra broke camp with a 12 man staff. Just 2 lefties, Dave Dunham our 3rd starter and the aforementioned Neuman. Ryan Richardson (15k's in 12ip) and Lupe Medina (1.20 ERA 15ip 7h 17K's) will be the 7-8th inning guys with Chris Lucier (3.72 ERA), Jorge Longoria (10k's 8ip) Rogelio Cardenas (2.89 ERA 9k's 9ip) and Neuman (7.00 ERA 9k 8bb 9ip 13h) will fill out the middle of the pen and our LH specialist roles.

If there is one thing I am loathed to do as a GM is to occupy ANY roster spot with a 1 dimensional player (such as a LHP who can only get lefties out.) With roster limits at 38 it behooves you to make sure any and every player can jump into another role in an emergency.

Having said that our leading hitter this spring was 32 year old DH Sean Fletcher (.327-3-12). He is a DH, and a DH only. He could fill in at 1B, and a corner OF position but that's only if a ball isn't hit in his direction. The position players shook out like this.

C-Juan Coyotl (.259-0-2 29 PA) and Cobus Nabbe (.250-2-11 42 PA) will swap in and out routinely. Juan is 29, Cobus 31, so neither is going to be anywhere near this roster when we start to contend. Both are just a tick above avg defensively with Nabbe getting a slight edge.
1B-25 year old Juan Barranco will man 1B after a very disappointing spring (.218-1-8). Expectations were much higher, and are much higher as the plan is for him to hit 3rd in this lineup vs RHP everyday.
2B-Kosaku Nakamura (.356-2-11) won the 2B job, or so I thought. The staff had decided that Sincere Quiller (winner of the ABA best name award for 2005) should open the season with the job based on his gold glove caliber defense. Quiller hit just .269 with an OPS of .694. This was worth a meeting in my opinion. Results of that meeting in the following paragraph.
SS- Joe Benavides (.222-0-6) played almost every inning at SS this spring and clearly was worse for the wear when camp ended. He's a good 2B, above avg SS and can play some LF, Nakamura can only play 2B while Sincere is an above average to great defender at every position in the infield and by far the best defensive option at short. To give the lineup much more flexibility the decision was made to scoot Quillen over to SS where he would start, Nakamura will play 2nd and Joe will be his defensive replacement as well as backing up at the 2 middle infield positions.
3B-Our expansion team beginnings start to show here. 25 year old Dusty Barber (.204-0-6) who has never played an out above AA will man the hot corner. We will look long and hard at the waiver wire in the coming days.
OF-Luis Berma (.225-0-3 .512 OPS) Juan Medina (.241-0-2 .637 OPS) Juan Tovar (.161-1-2 .470 OPS) Rodolfo Duenas (.200-1-3 .586 OPS) and Wilfredo Romero (.286-1-3 8.28 OPS) round out the position players. Not much to look at and not much to get excited about. I assume they'll be mixed and matched to the hand of the opposing starter where appropriate but for now, Romero leads off and plays right, Tovar hits cleanup in left and Duenas hits in the lower third of the order and mans center.
DH-One of two offensive bright spots coming out of camp was 32 year old DH Sean Fletcher. Sean hit .327-3-12 with an OPS of 1.021 over 60 spring at bats. I have just one goal here. Keep this guy healthy, pray for a huge season and enough value to get picks/prospects back pre-draft or at the deadline.

[Orcin]

Great start! Really enjoying the insight into building a franchise from the ground up, especially the focus on personnel philosophy. Live arms, strong work ethic, flexible roster... all sound familiar to followers of your previous teams.

[gehrig38]

Spent the few days between camp breaking and opening day to stay focused on the waiver wire as well as fitting out the 3 minor league teams kicking off their seasons on Friday.
I've put in claims on 2 players. Jimmy Owen, a 20-year-old CF out of the Memphis system Our scouts are saying big upside offensively. Switch hitter who is strongest from the left side. Little put off by the fact he's fast as hell but rated a below avg CF? Especially considering scouts have rated his 'tools' above average to elite. He's a hard ass worker and a spark plug type player.

ABA's top 10 Prospects
Marrero was a March 2002 signing out of the international pool by Memphis. At 20 already projects to be a perennial all-star at the plate and in the field. Potential 30/30 bat at a premium position that rarely sees that level of offense. Ticketed for AA Clinton it seems.



Minor League Systems
Couple observations. Ohio clearly has a player dev system that is so far and away better than everyone else. Time to check in and see if I can figure out why. Placing 3 prospects in the games top 8 and 4 in the top 13 is insane. They spent the 1st 8 years as a playoff team, winning 6 division titles along the way. Their last one was in 2000 and they haven't seen the post season since. Robles (CF) was a 2001 international find from Spain (Already rates out at 19/20 as a defender per our scouts and a 20 runner across the board) Rone was their 1st round pick out of Stanford in 2003, 4th overall. A two time all american who sits 93-95 with a good change up and a wipeout slider. The kid has the build to take on 240+ innings too. Luis Paredes was signed out of the Dominican in 2003 as well. The 6'1” 170 lb 3rd baseman runs well but figures to be a true offensive force. Line to line power with plate discipline already far beyond his years. He's just 19 and heading to A ball Dayton this season.

To be an original franchise 15 years in and have ZERO prospects in the top 100 is inexcusable in my opinion. I get St Louis I guess, but LA has been a perennial powerhouse.
Nice to see our 1st ever player is ranked the 25th best prospect in the game already.

[gehrig38]

Opening up on a Friday so there will be just 3 games in the opening 'week'

Pretty cool we'll get to see our expansion “brothers' right out of the gate.

4/1: STL 6 FLA 5 Juan Barranco 2R HR top of 1, Baeza (4.1-4-6-6-4-7) gives up 5-0 lead in the 4th. POTG and POTD: Juan Barranco 3-3 2 HR 4 RBI 2 BB

ABA NEWS: Chicago Hitmen opening day starter RJ Stanton punched out 14 in just 6.2 innings vs Minnesota. Josh Pulice (PORT) 2-3 2 HR Joe Jackson (OK) 3-5 2 HR

4/2: FLA 5 STL 2 Guoncallo Bzios (5-3-1-1-4-8) for the W and POTG. Morrison SV (1) Nabbe 2-4 2B 3 RBI's

ABA NEWS: Loan Auffret (DET) 3-5 2 HR 6 RBI Jamie Watkins (PIT) 8 IP 3 H 10 K 0 R 8-0 win over SD

GM NOTE: CF Jimmy Owens waiver claim was successful. Late night meeting in skips office to decide the juggling to be done to get him here and playing. The meeting actually dragged on far longer than I anticipated. The roster moves were as follows. LF Luis Bermea was dealt in a midnight deal to Detroit in exchange for 34 year old SP Darin Downs. Downs and Owens were immediately rostered. 26 yr old You-de Chuko was optioned to AAA Alamogordo for more innings. Downs, while certainly on the backside of a decent career is another in the hopeful line of veterans that create some value to trade. The meeting itself dragged out because apparently, the staff went a bit 'old school' on me. They wanted Duenas to remain the everyday CF.... I argued extensively against this. Owens is 20 years old, he is not even remotely Duenas match as a defender (it's not even close actually) but he offers, imo, far more offensive upside even though he may draw like 3 walks this year. His energy is infectious and we need that. I think he's a fan favorite in no time. The compromise was this. Owens will get the start in CF 4-5 days a week but Duenas will supplant him late in games if need be. Versus LHP Owens will provide some late innings speed as well as a bat off the bench for matchups.

4/3: STL 7 FLA 3 Dunham 6 ER 3.2 IP6 BB. Quiller 4-5. Dunham throws a staggering 113 pitches in just 3 innings. 5 K's 6 BB's. Kusuo Tanaka (STL) goes 2-4 HR 3 RBI.
GM NOTE: Not sure what happened or if KJ thought I might not notice, but Duenas started in CF, went 2-4 with a homer.....

ABA NEWS: POTD Alfredo Ulloa (MIL) 2-3 2 HR Maxence Brun (OK) 2-4 2 HR 5 RBI

[gehrig38]

Every 4 years starting in 1992 the world has held an olympic style baseball tournament called the World Baseball Challenge (WBC).

I mention this because last spring was the fourth time it has been played.
Here are the results of the tournament since its inception.