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A Strat-O-Matic Baseball project of Jon Brams

Sunday, July 22, 2012

"Fans, Please Welcome Your 1976 Lionville Tiiiiiger-Cats"


My Lionville Tiger-Cats are lookin' good! Damn good! Here are RL batting and pitching real-life stats for my players, followed by my thoughts on the just-completed draft.
 
1976 Lionville Tiger-Cats   Black=on active roster  Blue=minor leaguers
 
                   CODES YEAR TEAM BAL  AB DO TR HR BAVG  BB K'S RBI  OB%  SL%
Joe Morgan         1   0 1976  CIN  5R 472 30  5 27 .320 114  41 111 .453 .576
Greg Luzinski      3   0 1976  PHN  1R 533 28  1 21 .304  50 107  95 .375 .478
Ted Simmons        4   0 1976  SLN  1L 546 35  3  5 .291  73  35  75 .375 .394
Jerry Morales      7   0 1976  CHN   E 537 17  0 16 .274  41  49  67 .325 .395
Willie Davis       9   0 1976  SDN   E 493 18 10  5 .268  19  34  46 .298 .375
Ken Reitz         10   0 1976  SFN  3L 577 21  1  5 .267  24  48  66 .297 .333
Ed Kranepool      11   0 1976  NYN  2R 415 17  1 10 .292  35  38  49 .347 .410
Chris Speier      12   0 1976  SFN   E 495 18  4  3 .226  60  52  40 .315 .297
Joe Torre         15   0 1976  NYN  1L 310 10  3  5 .306  21  35  31 .360 .406
Jim Wynn          17   0 1976  ATN  1L 449 19  1 17 .207 127 111  66 .382 .367
Leon Roberts      19   0 1976  HON   E 235 11  2  7 .289  19  43  33 .350 .443
Tommy Helms       21   0 1976  PIN  8L  87  5  1  1 .276  10   5  13 .357 .391
Ed Ott            23   0 1976  pin  1L  39  2  0  0 .308   3   5   5 .349 .359
Rob Sperring      25   0 1976  CHN  2L  93  3  0  0 .258   9  25   7 .324 .290
Ken Boswell       26   0 1976  HON  3R 126  8  1  0 .262   8   8  18 .306 .341
Jerry Martin      28   0 1976  PHN  7L 121  7  0  2 .248   7  28  15 .289 .355
Larry Milbourne   30   0 1976  HON  4L 145  4  0  0 .248  14  10   7 .319 .276
Hozay Morales     13   0 1976  MON  2R 158 11  0  4 .316   3  20  37 .337 .462
 
                LEFT% BAL WON LOST  ERA  IP HITS WALKS K'S HR GS SV
Jones            20    2L  22  14  2.74 315  274   50   93 15 40  0
Hooton           45    1R  11  15  3.25 227  203   60  116 16 33  0
Carlton          18    1L  20   7  3.13 253  224   72  195 19 35  0
Reed             37    6R   8   7  2.46 128   88   32   96  8  4 14
Kison            46    8R  14   9  3.08 193  180   52   98 10 29  1
Sambito          28    1L   3   2  3.54  53   45   14   26  4  4  1
Sanders          40    1R   1   2  2.87  47   39   12   16  4  0  1
Swan             43    7R   6   9  3.55 132  129   44   89 11 22  0
Downing          25    2L   1   2  3.83  47   43   18   30  3  3  0
Taylor           46    2R   2   3  4.50  40   38   13   14  4  0  0
Walker           34    2R   1   2  4.12  20   22    3   11  2  0  3
Leon             37    1R   2   4  2.75  36   32   15   16  2  0  3
 
Really, had I not drawn the #1 slot in the draft lottery, I was planning to take a starting pitcher in the first round. But with that #1 overall pick I just had to go for the RL MVP Joe Morgan, he of the astronomical 1.020 OPS. He'll be on base all the time! Then I watched in amazement as the other 9 managers all took hitters. That enabled me to pick up the RL Cy Young winner Randy Jones in round 2. The MVP and the Cy Young winner -- who would have thought?
 As that round and the next two following progressed, I continued to be surprised how infrequently the other managers went for starting pitchers. A lot of the good hitters were getting snapped up, but still I was happy to get Greg Luzinski in round 3 and Ted Simmons in round 4.
Then it was time to go for another starter. The selection was still great, and I had a hard time deciding between Burt Hooton and Don Sutton. It's hard to pass up a 20-game winner, but I went for Hooton, thinking his upside in this year and the next couple to be a little greater.

Sutton went later in round 5 as did the first reliever, Rawley Eastwick. I was thinking another hitter for round 6, but, incredibly, Steve Carlton was still on the board. I couldn't pass him up.

I had hoped to get Ron Reed as my closer, with his sub-1.00 WHIP. After relievers Eastwick, Ken Forsch, Skip Lockwood, Bruce Sutter, and Charlie Hough got taken, I decided that the time was right to snag Reed as my #8 pick.



In later rounds I was happy to set up a good platoon arrangement at first base with Ed Kranepool in round 11 and Joe Torre in round 15. Jim Wynn was one of the last above average OPS regulars left when round 17 began. I decided he would make a dandy DH.

Even in the last few rounds there were a couple of nice surprises:
  • In RL Jerry Martin was used as a more than capable defensive replacement for Luzinski. I did a double-take when I noticed him still on the board as round 28 began. I took him.
  • In round 30 Larry Milbourne was still around so I took him. I had passed him up in the early 20s in favor of utility men Tommy Helms, Rob Sperring, and Ken Boswell. Milbourne became my last pick. Morgan will only be good for about 140 games, and although Milbourne's defense is suspect, it's not awful, and he has a realistic number of RL at bats to serve in the role as Morgan's backup. Furthermore, Milbourne may see a lot of service as a pinch-runner given the presence of slowpokes like Luzinski, Simmons, Ken Reitz, Kranepool, and Torre. 
After all was said and done and I started checking the other teams' rosters for completeness, I quickly realized I should have picked up a third catcher. Besides Simmons, the only other catcher on my roster was Ed Ott who had just 39 RL ABs. What if Simmons were to be injured? I didn't want to get into a situation where I would have to overuse Ott.

What to do?


One tradable commodity I had was 16th-round choice Bob Bailey whom I had envisioned as a pinch-hitter extraordinaire. Devault manager Barney Charney, the former rabbi, decided he'd cut me a break  and accept Bailey in a swap for catcher Jose Morales, his 13th-round selection. I decided it was a pretty fair deal, despite some fear of taking advantage of Charney. Although Morales was a .300-plus hitter and had 34 more RL ABs than Bailey, Bailey had an excellent RL OPS of .884, a mark bettered by only five everyday players in the league. And Charney did seem a little short in outfield depth.


And with that, the roster was set. With the addition of Morales, there are 2 players on the squad with first initial J and last name Morales. To make it easier to tell them apart in box scores, I've changed Jose Morales to the phonetic Hozay Morales. It's nice to be "The Commish".


For the sake of "authenticity", I don't like including Strat-O-Matic game-specific ratings in this blog. I've decided, however, to include the rest of the game's Roster Report for the Tiger-Cats below. For one thing, the first section below includes RL stealing stats. Moreover, I'll probably be glad to have access to these ratings when I'm away from the computer on which the game is installed.
 
                 LEFT% POWER BAT STEAL BUNT H&R RUN SUPPLEMENT-STEAL  SB CS
Morgan           33    N/N   L   AA    B    B   17 * 33%  0% (19-15) 60  9    
Luzinski         25    N/N   R    E    D    D    9    8%  8% (13-3)   1  2    
Simmons          38    N/W   S    E    D    B   10   61%  0% (3-1)    0  7    
Morales          30    N/N   R    D    C    C   14   31% 36% (13-3)   3  8    
Davis            28    W/N   L    B    C    B   17 * 14%  0% (19-11) 14  2    
Reitz            38    N/W   R    D    C    B    8   28%  6% (13-7)   5  4    
Kranepool        13    W/N   L    E    C    C    8    3%  0% (20-6)   1  0    
Speier           39    N/W   R    D    B    C   13   11%  3% (13-5)   2  2    
Torre            47    N/W   R    E    C    C    8   17% 25% (13-1)   1  3    
Wynn             33    N/N   R    B    D    D   15 * 19%  0% (17-11) 16  6    
Roberts          60    N/N   R    E    D    D   13    3%  0% (20-6)   1  0    
Helms            67    N/W   R    E    B    B    9    0%  0% (0-0)    0  0    
Ott               2    W/W   L    E    D    D   12    0%  0% (0-0)    0  0    
Sperring         31    W/W   R    E    A    D   14  100%  0% (3-1)    0  2    
Boswell           8    W/W   L    E    D    B   11    3%  0% (20-6)   1  0    
Martin           46    N/W   R    C    D    D   16 * 50%  3% (15-11)  3  2    
Milbourne        35    W/W   S    C    C    B   16 * 17%  0% (19-12)  6  1    
Morales          33    N/N   R    E    D    C    8    0%  0% (0-0)    0  0    
 
                Catcher       1b   2b   3b   ss   lf   cf   rf   ARM  ClAv DP
Morgan                             1e16                               .320 10 
Luzinski                      4e30                4e10           +0   .304 40 
Simmons         3e3 +0t4p4    4e18      4e65      4e11           +1   .291 36 
Morales                                                2e6  2e6  -3   .274 68 
Davis                                                  2e4       -1   .268 30 
Reitz                                   2e20 4e48                     .267 70 
Kranepool                     3e6                 4e6       4e6  +4   .292 50 
Speier                        4e25 4e17 4e53 3e22                     .226 56 
Torre                         3e16      4e25                          .306 64 
Wynn                                              4e11 4e11      +2   .207 26 
Roberts                                           4e6       4e6  +0   .289 22 
Helms                              3e15 4e35 4e48                     .276  0 
Ott             3e0 -2t0p7                                            .308 20 
Sperring                           4e27 4e18 4e27 4e15           +1   .258 22 
Boswell                            4e19 4e31 4e88 4e16           +3   .262 72 
Martin                        4e25                2e6  2e6  2e6  +0   .248 56 
Milbourne                          4e30                               .248 48 
Morales         4e8 +2t12p2   4e24                                    .316 60 
 
                       CODES YEAR TEAM  THROWS START RELIEF CLOSER BATS
Randy Jones            2   0 1976  SDN    L      9            N    #1WR
Burt Hooton            5   0 1976  LAN    R      7            N    #1WR
Steve Carlton          6   0 1976  PHN    L      8            N    #3WL
Ron Reed               8   0 1976  PHN    R      5     3      3    #2WR
Bruce Kison           13   0 1976  PIN    R      7     3      0    #3WR
Joe Sambito           14   0 1976  hon    L      7     2      0    #3WL
Ken Sanders           18   0 1976  nyn    R            2      0    #1WR
Craig Swan            20   0 1976  NYN    R      6            N    #1WR
Al Downing            22   0 1976  LAN    L      6     3      N    #1WR
Chuck Taylor          24   0 1976  mon    R            2      N    #1WR
Tom Walker            27   0 1976  sln    R            2      2    #5WR
Max Leon              29   0 1976  atn    R            2      0    #1WR
 
                *-RATING HOLD BALK WILD-PITCH DP FIELD STL BNT RUN 
Jones                Y     -3    1       0     0   1e0  E   A   10            
Hooton               Y     +5    0       1     0   3e0  E   B   10            
Carlton              Y     +3    4       7     0   3e0  E   C   10            
Reed                 N     +2    0       3     0  3e23  E   C   10            
Kison                N     +0    0       4     0  2e15  E   C   10            
Sambito              N     -3    0       8     0   2e0  E   D   10            
Sanders              N     -5    9       0     0   2e0  E   D   10            
Swan                 N     +7    7       0     0  3e22  E   C   10            
Downing              N     -1    0       9     0   3e0  E   D   10            
Taylor               N     -2    0      10     0   3e0  E   D   10            
Walker               N     +3    0       0     0   4e0  E   D   10            
Leon                 N     -5    0       0     0   4e0  E   D   10            




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