EVIL~! alkeiper

Do you have any other examples besides Kobe Bryant. He went to private school, which is a far cry from your basic public high school. Besides, plenty of players are considered problems, and many of them went to college. I see NO correlation between college experience and attitude. A lot of the crap associated with high school kids coming to the NBA is just clouded personal observations.

Anyway, I have had knee injuries, three to the same knee in fact. Trust me I know what it feels like. Three torn ligaments skiing (at the same time). Total reconstructive knee surgery. Sprained twice, surgery to clean it out of debris both times. Have dislocated it 4 times since. Hell I've played a softball double header after dislocating it and shoving it back in because we didn't have enough guys to cover me. A year and a half for recovery? Again I ask... What did he do to his knee to need a year and a half? Bonds has never said he might be out a year and a half. Plus, this is much harder when you are older, and baseball players also must live up to an expected level of performance. Bonds could play in a month, and he'll tank the Giants' season when he can't cover the gaps in left field. Your little softball league is hardly the ultra-competitive MLB.

The Cubs have concerns with Wood and Prior, and if those two miss significant time, it could be a long season, but who knows? Here are my front-runners... AL East: Boston AL Central: Minnesota AL West: Oakland NL East: Philadelphia NL Central: St. Louis NL West: Los Angeles

The Californian selects closer Jeff Reardon.

Like I stated in the other thread, I found a new database that adjusts for era, and uses a player's career statistics. So guys who had fluke years do not show up as well. In the case of Bo Jackson, he is interesting because he really broke through the year before he suffered that hip injury. His 1990 line includes a .342 OBP, 28 HRs, 15 steals. And as anyone who witnessed the 1989 All-Star game can attest, he had some true power in his bat. Buck O'Neill equaled his swing to Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson. I don't know how the sim will find Jackson, but at the very least he is an effective power/speed threat.

The database I am using uses adjusted career statistics. So it does not matter which season I use.

LooneyTune, HarleyQuinn, and Kingpk are up next.

Slapnuts, IK Cool Jew, and Precious Roy for two picks.

HarleyQuinn, then LooneyTune.

The Californian selects Jack Morris.

I'm away from my home computer and the program, so I can't check it at the moment. I'll have an answer tomorrow evening.

The jury is still out on Quiroz as a hitting prospect. He broke through in 2003 with a huge season, but he really struggled in 2004. He looks like an Ernie Whitt-type player, which is not a bad thing. Regardless of his offense, Quiroz is an excellent defensive catcher. I'd rather take Quiroz right now then I would take Mike Matheny or Brad Ausmus. I do not have any real skills that you might associate with major league scouts, in that regard. My interests in baseball are mainly analytical and writing. It is something I would like to do with a living, but right now I am in college, and still working on my education.

He suffered a stroke midway through the 1980 season, ending his career prematurely.

Beast, Bored and Nogoodnick are up next.

Autopick time. Bravesfan picks SP Bob Lemon. JHawk is on the clock.

I imagine so. We've had enormous success with them thus far. I'll get back to you guys with a date. The sim will handle direct managerial manuevers, and it does support double switches. I inputed Heilmann, and he is eligible at first base. Realistically, you can use any player at any defensive position, as long as you can handle the hit in defense.

Good or bad? Indifferent really. Quiroz is the future, but he's probably not ready. Myers and Zaun should at least hold down the fort in the meantime.

Something that caught my eye for Blue Jays fans. Toronto optioned Guillermo Quiroz to Syracuse. It looks like its Gregg Zaun and Greg Myers behind the plate.

I think I can export your roster so you can do all the customization if you wish. If anyone has specific requests on what they'd like to adjust, I will take care of that. Not at the moment, but I will bring that up later on before I start the sim.

That's no problem. OOTP's setup screen has slots for up to five starters, a spot starter/long reliever, a mop-up man, two set up men, a closer, and the rest of your 'pen. I just tell the program to place the pitcher in the bullpen, and it is set.

Let me clarify an issue on this. Yahoo cannot designate them as a DL because they are not actually on the real-life disabled list. As teams cut their rosters, they will put guys on the DL, and then Yahoo can follow suit.

I think that is unfair, and unnecessary. With a minor league, the only sub-20 players will either be guys who deserve to be at that level, or the occasional call-up if a team has been decimated by injuries.

I switched over to an era-adjusted database, so players' abilities will be more fairly rated. As for Dihigo, he will mostly take the form of an outfielder/pitcher. Think Babe Ruth 1919 with less power.

I do think this is a shame, as Bonds is a remarkable ballplayer, and fans never appreciated his talents even before any whispers of a steroid scandal. It is not unusual for players at Bonds' age to suddenly develop career-threatening injuries. On the contrary, it is quite common. As for the "tired" remarks, those are absolutely true. Old ballplayers do not retire for lack of ability as much as it takes greater effort to train as one ages, to the point where it becomes an exhausting ordeal. Barry Bonds needs 53 home runs to tie Hank Aaron's record. Only three hitters in the history of baseball (Carlton Fisk, Darrell Evans and Dave Winfield) have hit that many after reaching age 40. If he misses this season entirely, only one hitter in baseball history (Fisk) has hit 53 home runs after reaching 41. I now think it is unlikely that Bonds will break the home run record. Just for kicks, here is the Favorite Toy table from the 2005 Bill James Handbook, assessing players' chances at breaking the home run record... Barry Bonds (78%) Alex Rodriguez (31%) Sammy Sosa (25%) Albert Pujols (15%) Jim Thome (11%) Manny Ramirez (4%) Adam Dunn (1%)

Check out the picks thread to see the draft so far. Bravesfan is up next on the board, followed by JHawk and Beast.