Vol. IV,
Issue #3 - March 2016
**
SOM Baseball & MLB News **
(
a new periodic column for 2016 where we share special news
linked to the SOM Baseball Game and MLB .... stay tuned!! )
Notes from the Wolfman:
- This month for the Strat-o-matic Baseball & MLB News page
we offer some personal reports from "Opening Day" by two friends
who attended (beyond what we shared via Marc Wasserman's
column); we introduce you to the Strat Tournament Player's
Club Reporters (who will be sharing with our readers going
forward news and updates about the live and on-line tournaments
they have been offering for years, formerly known as the STAR
tournaments) and we travel back in time to chat with Bud
Podrazik, not about his strat prowess but his music and the
famous song he created for SOM's 50th anniversary! And finally,
in the last section on this page we have the full details of a
very very special tournament we are offering to our members,
that will be extremely beneficial and help you with all future
play of your game, find out more details below.
FLASH: FLASH: FLASH: Some Cool Things I found on the
Strat-o-matic Website and also on their Facebook Page ...
Wolfman:
I know that quite a few of our members are quite busy - either
with their jobs, their families or their leagues (I know I went
through two drafts at the beginning of this month); so you don't
always have time to see all the amazing stuff the Game Company
shares on their website. So I thought I would bring your
attention to a few interesting I found in March, as I was
browsing around and preparing for the new 2015 league I will be
joining soon on Baseball 365, following the system by our boy,
Marc Pelletier. If you have time check these links out:
========
INTERVIEW with BOB WINBERRY
(January 2016)
(Bob Winberry is
legendary, we have been trying to chat with him as well, he is
the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) for Strat-o-matic, which
means he is the programmer for all the computer versions of the
Strat-o-matic Games, and not just the baseball. Here he is on
WDRC, the Talk of Connecticut, as the interviewer has played
Strat-o-matic as well, very enlightening, a two part 25 minute
interview, go to:
Talk of Connecticut interviews Bob Winberry, Part I
Talk of Connecticut interviews Bob Winberry, Part II
On STRAT-O-MATIC Face Book Page
(SOM asks the gamers to share photos from their leagues during
their live drafts, plus there is a link to an interview with Joe
Lunardi, who is a college basketball analyst on ESPN by Adam
Rosen from the game company. Mr. Lunardi, has played SOM
Baseball since 1970, yet another sportscaster who was influenced
by Strat-o-matic when he was young, visit their FB Page at:)
https://www.facebook.com/StratOMaticGames/
FLASH: FLASH: FLASH: Here is our first report of a tournament
held by the Strat Tournament Players Club (STPC, the New Jersey
tournament on March 5th & 6th, the first tournament of the year
for the East Region.
Wolfman: I wish
to thank Jasper Cattin for sending in this report about the STPC
tournament held in Denville, New Jersey and for his interview
with the champion of this tournament, Brian Favereaux.
Also I found a key post on the STPC East Region Forum made by
the Tournament Director, Gene Abood.
Background (via Peter Nelson, advisor to the STPC
Council): Denville, N.J. is about 15 miles West of Newark off I-80. I'm
sure it was chosen because of location and because Gene Abood (EAST Rep on
the STPC Council and the Tournament Director for most EAST events) got a
good deal from the hotel there (low cost conference rooms and low-cost
sleeping rooms. There were 13 participants and the event was held over
the March 5th &6th weekend. They split up into two divisions of 8 each
where one division had two dummy teams and one division had one dummy team.
(Editor's Note:
In order to have competitive teams, the minimum draft needs to
be based on 8 teams. Since they didn't have 8 teams for
each division, they used a program written by Stan Suderman, one
of the winnest STPC members, that creates a simulated draft and
recommends the next best players to choose. So when it come time
for a dummy team to pick, they use this program to build the
team. So the division with 7 players then had one dummy
team and the other division had two dummy teams)
New Jersey Tournament Report
by Jasper Cattin
Tournament Bracket
Quarter, Semi, Champion Rounds
Brian Favereaux
------------------\
|Brian Favereaux (3-2)
|---------------------\
Andrew Gess
|
|
------------------/
|Brian Favereaux (3-1)
|---------------------
| Champion
Jerry Dattilo
|
------------------\
|
|Jerry Datillo (3-2)
|
|---------------------/
Doug Yano
|
------------------/ |
Brian
Favereaux won his 2nd
career tournament in New Jersey this
month. He has been playing strat for
30 years, but got into tournaments
only 5 years ago. He said the key to
his draft was getting a quality
bullpen and having a versatile
lineup and being able to play in
any ballpark and fact any type of
pitcher. His team really turned it
around after getting beat up by
Miguel Sano, he was 6-6 after
playing Paul Ferraro and his red-hot
Sano who doubled in 5 of 6
consecutive at bats. After that he
wen 14-4 including the playoffs.
Brian’s best
advice to novice players is to study
the cards and take the time to put
the right info onto them. He also
says that a big mistake he sees many
players make is going by the name on
the card and not the results the
card will produce.
(Note from the
Wolfman:
Unfortunately, this will be Jasper
only report, as life has got hectic
for him and due to personal
obligations he won't be able to
continue as an STPC - but his report
should give our readers an idea of
what takes place at the live
tournaments ...)
Additional Notes on the Conference
via Tournament Director Abood made
on the East Region Forum:
Congratulations to Brian F. on
winning our first tourney of the
year.
We had a great
weekend from start to finish. Fun
was had by all. The hotel was once
again excellent and things very
easy. Thanks to everyone who
participated, as things went
smoothly and the tournament was
completed by 7:30 Sunday night.
We had 13 and
split into two 8s. For the first
tournament, both drafts went
extremely quickly and we got started
playing around 11 Saturday morning.
There were tight races in both
groups which led to some fun and
excitement. Paul Ferraro and the
Andrew Miller demise throughout the
tournament. Gene’s K-rod allowing a
double to 3 or out in the top of 9th
to give up the lead, which would
have forced a 3 way shootout.
The weekend
also had 3 No-Hitters.
Bruce Fogg
threw a combined no-no with -
Verlander, Milone, Melancon
Harry Flawd
with Jamie Garcia against the
Tournament winner Brian F
Paul Ferraro
with Jake Arrietta
Playoffs (see
the chart by Jasper)
With the first
tournament under our belts, we look
forward to Albany on April 9/10th.
(Note: -- the
East Region website is at:
http://easomt.com/
(you have to register to gain
access.
-- other locations considered to be
in the East Region for future
tournaments include Albany, NY;
Pittsburgh, PA (shared with the
midwest region); Philadelphia, PA)
FLASH: FLASH: FLASH:
John Dewan - his STAT of the Week (January 2016) dealing with
the top Relievers
Wolfman:
I am a subscriber
to the special report John Dewan (our beloved SOM baseball
brother and President of Baseball Info Solutions) issues each
week called "Stat of the Week". I thought this one about
relief pitchers was interesting. If you enjoy this report,
there is information below how to sign-up to get your own report
sent to your email each week - good stuff.
|
STAT of the WEEK by John Dewan (via Acta Sports) |
|
Relief Pitcher Leaderboards
January 7, 2016
Context is critically important in evaluating relievers. Beyond just the obvious requirement for a reliever to be deployed with a small lead at the end of a game to earn a save, different relievers face all kinds of more subtle differences in the difficulty of their relief appearances in order to earn saves and other good statistics. Pulling from The 2016 Bill James Handbook, here are a few leaderboards that provide a window into some greater context for relievers from 2015 than what saves alone can provide.
| Tough Saves Leaders, 2015 |
| Player |
Tough Saves |
| Cody Allen |
7 |
| Trevor Rosenthal |
4 |
| Dellin Betances |
3 |
| Zach Britton |
3 |
| Glen Perkins |
3 |
| Huston Street |
3 |
| Jeurys Familia |
3 |
| Brad Ziegler |
3 |
Cody Allen finished outside the top 10 of relievers with 34 saves in 2015, but no one came close to his total of seven Tough Saves. A save is considered "tough" if the relief pitcher enters the game with the tying run on base. Many clubs are willing only to bring in their closers at the start of the ninth inning, but the Indians turned to Allen to help them out of many different jams this season, and he delivered.
Relief Opp On-base Plus Slugging Leaders, 2015
Min. 50 IP |
| Player |
Opp OPS |
| Wade Davis |
.451 |
| Andrew Miller |
.475 |
| Dellin Betances |
.510 |
| Kenley Jansen |
.513 |
| Brad Ziegler |
.524 |
While many of the best relievers are consistently used as their teams’ closers, some setup men are also among the best relievers in baseball. Dellin Betances of the Yankees is one such example. Batters had just a .510 opponent on-base plus slugging against him, better than all but two closers. Meanwhile, his teammate Andrew Miller finished second and new Yankee Aroldis Chapman finished eighth.
Reliever Leverage Index Leaders, 2015
Min. 50 IP |
| Player |
Leverage Index |
| Carson Smith |
2.12 |
| Huston Street |
2.07 |
| Trevor Rosenthal |
2.06 |
| Hector Rondon |
2.03 |
| Fernando Rodney |
2.01 |
Tough Saves provide a piece of the reality that not all saves are created equal. Another realization of that concept is leverage index, which measures how critical each situation in a game is based on the possible changes in win expectancy. Just because a closer is used at the end of a game does not mean he is used at the most critical point, but because teams tend to rely on closers in close games, the five relievers with the highest average leverage index in 2015 were all closers, at least for part of the season. The leader, Carson Smith, is also the most interesting name for this offseason since he was recently traded to the Red Sox. Similar to the Yankees, the Red Sox appear to have committed a lot of resources to solidifying the back of their bullpen. Everyone is eager to follow the blueprint established by the World Series champion Royals.
|
The prize of our winter hibernation.
—Peter Gammons
The most essential
annual published
for the baseball fan.
—Rob Neyer
Simply put,
The Bill James Handbook 2016 is the best and most complete annual baseball reference guide available today. Avid stat fans look forward to it every year, and casual baseball fans enjoy its comprehensive content. This book contains a myriad of stats on every hit, pitch and catch in Major League Baseball's 2015 season.
New and key features include:
- New! Stolen Base Attempt Times
- New! Painting the Corners
- Updated Starting Pitcher Rankings
- New! 2016 Bill James Hitter and Pitcher Projections
- The Fielding Bible Awards
- Q and A on Shifts
Paperback, $28.95
(Member price is $26.06 which
includes a 10% discount when you use the code "SOMB")
|
Copyright © 2016 by John Dewan.
Permission to reprint or broadcast this information is granted only if used in conjunction with the following citation:
"Used with permission from John Dewan's Stat of the Week®, www.statoftheweek.com."
If you are not already subscribing to John Dewan's Stat of the Week® and would like to start receiving it e-mailed free to your inbox each week, click here to go to our Registration page. Make sure to check the Stat of the Week box before clicking "Sign Up."
|
|
ACTA
Sports
· 4848
N. Clark
Street ·
Chicago,
IL 60640
· (800)
397-2282
·
www.actasports.com
|
|
|
------------
Note:
-- if you have a new story you think our readers might enjoy
linked to Strat-o-matic please feel free to email us your story
by contacting Wolfman at:
wolfman@ultimatestatbaseball.com
|
Support the Cause
If you are enjoying
the content and information our newsletter shares with you, why
not support us with your helpful donation for our minor expenses
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|
Contained inside this exciting issue of
Ultimate Strat
Baseball Newsletter:
(to view the various interviews, articles, columns and special sections click on
the links {underlined} and
this will take you to the appropriate
webpage)
♦
RETURN TO NEWSLETTER MAIN PAGE
♦
INTERVIEW with
ROGER ERICKSON
,
Ex-MLB Pitcher, Roger Erickson, for the Minnesota Twins and New
York Yankees, talks with the Wolfman about his insights on the
game of baseball and what
experiences he had during his major league career, as we
continue to interview more ex-MLB players which we recognize
their names from their Strat-o-matic cards in past seasons.
♦
INTERVIEW/ARTICLE with KEN WENGER
, Ken is a volunteer
for the support group that works with Len Durrant and Gary
Simonds who have been producing cardsets that work with the SOM
Baseball Game for over 20 years that include computer
rosters/teams from the Negro Leagues,
Japanese Leagues and the National Association. Ken
talks about his experiences being a part of this team and what it takes to make these
computer card set images.
♦
ARTICLE with MARC PELLETIER
& WOLFMAN SHAPIRO,
Wolfman Shapiro now becomes Marc's student as he is guided to
work with Marc's system to build a playoff bound team for one of
the new 2015
based leagues that are be offered in Baseball 365. Marc
explains his blue print how to build a team and shares with us
key spreadsheets to show how he evaluates the players in the
2015 cardset. The Wolfman shares his feedback upon the Pelletier
system and how it will guide
him to draft his team for the on-line Baseball 365 league that he will
join in April.
♦
STRAT WISE with MARC WASSERMAN --
commissioner of the Cyber Baseball Association (CBA) continues
his new column sharing various perspectives on SOM Baseball. In
this issue he discusses about the coming of "Baseball Daily",
his many visits to the Game Company since he was young, and the
recent video inteviews done with Hal Richman, John Garcia and
Adam Rosen.
♦
ARTICLE with LARRY BRAUS
--
Wolfman's old friend Larry, who he has known since the 1970's from
Chicago and the early national conventions, as well as was an early contributor
of our newletter in 2013, returns in this issues with some insights on former
star players you shouldn't write off just yet ...
♦
ARTICLE with WOLFMAN
SHAPIRO, Wolfman
discusses a totally new Computer (CM) based league he joins
which is based upon
salaries for the players with a salary cap, plus has a big focus on
building your minor league
players. Through this league he participates in his first time
ever an on-line auction to add players for his team. He reports
about his experiences joining this league and the strategies
he used to build a team made for the playoffs plus ....
♦
SOM BASEBALL LEAGUE REPORT with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO
--
the editor of "The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA
Champion, talks to members members of various Strat-o-matic Baseball Leagues that he
has discovered on the internet about the history of their league
and their experiences. This is the first time we get to speak to a
League
Commissioner and their Champion in the same month as we find
out about the World Baseball League (WBL).
To read their interviews, click on the appropriate link below:
INTERVIEW with Jeff
Chaput, WBL Commissioner, P-VI (Computer)
INTERVIEW with Ted Wesley,
WBL Champion, P-II (Computer)
♦
RECOMMEND
ON-LINE SOM RESOURCES
--
On-line Strat-o-matic and Baseball related websites
that offer amazing information, special tools and products to improve
your game play
that we strongly recommend. In most cases, we have had personal contact with
these sources who agree with the principle to work together and help promote each other.
♦
BOOKS TO
DIE FOR and Become a BASEBALL GURU
-- This page
is
specifically about special books we are finding that either will
expand your insights about the game of Baseball, help you in the
creation of your current league teams or with your replays and
learn more about the Strat-o-matic
Baseball Game and Game Company's
history. We
have a special arrangement with Acta Sports, who is a publisher
of a number of great baseball books (including Bill James
Handbooks) to offer for our members
a 10% discount. We will continue to add more books to this page in the future
as we uncover other gems our members should know about.
