Wednesday (27 Mar) - Buffy The Baseball Cat

Wednesday (27 Mar) - Buffy The Baseball Cat

A few days ago a cat took up residence in our backyard. In a very bad sign of things to come, Judi has already given him/her a name, Buffy. The cat is pale cream in color with some darker spots on it's face. It looks a whole lot like a paler version of our cat, Jonesie. Last night it peered longingly at our entranced cats on the other side of the patio door. This can't be happening. Who told the feline neighborhood that soon a new enclosed patio would be open for business at our house?

It is a very wary cat. It immediately jumps the fence the minute it sees anyone. But it always comes back. It likes our yard. The problem is that our own cats have gotten used to being able to go in our backyard for a few hours a day. With a stray cat around, that becomes a problem. We're canvassing the neighborhood to see if the cat belongs to someone. If that doesn't work we'll try to trap it and at least have the vet check it in case it has feline leukemia or something else that could infect our cats. After that ... I don't want to think about it.

 Let's talk about baseball, instead. In the last post I mentioned how grueling it would be to modify the 2012 rosters of each team to match the rosters of the 2013 teams. I really did intend to just go with the 2012 rosters. But then I got to tinkering, and, well, the process was as grueling as I thought it would be - but it's done. All thirty teams now have 2013 rosters, or as close as I could get to them. There are still a few days before the season starts, but I'm not going to try and keep up with last minute changes, unless there is some big trade or something. And once the season starts, I'll lock down the rosters. Trying to match the daily transactions of thirty teams during the real season is more than I want to manage.

I used a layered approach in setting up the rosters. I start with the team's active roster; ie, those players who have already made the team and are on the 25 man roster. Most teams haven't finalized that, yet, even this close to the start of the season, so not all 25 are listed yet. The next layer is to take a look at the 40 man roster. Obviously, only some of those players will make the 25 man roster, but all of those players have some commitment to the team, so I can use them to fill holes. I also check the 40 man roster because that's where players on the disabled list (DL) show up. All those on the DL will be magically cured at the start of my league, so they automatically get added to the roster. I'll even go back another year, to 2011 stats, if a player missed all or most of the 2012 season due to injury. The Yankees Mariano Rivera is one such player. Finally, I check the list of non-roster invitees. These are players not under contract, but who are hoping to catch on with the team. For the most part I take veteran players from that list as a buffer against the rookies with little experience. I don't want to have some rookie who hit .400 in 25 ABs playing 160 games. I can't stop that completely, but I can mitigate it.

The San Diego Padres get scrubbed even tighter, since I know a lot more about our players than players on the other teams. And I get to be creative in the Promise league, where I'll give the Padres every chance for success. In some respects I don't really help them that much. Almost the entire lineup of the Padres improved between 2011 and 2012, and that roster is almost completely intact in 2013. A few players do get some help by using their 2011 stats: Kyle Blanks (back up 1B), James Darnell (utility infielder), Jesus Guzman (utility outfielder), Nick Hundley (C), Cameron Maybin (CF), Cory Luebkle (SP, was on DL), Tim Stauffer (SP, was on DL). On a 25 man roster, only two in the lineup and two starting pitchers got that favorable treatment. I did make one other adjustment. Jed Gyorko is an all star rookie who made the big league roster and is expected to stick with the team. He has never played in the majors, but I expect he will get a lot of playing time in 2013. In the simulation, maybe not so much, because a healthy Chase Headley (3B) and Logan Forsythe (2B) will eat into Gyorko's ABs. Still, I decided to "guess" what his stats would look like, based on his stellar minor league stats and how that would play out in the majors. Gyorko averaged a .319 BA in three minor league seasons, including hitting .328 at AAA Tucson. The computer game has a feature that will let me create stats for Gyorko and add him to the team, which I've done. I pegged him for a .262 BA and around 20 HRs (if he were a regular), with modest fielding ability at 2B and 3B.

The computer manager (CM) sets up the lineups, pitching rotations, and closer for the teams. I do a quick check: did the CM do something stupid, like bench Miguel Cabrera against right handers; did the CM put a player in the lineup that is listed as a minor leaguer; did the CM leave a lineup slot unfilled; are there five starting pitchers assigned to the rotation. Things like that. In general, everything is satisfactory and there aren't many problems. Now, I do have one beef with the CM, though it's a personal preference issue. The CM only knows one way to make up a lineup. It almost always chooses players with the most ABs, assuming they are the regulars, even if a better, less used player is available. That's often the real life situation, not just stats, so I understand the choices. The beef is that the CM also ascribes to the strategy that the lead off hitter must be someone who can steal bases. Again, in real life, there are a lot of major league managers who follow that strategy to the letter. The Detroit Tiger's lead off with Omar Infante, who is a decent base stealer, but has only average speed and does not get on base nearly enough to be leading off. Better choices would be Torii Hunter or Austin Jackson, two terrific hitters with speed. That would be my strategy. But the CM (and Detroit manager Jim Leyland) follow the same old tired strategy managers have used since the turn of the century before last. Of course, Leyland has been around almost that long. On MY Tigers team, Austin Jackson leads off.

Finally, I want to go over how player game time is managed. In a simulation, I could just make every starter play every game, but that would not be very realistic. So a means to manage that is in place. In most cases these computer enforced rules apply to both the Reality and Promise leagues. The one exception is injuries - injuries can occur in the Reality league, but not in the Promise league.

Lineups - The CM will periodically rest starting players players during the season, which gives backups a chance to start. This does not apply to starting pitchers. A starting pitcher will only miss a start if he became fatigued after his last start. 

Overall Playing Time - I can set this one of three ways: no restrictions, limit "overusage" and totally control overusage. I have set it to limit overusage. The best way to describe what this does it to use an example: With no restrictions, that player with the .400 BA in 25 ABs could be put in the lineup and nothing would stop him from getting 500+ ABs. That would not be realistic. With total restrictions, the CM would completely shut down players who had reached their max ABs or innings pitched. Also not realistic. The limit option gives bench players more opportunities to play, but will also allow players to exceed their AB/IP limits. The limit option most closely follows what real managers try to do.

Minor Leagues - A player placed in the minor leagues still appears on the roster, but will not be used in game except when "called up." The CM might do that to temporarily replace an injured player. This is used mostly when there is a hard rule on the size of rosters, and won't come into play here, but it's a nice feature to have available. I could put Gyorko in the minors, for example, and then call him up to the bigs if Headley got hurt. That sort of thing.

Four Man Pitching Rotations - SOM still maintains a setting that allows certain pitchers to start every four days, instead of the usual five. In order to be consistent with past seasons going back to the 1800s, there are many pitchers who have never, ever, pitched in a four man rotation that are rated for it. I made sure that every team pitches on a five man rotation. In today's baseball, starting on just three days rest is very rarely done, and never on a regular basis.

I think that's it. The season starts in four days. I'll explain the day to day management of the leagues when the opening day games are played.