Harry Lyerly and the Denver Brewers of the WPK

[BirdWatcher]

Now that the Brewers have traded away long-time second baseman Tanner Yurek and veteran third baseman Jamison Bash, one of the big remaining questions this season is whether they will trade away veteran right fielder Antonio Puente prior to the trading deadline (or in the upcoming off-season.)

Puente was one of the team's first stars and was the first player signed to a long-term contract (which doesn't expire until the end of the 1974 season.) He is the career franchise leader in home runs (175), RBI (570), walks (524), slugging percentage (.439), and WAR (33.4), second in runs scored (478), and hits (802). On the other hand, he also is the career leader in strikeouts (815.)

Puente has that valuable combination of speed and power and also is a very gifted outfielder. In fact, now that he has settled full-time in right field (he was a left fielder early in his career and the past few years has seen quite a bit of time in center field as well as both corners), his defensive numbers this year should make him a strong candidate to win his first Gold Glove award. In his career he has been very good at drawing walks but is also very prone to striking out. But his contact skills, which were never great, have diminished much over the years. He has a career batting average of .237 and is struggling to stay above .220 this season. He is trending in the wrong direction in terms of walk percentage and strikeout percentage. And while he remains the team's most likely power threat, he is only on pace to hit 15 HR's this season. His OPS is only 7th among Brewers batters this season and his OBP is a dismal .318. Largely due to his excellent defense and his power hitting he is still third on the team among position players in WAR (behind Bobby Erbakan and Chad Brown.)

Puente's salary of 140K per season for the remainder of the term isn't unreasonable. But with so many other outfield options on the teams it is likely that the Brewers could scrape together performance near his for much less money.
Veteran superstar Ryan Rodgers is now recovered from his earlier (bar arm wrestling) injury and is currently in the midst of a rehab assignment at AAA Chester. When he returns it is likely that Paul Mackins will be sent back down to Chester. Mackins has been very solid for the Brewers off the bench with great left-field defense, top of the line speed and base-stealing ability, and a respectable slash line of .291/.310/.345. All at the league minimum salary ($19,840) of course.
Although his batting average has dipped quite a bit lately, rookie Joe McPhillips is clearly the future center fielder and shows signs of becoming a star in the league. His slash line of .223/.342/.404 still gives him one of the better OPS on the team (much better than Puente's), he has Gold Glove caliber defensive skills and is a great on the base paths.
And Andrew Kennedy, signed to a 6-year extension earlier this season, is probably the team's best pure hitter not named Ryan Rodgers. Kennedy doesn't have great power, but will hit a high number of doubles, spraying line drives around the field at will and rarely striking out, and is a solid defender in the outfield corners and at first base where can provide good coverage when Erbakan needs a breather.
That leaves Pat Rondeau, a premium defender at all 3 outfield positions, a speed demon on the bases, and a good little hitter (.296/.313/.356). Rondeau has one year of arbitration eligibility left and it is estimated that he could be re-signed for 1973 at a cost of about $95 K.
And this is not even to mention the several good young outfielders still waiting in the wings in the minors, at least one of whom (Josh Schaeffer) is thought to be a potential above average big league starter in right field.

So while it is not the worst dilemma to have, it is a dilemma nevertheless. What to do about Antonio Puente?

[BirdWatcher]

This is fascinating to me: not that team chemistry is as great as it is right now, in spite of the fact that our record still isn't that great, we have been playing better of late. And we did recently trade away the only unmotivated player we had (Jamison Bash.)
But what fascinates me is that with our long-time captain Abel Pennington on the injured list and out for the season with a ruptured bicep tendon, it is not Matt Helm, who also is considered a captain, who our great team chemistry is being attributed to primarily, but rather Kevin Curtis.
Not that I'm complaining, but it does make me wonder what the algorithm is here that causes this to happen.
Curtis has been on the team longer than Helm and is our starting catcher and a fan favorite while Helm bounces from bullpen to rotation.
I sense perhaps a captain title classification is coming to Curtis before long.

[BirdWatcher]

Next on the schedule is a 3-game series against the 1st place Charlotte Sting at Centennial Stadium

In game 1 the Sting dominate behind the excellent pitching of Mike Hiatt. Hiatt, who was the 15th player chosen overall in the 1967 draft and who pitched a no-hitter against the L.A. Spinners in 1970, allowed just 2 hits to the Brewers in this game, while striking out 6 and walking 5. The Sting win 6-0 as Cheol-han Lee has one of his weakest outings of the season, giving up 5 runs on 11 hits in just 5 1/3rd innings pitched. Lee falls to 9-3 with a 2.04 ERA. And of course, Jamison Bash, who was hitting so poorly for the Brewers this season before being traded to Charlotte, went 4 for 5 with 2 doubles in his first game back at Centennial Stadium against his former club.

Game 2 gave another glimpse of the potential of the youth movement for the Brewers, as they won 6-3 in 11 innings thanks to a Jonathan Koch (.264/.310/.453) grand-slam HR, his 3rd HR in 114 plate appearances in this his rookie season. A former Brewer once again shone- this time starting pitcher Adam Getchell, who allowed just 1 run (unearned) on 3 hits in 7 innings pitched while striking out 10 Brewer hitters and walking none. Another solid start from Erik Sloan helped keep the Brewers in the game and the score was 1-1 at the end of 9 innings. Miguel Solis gave up 2 runs to the Sting in the top of the 11th setting up the heroics in the bottom of the 11th by youngster Koch.

Following the script of the series, it was the turn of another former Brewer to come up with the big game- this time it was Tanner Yurek, who had not hit a HR in a Brewers uniform this season but belted a 3-run job against Harry Lyerly to get things off to a good start for the Sting offense in what would prove to be a 5-2 victory for the visitors. Lyerly gave up 5 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings pitched and drops to 6-4 with a 3.25 ERA. Paul Mackins (.291/.310/.345) had a nice day for the losing side, going 2 for 4 in the lead-off slot, hitting his 4th double of the season.

With the series loss against the first place Sting, the Brewers drop to 8 1/2 games out but remain in 4th place.

[stevem810]

Puente started off his career like he was going to be a world class player; Curiously, he sort of tailed off (age 24) about the time you would have thought he'd take the next step forward.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

Puente started off his career like he was going to be a world class player; Curiously, he sort of tailed off (age 24) about the time you would have thought he'd take the next step forward.

Indeed. It really seemed to come down to his failure to make consistent contact and his propensity to strike out. When he was younger he also drew a great many walks though so at least he had decent to very good OBP and he does have good speed and base-stealing ability. So that made him more useful. His ratings would seem to indicate that his HR power hasn't really declined, but he doesn't make contact regularly enough to keep the HR totals up. Oddly, he is 5th in the MGL this season in Win Probability Added. He is having a tremendous year in the field as our starting right fielder.

If I had to guess right now, I believe Puente will remain on the team for the rest of this season but might well be traded in the off-season. I'll be giving Ryan Rodgers a few more days worth of PA's down at AAA before bringing up back to the club. Paul Mackins, who has done a fine job filling in, will head back to AAA. But it will be important to get enough playing time for both Andrew Kennedy and Pat Rondeau. So Puente might be sitting more often the rest of 1972.

Plus, I've reached the mid-point of the season and while the Brewers certainly have plenty of time to get back into contention they have shown few signs of getting on a sustained roll. So I'm leaning towards going pretty much full on youth movement in terms of position players, at least.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers take on the Phoenix Speed Devils for a 4-game series. The Speed Devils, who were the pre-season favorite to be the best team in the WPK, come into the series with a very disappointing 36-43 record in 6th place in the MGL.

The Brewers won the first game in 12 innings thanks once again to a walk-off hit by rookie Jonathan Koch (.270/.317/.443), who went 2 for 6 in the game, which the Brewers won 3-2. Lefty Matt Helm was solid in the start, lasting 6 2/3rds, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits but also striking out 5 while walking none. The bullpen then combined for 5 1/3rd scoreless innings, with Dave Duncan, who is having a wonderful season, getting the win to improve to 2-2 with a 1.04 ERA. Rookie third sacker Mike Foster (.290/.324/.387) also collected 2 hits in the game (in 5 AB).

In game 2 the Brewers plated one run in the bottom of the first inning and that was it for the scoring. Steve Green got the victory, working 6 innings, giving up 3 hits while striking out 8 and walking 2. Green improves to 5-4 with a 3.13 ERA. The Brewers bullpen, which was struggling earlier in the season, has been terrific of late and they were once again in this game. Three relievers combined to preserve the narrow 1-0 victory with Jordan Stephens getting the save, his first in a Brewers uniform and dropped his ERA to 1.08. Chad Brown (.296/.320/.386) went 2 for 4 in the game, hitting his 16th double and scoring the game's lone run.

In game 3 both teams offenses remained quiet. The Brewers again got off to an early 1-0 lead but this time they could not hold it and the Speed Devils tied it in the 5th and scored a run in the top of the 9th to win 2-1. It was a tough loss for Brewer's ace Cheol-han Lee, who allowed 1 run on 6 hits over 7 innings pitched, striking out 7 and walking 1. Miguel Solis took the loss, dropping to 2-2 with a 1.27 ERA.

Rookie Justin Peacock had a rocky start in game 4, allowing 6 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits in 4 innings pitched. It didn't help that the defense got very sloppy, committing 3 errors in the game, all in the 4th inning when they gave up 4 runs. The Brewers fought back and came close to tying it in the bottom of the 9th but with runners on 2nd and 3rd Andrew Kennedy hit a routine ground out to end the game with the Brewers losing 6-4. Peacock drops to 3-4 with a 2.27 ERA.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers finish their home-stand leading up to the All-Star break with a 3-game series against the 6th place Oklahoma City Diamond Kings.

And the Brewers head into the All-Star break on a high note with a 3-game sweep.

Game 1 saw newcomer Erik Sloan pitch a gem, getting the complete game victory, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 12 and walking none in the 6-1 victory. Sloan improves to 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA for the Brewers and 10-3 with a 1.97 ERA overall on the season. Another good game for Mike Foster (.289/.313/.378), who went 2 for 4 and hit his first big league double. Chad Brown (.299/.325/.398) was also 2 for 4 and hit his 2nd HR of 1972.

In game 2 it was Harry Lyerly's turn to shine. Lyerly allowed no runs on just 3 hits in 7 1/3rd innings, striking out 11 and walking 3. Four relievers were pretty much perfect in preserving the shutout, as the Brewers won 4-0. Lyerly improves to 7-4 with a 3.04 ERA. Bobby Erbakan (.287/.359/.403), who has been scuffling a bit at the plate, was one of the hitting stars, going 2 for 4 and hitting his 19th double.

It required a 4-run rally late (bottom of the 8th) but the Brewers got the series sweep by winning the 3rd game 4-2. Daniel Torres pitched pretty well in the start- giving up 1 run on 7 hits in 6 innings pitched (4 K, 4 BB), lowering his ERA to 3.64 in the no-decision. Jose de los Santos got the win, improving to 4-5 with a 1.93 ERA. Miguel Solis got the save, his 6th, and dropped his ERA to 1.50. Rookie third baseman Mike Foster (.313/.333/.396) had another good day at the plate, going 2 for 3.

[BirdWatcher]

The top two starting pitchers in the voting for the MGL All-Star team are the Brewers twin aces, Cheol-han Lee and Erik Sloan. Lee is the only Brewer voted in as an All-Star starting player but six Brewer players make the squad.

For catcher Kevin Curtis, who was second in the voting at his position, this is his first time being named to an All-Star squad.
The same is true for first baseman Bobby Erbakan, as he joins fellow Gold Glove winner Curtis among the All-Star reserves.

Chad Brown, who finished second at shortstop in the voting, is named to his 3rd All-Star team, the second in a row.

Reliever Miguel Solis, having had his consecutive All-Star selections stop at 5 when he was not named to last year's team, gets named to his 6th with this year's inclusion.

Erik Sloan receives his 2nd All-Star selection while Cheol-han Lee is named to an All-Star team for his 7th time, his 3rd as a Brewer.

[BirdWatcher]

Having recovered a few weeks ago from his self-inflicted injury (arm wrestling in a local bar), superstar left fielder Ryan Rodgers, having spent a bit of time down at AAA Chester tuning up his bat, returns to join the Brewers lineup following the All-Star break.

To make room for Rodgers, Paul Mackins is returned to AAA Chester. Mackins may or may not have a future in Brewers purple, but he did work his heart out in his time with the big league club the first half of this season, providing excellent defense some timely hitting, even if his overall stats weren't that good.

[BirdWatcher]

Let's take a look at the WPK standings as we head into the (symbolic) second half of the season and just a bit after he actual middle-point of the season.

In the SJL, the Jacksonville Wolf Pack hold onto first place by 4 games over the Columbus Whalers. Pre-season predictions had these two teams tied for 2nd in the SJL behind the reigning WPK champs, the Washington Night Train. But the Night Train have thus far under-achieved and sit at a game under .500 in 6th place.

The Charlotte Sting continue to be the biggest surprise in the WPK, leading the MGL by 4 games over the also fairly surprising Brooklyn Aces. Charlotte was expected to be improved this year, after being basically the bottom feeders of the league for years, but not this much improved. The team many expected to win the league, Phoenix, has been playing better lately, but remain 4 games under .500 in 6th place. The Brewers, expected to finish in 2nd place according to pre-season predictions, are now in 3rd place, 9 1/2 games behind Charlotte. The L.A. Spinners, who got off to a great start this season, have been scuffling lately and have now fallen into 4th place.

[BirdWatcher]

The MGL held on for a 6-4 victory in the annual All-Star game, played this year in front of a full-house (52,800) at Bank of the West Ballpark in San Francisco.

The Brewers made some nice contributions to the win. Cheol-han Lee pitched a flawless first inning for the MGL. Bobby Erbakan went 2 for 3 and drove in one of the MGL runs. And Miguel Solis pitched the final 2 innings for the save.
Kevin Curtis and Chad Brown each went 0 for 2 in the game.

[BirdWatcher]

Veteran starting pitcher Jaime Schardein has had many accomplishments in his WPK career but none more impressive than what he did today. The 36-year old Schardein, heading into the twilight of his career, did what no other WPK pitcher ever has: pitched a Perfect Game!

Schardein, who has won two Pitcher of the Year awards, been an All-Star four times, led the league in wins twice, strikeouts three times, and ERA once, has been one of the more celebrated pitchers of the first seven and a half years of the W.P. Kinsella League. And while there may not be many more glorious achievements left in his future, this latest one certainly does cement his place in the WPK record books.

[Palaaemon]

I just finished reading Ruben "Streak" Souffront and now up to where you have left off with Harry Lyerly. I have to tell you that I have read a lot of dynasties, reports, stories, etc. here on OOTP forums and of the hundred or more that I have read yours is in my top five.

I enjoy the fact that you give more than just stats. Stats are fine to a point as they give feedback on how well players, teams, and even the league is doing, but a dynasty needs much more than stats. Like stories inside the league (players, teams, events, etc.) and much more. I love getting tidbits of flavor.

A couple of my favorite players are 1B Bobby Erbakan and SS Chad Brown. I believe that Bobby is on the cusp of becoming a superstar if he continues to work hard. He is an all-around player. Chad seems to continue to improve yearly. It's hard to see him becoming a true consistent star in the league with the amount of errors he has each year. I continue to hold out hope for him to improve, we shall see.

Puente has been a force early on for Denver (when he wasn't hurt) but his contributions have seriously declined year by year. It might be best for him and the organization if he was given an opportunity elsewhere (for the many reasons you gave in your post about him).

Something that I really like that you do is hold on to players and stay loyal to them and give them a chance to develop. Way too often I see dynasties from the beginning enter into mass trading, unfair trades, and treating players like yesterday's treat to be moved today. Players become a stock. The game becomes about winning at all costs. People have a right to play their game the way they want, it's just something I don't like and your dynasty is more enjoyable because you have a real reason for trading players.

Question: Have you taken a long look at your personnel? Not only in Denver but in your minors also? I am curious about something and want to start there.

I am sure I have more to say and ask but I need to go for now. Keep up the great work Bird! Can I call you Bird? lol. Have a great night.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

I just finished reading Ruben "Streak" Souffront and now up to where you have left off with Harry Lyerly. I have to tell you that I have read a lot of dynasties, reports, stories, etc. here on OOTP forums and of the hundred or more that I have read yours is in my top five.

I enjoy the fact that you give more than just stats. Stats are fine to a point as they give feedback on how well players, teams, and even the league is doing, but a dynasty needs much more than stats. Like stories inside the league (players, teams, events, etc.) and much more. I love getting tidbits of flavor.

A couple of my favorite players are 1B Bobby Erbakan and SS Chad Brown. I believe that Bobby is on the cusp of becoming a superstar if he continues to work hard. He is an all-around player. Chad seems to continue to improve yearly. It's hard to see him becoming a true consistent star in the league with the amount of errors he has each year. I continue to hold out hope for him to improve, we shall see.

Puente has been a force early on for Denver (when he wasn't hurt) but his contributions have seriously declined year by year. It might be best for him and the organization if he was given an opportunity elsewhere (for the many reasons you gave in your post about him).

Something that I really like that you do is hold on to players and stay loyal to them and give them a chance to develop. Way too often I see dynasties from the beginning enter into mass trading, unfair trades, and treating players like yesterday's treat to be moved today. Players become a stock. The game becomes about winning at all costs. People have a right to play their game the way they want, it's just something I don't like and your dynasty is more enjoyable because you have a real reason for trading players.

Question: Have you taken a long look at your personnel? Not only in Denver but in your minors also? I am curious about something and want to start there.

I am sure I have more to say and ask but I need to go for now. Keep up the great work Bird! Can I call you Bird? lol. Have a great night.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate all of this feedback and your kind words.

I'm very high on Erbakan's future also. He's cooled down a bit here mid-season and his home run total looks like it will be way down again after he hit a career-high 21 last season. But overall he is turning into a star on the team and in the league and I think the future for him is bright.
Chad Brown seems to be turning into a consistent hitter at this stage of his career, though he will never be a great OBP guy with his lack of walks, and is the team's best base-stealer and one of the best base runners. He seems to be cutting down on the errors a bit this season also, though he's had a few more of late. I really thought that Brown was going to win some gold glove awards along the way but that is looking less and less likely. There are some premium defensive shortstops in the league ahead of him. But he's very solid with the glove (other than the miscues) and is generally at least a top 5 in the league guy in terms of range/zone rating.

I do like to stick with guys and will certainly form favorites. It was difficult for me to finally part with Souffront (and will be the same with Puente, should I decide to trade him). Sometimes my loyalties in this regard might cause me to make bad decisions but I really don't find it interesting to just play to win (to beat the game), while the story is everything for me.

So, about personnel.
I have to admit that I haven't paid nearly enough attention to this at the minor league level. A few times I've started to focus on that and try to figure out what I should do but then I generally make a move or two and then back off. I don't have very good coaches at the minor league level and my minor league teams- especially at the lower levels- tend to lose a lot. This is something I need to address soon especially as I enjoy developing home-grown talent.
At the big league level I pay a lot more attention. The head scout, Nick Meskill, has a great reputation. Our head trainer is also very, very good. And over time our pitching coach has developed an excellent reputation. These three have been with the team since it's inception.
Hitting has been an area of inconsistency for the team and our current hitting coach seems to be seeing his reputation head in the wrong direction.
The Bench Coach has a good reputation. The Assistant G.M., who is pretty new to the team, I believe is rated average. But really, what does it matter?

So, as for calling me Bird, absolutely. When I was a kid, and the Bird was my favorite player, one of my best friends (Mike Ratkowski, who I liked to call Rat-a-tat-kowski) had a little sister who called me Bird because I was lanky and had curly blonde hair and I reminded her of Fidrych.

Thanks for following along and feel free to ask me any question about the WPK and the Denver Brewers and I will be more than happy to answer.

[Palaaemon]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

Thank you so much! I really appreciate all of this feedback and your kind words.

I'm very high on Erbakan's future also. He's cooled down a bit here mid-season and his home run total looks like it will be way down again after he hit a career-high 21 last season. But overall he is turning into a star on the team and in the league and I think the future for him is bright.
Chad Brown seems to be turning into a consistent hitter at this stage of his career, though he will never be a great OBP guy with his lack of walks, and is the team's best base-stealer and one of the best base runners. He seems to be cutting down on the errors a bit this season also, though he's had a few more of late. I really thought that Brown was going to win some gold glove awards along the way but that is looking less and less likely. There are some premium defensive shortstops in the league ahead of him. But he's very solid with the glove (other than the miscues) and is generally at least a top 5 in the league guy in terms of range/zone rating.

I do like to stick with guys and will certainly form favorites. It was difficult for me to finally part with Souffront (and will be the same with Puente, should I decide to trade him). Sometimes my loyalties in this regard might cause me to make bad decisions but I really don't find it interesting to just play to win (to beat the game), while the story is everything for me.

So, about personnel.
I have to admit that I haven't paid nearly enough attention to this at the minor league level. A few times I've started to focus on that and try to figure out what I should do but then I generally make a move or two and then back off. I don't have very good coaches at the minor league level and my minor league teams- especially at the lower levels- tend to lose a lot. This is something I need to address soon especially as I enjoy developing home-grown talent.
At the big league level I pay a lot more attention. The head scout, Nick Meskill, has a great reputation. Our head trainer is also very, very good. And over time our pitching coach has developed an excellent reputation. These three have been with the team since it's inception.
Hitting has been an area of inconsistency for the team and our current hitting coach seems to be seeing his reputation head in the wrong direction.
The Bench Coach has a good reputation. The Assistant G.M., who is pretty new to the team, I believe is rated average. But really, what does it matter?

So, as for calling me Bird, absolutely. When I was a kid, and the Bird was my favorite player, one of my best friends (Mike Ratkowski, who I liked to call Rat-a-tat-kowski) had a little sister who called me Bird because I was lanky and had curly blonde hair and I reminded her of Fidrych.

Thanks for following along and feel free to ask me any question about the WPK and the Denver Brewers and I will be more than happy to answer.

Thanks for your quick reply Bird!


I don't believe reputation means what I think you think it means. Reputation affects the personnel's attractiveness to organizations and the amount of salary that the personnel wants to do the job. E.g. Let's say that Bill and Sam are both managers. Bill has a Good reputation and Sam has a Great reputation. For sake of this thought experiment they both are identical in terms of their abilities and both have 10 years of experience. Why does this matter? This is where reputation comes into play here. Earning potential. When personnel are negotiating contracts, their reputation is a economic lever. In our scenario if Bill and Sam are being recruited for the same job and everything being equal (except their reps) then Sam will be given a larger salary because he has a better reputation. Then start to consider when you start increasing their years of experience and imagine what that does to their earning power. Make sense?

As stated in the OOTP 20 Manual :



"Reputations are determined primarily by experience and results. Managers start out as 'greenhorns' and can grow through ten other ranks. A manager's reputation is calculated using factors such as experience, lifetime record, playoff appearances, championships, and more. Your reputation affects your attractiveness to potential employers and is a definite factor when you are unemployed and looking for work. For example, a very experienced manager with an excellent lifetime record will be much more attractive to a team than a greenhorn or a manager with a poor track record.

In addition to the hard facts about your candidacy, other events in the game world can also affect how teams feel about you, even though these might not necessarily be reflected in your reputation rank. For example, quitting a job in the middle of the season can adversely affect how other ownership teams view you."


As far as revamping your organizations personnel top to bottom, I would like to help you if you want me to. We can talk more about it if you wish in some PMs or however you wish. I am also available to help answer questions for you if you need any help with anything, but you seem pretty knowledgeable so who knows?


Gotta run...cya later Bird!

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Palaaemon

Thanks for your quick reply Bird!


I don't believe reputation means what I think you think it means. Reputation affects the personnel's attractiveness to organizations and the amount of salary that the personnel wants to do the job. E.g. Let's say that Bill and Sam are both managers. Bill has a Good reputation and Sam has a Great reputation. For sake of this thought experiment they both are identical in terms of their abilities and both have 10 years of experience. Why does this matter? This is where reputation comes into play here. Earning potential. When personnel are negotiating contracts, their reputation is a economic lever. In our scenario if Bill and Sam are being recruited for the same job and everything being equal (except their reps) then Sam will be given a larger salary because he has a better reputation. Then start to consider when you start increasing their years of experience and imagine what that does to their earning power. Make sense?

As stated in the OOTP 20 Manual :



"Reputations are determined primarily by experience and results. Managers start out as 'greenhorns' and can grow through ten other ranks. A manager's reputation is calculated using factors such as experience, lifetime record, playoff appearances, championships, and more. Your reputation affects your attractiveness to potential employers and is a definite factor when you are unemployed and looking for work. For example, a very experienced manager with an excellent lifetime record will be much more attractive to a team than a greenhorn or a manager with a poor track record.

In addition to the hard facts about your candidacy, other events in the game world can also affect how teams feel about you, even though these might not necessarily be reflected in your reputation rank. For example, quitting a job in the middle of the season can adversely affect how other ownership teams view you."


As far as revamping your organizations personnel top to bottom, I would like to help you if you want me to. We can talk more about it if you wish in some PMs or however you wish. I am also available to help answer questions for you if you need any help with anything, but you seem pretty knowledgeable so who knows?


Gotta run...cya later Bird!

I probably over-simplified in my earlier response regarding the team's personnel. I do completely understand that reputation is more about team success and not necessarily an indication of any talent on the part of the coach/manager/etc.
But I will share screenshots now that I'm actually in front of the game to show the actual ratings of the major league staff (or the important parts of it, anyway.)
As you can see, our head scout has quite good scouting ratings all around. And the team trainer, whose focus is on recovery, is also good or better in all areas.
The pitching coach specializes in groundball pitchers and I try to have plenty of those on the staff with very good infield defense. So his Outstanding reputation might not have much to do with any skill on his part, but our success in this area does seem to indicate that his approach with our staff and defense has been a good fit.

The hitting coach, on the other hand, came to the team with a good reputation, clearly based upon the success of his previous team, but that has slid back to an average reputation now. His focus is general and I hoped that he might do better than our previous hitting coach. But that clearly isn't happening. Ultimately, I guess I believe the influence of the pitching and hitting coaches (at the big league level, at least) isn't really that great and that if I have good hitters they will hit well.

I'm always open to learning from other OOTP'ers and appreciate any tips and guidance you can give me. But the essential reality is that I just haven't prioritized this yet in terms of the minor league teams. It's one of those things I'm always saying to myself that I will get around to soon. Just haven't yet.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers first series coming out of the All-Star break is three games at Charlotte against the first place Sting.
A perfect chance to gain a little ground.
Or fall farther behind.

For reasons that will become apparent with the next post, I am going to report just the first two games of the series here first.

In game 1, the Brewers were once again handed a loss largely due to the efforts of a former Brewer, in this case starting pitcher Adam Getchell. Getchell allowed just 1 run on 4 hits over 8 1/3rd innings pitched, and that run wasn't scored until the 9th inning. Erik Sloan pitched a great game against his former team, also, which kept the Brewers in the game up to the end. Sloan takes the loss to drop to 2-1 as a Brewer (10-4 overall) but allowed just 2 runs on 7 hits over 7 innings pitched as the Sting won 2-1. The Brewers stranded a runner at third base as another former (briefly) Brewer, Jamel McNeil, came in with 1 out and struck out the two batters he faced to finish the game.

Game 2 saw the Brewers bats once again silenced by the Sting. The big hero for the Sting was naturally former Brewer Brian Coppola. Coppola, an 8th round draft pick by the Brewers in the 1968 draft, was considered a throw-in in the trade which brought Erik Sloan to Denver and sent Jamison Bash and Tanner Yurek to Charlotte. But in this game Coppola was anything but an after-thought, going 3 for 4 in the lead-off slot, hitting a 2-run HR in the 3rd inning, his first big league HR. Cheol-han Lee suffered the loss for the Brewers, dropping to 9-4 with a 2.03 ERA after giving up 3 runs (2 earned) over 7 innings.

Surely in the final game of the series the Brewers bats would wake up a bit, especially given that Charlotte's BB&T Ballpark is a good hitters park.
Well, maybe not......

[BirdWatcher]

...and then there were none.
As in no runs, no hits, no walks, no errors, etc..
Just two days after the first ever WPK Perfect Game was recorded by veteran Jaime Schardein, 23-year old Mike (Don't Call Me John) Hiatt hurled the second. And against our Brewers.

Hiatt might have been beaten to the punch slightly by Schardein, but he does become the first pitcher in WPK history to have recorded two no-hitters in his big league career. Hiatt no-hit the L.A. Spinners on June 21st, 1970, in his first season in the WPK. And that was a near perfect game except that he walked one batter.

Tough break for Harry Lyerly, who pitched a fine game himself, allowing no runs in his 7 1/3rd innings pitched, giving up just 3 hits while striking out 9 and walking 3. The game went into the bottom of the 9th as a scoreless tie but the Sting were able to string together a pair of walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a single to get the walk-off 1-0 win.

[BirdWatcher]

Wanting to get any tension out of the way with Harry Lyerly arbitration eligible at the end of the season (his first year of eligibility), the Brewers management and the young righty sat down during the All-Star break to discuss an extension and it was announced today that they came to an agreement for a 1-year extension for 1973 at $71,500 with a few potential bonuses for a Pitcher of the Year award season (he has one already) and/or an All-Star game appearance (same).

Lyerly has become very popular with the local fans and the move was hailed by the Denver faithful.

[BirdWatcher]

I thought it might be a good idea at this stage of things to provide some periodic franchise reports to give you a better feel for the various teams in the WPK.

Let's start with the power-house of the Shoeless Joe League: the Jacksonville Wolf Pack.

History/Overview: The Wolf Pack are the winning-est team in SJL history thus far, having never finished below 3rd place and with an overall winning percentage of .593. They were the winners of the the first two WPK World Series and also represented the SJL in the 1970 World Series when they lost to your Denver Brewers. They were predicted to finish in a tie for 2nd place this season but enter the second half of the season once again on the top of the SJL standings. Jacksonville is considered a below average sized market but the Wolf Pack fan base is a quite loyal one and with the consistent winning track record of their team fan interest is high. Owner Tim Cook is considered a tolerant, hands-off boss but in fiscal areas can be quite controlling.

The Park: The Wolf Pack have a new ballpark this year: Fidelity Financial Stadium. FFS holds 43,800 fans at capacity and plays as slightly favoring hitters. It is a particularly good park for power hitters, especially those who bat from the right-hand side.

The Face of the Franchise: The Wolf Pack have several premium players, but probably the face of the franchise currently is 30-year old third baseman Jesus Casiano. Casiano has played his entire career with the Wolf Pack and is in his 8th season as a big leaguer. He won the SJL MVP award in 1970, has appeared in 6 All-Star games, has collected 5 gold glove awards and 4 silver slugger awards. His current contract extends through the 1973 season.

Greatest former player: Arguments could be made for several players. Among them would be superstar left fielder Travis Johnson, who is the still the career leader in several offensive categories for the Wolf Pack. But Johnson started his career in Pittsburgh, played for Jacksonville for 4 seasons, and now has been an L.A. Spinner for the past 3 seasons (including this one). So I'll go with Jose Foskey, the winning-est pitcher in Jacksonville history, who pitched his first five seasons in Jacksonville. At age 32, and now pitching for Washington, Foskey's career is in decline and surely his best seasons were in a Wolf Pack uniform. Foskey is an extremely popular player who always shows great effort and is considered a loyal and adaptable teammate.