Highlights From Diamond Mind November 2023

BLACK FRIDAY PROMOTION

Immediately following the midnight sim run on Thanksgiving Day, we will be introducing the latest Classic (career-rated) player salary update. (Salaries will remain the same for the last newly-added batch of Classic players.) Who will be the salary droppers to be thankful for?

And a reminder…

With this salary adjustment, we also will be changing Dave Parker’s OF Throw rating from Av to Vg, something for which long-suffering fans of the Cobra can give thanks.

At the same time as the salary adjustment, we will be launching our latest “Black Friday” promotion. Every team in an undrafted league at the time, and every team entered in a league that is created after the promotion begins, will receive a 20% credit rebate deposited back to their account IF the league drafts by midnight PT on 1 December. That’s a $1 rebate for Turbo teams, $2 rebate for Accelerated teams, $4 rebate for Standard League teams and $5 rebate for 3 games per day Custom Leagues.

REGISTER NOW FOR LADDER LEAGUES STANDARD ASSN SEASON 54

Registration is now open for Season 54 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 Classic (career-rated) autodraft leagues. which use all Standard League rules, with the DH on or off in alternate years. In Season 54, the DH will be off.

Season 54 will kick off straight after new Classic salaries are introduced. Why not give it a try? You can register here.

UNBROKEN

Even though there have been thousands of Classic Standard Leagues simulated since Diamond Mind Online got its start way back in 2005, some records seem truly unbreakable.

It was not until 2022 that Ty Cobb was the first to top Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak. But there are still these seemingly untouchable records to shoot for:

Owen (Chief) Wilson holds the major league record for most triples in a season: 36 in 1912. The closest anyone has come to that in a DMO Classic Standard League? Honus Wagner with 32.

Rickey Henderson holds the record for most stolen bases in a season: 130 in 1982. The closest anyone has come to that in a DMO Classic Standard League? Henderson with 128.

Barry Bonds holds the record for the most walks in a season: 232 in 2004 (120 of those were intentional walks). The closest anyone has come to that in a DMO Classic Standard League? Babe Ruth with 206.

Bob Feller holds the record (since 1920) for most complete games in a season: 36 in 1946. The closest anyone has come to that in a DMO Classic Standard League? Greg Maddux and Robn Roberts with 32.

If you’d like to shoot for the stars, you can find DMO Classic Standard League records here.

CUSTOM LEAGUES KINGS

This month we’re visiting with Tyler Ensor, the current commissioner of the Random Parks and Players leagues.

Click here to read more.

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.

As we’re about to adjust Classic (career-rated) player salaries, this seems like a good time to touch on how player salary histories can help with player selection.

If you look under Downloads on your My Teams page, there is an Excel table that displays Classic Salary History – the salaries of every player in the Classic player pool at every salary adjustment.

The key dates are March 10, 2019, and November 23, 2022, particularly the latter. These are the dates on which salaries were “reset” based on value, as opposed to being adjusted based on usage/supply-and-demand. The November 23, 2022, salaries represent an estimate of each player’s value based on their quantitative and qualitative ratings, taking into account our understanding of how the breadth of the player pool and owner predilections “distort” value.

So, when evaluating “new” player salaries, yes, the logical place to start is with players who dropped in salary. After all, players who went up in salary, while they may still be good value, aren’t going to be as good value as they were before their salaries went up.

But players who dropped in salary, even substantially, still won’t necessarily be good values. Here’s where the (most recent) “reset” salary comes into play for comparison.

Essentially, what you’re looking for are players whose “new” salaries are lower than their (most recent) “reset” salaries by the greatest amount (which may be by “absolute” amount or by percentage). Once you’ve identified those players, however, there are two more factors to consider:

You will be competing with others to get the best value players. Value can’t be separated from scarcity. Player X may be a fantastic value, but if there are other players at the same position/who could play the same role, who are comparable value, you may not want to place that high a priority on X.

If you’re really gunning for the best value players, you need to discard your “prejudices”, whatever they may be, regarding players. If you shy away from pitchers who give up a lot of walks or HR, position players who are defensively challenged, guys who don’t run or throw well, who are injury prone, or whatever, chances are players like that are going pop up on your list of “best values”. You ignore them at your peril.