I humbly submit that Christopher Hester turned in the greatest pitching performance in the history of SDMB OOTP baseball this simulation. Against Denver's admittedly struggling offense (10th in runs scored), Hester was overpowering. He threw a no hitter, walked only one, and struck out SEVENTEEN.
Let me repeat that. Seventeen strikeouts, one walk, no hits, complete game shutout. His game score of 103 is the first pitching game over 100 in SDMB history.
And I was beginning to worry if he would meet his potential. Silly, silly me.
Yeah, he had a great game. But you *know* that Demarcus Ramirez is going to win Outstanding Pitcher for the third year in a row. He's 10-0 this year!
ReplyDeleteYes, but Mr. Ramirez is going to have to enjoy that honor while sitting home watching the Cecil Cup on television while Mr. Hester will be pitching in it.
ReplyDeleteWhy bother with hoping, Mack? You know you'll lose.
ReplyDeleteI've accepted the idea of becoming the SDMB version of the Buffalo Bills, only I am looking to run a streak of something like 8 Cecil Cup losses in ten years. That would really be something.
ReplyDeleteOn a further note relating to Demarcus Ramirez, I see that Mr. Ramirez may be a free agent at the end of the year. Although I assume the Saskatoon ownership will step up and pay the man, that would be one heck of a free agent bidding war for his services.
Sorry to state that, barring a trade, Mr. Ramirez will be with Saskatoon next year.
ReplyDeleteHe is only eligible for arbitration, not free agency, this winter.
Zev
According to the Saskatoon salary report page, Ramirez becomes a free agent with 87 more days of major league service, which I suspect he'll easily accumulate.
ReplyDeleteAm I misreading this somehow?
I will have tons of money to spend next offseason, and a hole or two in my rotation to fill. How, oh how, shall I fill it?
ReplyDeleteI could easily see offering him 5y/$30m and not blinking.
No, I'm the one who misread it. You are correct.
ReplyDeleteZev
I dunno, Michael, just with your required bring-forwards your looking at what, $80MM or so? Tacking an extra $30MM on that means you're heavily banking on not losing your high merchandising and attendance revenue. I think you might find a few years of not winning takes that bloom off. And then you'll be stuck with contracts you can't afford and hit the downward slide.
ReplyDeleteNot that I'd mind, of course. I'm all for it!
The games before and after that gem weren't all that shabby either. Say, where did Hester and guys like him who don't have a draft note in their career history come from? I recall some talk of some kind of additions to the minor leagues (?) for all the existing franchises when the leagued added teams. How exactly did that work?
ReplyDeleteIf I recall it was when Zev hit the 'fill all minors with players' option. It makes a bunch of scrubeenie players to fill out the minor league systems. While it's possible someone from that event could because a great player it would be highly unlikely.
ReplyDeleteAh. I thought the "Fill all minor leagues" function would have resulted in many more players than I seem to have discovered who were never drafted. I guess you're right, though; I probably just never had occasion to visit the profiles of most of'em.
ReplyDeleteNate: Sean Arant (one of the centerpieces of my big trade with Mack a few months ago) came to my franchise that way.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm not saying it can't happen. Just that the odds of a 'created' minor leaguer jumping through all the developmental surges necessary to become a true quality major leaguer are slim indeed.
ReplyDeleteHester was actually a 2004 draft pick (3rd round) who was lost through a bug and was then re-created by Zev. I think there was a post by Zev recently on that year's draft where his post or the comments addressed the phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteIf you click on the link to my third round pick that year in Seattle's team history, you find a completely different Christopher Hester, lost in the system somewhere, who never blossomed.
On the other hand, you also find a Henry Johnson (my first round pick) who didn't inexplicably forget how to make contact with the baseball.
OK, I just created a Test League, opened up the Cubs, and released all of their minor league players.
ReplyDeleteThe league is historical as of Opening Day 2005 so talent distribution should be workable on an average basis.
I think went to the league set up and hit the 'fill AAA with players' button.
Results:
Average star rating: 1 Gold star. ALL players were 1 gold star.
Average age: 29
I then deleted them and hit the 'Fill ALL minor league teams with players' button.
AAA Results:
Average star rating: All players had 1 gold star.
Average Age: 28.5
AA Results:
Average star rating: All players over 25 had 1 gold star. All players <25 had 1 blue star with one exception which had 2 blue stars (a SP, for the record)
Aveage Age: about 25.
A Results:
Average star rating: Abotu 1.2. All players had 1 blue star except:
MR with 3.5 blue stars
CL with 2 blue stars
C with 2 blue stars
Average Age: 22.1