Franchise Point Rankings

Franchise Point Rankings by mongoose_22.  Context for his ratings are described below.  I copy and pasted from trade chat so the format came out funky.  Thanks to him for putting this together.

3 points for a WS victory, 3 points for a league pennants, 1 point for playing in a LCS, 1 point for making the playoffs, 1 point for having a winning record, and 1 point for having one of the top two records in the league (in the case of a tie, both teams were awareded. For example, if there was a 101 W team and two 98 W teams, both of the 98 win teams were awarded the point). So the most a team could get in a single season would be 10 points. But if you had a solid season, made the playoffs, you'd still get 2 points (one for a winning record, and one for making the playoffs).

1- Charlotte Tar Heels- 105
2- Minnesota Golden Gophers- 94
3- Arizona Lumberjacks- 89
4- Nashville Commodores- 83
5- Charleston Cougars- 61
6- Anaheim Trojans- 57
7- Syracuse Orange- 53
7- Richmond Spiders- 53
9- Salem Beavers- 52
10- Dover Fightin Blue Hens- 50
11- Fargo Bison- 46
12- Helena Grizzlies- 44
13- Detroit Wolverines- 42
14- New York Red Storm- 39
15- Philadelphia Owls- 35
16- Texas Tech Red Raiders- 30
17- Oakland Golden Bears- 27
18- Louisville Cardinals- 26
19- New Orleans Bayou Bengals- 21
20- Cincinnati Bearcats- 19
21- Huntington Thundering Herd- 17
21- Little Rock Razorbacks- 17
23- Kansas City Wildcats- 16
23- Iowa City Hawkeyes- 16
25- Boise Broncos- 14
26- Buffalo Bulls- 13
27- Portland Ducks- 12
28- Seattle Huskies- 11
29- Columbus Buckeyes- 9
30- Memphis Tigers- 7
31- Chicago Blue Demons- 6
31- Jackson Rebels- 6

Rule Change Amendment

Sorry for the delay on posting the official amendment proposition. I wanted to digest all of the feedback I received here plus I also spoke with several commissioners in other worlds who I respect to get their feedback.

Action Required - Please trade chat or sitemail me if you'd like to voice your support or opposition to the rule change.  If you'd like to make your thoughts public, please feel free to post a reply to this post and it will appear on the blog.

As I originally stated, I feel that the world rules need to evolve as the league and HBD evolves.  To be clear, I have ZERO interest in weakening the competitive requirements.  I want to provide the opportunity for a good owner to have the choice to stay in the world if they don't hit the MWR and accept strong penalties which will still dissuade any tanking.

The other change I have decided to make after discussing with other commissioners is I am going to take the competition committee out of the process initially when someone hit 200 losses over 2 seasons.  Now you'll automatically get probation, however the competition committee will retain the right to review all situations on a case by case basis and if there is documented issues with tanking (ie - throwing out fatigued pitchers for the last 2 weeks of the season to generate losses) then they can still be voted out.  The process will be the competition committee voting on the situation and if its severe enough to bring to the world, then the world will vote.

Old Rule - 1. 200 losses or more over a two year period and the owner will be asked to state their case as to why they should be allowed to stay. If allowed to stay the owner must reach 70 wins or be replaced.

New Rule 

1. 200 losses or more over a two season period and the owner will go on probation and have to hit 70 wins.  If the owner does not hit 70 wins, then the owner has a choice of leaving the world or accepting the following penalties:

        - Forfeiture of next season's first round pick by selecting a player chosen by the commissioner 

        - One season IFA ban on signing anyone for more than $1 million.  IFA's under $1 million can             be signed as minor league filler.

        - If either of these rules are violated, the result is immediate expulsion from the world

        - The competition committee reserves the right to vote on each MWR situation and if its severe              enough, then the world will vote on the offending owner. 

The last benefit to this rule change is it will allow me to set up a very clean spreadsheet on tracking MWR offenders for all of my worlds.  Although I go out of my way to be unbiased when the competition committee votes, I felt that I wanted to make the process more objective than subjective and these rules reflect those changes while also allowing the world to retain good owners who want to stay in the world.

Thanks for being a part of this world and community,

Chris

POWER RANKINGS

RANK	Franchise	W	L	WIN%	RS	RA	xW	xL	SOS	HIT	PIT	DEF	PREV RANK
1	Minnesota Golden Gophers	106	38	0.736	847	509	103	41	0	1	1	8	1
2	Arizona Lumberjacks	93	50	0.650	770	564	91	52	0	4	3	1	3
3	Philadelphia Owls	94	50	0.653	798	571	93	51	0	3	4	3	2
4	Richmond Spiders	94	50	0.653	723	535	91	53	0	8	2	22	4
5	Dover Fightin Blue Hens	88	55	0.615	731	574	87	56	0	6	5	18	5
6	Charlotte Tar Heels	87	57	0.604	729	589	86	58	0	7	7	11	8
7	Anaheim Trojans	88	55	0.615	803	661	84	59	0	2	16	12	7
8	New York Red Storm	85	58	0.594	764	612	86	57	0	5	12	20	6
9	Detroit Wolverines	83	61	0.576	642	584	78	66	0	20	6	15	11
10	Oakland Golden Bears	74	69	0.517	666	610	77	66	0	14	10	23	14
11	Nashville Commodores	68	76	0.472	711	669	76	68	0	11	18	4	9
12	Charleston Cougars	79	65	0.549	701	644	78	66	0	12	15	28	12
13	Jackson Rebels	66	78	0.458	717	679	76	68	0	10	19	10	13
14	Helena Grizzlies	76	67	0.531	600	587	73	70	0	25	8	7	15
15	Seattle Huskies	77	66	0.538	621	600	74	69	0	23	9	30	16
16	Columbus Buckeyes	73	71	0.507	592	615	69	75	0	27	11	5	10
17	Louisville Cardinals	67	77	0.465	693	721	69	75	0	13	21	29	25
18	Huntington Thundering Herd	70	74	0.486	718	767	68	76	0	9	28	32	20
19	Kansas City Wildcats	59	84	0.413	654	722	65	78	0	16	22	17	18
20	Cincinnati Bearcats	65	79	0.451	646	739	63	81	0	19	25	2	26
21	Syracuse Orange	64	79	0.448	585	637	66	77	0	29	14	6	19
22	Memphis Tigers	64	80	0.444	590	637	67	77	0	28	13	24	23
23	Boise Broncos	69	74	0.483	651	744	63	80	0	17	26	25	17
24	Texas Tech Red Raiders	57	86	0.399	664	784	61	82	0	15	30	9	22
25	Portland Ducks	63	80	0.441	594	696	61	82	0	26	20	19	24
26	Little Rock Razorbacks	62	81	0.434	650	782	60	83	0	18	29	16	21
27	Fargo Bison	62	82	0.431	642	760	61	83	0	21	27	21	27
28	Buffalo Bulls	52	91	0.364	499	661	54	89	0	32	17	13	28
29	Salem Beavers	57	86	0.399	584	732	57	86	0	30	24	14	31
30	New Orleans Bayou Bengals	49	95	0.340	633	867	52	92	0	22	32	26	29
31	Chicago Blue Demons	54	89	0.378	600	803	53	90	0	24	31	27	32
32	Iowa City Hawkeyes	51	93	0.354	568	731	56	88	0	31	23	31	30

Rule Change Discussion

I have been thinking for some time that we may need to revise our MWR rule.  Specifically regarding the probationary season and the result if you don't hit 70 wins.   I am not sure how much attention everyone is paying to the HBD forums, classifieds, and current world openings, but the climate right now is not of a very robust environment.  Frankly, we're not in a position to be kicking out owners who legitimately want to stay and are open to taking significant penalties in lieu of expulsion.

I've thought about this for awhile, but it came to a head this season as mongoose_22 (who has a stellar reputation within the HBD community and is a great owner) has struggled to get to 70 wins with his Texas squad.  He has taken full ownership of whats happened and has admitted to thinking his teams were better than they were.  That combined with some unbelievably bad luck in 1 run games has led him to the point of expulsion.  He sent me a trade chat offering to give up his team immediately because he isn't going to hit the 70 win mark, but offered these penalties instead so that he would not be getting benefits from a bad season.

1. Forfeiture of the first round pick next year by selecting an absolute scrub

2. Two season IFA ban on signing anyone for more than $1 million.  Anything less would still allow him to sign minor league filler.

3.  Between the first round pick forfeiture and IFA ban, the remaining payroll would have to be invested into the ML team to keep improving it.

This would not be a one time exception.  We're discussing making a permanent rule change as exceptions just cause all kinds of problems.  In essence, anyone not hitting 70 wins in their probationary season would have a choice of leaving the world or accepting the above penalties. The competition committee voted 4 - 0 to vote for this rule change, but I want to bring it to the world as well.  Feel free to post in the world chat or you can always trade chat or sitemail me.

Down on the Farm...

Rob Ray
Cincinnati Bearcats

Score - 64
Fastball Velocity - 70
Fastball Movement - 65
Control - 65
Command - 55

Rob has a blazing fastball that sits between 92 to 95 MPH. When he needs to, he can give it a little extra. His four-seam FB has good late movement. He has an above average cut FB that breaks into RH batters and away from LH batters. His command could be a little better. Rob looks like he has the ceiling of a #2 SP with the floor of a #4 SP. He was drafted with the 17th pick, and it looks like he should have been selected higher. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in Cincinnati next season.

Down on the Farm...

Roger Urich
Jackson Rebels

Score - 43
Fastball Velocity - 30
Fastball Movement - 55
Control - 30
Command - 55

Roger has above average movement on his Split Fastball. He tops out around 85 MPH and doesn't look like he will add to his velocity. He has a plus slider. Control is where Roger is lacking. He is having a fine year in AA, but his success there doesn't look to translate to the majors. He has the ceiling of a AAAA pitcher with the floor of a AAA SP. Only look for Roger in the majors if there are several injuries to the ML staff.

Interview With Arizona Lumberjacks Owner mitt0108

I had the opportunity to interview mitt about his Arizona Lumberjacks team. They are having another great year. With the interview, we get to talk a little about the past and the present. 



J: I appreciate you taking the time to chat. Will your team continue on its torrid pace (.685 winning percentage) the rest of the year? 

M: Probably not quite that high, but who knows. Everything is clicking right now. We have been fortunate to avoid injuries as well. I don't care too much what the final record is, but the goal was getting a bye for the playoffs. 

J: You have some stiff competition in the NL. Do you think Arizona can represent the NL in the World Series?

M: I definitely think we are talented enough to make it, but the odds may be working against us after 3 straight WS appearances. My luck might run out against hop's Charlotte squad! I know he is sick of me haha. 

J: What did you do in the first two seasons that lead to your current success?

M: I'm not a fan of full on rebuilds. I don't have the patience ha. So, when I took over I was immediately focused on improving the ML squad every season. I inherited a couple good young bats in Doug Treadway and Howard Stevenson, so that obviously helps, but almost everyone else on my squad was acquired via trade or FA. I really just look at every position and pitching role and ask if I think they are good enough to be a part of a WS team. If the answer is no, or if I think I can get a net upgrade somehow, I am willing to deal whoever it is or upgrade via FA. 

J: What were the keys to winning it all in season 23?

M: Season 23 was when I finally had acquired enough ML talent mainly through FA and trades. I had 2 veteran FAs lead the team in home runs and a couple veteran pitchers acquired via trade come up big in Kevin Ryu and Tony Telemaco. Fred Keppel has also been a good value pick up in FA at SP. 

J: You have won 5 straight division titles and look as though you will win your 6th. How did you build your team to where it is today? Have you built mainly through the draft, international free agents, free agent signings, or some part of each?

M: I have built mainly through free agency and trades to get the core of my team. I am quick to sacrifice a late first round pick for a quality free agent. I do dabble in IFAs, but usually just acquiring middle tier cost ones that I will eventually trade. I also try to improve something every offseason, even after having a good team. I have acquired 4 big contributors since that WS victory in 3B Danny Smoltz, 2B Arthur Haynes, 1B Franklin Cornelius, and just this last offseason CF Pedro Gonzales.



Thank you again for taking the time to answer a few questions mitt! Arizona looks like a force to be reckoned with. Will mitt win his second World Series ring? We look forward to the playoffs to see the answer.