100 Baseline Sims - The Backup Outfielders

Outfielders (Reserve)

12.3 - Bu OF1 - Sam Thompson-1894

12.3 - Bu OF1 - Elmer Flick-1900

12.3 - Bu OF1 - Jimmy Ryan-1888

12.3 - Bu OF1 - Al Simmons-1931

12.3 - Bu OF1 - Mike Donlin-1905

12.3 - Bu OF1 - Jim O'Rourke-1884

12.3 - Bu OF1 - Boog Powell-1964

12.3 - Bu OF1 - Jimmy Wolf-1890

12.3 - Bu OF2 - Tony Gwynn-1987

12.3 - Bu OF2 - Hack Wilson-1930

12.2 - Bu OF2 - Chuck Klein-1933

12.2 - Bu OF2 - Harry Moore-1884

12.2 - Bu OF2 - Babe Herman-1930

12.2 - Bu OF2 - Sherry Magee-1910

12.2 - Bu OF2 - Willie Keeler-1897

12.2 - Bu OF2 - Lonnie Smith-1989

12.2 - Bu OF2 - Rusty Staub-1969

12.2 - Bu OF2 - Charley Jones-1884

12.1 - Bu OF2 - Spud Johnson-1890

12.1 - Bu OF2 - Henry Larkin-1885

12.1 - Bu OF2 - Gavvy Cravath-1913

12.1 - Bu OF2 - Jimmy Sheckard-1901

12.1 - Bu OF2 - Lefty O'Doul-1932

12.1 - Bu OF3 - Wally Berger-1933

12.1 - Bu OF3 - Bernie Carbo-1970

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Elmer Flick-1905

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Ellis Burks-2000

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Reggie Smith-1977

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Topsy Hartsel-1901

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Dave Winfield-1979

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Billy Williams-1972

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Sam Crawford-1901

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Doc Gessler-1908

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Jim Edmonds-2004

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Edd Roush-1917

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Joe Kelley-1896

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Augie Galan-1944

12.0 - Bu OF3 - Ken Williams-1923

100 Baseline Sims - The Backup Corner Infielders

Corner Infield

12.5 - Bu CI - Cap Anson-1886

12.5 - Bu CI - Frank Howard-1969

12.5 - Bu CI - Mel Ott-1938

12.4 - Bu CI - Mike Epstein-1969

12.4 - Bu CI - Tommy Tucker-1889

12.4 - Bu CI - Jack Clark-1987

12.4 - Bu CI - Johnny Mize-1939

12.3 - Bu CI - Bill Joyce-1894

12.3 - Bu CI - Phil Cavarretta-1945

12.3 - Bu CI - Carlos Delgado-2000

12.3 - Bu CI - Ken Caminiti-1996

12.3 - Bu CI - Harmon Killebrew-1969

12.2 - Bu CI - Jack Fournier-1915

12.2 - Bu CI - John Mayberry-1972

12.2 - Bu CI - Derrek Lee-2005

100 Baseline Sims - The Backup Middle Infielders

Middle Infield (Reserve)

14.1 - Bu MI - Cecil Travis-1941

14.1 - Bu MI - George Davis-1897

14.0 - Bu MI - Alex Rodriguez-2000

14.4 - Bu MI - Eddie Stanky-1950

14.4 - Bu MI - Tony Lazzeri-1929

14.4 - Bu MI - Nellie Fox-1957

14.0 - Bu MI - Derek Jeter-1999

14.3 - Bu MI - Chase Utley-2007

13.9 - Bu MI - Alan Trammell-1987

14.2 - Bu MI - Ben Zobrist-2009

14.1 - Bu MI - Ryne Sandberg-1992

14.1 - Bu MI - Rod Carew-1974

13.9 - Bu MI - Sam Wise-1887

13.9 - Bu MI - Joe Cronin-1941

14.1 - Bu MI - Red Schoendienst-1953

100 Baseline Sims - The Designated Hitters

Designated Hitters

13.1 - St DH - Jason Giambi-2001

13.5 - St DH - Frank Thomas-1994

12.9 - St DH - Bobby Murcer-1971

12.9 - St DH - Jim Thome-2002

12.8 - St DH - John Reilly-1884

12.8 - St DH - Kevin Mitchell-1989

12.8 - St DH - Jim Gentile-1961

12.8 - St DH - Reggie Jackson-1969

12.7 - St DH - Ralph Kiner-1951

12.7 - St DH - Pedro Guerrero-1985

12.7 - St DH - Albert Belle-1994

12.6 - St DH - Edgar Martinez-1995

12.5 - St DH - Harry Stovey-1884

12.5 - St DH - Willie Stargell-1973

12.5 - St DH - Will Clark-1989

100 Baseline Sims - The Third Basemen

Third Base

18.3 - St 3B - George Brett-1980

17.8 - St 3B - Ezra Sutton-1884

17.4 - St 3B - Ron Santo-1966

17.4 - St 3B - John McGraw-1899

17.1 - St 3B - Chipper Jones-2008

17.1 - St 3B - Dick Allen-1966

16.9 - St 3B - Eddie Mathews-1954

16.9 - St 3B - Mike Schmidt-1982

16.8 - St 3B - Frank Baker-1913

16.8 - St 3B - Scott Rolen-2004

16.5 - St 3B - Wade Boggs-1988

16.3 - St 3B - Al Rosen-1953

16.2 - St 3B - Adrian Beltre-2004

16.2 - St 3B - Brooks Robinson-1964

Update....

16.1 - St 3B - Jimmy Williams-1899 replaced with Joe Torre 1971

100 Baseline Sims - The First Basemen

First Base

13.9 - St 1B - Lou Gehrig-1927

14.6 - St 1B - Jeff Bagwell-1994

14.4 - St 1B - Roger Connor-1885

14.3 - St 1B - Norm Cash-1961

14.1 - St 1B - Jimmie Foxx-1932

13.8 - St 1B - Albert Pujols-2008

13.8 - St 1B - Dan Brouthers-1886

13.8 - St 1B - Willie McCovey-1969

13.7 - St 1B - Mark McGwire-1998

13.6 - St 1B - Buck Leonard-1938

13.5 - St 1B - Dave Orr-1885

13.3 - St 1B - John Olerud-1993

13.2 - St 1B - George Sisler-1920

13.2 - St 1B - Dick Allen-1972

13.2 - St 1B - Rod Carew-1977

100 Baseline Sims - The Rightfielders

Right Field

15.0 - St RF - Orator Shaffer-1884

14.6 - St RF - Joe Jackson-1911

13.9 - St RF - Frank Robinson-1966

13.8 - St RF - Al Kaline-1967

13.7 - St RF - Roberto Clemente-1967

13.4 - St RF - Sammy Sosa-2001

13.3 - St RF - Harry Heilmann-1923

13.2 - St RF - Larry Walker-1997

13.0 - St RF - Gary Sheffield-1996

13.0 - St RF - Tommy Holmes-1945

12.9 - St RF - Hank Aaron-1971

12.7 - St RF - Harry Lumley-1906

12.6 - St RF - Tony Gwynn-1994

12.5 - St RF - Dixie Walker-1944

12.5 - St RF - Paul Waner-1936

100 Baseline Sims - The Leftfielders

Left Field

16.5 - St LF - Barry Bonds-2002

15.3 - St LF - Babe Ruth-1920

15.1 - St LF - Ted Williams-1941

13.9 - St LF - Rickey Henderson-1990

13.8 - St LF - Ed Delahanty-1899

13.7 - St LF - Tip O'Neill-1887

13.6 - St LF - Carl Yastrzemski-1967

13.6 - St LF - Jesse Burkett-1901

13.4 - St LF - Fred Clarke-1897

13.3 - St LF - George Stone-1906

13.3 - St LF - Stan Musial-1948

13.3 - St LF - Luis Gonzalez-2001

13.3 - St LF - Zack Wheat-1924

13.2 - St LF - Joe Medwick-1937

13.1 - St LF - Goose Goslin-1928

100 Baseline Sims - The Centerfielders

Centerield

15.3 - St CF - Mickey Mantle-1957

14.6 - St CF - Ty Cobb-1917

14.4 - St CF - Tris Speaker-1916

14.1 - St CF - Joe DiMaggio-1941

13.8 - St CF - Willie Mays-1965

13.7 - St CF - Pete Browning-1885

13.5 - St CF - Oscar Charleston-1925

13.5 - St CF - Benny Kauff-1915

13.2 - St CF - Cy Seymour-1905

13.2 - St CF - Hugh Duffy-1894

13.0 - St CF - Pete Reiser-1941

12.9 - St CF - Ken Griffey-1993

12.8 - St CF - Billy Hamilton-1898

12.8 - St CF - Jimmy Wynn-1969

12.7 - St CF - Duke Snider-1954

100 Baseline Sims - The Shortstops

Shortstop

18.1 - St SS - Honus Wagner-1908

17.0 - St SS - Arky Vaughan-1935

16.3 - St SS - Lou Boudreau-1948

16.0 - St SS - Pop Lloyd-1910

15.8 - St SS - Hughie Jennings-1896

15.2 - St SS - Bill Dahlen-1896

15.0 - St SS - Rico Petrocelli-1969

14.9 - St SS - Jack Glasscock-1886

14.8 - St SS - Luke Appling-1943

14.8 - St SS - Robin Yount-1982

14.8 - St SS - Joe Sewell-1923

14.6 - St SS - Barry Larkin-1996

14.5 - St SS - Nomar Garciaparra-2000

14.5 - St SS - Luke Appling-1936

14.2 - St SS - Dave Bancroft-1926

100 Baseline Sims - The Second Basemen

Second Base

20.2 - St 2B - Fred Dunlap-1884

17.5 - St 2B - Rogers Hornsby-1924

17.4 - St 2B - Nap Lajoie-1904

17.4 - St 2B - Eddie Collins-1914

16.5 - St 2B - Cupid Childs-1890

15.7 - St 2B - Hardy Richardson-1886

15.7 - St 2B - Joe Gordon-1942

15.6 - St 2B - Joe Morgan-1976

15.1 - St 2B - Bobby Doerr-1944

15.0 - St 2B - Jackie Robinson-1952

14.8 - St 2B - Charlie Gehringer-1934

14.8 - St 2B - Johnny Evers-1908

14.6 - St 2B - Jeff Kent-2000

14.4 - St 2B - Roberto Alomar-2001

14.4 - St 2B - Eddie Stanky-1950

100 Baseline Sims - The Catchers

Here are the catchers I plan on baselining

Starters

17.1 - St C - King Kelly-1886

15.9 - St C - Mickey Cochrane-1933

15.8 - St C - Johnny Bench-1972

15.6 - St C - Josh Gibson-1938

15.4 - St C - Roy Campanella-1951

15.3 - St C - Gabby Hartnett-1935

14.8 - St C - Mike Piazza-1997

14.8 - St C - Bill Dickey-1936

14.8 - St C - Elston Howard-1961

14.8 - St C - Joe Mauer-2009

14.6 - St C - Ernie Lombardi-1938

14.5 - St C - Chris Hoiles-1993

14.5 - St C - Ivan Rodriguez-2000

14.5 - St C - Bill Freehan-1967

14.2 - St C - Andy Seminick-1950

Backups

14.1 - Bu C - Javy Lopez-2003

14.1 - Bu C - Gary Carter-1982

14.0 - Bu C - Manny Sanguillen-1975

14.0 - Bu C - Darrell Porter-1979

14.0 - Bu C - Carlton Fisk-1972

13.9 - Bu C - Jorge Posada-2007

13.9 - Bu C - Joe Torre-1966 (replaced by 1985 Mike Scioscia)

13.9 - Bu C - Darren Daulton-1992

13.9 - Bu C - Art Wilson-1914

13.8 - Bu C - Tom Haller-1968

13.8 - Bu C - Ted Simmons-1977

13.8 - Bu C - Johnny Bassler-1924

13.8 - Bu C - Deacon McGuire-1891

13.7 - Bu C - Roger Bresnahan-1908

13.7 - Bu C - Bob O'Farrell-1922

A note on the rating values. This is derived from a fairly basic formula to weed out the clear deadwood from the clear stars. It also provides some extra credit for good defense, and removes some credit for poor defense.

If you disagree with any of these drop me a line or post a comment and we can discuss.

Starting the 100 Sim Baselining Process

Thanks to those who submitted comments and emails about the baselining idea. I have decided to move forward with the process and baseline over the course of 100 seasons.

This is mainly because the baseline will still leave MUCH in doubt. New players are not eligible and as we've seen, DMB by definition adds variability to each season. Babe Ruth is the standard #1 pick, but as we saw last year, even he can under perform (27th in ATB Value).

Two ground rules:

1. 15 Team Draft, 154 game schedule. We normally have more teams during a season so limiting the # of teams in this exercise will purposely miss a good chunk of players.
2. Only players who have been added to the database as of the end of last season are eligible to be baselined. This will enable us to keep things fresh and still leave the abilities of the new blood questionable. The following thre new types of players will not be baselined:

• a) new catchers who are now eligible due to the new 370 PA rule,
• b) new players eligible due to the Teams Games played rule,
• c) new 2010 players

For the diehards, I will begin to publish the players to be included in the baseline in advance. This will allow any fanatical owners an opportunity to influence the final decision in case they really want to see how a particular player performs.

And please -the ATB is months away. Ignore all of this if you wish!

ATB XIII Corrections

During this off season I have decided to do a thorough double check the data entry over the past few years. I will update this post will the pertinent corrections.

1) First up is a general statement. For all player seasons 2005 through current, DMB did not provide true park or era data. Instead, I had to create my own era and parks based upon data found in baseball reference.

DMB has recently created an updated park disk, that updates this information through 2009. I have refreshed all player data from 2005-2009 (120 players) to utilize this new information.

I do not expect any appreciable changes in performance, but didn't want to hold back this information. Still wondering why Mariano Rivera is so streaky, maybe this will solve it!

1800s Batter Corrections

• 1886 Cap Anson loses 55 AB and 9 H R. He was batting .335 / .395 / .538 and is now batting .371 / .434 / .544
• 1886 Jack Glasscock gains 10 2B; slugging increases from .375 to .432
• 1887 Tip O'Neill loses 9 BB; on base goes from .494 to .486
• 1887 Sam Wise loses 43 AB. His old slash line was .306 / .357 / .478 and it is now .334 / .387 / .522
• 1891 Jack Clements gains 10 2B; his slugging went from .400 to .426
• 1894 Joe Kelley gains 20 2B; his slugging jumps from .562 to .602

1900-1929 Batter Corrections

• 1925 Al Wingo loses 9 triples; his slugging drops from .568 to .527
• 1928 Heinie Manush loses 9 triples; his slugging drops from .603 to .575

1930-1970 Batter Corrections

• 1930 Babe Herman loses 11 walks; on base percentage drops from .460 to .451
• 1930 Woody English gains 20 doubles; slugging increases from .427 to .511
• 1956 Harvey Kuenn loses 223 walks!; on base drops from .542 to .367

1970-2000 Batter Corrections

• 1974 Mike Schmidt gains 30 hits; AVG jumps from .229 to .282, I am sure he'll still suck though.
• 1975 Ted Simmons gains 11 2B; SLG jumps from .472 to .491
• 1984 Eddie Murray loses 90 walks; OBP plummets from .477 to .410
• 1995 Tim Salmon loses 40 AB; slash line jumps from .307 / .404 / .553 to .330 / .429 / .594
• 1997 Charles Johnson loses 68 AB; slash line rockets from .215 / .304 / .390 to .250 / .347 / .454

2000s Batter Corrections

• 2000 Richard Hidalgo lost 30 AB; his rate stats go from .298 / .374 / .604 to .314 / .391 / .636
• 2000 Todd Helton gains 20 2B increasing his slugging from .595 to .630

Pitchers looked much cleaner, it must be easier to input them I guess.

• Earl Moore 1903 jumps 100 IP to 247.7
• Shane Reynolds 1996 have his walks worsen from 5 to 44
• Doug Brocail 1999 have his K's jump from 25 to 78
• Frankie Rodriguez 2008 now has 4 HR's against instead of 0

There were a multitude of other corrections for batters and pitchers, but these were irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. A third of an IP here, or an extra single there, etc.

Preparing for ATB XIII - Need Your Help

We last chatted at the end of August and I have had almost my normal amount of time to decompress. Ever since we broke in the new year, my mind has turned more and more towards the next ATB season.

Before taking a break this past fall, I pondered a few changes to the game. The first one is not up for discussion and I would like to tell you a bit about it. The second is up for discussion, though, if you had asked me 3 months ago I wouldn't have thought so.

The easiest 1st. Long have I yearned for 1981 Mike Schmidt, 1994 Paul O'Neill, and dozens of catchers who fell short of the minimum playing time requirements.

So, for the next ATB, I am easing the minimum plate appearance requirements in order to open up some new blood. The two new rules:

1) For teams with less than 100 games in a season, a player from that team is only eligible if he has appeared in 95% of his teams games. For teams with more than 100 games, a player is only eligible if he has appeared in 85% of his teams games.

2) Catchers need only have 370 Plate Appearances, instead of the 450 currently required.

This shouldn't release any Babe Ruth's, Mickey Mantle's, or even any Norm Cash's. However, some new player seasons sure look enticing:

1981 Mike Schmidt: .316 / .435 / .644, 31 HR, 354 AB

1875 Deacon White: .367 / .372 / .453 as a catcher

1994 Paul O'Neill: .359 / .460 / .603, 1.064 OPS

2000 Ivan Rodriguez: .347 / .375 / .667 as a catcher

The second is a potential rule change. If you still have this on your RSS reader or subscribe via email, you'll have first opportunity to weigh in. I want to Baseline the league.

I personally feel it is time we force the competitive balance issue. Lets face it, only a handful of owners have shown a recurring ability to be among the league best year over year. Unfortunately, a lot of this is due to the ability to create a formula in excel. If you can automatically compare a player against the league average of his time, you virtually guaranteed a playoff spot.

This seems a bit absurd to me.

To level the playing field, I would like to run 100 sims for the Top "X" players in a nuetral park, and publish the results for all to see.

Pros

- Level the playing field

- A more competitive league

- A more competitive draft

- Draft strategies similar to fantasy baseball

Cons

- Eliminates some the fun of scouring player lists to find the next risk to pay off

- potential to alienate the core owners have loved this for the past 13 seasons. Do we cater to new owners who may choose not to come back for the long term?

- Draft strategies similar to fantasy baseball

So, what do you think? Should I baseline the league or not. With so much new blood that has invigorated ATB I think it is the right move - lets keep the momentum.

However, my favorite aspect of ATB is combing through spreadsheets for the draft. If most feel that way, we shouldn't change a key and tantalizing aspect of our wonderful group.

Post some comments here or feel free to email me personally.