Growing Baseball Worldwide: A Business Dynasty

[CivicEvo]

FINAL 2007 STANDINGS



So in a year where New York set a billion records, they finish the season with a 46-8 record, for an .852 winning percentage. They will face the winner of Dallas and Los Angeles in the Wild Card round, as the league seems the same playoff bracket form as in 2006.



One positive for Los Angeles? They'll be getting star CF Dave Ortiz (USA) back into the lineup in the #2 hole just in time. Zach Larson, who performed admirably in spot duty, will head back to the bench.

League Leaders



Reid Landry (USA) led the league in batting average, finishing at a league record .451 (!). He is the first batter in league history to hit over .400 in a season, even with a small sample size of guys. His 5.7 WAR in 53 games will go down as the most legendary season in USABL history to date.



Even in what many considered a down season, Milo Hoover (USA) once again led the league in home runs with 17. Hoover finished a solid campaign with 2.0 WAR, hitting just .202 but driving in 34 runs as a key leader in Los Angeles making the playoffs again.



Coming off a career year, nothing was going to stop 1B Richard McLaughlin (USA) in 2007. McLaughlin led the league in RBI with 46 this season, coming off 14 home runs and a .302 average with 3.0 WAR.



Philadelphia did not have much going for them, but they did have breakout star Ethan Prince (USA) shine, as Prince went 5-1 with a 1.99 ERA, which lead the league.



This likely comes as no surprise whatsoever, but a New York pitcher did lead the league in wins this season. It was one of the three headed monster, Kevin Adkins (USA), who finished the season 9-2 with a 2.71 ERA and 2.4 WAR. This is the third year in a row that Adkins led the league in wins.



Finally, we move to strikeouts where Nolan Griffin (USA) also led the league in Ks for the third consecutive season, this time finishing with 102 in just 91.1 innings for Dallas. He finished 8-4 with a 2.66 ERA with 2.1 WAR in 13 starts on the season.

Redrafting the Top 3 of the 2001 Entry Draft

Looking back to the 2001 Draft, 23 players were drafted from the United States. The top 3? RP Dustin Calder, CF Tim Strong, and RF Terence Hone.

Let's re-rank those top 3, and see if any, or all, of those players have panned out as expected:



1. Tonito Caguioa (United States)
Position: Shortstop
From: Lompoc, California, United States
Drafted: 2nd Round, 8th Overall by Philadelphia in the 2001 Draft
Years Active: 2002-2007
Teams Played For: Dallas (2002-04), New York (2006-07)
Career Accomplishments: Rookie of the Year (2003), All Star at SS (2006), Champion (2006, NY)
Career Earnings: $5,689
Career Stats: 210 GP, .260 AVG, 13 HR, 92 RBI, 28 SB, .686 OPS, 4.8 WAR



2. Larry Arnold (United States)
Position: Left Field
From: New York, New York, United States
Drafted: 3rd Round, 13th Overall by Philadelphia in the 2001 Draft
Years Active: 2005-2007
Teams Played For: Philadelphia (2005-07)
Career Accomplishments: Rookie of the Year (2005)
Career Earnings: $1,866
Career Stats: 158 GP, .319 AVG, 5 HR, 57 RBI, 33 SB, .763 OPS, 3.0 WAR



3. Tim Strong (United States)
Position: Center Field
From: Catskill, New York, United States
Drafted: 1st Round, 2nd Overall by Chicago in the 2001 Draft
Years Active: 2003-2007
Teams Played For: Chicago (2003-07)
Career Accomplishments: Champion 2x (2003, 2004)
Career Earnings: $3,264
Career Stats: 130 GP, .285 AVG, 11 HR, 60 RBI, 12 SB, .744 OPS, 2.0 WAR

Coming Up Next: The Wild Card Round and Initial Coverage from the 2007 Gold Cup!

[CivicEvo]

2007 USABL Wild Card Round

Los Angeles (27-27) vs. Dallas (34-20)

vs.

The series will be played as a best 2-out-of-3.

History

This series is a rematch of the 2006 USABL Wild Card Round, when Los Angeles swept Dallas by a game score of 2-0. LA leads the overall playoff matchup series 1-0 over Dallas.

This is Los Angeles' fourth playoff appearance in franchise history, and third appearance in a row. In 2001, they were swept by New York in the championship. In 2005, they won the division and had a bye into the finals, before again being swept by New York. In 2006, Los Angeles defeated Dallas in the Wild Card, but again lost to New York - this time in 5 games. All time, Los Angeles has a 3-12 playoff record.

This is Dallas' fourth playoff appearance as well. In 2000, they lost in six games to New York in the inaugural championship series. In a rematch of the same series in 2002, they lost again - but this time in seven games. Last year, they were swept by Los Angeles in the wild card round. All time, Dallas has a 5-10 playoff record.

Game 1



Game 2 - Los Angeles Leads 1-0



Los Angeles (again) Wins the Series 2-0!

USA Wild Card MVP



Milo Hoover (USA) wins his first playoff series MVP Award, after going 4-9 in the two game series with 2 HR, 2 RBI and a 2.238 OPS. Hoover, who has typically struggled in the playoffs, finished the series with 3 extra base hits and will once again appear in a USABL Championship Series

Playoff Tree



Up Next: The Championship Series, and the transition over to the Gold Cup Tournament!

[CivicEvo]

2007 USABL Championship

Los Angeles (27-27) vs. New York (46-8)


vs.


The series will be played as a best 4-out-of-7.

History

Los Angeles and New York have faced in the playoffs three times before, when New York swept LA to win the 2001 Championship - and then again in 2005. In 2006, the clubs met again in the Finals where New York won in 5 games. This will be the third consecutive championship series between these two teams.

This is Los Angeles' fourth playoff appearance in franchise history and third appearance in the finals. They are 0-3 in the Championship, but 2-0 in the Wild Card Round.

New York has made eight consecutive championship series appearances, going 5-2 in the previous seven. They are 1-0 in the Wild Card Round.

News



Before the series started, Los Angeles announced some important player news as All-Star CF Dave Ortiz (USA) has agreed to a 2-Year Extension with a 3rd Year Player Option worth a total of $8,880. Each season, Ortiz will earn $2,960 - a great deal for both sides!

For his career, the 34-year old Maryland native has played in 368 games with a .259 AVG, 29 HR, 140 RBI, a .712 OPS and 12.8 WAR.

The Series

Game 1



Game 2 - New York Leads 1-0



Game 3 - Series Tied at 1



Game 4 - Los Angeles Leads 2-1



Game 5 - Los Angeles Leads 3-1



Game 6 - Los Angeles Leads 3-2



Game 7

Wow! What a series this has been so far. Before Game 7, Los Angeles reported some terrible news as All-Star LF and USA Gold Cup member Dan Gibson (USA) will miss the game and the tournament with a broken hand that will keep him out 3-4 months. Unreal!

So without Gibson, Zach Larson (USA) will start in his place. Game 7 will feature two aces: Buddy Humphrey (USA) of Los Angeles and Bill Evans (USA) of New York.

New York took an early 1-0 lead on a fielders choice RBI by starting catcher Christopher Castle (USA).

Evans was cruising along, as was Humphrey, until the 8th inning when a wide throw by 3B Jose Gonzalez (USA) opened up the floodgates for Los Angeles. They scored two unearned runs in the 8th, and two in the 9th on a pinch-hit homerun by 1B Randy Oglethorpe (USA) and with a scoreless 9th by Carlos Hernandez (USA), win the game 4-1 and win their FIRST USABL Championship in seven games!





SS Wayne Stoppard (USA) wins the USABL Championship Series MVP Award. Throughout the playoffs, Stoppard was great hitting .353 with 3 HR and 5 RBI with a 1.036 OPS and 0.6 WAR in 9 games. This was his first championship and first major award!

Up Next: Attention shifts to the Inaugural Gold Cup - player substitutions, predictions, and team previews tomorrow!

[CivicEvo]

Quick personal note: Beyond pumped we're at the point that international tournaments are a reality with this world. This is literal proof that OOTP is the best game around - never would have that I would be so ingratiated in a completely fictional world that was created from complete scratch. And of course, thank you to everyone who has been following along with me. I know it's taken a few different directions, but I think it's in a groove now and I look forward to continuing to grow this world into multiple leagues, countries, continents, and ultimately the entire world!

And now, a preview of the 2007 Gold Cup

Roster Changes



Richard McLaughlin (USA) has joined Team USA for the injured Danny Ratzlaff. While he plays 1B instead of 3B, the United States felt they needed a younger presence in the lineup than Mark Carr, and will use McLaughlin in the starting lineup. Darby Duncan will start at 3B for Team USA.



Mark Harvey (USA) was named to the roster after LF Dan Gibson suffered a fractured hand during the USABL Championship. Harvey will be the designated hitter for the team during the tournament, and is slated to hit 6th in the lineup.



With Gary Bower still out recovering from Tommy John, Andrew Murphy (USA) takes over his spot, and will be used primarily in mop-up should it apply.



Finally, with the inclusion of the DH, Team Canada decided to add C Jim Fisher (CAN) to the roster after a big second half in the USABL, and removed RP Jack Bourdin from the roster. Fisher will start at C, with Ken Shears moving to the DH role.

Team Previews

Team USA



Projected Group Play Record: 4-0
Betting Odds: -260 or 19/50





Team Canada



Projected Group Play Record: 2-2
Betting Odds: +700 or 7/1





Team Mexico



Projected Group Play Record: 0-4
Betting Odds: +1900 or 19/1





Coming Tomorrow: The first half of Group Play!

[BigRed75]

So how did you decide to implement it? A separate save with the same players?

[CivicEvo]

Originally Posted by BigRed75

So how did you decide to implement it? A separate save with the same players?

Yup! I ended up duplicating my efforts this time around to test and made sure it worked (which is why the team previews came early), but basically here's where things stand in terms of files:

1) The USABL file is currently sitting on pause on the first day of the off-season. It's September 23, 2007 there and will stay that way until the Gold Cup ends so it's almost like that side of the world is frozen in time.

2) On 9/23/07, I created a quick-start file that I started to create the Gold Cup World. This gave me the most updated ratings, statistics, and injuries. Then, I started to manipulate things.

First I cleared all rosters and took control of all teams so the AI couldn't make any signings. Then, I deleted all 7 teams and created the 3 National Teams. I changed the season start date to October 1 and made a 4 game schedule (which I manually created, easy enough with 3 teams) that would run for 6 total days. I turned off trading, the draft, created players, and the full financial system. I then (again) manually imported all rosters, logos, jerseys etc., and made everyone's home park the NY Stadium since they won the '06 USABL Title.

I think that's everything, but what that left me was a 15 day season+playoffs format that runs from 10/1-10/15. All the stats I will be moving to either a website or a Google Sheet so that I can keep track. After the Gold Cup, I'll essentially going "back in time" to 9/23/07 on the USABL save and run the off-season as usual. The stats won't be imported in, which is a limitation, but one I can live with.

Hope that helps! And thanks again for following!

[Rain King]

Looking great!

I am also interested in how you are going about your main league. What kind of adjustments to financials are you making year-to-year. How are you going about introducing new countries to the player pool, etc.

If you get a chance I would love to hear those kind of details as an aside from the awesome general storytelling/player updates of your world.

[CivicEvo]

Originally Posted by Rain King

Looking great!

I am also interested in how you are going about your main league. What kind of adjustments to financials are you making year-to-year. How are you going about introducing new countries to the player pool, etc.

If you get a chance I would love to hear those kind of details as an aside from the awesome general storytelling/player updates of your world.

Thanks! I'd be happy to share my thought process.

You are correct that each year I'm making adjustments to teams and the overall league (and eventually, leagues) to keep things moving forward. Eventually, the plan is to index the quality of the leagues from 0 to 100 and inflate things like salary, attendance, etc. to make it work like a real world. There are some limitations to that - Southern Hemisphere leagues will run the same July based seasons, even though it's winter there, but that just keeps things way more scalable for me long-term.

Each year, I increase the role-based salary guidance by a % (it's 10% as a base in the USA league right now, which could change over time). Each team gets a stadium capacity increase based on how well they did the previous season, which is my best interpretation of overall growth. I do let the AI itself set their own ticket prices and budgets, however. Just as a reward for doing well, the revenue opportunity increases with higher stadium capacities.

As far as countries, I'm trying to keep a logical progression based on geography and real life. So, in the year 2000 in this world, the United States held a 'monopoly" on baseball - again, just to keep things easier to scale. I then figured that from a geography perspective, it would make sense for the game to grow in North American countries first - so I took all 35ish members of CONCACAF and sorted them by GDP, creating an index that eventually landed on what I was comfortable with. Canada and Mexico are A) the richest and B) the closest to the United States, so they get the most players. That's followed by the DR, Cuba, Puerto Rico (counted on its own for some reason), and Guatemala. As this was close enough to real life for me to fit this logically from a baseball perspective, I'm actually still using that index and will until Canada/Mexico get their own leagues, meaning they move to an entry draft format (which will happen within 3 game years, most likely). At that point, the other North American countries will all see a lot more rapid development, and the growth as I can see it is going to take. off.

To give an outlet to grow, I also added very small percentages for players to come from Japan and Venezuela, as they are both rated as Baseball Quality 5 countries by OOTP which will I think ultimately be the gate to grow in South America and Asia.

Eventually more countries will be added to the pool once BQ4 and BQ3 countries get their own leagues, or are part of regions that are geographically near other areas of the world. That process is more contextual at this point since it's so far away, even at the current 20-25 real days per season pace.

I've tried to estimate a timeline to get the full world involved at this pace, but it's so hard still. A lot is going to depend on the rapid growth of the rest of North America once Canada and Mexico get leagues. At that point, the world will have at least 16 teams+, so it should be quicker.

The TL;DR: Right now all of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Venezuela, and Japan are in the pool.

Hope this was interesting and thanks again for following!

[Rain King]

It absolutely was interesting and I'm excited to see it all play out!

[CivicEvo]

The Games

October 1: Canada (0-0) vs. United States (0-0)



Three Stars of the Game







October 2: Canada (0-1) vs. Mexico (0-0)



Three Stars of the Game







October 3: United States (1-0) vs. Mexico (0-1)



Three Stars of the Game








Gold Cup Group Standings: October 3



What This Means

- The United States is basically into the Championship Round. While they need one more victory, unless Canada wins their next game by 28 runs along with a United States loss, the USA will clinch their way into the first slot of the best 2-of-3 final round.

- Canada's win over Mexico puts them at approximately 98% to be the second team in the finals, but they will need one more win against Mexico to clinch that scenario.

- Mexico is in a lot of trouble, but their -7 run differential is at least keeping them in the running for the time being.

Injuries

Two minor injuries to report:



Richard McLaughlin (USA) suffered a minor hip flexor strain during the team's 16-4 win over Canada in the first game, and will miss approximately a week of game time. The United States does not plan to call up another player to replace him, and will start Mark Carr in his place.



Reliever Júlio Mardón (MEX) suffered from a surprising case of dead arm, which officials were worried about happening before the tournament due to the timing relative to the USABL season. Team Mexico doctors recommended resting for a week, but with Mexico on the brink, Mardón may be asked to make an earlier return than originally expected.

Tomorrow: Conclusion of the Group Play!

[SawyerDR19]

This is such a good story. I've been wondering though, when and where do you plan on adding new leagues?

[CivicEvo]

Originally Posted by SawyerDR19

This is such a good story. I've been wondering though, when and where do you plan on adding new leagues?

Thank you!

I can for certain answer the where: the next two leagues will be based in Canada and Mexico. I have certain players-based-from-those countries thresholds that need to be crossed first before I move forward with them, or else I run the risk of either having incomplete teams or young, bad teams. I feel that an inaugural draft of 30-somethings doesn't fit the story of growing this world from almost scratch at this point - these leagues will be founded by USABL current players and 18-22 y/o Canadian and Mexican players in an entry draft format.

I would estimate that to get there, it'll take another 3 game years.

After that, I truthfully don't know where I'm going next. A lot of that is determined by how the world evolves. I do expect, however, that once those leagues get going, things start to move a whole lot quicker than they do now. That said, I'm pretty grateful it has taken this long - it's allowed me to make adjustments and get a process down to know the world from soup to nuts before it got to big to really follow.

[CivicEvo]

The Games

October 4: Canada (1-1) vs. United States (2-0)



Three Stars of the Game







With this win, the United States clinch a spot in the Gold Cup Finals!

October 5: Mexico (0-2) vs. United States (3-0)



Three Stars of the Game







October 6: Mexico (0-3) vs. Canada (1-2)
Winner Advances to the Gold Cup Finals!



Three Stars of the Game







WOW! What a win for Team Canada, coming from 3 runs down in the last two innings to advance. Of course, their prize is the United States National Team, but just getting to this spot will secure their rank as the #2 baseball country in the world.

Final Group Play Standings & Statistics





Injuries



Just one to report for the remainder of Group Play. Chicago 2B and Canadian starter Lane Bennett (CAN) will miss the rest of the tournament with a strained abdominal muscle. A tough blow for the club, but Philadelphia SS Guillaume Michel (CAN) is expected to step in and start in his place for the remainder of the tournament.

Up Next: The Gold Cup Finals!

[CivicEvo]

2007 Gold Cup Championship

United States vs. Canada



The series will be played as a best 2-out-of-3.

Game 1



Three Stars of the Game







Game 2 - United States Leads 1-0



Three Stars of the Game







The United States Win the 2007 Gold Cup!

Awards

Player of the Tournament



Reid Landry (USA) has won the 2007 Gold Cup Player of the Tournament, after hitting .500 with 1 HR and 7 RBI for a 1.329 OPS in Group Play, and .600 with 0 HR and 4 RBI for a 1.336 OPS in the Finals. This likely caps off Landry's best overall season, and possibly the best single season for an IBF affiliated player to date.

Pitcher of the Tournament



Buddy Humphrey (USA) has won the Pitcher of the Tournament. Humphrey made one start in group play, pitching 8 innings, giving up 4 runs but striking out 10. In the finals, Humphrey pitched the clinching game, again going 8 innings and striking out 10 but just giving up two runs. For the tournament, Humphrey went 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 16 innings, with two starts against Team Canada.

That will end it for the Inaugural Gold Cup. This will hopefully just be a preview of many more international tournaments to come, but I really enjoying playing through the first one even though the United States winning was a very foregone conclusion.

Next up, we head back to league play in the United States where the 2007 Off-Season is getting under way. As usual, it will be broken up into two parts. Coming tomorrow? The 2007 Awards Winners, a new team announced, and other news and notes from the early portion of the off-season.

[CivicEvo]

Washington Baseball Club Enters League



WASHINGTON, DC -- The United States Baseball League announced the inception of the league's eighth team, the Washington Baseball Club. This marks the fourth expansion in eight years for the upstart league, as they continue to expand their footprint across the United States. As of September 24, 2007, Washington is free to make signings, hires, and trades. They will participate in the 2007 Entry Draft and the International Free Agent Signing Period.

The USABL also announced three additional rules and league changes for the upcoming season:

1) The regular season has been increased from 54 games to 60 games. Each team will play the other 7 teams either 7 or 8 times.

2) The playoffs will expand from a three team field to a four team field. The first round will be a best 3-out-of-5. The championship series will remain a best of seven. There will be no byes this season.

3) The salary cap has been eliminated - teams are entitled to spend as they please on player payroll.

Washington owner Danny Lantz stated he is excited to join the league and looks forward to putting a winning team on the field as soon as they can.



Two years in and the Houston Baseball Club has decided to make a change in the managerial position. The team announced today they have decided to let go of manager Julio Lara, after compiling just a 35-73 record over his two seasons with the club. No replacement was immediately named.



Finally, in a bit of a surprise, New York's legendary General Manager Perry Brewer has retired after the 2007 season. Leading New York to 5 championships and 8 championship appearances in his tenure, Brewer retires as a baseball lifer and as the most accomplished GM in league history. New York owner James Larson seemed stunned by the decision and did not name an immediate replacement.

Draft Pool Announced

This year's top 10 ranked players:

1. Nasir Hussaini (C) - Madison, WI
2. Kyle Morehouse (SP) - Philadelphia, PA
3. Bryan Schmidt (2B) - Greenfield, IN
4. Fred Henrichs (SS) - La Puente, CA
5. Nate Humphreys (CF) - Minneapolis, MN
6. Phil Kaufman (2B) - Columbus, GA
7. Matt Laird (SP) - Madison, CT
8. Ernie Larkin (CF) - New York, NY
9. Jon Lowman (SS) - San Jose, CA
10. Jesse Turnbull (1B) - Detroit, MI

Top 10 Free Agents

This year's top 10 ranked Free Agents, ranked by JAWS:

1. Milo Hoover (C) - Los Angeles
2. Bill Evans (SP) - New York
3. Brad Lange (RF) - Philadelphia
4. Mike Cooper (SP) - Dallas
5. Calvin Miller (3B) - Chicago
6. Mark Carr (1B) - Philadelphia
7. Richard McLaughlin (1B) - New York
8. Lonnie Mitchell (2B) - Los Angeles
9. Charles Jacobson (RP) - Dallas
10. Jesse Mooney (2B) - New York

2007 Award Winners

Most Valuable Player
Reid Landry - LF - New York (1st)
.451/.526/.684, 215 AB, 10 HR, 19 SB, 248 wRC+, 5.7 WAR

Pitcher of the Year
Bill Evans - SP - New York (2nd)
6 W - 2 L, 2.79 ERA, 96.2 IP, 21 BB, 92 K, 3.2 WAR

Reliever of the Year
Phil Martin - RP - Philadelphia (2nd)
1 W - 2 L, 10 SV, 2.45 ERA, 25.2 IP, 6 BB, 52 K, 1.3 WAR

Rookie of the Year
Bob Hudson - SS - Dallas
.289/.344/.386, 83 AB, 0 HR, 13 SB, 99 wRC+, 0.8 WAR

All-Stars
Pitcher: Bill Evans - New York (2nd)
Catcher: Aaron Klink - Dallas (2nd)
First Base: Adam Atkinson - San Francisco/Dallas (1st)
Second Base: Jesse Mooney - New York (1st)
Third Base: Jose Gonzalez - New York (2nd)
Shortstop: Tonito Caguioa - New York (2nd)
Left Field: Reid Landry - New York (5th)
Center Field: Paul Parker - Dallas (2nd)
Right Field: John Lee - San Francisco/New York (5th)

Tomorrow: More from the 2007 Off-Season as we head into 2008!

[CivicEvo]

News



We start with All-Star SP Mike Cooper, now 42 years old, and upcoming free agent. It was announced in October that due to a farming incident at his home in Alabama, Cooper will miss the entire 2008 season. Many pundits are now wondering if he will ever play again, given his age and given that he will miss the entire upcoming campaign. A tough blow for a player who will be given serious Hall of Fame consideration as one of the league's pioneers.

Retirees

Two Retirees of note this year:



Esteban Garcia
Position: Relief Pitcher
From: Toledo, Oregon, United States
Teams Played For: Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco
Career Accomplishments: None
Career Stats: 6-10 Record, 54 Saves, 2.62 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 179 Strikeouts, 3.6 WAR



Josh Hampton
Position: Shortstop
From: Oceano, California, United States
Teams Played For: Los Angeles, Chicago, New York
Career Accomplishments: All-Star SS 2x (2003, 2004), Champion 2x (2003, 2004)
Career Stats: .239 AVG, 41 HR, 117 RBI, 0 SB, .717 OPS, 7.9 WAR

Top 10 Free Agents

As usual, the new team on the block - this team, Washington, came out swinging by signing a lot of free agent contracts to fill out their team. Washington's payroll is now the highest in the league at $56K.

1. Milo Hoover (C) - Signed with Washington, 2 Years, $13,200 (Player Option after 2008)
2. Bill Evans (SP) - Signed with New York, 2 Years, $15,600 (Player Option after 2008)
3. Brad Lange (RF) - Signed with Los Angeles, 2 Years, $12,200
4. Mike Cooper (SP) - Injured, Out for 2008
5. Calvin Miller (3B) - Signed with Chicago, 1 Year, $3,480
6. Mark Carr (1B) - Signed with Washington, 1 Year, $2,360
7. Richard McLaughlin (1B) - Signed with New York, 2 Years, $4,000
8. Lonnie Mitchell (2B) - Signed with Washington, 1 Year, $3,340
9. Charles Jacobson (RP) - Signed with Los Angeles, 1 Year, $2,120
10. Jesse Mooney (2B) - Signed with New York, 1 Year, $3,240

Key Trades

Just one from this off-season:

New York traded RF Greg Martin (USA) to Dallas for RP Tim Davis (USA) and C Armando Gildard (MEX)

Martin is expected to step right into the starting lineup for Dallas in RF, which is a much better situation than playing off the bench behind John Lee in New York.

Tim Davis will resume a set-up role in New York after the team lost Roy Myers in free agency to Los Angeles. Gildard is ranked as the #102 prospect in the USABL and is expected to start the season on New York's reserve roster.

Players By Country: January 2008



No new countries entered the universe this year, but 32 IFAs did - this year coming from Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Haiti.

Next: The start of the 2008 season!

[BigRed75]

Milo Hoover signing with Washington - that's HUGE!

[CivicEvo]

In a bit of a twist, I decided not to start the season today but instead do a season preview type post since the league is expanding quickly. I figured this would be a good level-set, so without further adieu...

Preseason Predictions



Top Farm Systems

Chicago - Top 5 Prospects
1. Antonio Santos (MEX) - CF - 2nd Overall
2. Mike Garrett (USA) - SP - 4th Overall
3. Kevin Powers (USA) - SP - 14th Overall
4. Alex Marquez (CRC) - C - 16th Overall
5. Charlie Feist (CAN) - SP - 19th Overall

Houston
1. Antonio Lopez (MEX) - SP - 3rd Overall
2. Ethan Paddock (CAN) - SS - 8th Overall
3. Nate Humphreys (USA) - CF - 17th Overall
4. Matt Laird (USA) - SP - 20th Overall
5. Aaron Watson (USA) - RP - 27th Overall

San Francisco
1. Jorge Gomez (MEX) - C - 6th Overall
2. Brian Leise (USA) - SP - 15th Overall
3. Justin Lombardi (USA) - SP - 24th Overall
4. Julio Macias (DOM) - RP - 30th Overall
5. Bill Stewart (USA) - CF - 37th Overall

Dallas
1. Edgar Bonilla (MEX) - LF - 5th Overall
2. Antonio Palacios (MEX) - SP - 9th Overall
3. Ernesto Rios (MEX) - RP - 18th Overall
4. Will March (CAN) - RP - 29th Overall
5. Nasir Hussaini (USA) - C - 34th Overall

New York
1. Elton Woodall (TRI) - SP - 10th Overall
2. Jorge Garcia (MEX) - CF - 33rd Overall
3. Jose Torrez (PUR) - SP - 35th Overall
4. Greyson Hoffe (CAN) - RP - 38th Overall
5. Billy Kaufman (USA) - 1B - 47th Overall

Los Angeles
1. Kirk Langlais (CAN) - SP - 21st Overall
2. Jon Whitley (USA) - SP - 22nd Overall
3. Julien Blanc (CAN) - 3B - 23rd Overall
4. Geoff King (USA) - RP - 31st Overall
5. Jon Melton (USA) - SP - 39th Overall

Philadelphia
1. Tyler Hickmott (BRB) - CF - 7th Overall
2. Greg Schroer (USA) - SP - 25th Overall
3. Alfred Kerry (CAN) - 3B - 80th Overall
4. Shafgat Alavi (USA) - C - 87th Overall
5. Luther Hahn (USA) - RP - 95th Overall

Washington
1. Jorge Calderon (MEX) - SS - 1st Overall
2. Kyle Morehouse (USA) - RP - 11th Overall
3. Willie Gonzalez (PAN) - SP - 13th Overall
4. Cory Caputo (USA) - RP - 165th Overall
5. Nick Holcomb (USA) - 1B - 200th Overall

Historical Players

A new feature debuting in this story for 2008, this is simply a list of the top 3% of batters and pitchers, ranked by Career IBF WAR (League + International Play), that are active during the season. This is simply an attempt to try and keep name recognition for when they appear during the season.

Milo Hoover (USA) - C - 22.6 WAR - Washington (USA)
Reid Landry (USA) - LF - 21.6 WAR - New York (USA)
Bill Evans (USA) - SP - 15.3 WAR - New York (USA)
John Lee (USA) - RF - 15.1 WAR - New York (USA)
Nolan Griffin (USA) - SP - 14.9 WAR - Dallas (USA)
Aaron Klink (USA) - C - 14.8 WAR - Dallas (USA)
Paul Parker (USA) - CF - 13.2 WAR - Dallas (USA)
Dave Collins (USA) - SP - 12.8 WAR - New York (USA)
Buddy Humphrey (USA) - SP - 12.7 WAR - Los Angeles (USA)

Over the course of the next few posts, we'll do the usual rankings and go into the teams more in-depth with 1 per post.

Originally Posted by BigRed75

Milo Hoover signing with Washington - that's HUGE!

Huge and surprising. Washington essentially did what recently new MLS teams have done - overpay for older talent and pray it works out. It probably won't, but at least they'll have some star power in their early years. All-Stars Jose Gonzalez (3B) and Adam Atkinson (1B) also signed there. Not much depth though, so if any of them get injured, I don't think they'll be able to recover from that.

I suspect ultimately they will eventually follow what San Francisco and Houston have done, which was tear it down as quickly as possible to build the farm up. Philadelphia is FINALLY learning that approach.

As an aside as well, I think NY, DAL, and LA will easily wrap the top 3 spots up like the game predicts. The 4th spot is unclear to me - I think Philadelphia actually has an outside shot at it.

[CivicEvo]

Opening Day 2008 has arrived!

Los Angeles looks to defend their first team championship, while Washington debuts in the league as the 8th United States based team.

The July 1, 2008 games include:

Philadelphia vs. Los Angeles
Washington vs. New York
Dallas vs. San Francisco
Chicago vs. Houston

All teams will play 60 games this season (up from 54 the last two seasons) with the year ending on September 2nd due in a more condensed schedule. Additionally, the trade deadline has also been moved back to August 15th this year, to give teams more time to decide on short-term direction.

Standings



Too early for any real analysis, but I have to admit it's nice to see Houston off to a 3-0 start.

News & Updates



Let's start with the biggest accomplishment of the week. Houston LF Tony Ortíz (CUB) tied a USABL record with 5 hits in a 16-7 Houston win over San Francisco on July 3rd. Ortiz established himself last season as a regular left fielder for the club and is off to a torrid start in 2008, hitting .471 in the first 3 games of the year with 0 HR and 2 RBI for 0.5 WAR. The 22 year old is the most accomplished player from Cuba to debut in the world thus far.



Now for some injury news. Chicago CF Tim Strong (USA) is injured again and was placed on the disabled list with a sore elbow. He's only expected to miss the minimal amount of time, but many were expecting a big breakout from the 25 year old this season. Injured in the first inning of the first game, Strong has not accrued any plate appearances so far this season. In the meantime, 24-year old Jason Thompson (USA) will take his place in center. Thompson debuted last season with Chicago and hit .214 with -0.1 WAR in 19 appearances.



Finally, San Francisco breakout candidate LF John Bartlatt (CAN) suffered a torn hamstring in the first week and will be out 6 weeks, which remains a majority of the upcoming season. Bartlatt was phenomenal for Team Canada in the Gold Cup and carried that forward to the start of this season hitting .571 in his 2 games with 4 hits and a double. He is expected to return this season, but this is clearly a missed opportunity for the 23 year old British Columbia native. In the meantime, Diego Mena (USA), who started every game for Houston last season with 1.5 WAR, will take Bartlatt's spot in the outfield so all may not be lost for San Francisco this season.

Rankings! Taking a Look at the Two Best IFAs from 2001

With the start of the new season, let's take a look back to 2001 when 19 players were signed by the (at the time) five USABL teams from Canada, Mexico, and Cuba. So far, only two have been positive WAR players, but these guys are all still very young. Here are those two players:



1. John Bartlatt (Canada)
Position: Left Field
From: Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Drafted: Signed in 2001 by Philadelphia (USA)
Years Active: 2006-Present
Teams Played For: San Francisco (2006-Present)
Career Accomplishments: None
Career Earnings: $2,640
Career Stats: 66 GP, .241 AVG, 1 HR, 18 RBI, 0 SB, .629 OPS, 0.3 WAR



2. Ken Shears (Canada)
Position: Catcher
From: Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada
Drafted: Signed in 2001 by Chicago (USA)
Years Active: 2006-Present
Teams Played For: Chicago (2006), Houston (2007-Present)
Career Accomplishments: None
Career Earnings: $1,302
Career Stats: 38 GP, .254 AVG, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 0 SB, .606 OPS, 0.4 WAR

[CivicEvo]

Washington Baseball Club
Established 2007
Located: Washington, D.C., United States

Team History
Seasons: 0
Record: 0-0
Playoff Appearances: 0
Championship Appearances: 0
League Championships: 0

Historical Players
None

2008 Team & Prospects
Starting Lineup
SS Jorge Calderon (MEX) - -0.6 Career WAR
2B Lonnie Mitchell (USA) - 7.6 Career WAR
3B Jose Gonzalez (USA) - 6.8 Career WAR
CF Pat Ingram (USA) - 4.8 Career WAR
LF Michael Sullivan (USA) - -0.3 Career WAR
C Milo Hoover (USA) - 22.6 Career WAR
1B Adam Atkinson (USA) - 5.3 Career WAR
RF Paul Hester (USA) - 1.5 Career WAR

Pitching Rotation
SP Luis Fernandez (USA) - 8.2 Career WAR
SP John Weaver (USA) - 5.5 Career WAR
SP Hayden Hayes (USA) - 3.3 Career WAR
SP Pedro Morales (USA) - 0.2 Career WAR
SP Willie Gonzalez (PAN) - Rookie

Key Prospects
1. Jorge Calderon (MEX) - SS - 1st Overall
2. Kyle Morehouse (USA) - RP - 11th Overall
3. Willie Gonzalez (PAN) - SP - 13th Overall
4. Cory Caputo (USA) - RP - 165th Overall
5. Nick Holcomb (USA) - 1B - 200th Overall

Country Breakdown - Active Roster
United States - 22
Costa Rica - 1
Mexico - 1
Panama - 1

Financial Trend Reports
None - Washington joined the league this season

Next Up: More from the 2008 season, a First Base updated ranking, and a team preview/update on Houston!