The Man in Blak

DAMMIT. Guess that's what I get for thinking he could slip to me.

Whoa, the Cubs fleece the Pirates for talent mid-season? MVP is a better sim of baseball than I initially thought.

Et tu, Brute?

Yeah, I realize that. I just can't believe that the anti-Sosa hysteria was huge enough to make people bet on the Cubs. Then again, there's probably people who do recreational betting on the Cubs, just to say that they bet on them.

I just don't get the logic. The Cubs' problems last year were: 1) No OBP 2) No Bullpen The Cubs' problems this year are: 1) No OBP 2) No Bullpen Sure, having Walker and Nomar in there every day is going to help a little bit, but Nomar isn't going to hit .350 again and any positive gains that Walker brings to the table over Grudzielanek is going to be negated by the constant air conditioning that Burnitz will bring to the ballpark every day. The pitching staff's almost exactly in the same shape that it was last year, except that you sub out Matt Clement for Ryan Dempster (1.10 K/BB ratio over the last two years), and tack off 50-60 decent innings of relief from Kent Mercker. Sure, Prior will be back and healthy, but Wood's feeling a twinge again and Zambrano - who was one of the leaders in BPro's Pitcher Abuse Points stat, IIRC - is primed for regression to the mean or, worse, an arm-related implosion. Replace Alou and Sosa with Hollandsworth and Burnitz and this team is worse than the team that finished 16 games behind the Cardinals last year, and I'm not even considering the Dusty Factor yet.

Say what?

Say what?

The Kansas City Athletics/Monarchs select 1B Jeff Bagwell.

Greenberg was a full-time left fielder from 1940 to 1945 - stuff him out there.

Who are you? Who, who, who, who?

One more question: are we using the designated hitter?

It's hilarious that you mention that, since somebody on Baseball Think Factory ran an OOTP 6 sim on Rick Ankiel as an outfielder and came up with a 30 home run season (albeit with an underwhelming .210/.270/.460 line). Sure, it was after he had a couple of years of minor league seasoning, but bizarre nonetheless.

If only we had your grasp of unintentional hilarity.

Sunday's not so good for me, unfortunately.

Just out of curiosity, how are we going to try some of the more "crafty" pitchers in this simulation? Should we bank on Eddie Cicotte being able to slip a shine ball past the modern officiating?

The Kansas City Athletics select... er, oops. Sorry. 2B Joe Morgan

Okay, I'll make my pick momentarily, after I get done flipping these coins. *flip* *flip*

I'll take Mickey Mantle for my pick.

I'd imagine that E10+ would cover the kiddie games that have simulated violence (like Mario punching a goomba), leaving E to puzzle games, board game adaptations, and maybe some select sports games. It's not a bad move, actually, given how much room there was between E and T to start.

I'd try out Stone Temple Pilots' Plush - the verse has a G-D-F-C progression that covers a ton of movement. If you don't have the G-D shift down after playing it ten or twenty times, it probably isn't going to ever happen for you. Plus, the song doesn't sound terrible when you're playing it slow, meaning less chances to get frustrated by the lack of musicality while you're speeding up.

Nah, it's no big deal. 'Monarchs' is fine.

Oh, crap. I didn't notice that MARTYEWR had the Ottawa Athletics. Let's try the Kansas City Monarchs instead, in a tip of the cap to the historic Negro League team.

Of course, so is Juan Rivera. I actually think the Expos have somewhat of a talent base to make a run at .500, but Frank Robinson - god bless him - will manage them straight into the toilet with every Endy Chavez leadoff at bat.