How to Build a Team

Building a Team from Bottom Up

This narrative is a thread culled from our old forum for the new owners that join our game. It was written by Michael Hind, one of the most successful owners in the NSB system. Interlaced in the narrative are some questions/comments made by other owners, to which Michael responds. It gives newbies a guide to start building a team. It's a lot to read, but it contains some very useful information.

For those of you interested in watching a team be built from ground up, I will try and keep a record of what I have done so if you feel so inclined, you can learn from my mistakes and take from my success. I recently acquired the Big Train Knights. On the roster already was Addie Joss, Snuffy Stirnweiss, Gil McDougald, Elston Howard, Jack Clark, and Tom Cheney. Joss, Stirnweiss, and Cheney were all signed to type one contract so there wasn't a whole lot I could do with them. Besides, I would want Joss on any team that I have, he is a great pitcher out of the OTF. Jack Clark was on a type 3 contract and due to his irregular performance I gladly dropped him from the roster, I would like to find a way to move Stirnweiss, because he is to expensive for the production he gives, he has two seasons remaining on his type 1 contract so I have to pretty much make the best of having him on the roster. There is an option to buy out his contract however, the value isn't there to lose the production that he will provide, my hope is he will get one of his first two seasons so I won't feel his contract to much. McDougald and Howard are both on type 2 contract and would have been dropped if I was able to find suitable replacements, but for the time they will just fill holes on the roster. Cheney is a SSP on a type one contract with one season remaining and will be mostly used out of the bullpen. It's important to determine which players will help you fill your needs long term when looking at your new team, cut as much as you can to get started, it's easier to subtract first then add.

Once I sorted which players were going to be helpful to building a team around, I looked on each roster of every team to see which teams had an excess at a position (i.e. I'm not picking on you Chris, but the Smokies have two first basemen, both of which are good, Mike Sweeney and Johnny Mize, having both them is way to much to be spending on one position). I sent out emails to teams seeing if they wanted to trim fat, by losing the unneeded contracts. Important thing here is not offering to much for players of value in this situation, 20 units is usually the highest I will offer for players in this situation. By taking the contracts of players like this your helping the opposing team as much as your helping yourself, the other teams generally do not want to have excess at one position, there are exceptions. My hunt did not go as well I would have hoped but was able to find an owner that would part with draft picks and an extra reliever. (Important note: Rob Nen is signed to type 1 contract so his value is greatly reduced, I never like having a reliever signed to type one, because it relegates them to middle relief). I spent 175 units on a first and second round pick with Rob Nen included.

The draft class was 60-67 and 81-86 for the supplemental. In my eyes a pitching rich draft. I focused on pitching in the draft was able to come smelling like roses after the first four rounds. Tom Seaver, Juan Marichal, Roger Clemens, Sid Fernandez, and one year pitcher Dick Hughes. On the offensive side of the ball Tony Gwynn. Pitching is the easiest way to build a team, in my eyes, because pitchers are often overlooked by the rest of the owners in the league. In the rest of the rounds I focused on finding hitters with decent fielding skills and that would get on base. Batting average and Slugging are only secondary to on base percentage at this time of building my team. I didn't really get any gems in the later rounds but was able to fill out the roster and then sign them to type 3 contracts. The reason for type 3 contracts, is two-fold. one they get double the performance units and you can drop them for free, when a better option comes along. I signed Seaver, Marichal, Clemens, and Gwynn to a type 1 contracts because they are all players that can be used long term. The biggest risk there is Marichal, who have a couple of seasons that will have your team losing games that they should otherwise win. I tried to focus on draft players with a low risk, granted there isn't a high reward for these types of players, but they will keep you in games throughout the season.

One thing I have that most news teams don't have is rights to a new park. Since I have a team filled with great pitching, I changed the park to 1964 Chavez Ravine, a pitcher's ball park that will cut home runs. This will be a huge advantage for my team, as I don't have much power or plan on getting much power for a couple of seasons. The draft pools for next season are 1910-1919, which is great for finding players with high OBA which I am in need of. The Supplemental pool is 1999-2004, which great for finding role players which many teams overlook.

My hope for the season is to have a record above .500 to get the 400 units for the concessions, which will help my team in the long run. With the new park I am giving up 244 units this season, but will get those units plus more in seasons to come. My opening day salary for my team is 2052, which is higher than it should be, but I feel that my experience in the game will help me guide this team to a good financial standing as well as decent win-loss record.

I will try and keep this up to date for a couple of months, and if anyone has any questions, feel free to post them and I will try and better explain my rational for doing something. My hope is that we can teach more owners how to develop their teams, in turn it will lead to better competition and more long term owners. So please feel free to ask any questions here.

 Michael, please explain to me what you mean by saying that you don't like signing relievers (closers) to Type 1 contracts because that relegates them to middle relief. Thanks. 

Signing relievers (closers and set up) to type 1 contracts. A type 1 contract only allows for half the performance units that would otherwise get and you also pay the salary when the player is injured. So, if say Rob Nen was my set up, and he recorded 25 holds, he would only produce 10 units for my team.

However signed to a type 3, he would produce 40 units to my team. A difference of of 30 units. On a type 1 six season contract you will sign him for 32 units a season, on a type 3 six season contract you will sign him for 46 units a season. A difference of 14 units. So really, by signing your closer/set-up man to a type one contract your taking away at least 16 units away from yourself each season. You gain even more, if your set up man reaches 40 holds or 40 saves on a type 3 contract. The holds and saves are two categories where you can almost count on getting enough performance to reach these milestones that it seems foolish to throw away the units. There is an argument that you could sign relievers to a type 2 contract, however you give up the ability to double the performance units. I like to have the flexibility on switching up relievers at the beginning of each season depending on performance, so I usually sign all my relievers to type 3 contracts to keep it simple, unless I am sure that I will not want to use them in the closer or set up role, but never to a type one contract.

 So, what do you suggest for OEB contracts, Michael? I know that you and I have disagreed in the past about certain OEB's being on type 1 and 2, for less than 3 seasons, on your team...and I sign EVERY OEB to a type 3, full contract length (no release fee, heck yeah!).
 Also, for pitching contracts, you have to look at the amount of discount on ANY long term contract. If the discount can be made in performance units in any ONE year of that contract, then a type 3 is a MUST. I do agree with Michael on the Set-Up and Closer roles being type 3 (I believe I suggested that all RP should be type 3 a while ago on Yahoo IM...), SSP always get type 3, and ANY SP that has a PV of basically under 135 will get a type 3 contract...because VERY FEW ultra premium superstars have a PV less than this number.
 You have to keep in mind that a type 3 contract has NO RELEASE FEE, and you don't pay the player when they are injured! If your team is to have any long term success, you can't throw away units on release fees every season, because you drafted someone better...
 Bottom line, as new owners trying to build teams, GO SLOW, read the Trading Rules, the User Guide, and seek a mentor ... but keep in mind, that YOUR team is YOUR team, no two teams will EVER have the same personnel or the exact same opponents, or schedule...
 By posting here, I am not, nor will I ever say that I have the most unique ideas or that I know everything that there is to know in NSB! IF I didn't constantly learn something in NSB, I'd get bored...comin' up on two years now, with 11 teams in the stable, 7 Championships to date, some awesome lookin' teams that just don't perform, some iffy teams that over-achieve...
 Nostalgia Sim Baseball to me is just plain fun...yes, it's a numbers game, and if numbers aren't your thing, you rarely will win the big ones...but you'll get your share of fun and comraderie...
 Off the top of my head I can probably name at least 10 pitchers that I will try to draft every time that have a PV lower than 135 that I'd LOVE to have on any staff. I know where my favorite regulars and OEB's are located (era wise), getting them on your team is the hard part...but also part of the fun...trading for them... - Dru Himes

Dru, You make some good points. As far OEB's, generally speaking they get signed to a type 3 contract. I don't have a cut and dry formula for signing my OEB players. In the case with this team, I have Greg Goosen and Jose Tartabull. Both are signed to type 3 three year contract. Before I sign my OEB players I always look at the next draft pool, to see if my needs can be meet in the next draft, if so the OEB players will be signed to a type 3 three season contract. However, I rank each OEB, some OEB players will get signed to a type 2 contract depending on their skill level and what I will use them for. There are some OEB players that I will sign to a type 2 contract, when that situation comes up I will post on here for the others to learn from. Sorry, I don't have a more definitive answer for you Dru. I'm sure signing up for the beginner leagues will help you develop your skills as an owner.

One thing that I will say, for an owner that is just coming into the league, do not trade away your first round draft picks for units, one you don't need the units as badly as you need that pick, two the owner that takes that first round pick will surely get the benefit of that player drafted, more than you will get the benefit of those units. Once again, it is extremely foolish to trade away a first round pick when trying to build a team.

 Great thread. Thanks Michael for the thread and the tips, and Dru for your insight also but...Thanks for taking so long to start it I picked up 6 RP's in Jackie Robinson’s  league and I really like these guys so I already signed them to a type 1 contract .. If I would have seen a thread like this earlier, I would have signed them to a type 3 for sure...You know, guys like Hoffman and Lee Smith  - Desperado

More insight on what I'm doing now. The first set just ended, really my record does not matter at this point. My starting pitchers did well and all look to poised for good seasons, which is a nice feeling at any point in the season. Also what is very important to do is try and figure out which season each player is on. Snuffy Stirnweiss is in the Yellow for me, which is fantastic, there isn't any depth to my batter roster, so having Snuffy in the Yellow means he is on a season with plenty of plate appearences, so he is on either his 44 or 45 season, which bodes well, because they are his best two seasons. Also, it means that I don't need to find a bench player that has alot of plate appearences. It just saves a headache for later in the season. Now, I will continue keeping my roster thin until the waiver wire opens and will only look to add depth if my team has a solid record. However I will be looking to find a gem out of the OTF later in the season, hopefully one appears. For now it's a waiting game, this first month is a great chance to see how my players are going to perform the rest of the season.

When I do call up an OTF player, I'm looking for someone who will help my team long term, or players that have an outstanding season available, then I will take the gamble to see if that player will get that outstanding season, if not I religate them to bench spots or plug them in to keep my studs, which are few and far between on this roster. With this team, since it is so thin I will even look to add a pitcher if one happens to appear, it's hard to have too many arms available. An important thing that I always look for is will that player hurt my team overall. Sometimes an OTF player will have such horrid defense that he isn't worth the high batting average that OTF players tend to hit for.

Right now, I'm also filling out my draft card, seeing what talent is available in the next draft. I have plenty of positions that need to be filled, so I'm looking through the 1B, 3B, SS, 2 OF's, 2 RP's and all bench positions. I'm also looking to see if I can find another 2B, as I said before Stirnweiss is good, but is far to expensive for what he produces. Also, looking to see what studs are available in the draft. It is wise to rate each player in each era so it becomes easier to determine which player will fill your needs the most (look at the Sim Database, check the difference in hisortical stats and regular stats). I'm looking for players that I can predict how they will do, looking at year players or two year players. It would be nice to fill out the roster with long term players, however I don't want to stuck with a player that is just better than average or average, unless they are on a short term deal.

Another thing that I do during the first month of the season, is to look at the financial disclosure. Usually I have already added up each teams salary to see where each team stands in units. On the Financial Disclosure report I am looking to see which team have 15.4 Cost Per Game or more, which translates to 2500 in salary. The reason for this is to see which owners may need help with units later in the season and may be willing to give up a talented player for less than what they are worth. At this point in time, I won't really flood the inboxes of other owners, but will keep their finances in mind through the season. These owners are candidates for buying draft picks from, something that will come in very handy when looking to build a team.

Look through each roster and see which stud players are off to a bad start. Take notice that Joe DiMaggio is off to a slow start, he may become available later in the season (doubtful, but this only an example). At this time it is still to early to send off trade requests as the owners of the struggling players will want to see if the numbers are going to turn around. It's never to early to start preparing for events in the future.

Still, any questions or clarity needed feel free to ask, I will do my best to try and let you inside my head.

The waiver wire is now open, what we are looking for depends on what the team needs are. This team, the Big Train Knights, is in desperate need of offensive help. The trick here is not to spend to much for a guy that will help your team out at this young stage. There is a huge temptation to grab the first player or players you see that will light a fire under your team. Remember we are trying to build a team for the long term and try to win as much as possible this season. So, please don't just pick up any player just to fill the need of that spot, worst case scenario is a player gets hurt without you having a backup at that spot. If this happens, which I expect to happen later in the season, you receive an OTF player that can fill that role. So really, there is no need to rush. Speaking of the OTF, there is no need to rush and take every player you can get your hands on, the draft is where your going to fill your team.

Back to what we are looking for, OEB players are perfect fits for budding teams, first because they are cheap, second they can produce at high levels. I am looking for good defensive players with high OBA. I want a competitive team that will produce units for me, not the other way around.

It's about time to start sending out trade offers to teams that look to be struggling. In this league there aren't many options, but scan the losing teams and see if they have a player that will fit your needs. Remembering that they need the help as much as you do, so don't offer to much. I'm not saying you should lowball the other team, but think about how much the other team will benefit from this deal you are offering. In this case try offering a team like the Smokies (not really struggling, but have a very high salary for the team), 20 units for Mike Sweeney. He may not take the offer, but if you let the other owner know your intentions and they have similar intentions for their team you may be able to work a deal, that will help both teams. Or look at the Infinite Minutiae (Also, not really struggling, but have a very high salary for the team) Joe DiMaggio is really having a bad season, try offering say 50 units and see what happens, sometimes the deal happens and your on your way to building a great team. However, do not under any circumstances get an average player having a great season, you have no need for such a player, the worst thing you can do at this point is to get stuck with a player that doesn't fit your long term goals. More in weeks to come, still free to ask if you have any questions, I will try and answer you as best I can.

Perfect examples of not getting a player that is to expensive off the wavier wire. Reggie Jackson is available, he has is 1980 season, which may be his best season he had during his career. He will cost a team 192 units for the remainder of the season if one picks him up, he would be a great addition to most teams, and he would help this team as well, however is he going to be worth nearly 200 units, not for this team. The Big Train Knights have a winning percentage of .621, so we already getting the maximum amount of concessions possible (500), so picking up a player to help win more games is not necessary. Just a quick blurb on what is going through my mind as I build this team.

 Michael - This is a very helpful thread for new owners. Bravo to you for giving a step-by-step on your thinking here. You have an approach which, if followed, will result in financial solvency and a winning team. I highly recommend that new owners observe what you are writing here. In NDB, the most one can do is get into a good POSITION to win a championship. There are variables that are quite difficult to control, so one is never quite assured of anything. However, I can safely say that an owner will almost never win a championship if they have no strategy, and though there are multiple strategies that can lead to championships, this one is sound. Again, many thanks. Craig

Made what looks to be an unnecessary pick up off the waiver wire and on top of that I did not write down which season I picked him for. RP Terry Fox, I'm hoping that I followed my notes and picked up his 1961 season. The reason for the pick up is to ensure nobody else gets him and if my team starts to falter try and use him as trade bait. I have a theory that you can't enough great pitching, until I'm proven wrong I will favor pitching over hitting.

In the OTF, I have Roger Bresnahan, he is a fantastic defensive catcher, has a high OBA, his biggest down side is lack of plate appearance and he wants a signing bonus. Normally I would pass on him because of this, however he could be a very nice piece to help build a team around, so I will bid 20 units for him and see what happens. If he does agree, he will be a nice addition, however, it is very important not to spend too much getting a player like Bresnahan, players like Cobb, Speaker, Walsh, Hamilton, Delahanty, etc... deserve the big bonuses.

 Michael, Great INFO. In bidding on OTF players I always start at 10 units, get my response the next packet and then plot my strategy for round 2. I agree with Michael save the BIG BONUSES for the GREATS. I have never paid more than 50 units on any OTF player yet!! - Jim

Life is pretty good as owner of the Big Train Knights, we currently hold the best record in the league, it can't last without depth. The important thing to keep in mind is not to overspend just for one season of added depth. There are plenty of opportunities to add depth in the draft or possibly trades. A few players were put up on trading block by other teams, which is to be expected, this is the chance to try and get quality players from teams in need. One player on the block is Trevor Hoffman, who in my opinion is the only player worth trying to obtain. However, beign that the supplemental draft pool has so many great relievers, you cannot try to spend to much to get a player that is only above average. I offered a mere 20 units, the owner did not want to accept the offer but that is okay. I figured everything out and I would guess that Hoffman has his 2005 season, so he woin't do any damage to opposing teams all season long. Now the owner could drop him from his roster or possibly find another owner who is willing to part with more units. Being that we can see the next draft pool, all relievers lose trading value, because there are so many great options. You never want to spend more than you have to get a guy that will only help you moderately. It is highly unlikely that Hoffman's value will exceed 20 units in the short run, unless he is plugged into a closer or set up role. I will say this again, because it is extremely important not to overspend on acquiring players when building from the bottom up.

In the OTF front Bresnahan did not accept the 20 units bonus, however, I will bid 20 units again, to try and get him to bite on the offer, the teams success should help lure him in. I have all the players that I would want in the OTF ranked, Bresnahan is the top catcher, one of only two or three catchers that I would call up from the OTF.

From the waiver wire, I'm still looking for a depth and replacements for players that will soon be injured due to lack of depth. Still, trying to stay within budget. The waiver wire is once again blank with potential players at this time.

One thing that I don't think I mentioned before, if I did I apologize for repeating myself. Watch to see what the good owners do in the league, take what you can from them and try improve on it. I see new owners take the advice from owners that even though they have experience, they still haven't become what would be consider a great owner. It gets them into trouble by making bad trades and making decisions that will hurt in them in the long run. To me it is shame to watch these new owners get themselves into holes before they even get a shovel to help dig themselves out. I would recommend trying to get advice from some of the highest ranked owners of the game, they will at least try and steer you in the right direction, and you know the advice they give is from successful experience. The Johnson league doesn't have many options as far as great owners (not to say they don't have the potential to be great owners), the owners that are in the league that do have experience will be more than helpful in trying to get you started on your path to greatness as a owner in Nostalgia Baseball. Until the next time, I will be looking for inexpensive options that will help build toward the future.

I knew it would happen sooner or later, it happened sooner rather than later. Gil McDougald is injured. Normally I would just deactivate McDougald until he has recovered from his injury, however I have no depth whatsoever. I have to use him as my only bench player to pinch hit for tired pitchers. While doing this I will move Bill Robinson over to third from first, he can play third but could be a liability defensively. I will start Greg Goosen at first until I get my replacement at either first or third. Along the same lines, I have been using Jose Tartabull in center field, his RPL is just about used up, so I am in scramble mode for another outfielder. I've searched the waiver wire, and will hopefully be calling up a outfielder. Fingers are crossed, however I only plan on using this player until a better player comes along (I'll get in to that more in a future post).

I did make a deal to acquire Mike Sweeney, I spent 35 units for him. He is on a type 2 contract, so I will have to eat a little bit of units if a great option comes along in the future. However, Sweeney is a good option, he has a steady bat and decent defense. Sweeney will be a good replacement for Robinson, which I will drop as soon as I have the depth to do so.

I feel that depth is important. Keeping units in order is also very important. It can be a difficult balancing act having both the units and depth, especially when building a team. The key as of right now, for building for the future is to keep the units in check. Keeping that in mind, there is a pitcher that is available in the waiver wire, and this goes against my statement that you can have to many arms, I will pass on picking up this pitcher. I feel pretty safe that another owner will not pick up this player. I could be wrong and it could hurt me later in the season, however in order for me to continue winning I will have to spend units on bats so, I must pass on this pitcher.

From the OTF, Roger Bresnahan is playing hardball with me, I will up the offer to 25 units and will continue to only offer him 25 units. Just because he really isn't worth more units than that. He is good, but there are other options available in the draft so, I must keep the long term goals in mind. Join me next time when I will talk about more about using the waiver wire and the happenings of the Big Train Knights, the team with no secrets.

I promised to talk about using the waiver wire, however, I don't have many good examples, so I will give it sometime to give a full report on the waiver wire.

Today, I am going to talk about match ups and using your players in the best possible situations. Particularly pitching match ups. On this team I have Addie Joss, who is a great pitcher and can pitch anywhere against any team, anytime. Roger Clemens, who is generally a home pitcher, but is setting the world on fire on the road this season. Juan Marichal, who bounces around from a home pitcher to a road pitcher season to season, this season looks to favor road pitching. Tom Seaver, generally a home pitcher, but can pitch both home and away. Dick Hughes, an away specialist. Sid Fernandez, a home specialist. Now these pitchers are all good pitchers both home and away, however when I get the opportunity to use them at when they excel the most I prefer to use them there. I also use the right/left split to determine where each pitcher will be used, but as a secondary tool. It's easier and less headache to focus on just one either home/away or left/right, the reason I use home/away is because it's harder for other teams to set lineups against me using this method. However, I use the left/right numbers to determine when I will use say Sid Fernandez a lefty or Juan Marichal a righty. Any chink you see in another team exploit it and give your team the best chance to win. With this team I use a five man rotation, trying to give Joss the majority of the starts because he has the innings to pitch and he is my stud in the rotation. I also have Jeff Heathcock, he is an OEP pitcher that I will use late in the season and in the post season. The main goal when trying to play match ups, is to get the best out of your team when the opportunity occurs. Since I have depth in my pitching staff I am usually able to find two or three favorable match ups each set. Thus, giving me a better chance to win more games.

Something that I like to do that I don't have the luxury of doing with this team, but hope to in future seasons, is to use my bench in these type of match ups. I like to find players that have a strong preference of either home or away to fill my bench to play extended home stands or long road trips. This gives my starters a chance to rest, keeping them fresh for the long season and gives my bench players a chance to produce at higher levels then their stats suggest they will perform. Granted it doesn't work like clock work but, it just increases the chances for victories.

Still no Roger Bresnahan, and I will be honest it doesn't look all that great for him to be called up, I will continue to place my bid, maybe he does come to the ball club, but there are options available in the next draft even if doesn't come up to help my team this season.

With Sweeney, I am going plug him into the fifth in the lineup, hopefully get some good production from him, while using Goosen as a backup for him to try and keep both healthy for the long haul. I called up Mike Shannon a outfielder that plays good defensively and can spot me at catcher. Jose Tartabull is just about used up and should be getting injured pretty soon, which will be good because I won't have to pay his salary while injured because he is on a type 3 contract. Shannon will be used to rest Tiernan and Gwynn, and in some cases Elston Howard. I will lose a little in plate production, but his defense will still help the ball club. After about 30 days to 50 days on the team I will look to drop him from my roster to save the units, because he is only a stop gap player. Hopefully, I will be able to drop Bill Robinson from my roster as well to save units as well. I am banking on being able to use McDougald the rest of the season as he should have the plate appearances available after his stint on the DL.

It was a rough week in terms of the win column, however Bresnahan finally decided to join the Big Train Knights. He accepted 20 units after about 4 or 5 attempts, I'm really not accustom to paying OTF players bonuses, but when trying to build a team, sometimes you have to try new things. Bresnahan has his 1908 season which will be enough plate appearances for the rest of the season leaving me the option to drop Elston Howard from my roster. He was on a type 2 contract so it cost 23 units to drop him, I would have liked to have traded him, however this league doesn't have many active owners so instead of waiting and going through the hassle I waived him (I should have tried to trade him, it is a mistake not to at least put forth the effort).

Jose Tartabull got injured like expected, I will just bench him and use him as a pinch hitter. Also, on the injury front, I decided that it was best to de-activate Gil McDougald he has 32 more days remaining on the DL so instead of risking further injury to just rest him.

Juan Marichal was offered up in trade this week, not because of his performance but because I was trying to fill another long term need for this team. The offer was not accepted, and have a feeling wasn't considered. It's important not to garner hard feelings when trying to make trades, ones mans thrash is another mans gold. Most owners undervalue pitchers, which is why I feel I have enjoyed the success that I have in this game. Even so, pitchers can be risky, you have to do research to see if a particular pitcher will perform for you, compare the adjusted stats to the regular stats, if your in a hitters ballpark, does your pitcher tend to give up the long ball, how is your defense, can your defense perform to help a ground ball pitcher, what about constancy, these are some of things you have to look when selecting a pitcher to play on your ball club. Juan Marichal is a great pitcher some years, an better than average most years, but has a couple of less than average seasons, thus making him a risk. However given the chance I would usually want him on my ball club.

It will be a couple of weeks for my next post on this column, however if there are any questions feel free to post them I will get to them when I have a chance.

When on hiatus for a couple of weeks, and left this team to fend for itself, and they responded with a six game losing streak. I'm shifting gears a little bit with this team, being that the Big Train Knights still hold the best record in the league, I'm going to try to prepare for the post season. This is where the waiver wire will come in very handy.

I'm looking for players that will be able to fill spots for players that are in the red, so I'm looking for help at SS and outfield. Hopefully, I will be able to find a player with a OBA over .350, good defense, and at least 12 speed. You might have taken notice that I focus more OBA than BA and really could care less about power numbers. You'll also notice that because of this preference, my teams generally lead the league or are near the top in blowout victories. My thought is, as long as men are on base they have a chance to score. Back to the waiver wire though, with the player that I will call up, he will be dropped during the last set available to save the few units. With a exception, if the player is performing better than original player at that position. This team is still very thin on depth, so it is a must that I get as much production out of each player as possible.

Aside from trying to win, I am now looking at trying get extra performance units. As far as hitting performance units, any I do receive will be a nice bonus. I'm looking at trying to get Joss 20 wins, possibly 25; Dick Hughes one more shutout; Pete Richert 7 more saves, crossing my fingers for 17 (I think that is only a pipe dream); Murakami 6 more holds; the get Tom Seaver a few more starts to give him a shot at 20 wins. Performance units are always needed if your trying build a winning ball club, when taking over a new team these units are even more important, as these are the units that build your foundation.

The forum has pretty much died in activity, hopefully some new owners are able to use some of this thread as a help to build their teams or at least from my mistakes that I have made during the season. Big Train Knights, are still leading the division and with with 23 dates left on the schedule I am now looking to save some my superstars for the post season. Injuries have been a key to this team, but that was expected before the season started. Aside from trying to save my players for the post season, I have begun seriously looking at how the draft is going to pan out.

There are a couple of strong starting pitchers available in the draft, instead of shying away from them they are only slightly downgraded from where they would normally be on my draft card. This coming draft will be focused on gaining depth on the bench, and hopefully finding a short stop, third base man, another outfielder, and adding some more help to my already strong pitching staff. Really, I will be looking to add some one or two year players in on the field. I find that players like that actually help a team long term while helping a team short term. This saves my teams from locking up players with average seasons or less than splendid seasons, when better options are available. This goes against saving a team’s salary, but fills my need to continue winning. I would like to have nothing but superstars across the board, however to this I have to take the players when I can get them. Thus, my refusal to draft players like Ernie Banks, Mike Schmidt, and other superstars that produce great seasons, but have just average seasons to go along these great seasons. At some positions like first base (which is my biggest weakness as far as scouting) and outfield I will completely pass on drafting players that are anything but spectacular every single season. If you do the research you can usually find a short term player that will be serviceable while in search of a long term solution. Another thing that I do which against the grain of most owners that I see in this game is to disregard power numbers, or at least downgrade the home run. Home runs are great and fun to have, but in terms of helping a team win everyday, they tend to come with strike outs. Strike outs are actually in my eyes more harmful to my teams chances of scoring runs than everything but hitting into double plays. You can actually see this philosophy hold water in seeing on how many blow victories I have each season. This season even though my hitting isn't as strong as I would like, I still have lead leading 35 blow out victories.

I mentioned mistakes at the beginning of this post, so I figure it's time to spell out a few mistakes that I have made this season. My first mistake, which I preached against all throughout this thread is over spending. Part of this mistake is my teams winning record, I felt that I needed to spend to add depth to a team that lacked depth to continue the Big Train Knights winning ways. I actually spent to much on hoping to great seasons out my OTF call ups, but hopefully will be able remedy the spending with off season trades. To compound my mistake of over spending, I still haven't achieved the depth that I so greatly desired. My other big mistake has been falling to scout each team throughly before each set, I have relied on my pitching to carry me through, to an extent it has, but it has left short knowledge of the other teams in the league. My third mistake, was and is not making enough effort to make trades in the league. Even though I made a trade to get an everyday first baseman, enough wasn't done to improve my team throughout the season, short term or long term.

I may make one or two more additions to this thread before the next season begins, in the mean time if there are any questions that some of the newer owners have, I will try to answer them to best of my ability. My thoughts are that if we have more owners that are knowledgeable, we will gain more competition, which will result in more long term owners.

The draft is minutes away, and while there isn't much activity in the league, there has been some. The most notable is the Infinite Minutiae, gaining the first pick of the draft, I have built a few monster teams and the easiest way to this is to get that first pick of the draft, with that said, the Minutiae will have a great corner stone to the roster for 6 seasons. My goals, with this change of power in the league change slightly. I am now looking to improve what I already have, which is a strong pitching staff and fill in holes in the batting roster by getting more short term cost effective players. I plan on spending my supplemental units on OEB players and relievers. Ideally I would like to come out this draft with 3 new relievers, maybe one SSP, then a full bench. If available, I would like to get Ichiro in the third round, normally I would shy away from Ichiro, but with the ball park I am in and his great defense, I think he could be nice asset to a team that will lack big power. The biggest obstacle in this draft is the infield, they are only a handful of players that I have any interest in, however even those players aren't long term investments, so I will be spending my first four picks on what I hope will be players that I would want on any team. Then in the 5th round through 8th round will be filling needs based on who is available. I expect to see about twenty or so players that will be an asset to my team in these rounds. The 9th round on will be taking chances on players that could possibly help the Big Train Knights. I will be looking at any outfielders that may have been over looked, infielders that may be a better fit, bench players that slipped through the cracks, pitchers with one or two seasons that were great, then any players that could help other teams.

The draft and scouting players, to pat my own back, is one my strengths in this game, so I fully expect to have another great draft. When finalizing your draft card, try to keep in mind what the rest of the league is going to do, when each player will be drafted, and which players will help your team the most. That means if you have Johnny Mize, that Jack Fournier probably shouldn't be in your top ten on your draft card. When trying to figure out who the other owners will draft, look at their team, what holes do they have, do they have player on the roster that is on a type 3 contract and is easily dropped. Figuring out when each player will be drafted is the hardest thing to do, and might just be me, trying to over think the draft. I try to guesstimate who will value each player by going over there previous seasons transactions, by what I would do if I owned that team, and what I think someone that lacks the patience to comb over endless numbers will draft, then I try and order my draft card accordingly. I'm wrong about this guess, about 70% of the time but the times it does come in handy is when I am correct. If there are any questions I will still try and answer them and will try and remember to give a recap on the draft and the preparation for season 2. Good luck to those of you jumping into the league, hope you find this information useful.

Some Additional Advice from Keith Waddle

This is another thread composed by Keith that contains very useful information as well. Keith, was one of the great owners in this game, his advice here to a new owner inheriting a problem franchise is very informative.

1) In terms of improving your finances, you're already doing the right thing: reduce payroll. A "C-" is not a bad position to be in, by the way. It means you can't get carried away with spending, but you're a long ways from doing something desperate, like selling draft picks.

2) Don't sign mediocre players to Type 1 contracts. It's a tempting way to save units, and probably one of the top rookie mistakes of new owners (I did it myself when I first started in the league). The Niekro brothers aren't your fault. But ultimately, saddling yourself with bad players you can't get rid of costs you more units than it saves; moreover, you limit your draft options because these players take up roster space.

3) In the Nostalgia baseball economy, you have to spend money to make money. And that means... DON'T EVER EVER EVER TRADE TOP DRAFT PICKS, especially to divisional rivals like the Trolls, who are the current American East division champs. Nothing gives me gastronomic spasms quite like the continual feeding of top draft choices to the most successful teams in the leagues. However expensive a Babe Ruth or Rogers Hornsby may seem, in terms of producing runs per unit, winning awards, generating units for special feats, and most importantly, generating WINS, players like Ruth & Hornsby (and a handful of others, like Musial, Mantle, & Williams) are bargains. Whatever the Trolls gave you for your future draft pick is paltry in comparison to who they're going to draft in return--and who you're going to be playing against for the next 6 seasons in your own division. A much better strategy would be to draft some superstar, then if you still want to trade him, squeeze as many units, draft choices, and good players as you can from some loser team in the Other Conference, a team you'll only play 4 times and who you won't be competing against for a playoff position.

4) Did I already mention, DON'T TRADE YOUR TOP DRAFT PICKS EVER!!! yet?

Dear Fellow Owners,

The following post was a response given recently to a new owner's email inquiry. Since it's related to the previous post, I thought it worthwhile to add this one as well.

Welcome to the Nostalgia Sim Baseball universe. Hope you have as much fun with it as I've had over the past several years. The game has changed since my glory years, plus the number of leagues and owners has multiplied many times over. In any case, in answer to your question, how to succeed in Nostalgia Sim Baseball, here are some observations and bits of advice I've given to rookie owners in the past.

There's no single, proven "method" of winning. When you play around the same owners for awhile, you'll note the successful ones have their own unique brand of managing. That said, here are some similar traits of owners who have a long history of success.

1) They are the ones who usually talk rookie owners out of their high first round draft picks. When you make a trade, ask yourself if in the long run your team will be better than the team you're trading with. If not, think twice about that trade.

2) They rarely ever sign mediocre players to Type One contracts. If you compare the ongoing rosters of good owners versus the perpetual inept ones, you'll note that the owners who have trouble winning are often those who've stuffed their rosters with lots of average players signed to Type One contracts that they can't get rid of. It's a tempting rookie mistake to save units that way; I did it myself when I first started playing NB (I signed shortstop Tony Kubek to a 6 season T1, then had a tough time getting rid of him).

3) They have a good sense of the quality of players that comes from experience and from paying attention to the statistical data provided in the database. Over the years, I've built up my own private list of 'blue chip' players, the top 24 or so players at each position. They are the ones I go after in the draft. After that, I draft for particular needs and rely on trades, my old-timer roster, and the waiver wire for mid-season improvements.

4) They are willing to take chances. That's really the best way to learn the game, and in so doing, you'll make mistakes. I still make them. What separates the haves from have-nots is the ability to learn from and not repeat those mistakes.

5) Learn the economics of the game. An average .500 team will earn around 2100 units. The average targeted salaries of the top 7 teams in the Campbell League thru April is around 2350 units, which is what I'd expect for teams loaded with better, higher salary players, i.e., you have to spend to win to make Nostalgia bucks so you can spend to win. Make sense? But we've also got some teams with terrible records whose salaries are around 2600 units--those franchises are headed for the abyss of bankruptcy on greased train tracks.

A long time ago I created a Salary/Roster Excel spreadsheet that I use and update around draft time. I figure out how many innings I'll need from pitchers, how many at-bats I'll need per position, and draft accordingly. If I'm in a building stage, I keep my total team salary well below 2100 units. For example, my Peanuts team is a new franchise starting its second season. My style of play is to build and improve franchises slowly, so my team salary is just over 1600 units, and I'll probably spend around 100-300 on trades, waiver pickups, and old timer acquisitions. When I know I have a playoff caliber team, I don't mind running team expenditures to the 2300-2400 range. Generally, once my roster is fairly settled with players I know can sustain a multi season run at the playoffs, I like to keep my total salary between 2200-2300 units.

In the end, there's a lot of luck behind winning a Nostalgia World Series. I played 10 seasons in the Cooperstown league, put together very good teams that had the highest overall winning percentage in the Coop'town league's toughest division at the time, but my House of Onan Mules always got waxed in the playoffs by other teams having a great playoff run. The Campbell league has had some terrific owners who've never won a championship, so I consider myself very fortunate to have won a few trophies in NB's original league.

But getting to the playoffs, you'll note a lot of the same owners in a variety of leagues sustaining winning seasons year after year. That's not luck--that's good managing. Pay attention to those owners, and you'll do OK.

6) Finally, the only dumb question is the one never asked. So take advantage of the Forum to get feedback from your fellow Nostalgia managers. Hope that helps. Good luck!