Post by Captain America on Jul 24, 2014 23:46:19 GMT -5
Greeme certainly has turned the Rays into a force in the AL.
FYI - I sent these questions out the same day as the recent Break and Erbes interviews.
1. It took six seasons for the Rays to really get going, but now, they are one of the elite AL teams and have won the last 2 AL East titles. What has been the biggest key to your success? Great trades? Awesome PD's? Patience? A weaker AL East?
Obviously brilliant gming is key. The only way to learn is not by being afraid to make mistakes. Sometimes it seems that Play runs half the teams in the league. Gms have really thin skin and are very insecure about their trades; one or two negative comments and they are trade shy for months. Awesome pd’s? lol. That was the first lesson I learned – rebuilding sucks not only because it takes a few years but because the negative pds are so frustrating. They seem to have no rhyme or reason. Once I realized that then I started moving picks and youth for vets or prospects closer to the big league level. Also, Rome wasn’t built in a day. You have to improve your finances in order to be able to pay higher salaries and you have to improve your team in order to be able to sign higher end fas. Most of my trades worked out, though if you make a lot of trades you will obviously lose a bunch. If Break didn’t get a bunch of guys in an overinflated fa last year I would have been able to win 5 straight division titles without much competition. I’m not sure why Game’s teams haven’t been better. He has good players and always seems to get good pds.
That's very true about rebuilding, regarding PD's. You gotta be patient and/or lucky to have a successful rebuild for sure.
2. Clearly, one of your best trades ever occurred when you got Matt Holliday from the Rangers. Let's talk about Matty Ice. How much does he mean to the Rays? Is he truly the best AL hitter around? Is he worth every penny of his salary? How many MVP's will he win before he retires?
Um.. are you sure? I think everyone bashed the trade except for Habes.
So at the time it clearly was not seen as a good deal. Of course I don’t usually care what people say. I have always believed that you have to overpay for franchise players. Matt is awesome. He is easily the best hitter around though because some people are hr crazy that might hurt him in mvp votes. He would go for 20+ as an fa so he is easily worth his contract. He has that power/speed combo and hits for avg as well as taking walks. He is top 10 pretty much in everything; hrs, stls, runs, rbis, hits, walks, avg, obp, slg and even triples. That is pretty amazing considering that we are not a hitter’s park at all. Best hitter in the league. Over/under is 3.5 mvps.
Yeah I remember one of the people that was critical of you doing that trade, but it really ended up working out well for you. Right now, he's got my vote for AL MVP this season. I still believe Dunn rightfully won last year.
3. On the flip side, you recently traded your ace Mike Lincoln to the Pirates and it seems as if you now regret doing that trade. What prompted you to want to trade him? Do you feel like you got a great return for him? How much better would the Rays be right now if he was still around?
I don’t regret it at all. That is a perfect example of being open. I thought that I was getting good value for Lincoln and I could pick up a similar guy down the line. I pretty much got delrio for who I got in return for Lincoln. And then I picked up Biddle for quite a bit less. He was getting older and by next year it would have been hard to get much for him. If he were on the Rays then I wouldn’t have gotten Biddle and Delrio so we would be quite a bit worse. It is always nice to have somebody like Lincoln in the playoffs but to be honest he has been mediocre for the last 2 years in the playoffs so I would like to try something else.
Greg could've definitely gotten more for Biddle than he did, but that was a really nice trade for you. Hopefully these moves will end up working out for you in the postseason, for your own sake.
Rocky Biddle certainly has been pitching very well lately.
4. What do the Rays currently lack, generally speaking? If you could choose one hitter and one pitcher to have that are currently not on the Rays, who would they be and why?
Nothing. We are a great team. I wouldn’t mind getting an ace – Sabathia, Beckett, Santana or Buehrle would all be great but the truth is that Biddle has pitched as well as anybody over the last few months. On the offensive side I wouldn’t mind Miggy but the truth is that a stud catcher or cf would probably help me more. I would love to get somebody like Mcclouth but play won’t let heatflash trade with me. He would easily lead the league in runs.
lol @ the shot at Play. What a surprise. McLouth is nice, but the Braves seem to be closer to competing now, so it might be smart for HF to keep him around. Miggy will be a lifer with the Marlins. No doubt about that.
5. How long do you think this success will last? You've hinted before at retooling this offseason and moving some of your bigger salaries. Is that still the direction you plan on going in?
It depends on the deals out there. If Lee, Stark ,Biddle and Bradford all walk I will clear 50 mil in cap and then I will be at the mercy of fa. I would like at the very least to sign biddle. I think that we can still be successful without the other 3. Don’t forget that I picked up Bullington/delrio/Henson who all make me somewhat younger. Even if I sign Stark I will probably trade him and maybe Lee also. Break’s team is also getting older and expensive and it will be a few years before Erbes is ready so I think we should be able to win the division for the next 3 years but if it seems that we can’t do so then we will either trade youth for vets or vice versa. You can’t do things half way. If I think that we can do either than I will probably try to keep winning.
The Rays' short term future looks pretty good right now and you definitely have a younger core than Break does. Break will probably need to retool in a few seasons. He gutted his whole farm system and all his picks, which wasn't necessarily a bad idea, but if he doesn't get back to the World Series, it may have sort have been all for nothing. And yeah with the Yankees probably ready to compete by the mid-2010s, you should be able to stay on top of your division for the next few seasons.
6. If you don't win a ring this season, would it be a huge failure? Bigger failure than both of the past two seasons? Which AL team do you think has the best shot of getting past the Rays? Which NL team (if you do end up making the World Series)?
No. The best team doesn’t necessarily win. I think that this is the best team that we have had. Nanz has knocked us out of the playoffs the last two years so I would rather not face him in the first round again. His pitching shut me down both years. I’m hopeful that this year’s lineup will be able to score runs against anybody. We have so many guys that can change a game with one swing that I think that we will be successful. All 5 of my starters have been pitching well the last 2 months. In the NL I think that Kobe has the best team but he is just letting other teams win. Nice of him. After him I think that the Marlins are the best team. They are definitely the best team on paper but that doesn’t always translate to postseason success. I think that we are close enough that we could beat them. I would much rather play SF.
You can at least be thankful that this is the last season in which the Mariners will feature all the stars they have, before a likely financial probation kicks in. I don't agree with you on the Expos having the best team and lol @ Kobe letting others win. The Marlins are 5x better than the Expos at the very least. The Expos have a few nice players, but no elite difference makers like Miggy, Kubel and CC, among others. Giants' pitching is always tough.
The Expos have no one that can even slightly compare to this guy.
7. What's your perception on what the AL East will be like in the future? What could each AL East GM (yourself included) do to improve their teams?
Toronto and Baltimore have to pick a direction. Either move spects for talent or talent for spects. They have enough talent to win 70 games and not get a great pick. What is the point of that? Pick a direction and go towards it full force. Both gms seem to be sitting on their teams and that does not bode well for the future of their franchises. Erbes has a bunch of really nice hitting spects. He also has a great market so he will be competing within a few years. He just has to stay the course and add players little by little. I will probably rebuild by the time his team is ready. Break has 2 starters that are 37 and nothing on the farm. He also has no power. I have no idea how his team plays so well but he won’t be able to keep it up. He has to hope that the Rays rebuild before the Yanks take over. That will be his window to win for a year or 2. The Rays have to make decisions about signing stark/lee/biddle/Bradford. Bradford will probably just be allowed to walk, Dardar can easily take over. Stark has pitched so well I just don’t want to lose him for nothing but I won’t go crazy to resign him. I would really like to keep Lee but I would rather not go past 2 years at 20 mil and he will probably want 3. Conundrum. Biddle will take less and I would rather not lose him. I will probably go to 10-11 3 yrs just to keep him. Even if they all go, The Rays have some talent on the farm that can be moved. Dominguez looks like a stud middle infielder and Castillo will be a very good catcher. I like how the rays are currently set up.
Jah and Game need to pick a direction and do something with their teams instead of being idle. I feel like I've already said this before. My interviews suck. Break seems to be focusing more on OBP and walks over power, which has apparently been working for him.
Even the Orioles' mascot is saying "Come on Jah! Get the O's back on the right track!"
8. You currently have the largest payroll in BBSBL after trading for Carlos Lee from the Mariners. Ever since you really started to compete, you've always had to trade for large amounts of in-game cash to keep your finances in decent shape. Unfortunately, quite a few others (myself included) have put together high payroll teams and have had to trade for a lot of in-game cash as well. In-game cash was once worth a $5 million/$1 million board cash ratio. Now, that ratio is at around $3 million in-game/$1 million board or even possibly $2 million in-game/$1 million board. Is it good for the league to have so many competitive teams with high payrolls and for in-game cash to be valuable as it currently is? Or were things here better when in-game cash was at the $5 million/$1 million board cash ratio? Is the current scarcity of in-game cash a legitimate problem here or can an easy solution of some sort be found?
I do have the largest payroll on paper but I have 50 mil coming off the books. The scarcity isn’t a problem; it is an opportunity for teams to get a ton of game cash and make a killing. There has been more board cash lately because of the draft, the world cup etc. which has made board cash more plentiful and therefore the relative value of game cash went up. Also the amount of teams chasing game cash has gone up. Mid-level markets can’t really compete for more than 2-3 years without adding game cash. I do think that we should be able to convert 1 mil board to 2 mil game and that would set a minimum value. Otherwise we will have friends help their friends out with board cash for game cash trades and other guys will get frozen out. In any case the market always wins in the end. Teams which will not be able to keep up their payrolls will have to move talent. Somebody who is rebuilding at the right time could easily find a way to take advantage of that and cut years off their rebuild.
Meh. Trading for in-game cash can be easy if you PM the right people, but it also forces GM's like myself that are constantly in need of in-game cash to post more and write articles, among other things to rack up a shit ton of board cash just to trade for in-game cash. I don't always feel like friend trades happen a ton with cash swaps just because there's always a good chance that certain sets of close friends may be competing or rebuilding at the same time.
9. What are your thoughts on the dynamic duo of Steve and Ashes doing the sims now? Do you think they have done a great job? Have they been better than Erbes? Do you enjoy the extra sims that occasionally happen on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays? Is the faster pace of sims a good thing? Or should it slow down a bit?
Great job. I haven’t had so many bad pds so I ‘m happy. I love the extra sims, as long as the draft class is ready on time I’m all for them. The possibility of an extra sim keeps people around the boards and keeps activity up. It isn’t about being better than Erbes it is obviously easier on the simmers if they can split the work.
Steve and Ashes have been awesome with sims. Bravo!
10. What kind of changes and/or improvements would you like to see here? What could make BBSBL a better place for everyone?
As I said, I think that we should be able to trade in 1 mil board for 2 mil game. I am all for gms being able to spend money because it evens out the league. It is crazy that I am on my way to my third straight 100 win season but I have less revenue than half the league. At least this way I know that I will always be able to make some game cash if I have to. I would like more surprises in the drafts. It keeps things interesting. Also more ready to play guys who might not have as much upside. I don’t really care that much about realism. Or just keep the real guys realistic and add some fake guys.
The whole contraction was a fail. Ashes ended up with the top pick and Break bought a team. I didn’t like how that was run but hopefully we won’t have another contraction any time soon.
I would like interleague play. That would make things more interesting imo.
I would like some way out of the franchise penalty; it seems too stiff because we have no control over fan loyalty going back up. I think that if we name another player as a franchise guy right away that should take away the penalty. It makes no sense to me that my loyalty should take a hit if I would trade Holliday for a similar player and name him my franchise player.
Contraction was meh in my opinion. Some good came out of it and some bad as well. Interleague play would be awesome. Someone make it happen!
11. Are you a fan of the relatively new 2nd PD reversal rule? Is it good for the league? Is it better than having no PD's at all for first year players? Is there an even better solution to this? If so, what would it be and why?
I think it sucks, mostly because it came at a bad time for me. I would have reversed Upton if it had been around a day or 2 before. Something has to be done about bad pds. It was really bad when I was rebuilding and I would get them everyday. The best solutions are complicated and a pain for the commish but I am sure that Shale would be the pd mod for some cash. I would let 2nd and 3rd round picks opt out of pds. Nothing good and nothing bad. First rounders get 2 pd reversals, the first one being free and the other one 1.5 mil per category regardless of age (I would actually stagger payments for categories but that seems a ton of extra work) but if you use a free reversal then your next good pd is cancelled.
Extra PD reversal benefits for 1st round picks would be interesting, although I'm not sure if a ton of others would be in favor of it as well. This could be a topic you could bring up in the next winter meetings.
12. You're also in LBB, which is currently about to go into 1966. Which era of players do you enjoy more? The greats from the 60s? Or today's current stars up in here? What historical era of players would be the most fun for you to manage if you could choose any decade?
I like the older guys. I would actually love to be in a mixed league which has players from different eras play at the same time. The late 80s were my favorite baseball years. Also the 60s. I would love to have Ted Williams, easily the greatest hitter of all time. Or the really old pitchers, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Christy Matthewson. Guys that came to pitch 9 innings. I follow baseball a lot less than I used to so the new guys don’t mean as much.
Cy Young was so good back then that a famous award was named after him.
Not sure if any mixed leagues like that exist. The 60s era was great. So many stars in those years. Mays, Aaron, Gibson, Koufax, etc. The list goes on. I wish this league started earlier. Would've been fun to see those guys and the 70s and 80s stars as well here.
13. You and Play have been going at each other for a little while. First, there was the Kerry Wood thing when he said you could have had him, but didn't offer enough. Please elaborate on this. What was your offer and what did he want? And then the thing with the banks. What did you do that got him to ignore your bank at times? How often should Play really be updating the bank? Has he done a good job overall?
I sent him a ton of offers throughout the years for wood. The funny thing is that the one time he sent me an offer i should have taken it but i was worried that kerry wouldnt resign with me.
Fielder
Julio Guisasola
TB 06 1st
Pitt 06 1st
TB 07 first
I definitely should have done that looking back.
Ah well.
As for the banks, he would randomly post that he was going to update and then not do anything. The banks should be updated at regular times not sporadically. He does a solid job all in all but sometimes the breaks are too long. If anyone dares say anything even in jest he has a hissy fit. Typical play.
Prince Fielder ended up getting traded to the south side of Chicago and is currently the star first baseman of the White Sox.
Sometimes you pass on doing a certain trade and later regret it, or vice-versa. Shit happens. Wood is sick. Sucks for him that Spencer didn't reverse that one big PD earlier. AS for bank updates, if Play would just say that something came up or just anything to let us know, that would be really good. Banks need to be done regularly. Once a week if not more often is fair. Sure, we all have phones with calculators, but everything still needs to be organized generally speaking.
14. As we all know, certain GM's here bring drama with them, whether it has to do with complaining, reacting towards being trolled or who knows what. Which GM's drama do you find the most annoying generally speaking and why?
Kobe. if you are going to troll then you have to be able to take it as well as dish it out. He quit because he was getting trolled too hard about just inheriting Styro's team and not doing much himself. The truth is that Kobe has really done little to dispel claims that he is a mediocre gm that walked into a great situation. He rebuilt early so he had a ton of great assets to play with but he tried to compete too quickly and made a bunch of poor trades. He has had some good pd luck but that is neither here nor there. He still has a solid base but that is just due to what he started with. In any case, as i said, if you want to dish it out then you have to be able to take it. You can't be a troll and then cry and quit when you are trolled.
Kobe is awful. The most fake GM here by far. It's like will the real Kobe please stand up? Is he the fake tough guy troll we all have gotten to know (for better or worse), or is he the guy hides in a corner when he gets trolled? I completely agree with your assessment. Kobe can't play both sides like that. So pathetic.
15. Finally, if you had to choose 3 teams that are likely to improve a lot in 2010, and 3 current postseason contenders that are likely to fall off the map next season, who would they all be and why?
Play can improve whenever he wants. He has enough ready to play talent and can get more by moving his younger players. He seems pretty bored losing and it wouldn’t surprise me if he will improve next year. Habes will improve a ton just because his real record will be close to his pyt record. If Heatflash isn’t too scared to trade then they will also improve a lot next year. He has to make moves though. Can’t just wait for the youth to improve.
Contenders don’t just fall off the map unless they decide to rebuild. I think that Cleveland should consider rebuilding. The players are still mostly in the 29-31 age range which gets them a lot of value in return. If he keeps waiting they will lose value and his return will be a lot less which would make a rebuild take longer. Nanz doesn’t seem to have the time to make the necessary moves in order to deal with his cap situation so he might also go the rebuild route. Spencer and I should probably think about a rebuild also but I think that we both think that it is too boring.
Ehh. Most of your picks I agree with. The Indians are on a good run though. I see no reason for DRowe to retool just yet while everyone has is in their primes. And he actually has a few decent spects that could be ready soon, like McCutchen in particular. The Mariners have nice pieces for the future, but are gonna have some glaring holes this offseason and it's not like Nanz has the pieces in his system to fill those holes easily. I'm very interested to see what kind of decisions he ends up making.
