Historical Minors

[David Watts]

Seeing one ugly side to historical minors. Some of the trades that get made are flat awful due to the AI not realizing Winston Flabbergas is and always will be pus.The Tigers traded John Hiller to the Giants for Simon Paintbynumbers and Chase Liftandpull.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Seeing one ugly side to historical minors. Some of the trades that get made are flat awful due to the AI not realizing Winston Flabbergas is and always will be pus.The Tigers traded John Hiller to the Giants for Simon Paintbynumbers and Chase Liftandpull.

I guess the flip side of that is that won't be seeing this real-life 1974 transaction:

Los Angeles Dodgers traded Bruce Ellingsen to Cleveland Indians in exchange for Pedro Guerrero.

[David Watts]

Ugh, I can see why a commish would want wild cards. The 1974 NL is pretty much over and has been since the beginning of July. If I had wild cards the race between the Dodgers, Astros and Giants would be a great one.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Ugh, I can see why a commish would want wild cards. The 1974 NL is pretty much over and has been since the beginning of July. If I had wild cards the race between the Dodgers, Astros and Giants would be a great one.

So just to be clear, you are saying that the Reds are running away with the division, and if there was a wild card, the race between LA, Hou and SF would be a good one?

I'm curious as to what the Dodgers look like. You started in '72, and I'm sure 5-year recalc has it's say and adds variableness. I know you're using historical txns, and I have no idea what AI trades there were, but I'm wondering if I'm close:

c Ferguson/Yeager
1b Garvey
2b Lopes/Lacy
ss Russell
3b Cey
lf Buckner/Mota
cf W Davis
rf Crawford/Paciorek

Rotation: Sutton, John, Singer, Osteen, Rau/Downing
Pen: Brewer, Hough, Zahn, Rhoden

LMK if not too much trouble!

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by thehef

So just to be clear, you are saying that the Reds are running away with the division, and if there was a wild card, the race between LA, Hou and SF would be a good one?

I'm curious as to what the Dodgers look like. You started in '72, and I'm sure 5-year recalc has it's say and adds variableness. I know you're using historical txns, and I have no idea what AI trades there were, but I'm wondering if I'm close:

c Ferguson/Yeager
1b Garvey
2b Lopes/Lacy
ss Russell
3b Cey
lf Buckner/Mota
cf W Davis
rf Crawford/Paciorek

Rotation: Sutton, John, Singer, Osteen, Rau/Downing
Pen: Brewer, Hough, Zahn, Rhoden

LMK if not too much trouble!

At work, so I will double check myself when I get home. Garvey is their 1st baseman, but he suffered a storyline involving a cracked Molar and it put him on the shelf for what might be the rest of the season. He was leading the league in hitting when the injury took place. Frank Robinson moved in from the outfield to take Garvey's place. Davey Lopes is now the teams primary 2B, but has only been so for around 3 weeks. Up until then, Cesar Tovar had been playing 2B. Tovar is now playing CF. Bill Russell is at SS and Ron Cey is at 3B. Larry Hisle is the teams left fielder. Bill Buckner is in RF. Willie Davis also gets plenty of starts in the OF. Dick Dietz is the teams catcher with Duke Sims serving as the backup.

Sutton is the teams ace. He is having a rough season. Tommy John is starting and having a nice season. Bill Singer is back in the rotation after missing the majority of the 1st half with a injury. Al Downing is in the rotation one day and in the bullpen the next. The Dodgers made a deal to acquire Carl Morton from the Expos. They made another trade to with the Expos to acquire Mike Marshall. Doug Rau, Jim Brewer and Charlie Hough are all a part of the bullpen.

Willie Crawford was dealt to the Twins back in 72 I need to check on Mota, as I just don't remember seeing him around. I wonder if he is suffering from the Gates Brown like trauma, of not enough at bats to avoid the make bad settings derailment?

[David Watts]

Earlier in the season the Tigers put Fritz Peterson and Blue Moon Odom on waivers. Both players were claimed off the wire by the New York Yankees. The Tigers had claimed Peterson off the Yankees waiver wire during the 73 season. Odom and Peterson both joined the Yankees rotation. The Tigers dealt for Larry Gura back in 72 and over the past 3 seasons, Larry was in and out of the teams rotation. He was off to a 8-3 start in 74. The Tigers have called up both Verne Ruhle and Mark Fidrych, with Ruhle going straight to the rotation. Fidrych toiled in the bullpen for a while, but has now found his way into the rotation as well. Lerrin Lagrow is the teams 4th starter. The rotations is now Lolich, Coleman, Ruhle, Lagrow and Fidrych. What has me scratching my head is, the Tigers put Gura on the waiver wire. Guess which team scooped him up........Yup, the Yankees!! This is one that I think will haunt the team in the near future. Gura could have been a strong contributor for several years to come.

[David Watts]

The Phillies rolled into August on fire. The team is now 11-2 to start the month. This combined with a decent July has them on the brink of joining the Pirates as the NL East's only other.500 ball club. Man oh man has the NL East been bad the last 2 seasons. That being said, the Pirates are the defending champs and look like they might defend that title to the end.

[David Watts]

What are y'all thoughts on the OOTP fatigue system. I'm using normal for this league. I tend to go back and forth on whether I should change that over to the high fatigue setting. Problem is, I don't really enjoy seeing every single player limited to " " number of games before the season even starts. I'm using the "high, Modern" setting for injuries I think "high fatigue" probably promotes the most realistic numbers, but knowing going in to each and every season that guys will only play ___ number of games, just bugs me.

[thehef]

Thanks for the info on the Dodgers!

Originally Posted by David Watts

Frank Robinson moved in from the outfield to take Garvey's place.

I had figured that he would've faded away by '74, but actually his RL stats thru '74 were still decent, especially with 5-yr recalc.

Originally Posted by David Watts

Larry Hisle is the teams left fielder.

I meant to ask about him. Makes sense that he would be a starter in '74. (His one-year stint w LA in '72 - exclusively in the minors - has always been curious to me...)

Originally Posted by David Watts

Dick Dietz is the teams catcher with Duke Sims serving as the backup.

Interesting. 5-year recalc must be doing these guys some serious favors... and not helping Ferg.

Originally Posted by David Watts

They made another trade to with the Expos to acquire Mike Marshall.

Wow! What are the odds the OOTP AI would acquire Marshall - and at roughly the same time - as IRL?

Originally Posted by David Watts

I need to check on Mota, as I just don't remember seeing him around. I wonder if he is suffering from the Gates Brown like trauma, of not enough at bats to avoid the make bad settings derailment?

Not sure what 5-yr recalc will do, but Manny gets hosed in historical replays because a) pinch hit penalty, b) adjust/weaken, and c) very few appearances in the field after 1973. So OOTP sees him a guy who can't hit and can't field. My guess is that you'll find him in the minors... Fixing this issue with guys who were near-exclusively pinch-hitters is an area that needs to be addressed.

[David Watts]

Aaron now has 705 home runs. Harmon Killebrew hit his 24th home run of the season and now lacks only 4 to reach 600.

[David Watts]

Earlier I discussed the A's trading away Joe Rudi for Wilbur Wood and how I didn't know if the already pitching strong A's really needed another arm at the cost of one of their best offensive players. Well, following the trade, the A's lost both Gene Tenace and Sal Bando to significant injuries. So far they are still in 1st place, but the Twins are right on their heels.

The Brewers and the Expos are in a race for the leagues worst record. Right now the Expos have the honors. The Expos are a team I could see improving very quickly. They have Warren Cromartie, Ellis Valentine, Gary Carter and Larry Parrish already and Dawson can't be too far out.

I really wonder if Al Kaline will stick around for the 1975 season or if he will call it a career at the end of 74 as he did in real life. If he sticks around, I hope he does so as a Major League player. I don't want to see the Tigers release him and have him sign a minor league deal.

Lee May continues to be the man for the Astros. May has 31 home runs and 102 RBI on the season and we're still in August.

Harmon Killebrew has 597 home runs.

[David Watts]

The Padres have been a big surprise in 74. At this time they are above .500 and have pulled a game in front of the Dodgers for 4th place in the NL West. Dave Winfield has been leading the charge on offense. Randy Jones has been one of the leagues best on the mound. Main problem with this team is their streakiness. Whenever they seem like they are above .500 to stay, they go on cold streak and have to claw their way back.

Have you ever been blown away by how many blown saves guys accumulate over the course of a season. If they used to have the Fireman award, I think they should have had an arsonist award as well. If they did Steve Foucalt of the Texas Rangers would be a sure fire winner. I might be off by one or so, but I think Foucalt now has 14 blown saves in 74. The Rangers bullpen is a disaster.

[David Watts]

September 5, 1974 Harmon Killebrew hits 2 home runs in a game against the Kansas City Royals. Harmon now has 29 home runs on the season and 601 for his career.

The San Diego Padres(75-63) won 11 straight games, before falling to the Braves on September 3rd. Since August 16th, the Padres are 16-2. The team now sits alone in 3rd place in the NL West. A game and a half ahead of the 4th place Astros and a game and half behind the 2nd place San Francisco Giants.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are the fist team with a single digit(9) magic number. Impressive, but the NL East remains a dreadful pile of rubbish with the 2nd place Phillies coming in at 7 games under .500.

The Cincinnati Reds are the 1st team to reach the 90 wins mark(90-47). Their magic number is 12.

The Baltimore Orioles(76-61) have pulled out to a 5 game lead over the Boston Red Sox(71-66).

The Oakland A's(82-56) have a slim 1 1/2 game cushion over the Minnesota Twins(81-58). I still think the Twins have it in them to win this race, but I'm usually wrong.

[Syd Thrift]

I feel like normal fatigue with the as played schedule still requires players to take a lot of games off in the summer in the 70s, when team commonly played like 29 games in July.

[David Watts]

And so it begins. Nolan Ryan's very first no-hitter comes in a game against the Texas Rangers. Nolan is still struggling when it comes to walking batters, but his hits allowed are way down from previous years. If the Angels could get Frank Tanana to right the ship, the threesome of Nolan Ryan, Andy Messersmith and Frank Tanana could be the start of something special.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

I feel like normal fatigue with the as played schedule still requires players to take a lot of games off in the summer in the 70s, when team commonly played like 29 games in July.

I agree. Even with normal fatigue we will never see a Cal Ripken type streak. I know high fatigue would probably produce better results overall, but I don't like the forced barrier it creates.

[splat58]

Is Frank Howard still playing?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by splat58

Is Frank Howard still playing?

Barely. Frank led the AL with 38 home runs and 128 RBI in 73. This year he's on the OOTP pinch hit tour. 76 games, no starts, 63 at bats. Hitting .259, 3 home runs 14 RBI. 433 career home runs. He is with the Texas Rangers.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by David Watts

I agree. Even with normal fatigue we will never see a Cal Ripken type streak. I know high fatigue would probably produce better results overall, but I don't like the forced barrier it creates.

The only real way to get a player to play all 162 is to not have a backup ( which is basically how the Orioles ran out Ripken - he also had a very long consecutive innings streak ) and then get very, very lucky. Incidentally, Gehrig was also pretty lucky and then also had a chunk of games where he came on on the first and then was immediately lifted for a defensive replacement after an at bat or an appearance in the field, depending on where the game was played. The bottom line with Gehrig is that the game doesn’t care about games played streaks and won’t try to cheese the system to prolong one.

As an aside, it’d be nice to also see different managers have different fatigue thresholds for players. The biggest example I can think of is the Cubs under Leo Durocher in 1969, who put his guys in every game, day in, day out, which arguably led to them getting tired down the stretch and blowing the lead they had over the Mets.

[splat58]

[QUOTE=

As an aside, it’d be nice to also see different managers have different fatigue thresholds for players. The biggest example I can think of is the Cubs under Leo Durocher in 1969, who put his guys in every game, day in, day out, which arguably led to them getting tired down the stretch and blowing the lead they had over the Mets.[/QUOTE]

And ruined Randy Hundley