Northern League Baseball: A humorously depressing look 50 years into the future...

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Nunyer

That's pretty hefty turnover... of course the team was pretty crappy for a long time as well. 14 out of 25 acquired via trade... and try as I might to not abuse the CPU... never stacking tons of 2 star garbage to net a 5 star prospect for example... It still looks like the CPU got hoodwinked more than it didn't. Obviously dropping large amounts of money into the player development budget helped the young guys I acquired become better players, but maybe next big fictional league that I start I'll maybe make a house rule to limit my trading...

I eventually get to this point with my leagues too. It's hard not to do things to improve. Then you get to a point where you think you did too much, but it's too late. It happens to all of the great ones like us.

[Nunyer]

Yep... I was especially aggressive with getting starting pitching prospects early on... and really I only had two develop. One is a legit top-of-the-rotation type and the other is a middle of the pack type... so I'm probably only hitting with a 20-25% success rate considering all the young starters I acquired... But when you can constantly turn the guys over the minute they don't pass the "smell test" or the minute they run out of ML options without having a place on the 25 man roster... Eventually you're going to get a few guys to stick.

[Nunyer]

It's been three years... how about some good old fashioned thread necromancy!

The Columbus Hot Dogs still exist on my old OOTP14 load. I haven't played them in quite awhile, but they eventually reached 14.5 seasons. Having nothing better to do while I watch real baseball on the couch, I managed pretty much all of those games... and then went on to another 20 seasons or so across a few other fictional leagues.

I left off the franchise story in the year 2055. The Hot Dogs ended up walking away with the division, but didn't make it out of the first round, losing to the eventual champion Cleveland Comrades in six games. Things played out in a similar fashion for the 2056 season, rolling to an easy division title only to drop a seven game opening round series to the eventual champion Buffalo Soldiers.

After that, my team really hit a roll... winning seven of the next nine titles. This era would have been largely dull to write about... as I had become rather cutthroat. Unless you were a true world beater, you didn't last as a Hot Dog into your big FA payday. As soon as I would have a decent enough replacement in the wings, I'd ship out the veterans and restock the farm with prospects. If the moves would cost me 5 or 8 games over the course of the season, it didn't matter. I'd win my weak division by seven games instead of twelve. This eventually led to a type of critical mass, where I could always keep both my farm system stocked and payroll manageable. If I saw somebody that I wanted, almost any player in the league was mine for the taking... I always had the combination of prospects, young vets and cash to get a deal done... Once they did their duty... I usually managed to move them out 2-3 years before their inevitable decline. I had a lot of fun with it, but like I said, it would have been a bit dull to write about... Nobody in real life would constantly move All-Star (and in some cases HoF) worthy players in their prime... but I was obsessed with only carrying a couple of big contracts while keeping tons of prospects.

Quick updates on some of the names from the franchise:

Ruben 'Big Stud' Vega - SP
Ruben put up a couple more good seasons, going 19-4 in 2055 and 18-7 in 2056. He started off shaky in 2057, starting 13 games with an ERA approaching 5.00... Then an elbow injury knocked him out for the season. After a rehab setback, he retired at the end of that season. He was 38 years old and finished with a career mark of 212-169 with an ERA of 3.57. In the 25 year history of the league, Ruben is ranked 12th all time in wins (8th in losses) and 10th in strikeouts with 2,386. He was not voted into the HoF despite the 200 wins... but I might make him a veteran's committee addtion at some point.

Rex 'The Shark' Scott - C
The big FA signing that started it all for the Hot Dogs, Scott would spend seven full seasons in Columbus. After a subpar showing in 2059, where Scott would only hit .242, I started looking for a replacement. Scott was then traded to Grand Rapids for a middling 4th OF type... in what was basically a salary dump to get the last two years of his contract off my books. He did platoon/backup work for two teams over the next three seasons, only appearing in a total of 158 games over that stretch. He retired in 2062 and entered the HoF in his first year of eligibility two seasons later. For his career, he put up a line of .286/.352/.554 with 437 HRs.

Barry 'Condor' Summers - OF
The stupid bird nickname was never able to overcome the injury bug during his time with Columbus. After his strong rookie campaign in 2052, he never appeared in more than 98 games in any given season for the Dogs... He was a sweetener in a trade prior to the 2057 season and ended up bouncing around. He played with six different teams over the next six seasons. He retired after the 2063 season as a .254 lifetime hitter with 174 HRs and 1,114 hits.

Jesus 'Dozer' Vazquez - CL
Along with Rex Scott, Vazquez was the other big FA signing that put Columbus over the top. He was one of the "World Beaters" that I held onto until the bitter end. With the Dogs being a pretty good team and not needing a ton of saves, he never logged more than 37 in a given season, but he was always consistent. He didn't start to decline until the rip old age of 38, when a late season injury kept him out of the playoffs. He attempted a comeback the following season but wasn't the same... After appearing in 10 games midway through the 2065 season and posting an ERA of 8.76, another injury led to his eventual retirement just short of his 40th birthday. He'll be a HoF when eligible, finishing his career with an ERA of 1.82, WHIP of 0.97 and 583 saves (362 with Columbus)

This last one is a non-Hot Dogs player, but somebody that I referenced a few times... Johnny 'Crackhead' Murphy.. perhaps the greatest OOTP hitter that I have ever seen. 19 seasons, 3440 hits, 991 HRs. Crazy Barry Bonds Flaxseed Oil production from the age of 23 to 40... His slash of .324/.426/.661 and career WAR of 171.3 aren't too shabby either.

I see that the thread has over 12,000 views... so my thanks to anybody that has taken the time over the last few years to read this stuff. It was fun to do the first time around and it's been fun to reminisce about while writing this reply....

[pauwoo]

Just read this whole thing over the weekend! Good stuff - not sure if Nunyer is still slumming in and around these boards with the rest of us OOTP addicts... I highly recommend that y’all check this one out if you haven’t already.