Republican League - Version 2.0

[gordyhulten]

THE SETUP

The Republican League is a recreation of the solo fictional league that I used in my original dynasty from OOTP6, which died due to inattention caused by a severe lack of fun with OOTP2006. The universe is loosely based on the assumption that baseball in the United States never really took off West of the Rockies.

I’ve simmed 100 seasons, from 1901-2000, to generate some history and give a flavor to the current day happenings in the league. You can view an export after those 100 years here.

We’ll have two leagues with two divisions, each with six teams, for a total of twenty-four teams. The top team in each Division goes to the playoffs, with the first round being the League Championship Series, and the winners meeting in the National Championship Series.

I’ve veered away from the default league settings in a number of places:

• I wanted more SBs, fewer HRs, and generally lower levels of offense than present-day MLB. I used v1.01 the league strategy settings presented by SkyDog.
• In addition to full minor leagues (AAA through Rookie), I also have College and High School feeder leagues (which cause no end of problems - I should have left them out, but wanted the additional depth during drafting.)
• My financial settings are a significantly different. I have a $50,000,000 cash cap (to allow for significant dynasties, and to allow for quick rebuilding by larger market teams). My league minimum salary is $125,000, with superstar quality players earning upwards of $7.5 million. I have no salary cap, and media contracts are based on market size, with an average media contract of $10,000,000. Average attendance is 27,000 at $8.00 per ticket.
• Speaking of financial settings, as I’ll go into more depth about this in a future post, there are definitely large-market and small-market teams in the Republican League, with some teams in between, and during the 100-year sim, I periodically stopped and checked/fixed the market size settings so as to ensure some consistency there. I wanted a league history in which some teams did significantly better than other, that was divided between haves and have-nots, as I think that makes for more interesting stories moving forward. You can judge whether I’ve been successful.
• I’m using a schedule based on MLB’s 1976 schedule, which has 18 games played against in-division team (5x18=90 games) and 12 games versus out-of-division foes (6x12=72 games) for a total of 162 games. Interleague play, which was created by Bud Selig/the Devil, is disabled and spat upon.
• My Hall of Fame criteria are much stricter than the game’s default settings, as I want a HoF that truly contains only the greatest talents. You can view the Hall here, after the 100-year sim. I’ve manually removed four players from that list – Earl Brennen, Jason Dougherty, Dave Kramer and Dave Nelson, as I didn’t think they were in the same class as the other players inducted.
• Ratings scales are 1-20.
• Trading settings are Low / Hard / Favor Prospects.
• AI Player Evaluation Options are 43% Ratings / 42% Current Year Stats / 10% Previous Year Stats / 5% Two Years Ago Stats.

More in a bit.

[Jestor]

Just quickly glancing at your Hall, it seems like the 60s were the prime decade for greats in your league.

[gordyhulten]

Originally Posted by Jestor

Just quickly glancing at your Hall, it seems like the 60s were the prime decade for greats in your league.

The 1960s had some greats, but this guy debuted in 1970, and he's the most dominant player I've ever seen in OOTP, any version:

Year/Team/League	Age	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	R	BB	HP	SF	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	VORP
1970 Tennessee - RL	20	14	14	2	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	4	0	0	.143	.143	.214	.357	-2.4
1971 Tennessee - RL	21	147	295	78	17	1	7	36	33	18	3	2	63	0	0	.264	.311	.400	.711	-3.4
1972 Tennessee - RL	22	155	635	217	41	8	28	121	95	44	3	6	79	1	0	.342	.384	.564	.948	72.1
1973 Tennessee - RL	23	155	646	200	40	2	19	111	78	44	4	7	118	0	0	.310	.354	.466	.820	30.8
1974 Tennessee - RL	24	159	659	253	38	3	45	173	135	47	9	5	77	0	0	.384	.429	.656	1.085	119.1
1975 Tennessee - RL	25	147	590	221	41	4	48	149	131	69	7	2	70	0	1	.375	.445	.702	1.146	118.9
1976 Tennessee - RL	26	158	626	220	26	7	42	150	137	90	3	15	88	0	0	.351	.426	.617	1.043	97.3
1977 Tennessee - RL	27	158	625	226	39	5	53	165	163	97	8	6	77	1	1	.362	.450	.694	1.144	128.8
1978 Tennessee - RL	28	158	632	206	34	2	38	127	107	88	7	10	80	0	0	.326	.408	.566	.975	76.4
1979 Tennessee - RL	29	159	631	218	43	3	35	107	132	86	5	3	87	2	1	.345	.426	.590	1.016	86.6
1980 Tennessee - RL	30	159	633	222	38	1	49	148	124	84	3	3	83	0	1	.351	.427	.646	1.074	105.0
1981 Tennessee - RL	31	159	612	209	32	5	56	142	130	75	5	8	74	0	0	.342	.413	.685	1.097	105.5
1982 Colorado - RL	32	154	620	232	28	3	62	147	137	80	3	4	67	1	1	.374	.446	.729	1.175	98.2
1983 Colorado - RL	33	156	608	215	33	2	60	152	149	108	3	5	69	1	0	.354	.450	.711	1.161	95.8
1984 Colorado - RL	34	156	620	228	35	5	54	165	134	90	5	3	67	1	0	.368	.450	.702	1.151	92.8
1985 Colorado - RL	35	159	615	233	40	6	62	173	135	103	0	9	59	0	0	.379	.462	.766	1.228	112.9
1986 New York - RL	36	159	623	239	27	3	46	161	134	103	4	11	78	0	0	.384	.467	.658	1.125	120.8
1987 New York - RL	37	132	492	155	31	1	36	143	108	95	5	14	69	1	1	.315	.421	.602	1.022	63.4
1988 New York - RL	38	159	601	226	40	4	63	206	157	107	9	10	55	0	1	.376	.470	.770	1.241	138.1
1989 New York - RL	39	146	575	197	34	2	45	159	131	86	1	7	59	0	0	.343	.425	.643	1.068	83.3
1990 New York - RL	40	144	565	187	20	4	47	141	130	98	4	2	64	0	1	.331	.432	.630	1.062	79.7
1991 New York - RL	41	137	531	164	27	1	32	139	117	82	6	7	85	0	0	.309	.403	.544	.947	46.7
1992 New York - RL	42	133	471	139	30	4	13	78	68	85	9	6	88	0	1	.295	.408	.459	.867	27.1
Total         RL	23 yrs.	3363	12919	4487	735	76	940	3095	2666	1779	106	145	1660	8	9	.347	.426	.634	1.061	1893.3

Ken Smith won 11 Most Outstanding Hitter Awards, was an All-Star 20 times, and is the career leader in SLG, OPS, G, AB, H, TB, 2B, HR and RBI. His career total for HR is 167 ahead of 2nd place and 250 ahead of third. For RBI, he's 887 ahead of the next closest guy.

He also owns the single-season records for SLG, OPS, VORP, H, TB and RBI.

I've never seen anything like him.

[Jestor]

Nice! I bet Mississippi's ticked they released him.

[gordyhulten]

LEAGUE ALIGNMENT

As of 10/20/2000, immediately following the 2000 National Championship Series and the fifth Championship for the Texas Drillers, here is the landscape of the Republican League, including 2000 records, current payroll (rounded to nearest million), Fan Interest (1-100) / Fan Loyalty (1-10) /Market Size (1-20).

FRONTIER LEAGUE            (  W-L  / PAY  / FI / LOY/ MS) 
PRAIRIE DIVISION
Colorado Chiefs            (86-76  / $20m / 57 / 3  / 9 )
Illinois Hitmen            (92-70  / $45m / 71 / 7  / 18)
Iowa Legends               (102-60 / $42m / 80 / 3  / 2 )
Minnesota Muskies          (85-77  / $37m / 80 / 4  / 10)
Nebraska Kernels           (76-86  / $10m / 47 / 7  / 3)
Ohio Dynamo                (89-73  / $41m / 84 / 6  / 9 )

RIVERS DIVISION
Alabama Vipers             (60-102 / $26m / 54 / 3  / 4 )
Louisiana Skeeters         (71-91  / $33m / 71 / 8  / 5 )
Mississippi Wizards        (65-97  / $28m / 50 / 8  / 2 )
Missouri Explorers         (77-85  / $50m / 72 / 5  / 9 )
Oklahoma Wranglers         (84-78  / $37m / 61 / 4  / 4 )
Texas Drillers             (85-77  / $41m / 81 / 2  / 13) – NATIONAL CHAMPION

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE
UNION DIVISION
Connecticut Atlantics      (79-83  / $36m / 82 / 5  / 5 )
Maine Loggers              (93-69  / $28m / 62 / 7  / 2 )
Massachusetts Emeralds     (69-93  / $36m / 58 / 10 / 12)
New Jersey Curve           (96-66  / $28m / 69 / 4  / 12)
New York Knights           (74-88  / $52m / 72 / 2  / 20)
Pennsylvania Freedom       (92-70  / $41m / 68 / 2  / 14)

STATES DIVISION
Florida Oranges            (101-61 / $55m / 87 / 5  / 13) – LEAGUE CHAMPION
Georgia Rebels             (76-86  / $36m / 52 / 8  / 12)
Kentucky Stallions         (65-97  / $30m / 55 / 2  / 5 )
North Carolina Aeros       (72-90  / $26m / 30 / 6  / 6 )
Tennessee Nuts             (77-85  / $37m / 64 / 6  / 5 )
Washington, DC Generals    (78-84  / $28m / 33 / 1  / 13)

I wanted to become the General Manager of one of the last place teams, so I’m considering the Nebraska Kernels, Alabama Vipers, Massachusetts Emeralds and Kentucky Stallions.

Any thoughts/advice?

[Jestor]

Anything but Nebraska. I hate Nebraska.

[gbmoore121]

Glad to see this back.

I say Kentucky. Currently last....and looks like the worst win pct in league history (lifetime).

[ifspuds]

Just to be difficult, I say Alabama. Worst record, but no 90+-win teams in the division this year.

[gordyhulten]

Originally Posted by Jestor

Anything but Nebraska. I hate Nebraska.

Me, too. Dang Cornhuskers ruined the entire state for me. :-)

Originally Posted by ifspuds

Just to be difficult, I say Alabama. Worst record, but no 90+-win teams in the division this year.

The biggest concern for me about Alabama is they have almost no young talent.

Originally Posted by gbmoore121

Glad to see this back.

I say Kentucky. Currently last....and looks like the worst win pct in league history (lifetime).

Thank you - I'm glad to be back.

Kentucky has several advantages:

• Worst winning percentage in league history
• Only 8 postseason trips in 100 years, and none since 1989
• A small yet not tiny market
• Good young talent, but only on offense

[gordyhulten]

As an aside, I want to thank a few people for helping me get started with all this:

SkyDog, for his league settings, which were almost exactly what I was looking for, in terms of statistical outcomes.

silvam14, for helping me out with logos and uniforms for so many of my teams. If you'd like to use any of them and you can't find them on his site, please let me know - I'm happy to share them.

And the long lost and greatly missed Teflon Skies, who provided us with such great stadiums for OOTP5/6 that I'm still using them today. I've got 24 of them that I've used for years, and if anyone is looking for them, I'm happy to share those as well.

As an example, here's Armed Forces Stadium, the home of the Washington Generals:

[gordyhulten]

Here's a spreadsheet that illustrates in a little more detail how I set up my leagues market sizes, ballparks, etc., if anyone is interested. (Click on the image for a larger version)

[gordyhulten]

"You're very, very young to be considered for such a position. You do realize that, Mr. Hulten?"

"Please, Mr. Jones and Mr. Cherry. Please call me Gordy. In my way of thinking, you're not looking for a young man or an old man. You're looking for a skilled manager and planner, with some idea of how to build a championship baseball franchise. In that respect, sir - I'm the perfect man for the job.

"You see, sir, I've spent my entire life thinking about this, and with the right staf and the right plan...."

Several hours later:

"...We've not sensed an opportunity like this since we founded Humana all those years ago. And that is why I, along with my good friend and co-owner Wendell Cherry, would like to introduce to you the next General Manager of the Kentucky Stallions - Gordy Hulten."

"Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, everyone. I'm greatful for the opportunity provided to me today by Mr. Cherry and Mr. Jones. I'm honored to accept this position, and look forward to returning the Kentucky Stallions to the postseason and winning championships here.

"We're going to start with a top-to-bottom evaluation of every coach, scout, staff member and player...."

[gordyhulten]

Originally Posted by Jestor

Nice! I bet Mississippi's ticked they released him.

You know, I'm sure there's a story in there somewhere - maybe he broke off an engagement with the Owner's daughter or something.

[gordyhulten]

2000 Early Offseason – Hiring Staff

I was unaware, but using feeder leagues threw off the number of staff that were available for teams to hire – for example, Kentucky spent all of 2000 without a manager, pitching coach and team doctor. Instead of there being a handful of staff available, a bunch of teams have extraneous vacancies.

So I jumped into Commissioner mode and created enough new managers/coaches/staff at each “position” to have 20 people available to fill openings this off-season, which will hopefully allow all the teams to have someone to hire. If not, I’ll keep creating more until everyone’s staffs are full.

I was tempted to clean house and fire all of the coaches and staff as my first move as General Manager. But the Stallions have some talented people in key positions, so rather than a clean sweep, we’re doing targeted replacements.

Level-by-level, position-by-position:

Kentucky Stallions

• Manager: vacant – hired Michael Alston (20/13/20/20/19/20) for four years, $200,000 per year. He’s old and expensive and has a funky mustache, but I love his strategic tendencies: he heavily favors prospects and pitching, and is generally conservative otherwise. He is 58yo, and has never managed a ball club, in the minors or elsewhere – which is also fine by me, as he shouldn’t mind a little micro-managing, eh?
• Bench Coach: Replaced Doug King (8/9/9/6/6/6) with 38yo Teddy Dwyer (15/17/12/15/20/18).
• Hitting Coach: John Potts (17/6/6/18/18/18) is retained.
• Pitching Coach: vacant – hired 31yo Robert Clark (2/19/10/14/15/15) for five years at the bargain-basement price of $90,000 per season.
• Head Scout: Mitchell Gardner (20/20/18) - retained
• Scout: Bob Andrews (13/18/16) - retained
• Scout: Jay Harris (17/14/13) - retained
• Scout: Michael O’Toole (14/15/18) - retained
• Scout: Nicholas Spears (7/4/4) replaced by 36yo Josh Simon (15/14/16/16/13) for four years at $65,000 per year. Another young bargain.
• Scout: Mac Wallace (2/6/3) replaced by 60yo highly-respected veteran Carlos Gonzales (20/19/20/20/18) at four years, $105,000.
• Team Doctor: vacant – hired Horace Daniels (14/9/15/13/17) for four years at $135,000.

I re-ordered my scouting staff a bit, so that it now runs Gardner, Gonzales, O’Toole, Andrews, Harris and then Simon, the newbie.

Overall, I feel very good about the reconstituted staff for my big-league team.

AAA Lexington

• Manager: Kevin Goodman (11/6/7/3/4/4) is fired, and 33yo Eric Meredith (20/19/17/13/11/12) takes his place for four years and $135,000.
• Hitting Coach: Millard Hill (20/2/9/18/13/16) - retained
• Pitching Coach: Lester Walters (4/5/4/3/3/3) is removed, replaced by 34yo Brant Charles (19/17/15/15/17/16) for three years, $135,000.
• Head Scout: Gerald Morris (15/20/14) – retained.

AA Bowling Green

• Manager: Marlon Sykes (8/11/9/6/4/5) is fired. The new guy is 46yo Bill Verret (20/18/16/11/18/14) at $125,000 per year for two years.
• Hitting Coach: Mike Lyttelton (10/7/7/1/5/3) wouldn’t accept a demotion, so I fired him and hired 47yo Will Bullock (18/5/9/12/15/13) for three years at $50,000.
• Pitching Coach: vacant -
• Head Scout: Norbert Johnson 3/4/3 is fired and 44yo Zach Shaefer (16/13/14/16/13) signs a one-year, $40,000 contract.

A Covington

• Manager: Dan Kendrick is fired. Andy Smith (16/15/14/14/11/12) is 49yo and signed through 2003 for $105,000 per season.
• Hitting Coach: Fernando Ortega (5/2/1/4/5/5) is fired. 41yo Zach Peterson (16/5/9/18/15/17) comes aboard for three years at $45,000.
• Pitching Coach: Brandon Kidd (10/12/7/4/4/4) also declined a demotion to Frankfort, so I showed him the door. Taking his spot is Albert Muller (5/17/4/20/12/16) for one year at $50,000.
• Head Scout: vacant – 37yo Eric Green (14/12/13/13/12) is hired for three years, $30,000.

Short A Owensboro

• Manager: vacant – 58yo Kade Brewer (16/14/11/11/15/13) is hired for two years at $95,000.
• Hitting Coach: Robbie Morris (5/4/2/1/4/2) is fired. Newcomer 38yo Will Downing (12/1/10/11/9/10) takes over for one year and $20,000.
• Pitching Coach: David Hull (7/10/7/4/4/4) is retained.
• Head Scout: vacant – 32yo Bill Kline (13/10/12/13/11) has no experience, but interviews well, so I give him one year and $20,000.

Rookie Frankfort

• Manager: vacant – 49yo Andrew Jones (13/11/11/11/19/15) is tabbed.
• Hitting Coach: Scott Coleman (7/7/6/3/3/3) is fired. Another newcomer, in 31yo Denny Cunningham (11/1/5/11/10/10) is hired for three years at $20,000.
• Pitching Coach: Ken Fountain (2/4/2/2/3/3) is fired. 36yo Walt Miller (1/14/6/15/11/13) is hired for $30,000 for one season.
• Head Scout: vacant – filled by 32yo, freshly minted James Walker (10/12/12/11/13) for one year and $15,000.

Given my budgetary constraints, I couldn’t have afforded to hire the best of the best at every level of the minors. I think the improvements made are vast, though – including much younger personnel and entirely new staffs at the Rookie, A and AA levels.

I also didn't hide the best available talent, as some of these guys were newly created to fill feeder-league-caused shortages, and I wanted the other teams to have a fair crack at some decent guys when they get around to signing personnel.

Now, on to the daunting task of evaluating personnel.

We'll do it position-by-position, looking throughout the organization at each spot to see how we're doing today and in the future. As we do them, if you have advice or thoughts, please share them - this is actually my first game with OOTP2007, so I'm going to need all the help I can get.

[gordyhulten]

2000 Kentucky Stallions Postseason Position Reports

Housekeeping
The player ratings that I’m listing are going to be off each player’s SION player cards which are viewable on the website. For players in the major leagues, and veterans in the minor leagues, I’m going to list their current talent level as (Contact / Gap / Power / Eye / Avoid Ks). For prospects, I’ll list their potential talent in the same order, but preceded by “POT” to make it clear we’re discussing potential. I’ll talk a bit about every player of significance in our system, but I’ll avoid wasting pixels on the “ain’t-got-a-chance” boys.

(And I just realized something else very cool about OOTP2007 – the URLs of player pages don’t change once they’ve retired! Link to them once, and everything is there, including career stats, and the page URL never changes! Wahoo!)

POSITION REPORT: Catchers
Erik Rose (11 Contact / 15 Gap / 12 Power / 11 Eye / 6 Avoid Ks) has been our starter for five full seasons, and used to be a pretty productive left-handed hitter (289/347/429 in 1998, for example). He’s 30yo, good defensively, and he’s reasonably priced ($1.745 million in 2000, now entering his final arbitration hearing), so I’ll probably keep him. Oddly, this lefty hits lefties better than righties in just over 1000 PAs versus southpaws. He’s not very happy right now, but he really wants to play for a winner, so that’s to be expected. Rose’s backup is 33yo Greg Pope (15/10/4/4/8) who looks like he should be a great singles hitter, but just can’t make contact. He’s also highly regarded for his defense. He earned $140,000 in 2000, in the final year of his contract.

Luckily, we’re blessed with some outstanding catching prospects in our system. The most promising is 22yo Josh Chamberlain (POT 15/12/12/10/10), currently rated as the 8th best prospect in all of baseball. Chamberlain is as good a defensive catcher as you’ll ever see, with a rocket right arm. In AAA this year, Josh hit 277/320/400 after spending less than a week in AA. He’s progressed nicely since being drafted ninth overall in 1997, but needs a bit more seasoning before jumping to The Show. Chasing Chamberlain through the system is 21yo Ed Peterson (POT 18/15/9/8/8), who isn’t nearly as gifted defensively. Peterson destroyed A-ball (381/430/488 – winning the Most Outstanding Hitter for that level) this year before jumping briefly to AA for the last few games. The only other catcher of note is barely that: 26yo Mike Miles (14/6/3/2/4), who has been bouncing around our system for a few years, but is doomed by his inability to control the strike zone.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Rose is probably a safe play for another year, and if we’re lucky, he’ll return to his hitting form of two years ago. If not, then hopefully Chamberlain or Peterson is ready for a big-league starting job in 2002.

[gordyhulten]

Housekeeping
I’m an imbecile.

On top of all my other problems with Feeder Leagues, I incorrectly entered the League Totals for my two Feeder Leagues – I plugged in 16,000 AB instead of 160,000 – which resulted in vastly reduced levels of offense in both leagues. Of course, I never noticed it until today, when looking at Ray Taylor (see below). I’ve fixed it, but HS and College stats are going to be very difficult to interpret until 2001.

POSITION REPORT: First Basemen
The status quo is a time-sharing system (but not really a platoon!) between a 37yo and a 40yo. The younger of the two is switch-hitting Ken Hicks (13/10/12/14/14) and he was, for $825,000, about as expected – not quite terrible, but close enough that it doesn’t really matter. His partner, however, is guilty of much more egregious crimes: LH 40yo Lee ‘Sonny’ Hotham (10/11/11/14/9) “earned” $9.5 million this year – one third of our total payroll - for 400 PA and a 230/315/378 line. The fact that my predecessor signed a 39yo 1B to a three-year, $28 million contract should tell you all you need to know how I ended up as the youngest General Manager in the Republican League. I wonder if I can find anyone dumb enough to take Hotham’s contract off my hands for his final year? Or maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll just retire…

Down on the farm, things aren’t much better. C Ed Peterson, above, can barely play first base, and that might be the best we can hope for. We do have Geoff Willis (POT 16/8/20/14/13), who is 22yo and LH and a great-looking prospect. Unfortunately, Geoff muddled by in AA this year (256/336/427) after actually starting the year in at Rookie-level Frankfort. Ray Taylor (POT 15/14/14/9/11) is 23yo and fresh out of college and hasn’t played a game in my system yet.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Dumping Hotham is a must. Finding a cheap starter is just as important, as there are no real options within the system at this time. Willis is just talented enough that I can hold out hope for a breakout season in 2001.

[gordyhulten]

PRESS CONFERENCE at Humana Park

“Since beginning work here, I’ve directed everyone on the staff to look for ways to improve everything that related to Kentucky Stallions baseball. We want to build on the traditions that we’ve all enjoyed, while turning a new leaf and moving ahead.

“With that in mind, one of the first decisions I made was to ask for a complete re-design of our team’s colors, logo and uniforms. I wanted a more aggressive, cleaner look of which our staff, players and especially our fans could be proud.

“I hope you’ll be as excited by the changes as I am. We’ve got a couple of players here today to model the new look.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our All-Star SS, Mr. Greg Brooks:”



“Here’s his partner up the middle, the young guy Woodrow ‘Clockwork’ White:”



And, of course, yours truly:



The new logo:



(Special thanks again to silvam14 for doing the re-design for me. Check out the rest of his work here. The OOTP fan community really is the best!)

[gordyhulten]

POSITION REPORT: Second Basemen
Finally, a bright spot, at least in some respects. Our starting second baseman is 22yo RH Woodrow ‘Clockwork’ White (14/10/8/13/19 – POT 15/15/15/15/19), who struggled his first year in the bigs (259/321/345), but showed plenty of promise – only 33 K in 536 PA, for example. While he may have the dumbest name/nickname combination in Kentucky history (and that’s saying quite a bit – it is, after all, Kentucky), he’s going to be penciled in as our starting 2B for a few more years, at least. He’s backed up by 31yo RH utility guy Rob Taylor (10/8/11/6/11), who can play all four INF positions and who has been an up-and-down hitter throughout his career.

The only other player of note in the system is Francisco Moya (9/11/6/6/7). Moya is 27yo, but has great unfulfilled potential and is a great athlete and basestealer. He’s done OK at AAA for the past few years, and would be a reasonable backup infielder if he could play more than one position. His unfulfilled potential might be interesting enough to shop him as trade bait.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to put up with his stupid nickname, but Woodrow White is awfully exciting to have around, especially because of the dearth of 2B elsewhere in the organization. But doesn’t something like “Woody White” sound a heck of a lot better than “Woodrow ‘Clockwork’ White?!?” Somebody talk me out of making this change, before it’s too late.

[gordyhulten]

POSITION REPORT: Third Basemen
My current third-baseman, 27yo Jim Hudson (13/13/8/9/14) looks like a solid player in the scouting reports, but hasn’t ever been able to put it together on the field. In 1600 career PA, he’s 273/318/356, and he’ll be 28yo in April, which means his likelihood of improving much more is getting slim. He’s a decent fielder, decent baserunner, decent everything – he just doesn’t hit or get on base all that well. That said, Hudson is just entering arbitration, so he’s cheap and he can play 1B and SS. And the rest of the organization is barren of 3B, so unless I grab someone in FA or via trade, he’s my guy.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Hudson’s right on that line – I’d like to have a better option, but he’s pretty young, he might get better, and there are other areas that need attention much more desperately, especially on the pitching staff. He’s probably going to be our starter and #7 or #8 hitter for another season, and that’s not such a terrible thing. Right?

[gordyhulten]

POSITION REPORT: Shortstops
Greg Brooks (13/13/12/17/11) might be the closest thing that the Kentucky Stallions have to a “star.” He’s 29yo and played his entire career in our organization. He’s been a starter for almost five years, and has been solid since his second year. He’s very popular, has a decent glove, is disciplined at the plate and is especially valuable as a middle-infielder who can hit 300/400/450 in the right circumstances. In the system we find the usual dregs and scraps – but 22yo Walt Campbell (13/10/2/5/2) doesn’t have much appeal because he can’t control the strike zone, but he can run, play all four infield positions and has a career 314/357/403 in AAA in 500 PA at his age, so there’s some hope for him yet.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Brooks is going to anchor our infield and our lineup. Hopefully, he can rub off a bit on his double-play partner (Mr. Woodrow White, profiled above. Campbell is worth keeping an eye on, but that’s about it. It’s probably not too soon to start talking extension with Brooks.