CLASSIC SALARY RESET
It was the biggest Classic (career-rated) players salary shakeup in years. On the eve of Thanksgiving, player salaries were reset utilizing revised value algorithms, resulting in what has been described as a completely new game.
Salaries are adjusted three times annually. The next salary adjustment, in March 2023, will return to the usage/supply-and-demand approach. But the repercussions of November’s seismic salary shift will be felt for years to come.
ZAT YOU, SANTA CLAUS?
Here is a history of past Zat You, Santa Claus? World Series results. In years where there is sufficient interest, two leagues have been run.
2013-14
Dave LeLacheur (NA) beat Christopher Visser (AA)
2014-15
Justin Schaefer (NA) beat James Callaghan (AA)
2015-16
Russ Mason (NA) beat Andrew Clark (AA)
2016-17
Brian O’Donnell (AA) beat Bob Jecmen (NA)
2017-18
James Callaghan (AA) beat Russ Mason (NA)
2018-19
League One: Al Meneses (AA) beat Jesse Goyette (NA)
League Two: Bill Tomczyk (AA) beat Paul Williams (NA)
2019-20
League One: Sweet William Kennings (NA) beat Scott Hiett (AA)
League Two: LeRoy Walden III (AA) beat Craig Hixon (NA)
2020-21
League One: Bob Jecmen (NA) beat Bob LeLacheur (AA)
League Two (12 teams): John Moosey beat Brian Deeley
2021-22
Rick Rauzi (NA) beat Paul Komlosi (AA)
GRAND OPEN TOURNAMENT XVI CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
It’s all come down to this: 24 teams battling for the Grand Open Tournament XVI crown!
With the draft scheduled to coincide with the Classic salary value reset, finalists had very little time to absorb the salary upheaval and revamp their roster construction and drafting strategies.
Ten of the 24 contestants are first-time finalists, including tournament win leader and top seed Tyler Ensor. Two-time and reigning champion Bob Jecmen and three-time winner Craig Natale are the only past champions to reach the finals.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE LADDER LEAGUES STANDARD ASSN SEASON 51
Registration is now open for Season 51 of the Ladder Leagues Standard Association.
For those unfamiliar with them, the Ladder Leagues operate similarly to European soccer. The Standard Association presently is comprised of six ranked leagues. At the end of each Ladder Leagues season, the top teams from each league are promoted to higher leagues and the bottom teams are relegated to lower leagues. The promotion and relegation system in the Ladder Leagues ensures competitive leagues with similarly-skilled owners.
Standard Association leagues are autodraft leagues, which use all Standard League rules, with the DH on or off in alternate years. In Season 51, the DH will be on.
WALK TO GLORY
The major league record for most consecutive walks by a batter is seven, held jointly by Billy Rogell (1938), Mel Ott (1943), Eddie Stanky (1950), Jose Canseco (1992) and Barry Bonds (2004).
Playing for Ron (rcr1964) Roselli’s Hayes’ ChiSox 1932-1940 team in the Franchise Stalwart XI league, after 72 games ’40 Larry Rosenthal has posted an anemic .183/.302/.250 batting line. Despite his struggles, however, Rosenthal (who racked up 64 walks in just 346 plate appearances in 1940, an impressive 18.5% walk rate) shattered the major league record, drawing nine consecutive walks over two games at home against Neifi’s Mile High Club.
CUSTOM LEAGUES KINGS
If you want to play in a tried-and-true format and create your team right now, standard leagues (Classic and SSG) are open to the public 24/7. But if you want to try something different, Custom Leagues – created by customers – are there in abundance.
There are franchise leagues, progression leagues, captains leagues, high and low salary cap leagues, “rags to riches” leagues, alphabet leagues, place of birth leagues … the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
Diamond Mind Online would not be the same if the Community did not include some of the most clever and prolific creators of Custom Leagues. We’ll be featuring one of these in this space each month.
This month we’re visiting with Russ (slowcooker) Mason, creator of the Zat You, Santa Claus? leagues.
Q: Tell us something about yourself: age, occupation, marital status, where you live, and interests (apart from DMO, of course).
A: Three and a half years ago I retired after forty-plus years as an archivist at Vanderbilt University’s Television News Archive. My wife Jennie and I now split our time between Nashville, TN and Portland, ME. We have three children from our first marriages, and three young grandchildren.
I grew up out west of Chicago, began writing songs and performing during college, then moved to Nashville almost fifty years ago, where I continued to write and perform locally. I’m planning to attend the upcoming Folk Alliance International conference in Kansas City (with a side trip to the Negro Leagues Museum). I have a number of lifelong friends who’ve had varying degrees of success with their music careers. One of our favorite memories is the time we got Harmon Killebrew to come to one of our backyard wiffle ball games.
Q: When did you start playing DMO and how did it first come to your attention?
A: I played APBA as a kid, then decades later found the old ESPN and Fox Sports games, and put my first tournament together at Fox Sports with the help of Joe Rockwell and John Simon. After those sites folded I took a break, but eventually started playing here at DMO in 2009.
In the past I’ve organized the Geographic Regions Tournament, which required three owners to represent a specific region, with their win totals combined to determine the winner against other regions. I also organized the Triple Play Tournament, which required 36 owners to draft a new team for three consecutive weeks, each in a different era, with the top twelve advancing to a final round of three more leagues.
Q: You’ve been running the Zat You, Santa Claus? leagues for many years. Tell us something about the format, and what it is about the format that you find appealing?
A: This is the tenth annual Zat You, Santa Claus? league, named for the song made famous by Louis Armstrong. It’s generally a nine-games-per-day 24-team classic league (sometimes two leagues when there’s enough interest), and Santa generously deposits big upgrade money in everyone’s bank accounts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, and then makes another big deposit on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. This year it’ll be $22M on Christmas Eve and $23M on New Year’s Eve.
And what makes it appealing to me? Maybe because it seems to bring a bit of joy during the Christmas season to all the good (and not so good) little DMO boys and girls!
Q: Can you offer a few tips for success for those inexperienced with this format?
A: Because it’s a 24-team autodraft, we’re almost guaranteed not to get all the players we want. So I always list alternates, and figure it’ll be an active transactions board after the 24-hour hold period. Bookmarking players that got drafted is also a good idea, in case they get released before opening day. Be ready to pounce on the player(s) you want on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, and have second (and third) choices in mind in case they disappear onto someone else’s roster before you can grab them.
Q: Is there any advice you would give to people who haven’t created a Custom League before, but would like to give it a try?
A: There have been so many great ideas for custom leagues, and new ones show up on the Custom Leagues board all the time. They don’t have to be complicated to be fun or interesting. Just make your explanation of the concept for your league clear. Then promote it by sending invitations to people you think might like to play, and regularly update your Custom Leagues post to keep it near the top where it’ll be seen, showing how many have already joined and how many openings remain. If you advertise it well enough, it should fill within a week or so.
THE TIPPING POINT
Each month we’ll offer a few tips in this space that may come in handy for the beginner as well as the experienced team owner.
Last month’s Tipping Point concerned the application of aphorisms like “too much of a good thing” to team construction.
Another aphorism that applies to team upgrade strategies is “timing is everything.” Let’s explore this further.
We start from a simple premise: don’t make player transactions sooner than necessary. This is especially true immediately following the payment of weekly income: waiting until noon (PT) the following day means (in a 3 games per day league) that you will be credited with a day’s interest on the money in your bank account, and waiting until 3 p.m. (PT) means (if you will be taking out a loan) that you will pay one less day’s interest on that loan.
Now, a few embellishments and provisos on this basic principle:
If you will be adding a quality SP as your upgrade, you may be able to wait even longer, gaining another day’s interest earned and/or reducing by another day interest paid, by making your transaction after the first three-game series of the week. You can still slot your new SP into the 4th spot in the rotation and not lose a start in the week you’ve added him.
On the other hand, you may wish to add your new “ace” on the last day of the week, borrowing your upcoming income payment (and then some, if necessary), to get him an additional start at the end of the that week. Whether this makes sense will depend on the circumstances: the importance of the game in question, the difference in quality between the guy you’d be signing and the guy he’d be replacing, the rates applicable to interest paid and loans taken in your particular league, etc.
Note that if you won’t be taking out a loan as part of your transaction, since there is no interest paid in accelerated (9 games per day) leagues, there’s no need to wait noon on Sunday to make your upgrade, since there is no interest payment to be “lost”.
If you’re in the preseason, there is no interest paid on balances in your bank account, but you still pay interest for each day prior to Opening Day on loans. So wait until 3 p.m. Sunday before you take out a loan to upgrade your Opening Day roster.
N.B. If you’re really concerned that the player you want to add would be irreplaceable if signed by another team, for peace of mind you might want to pay the extra interest and add that player sooner.
And, finally, it should go without saying that interest costs mount quickly if you borrow more than your next upcoming payment, as you will be paying interest on interest. Of course, the longer you wait, the less time you’ll have the player you’re adding available. Here is an interesting discussion about the merits, or otherwise, of trading in underperforming players, including observations on the borrowing to upgrade.
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