Draft Board Posted

Everyone should have received an invite to access, and here is a direct link.

I also added a newish utility to the draft day page - owners often send me requests to find out the error rate of a player they want to create.  Open the spreadsheet, follow the directions, and you can self help!

Introducing the New Amsterdam Highlanders

Last season's Albuquerque Heisenbergs went bankrupt after the owner went AWOL. Some sort of legal trouble for the old owner, according to the interim GM.

Luckily, a Dutch billionaire came in and bought the franchise for pennies on the dollar and is moving it to New Amsterdam. They'll be known as the New Amsterdam Highlanders.

..... Greg M

1800s Fielding Ratings Updated on the Site and Blog

The Player Cards and the main Batter Rating report have been updated.

Here is a re-print of this morning email too:

I know this is fairly short notice, but I have decided to improve the defensive error rates for our 1800s player set.  There are some very significant and meaningful changes.

Our newest owner, Joel, inquired why the 1800s players had such poor error rates, even when they had better than average fielding percentages.  This was because DMB never created the leage average error rate for years prior to 1895 and I simply used those for the entire player set.  

This was a poor way to do it.

Joel's questioning led me to investigate and I can determine these error rates on my own (using the Lahman DB).  Thanks Joel!!!

As one might expect, error rates became worse and worse the earlier back in time I went.  As an example, second basemen averaged 97 errors per 100 games in 1875, but only 44 in 1895.  As a result, the players I created from the earliest years were heavily penalized.

The results as wonderful as they are accurate, but they also will throw a monkey wrench into draft day.  Here are some of the major changes:

• George Hall: Av/342 down to Av/171
• Ross Barnes: Ex/124 down to Ex/56
• Ed Swartwood: Av/209 down to Av/131
• Fred Dunlap: Vg/111 down to Vg/76
• Orator Shaffer: Ex/105 down to Ex/71

There are others.  In all, 84 player seasons changed, though, only 36 of these were drafted last year.

Attached is a file of all the changes.  The website reports are not updated yet, but will work on them ASAP.

Also - the Stadium Draft begins Wednesday, 8 picks per day, in reverse order of the player draft.  I should have the draft board up by tonight.

Hoboken Zephyrs Return

Stephen L and the Zephyrs return...

Final Draft Order

#...Owner.......Picks in slot last 2 yrs

24. Al H ......(N. Cash, L. Walker)

23. Allen C ...(N. Winters, W. Johnson)
22. Justin P ..(S. Musial, T. Stearnes)
21. Stephen L..(J. DiMaggio, T. O'Neill)
20. Gary G.....(L. Grove, J. DiMaggio)
19. Ivar A.....(W. Wells, N. Lajoie)
18. Thomas R...(T. O'Neill, N. Winters)
17. Tony P.....(T. Stearnes, T. Cobb)

16. Mike M.....(A.  Vaughan, G. Brett)

15. Will G.....(T. Cobb, H. Johnson)

14. Mike S.....(H. Wagner, W. Wells)

13. David K....(H. Johson, A. Vaughan)

12. Joel Q.....(L. Gehrig, T. Williams)

11. Justin B...(G. Maddux, R. Hornsby)

10. David I....(R. Hornsby, G. Maddux)

9.. Joe T......(T. Williams, R. Barnes)

8.. Brian B....(R. Barnes, L. Gehrig)

7.. Jason B....(F. Dunlap, F. Dunlap)

6.. Lou P......(M. Mantle, M. Mantle)

5.. Joe V......(P. Martinez, P. Martinez)
4.. TJ O.......(B. Bonds, H. Wagner)
3.. Greg M.....(B. Ruth, B. Ruth)

2.. John J.....(W. Johnson, B. Bonds)

1.. Brad P.....(O. Charleston, O Charleston)

Player Card Issue

The career average line for pitchers was corrupt for some stat lines.  This has been fixed and posted.

Thanks Mike M for the catch!

Eligible Batter File Issue

For the 2015 records, the first name and last name columns were reversed.  I just posted a new file.  If you have an old version I recommend downloadin a fresh copy or updated your local version.

Thanks Thomas for the catch!

Introducing the Fort Worth Hunters

Brad ditched the Hudson MadBum name in favor of everyone's favorite trolling target.

Introducing the Tatooine Solo Artists

Joe V will be piloting the team.

No word yet on Joe V's qualifcations in the Kessel Run

Team Schedules Announced

Interleague play caused much scheduling difficulty last year, with odd series and odd off days sprinkled in haphazardly.  We are eliminating interleague this year and going with an unbalanced schedule like that of the 1990s.  Teams will play 66 intra-division games and 96 inter-division games.  This equates to 22 games against division rivals and 12 games against opponents from other divisions.

Schedules are posted via the normal league results page, linked here and to the right on the blog.