The Unofficial SDMB Out of the Park League currently has an opening for a new owner.
For those of you who don’t know, OOTP is a baseball simulation game that puts you in the owner’s/General Manager’s seat. In short, you have a twenty-five man Major League roster, as well as three levels of minor leagues (AAA, AA and A). You draft and develop players, sign free agents, offer and negotiate trades, manage your team’s finances, etc. You have to watch out for injuries to players, declining superstars and highly rated prospects that sometimes go bust.
The league just finished up it’s twenty first season. We are a stable league which has been ongoing since 2002. The 2023 season will be beginning shortly. Everyone in the league is really geared up to compete this year - the 2022 season ended with the Maui Mashers winning the Cecil Cup for the third time in four years. All the other teams in the league are gearing up to knock the Mashers off their laurels.
The team that is available is the interestingly-named Monck’s Corner Monks. The Monks ended the 2022 campaign in third place in the Adams Division with a 60-102 record. This team needs an owner to turn it around and make it a contender.
The Monks are a team with some strengths, a fair number of weaknesses and a stocked minor league system.
The Monks pitching staff has seen better days, but there is hope for the future. Bruno Talamantez is only 26 years old, but showing signs of being a great starter. He already has seven years of major league experience under his belt and managed to put together a 14-16 record on a team that finished 42 games under .500. Talamantez is locked up for the next two seasons (with an option for a third), but at the price of about $20m per year.
The offense is led by young second baseman Fransisco Perez. Perez finished the year with an offensive line of .311/.356/.505/.861. He’s a good contact hitter with some pop in his bat.
The real strength of the Monks, however, may lie in their farm system. They currently are ranked as having the third best system in the league. The top prospect is 20 year old starter Player Report for #3 Erik 'Sheep' Moore, who just finished his second season in A ball (in which he did far better than his first season). He’s projected to have a great fastball and curveball and is currently ranked as the #4 prospect in the league.
22-year old 1B John Dodds is a power hitting prospect down in A ball. He hit 10 homers in his first professional season this year, and is projected to hit many more. The second round draft pick from this past season is currently ranked as the #19 prospect in the league.
RF Takeru Nomura just completed a season of .298/.358/.445/.803 (134 OPS+) this year in A ball. He’s a contact hitter with excellent ability to hit the ball into the gap. Nomura is currently ranked as the #26 prospect.
There are other prospect down on the farm, as well as some younger players currently at the major league level. It will be your job, as owner and GM, to put together the best team you can.
A new owner will be able to rename/relocate the team in the offseason. All we ask is that you actively participate. We usually simulate two weeks’ worth of games once a week. During the season, all you’ll need to do is download the league file, make changes to your roster, and upload the changes (all of which is done in the game’s software).
The current version we are using is version 13, which is available from Out Of The Park Developments. The cost for version 13 is $19.95.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. In addition, feel free to check out our league blog.
Zev Steinhardt