In the lobby with losanglife

1. So you're a first-timer for my interviews, therefore I love to ask for some more information about you. Tell us about yourself.

I'm actually pretty coo in real life lol. I might seem like an asshole or a douche on the forums because I guess I use no filter on here and my words come out with a little more venom. I’m sarcastic as fuck as y’all can see. There’s really nothing weird about me or unusual so this will probably be short. I’m just really chill, I just like to hang out with close friends and family during my free time when I’m not at school or work. I’m pretty low key and mellow lol. Probably pretty surprising to most of you.

I'm sure most people here are pretty chill, so wouldn't surprise me.

2. Let's talk about the joy you receive from trolling people. When and why did that start?

I think it started in UOSLR with Tmacz. I have always been a guy with no filter and someone who just says what's on their mind but I didn't start trolling until I encountered Tmacz. He always bugged the shit out of me with his shitty offers and his homerism. I swear, every player he had, he overrated to the maximum. Talking trades with him was always a hassle so I'd always troll him in pm's similar to what I did to nanz. If you've ever received an offer from tmacz, you know the base is usually a rape in his favor so it got frustrating so I would always add pick(s) and spects to his base offers and then "change my mind" last minute just to piss him off.

Oh man, tmac's offers are the worst. It's funny, I've never talked trade with him, because I've always been the commish, but I'd literally have 6-8 guys PMing me his offers saying WTF. Funny stuff.

3. You shat the bed last season. Your team performed well below expectations in my opinion. How do you rationalize your team's sub par performance?

I got off to a slow start and I could have done more to add pieces to put myself in position for a run at playoffs, but I figured what can I lose by gathering another nice pick? Nothing, so that's what I did. I saw the season as a lost cause once Atlanta got off to that hot start and I never made any changes to the lineups or to my roster after the Valdes trade, I just let it ride. Plus, I traded Sheffield and proceeded to have Matt Williams, Nomo and others in the minors for about a month due to failed exports, but the team got hot in the second half and my players have only gotten better so I'm more optimistic this season.

Seeing Valdes at the bottom of your pitching staff made my want to vomit. Dude should be a #1 or #2. Pitches WAY above his ratings, second to only a select few in the league. Atlanta came out of the gates hard and fast, left the whole division behind (Even though he likes to say Philly was right there with him).



4. To piggyback that question, what will be different with your team this season and why? What makes your team better this season than last?

I'll have Valdes for a full season and I'll have Nomo as a bullpen upgrade at the very least and all my young talent just keeps continuing to get better. I know I signed Sheffield last year, but I never planned on keeping him for the long term. To me, he was just a free asset to increase my future talent pool. My main weakness right now is my bullpen but I've added pieces and if that weakness remains or if others emerge, I'll be more aggressive in making deals since i have a bunch of young talent in the minors. Last year I was pretty set on keeping still and just seeing what my rookies Soriano, Fick and Milton could do. I was more concerned with their production and my pd's than I was with winning lol. I actually want to win this year.

Better get on it, because I'm swooping in son.

5. Let's keep it going. Where will your team be sitting in the division at the end of the season? Will you stop there, or do you see postseason success as well? Where do you feel your team stacks amongst the elite in the NL?

I think I might be in second place when it comes to the division, but I'm aiming for the Wild Card so I think the playoffs are a legit possibility. I feel like I have enough right now to win 90-95 games and I feel like my offense will be among the best. The one thing that might be my downfall will probably be the lack of a true ace right now when it comes time for the playoffs. I think Fick is going to be my x-factor this year. If he hits his 25+ homeruns like his ratings say he should than I think I might be a scary matchup for anyone in the playoffs. Unfortunately, as my current roster stands I don't feel I'm amongst the elite in the NL, but if I like what i see from my team early in the season, I know i have the pieces to acquire players to make my team elite.

Fick playing to his ratings would be huge. I think you're underestimating Valdes, I think you should try him as your #1. His splits the past two seasons were outstanding.

6. Speaking of your division, describe it to us. How do you feel about the competition in the NL East?

I feel like the Braves are head and shoulders above the rest of us in the NL East so I think I'll be battling out with the Phillies and Marlins for that Wild Card and second place within the division. I think over the next five years though, I and the Marlins will be battling out for the division with all our youth that we have. The Mets have kind of been a non-factor and I don't really see them competing anytime soon so I won't even address them. It's a solid division, but not great outside of the Braves.

Agreed on all accounts.

7. You talk a lot of shit to erbes, and scoffed at his appreciation thread, but how much do you enjoy this league? To my knowledge you ditched FBB, so has this been a worthy successor?

I just felt the appreciation thread was really unnecessary. He fucked up Play's export, he fucked up Broph's lineup. It just seems like he constantly shits on the league's most active members and plays favorites with others (i.e. overdraft warning). When he fucks up, he acts like a dick and treats it like it's nothing or puts the gm's on blast instead of taking responsibility himself.I haven't even gotten to the lack of draft file for like 4-5 days straight after World Series. That has been well documented, so I'll leave that alone. I just don't like the fact he plays favorites and acts like a bitch to a certain group at times just for the fuck of it. I appreciate the fact he sims and stuff and all that good stuff, but there's volunteers willing to help and he's refused to utilize that help. He signed up to sim, he should have foreseen he would have to deal with these problems when he signed up for this shit. For him to get discouraged every time there's an issue is pretty ghey.

Harsh words, but not all untrue. I've said erbes is like the worst mixture of Spencer and Marty. Tries to be aloof but gets a little too sensitive. I think he's improving though, and I feel he still has done a good job. Mistakes will always happen when simming. Just got to acknowledge, let the GM have his bitching, and move on. I have messed up playoff DCs in FBB and cost GMs their whole season. It happens. I'm just a man.



8. You made what seemed like a last ditch effort to acquire a few extra picks in the first few rounds and seemed happy with your draft. What in particular made you happy with it? Talk about your prospects' future.

When I draft players, I don't really look at them at face value. I look at what I can turn them into. How would they look like if I added a TIA and all the guys I chose have a chance to be real good with a TIA. Chien Ming Wang is a Mark Buehrle light and Andy Marte is going to Good in all the most important categories in my opinion at the age of 16. I don't care if he doesn't get any pd's, he's going to be a good third basemen regardless. Zach Miner is more of a project, but with a TIA and at 17, he still has a lot of time to improve and will be 4.5* as a SP right off the bat. Not bad for a second rounder. With all that being said, don't be surprised to see some of them or all of them traded in the upcoming season.

Obviously I agree with looking at players with TIAs. Gotta utilize all the tools at your disposal. I love the Wang pick, and Marte might be solid. Miner is eh, just because I hate E duration pitchers, but if you can boost it to D in ST, then a TIB fixes your issues.

9. Who are your top 5 value players and why?

5. Alex Rodriguez - I think with his ratings, he could become the most valuable on the list due to his positional value, but he just hasn't performed up to par. He's still only 24 and I feel like he'll bust out pretty soon and start performing up to his ratings.

4. Kerry Wood - He's been around for a bit already, but he's still only 22. His ratings are pretty amazing and he has that A duration. I feel like play gets a lot of flack for the ballpark he plays in, but I think Kerry Wood would be an ace on just about any other staff and he's still super young.

3. CC Sabathia – He’s no proven yet, so I’ll tuck him in behind the top 2, but his ratings indicate he should be a future cy young winner sometime soon or at least be able to challenge the pitcher who’s at #1 on this list for years to come. If I were trading CC Sabathia in a one for one deal, I probably wouldn’t trade him for anyone besides Johan. Vladdy and CC might be 2a and 2b though.

2. Vladimir Guerrero - I would have left Vladimir off the top 5 before he got the brilliant in homers, that's how important I feel that pd was. Everyone has been sucking off Todd Helton for a while as the move valuable hitter since they were both in the minors but I feel like Vladimir is about to break out this season. He has everything you want from a player on the offensive end, including base running.

1. Johan Santana - I don't know how gm's voted, but he should have been the unanimous Cy Young award winner last season. At 20? that's ridiculous. Nuff said.

Franchising Sabathia, in my opinion, locks him up for being one of the greatest future young pitchers, but Santana is just plain dirty. The Brilliant in Homers definitely gives Vlad that boost, it's a shame you didn't franchise him sooner. I'm still not sold on ARod, but I'm sure he'll turn it around eventually.

10. Every time I look at your PD page, it seems like you're getting stud PDs left and right. With that kind of luck, when is it time to cash in on those prospects and win some games? How does it feel to be a lucky bastard and breed prospects from nothing?

In this league, I have learned it’s not always best to cash in with all the guys. I usually look to trade guys if I have a surplus at a certain spot, which is the only reason why I traded Sheets last season. I just don’t think there’s busts in this league. Even if a player has a bad pd, you can easily overturn it at a cheap deal so it’s rare when a player doesn’t pan out. When you’re acquiring stars, you usually have to include 2-3 blue chips to get a deal done and I just don’t feel the need to trade 2-3 future stars for one present one. Right now I have a bunch of pitching though, so I’d be willing to trade an SP or two for a stud bat. I don’t really feel like I’m lucky. All the players that have blown up have been guys I’ve really wanted in the draft. Fernando Rodney, Jerome Williams, Soriano and others have been guys I really wanted. Play knows my strategy when it comes to drafts and we share a lot of ideas when it comes time for draft time so I don’t think the panning out of these guys is really luck. It’s worked for him also. It hasn’t been all good. Ankiel has had two sets of negative pd’s, so he was a failure.

Yeah I still think a brutal PD can kill a player, even with reversals, or at least seriously hurt his value. The Pujols PD hit was rough because reversing it at a young age is risky, and it forces the TIA hand. Obviously it didn't kill his value, but a big time PD hit like that can still take a player out. I, too, tried to look for stud bat prospects for my pitching, but those opportunities seem few and far between.

11. What's your favorite hobby? How long have you done it?

My favorite hobby is just sports period. I love playing sports. Soccer has always been my favorite, but I’ve played every major team sport besides football in high school. I’ve been playing soccer since the age of 5 and I was pretty good at it and I made the Varsity team as a freshman, but I struggled my freshman year to maintain the minimum 2.0 gpa and never really tried out again after that. Sports is coo cause you’re usually playing with friends and I’m competitive so I love to go out and play whenever possible.

Nice. Except for soccer.

12. Are you a big baseball fan? Who is your favorite team and favorite player? Are you, too, waiting for him to come to league, if he hasn't already?

Yes, I'm a big Angels fan. They've been my favorite team since Troy Glaus was hitting 40 homers at the age of 23. They sucked when i first started getting into sports, but hey we got that fat ass Mo Vaughn. I fell in love with the team mainly because of Washburn, Erstad, Glaus, Adam Kennedy and Bengi Molina, even before they started winning. My favorite player is Mike Trout, just an amazing player. Everything that made me fall in love with Ken Griffey growing up, Trout has. I'm lucky i get to see him for the next 10-15 years. Just amazing the numbers he's put up so far in his career. I'm not waiting for him to come to the league really. I mean, this is just a sim league with fake players that erbes just edits the names to lol. I don't get emotionally involved with these players and I'm definitely not willing to get raped like your boy SNB for David Wright. I'm just trying to win. Vladimir Guerrero was a great Angel, but you can ask play. When i franchised Pedro, i put out a couple blocks for Guerrero to see what I can get. i was set on trading him but no one offered lol. I know there's a few guys on here that wouldn't even consider trading some of their favorite real life players.

True, I won't trade Cabrera. But fuck the dude is straight fire, can't do it.



13. If you could switch teams with anyone in the league, which team would it be and why?

I would want to be the Cleveland Indians cause then we’d be able to eliminate that pipeline the Boston Red Sox have had over the entirety of the league. Plus, they really suck and I like to build teams from the bottom up. Grant it they have some nice spects, but I don’t feel like they’ll be good with the talent they currently have in the foreseeable future. At least not good enough to compete. They have an elite hitting prospect in Pujols and an elite pitching prospect in Grant Balfour so that’d be a nice start. I would stay away from a team like the Marlins or Blue Jays cause I feel like they have too much talent and it wouldn’t really be fun.

I think most of the Indians farm is overrated, or should I say the Red Sox farm? Kidding aside, I agree that Blue Jays have a lot of talent. Step it up game.

14. How about top GMs? Who do you consider the top 5 GMs in the league and why?

5. Nanz – He has been pretty inactive up until a week or two ago, but the trades he’s made recently have been solid. He started off with some huge cornerstones on the major league roster and Rafael Soriano in the minors so his skill level has been hard to judge up until this point. After seeing him make winning trade after winning trade for his big time players, it’s pretty obvious he has a good feel for value here.

4. Erbes – It seems like he’s always winning and it seems like he always has about two to three stud pitching prospects in the minors. He’s made solid trades in trading off Jeter and acquiring guys like Kirk Reuter. He’s winning without mutilating his minor league system.

3. Play – If he can acquire offense, I’d put him at the top of this list but he seems a little too focused on pitching. He might be at a disadvantage at his park but I think if he figured out the type of hitters that thrive there, he’d be much better suited come playoff time. He’s done a great job of building his team through the drafts though along with knowing when to trade off his spects for good veterans. He’s just missing that star bat.

2. Spencer – Arguably the best gm in the league and among the most active in trades, but his minor league system is completely non-existent which I feel could spell trouble for him in the near future. He might have pieces to turn that around quickly, but I feel like Spence is one of those gm’s who will always try to win and any cost. Kind of like the Skillz of BBS.

1. Ashes – The two World Series Winners finish in the top two. I was tempted to put Spencer at number one, but I like a little balance from top to bottom in an organization and it seems like Ashes has done a great job of both winning and stocking up his farm system. I know it’s all about winning, but it’s also about softening the decline and I feel like Ashes did a great job of that by rebuilding and now he’s pretty close to competing.

Kind words. Nanz in top 5 is like woah, but he has been winning trades left and right.

15. Finally, let's make the prediction. Which teams make it to the World Series and who wins it all?

I think the Braves will win the World Series over the Oakland A’s. I feel like the Giants would be the World Series favorite again, but I see him trading Juan Gonzalez this upcoming season and I don’t see the Braves having any setbacks. In the NL, it will be between the Astros, Giants, and Braves and I chose the braves due to their depth in pitching. I know play will complain for not including the Cubs at any point of this answer, but he needs some sort of offense before I consider him a World Series threat. In The AL it will come down to the Red Sox and As just like it did last season and I wouldn’t be surprised if the A’s were the ones to take it in seven this time and that’s what I will expect. Should be an interesting season.

Interesting stuff. It's still hard for me to pick any team other than the Red Sox and Giants making the World Series.