Issue #5 - Part I, August 2013
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**
Commissioner's Corner - Part V- Notes from the Commish **
(by Marc Wasserman, Commissioner of the Cyber
Baseball Association {CBA} )
(Note from the Wolfman:
- Here is the fifth part of this column written by Marc Wasserman,
discussing his experiences and insights about being a
commissioner of a Strat-o-matic baseball league. Each month as
we continue this column, Marc will share with us different
aspects of the job of being a commissioner and what is necessary
to run a successful league. We hope this
column is helpful to enhance your own leagues or what you should
be prepared to do if you decide to form a new league and act as
its commissioner.)
The Keys to a Strong League Constitution
--
things you should know about ....
So what are the key
elements that must be included in a league Constitution? What
main components should be put into a structure within this
document? Honestly, there are so many bright and insightful
ideas and rules one can come up with to design a really good
constitution. Of course, the process of gathering the
information and deciding what is the most important aspects to
include to provide for your league’s needs can be a lot of fun.
The discussions that will shape the final version of the
constitution brings together the members working on this project
and gives them all a common ground. Naturally, someone
should be recording all of the ideas expressed and begin to
write the paragraphs of the constitution as they comes out.
I recommend for your
first section that this part includes an overview of the league
structure and the all inclusive game settings that you will be
using. Each game preference that is agreed to should be written
down and listed in this section with all procedures clearly
spelled out. If it is a CM (Computer Manager Exports)
instruction league, this also must be stated within this first
section. The timeframe for each team’s CM being received by
email is included so that its clear and allows the games to be
played on time. Here's an example of such an initial section
from a pretend league that we will use in this article to
illustrate several of key points that should be included within
your constitution:
This league
shall be known as the Ultimate Strat Baseball League (USBL)
and will be playing with the latest version of the SOM
computer baseball game (18.01D). The league will consist of
24 teams in 2 conferences (known as the Martinez and Mossi
Conferences) comprised of 3 divisions with 4 teams each.
Each team will play a weighted schedule of 162 games within
their own conference.
Of course the main objective of a league is really for the member’s
enjoyment. Besides this however,
to be a bit more serious, how your league handles ownership of
their players will also be defined in this section. Again using
our sample league the USBL, it is stated that any player
acquired by a respective league's GM will own such player until
he his traded or released. Further, in the USBL, the games will
generally be played by HAL (Autoplay/Quickplay) with the
preferences sent by each GM via an exported .mgr files (the CM).
(Note: in the USBL, if two managers prefer to play
their series via Netplay, this is allowed as long as these games
are played before the rest of the league games are
completed via the computer for that specific week or in the USBL,
the weeks are called blocks.)
The Commissioner of the USBL then will verify for each game that the
pitchers and lineups used are done legally following the rules
of the constitution. Each manager (the GM) in the USBL is
responsible for providing his managing tendencies or team
strategies before the beginning of each block’s games (6 or 7
games, via two series or two different opponents) by sending in
their CM (the exported .mgr file or files). Each manager has the
opportunity to change their CMs or review them as long as it is
emailed into the league before that block’s games are played.
The USBL does no use injuries (but actual usage must be obeyed, see
later for more details). The closer rule will be active. A DH
(designated hitter) will be used in the Edgar Martinez
conference only. Game play for this league is against conference
opponents only, no inter-conference play till the World Series.
Now continuing to use this league as our example following the
format as described above, the Constitution would then
give details how the team rosters will function. This would include
the minimum and maximum size of your team roster; when you can
execute demotions (to the minors) and recalls; roster cut down
numbers; back up requirements at each position; “Use them or
Lose them rules”; minor leaguers (non-card players) allowed,
etc, etc.
The league really needs to take whatever time is needed to clearly
spell out each rule and situation within the constitution to
cover, as best as possible, all situations which might occur
within the league. However, there will be times when a new rule
(not thought of) will need to added to handle a new condition
and the league must be flexible to add these changes and
enhancements. Clarity of these new rules is always vital.
For the playoffs, in a separate section of the constitution there
will be rules governing the play of the teams who qualify and
their roster profiles. In this special section will be the
details of Player eligibility and usage during this post-season
action. (Note: For example, which players can a manger use on
their team in the playoffs and how many PAs (plate appearances)
or innings pitch are allowed for each player during this special play.) The
decisions about the roster sizes in the playoffs along with the
minimum/maximum usage of the players is huge and no doubt will
affect the final results of these games and who becomes the
league champion.
We have found in general it is best to create the rules within the
constitution with a very small core group of league members or
just simply let the commissioner decide what rules will be best
and then make modifications, as needed, over time. Referring
back to a few of the previous articles written in this column,
there are times when certain decisions are best not put to a
total league vote but rather be decided up by the commissioner
and/or the Executive Council to maintain the long term overall
health of the league. I do not believe that allowing all of the
GMs to vote on key rules will be the most effective and will
reflect the overall greater good for the league. Individual
team’s needs or desires to have a winning club can often
outweigh what is best for the league in the long term. Now
let’s look at player usage next.
For any person who has played in a league that wishes to see the
players used realistically, there are rules set which are called
"Usage". These rules specify the maximum availability of each
player in the league and is one of the most important parts of
the constitution. The impact upon a league linked to "Usage" is
great. Managing usage can be a real pain, but it really is a
central component in any team's strategy. Which players need to
be rested and when does challenge a manager's thought process and
their strategies as this often requires the GM to really do their homework
as well as study their opponents situation related to "Usage"
as well. A 100% usage rule (allowing each player to be used as they
were in the actual season which their card is based upon) within
a league is usually sufficient for league play.
We have dabbled in the past using a 110% usage, but it is plain to
see that this creates less strategy as players get to 'ride on'
despite their Strat and MLB limitations. It may seem more
convenient for a league to go this route, as there would be less
to check on, right? Wrong!! It's not just a simple check by
using the handy usage statistics provided by the game (via the
computer game), but also some league official has to review all
the teams and start prorating and calculating for the players as
well as the owners have to do the same too. Simplicity works
best for all involved in my opinion and based upon experience.
Besides, stats junkies and those who truly enjoy the statistical
realism of your league will no doubt rather see the more pure
stat databases at 100%. In regards to your league's Long Term
Encyclopedia, the members will love you for being at 100%.
Heck, who wants to have an 80 Homer guy or a player with 200
RBI's skewing the database and the league records?
Therefore, your next section of the Constitution could be entitled
"Player Usage". Here are some thoughts about rules linked to
minimum usage that could be included in this section (the
minimum rules are always interesting):
For this discussion, let us assume you use a 24 team format.
However, even here you must carefully consider the eligible
minimums of any player to be qualified for season play. The
computer generated 'non carded' players are not as painstakingly
detailed as those players in the carded set. These 'non-carded'
players are prone to offer some extraordinary situations at
times. For example, take a player with low ABs (at bats) on his
card who hit one or two homers vs. left-handed/right-handed
pitching. He could wind up with a heavily juiced card vs. that
type of throwing arm. GM's could take advantage of such a
player in their CM's by starting or PH (pinch hitting) them in
their games which could drastically change the end results of
such games and the final standings of your league.
I believe that a larger appearance sample (PAs or innings pitched)
is best for a player to be eligible. In a 24 team league at
100% usage, there is a need to have enough eligible players to
finish the season. Thus a balance point must be determined
between realism and necessity to make sure the season can be
completed properly. If we consider the league rosters set at
about 35 players with a 100% usage, there will be some need for
some players with lower appearances but you will most likely not
need to depend upon the "non-carded" computer generated players
to do this. Generally I believe that 31+ IP (innings pitched)
is a good cut off for pitchers, and around 35 At bats for the
hitters. And for the most part, these limits will include only
carded players from year to year.
These "non-carded" players can be preserved for future drafts or if
your league allows it, they could be stockpiled by teams and
kept on their rosters with the hope they will play more in the
majors in the future. You could also eliminate many of these
lower appearance player cards and their potentially explosive
effects on your league by altering slightly the number of
keepers or your roster such as to 33 or 34 players. This would guard
a bit more against stockpiling young talent and preserving the draft
integrity (a deeper draft), but it will allow enough room in
your roster to keep a 100% usage of players.
The quality of the next upcoming draft can be manipulated by
adjusting the amount of players you protect in your roster,
releasing the rest of the players to be re-drafted. Generally
25 player protected per team is around average give or take a
roster spot. The more players cut (less protected), the more you
add to strengthening your draft. Some leagues may want a spicy
draft, and thus will cut down their rosters even further. This
decision could anger some members when the team
cuts must be made as it might cause an unproven blue chip player to be released in favor of staying with an older player who is
more usage friendly, "but thems is the breaks". Each team
has equal opportunities and if they must make such a move has to plan accordingly.
Thus during the draft, each team will need to decide how they
wish to do their 'prospecting' of young and unproven players to
determine a proper balance with their team usage as they make their
draft picks and perform other player transactions (trades). Thus, in your
constitution it must be stated clearly what are the usage
requirements for the players during the draft. For example, we
have calculated for a 162 game season you need approximately 650 ABs per fielding position, and about 1600 IP for your whole
staff. Bullpens should provide around 350+ IP. Rules for
leagues can vary with players who are a combined
starter/reliever, so it's vital to state these limitations
clearly and what can be expected for these combo pitchers linked
to usage. Perhaps as a procedure a league official could be
selected to monitor Appearances/IP during the draft as a
courtesy.
Looking again at a 24 team league with a 34-35 total player roster,
if your league was to cut down to protecting 23 players before
the draft, you can likely expect there will be some excellent
talent available in the middle rounds as well as even into
rounds 6-8 with there will still be some good young players available.
Obviously the number of rounds in the draft will vary depending
on the chosen roster limits. If you go with a 34 man roster
with cuts to 24 players, this will give you a better draft
integrity and keep all GM's on their toes to meet league usage
and player requirements using trades made between managers to
maintain the balance of talent, usage and prospecting. These
numbers should also stimulate a healthy trade market since teams
will usually need some tweaking and adjustments to keep
competitive and balanced.
Too many roster positions can breed hoarding, laziness, latency, and
ultimately apathy. Keep the strategy for team building in
your league by mastering your trade economics which are a direct
proportion to usage, minimums, and roster sizes. Remember,
altering one will affect the others, and eventually your trade
market. 20 teams and less, provide your league with a deeper
draft to begin with that consists of more concentrated talent,
which will require less tweaking to keep the draft strong.
I don't recall too many successful leagues that have played with
more than 24 teams and devised a way to maintain realism, with a
solid statistical database. The larges size leagues have had to
make a number of adaptations to get a full season with some type
of workable usage system. One such league is the G.M.B.L. of
which was started by their commissioner Jack Frost. This league
previously used a system where players with OPS (On-base +
Slugging) below .599 and Pitcher's ERA 5.50+ could be
unlimited. This was a scrub player rule of which has been
exploited by some leagues. In other words, certain cards were
used or overused to significant advantage or disadvantage.
Whether blowing off a season, or using a so-call mutant card
that slams pitching on one side (L/R) over 600 AB's, or going
with a -4 catcher's throwing arm, the stats for the league were
skewed.
Now, I would be interested to hear from someone who is involved in a
successful league that has a large membership (> 24 teams).
Perhaps when you contact me, you could include some of your
league's highlights and notes for inclusion in my next article
for this column. I plan to be profiling different leagues in
our upcoming newsletters. I also hope to explore more about
League Trade markets and how Strat economics can be
adjusted or even stimulated within a league. So if you have some
time and are intrigued by this column, please send me your
feedback or stories about your League News for our upcoming
issues. Thank you,
--
Let them dice roll!
Wass (Marc Wasserman)
Contact me at:
marc.wass@ultimatestratbaseball.com
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 JOHN DEWAN,
President of Baseball Info Solutions
♦
INTERVIEW with JOE
HAMRAHI,
CEO of
Baseball Prospectus
♦
STRAT THOUGHTS with
BRUCE BUNDY,
SOM Gamer, Creator of
Baseball Card Formulas, Baseball Strategy Advisor, Beta Tester
for the Game Company
(Continuation of the monthly column of "Strat Thoughts"
developed by legendary Bruce Bundy
♦
1st International
SOM On-line Baseball Convention, by the Strat Alliance
-- a more complete discussion of the revolutionary new
convention to be offered in
September offering three baseball tournaments organized by the
Strat Alliance of Groups!
♦
EARLY SOM
CONVENTIONS COLUMN with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO --
editor of
"The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA Champion.
Wolfman takes us back in
this article to the fifth national Strat-o-matic
Convention in 1976 held in Champaign-Urbana, IL, at the
University of Illinois as the Wolfman and his buddies organize
their third convention. Wolfman will be
our guide through the first nine conventions happening through 1980
of which he was present at each one. This particular column now
moves into the 1974-1980
era when the conventions moved to Illinois. We will continue to share one new convention in
each future issue till all of these early conventions are published.
Also as an inspiration for the SOM On-line Baseball Convention
this year.
♦
INTERVIEW with ALEX
REDOVIAN,
Founder of Strat-o-matic.Net Forums/Dice Rollers
♦
ARTICLE with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO,
how the Wolfman
performed during the Pure Strat
June Skype Draft Tournament - Part Two of
Three
Parts (Tournament Game Reports)
♦
SOM BASEBALL CARDS
with TOM NAHIGIAN-
This month we
share more of the early SOM
Baseball cards from the 1960 and 1961 seasons thanks to Tom
Nahigian who has a complete collection of all the cards ever
printed. This is the third issue we have shared a few cards from
this early time.
♦
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 a new page we are adding for the newsletter that 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 Base Game and Game Company's
history. At the time of the release of this newsletter we
have a special arrangement with Acta Sports to offer our members
a 10% discount. We hope to add more books in the future.
Contact Us for Questions or Submissions:
Wolfman Shapiro
co-Founder/Editor, the
Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter
email:
wolfman@ultimatestratbaseball.com
facebook:
www.facebook.com/wolfman.shapiro
twitter:
@StratBaseball4U
To Sign Up and Become a Member of this Newsletter
http://www.UltimateStratBaseball.com
(this provides direct emails when our bulletins
and next
issues come out)
To Learn more about the SOM On-line Baseball Convention
(sponsored by the Strat Alliance, September 2013)
http://www.stratalliance.info
