Post by Spencer on Apr 27, 2014 13:08:31 GMT -5
1. First off its nice to have you back. How long were you gone? What were you doing exactly? How did it go?
Thanks. I was gone for about 7 weeks. I actually can't tell you what I was doing exactly, but I was on a submarine. It was okay, I suppose. Mostly training for me, but I'm glad I won't have to be on a submarine again. Sub life is pretty awful in my opinion. Cramped and no contact with the outside world at all. I'm pretty glad I didn't choose the nuclear field. They would've loved to stick me on a sub. The extra sub pay just isn't worth it. Not like the pay is that great in general anyways, but I'd much rather be on the surface than underwater. But other than all that crap, it was at least a learning experience. But I'm glad it's over with, that's for sure.
Wow at the secrecy. Real life agent of the US and all. Ya. Submarines sound awful. I dont get claustrophobic but Im guessing Id feel that way underwater with a bunch of dudes. Seems horrible.
2. Whats next for you personally? How much time do you have in the immediate future for BBSBL? Are you looking forward to getting back into the wing here?
Right now I'm on hold in Chicago. Basically, I'm waiting to leave. I have to wait for the next class to start in San Diego before I can go to my next command there. It's frustrating because I have no real time frame. I've been told to expect to wait at least a month. Just how it works out, I suppose. I have a decent amount of time for BBSBL now and in the future. When you're on hold, you're basically a janitor. I clean for a few hours then wait around until they drop liberty. So typically I have a solid amount of free time during the week, and a ton of free time during the weekend. Except on days I'm on duty, then I can't do much at all. I want to get back into the swing of things here, but trading seems even worse than before I left. Even then, I'm pretty happy with my team so I'm a bit wary to make too many changes. Need to cut salary though. Plus my pitching keeps taking terrible PDs, so that's going to suck for me in the very near future. Oh well.
So you have to wait in Chicago for a month? Do you live in barracks? Wow. At least you have some free time now for your self. Seems like during the 7 weeks you didnt.
3. Couple new rules since youve been gone. First year players are now immune to PDs. Relievers can no longer be moved to SP starting with the 2008 Draft. Contraction is being discussed (We just hired a final owner but Id guess contraction depends on whether we can get some of the more inactive owners to step up). Thoughts?
First year players immune to PDs is interesting I suppose. It'll protect all those dumb hits to top picks, so that's nice. Though, naturally I'd be disappointed to have really good PD reversed. Oh and explain to me why my first year player doesn't get his PD reversed because of a "one sim rule." So the positive PDs get reversed no matter what, but the negative ones you have to report within one sim time in order to have it done? Hmm. Relievers not being moved to SP anymore is cool. That'll help keep the balance better for pitching. It was a bit tiresome to see some stud reliever moved to Starter over and over. Contraction is whatever to me. It seems to tough to fill out those last few spots, so do whatever is necessary I suppose.
One sim rule is just like any reversal. I hate this rule btw. So dumb. Let the game play stuff out. Already so many ways to protect yourself from negative developments and so many ways to give a player positive developments. INFLATION! MR to SP rule is great. Way too many people do it, myself included. Will make it harder to find SP hopefully. Contraction sucks but its a thing that needs to be done. Not enough active owners.
4. We have two new owners. Martinez took KC. Donkeypunch13 took over Houston. Thoughts on these Gms if you know them and the situations they face with their new teams. Any advice?
I don't think I've seen Martinez at all, so my advice would be to do something. I've seen a little from donkeypunch13, but not too much. I understand there's a period to get used to things, so definitely take it slow, but in terms of league activity, it's great to be involved in things. Even if it's just posting for the sake of posting. Build up rewards for sure. That's huge. Take advantage of posting and articles. Improve your young players with camps. Stock up assets and assess your division before trying to compete. KC could probably compete much sooner than Houston can. Whatever happened to that other Houston GM that made a bunch of bad trades? Anyways, if they are active, they will succeed. Otherwise, contract them lol.
Ya. Both these guys have done very little or nothing. Both need to go. These teams will probably get contracted.
5. How is your team shaping up? Happy with the development of your players? Any immediate needs you can see?
I love my team. My offense is playing way under their talents though, so I'm hoping come playoff time they get hot. My pitching started off so strong but as the year has gone on I've taken so many PD hits it's starting to fizzle out now. The NL East apparently fell apart when I was gone, so I locked it up back in April/May. Guess no one wanted to run with the big dog. I'm very happy with the development of my players. Cabrera and Kubel have become monsters, now I just need them to play as such. Norris caught a nice PD, so I have a pretty good pitching prospect in my minors, which needs to be built back up pretty soon. As far as immediate needs, I definitely need to address my pitching. I really need to get an ace, and now I need a closer one year sooner than I had planned for. I want to cut down my salaries, but I can afford to lose a little bit of money these next few seasons for the sake of competing. In the next 3 or 4 years though I will have to make some big changes to keep most of this talent together. Thankfully Kubel and Howard are loyal, so hopefully they give me a good discount.
Despite this last sim where you took some hits you have arguably the best talent in the league. Amazing core of players. Should make a run for the next 3-5 years. Obviously need to trade for some in game cash or trade some salary to keep the team afloat financially though.
6. The NL looks tough. PIT and CHI are both elite teams. Do you think you stand a chance against either team? Who would you rather face in the NLCS?
Yeah PIT and CHI are going to be very tough. I definitely think I stand a chance, but I need my offense to step it up. I'd rather face the Pirates only because I've struggled versus the Cubs in the playoffs, so at least it'd be a fresher face. Both teams do everything well, so it'll suck to inevitably run into either of them, but anything can happen in the playoffs. All I need is my offense to be hot, and I think I can beat any team in the league. It'll be fun regardless, though. I just want to get back to the World Series. It's been too long. I'm tired of falling short lately.
Amazing NL West teams. Any of the 3 main teams can be considered elite. Probably the 3 best teams in the whole league.
7. Miggy Cabrera. Hes amazing. Recently Erbes did a Ranking the Franchise player article. He ranked Miggy way too low. Laughable huh? Any one player in the league youd trade Cabrera for?
Yeah the franchise player rankings was a joke. Miggy below David Wright? LMAO how is that even serious? Shale probably popped a boner when he saw that. Wright can't even go over 800 OPS in Coors, whereas Miggy's been doing it for years. Hell, Miggy is having a down year this season and is still shitting on Wright. Apparently while I was gone, Miggy tried to boost his Ks to Brilliant too. What a monster. I wouldn't trade Cabrera for any player in the league. Dude's got Bs for days! He's going to be a monster. He's still only 24 and I'm going to have him locked up for a very, very long time. It's going to be fun to see his numbers when it's all said and done.
Cannot wait to see what this guy does with locked ratings. Records will fall imo.
8. If you do manage to get to the World Series this year who do you think would be a tougher matchup? Tampa or Oakland? Why?
Tampa. It's pretty close, but I feel Tampa will be a tougher matchup. I think both their pitching and offense are just a step above Oakland's. Nomar/Helton/Drew/Holliday is pretty scary. Mike Lincoln is a beast too. Actually though, now that I look at it, Oakland might have better pitching now. Regardless, I still worry a little bit more about Tampa. Not to mention I don't really have a good DH option, so that's going to hurt me as well. If I somehow manage to get through the NL, I'd really hate to lose to the AL, since I feel the best teams reside in the NL this season. Hopefully a team like Detroit or Baltimore makes it in the AL and I have an easy day. Lol
I agree but Broph has a god team too. ZTampa has done a great job this year although it seems like itll be hard for him to maintain this squad long term. Weird how far the Blue Jays fell off.
9. What did you miss most about BBSBL?
It always gives me something to do. I enjoy being able to check and keep up with something all the time. Usually there's something new each time I log in and I can comment on something different. I definitely missed sim mornings/nights because those are always exciting. When I'm killing time usually I'll open up BBSBL and just look through random things. I wasn't able to do that for awhile and I realized how often I actually checked BBSBL. It's amazing how you take for granted the smallest of things in your life. Like being able to Google something. Holy crap, being able to Google something for like 15 years and then all of a sudden that's taken from you? Wow, it sucks.
It is so nice to have a daily method to withdraw from real life. 10 minutes here. 30 minutes there. Just making time to get out of your own head. It is an amazing hobby. Fun stuff.
10/ Who should the Texans take at #1 overall? Why?
I honestly have no idea. We should probably take Clowney or that lineman. I wouldn't be opposed to trading it, but it seems like such a beta move. I wish there was a standout QB. We can't all be as fortunate as the Colts and have an all-time, elite QB go down, tank that year, and draft another stud, potentially elite QB. Honestly, I'll trust whatever they go with, because they're under new leadership, but I'm hoping we make some moves and start filling a lot of holes this offseason. There's no reason to be this bad. Nothing more frustrating than watching a team collapse week after week. I think if Clowney is actually motivated, then he'd be an awesome pick. But at the same time, I'd love to bolster our line and maybe take a chance on a sleeper QB pick. Guess we'll find out whenever the hell the draft actually takes place now.'
I think this is a tough spot for the Texans. No clear cut #1 guy IMO. I guess its Clowney but hes scary. He seems to lack motivation. Clowney and Watt would be nasty though. Obviously the QB situation is the biggest need but Bortles doesnt seem like a good pick and Manziel has his own concerns. Best case scenario is probably to trade down to 7-10 and still get Johnny Football.
11. Did you laugh when the Raiders traded for Matt Schaub? I did.
Well I honestly had to look that up just now because I had no idea that happened. That's hilarious to me. It's funny because the article I'm reading has Oakland players "excited" and they describe Schaub as "very steady." When you have to describe a QB as "very steady" you know he sucks. Oakland is pretty bad. But then again, when a player leaves Houston and goes somewhere else, he typically explodes and has a mega year(s) so I suppose it wouldn't be too surprising to see that happen. Wait, yes it would. It's Matt Schaub. I wonder if we play the Raiders this year.
Weird you hadnt heard of this. Ya. Pretty horrible. He sucks. Ill laugh all year long when my Raider fan friends try to defend this deal.
12. Kate Uptons boobs are pretty nice huh?
Very, very nice.
Amazing restraint. Theyre fucking amazing. I want to see them once a day. And I usually do.
13. Heard any long hard and full of sea men jokes recently?
Nah. But technically right now, I am a Seaman. When people call me that, I tell them to stop saying that, anyone could be walking by.
lol
14. Gonna have enough time this summer to start a FBB league? If so whos invited and what would some rules changes/ fun new twists be?
I wish. But no, I likely will never have enough time to run a league again. I don't know if I'll even have enough time to participate actively in more than one league again. In theory, I could probably run a league, but I couldn't sim every day. And even then, I wouldn't want to risk any inconsistency. I wish I had more time though, I'm starting to miss it, but oh well. That part of my life is dead and gone now.
Sad. Im in the same boat. I miss it. I wanna do it. But I think id have major problems staying consistent or forgoing the limited amount of sleep I currently get to work on the league. Seems like that ship has sailed.
15. Think the Rockets have a chance to make it to the Finals?
If I had answered this interview when you first sent it to me, I would've said yes, but now I don't think so. I doubt we get by Portland, but if we do, I love our chances vs. SAS/DAL. Getting past OKC or LAC is doubtful. Maybe if the stars align and we beat POR, then face DAL, then face MEM, we can make it to the Finals. I think we probably need a coaching change or at least another year with the same or close to the same roster to really start clicking. I wish I could offer more insight, but I've watched less than 10 Rockets games this year thanks to Comcast and being gone for 7 weeks.
Im surprised they are playing so poorly. I really like this club alot. I though Harden and Howard were strong enough with a pretty solid group of complimentary players. LA is just killin it.
Thanks. I was gone for about 7 weeks. I actually can't tell you what I was doing exactly, but I was on a submarine. It was okay, I suppose. Mostly training for me, but I'm glad I won't have to be on a submarine again. Sub life is pretty awful in my opinion. Cramped and no contact with the outside world at all. I'm pretty glad I didn't choose the nuclear field. They would've loved to stick me on a sub. The extra sub pay just isn't worth it. Not like the pay is that great in general anyways, but I'd much rather be on the surface than underwater. But other than all that crap, it was at least a learning experience. But I'm glad it's over with, that's for sure.
Wow at the secrecy. Real life agent of the US and all. Ya. Submarines sound awful. I dont get claustrophobic but Im guessing Id feel that way underwater with a bunch of dudes. Seems horrible.
2. Whats next for you personally? How much time do you have in the immediate future for BBSBL? Are you looking forward to getting back into the wing here?
Right now I'm on hold in Chicago. Basically, I'm waiting to leave. I have to wait for the next class to start in San Diego before I can go to my next command there. It's frustrating because I have no real time frame. I've been told to expect to wait at least a month. Just how it works out, I suppose. I have a decent amount of time for BBSBL now and in the future. When you're on hold, you're basically a janitor. I clean for a few hours then wait around until they drop liberty. So typically I have a solid amount of free time during the week, and a ton of free time during the weekend. Except on days I'm on duty, then I can't do much at all. I want to get back into the swing of things here, but trading seems even worse than before I left. Even then, I'm pretty happy with my team so I'm a bit wary to make too many changes. Need to cut salary though. Plus my pitching keeps taking terrible PDs, so that's going to suck for me in the very near future. Oh well.
So you have to wait in Chicago for a month? Do you live in barracks? Wow. At least you have some free time now for your self. Seems like during the 7 weeks you didnt.
3. Couple new rules since youve been gone. First year players are now immune to PDs. Relievers can no longer be moved to SP starting with the 2008 Draft. Contraction is being discussed (We just hired a final owner but Id guess contraction depends on whether we can get some of the more inactive owners to step up). Thoughts?
First year players immune to PDs is interesting I suppose. It'll protect all those dumb hits to top picks, so that's nice. Though, naturally I'd be disappointed to have really good PD reversed. Oh and explain to me why my first year player doesn't get his PD reversed because of a "one sim rule." So the positive PDs get reversed no matter what, but the negative ones you have to report within one sim time in order to have it done? Hmm. Relievers not being moved to SP anymore is cool. That'll help keep the balance better for pitching. It was a bit tiresome to see some stud reliever moved to Starter over and over. Contraction is whatever to me. It seems to tough to fill out those last few spots, so do whatever is necessary I suppose.
One sim rule is just like any reversal. I hate this rule btw. So dumb. Let the game play stuff out. Already so many ways to protect yourself from negative developments and so many ways to give a player positive developments. INFLATION! MR to SP rule is great. Way too many people do it, myself included. Will make it harder to find SP hopefully. Contraction sucks but its a thing that needs to be done. Not enough active owners.
4. We have two new owners. Martinez took KC. Donkeypunch13 took over Houston. Thoughts on these Gms if you know them and the situations they face with their new teams. Any advice?
I don't think I've seen Martinez at all, so my advice would be to do something. I've seen a little from donkeypunch13, but not too much. I understand there's a period to get used to things, so definitely take it slow, but in terms of league activity, it's great to be involved in things. Even if it's just posting for the sake of posting. Build up rewards for sure. That's huge. Take advantage of posting and articles. Improve your young players with camps. Stock up assets and assess your division before trying to compete. KC could probably compete much sooner than Houston can. Whatever happened to that other Houston GM that made a bunch of bad trades? Anyways, if they are active, they will succeed. Otherwise, contract them lol.
Ya. Both these guys have done very little or nothing. Both need to go. These teams will probably get contracted.
5. How is your team shaping up? Happy with the development of your players? Any immediate needs you can see?
I love my team. My offense is playing way under their talents though, so I'm hoping come playoff time they get hot. My pitching started off so strong but as the year has gone on I've taken so many PD hits it's starting to fizzle out now. The NL East apparently fell apart when I was gone, so I locked it up back in April/May. Guess no one wanted to run with the big dog. I'm very happy with the development of my players. Cabrera and Kubel have become monsters, now I just need them to play as such. Norris caught a nice PD, so I have a pretty good pitching prospect in my minors, which needs to be built back up pretty soon. As far as immediate needs, I definitely need to address my pitching. I really need to get an ace, and now I need a closer one year sooner than I had planned for. I want to cut down my salaries, but I can afford to lose a little bit of money these next few seasons for the sake of competing. In the next 3 or 4 years though I will have to make some big changes to keep most of this talent together. Thankfully Kubel and Howard are loyal, so hopefully they give me a good discount.
Despite this last sim where you took some hits you have arguably the best talent in the league. Amazing core of players. Should make a run for the next 3-5 years. Obviously need to trade for some in game cash or trade some salary to keep the team afloat financially though.
6. The NL looks tough. PIT and CHI are both elite teams. Do you think you stand a chance against either team? Who would you rather face in the NLCS?
Yeah PIT and CHI are going to be very tough. I definitely think I stand a chance, but I need my offense to step it up. I'd rather face the Pirates only because I've struggled versus the Cubs in the playoffs, so at least it'd be a fresher face. Both teams do everything well, so it'll suck to inevitably run into either of them, but anything can happen in the playoffs. All I need is my offense to be hot, and I think I can beat any team in the league. It'll be fun regardless, though. I just want to get back to the World Series. It's been too long. I'm tired of falling short lately.
Amazing NL West teams. Any of the 3 main teams can be considered elite. Probably the 3 best teams in the whole league.
7. Miggy Cabrera. Hes amazing. Recently Erbes did a Ranking the Franchise player article. He ranked Miggy way too low. Laughable huh? Any one player in the league youd trade Cabrera for?
Yeah the franchise player rankings was a joke. Miggy below David Wright? LMAO how is that even serious? Shale probably popped a boner when he saw that. Wright can't even go over 800 OPS in Coors, whereas Miggy's been doing it for years. Hell, Miggy is having a down year this season and is still shitting on Wright. Apparently while I was gone, Miggy tried to boost his Ks to Brilliant too. What a monster. I wouldn't trade Cabrera for any player in the league. Dude's got Bs for days! He's going to be a monster. He's still only 24 and I'm going to have him locked up for a very, very long time. It's going to be fun to see his numbers when it's all said and done.
Cannot wait to see what this guy does with locked ratings. Records will fall imo.
8. If you do manage to get to the World Series this year who do you think would be a tougher matchup? Tampa or Oakland? Why?
Tampa. It's pretty close, but I feel Tampa will be a tougher matchup. I think both their pitching and offense are just a step above Oakland's. Nomar/Helton/Drew/Holliday is pretty scary. Mike Lincoln is a beast too. Actually though, now that I look at it, Oakland might have better pitching now. Regardless, I still worry a little bit more about Tampa. Not to mention I don't really have a good DH option, so that's going to hurt me as well. If I somehow manage to get through the NL, I'd really hate to lose to the AL, since I feel the best teams reside in the NL this season. Hopefully a team like Detroit or Baltimore makes it in the AL and I have an easy day. Lol
I agree but Broph has a god team too. ZTampa has done a great job this year although it seems like itll be hard for him to maintain this squad long term. Weird how far the Blue Jays fell off.
9. What did you miss most about BBSBL?
It always gives me something to do. I enjoy being able to check and keep up with something all the time. Usually there's something new each time I log in and I can comment on something different. I definitely missed sim mornings/nights because those are always exciting. When I'm killing time usually I'll open up BBSBL and just look through random things. I wasn't able to do that for awhile and I realized how often I actually checked BBSBL. It's amazing how you take for granted the smallest of things in your life. Like being able to Google something. Holy crap, being able to Google something for like 15 years and then all of a sudden that's taken from you? Wow, it sucks.
It is so nice to have a daily method to withdraw from real life. 10 minutes here. 30 minutes there. Just making time to get out of your own head. It is an amazing hobby. Fun stuff.
10/ Who should the Texans take at #1 overall? Why?
I honestly have no idea. We should probably take Clowney or that lineman. I wouldn't be opposed to trading it, but it seems like such a beta move. I wish there was a standout QB. We can't all be as fortunate as the Colts and have an all-time, elite QB go down, tank that year, and draft another stud, potentially elite QB. Honestly, I'll trust whatever they go with, because they're under new leadership, but I'm hoping we make some moves and start filling a lot of holes this offseason. There's no reason to be this bad. Nothing more frustrating than watching a team collapse week after week. I think if Clowney is actually motivated, then he'd be an awesome pick. But at the same time, I'd love to bolster our line and maybe take a chance on a sleeper QB pick. Guess we'll find out whenever the hell the draft actually takes place now.'
I think this is a tough spot for the Texans. No clear cut #1 guy IMO. I guess its Clowney but hes scary. He seems to lack motivation. Clowney and Watt would be nasty though. Obviously the QB situation is the biggest need but Bortles doesnt seem like a good pick and Manziel has his own concerns. Best case scenario is probably to trade down to 7-10 and still get Johnny Football.
11. Did you laugh when the Raiders traded for Matt Schaub? I did.
Well I honestly had to look that up just now because I had no idea that happened. That's hilarious to me. It's funny because the article I'm reading has Oakland players "excited" and they describe Schaub as "very steady." When you have to describe a QB as "very steady" you know he sucks. Oakland is pretty bad. But then again, when a player leaves Houston and goes somewhere else, he typically explodes and has a mega year(s) so I suppose it wouldn't be too surprising to see that happen. Wait, yes it would. It's Matt Schaub. I wonder if we play the Raiders this year.
Weird you hadnt heard of this. Ya. Pretty horrible. He sucks. Ill laugh all year long when my Raider fan friends try to defend this deal.
12. Kate Uptons boobs are pretty nice huh?
Very, very nice.
Amazing restraint. Theyre fucking amazing. I want to see them once a day. And I usually do.
13. Heard any long hard and full of sea men jokes recently?
Nah. But technically right now, I am a Seaman. When people call me that, I tell them to stop saying that, anyone could be walking by.
lol
14. Gonna have enough time this summer to start a FBB league? If so whos invited and what would some rules changes/ fun new twists be?
I wish. But no, I likely will never have enough time to run a league again. I don't know if I'll even have enough time to participate actively in more than one league again. In theory, I could probably run a league, but I couldn't sim every day. And even then, I wouldn't want to risk any inconsistency. I wish I had more time though, I'm starting to miss it, but oh well. That part of my life is dead and gone now.
Sad. Im in the same boat. I miss it. I wanna do it. But I think id have major problems staying consistent or forgoing the limited amount of sleep I currently get to work on the league. Seems like that ship has sailed.
15. Think the Rockets have a chance to make it to the Finals?
If I had answered this interview when you first sent it to me, I would've said yes, but now I don't think so. I doubt we get by Portland, but if we do, I love our chances vs. SAS/DAL. Getting past OKC or LAC is doubtful. Maybe if the stars align and we beat POR, then face DAL, then face MEM, we can make it to the Finals. I think we probably need a coaching change or at least another year with the same or close to the same roster to really start clicking. I wish I could offer more insight, but I've watched less than 10 Rockets games this year thanks to Comcast and being gone for 7 weeks.
Im surprised they are playing so poorly. I really like this club alot. I though Harden and Howard were strong enough with a pretty solid group of complimentary players. LA is just killin it.
