Since nerd-iness came up in the last post....

[Zephyrs]

What are some things you do/have done to help you manage your franchise?

I've made spreadsheets, index cards with different colors for positions(wow that's nerdy)

Any elaborate ways you have of running your franchise?(without giving away your secrets)

[Duane]

I let Bill go drinking in public ... and unfortunately he also attended to the last two first year player drafts. Beyond that I carry a legal sized yellow note pad, 2 highlighters, and a thumb drive with spreadheets of player development (or negative develpoment since we moved to OOTP 9).

Just so you know, none of this has worked in our favor, as almost every player on our ML roster is an underachiever by a large margin.

[Tyler]

I use my head. It hasn't gotten me very far.

[Maulers]

I use my head. It hasn't gotten me very far.

I throw myself on John's mercy. I'm not sure how successful it's been.

[klewis]

I use my head also. OOTP the game itself has a lot of tracking that I'm happy with. I guess the "nerdiness" I ever did for OOTP was use a spreadsheet to keep track of the amateur draft prospects.

Oh yeah I write articles on my team. I suppose writing articles for a fictional baseball league based on fictional players can be considered real nerdy too.

[Matt]

3 notebooks of notes on the amateur draft is about as nerdy as it gets. That and spending three weeks righting a complete re-cap of the draft.

As for actually running the team, I just call the Knights for advice. Then do exactly the opposite of whatever he suggests.

[Ghosts]

my co-owner and i write impossibly long, ponderous, redundant emails to each other 2-3 times a week.

seriously, 90% of what i write is a repeat from the week (or day) before.

and we fight about broken players. every single month.

[DanD]

At the all-star break I created a spread sheet for each of the teams in my system so that I could compare players' performances over the first half. I used them to see who was producing and who wasn't and to find what areas needed to improve for each team. I was actually pretty appalled at the state of Arlington's farm system

[John]

At the all-star break I created a spread sheet for each of the teams in my system so that I could compare players' performances over the first half. I used them to see who was producing and who wasn't and to find what areas needed to improve for each team. I was actually pretty appalled at the state of Arlington's farm system

That's actually a really good idea, one that could benefit a lot of teams. I'm curious: what kind of format did you use, and how exactly did you put it together? I'm sure some other owners would like to put something similar together and it may help if you share how you did it.

[Zephyrs]

At the all-star break I created a spread sheet for each of the teams in my system so that I could compare players' performances over the first half. I used them to see who was producing and who wasn't and to find what areas needed to improve for each team. I was actually pretty appalled at the state of Arlington's farm system

That's actually a really good idea, one that could benefit a lot of teams. I'm curious: what kind of format did you use, and how exactly did you put it together? I'm sure some other owners would like to put something similar together and it may help if you share how you did it.

I TRY to do something like this to help me organize my minor leagues----in the end though, I usually let the computer manage it but I keep a close eye on my best 10-15 prospects to make sure they are where I want them

[DanD]

The first iteration was pretty basic. I decided how I wanted my teams structured (ie 12 man bullpen, broken up by roles, bench consisting of a MI, a CI a 4th OF and a DH/bench player) and created "slots" for each role.

For each player I tracked VORP and age (I'll probably be expanding the number of stats displayed) to get a quick look at who is performing well. Age helps me know if someone is too old or young for their level (ie. a 26 year old struggling in A-ball might need to be replaced, while a 21 year old struggling in AAA might benefit from more time in AA)

It isn't the most in-depth look at my players but gave me a good overview to the strength and weaknesses of my organization. I've also used them to make sure I have every position filled for each team.

I can see if I can find the file when I get home if anyone is interested.

[John]

Absolutely, I think a number of us would be interested to see what you did. You can actually attach files to posts here in the forum. If you find your spreadsheet, feel free to attach it so people can see how you put it together. I really do think a system like that could be a big boon to lots of owners as they try to track their minor leaguers' progress.

[Denny]

On the other hand, why would the man knowingly help out his competitors by giving away for free a tool he spent good hard work to create?


(Confidential to Arlington: send a copy just to me, so I can, uh, give you suggestions on how to improve it )

[OfficerTimFisher]

If we're talking about nerd-iness -- let's keep in mind that we all devote endless amounts of time to a text based baseball sim full of players that don't exist!

That should put it in perspective ....

[Maulers]

If we're talking about nerd-iness -- let's keep in mind that we all devote endless amounts of time to a text based baseball sim full of players that don't exist!

That should put it in perspective ....

Yeah, that sort of was the elephant in the room.