Dark Cloud's Moneyball Dynasty

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 01:09 PM

I can't remember the last time I had a comprehensive dynasty going, but I'm ready to start doing another one. Hopefully, you'll support this one like you have the others. I'll be posting a site to go along with it sometime in the near future and I'll link it in my sig when its up and together.

THE MONEYBALL DYNASTY
Now, okay. I didn't read Moneyball. I breezed through it, but I did read May the Best Team Win and I thought that was a better baseball book from a very well known baseball economist.

Anyway, the point of this dynasty is take an expansion franchise, stock the minor league system with non-drafted college players (that is, players that as of the Feb. 15th Baseball America College Edition had not been drafted before), place them in our minor league system and using this combination of players, along with whatever we manage to get out of the expansion draft, to win a title.

I will stay with the team for 10 years and will end the dynasty at that point. The idea of course, is to see how well my farm system can produce players that will be dependable major league starters or bait.

Of course, winning titles would be nice too. The restrictions on me as GM are as follows:

1) Signing no more than 3 Major Free Agents every three years. (definition of a major free agent is a player who has at least 17 wins in the previous season, hit 40+ home runs or makes over $10 million per season. The latter number might be increased due to inflation at some point)

The goal is build through home grown talent. The OOTP draft is never very good and so, I'm not even counting on that all that much. We have a 10-round draft that occurs on June 1st, for the record.

The season will begin in 2005. I have already simulated 2003 and 2004 under this new league. The expansion teams will be in the AL. Okay, time to get started.

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 01:25 PM

WASHINGTON – Major League Baseball today announced that the Montreal Expos have been sold to the Washington Baseball Club organization and the team will be moving to Washington, D.C., to play in brand new Capital One Ballfield. The park will be opened in early May, so the team will spend its first month on the road. “We’re thrilled about finally having a home,” said GM Omar Minaya.

The team hired Eddie Murray as their manager. Murray, who most recently served as the Cleveland Indians hitting coach. “We’re thrilled to have a guy like Eddie Murray to mentor our young players, he’s the consummate professional,” said Minaya.

The team will become the Washington Spirit. “We believe the name represents our spirit that has endured over the past few years, but also representative of our future.”

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 01:30 PM

NEW YORK – Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced today that the American League would expand to 14 teams in the 2005 season. “We’re expanded to bring baseball to new markets around the nation. Selig said that MLB was considering six cities that had yet to be named. “We are not willing to divulge that information right now,” said Selig.

Other plans rumored to be considered by Major League Baseball include moving the regular season schedule back two weeks. Selig said that in the coming months, MLB would discuss the six finalist cities for the two AL expansion franchises.

He said MLB was pleased to have finally sold the Expos and that it was excited about forging ahead into the future. “We are looking forward to another exciting baseball season,” said Selig.

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 01:40 PM

Like I mentioned before, because there was a lot of flux in the league since the computer controlled all trades and player moves from 2003-2004, things will look a little different on teams than you might expect.

I did, however, take a bit of creative liberty and execute a few trades that either happened that I wanted to see still or should've happened.

Curt Schlling, Alex Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez to Boston
Manny Ramirez, Mark Buhrele to Texas
Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago White Sox
Josh Phelps to Arizona (from Boston)

The 2004 off-season is underway now, after which, we will see where players landed and go forward en route to 2005!

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 01:52 PM

The SIM 2004 off-season was arguably more exciting than the real one.

Look at where the players ended up after the dust settled:

SP Pedro Martinez, Texas, $113.76 mil/6 years
SP Andy Petitte, Anaheim, $29.956 mil/4 years
LF Gary Sheffield, Chicago (A), $29.877 mil/3 years
C Ivan Rodriguez, Cleveland, $30.354 mil/3 years
RF Vladimir Guerrero, Baltimore, $79.12 mil/4 years
SS Miguel Tejada, Arizona, $76.657 mil/7 years
RF Sammy Sosa, San Francisco, $54.85 mil/4 years
SP Ismael Valdes, Boston, $26 mil/4 years

wbdzgn · 02-08-2004, 02:09 PM

Good to see Boston loses Pedro then picks up Valdes

Nice job thus far.

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 02:12 PM

ESPN.COM has learned that the list of cities under consideration by Major League Baseball include several former frontrunners to receive the Montreal Expos, who relocated to Washington, D.C. this past season.

The finalist cities include Portland, OR, Brookyln, NY, Charlotte, NC and Davenport, IA. The remaining two cities are not yet known.

The early favorites are Portland and Brookyln, though the obstacles to Brooklyn are many. First, the team plays in New York Yankees territory. It was waived to allow a minor league club - The Cyclones - to return to the city as a farm club for the Mets. But, a major league outfit would be a far different story.

Major League Baseball agreed to pay $60 million in reparations to Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos when the Expos moved this season and there is talk of another settlement with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Another option is placing a team in New Jersey or Hartford, Connecticut.

Hartford officials, who were spurned after the New England Patriots originally planned to move there several years ago, before working out a deal to stay in the Greater Boston area, said they would welcome an opportunity to have a big league team again. The last major league sport to play in Hartford were the NHL Whalers, who moved to North Carolina.

Portland is considered all but a shoo-in, say insiders. The city would use PGE Park, currently a Triple-A facility in the interim and everyone in the city, despite the cash-starved nature of the state, are interested in bringing a franchise to the state.

Other areas that have placed inquiries in the past include Norfolk, VA, Monterrey, Mexico, San Juan, Puerto Rico and even an ownership group interested in bringing a team to play at still standing Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 02:43 PM

Major League Baseball today announced its intent to award an expansion franchise to Dark Cloud Enterprises and its Chairman/CEO Dark Cloud. The league said they are aware of the five candidate cities that Dark Cloud is interested in pursuing and they will allow him to choose one of those five cities.

In addition, the second AL expansion franchise for next season is rumored to be narrowed down to either Hartford, CT or Newark, NJ.

That means the other franchise will be located in the West. "We're excited about the opportunity to join Major League Baseball," said Dark Cloud, who founded the Major League Development Group two years ago, with the hopes of owning a big league team.

"This is a dream come true. Soon, we will let our candidate cities know which one we have chosen and will move forward on our plans to bring a World Series title to them sometime soon," he said.

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 02:53 PM

On the field, here are the leaders atop the standings and in major stat categories:

AL East: New York (29-26, 1 game ahead of Boston & Tampa Bay)
AL Central: Cleveland (26-28, 1 game ahead of Chicago)
AL West: Anaheim (37-17, 7 games ahead of Oakland, Texas and Seattle)
AL Wild Card: Oakland, Seattle, Texas tied at 30-24)

NL East: Philadelphia (31-25, 1.5 game ahead of Washington & New York)
NL Central: Houston (32-23, 2 games ahead of Pittsburgh)
NL West: Colorado (36-20, 6 games ahead of San Francisco)
NL Wild Card: Pittsburgh (30-25, 1 game ahead of Washington, New York and San Francisco)

BATTING AVG
AL: Alejandro Machado (KC), Bernie Williams (NY), Vernon Wells (TOR) all tied at .358
NL: Larry Walker (COL) .436

HR
AL: Eric Chavez (OAK) 21
NL: Todd Helton (COL) 24

ERA
AL: Mickey Callaway (ANA) 2.11
Glendon Rusch (TB) 2.35

NL: Ryan Vogelsong (PIT) 2.42

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 02:59 PM

HARTFORD - MLB plans a press conference tomorrow to announce the awarding of one of the two AL expansion franchises to Hartford, CT. Ground has already been broken for a previously planned Land O' Lakes Field aimed at a minor league franchise in the Atlantic League, but with the decision to move Major League Baseball to the city, the club has decided to halt plans to play in the city.

The team has yet to be named, but will be owned jointly by ESPN subsidary Out of the Park Entertainment. The team will be the first owned by the network, but officials scoff at the notion that there will be biased or preferential coverage.

"When our parent company owned the Angels, we did not play favorites. So, even though we might get better seats to games at Land O' Lakes Field, I doubt it will represent some great travesty in our coverage, said longtime sportscaster Bob Ley.

The second AL franchise was awarded to DCE CEO Dark Cloud and his ownership group, but it not yet known where the team will play in the 2005 season.

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 03:45 PM

RENO - The DCE Baseball Group announced its decision today to locate its AL expansion franchise in Las Vegas, Nevada The team will be named the Nevada Silverhawks.

"We are thrilled for the opportunity to bring the major leagues to Nevada," said Dark Cloud. The team will play at a renovated Peccole Park on the University of Nevada campus for a year, while they wait for their new ballpark, Silver Mountain Casino Ballfield.

Major League officials reportedly expressed concerned with placing a team in Las Vegas, but the arrangement that allowed the team to adopt a regional name. The Silver Mountain Casino will not be off-limits to players. However, sources with Major League Baseball said that by having a team in Las Vegas, the league could "better monitor player gambling activities," rather than brushing it under a rug or ignoring it like they did in the past.

Silver Mountain Casino Ballfield will be connected to a hotel, amusement park and other entertainment that are aimed to give fans the complete sporting experience. The Ballfield has a retractable roof and seats up to 60,000. The city is rumored to be pursuing franchises in other pro sports with the development of the stadium, including an NFL team.

"We want to showcase all that Las Vegas has to offer," said Mayor Oscar Goodman.

darkcloud4579 · 02-08-2004, 03:55 PM

The Nevada Silverhawks minor league teams:

Triple-A: New Jersey Dragons
Double-A: Belleville (IL) Cosmos
Single-A: Sheridan (WY) Cowboys

The dynasty will pretty focus entirely on my teams, the development of players from this point on. I will mention notable things going on in the league, obviously, but that's about it.

darkcloud4579 · 02-09-2004, 01:50 AM

Teams can protect up to 30 players throughout their entire system. The expansion clubs will alternate back and forth for 25 rounds. No team may lose more than 2 players.

I will only list notable selections made by the Hartford club and major selections by mine, or those that translate into later trades.

darkcloud4579 · 02-09-2004, 05:13 PM

This is the foundation of the dynasty. The Silverhawks will begin its initial player stock relying primarily on college players. None of these players will have been previously drafted, except in cases where no documentation exists for younger players that have been drafted, but chose to go to college (e.g. freshman, transfers, etc.)

Their stats have been adjusted, to ensure that I don’t go creating a bunch of five star studs. The idea is to see how well they develop in our minor league system and if they can make it to the majors to be productive or more.

The higher rated their conference is, the more tauted they will be. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to turn into a star for sure, either.
So, that’s the idea here.

We spent the year with scouts dispatched around the country, checking out players in all levels of college baseball. We were especially interested in getting players that other schools might have missed out on, but that had lots of upside. You can expect our draft to consider mainly of high performers in college (or the Moneyball model), but we will also go after players at the lower levels of college baseball (D3, NAIA) to scour for hidden gems that no one else wants.

Since this is the first season, we will sign 30 players.

Randy Beam, L, 6-3, 205, Florida Atlantic
13-2, 2.39 ERA, 83 K 102 IP

Jeff Niemann, R, 6-9, 260, Rice
17-0, 1.70 ERA, 156K, 137 IP

Jered Weaver, 6-6, 200, 14-4, 1.96, Long Beach State

Steven Register, Auburn, 6-1, 162, 3-3, 16 SV, 61K

Luis Rivera, Florida International, SS

Mark Lowe, Texas-Arlington, RHP

Sebastien Boucher, OF, Bethune-Cookman
.333-1-47 48 SB

Chris Grider, RHP, Eastern Kentucky

Craig Candeto, Navy, OF
.370-6-31 (Athletic player, also plays QB at Navy)

Matt Daley, Bucknell, RHP

Jeff Frazier, OF, Rutgers (top round pick, 2k4)

Jim Fasano, 1B, Richmond
.344, 16, 68

James Avery, Niagra, RHP

Calvin Beamon, OF Southern Nevada JC

Friedel Pinkston, RHP, Chipola (Fla.) JC

Cesar Yepez, Warner Southern (Fla.) NAIA

Mark Roth, Delaware Valley (PA) D3, 1B

darkcloud4579 · 02-09-2004, 05:14 PM

Since there is no mechanism in the game to conduct an expansion draft, what I do is, I fill the minor league rosters of the two expansion clubs, then run computer manager. It will move the AAA players to the major league roster. Then, I use those players as players to trade to the team giving up the expansion listed player.

Here are the notable players selected in this year’s draft by the Silverhawks:

CF Johnny Damon (Boston)
3B Drew Henson (New York)
SP Dustin McGowan (Toronto)
RF Gary Sheffield (Chicago A)
RF Tim Salmon (Anaheim)
2B Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia)
SP Carlos Zambrano (Chicago N)

We then traded RF Gary Sheffield and one of our own recently drafted prospects SP Randy Beam to St. Louis for SP Tim Stauffer and 3B Jaime D’Antona.

We traded SP Carlos Zambrano to Hartford for LF Shin-Soo Choo, who they picked up in the draft from Seattle.

darkcloud4579 · 02-09-2004, 05:14 PM

The Silverhawks won’t be very good this season. But that’s okay. Only nine players on the entire 25-man roster played in the major leagues last season. Only two pitchers, one starter and our closer played in the majors last year. The team has some talent, but the goal is really to develop our prospects and scout out other talent that can help us sooner and faster.

My goal for the team is 75 wins.

darkcloud4579 · 02-09-2004, 05:19 PM

As expected, the Silverhawks are pretty bad. After the first month of the season (May 1st), the team is 7-22, only the Milwaukee Brewers sport a worse record (7-23) in all of baseball.

The problem is simple, we lack pitching. We are dead last in every major pitching category as a team. Offensively, we actually lead the league in offense, helped no doubt by the altitude. But still, with a pretty much no name roster, that's an encouraging sign.

In the short term, I'm going to look for some pitching and perhaps deal players because I have some surplus offensive talent in the farm.

darkcloud4579 · 02-09-2004, 10:16 PM

NEW YORK - Major League Baseball agreed on two separate television deals today, which will ensure that baseball fans get games on both network television and cable throughout the season, include all playoff games.

The deal is worth $865 million with FOX over five years. Meanwhile, ESPN and ABC signed a separate $375 million deal over the next three years to broadcast playoff games and the World Series.

The combined amount will provide each team with $38.75 million in national television revenue, in addition to whatever local television deals they have.

"We're very excited about going forward with our partners into the future," said Selig.

darkcloud4579 · 02-09-2004, 10:32 PM

5/1/2005
LAS VEGAS - In the hopes of getting the team to respectablity, Dark Cloud traded 3B Drew Henson, who was barely hitting over the Mendoza Line to Washington for SP Eric Good. Good, 25, was 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA last season in 11 games, two of those starts for the Spirit last season. He was 1-3 with a 6.07 in AAA so far this season, but had 21 strikeouts and only 3 walks. The hope is, he can at least keep the ball in the park here in Nevada.

Meanwhile, we signed Mo Vaughn to man first base. Hardly a long-term signing, he was picked up for about $375k for the remainder of the season. Vaughn, 38, hit 36 homer last season with 108 RBI for the NY Mets. The hope is, there has to be a little something left in the tank.

No big plans at the moment, because I don't really know what to do with this team. None of our prospects are looking like much yet, but of course, we're only a month into our first season.

darkcloud4579 · 02-09-2004, 10:40 PM

Okay, so I defined a major free agent as a player who had a certain amount of stats or who makes over $10 million a year. I signed no one last season who met that criteria. In part, because I was trying to be conservative, but because I failed to understand my own rules.

That said, we can change our strategy. The plan/goal is not to be hamstrung by own rules, but instead to produce talent, while also remaining competitive.

So, yeah. That changes things, a lot.

02-08-2004, 01:09 PM	#1
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	Dark Cloud's Moneyball Dynasty I can't remember the last time I had a comprehensive dynasty going, but I'm ready to start doing another one. Hopefully, you'll support this one like you have the others. I'll be posting a site to go along with it sometime in the near future and I'll link it in my sig when its up and together. THE MONEYBALL DYNASTY Now, okay. I didn't read Moneyball. I breezed through it, but I did read May the Best Team Win and I thought that was a better baseball book from a very well known baseball economist. Anyway, the point of this dynasty is take an expansion franchise, stock the minor league system with non-drafted college players (that is, players that as of the Feb. 15th Baseball America College Edition had not been drafted before), place them in our minor league system and using this combination of players, along with whatever we manage to get out of the expansion draft, to win a title. I will stay with the team for 10 years and will end the dynasty at that point. The idea of course, is to see how well my farm system can produce players that will be dependable major league starters or bait. Of course, winning titles would be nice too. The restrictions on me as GM are as follows: 1) Signing no more than 3 Major Free Agents every three years. (definition of a major free agent is a player who has at least 17 wins in the previous season, hit 40+ home runs or makes over $10 million per season. The latter number might be increased due to inflation at some point) The goal is build through home grown talent. The OOTP draft is never very good and so, I'm not even counting on that all that much. We have a 10-round draft that occurs on June 1st, for the record. The season will begin in 2005. I have already simulated 2003 and 2004 under this new league. The expansion teams will be in the AL. Okay, time to get started.

02-08-2004, 01:25 PM	#2
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	EXPOS MOVE TO WASHINGTON WASHINGTON – Major League Baseball today announced that the Montreal Expos have been sold to the Washington Baseball Club organization and the team will be moving to Washington, D.C., to play in brand new Capital One Ballfield. The park will be opened in early May, so the team will spend its first month on the road. “We’re thrilled about finally having a home,” said GM Omar Minaya. The team hired Eddie Murray as their manager. Murray, who most recently served as the Cleveland Indians hitting coach. “We’re thrilled to have a guy like Eddie Murray to mentor our young players, he’s the consummate professional,” said Minaya. The team will become the Washington Spirit. “We believe the name represents our spirit that has endured over the past few years, but also representative of our future.”

02-08-2004, 01:30 PM	#3
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	American League to expand in '05 NEW YORK – Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced today that the American League would expand to 14 teams in the 2005 season. “We’re expanded to bring baseball to new markets around the nation. Selig said that MLB was considering six cities that had yet to be named. “We are not willing to divulge that information right now,” said Selig. Other plans rumored to be considered by Major League Baseball include moving the regular season schedule back two weeks. Selig said that in the coming months, MLB would discuss the six finalist cities for the two AL expansion franchises. He said MLB was pleased to have finally sold the Expos and that it was excited about forging ahead into the future. “We are looking forward to another exciting baseball season,” said Selig.

02-08-2004, 01:40 PM	#4
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	Things that are different... Like I mentioned before, because there was a lot of flux in the league since the computer controlled all trades and player moves from 2003-2004, things will look a little different on teams than you might expect. I did, however, take a bit of creative liberty and execute a few trades that either happened that I wanted to see still or should've happened. Curt Schlling, Alex Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez to Boston Manny Ramirez, Mark Buhrele to Texas Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago White Sox Josh Phelps to Arizona (from Boston) The 2004 off-season is underway now, after which, we will see where players landed and go forward en route to 2005!

02-08-2004, 01:52 PM	#5
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	2004 OFF-SEASON SIGNINGS The SIM 2004 off-season was arguably more exciting than the real one. Look at where the players ended up after the dust settled: SP Pedro Martinez, Texas, $113.76 mil/6 years SP Andy Petitte, Anaheim, $29.956 mil/4 years LF Gary Sheffield, Chicago (A), $29.877 mil/3 years C Ivan Rodriguez, Cleveland, $30.354 mil/3 years RF Vladimir Guerrero, Baltimore, $79.12 mil/4 years SS Miguel Tejada, Arizona, $76.657 mil/7 years RF Sammy Sosa, San Francisco, $54.85 mil/4 years SP Ismael Valdes, Boston, $26 mil/4 years

02-08-2004, 02:09 PM	#6
wbdzgn Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 31	Good to see Boston loses Pedro then picks up Valdes Nice job thus far.

02-08-2004, 02:12 PM	#7
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	ESPN.COM - Portland, Brookyln among contenders for franchises ESPN.COM has learned that the list of cities under consideration by Major League Baseball include several former frontrunners to receive the Montreal Expos, who relocated to Washington, D.C. this past season. The finalist cities include Portland, OR, Brookyln, NY, Charlotte, NC and Davenport, IA. The remaining two cities are not yet known. The early favorites are Portland and Brookyln, though the obstacles to Brooklyn are many. First, the team plays in New York Yankees territory. It was waived to allow a minor league club - The Cyclones - to return to the city as a farm club for the Mets. But, a major league outfit would be a far different story. Major League Baseball agreed to pay $60 million in reparations to Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos when the Expos moved this season and there is talk of another settlement with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Another option is placing a team in New Jersey or Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford officials, who were spurned after the New England Patriots originally planned to move there several years ago, before working out a deal to stay in the Greater Boston area, said they would welcome an opportunity to have a big league team again. The last major league sport to play in Hartford were the NHL Whalers, who moved to North Carolina. Portland is considered all but a shoo-in, say insiders. The city would use PGE Park, currently a Triple-A facility in the interim and everyone in the city, despite the cash-starved nature of the state, are interested in bringing a franchise to the state. Other areas that have placed inquiries in the past include Norfolk, VA, Monterrey, Mexico, San Juan, Puerto Rico and even an ownership group interested in bringing a team to play at still standing Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

02-08-2004, 02:43 PM	#8
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	MLB awards expansion franchise to DCE, Inc. Major League Baseball today announced its intent to award an expansion franchise to Dark Cloud Enterprises and its Chairman/CEO Dark Cloud. The league said they are aware of the five candidate cities that Dark Cloud is interested in pursuing and they will allow him to choose one of those five cities. In addition, the second AL expansion franchise for next season is rumored to be narrowed down to either Hartford, CT or Newark, NJ. That means the other franchise will be located in the West. "We're excited about the opportunity to join Major League Baseball," said Dark Cloud, who founded the Major League Development Group two years ago, with the hopes of owning a big league team. "This is a dream come true. Soon, we will let our candidate cities know which one we have chosen and will move forward on our plans to bring a World Series title to them sometime soon," he said.

02-08-2004, 02:53 PM	#9
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	June 1st, 2004 Update On the field, here are the leaders atop the standings and in major stat categories: AL East: New York (29-26, 1 game ahead of Boston & Tampa Bay) AL Central: Cleveland (26-28, 1 game ahead of Chicago) AL West: Anaheim (37-17, 7 games ahead of Oakland, Texas and Seattle) AL Wild Card: Oakland, Seattle, Texas tied at 30-24) NL East: Philadelphia (31-25, 1.5 game ahead of Washington & New York) NL Central: Houston (32-23, 2 games ahead of Pittsburgh) NL West: Colorado (36-20, 6 games ahead of San Francisco) NL Wild Card: Pittsburgh (30-25, 1 game ahead of Washington, New York and San Francisco) BATTING AVG AL: Alejandro Machado (KC), Bernie Williams (NY), Vernon Wells (TOR) all tied at .358 NL: Larry Walker (COL) .436 HR AL: Eric Chavez (OAK) 21 NL: Todd Helton (COL) 24 ERA AL: Mickey Callaway (ANA) 2.11 Glendon Rusch (TB) 2.35 NL: Ryan Vogelsong (PIT) 2.42

02-08-2004, 02:59 PM	#10
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	ESPN: HARTFORD TO GET FRANCHISE HARTFORD - MLB plans a press conference tomorrow to announce the awarding of one of the two AL expansion franchises to Hartford, CT. Ground has already been broken for a previously planned Land O' Lakes Field aimed at a minor league franchise in the Atlantic League, but with the decision to move Major League Baseball to the city, the club has decided to halt plans to play in the city. The team has yet to be named, but will be owned jointly by ESPN subsidary Out of the Park Entertainment. The team will be the first owned by the network, but officials scoff at the notion that there will be biased or preferential coverage. "When our parent company owned the Angels, we did not play favorites. So, even though we might get better seats to games at Land O' Lakes Field, I doubt it will represent some great travesty in our coverage, said longtime sportscaster Bob Ley. The second AL franchise was awarded to DCE CEO Dark Cloud and his ownership group, but it not yet known where the team will play in the 2005 season.

02-08-2004, 03:45 PM	#11
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	DCE unveils Nevada Silverhawks RENO - The DCE Baseball Group announced its decision today to locate its AL expansion franchise in Las Vegas, Nevada The team will be named the Nevada Silverhawks. "We are thrilled for the opportunity to bring the major leagues to Nevada," said Dark Cloud. The team will play at a renovated Peccole Park on the University of Nevada campus for a year, while they wait for their new ballpark, Silver Mountain Casino Ballfield. Major League officials reportedly expressed concerned with placing a team in Las Vegas, but the arrangement that allowed the team to adopt a regional name. The Silver Mountain Casino will not be off-limits to players. However, sources with Major League Baseball said that by having a team in Las Vegas, the league could "better monitor player gambling activities," rather than brushing it under a rug or ignoring it like they did in the past. Silver Mountain Casino Ballfield will be connected to a hotel, amusement park and other entertainment that are aimed to give fans the complete sporting experience. The Ballfield has a retractable roof and seats up to 60,000. The city is rumored to be pursuing franchises in other pro sports with the development of the stadium, including an NFL team. "We want to showcase all that Las Vegas has to offer," said Mayor Oscar Goodman.

02-08-2004, 03:55 PM	#12
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	Nevada Silverhawks name minor league franchises The Nevada Silverhawks minor league teams: Triple-A: New Jersey Dragons Double-A: Belleville (IL) Cosmos Single-A: Sheridan (WY) Cowboys The dynasty will pretty focus entirely on my teams, the development of players from this point on. I will mention notable things going on in the league, obviously, but that's about it.

02-09-2004, 01:50 AM	#13
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	Expansion Draft Procedures Teams can protect up to 30 players throughout their entire system. The expansion clubs will alternate back and forth for 25 rounds. No team may lose more than 2 players. I will only list notable selections made by the Hartford club and major selections by mine, or those that translate into later trades.

02-09-2004, 05:13 PM	#14
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	SCOUTING This is the foundation of the dynasty. The Silverhawks will begin its initial player stock relying primarily on college players. None of these players will have been previously drafted, except in cases where no documentation exists for younger players that have been drafted, but chose to go to college (e.g. freshman, transfers, etc.) Their stats have been adjusted, to ensure that I don’t go creating a bunch of five star studs. The idea is to see how well they develop in our minor league system and if they can make it to the majors to be productive or more. The higher rated their conference is, the more tauted they will be. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to turn into a star for sure, either. So, that’s the idea here. We spent the year with scouts dispatched around the country, checking out players in all levels of college baseball. We were especially interested in getting players that other schools might have missed out on, but that had lots of upside. You can expect our draft to consider mainly of high performers in college (or the Moneyball model), but we will also go after players at the lower levels of college baseball (D3, NAIA) to scour for hidden gems that no one else wants. Since this is the first season, we will sign 30 players. Randy Beam, L, 6-3, 205, Florida Atlantic 13-2, 2.39 ERA, 83 K 102 IP Jeff Niemann, R, 6-9, 260, Rice 17-0, 1.70 ERA, 156K, 137 IP Jered Weaver, 6-6, 200, 14-4, 1.96, Long Beach State Steven Register, Auburn, 6-1, 162, 3-3, 16 SV, 61K Luis Rivera, Florida International, SS Mark Lowe, Texas-Arlington, RHP Sebastien Boucher, OF, Bethune-Cookman .333-1-47 48 SB Chris Grider, RHP, Eastern Kentucky Craig Candeto, Navy, OF .370-6-31 (Athletic player, also plays QB at Navy) Matt Daley, Bucknell, RHP Jeff Frazier, OF, Rutgers (top round pick, 2k4) Jim Fasano, 1B, Richmond .344, 16, 68 James Avery, Niagra, RHP Calvin Beamon, OF Southern Nevada JC Friedel Pinkston, RHP, Chipola (Fla.) JC Cesar Yepez, Warner Southern (Fla.) NAIA Mark Roth, Delaware Valley (PA) D3, 1B

02-09-2004, 05:14 PM	#15
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	Notable Free Agents Since there is no mechanism in the game to conduct an expansion draft, what I do is, I fill the minor league rosters of the two expansion clubs, then run computer manager. It will move the AAA players to the major league roster. Then, I use those players as players to trade to the team giving up the expansion listed player. Here are the notable players selected in this year’s draft by the Silverhawks: CF Johnny Damon (Boston) 3B Drew Henson (New York) SP Dustin McGowan (Toronto) RF Gary Sheffield (Chicago A) RF Tim Salmon (Anaheim) 2B Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia) SP Carlos Zambrano (Chicago N) We then traded RF Gary Sheffield and one of our own recently drafted prospects SP Randy Beam to St. Louis for SP Tim Stauffer and 3B Jaime D’Antona. We traded SP Carlos Zambrano to Hartford for LF Shin-Soo Choo, who they picked up in the draft from Seattle.

02-09-2004, 05:14 PM	#16
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	Season Outlook - 2005 The Silverhawks won’t be very good this season. But that’s okay. Only nine players on the entire 25-man roster played in the major leagues last season. Only two pitchers, one starter and our closer played in the majors last year. The team has some talent, but the goal is really to develop our prospects and scout out other talent that can help us sooner and faster. My goal for the team is 75 wins.

02-09-2004, 05:19 PM	#17
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	So far, so bad As expected, the Silverhawks are pretty bad. After the first month of the season (May 1st), the team is 7-22, only the Milwaukee Brewers sport a worse record (7-23) in all of baseball. The problem is simple, we lack pitching. We are dead last in every major pitching category as a team. Offensively, we actually lead the league in offense, helped no doubt by the altitude. But still, with a pretty much no name roster, that's an encouraging sign. In the short term, I'm going to look for some pitching and perhaps deal players because I have some surplus offensive talent in the farm.

02-09-2004, 10:16 PM	#18
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	MLB signs mega-TV deal NEW YORK - Major League Baseball agreed on two separate television deals today, which will ensure that baseball fans get games on both network television and cable throughout the season, include all playoff games. The deal is worth $865 million with FOX over five years. Meanwhile, ESPN and ABC signed a separate $375 million deal over the next three years to broadcast playoff games and the World Series. The combined amount will provide each team with $38.75 million in national television revenue, in addition to whatever local television deals they have. "We're very excited about going forward with our partners into the future," said Selig.

02-09-2004, 10:32 PM	#19
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	SILVERHAWKS DEAL HENSON, PICK UP VAUGHN 5/1/2005 LAS VEGAS - In the hopes of getting the team to respectablity, Dark Cloud traded 3B Drew Henson, who was barely hitting over the Mendoza Line to Washington for SP Eric Good. Good, 25, was 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA last season in 11 games, two of those starts for the Spirit last season. He was 1-3 with a 6.07 in AAA so far this season, but had 21 strikeouts and only 3 walks. The hope is, he can at least keep the ball in the park here in Nevada. Meanwhile, we signed Mo Vaughn to man first base. Hardly a long-term signing, he was picked up for about $375k for the remainder of the season. Vaughn, 38, hit 36 homer last season with 108 RBI for the NY Mets. The hope is, there has to be a little something left in the tank. No big plans at the moment, because I don't really know what to do with this team. None of our prospects are looking like much yet, but of course, we're only a month into our first season.

02-09-2004, 10:40 PM	#20
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,659	Failing to understand my own rules Okay, so I defined a major free agent as a player who had a certain amount of stats or who makes over $10 million a year. I signed no one last season who met that criteria. In part, because I was trying to be conservative, but because I failed to understand my own rules. That said, we can change our strategy. The plan/goal is not to be hamstrung by own rules, but instead to produce talent, while also remaining competitive. So, yeah. That changes things, a lot.