Saturday, May 30, 2009

First IFA of the Season Goes To.....

The International market hasn't been what one would call strong yet, but we have had the first signing of the season! Al Saez signed by the San Diego Surf Babies for the paltry sum of $500K. Although not ML material, Al should have a good minor league career making it to AA and maybe AAA at some point in his career.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Rule 5

The recently held Rule 5 draft was just held. Although there wasn't any real superstars in the draft, there were some good players available. Most teams shied away from pitching as there wasn't much to choose from and most solidified there bench. Overall there was 38 players taken with the Indianapolis Sluggers taking the max allowed with 10. The Augusta Polar Bears lost the most players with 5. Only 15 teams drafted which could be a record and only 9 pitchers also. The question always remains of how many will hit the WW before the end of ST.

1. Christopher Earley was taken with the first pick by the Wichita Wingmen. A LF with some decent hitting abilities.

2. Esteban Fuentes was next on the list drafted by the El Paso Sand Walkers. A young defensive SS with some power but health could be a problem to be an every day player.

3. Phillip Woods drafted by the Rochester Phantoms. A defensive 2B with singles hitting ability, but health could be a major problem.

4. Harley Ripken drafted by the Richmond Poor Men. Listed as a RF but that could be a stretch. Maybe the best hitter available.

5. Trent Lewis drafted by the San Diego Surf Babies. A left handed SP pitcher with weak control but could work out in San Diego.

6. Charlie Sampson drafted by the Portland Bar & Grillers. A COF that could find a home in Portland.

7. Ivan Guerrero drafted by the Trenton Troglodytes. A RF with some power but little else.

8. Juan Lopez drafted by the Washington D.C. Revenge. Probably the best overall defensive catcher available.

9. Eric Petersen taken by the Augusta Polar Bears. A RF with some hitting abilities.

10. Andre Johnstone taken by the Austin City Limits. Has some good pitches for a starter but could be a little too weak with the splits and control combination.

11. Jeremy Lara stolen from El Paso by the Charlotte Gooners. Has the speed, eye and maybe the splits to be in the lead off spot but don't look for a very high average. His temper gets him in trouble alot but has a good glove and some range for a COF spot.

12. Charles Clayton also thieved form El Paso by the Indianapolis Sluggers. After I saw him drafted, I wondered why I didn't protect him, then it dawned on me he is only a bench warmer. Is a good prime position backup but doesn't possess the greatest hitting skills.

13. Sherry Drese drafted by the Las Vegas 69ers. With velocity like that, I wonder if she rolls the ball across the plate?

14. Miguel Bautista drafted by the Columbus Criminals. A power LF, but I don't think 30 HRs a season is in his future.

15. Reggie Bennett drafted the Nashville Kool Kats becomes the last player drafted in the first round. A 2B/OF with some power, a great need for the bench.

Monday, May 25, 2009

How To Link To Players From the World Chat

On the player card, click on the "+" on the left side; then go to the world chat. Put the cursor in the box at the very bottom of the screen, then click the "up arrow" on the right side of the box.

Grading the Big-Name Free Agent Signings

Two-thirds through free agency we've had 3 Type A's and 3 Type B's sign.  There are more out there but here's the scoop so far:

Hartford: SP Felix Woodward - 3 years, $18 million.  The Cream and Clear appear ready to throw around money like the Obama Administration, but they got Woodward for a song.  He'll give them 200+ innings and solid numbers.  Most of his career has been in pitcher-friendly Pawtuckett, but he was quite good in cozy Madison last year, too.  Grade: A+.

Hartford:  SP Brian Nakajima - 3 years, $26.75 million.  That's a little more like it, but still a bargain for a starter of Nakajima's quality.  Some observers have expected him to put up better numbers in Columbus's spacious park, but you know he'll benefit from good run support.  Grade: A.

San Diego: SP Cesar Mendez - 3 years, $27 million.  In the imminently-takable Al West, the Surf Babies make a move.  Something tells me they could've done better for $9MM a year, although everything Mendez throws sinks and he'll love those power alleys at Petco.  Grade: B.

Augusta: SP Cedrick Waters - 2 years, $11.5 million.  Waters has only had 2 good seasons out of 7 in the majors.  He'll benefit from his new stadium, but righties get a lot of good swings on balls up in the zone.  Grade: C+.

Scranton: CF Jimmie Castro - 3 years, $17.7 million.  Castro may end up in a CF platoon for the Beet Farmers.  He's over his head defensively and doesn't offer enough with the bat to make up for it.  Grade: C.

Scranton: 1B James Riggs - 4 years, $23.7 million.  Riggs is capable of having a big year (Season 10 OPS: .974), and he's capable of stinking (Season 8 OPS: .654).  He'll probably do both over the course of this contract, but expect better numbers than he put up in Burlington's ultra-spacious park.  Grade: B.


Saturday, May 23, 2009

Official Blog Welcome To New Owners

Time to officially welcome our new owners to Joey Belle

Owner's Name <>New Team Name <>WIS or HBD Experience

gijar <> Portland Bar & Grillers <> 13 Conf Champions in HD
fans_only <> Ottawa Ice <> 2 Div Titles in 8 seasons
mjwilson <> Trenton Troglodytes <> 6 Div Titles in 16 seasons
thekid05 <> Indianapolis Sluggers <> 6 Conf Champions in HD
baseballer77 <> Augusta Polar Bears <> 6 Div Titles in 9 seasons
ruffleswest <> Rochester Phantoms <> 2WS Titles in 20 seasons
br2225 <> Scranton Beet Farmers <> 4 Div Titles in 13 seasons

Welcome aboard, gentlemen, and good luck this season.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Recruiting Update

We have 5 teams open at the moment. I guess it's possible that specimen could still return - he hasn't logged in to his other teams since 5/7 and has not answered sitemail, so I don't know what's up with him.

We haven't had anywhere near the response to our ad on the Classifieds that we did last year, so I'm planning a voluminous sitemail recruiting campaign. I've sent about 25 of the following email so far, and will send aother batch this evening:

Re: Joey Belle

Joey Belle, recently ranked 8th in Green's Rankings of HBD Worlds, is looking for 4 owners for its upcoming season (its 12th). We're looking for owners who:

1) Have good records over multiple seasons in their current worlds;
2) Don't already have a lot of teams (more than 3);
3) Are active in their worlds.
4) Like to keep their teams for the long haul

You look like you may be what we want. If you're considering adding another world and like a highly competitive but friendly world with active owners and a superior blog, check us out. We have profiles of the available teams up on the HBD Clasifieds.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Braggin' Rights Invitation

To: blanch13 and all of World "Joey Belle":

So many worlds say "We're elite" or "We're the next elite world" and now you can prove it. Come join the "World Battle" for "Braggin Rights," a World vs. World Competition League. (For more see MLB Hardball Dynasty World Classifieds, Braggin’ Rights - Unique with openings)

The concept:
8 worlds with 4 representatives each battling it out in ONE world. A war of the worlds so to speak! One "captain" from each world will be responsible for filling the other 3 spots, 3 other representatives from his world! 1 Rep in each division (North, South, east , and West) Come join! A great opportunity to establish world credibility, but most of all to establish "braggin' rights" as an elite world.

I have only sent this challenge to a few worlds that I have heard may want to join, and who are worthy. So consider World "Joey Belle" challenged! ;)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Roll Over

There are 5 Worlds scheduled to rollover on the 9th and no others scheduled before or after at the moment. If you didn't know, a World's rollover depends on the cycle when the WS finishes. A rollover happens at the beginning of the next cycle which is normally a half hour earlier than the actual cycle. Two of the worlds finished on the AM cycle, one will roll at the AM 1 cycle 2 update, the other will be pushed to roll at the PM 1 cycle 2 update, the third will roll at the PM 2 cycle 2 update. I do not know if they use the Season/World number to determine who goes first or not in case of ties which is our case. If we get pushed a day till the 10th, then we should become one of the three teams to roll on that day (actually there will only be two available). If I remember right, a team that that gets pushed will rollover a half hour before the next cycle update in most cases.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Charleston Wins Again

The Charleston Apologists win their second straight World Series sweeping the Cleveland Katanas once again.

Game 1 - Nash Brooks singled home the winning run in the 8th for the Apologists in a 2-1 win. Clevelands chance to blow the game open in the 6th inning ended with Lawrence Simpson in relief. Getting Terry Owen to ground out to 1B to end their scoring chance then shutting them down for another 2 innings.

Game 2 - Kazuhiro Lim shut down the Cleveland offense for 7 innings as the Charleston offense lit up the usually reliable Diego Martinez for 8 runs early.

Game 3 - Carlos Gonzalez made a surprise visit to the mound to start the game and thwarted the Cleveland offense for a while once again as the Charleston pen kept things quiet and Joseph Masato pitched his way out of a jam in the 9th to preserve the 2-1 win.

Game 4 - Charleston grabbed an early 5 run lead, but the tiring Matty Vaughn gave up 3 runs in the in the 6th and 1 in the 7th before Lawrence Simpson was brought in for yet another relief appearance to shut down the rally and finish the game.

Lawrence Simpson was voted the pitching MVP of the series with his 6.2 innings of flawless relief and Maximo Cota was voted the offensive MVP of the series.

The Updates

Update #1

We will be releasing a major site redesign on Monday, May 11th. The redesign includes our core site but will not impact any of our SimLeague or Dynasty games. The release will not require a site shutdown, so you shouldn't see any downtime.

In addition to giving the site a fresh, updated look, it allows us to expand the width of our pages from the current size to the more widely accepted and larger 1024 pixels. This will allow us to expand our games in the future with more statistics, options, and an overall cleaner look.

The My Locker page and the Beyond the Boxscore section will also see some new features in an attempt to further improve the user experience on WIS.

Update #2

The update will require HBD to be shut down from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM ET on Tuesday, May 12th.

Amateur Draft Formula Builder:

We have included a new and improved way to rank your draft picks! Using the formula builder you can now weigh each individual rating on a scale of 1 to 10. You can also weigh each player by school. In other words, if you want to focus on mainly HS (or college) players we now give you the ability to do that. The manual ranking process is still available and we hope that in tandem with the formula builder you will now only have to manually rank maybe 10-15 guys. The formula builder will be an option on the draft settings page that you will have to manually choose to use. We have left the old draft settings in place in case any of you want to use the old system instead.

The formula calculation is very simple:

* Pitcher: ((each general rating * specified weight) + (each pitcher rating * specified rate)) * appropriate high school/college factor.

* Position Player: ((each general rating * specified weight) + (each position player rating * specified rate)) * appropriate high school/college factor.

There is also a small linear adjustment factor for pitchers with a combined stamina + durability of less than 70. This is done so pitchers who won't be able to throw many innings aren't inflated on the draft board. The pitcher with the absolute worst stamina/durability combination would incur a 10% reduction in his formula result.

Type D Compensation Picks:

Any franchise that does not sign their first or second round pick will now get a pick at the same position plus one slot in the next season’s draft. All unsigned third round picks will now be placed in a supplemental round at the end of the third round. In order to receive the compensation picks the following season you MUST offer the draft pick his demands and he MUST refuse to sign. You will not receive Type D compensation picks if you don't have the money to sign the player.

Multiple Type A Compensation Picks:

This fixes the scenario where one franchise signs two Type A free agents from two different franchises and the weaker franchise did not get the higher pick. It was previously based on timing of the signing it is now based on franchise rank.

Type A/B Compensation Extended:

Compensation picks will now be awarded through the first Amateur Draft preparation day.

Compensation Pick Reordering:

Compensation picks will now be put into the correct order on the first Amateur Draft preparation day. Previously, this would happen as soon as the offseason was complete.

Draft Settings:

Your draft settings will now carry over from season to season instead of being set back to the default values every season.

Unsigned Draftees:

Unsigned college seniors will now come back as undrafted free-agents at a more frequent rate.

Overall Rating:

The formula for overall rating has been improved. Stamina for pitchers is no longer weighted so heavily. Other ratings have also seen some adjustments for a more accurate overall rating. All previous and current overall rating values will be updated for the sake of consistency.

So, with all that being said here are the changes that will affect your world and maybe even your franchise when we release the update next Tuesday:

* All of the 1st Round Type D picks will be put in their correct position (pick last season + 1). The Type D picks in the supplemental round will no longer exist for any world that hasn't had their draft yet.
* Type A compensation will be corrected as explained above (item #3). Any team that signed multiple compensation picks from multiple teams will have the compensation picks ordered correctly.

----ENGINE CHANGES-----

The update will also see a few minor engine improvements:

* Reduced the frequency of pickoffs in very late situations with trailing team hitting.
* Corrected a bug where putouts/assists were not being handled properly for strike 'em out/ throw 'em out double plays.
* Corrected a logic flaw where infielder wouldn't throw home to nail leading runner in some situations
* Improved logic so outfielders will now receive assists when throwing to relay man who throws to base to nab a runner.
* Improved logic where specialist wasn't being pinch-hit for despite being removed at start of inning half.
* Improved pinch-running logic so manager scans bench for player able to play the position before removing a player for a PR. (i.e., no PR for catcher when no other catchers available on bench).
* Improved player sub logic when hierarchies empty, nobody eligible based on spectrum so the player closest to the position along the defensive spectrum is used (i.e. use a 3B to play SS rather than a C).

Minor League World Series

Congratulations to all the Minor League World Series winners.

AAA
Richmond Poor Men sweeps Madison BUTCHERS

AA
Syracuse Orange Crush over Las Vegas 69ers 4-2

HiA
San Jose Bad News Bees II over Washington D.C. Revenge 4-1

LoA
Austin City Limits over Cincinnati Waste Managers 4-1

Rookie
Charlotte Gooners outlasts Burlington Lake Monsters 4-3

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Season 11 WS Match Ups

Charleston Apologists vs Cleveland Katanas

A repeat of last years World Series! How much of a repeat remains to be seen. Charleston was a 5 seed last year and swept, this year it is #1 vs #1. Has Charleston improved enough to win the World Series again this year? Looking at both teams carefully, Cleveland is the strongest of the two teams but not by any overwhelming means. I don't expect Cleveland to be swept this year but do think they can wrap it up in 6 games.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The UFFFA's

Well, we know who is up for the major awards, but how about the lesser awards or the "Umpires Fickle Finger of Fate Awards" or for some, those who might find a job serving flapjacks next year.

Umpire Frustration Pitching Award: Sherman Terrell kept the the umpires busy with "Take Your Base", the safe signal and the ever present home run signal. 2-11 record, 119 Walks, 32 Home Runs and 113 Earned Runs.

Umpire Loser Award: Ray Barnes with a 5-19 record tops their list.

Umpire Iron Pitching Award: Albie Rivera kept trying to impress but never got any support with his 13-16 record and 254 innings of work.

Umpire Busy Award:Milton Starr kept the tired umpires hands and voice busy with a 14-11 record but surrendered 254 hits, 32 home runs and 74 walks in his 224 innings of work. Albie Rivera actually gave up the most hits but Milton gave more hits per IP. Carlos Gonzalez was a very close second.

Umpire Tired Twirl Award: Edwin Hill wins the undubious distinction of giving up 44 round trippers.

Umpire Ball Four Award: Teddy Nelson wins the award with 111 though Sherman Terrell led the honors with 119. They said that Sherman actually begged not to win another award for this season.

Umpire Bruiser Award: Julian Pierzynski, Cory Mitchell and Vic Lee all tied at 16. That is a lot of bumps and bruises on some players around the league.

Umpire Duck Award: Was not awarded to an individual this year as they awarded this unlucky distinction to the Sioux Falls Stoned Presidents pitching staff.

Umpire You Can't Do that Award: Stevie Petersen with 4 balks.

Umpire Iron Hitter Award: Alex Cruz wins this great award with 640 AB's and a .228 average.

Umpire Theftless Award:Christopher Booker for getting caught 21 times stealing in 35 attempts. He blames it on his teammates for all those missed hit and run signs.

Umpire Strike Three Award: York Wilson led the way with 165 strike outs.

Umpire Bruised Award: Andrew Page who stood on the plate too many times with his frail body and got hit 18 times.

Umpire Your Up With 1 Out Award: Chris Fontenot who hit into 50 game ending double plays.

Umpire Ground Assault Award: Andrew Recchio made contact over 500 times and may never have hit one in the air.

Umpire Air Assault Award: Sean Hines who made contact about 300 times with about 90% being in the air.

Umpire Patience Award: Timothy Shields for his 4.02 average number of pitches per plate appearance and 117 walks.

Umpire Be A Stick Award: Tomas Gonzales with 594 AB's, 131 strike outs and a .229 average.