The St. Louis Cardinals and the 1980s.

[Herolover12]

Introduction

I grew up in Missouri and in the 1970s I never got to see the St. Louis Cardinals, but I got to see the Kansas City Royals. I got to see the Whitey Herzog Royals lose 3 straight AL Championship series (twice in a deciding game 5) to the hated Yankees.

When I was 13 I moved to Southeast Missouri (about right between St. Louis and Memphis) and I never got Royals games, but I got St. Louis games. It was beneficial that the manager I grew up with, Whitey Herzog, moved and became the manager of St. Louis so from 1981 (I was 13) onward I have been a St. Louis fan. I got to see the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series, the first time I ever saw any kind of team from my home state win a Championship (the Chiefs who I still cheer for were garbage at the time).

I have fond memories of the 1980s Cardinals, but when I look at their record it kind of seems lacking. They won the WS in 1982, lost in 1985 in 7 to the Royals, and then lost in 7 again to the Twins in 1987. That is all they did. Seems like they could do more.

I am going to be the GM and Manager of the Cardinals starting with the 1980 season. I hope I last until the end of the 1989 season when the will stop.


I am recording this as I play you can view it on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...a8-jwqBCYZh-Oj

[Herolover12]

Since I am somewhat not an experienced OOTP user I am using settings that I have seen recommended. If you have suggestions please feel free to comment.

I will try to post screenshots as much as possible.

PS: It took me 3 times to create a viable save. The first time I played till Mid-June before I realized that the financials were off and that there wouldn't be a draft. The second time I loaded up and got the rules right, but for some reason I did not get any Minor leagues.

[Herolover12]

The first thing I do is increase my Development Budget to 325,000 (league baseline 198,000).
I increase my scouting Budget to 275,000 (league baseline 132,000).
I also change where my scouting money is going. It might seem strange to have only 10% on International Scouting, but this was really a time before all the International Amateurs. In fact 10% might be too much.

I then go through my personnel. I pretty much fire everyone but Peter Minor the 3B Coach. I really cannot find anyone that is better than him. All the Scouts I want are hired by other teams, but I settle on Josh Vazquez.

[Herolover12]

1B Neil Fiala at our AA is unmotivated and has a low work ethic. He has potential to be a mediocre to average 1B but he has to go.

AAA
LF Leon Durham potential for Platoon bat, but Above Avg to Top 5 outfield defender.
1B Dave Bialas potential for Platoon bat and but All-Star defending 1B….trade bait.
2B Gene Roof currently has Utility bat and has 50+ in 1b, 3B, and LF. Good Utility player.
P Freddie Tisdale. #5 SP Nothing great.
P Al Omstead. #5 Borderline SP

AA
SS Kelly Paris. Bench bat, but Top 5 at 1B, 2B, 3B, and SS.
P John Stuper. Has 3 pitches. If he can develop a 4th and develop his potential he could be a #3/#4 SP.

A
2B Keith Thrower. Potential Utility Bat. Potential All-Star defensive infielder, pick a spot.
3B Andy Van Slyke. First this kind of shocks me. He was an outfielder, but looking at his ratings he is probably best sticking at 3B. Could be an All-Star 1B and his bat puts him Above Avg to Plus area.

Nothing much else. I don't count really count "pitching prospects." because as a wise person once said, "There is no such thing as a pitching prospect."

[Herolover12]

I move LF Durham from AAA to the MBL roster.
I trade 20 year old LF Joe DeSa to Atlanta for 23 year-old LF Larry Whisenton. Whiisenton has a utility bat, but has the potential to be Above Avg to All-Star defender anywhere in the OF.

I shop 38 year-old Darold Knowles, who is not good, and the Texas Rangers offer All-Star RHP Jim Kern. #3 SP but only has the Stamina for the bullpen. The problem is his salary. I pull the trigger and do it. Kern is immediately penciled in as the CL

[Herolover12]

Right away what I figure is our #3 SP RHP John Fulgham suffers an oblique strain.
I trade away problem AAA 1B Neil Fiala and am shocked when the Mets send me 25 year-old RHP Roy Jackson. Great personality, 50 Stuff, 55 Move, and 45 Control with 4 pitchers. Borderline starter, but as bad as my pitching is he might be a #4 or #5.

All Personnel are hired including the new Scouting Director who immediately goes to work.

[Herolover12]

All the hiring, trading, and changing budgets has put me nearly 1million in the red.

Opening Lineup
C- Ted Simmons 30yo, 6 time All-Star. Avg def. Above Avg bat and will never K.

1B-Keith Hernandez. 26yo, 1979 League MVP. All-Star Def. Top 5 bat.

2B-Tom Herr 24yo, Utility bat. Gold Glove at 2B, Above Avg at SS, plan on getting him time at 3B.

SS-Gary Templeton (Beta-The Wizard) 24yo, 2 time All-Star. Currently can only play SS, but def is 65/70. Bat is 70. No pwr, Will not K often, but will never BB.

3B-Ken Oberkfell 23yo, decent 2B, 45 3B. Will move to 2B hopefully. 60 Bat and will not K.

LF-Leon Durham 22yo, Rookie, Has potential be All-Star OF, Could be Avg Bat.

CF-George Hendricks 30yo, 2 time All-Star. Top End def in CF/RF. All-Star batt and should not K often.

RF-Dane Iorg 29yo, Is a real problem defensively. Has All-Star bat. Would make a GREAT DH.
Don't have DH.

I don't like Dane Iorg, but other than that I think I have a good solid young infield.

Pitching…on the other hand, sigh….
The BC list Vuckovich as the #1, I agree and he is decent.
Bob Forsch as #2…if he is on yes otherwise it could be a problem.
Roy Lee Jackson is a borderline SP, but on my team he is #3.
Roy Thomas and Silvo Martinez, both on the Below Average side round out the SP. John Fulgham will start the season with the Oblique Strain and should slot in as a decent #2 or #2 when he gets healthy.

My Bullpen
Jim Kern should be a good CL and my Bullpen is not the greatest, but I think it can hold up.

[Herolover12]

I posted two videos to YouTube for this series. This one goes through and explains the moves I have done prior to opening day.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey_a5AuNJwQ


This one is watching the opening day game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaYty9lUaYU

[sharknut]

Curious....will you try to get Ozzie Smith for Templeton?

[Herolover12]

Originally Posted by sharknut

Curious....will you try to get Ozzie Smith for Templeton?

Funny you ask that. I loaded up the game my first try at this and I did just that. Went looking for Ozzie and got him from the Padres for a pittance. Then I saw his full stats and personality. I kept thinking of the scene in The Godfather where he says, "Look at what they have done to my boy."


Ozzie's ratings were okay, but he had a low work ethic and was selfish. I even had Tom Herr's moral go down due to selfish players and Ozzie was the only selfish player I had on the team.


I will keep with what I have.

[Herolover12]

I have found an error in the game.


So, I mentioned above that I had tried loading it up a few times until I got the rules right.


Well, I double checked, know I got the rules right, but when I loaded the game back up Amateur draft is turned off. I do not think there will be draft in 1980.

[Herolover12]

Well I was wrong about the draft. It did fire off and at the right time June 15th.


I did the draft and am now on July 1st, but my All-Star, 163 OPS+ 1B Keith Hernandez is going to miss the rest of the season (3 months) because he tore ankle ligaments....walking his dog.


You can view it all here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...a8-jwqBCYZh-Oj

[sharknut]

Originally Posted by Herolover12

Funny you ask that. I loaded up the game my first try at this and I did just that. Went looking for Ozzie and got him from the Padres for a pittance. Then I saw his full stats and personality. I kept thinking of the scene in The Godfather where he says, "Look at what they have done to my boy."


Ozzie's ratings were okay, but he had a low work ethic and was selfish. I even had Tom Herr's moral go down due to selfish players and Ozzie was the only selfish player I had on the team.


I will keep with what I have.

I'm running a historical league that started in 1970 and when I got to 1978, Ozzie was a rookie......first baseman for the Red Sox.