S56 Predictions

Jack Torrance - contributing reporter

Skynet ran 1 billion-zillion simulations, or maybe they lied and just ran one; on the league and here are the majority winners. The website FiveThirtyEight confirmed these as the favored to win. Even the Vegas strippers agreed these are the favored and they can always be trusted right? Right?

• American League
• AL North: Philadelphia Harpers showed up against last season. We expect them to do the same this one. Minny made a few moves this offseason to improve their ML roster, like defensive minded Bart Higley, speedster Steve Lalli, World Series Champion catcher Vic Chavez, but we still expect the division to end a few series before the end of the season. Really it comes down to what Philly can do in the playoffs. Something they've struggled with the last 3 seasons. 
• AL East: Atlanta Expos, the division is still there's to lose and likely the favorite for the next couple of seasons but the Boston Baseball Team is coming on strong, having gone from a 60 win team S53 to 93 in S55. Let's see if they can cross the 100 win line this season. A wild card is surely in their sights. 
• AL South: Houston Space Cowboys, are the World Series champs and are more than deserving of this prediction at the top of the division. Huntington slipped a bit last season, even with the promotion of another top rookie. Let's see how they do after adding .300+ hitter Rip Bromberg at the hot corner this off-season from Pitt. 
• AL West: Salt Lake City Punk! take the division that nobody wants to win after another busy off-season trading. Colorado Springs gets a year older and fights but doesn't succeed. But the real question is, will SLC have a winning record when they win the division? Vegas says its 50-50.
• Wildcard: Boston Baseball Team & Huntington Tropics  claim the two wildcard slots, leaving Minnesota as the odd team out. No real changes in the next season for the AL. 
• National League
• NL North: Chicago Gunslingers won the division by double digit games, but the Hartford Rising Stars edged out Chicago in the playoffs. But once again we think these are the top two teams in the NL; but only one can secure a first round bye. Will we miss out on predications of the NL North for the second year straight? 
• NL East: In a surprise, the defending champs, Houston Space Cowboys actually end up winning the NL East. Pittsburgh Yinzers traded away any value the clubhouse had remaining in an attempt to start a rebuild. Buffalo needs to restack, Columbus is trying but could still use the improvement. And DC with it's owner in his first full year still has a battle ahead of him. Congrats to Houston for winning two division titles this season!  
• NL South: New Orleans Hurricane Dodgers team will mostly be returning so we don't see any reason why they wouldn't secure a 6th straight division title. Ploppie changes team names more than he changes his underwear says NOHD's press secretary. The team fails to win 100 games for the first time since S50. 
• NL West: Vancouver Canucks repeat as division champs and not because the commissioner paid us to say so...okay, maybe he did. But we think the canadian team nobody cares about, oh wait Montreal still has a team, ends up taking it the final series of the season. Vancouver will be a tough fight and claim their second straight division title after tying the franchise record for most wins last year. This year they will have a full year of Gross, so it will be interesting for sure.  
• Wildcard: Hartford Rising Stars & Oklahoma City Barons. We just aren't seeing any new teams creep into the playoff race this season. The new owner in the NL South Charleston very well could be a surprise runner up.  
• Playoffs
• American League
• Houston and Atlanta once again secure first round byes. The Baseball Team top the Punk! while the Harpers knock out the Tropics.  Houston and Atlanta win and once again meet each other for the American League title for the 3rd straight year. Boring, the TV ratings are showing this doesn't interest the league any more, and it's time for some new blood. 
• National League
• Chicago and New Orleans get the bye with Hartford besting...the NL East....again. And OKC gets revenge and tops Vancouver. In a pair of rematches in the NLDS, Chicago topes Hartford this year and OKC wins again against New Orleans. This time we see Chicago take the W over the Barons and advancing to the World Series as the National League champs.  
• World Series
• AL (Not sure who won, I feel sleep reading this portion of the sim) tops the NL (Chicago) in 5 games and continues the streak of AL World Series wins. 

S56 Time for the Hall - Part 2

Eli Cash - contributing reporter

Another refresher for those who missed the Part 1 - particularly the primer for a detailed explanation of the three scoring system we use. As a quick reminder, a sure thing for a hitter is 60/130/500, for a starter its 60/130/420 and for a reliever (who doesn't use the Test Score) is 130/250. 

SP

Gregor Lopez
The blog has recently covered Lopez before his short stint in Nashville last season. The guy leaders the Cobbfather in many all-time career categories, including wins and damn near number 1 in strikeouts. He won an amazing 74% of his games, most other Hall of Fame pitchers are in the upper 60s with a few sitting below 71% There's not much we need to say about him, 17 of his 22 seasons he won 15+ games, 11 times struck out more than 200+ batters, 26 playoff wins, 6 Cy Young awards and 12 All-star appearances, most of any pitcher the blog has tracked. Hands down he's a sure fire bet for the Hall and deserve induction this season. You know what to do!
Cash vote: YES

Magglio Exposito
Exposito is no slouch either, 12 seasons of 15+ wins, 13 playoff wins, 3 Cy Youngs, and 8 All-star appearances. He doesn't quite rank up there with Lopez or the Hall of Famers like Jair James, Thomas Hutcinson, or Bob Graves; but we he's ahead of Alberto Beltre, Jimmie Hartman, and Chris Pedleton. Nearly 300 wins, over 3300 strike outs, and finished with a 3.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. He is by every means a Hall of Fame pitcher. 
Votes Last Season: First time on Ballot
Cash vote: YES

Juan Galvis
Surpassed the Wins and Strikeouts milestones. Ended with a .614 win% and just shy of 3500 strike outs. Galvis won 15+ games 9 times out of 20 seasons. That falls just shy of the number of seasons for the first ballot pitchers like Munson, LaPorta, and James. His 7 seasons with 200+ K is very similar, just shy of the shoe-ins but above those who likely squeaked in. He only managed 4 Ws in the playoffs but you can't fault a man for not being on a playoff team.His 3 All-Star appearances would be the least of any Hall of Fame member. The other downside of Galvis is the higher than HoF standard in WHIP and ERA. Only Edgar Cortez who was elected during Season 24 has a higher WHIP. His 3.49 ERA would also be 3rd highest among all HoF starters. Only Cortez, who likely wouldn't get in by today's standards, and Ken Evans who has the second lowest Monitor score of all HoF pitchers. 
Votes Last Season: 15
Cash vote: YES

Jason Gates
Gates' first season on the ballot and he's looking impressive compared to the other Hall of Fame pitchers. Similar to Galvis, he surpasses the Ws (252) and K (2,873) milestones; not quite up there with the super first ballot elites, but impressive still in just 17 seasons. Another area he is just like Galvis is the slightly higher than HoF average WHIP and ERA. But his number of 15+ win and 200+ seasons ranks up there with the best. His 20 playoff wins is near the top with only 3-4 Hall of Famers having more. 
Votes Last Season: 10
Cash vote: YES

Sherman Berkman
Sherman 'the Herman' Berkman as he's known by his friends is an interesting case. He only played 16 seasons but still surpassed the K milestone, nearly totaling 3200; that's averaging nearly 200 K a season! Which is actually did 11 of those 16 seasons; and with a sub 3.00 career ERA you have to wonder how many wins did his bullpens blow? That has to be the only explanation as to why he didn't surpass the win milestone as well. His Monitor score falls just below Braeden Abercrombie and Randall Washington who didn't make the cut in recent ballots. One of few starters with a K/9 above 8 and a K/BB above 3. He brought home 2 Cy Young awards and 8 All-star appearances. 
Votes Last Season: 13
Cash vote: Borderline

Don Martin, Jeffrey Randall, Adrian Simon, and Gerald Kojima
These guys will not likely garner any votes and should be happy to be on the ballot. With ERAs above 3.50, WHIPs above 1.25, and K/9 below 7.1 they relied on the position players behind them to help them out of jams. Not a single Cy Young between the group and Don Martin accounts for 5 of the 6 All-Star appearances they had. Randall however did prove useful in the playoffs with 12 W/SVs and nearly 3,000 K. If you are going to vote for any of them, he should be the one. Kojima is likely the best of the bunch and might garner a few votes himself. 

RP
Relief pitchers have it tough, I'm not sure how Sammy Felix got in, but maybe it was easier back in the early years when pitching strategies were a little different. Often times in these current times, the best RPs are used for more games and not as the closer but higher leverage situations. I personally think they are underrated but understand it's likely because of how fickle they can be season t season. With names like Al Balentien, and Tomo Hayashi not gaining access to the Hall, you have to wonder if any of them actually will. It shall be renamed, Hall of everyone but relief pitchers!

Jace Sale
This guy knew how to close out games. Not only is he the All-Time Saves leader but by nearly 200 saves. He pitched for 18 seasons as a closer and every single one of them he closed out and saved more than 30 games. He owns 5 Fireman of the Year Awards and only missed the All-Star game 3 of the seasons he played. He saved 12 games over the 7 years Boston made the playoffs. His Monitor Score ranks among the top, even for starting pitchers. I surprised to see he only had 10 votes last season, but maybe that's because of the amount of talent on the ballot last season. How in the world did he go from 10 votes in S53, to 15 in S54, and then DOWN to 12 last season. Get this guy in the Hall before he's no longer eligible. 
Votes Last Season: 12
Cash vote: YES

There you go folks, S56 possible Hall of Famers. Let's see if anyone gets in this year!

VOTE HERE

S56 Time for the Hall - Part 1

Eli Cash - contributing reporter

Appears to be a small list than normal this season, hopefully that means we are weeding through who should and should not be allowed in the Cobbfather Hall of Fame. Let's dive right in....VOTE HERE. 

For the new voters out there, be sure to skim past articles; particularly the primer for a detailed explanation of the three scoring system we use. As a quick reminder, a sure thing for a hitter is 60/130/500, for a starter its 60/130/420 and for a reliever (who doesn't use the Test Score) is 130/250. We are sticking with the format from the previous year as I liked how it compared similar position players rather than lumping them all together. 

Players grouped by position. If you have a good retired player that I can include, please let me know. 

C

Marshall Van Ostrand
We aren't quite sure how he's managed to improve upon the 3 votes he received in S54, even if it was just by one additional vote. Maybe one day we'll get a Catcher worthy of the hall. For most it's because they transition to 1B or DH for more ABs than they had at C, and thus get classified at those positions. What stands out the most for Van Ostrand is how many games he caught behind the plate, likely a Cobbfather record. He averaged just 125 hits and 15 hr a season; pulling down 60ish runs/rbi. Having made 8 All-star appearances with 1 ring to his name. He had 4 seasons above .300 but not a single one over 40 hr, 100 runs, 100 rbi, or 35 doubles; though he does have a great BB/K rate. 
Votes Last Season: 4

Cash vote worthy: NO

Lonnie Mills
It seems from chat rumors he has at least one supporter...in Montreal but that's a Canadian city so does it really count? Mills' Test Score is fantastic, near top of the Catcher class, but his Monitor score falls short. He had an amazing 9 seasons with an average above .300, and likely each of those seasons an All-Star appearance. Similar to MVO, he has one ring to his name. He also owns the 3rd highest OPS of all retired catchers tracked by the blog over 15 seasons. If high average guys like Al Samuel, Jamie Summers, Julio Contreras, and Chris Foster weren't voted into the Hall; we can't get behind Mills. Those guys also had more All-Star appearances than Mills. Let him join the Hall of Dizzy. 
Votes Last Season: First time on ballot
Cash vote worthy: BORDERLINE

Fritz Butcher
A Butcher who doesn't cut it? Though seven All-Star appearances, in only 11 seasons. Had he played another 4, we would most likely be talking about him in a different light. He averaged nearly 150 hits a season with 22 hr, and pulled down 75 runs/rbi combo but like Van Ostrand, no single season is outstanding. 
Votes Last Season: 1
Cash vote worthy: NO

1B

Lee Schlitter
Not your prototypical First Baseman, Schlitter relied more on his speed and ability to get on base than a power bat. A combo that hasn't done well in HoF voting. Schlitter well surpassed the 2500 Hit milestone as well as the milestones for Runs and Stolen Bases. Ending his career with a .380 OBP and nearly a walk per strikeout. In his 16 seasons he made the All-Star game an amazing 10 times. For 4 seasons he had more than 200 hits, and for an additional 3 he still hit above .300. 13 seasons of scoring more than 100 Runs, 9 seasons with 35+ Doubles and 1 Gold Glove. I love a good 1-2 lead off hitter and that's exactly what you had with him, he averaged 176 Hits, 24 HR, 39 SBs, 114 Runs, and 84 RBI. While I may not have voted him last year due to other names, he gets the vote this year. 
Votes Last Season: 4
Cash vote worthy: YES

Vern Lowe 
Lowe didn't quite cross the major thresholds, but he did have 7 seasons with 40+ HR, 7 with 100+ R, and 9 with 100+ RBI, to go with 2 All-star appearances and 4 Gold Gloves. All-time he ranks in at #94 average in average, and #56 in HR. The 4 Gold Gloves just goes to show he wasn't all bat. One more solid season and he would have likely surpassed the HR, R, and RBI thresholds but retired after 13.  We'll don't think he
Votes Last Season: 0
Cash vote worthy: NO

Birdie Kydd 
Yes he hit over 500 home runs, and managed 8 seasons of 40+ HRs which helped he cross the 100 RBI a season 9 times; but he falls short of the RBI milestone. Compared to other Hall of Fame First Baseman or past eligible ones, does he stack up? One of the lowest OBPs and BB/K rate for any of them. Yes he won 2 Rings but it had a lot to do with the team around him. He was good, don't get me wrong; but does he belong in the Hall? That's for you to decide. And not that I'd hold it against him, but he was 8-48 in stolen base attempts. Maybe his 500 Cash Points and his 40 HR, 93 Run, 113 RBI career average convince you to get him in. 
Votes Last Season: 1
Cash vote worthy: NO

Charlie Lyons
Lyons surpassed the 2500+ hits and ranks 38 on the all-time list. He failed to pass 1500 in runs or RBIs but he still ranks 67 and 66 all time. With 8 seasons above a .300 average, he also knocked in 100+ RBI 9 times, winning 1 ring and 4 All-star appearances. Unlike most 1Bs in the Hall, he failed to reach 40 HR in any of his 16 seasons. He averaged 24 HR, 85 R, and 88 RBI over those 16 seasons as well. Great player, just not sure he's Hall worthy. 
Votes Last Season: 0
Cash vote worthy: NO


2B

Jose Pizzaro
Averaged 158 Hits, 29 HR, 19 SBs, 84 Runs, and 96 RBI over his 15 seasons. Low Monitor Score with only a .332 OBP. 3 Seasons of .300 hitting with 3 All-Star appearances, an MVP, and 2 Gold Gloves. If Wandy Guillen, Vic Crowe, and Ernie 'I Miss Bert' McEnerney didn't make the Hall, Pizzaro doesn't deserve it either. Simple as that. 
Votes Last Season: 0
Cash vote: NO

SS

Terrance Ricarrdi
There are no Shortstops in the Cobbfather Hall of Fame, but surely a few are deserving, but is Ricarrdi the right one to start with? 2 Gold Gloves, a .307 OBP, though he did have 2 of his 13 seasons with 40+ HR. He averaged 120 hits, 34 home runs, with 80 runs and 85 rbi a season, and 9 All-Star appearances. Still digging through the archives, but I have not seen another Shortstop with more appearances than Ricarrdi. With only two +/- more seasons he would have gotten to 500 home runs. On the downside, his .317 OBP is quite low for a HoF hopeful; even for a SS. 
Votes Last Season: 0
Cash vote: NO

3B

Cookie Rodriguez
Cookie has the highest monitor score of all eligible 3Bs this season, and he rounded all four bases 544 times in his 15 year career, but to the tune of a .335 OBP and a .43 B/K rate. For 3Bs his numbers feel soft in comparison to those already in the Hall; but he did receive a single vote last season. 
Votes Last Season: 0
Cash vote: NO

William Katou
Katou was a cops worst nightmare, speeding everywhere he went. He owns the 4th highest single season record at 125 but also the most career stolen bases at 957; 134 above second place. Voters have proved to prefer power over speed, but there's nobody that competes with Katou in terms of speed on the base paths. The downside and why hasn't he been voted in before this, since he hasn't played since season 18? A monitor score of 19 ranks near the bottom of all players archived by Cash. A .324 OBP is only slightly above average. Struck out more than twice the amount of times he took a free base. Averaged 127 hits, 14 hr, 64 sb, and 89 runs a season; making two all-star appearances. 
Votes Last Season: First time on ballot
Cash vote: NO

RF

None

No worthy Right Fielders on the ballot this year. 

LF

Gregory Treinen

I sometimes feel like a broken record, yet another typical power hitter. This one failing to cross any other milestones and struggled to get on base, and while I think he deserves a look, there are plenty of names who fall in the season averages of 154 Hits, 44 HR, 87 Runs, and 106 RBI a season with a .261 average. He dropped from 3 votes to 2 votes last season, we'll see if he's able to keep those two or improve upon them. 
Votes Last Season: 5
Cash vote: NO

Yohan Mairena

Yohan falls below HoF Andres Candelaria on the Monitor Score and failed to cross any of the major barriers over the course of his 15 seasons; though he owns a .382 OBP; above all other LF HoF members and below players like Swann and Taylor who were not elected to the Hall. But he is also one of few years with 2+ MVPs - that's 4% of Cobbfather history. But does his Hall of Chance depend on those two great years he had when he was the league MVP, perhaps so. 
Votes Last Season: 7
Cash vote: NO

Bryan Foster
Gregory Treinen-lite. Make use of your vote elsewhere. 
Votes Last Season: 0
Cash vote: NO

CF

None

No worthy Right Fielders on the ballot this year. 

DH
None
No Designated Hitters on the ballot this year. 

VOTE HERE

Part Two coming later for pitchers...

Meet opie5

  New owner interview hosted by Commissioner Daubs.

Q: Tell us about opie5. What is he like? What does he do in his spare time when not obsessing over your rosters?

Spare time - what is that??? I live at the beach in NC so when I find some spare time, I’m either on the golf course or swimming in the ocean. I retired last year (was a Dean at a University outside of Philadelphia) but my parents have had health issues and most of my time goes into assisting them.

Q: So you're a veteran to HBD, and previously owned a franchise in Cobbfather WAY back in Seasons 10-28. What do you enjoy most about the game? Besides the charming commissioner, what intrigued you about returning to Cobbfather after your hiatus?

I enjoy the challenge of building a team that can make the playoffs. Each world is so different that an owner can use different strategies to achieve that end. It is interesting to come in and see the previous owner's budget and try to understand what that owner was trying to accomplish.

I took on an orphan team in another world to help a commissioner out & stayed a couple of seasons until it was on the right track. The league had a couple of tankers in it - I can’t stand tanking - and Cobbfather had an opening, so I jumped at the chance. Some of the worlds take a long time to fill now - even the good ones - and I decided to get into some of the better worlds that I had been in previously so I can play continuously. Cobbfather was an easy choice - the timing worked. I also went back to Moonlight Graham a few seasons ago.

Q: What is your favorite part about building a franchise? Do you try to make a lot of trades? Would you rather build through the draft or IFA? Or just buy a team like Steinbrenner used to do?

I enjoy building a team through the draft and free agency. I’m not a big INT player - costs way too much of the budget to get really good players. I was in a league when an owner spent a bit more than $42M for an IFA - then had the balls to ask for salary relief because he couldn’t sign enough draftees for his rookie team. That’s over $80M of his roster on that 1 prospect. However - the first INT I signed in Cobbfather - Tony Lopez HoF 34 - went for $2.3M - I got very lucky!

I don’t make a lot of trades but will deal when the trade makes sense. I’m not afraid to give up good talent but there are some players that should not be traded.

Q: Of your current roster, who do you like most? Promise they will never read these articles! What about prospects? Who are you looking forward to the ML team in the next couple of seasons?

The good thing about a takeover is that one usually has no attachment to the players - same with this squad. On the ML roster, I like Sticky Baez & Wilton Perry. There were only 60 minor league players in the organization - and no prospects - so I don’t have any young players to like (yet).

This goes back to question 2 - the budget I inherited was nothing like the budget I like to run. The previous owner put most of the budget into FA’s & major leaguers - there was no scouting money in college, high school, or international for the last 6 seasons. Makes it difficult to make trades since most owners are looking for prospects back in a deal.

Q: What are your goals for the upcoming season? Are you looking to push for the playoffs? Or do you expect to rebuild for a couple of seasons?

This team needs to make the playoffs before its window closes - which could be difficult since it has only made the playoffs 7 times in 55 seasons. The squad has a chance - decent hitting & decent pitching - but defense is not up to par. The players on the squad are all pretty good players - just not good enough to excite other owners into making a deal to improve. So - I guess I’ll be watching the WW this season (sounds exciting).

Q: Since you've only returned to the league for a few days, this may be tough to answer but what has been your favorite aspect(s) of Cobbfather so far?

My favorite aspect is being back into the league with several owners that I competed against years ago. Nate (FW_Kekionga) was my mentor when I first started. I had gotten into Kruk & then joined Regulars on orphan takeovers - those were the days when you had to apply to leagues because there were so many people trying to play and not enough spots for owners - definitely had to take what you could get. I had no idea of what I was doing & got a mentor from the mentor list - Nate helped me immensely. He then got me into Cobbfather once I had a better grasp of the game, and I won the title in my 4th season here. Good to see other folks like Ploppie, ekoontz, topoftheworld, bjc30 and any others I didn’t shout out, still here & winning championships.

Q: What advice would you give a new owner in HBD? Besides making sure to ignore most conversations with the Commissioner of Cobbfather?

Improve your defense - it is an overlooked part of the game. Get close to the positional averages & surpass the average for position if you can. Also, don’t bid on any FA’s, Coaches or Int’s that I am bidding on.

Q: Any final thoughts as we head into the Season?

It is good to be back - thanks for having me!