PennantChase.com Free Baseball Sim League News

Changes in Auto League Supplemental Draft are live

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:34:24 -0800

I'm excited to announce the changes discussed last month in the Auto League draft process are now live! In summary:

The two first-come, first-serve free agents are no longer available.
Free agency will not open until the Supplemental Draft runs after Game 3.
The order of the supplemental draft is reverse order of the auto draft (so the last team to Auto Draft gets the first pick in the Supplemental Draft).
You MUST rank players in order to receive players in the Supplemental Draft. Since the draft has been moved to Day 4, you'll only have about 24 hours to rank players, so be sure to jump on it as soon as the season starts.
Leagues that have already started, the Supplemental Draft will run on Day 10 as it always has. To be clear, there is only ONE supplemental draft per league. Eventually ALL leagues will be moved up to after day 3.
NEW on 1/17 - Drops moved to after Game 6. This allows some time between filling out your roster with free agency, and being able to drop players and add even more from the free agent list.

I think everyone has agreed that this will make the process much more fair, and will hopefully inspire owners to join leagues even if they are the last to Auto Draft. This process still benefits ACTIVE owners, because you won't get any players in the Supplemental Draft unless you rank players first. As with any new changes, let me know if you see any issues or glitches!

Be sure to edit your lineups with new managerial controls

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:50:47 -0800

The new controls discussed in December have been launched! You should go into your lineups and immediately make any desired changes. You can now toggle players who will bunt, surprise bunt, pinch hit and be pinch-hit for. You can also adjust when pitchers get yanked (ie, before pitch count, at pitch count, or after pitch count). The percentages you set on your Edit Strategy page will now only apply to those players who are actually allowed to bunt. As for pinch-hitting, you have more control in terms of who the CPU will consider as a pinch hitter, and who can actually be pinch-hit for. The logic for things like pinch-hitting can be massively complex, so we'll see how it goes - in a sim world, something like pinch-hitting and pitcher management decisions are never going to be perfect, but hopefully this gives you a little more control of your team's destiny. In regards to pitchers, I will issue a warning that letting someone go over his pitch count is risky. I would only do it if you have a weak pen and a stud of a pitcher. As with any enhancements, let me know if you catch any issues.

Heads up on changes in progress

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:27:19 -0800

Update 12/29: Please note some date changes below. The Endurance change has been moved up and completed. The player strategy options are being pushed into January. Also, an option on the Update Account page for spoiler-free has been added, so check that out as well. Happy holiday season. I know most people don't like it when important changes happen without a heads up, so I want to give you a preview of changes that will be rolling out. Check back here for updates - I will keep this page active with the latest news on these changes. Update: One note on an existing issue... If you change a player's stats and then quit an Auto League and try to re-join, you cannot join the same league for 48 hours. Now for the upcoming changes:

1B secondary fielding status - In Auto Leagues, all 1B listed as 1B/IF will be changed to 1B/1B. We are seeing far too much silly sand bagging like Lou Gehrig at SS or Bill Terry at 3B. For the enjoyment and integrity of the site, this needs to stop. Target Date: Done!!
Players changed to OF and speed impact - The database we use has individual outfield positions from 1995-2010, but the 2011 stats list outfielders as OF, and every year before 1995 lists all outfielders as OF. To make things consistent, all outfielders will be listed as OF in Auto Leagues. Speed impact is TDB - we might use Range Factor to give some depth to fielding. Target Date: Done!!
Arm strength - Catchers and outfielders that had a high amount of assists will have a higher chance of gunning down runners. This will be signified by an arm rating. At this time, infielders will not be impacted. Target Date: Done!!
Player toggles for bunting, pinch-hitting - Managers will be able to toggle bunting and pinch-hitting on or off for individual players. In addition, they can toggle whether a player should be pinch-hit for (so no more watching the CPU pinch hit for Mickey Mantle late in the game). Target Date: Done!!
Pitcher toggles for runs allowed - Managers can set when individual pitchers can be pulled, rather than set it globally for all pitchers. Maybe you're okay with keeping Sandy Koufax in after allowing five runs, but you'd rather see your weaker pitchers pulled. Now you can. Target Date: Done!!
Balanced Schedules - There have been a lot of complaints regarding unbalanced schedules. Scheduling is very tricky, but I am hoping to start to roll out balanced schedules, possibly with off days to better simulate a real season. Target Date: TBD. This one is on hold at the moment.
Endurance - The Endurance feature has been used in Custom Leagues as a trial. It leaves little room for control and often leads to confusion. The system will be changed such that players who have played too many consecutive games will get a slight stats hit. Managers can choose whether to allow the CPU to rest players, or control it themselves. Managers would be encouraged to rest players, but wouldn't have to. This will make strategy and keeping up with your team much more vital. This will NOT be rolled into Auto Leagues until it has gone through a test period in Custom Leagues. Target Date: Done!!
Moving Supplemental Draft in Auto Leagues - A highly controversial subject is the two first-come, first-serve free agents in Auto Leagues. It makes the league very tough for those teams who draft last, and those who can't get to their CPU in time to grab two free agents. My proposal is to run the three-player supplemental draft after the third game of the season (that gives everyone 24 hours to rank players). The supplemental draft would go in reverse order of the Auto Draft (ie, last team to Auto Pick would get the first Supplemental Pick). Keep in mind, this method still favors active users, because if you don't rank anyone, you don't get any players. After the Supplemental Draft, teams could add two additional free agents to their minor leagues. Target Date: Done!!

Those are the big ones on my plate that I have started to plan for. I know this does not cover all the great ideas out there. Trust me, my wish list is much longer. As you know, this is a very part-time job for me, so I will do my best to roll these out as quickly as possible!

New rules regarding changing player stats in Auto Leagues

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:11:57 -0800

UPDATE 11/27: As a user has pointed, one of the big issues is the ability to change stats, quit the league, then re-draft. As a result, changing stats will not be available until all teams have drafted (at which point you cannot quit Auto Leagues). Since this seems to be the main issue, I've extended changing stats to Game 120, at which point it will turn off for all Auto Leagues. First off, Happy Thanksgiving everyone, it's been a wild year for pennantchase, two server moves (probably another one before the end of the year) and lots of exciting changes to the website. I need to announce a change to the rules regarding changing a player's stats in Auto Leagues. Starting immediately, you can only change stats until Game 120. After that, changing stats will be turned off. The reason is because some people toward the end of the season are taking star players and purposely setting them to lackluster seasons, in hopes they can snag them in the upcoming draft, and then set them back to their best season. By limiting changing stats to the first half of the season, the hope is to eliminate this cheap behavior. It continues to amaze me how some people will try to find any avenue to game the system. I'm not sure how that's actually fun for anyone, but I suppose it is human nature and it's never going to change. So we have to take steps to keep things fair. As usual, it's the community that alerts to these things, so be sure to let me know when you see bad behavior, and I will do my best to rectify the situation. Thanks again, and enjoy the holiday!