Name That Player (and help a friend!)

 Hello Hive Mind!

The blog is returning with a new feature: interactive feedback. Before we get to the interactive portion, a little background is needed. IRL, I am a Special Education teacher tasked with teaching executive functioning skills to middle schoolers with ADHD. Being a former ADHD middle school boy myself, I know those kinds of lessons can be rather boring sometimes...and then when I was reading a WIS box score at lunch one day it hit me: I can use this site to my advantage to sneak executive functioning skills into things they view as just a big game. 

The premise: They get to start a franchise in the sport of their choice from scratch and be owner/GM/all other things (except players.) I will then use the Dream Team feature of WIS to make their dreams a reality and make them carry out the tasks of the various roles as we go and "accidentally" practice the executive functioning skills along the way. I started by having them choose a name and location for their teams, then asked them to pick their ideal starting lineups using any combination of players they wanted. 

Most of them understood the assignment, chose real athletes and I'll be able to set their teams up over the holiday break. A few got a little confused...and one student in particular fielded a baseball team that gave me a few good laughs and finally brings us to the interactive portion of today's post. The lineup and justifications for the student's selections are as follows: 

• Catcher-Helen Keller "because she'd offer good support"
• First Base- Taiki Shuttle (the horse) "because he's also a good runner" 
• Second Base- Hatsune Miku (the Japanese musical artist) "because they're a good runner" 
• Third Base-Big Papi ("A legend") 
• Shortstop-Stone Cold Steve Austin ("because he tackles the other team") 
• Outfield-Fredrick Douglas ("he would like it")
• Outfield-{her Middle School English Teacher} ("he's probably good") 
• Outfield-Dr. Gregory House ("to insult the other team") 
• Pitcher-Tractor Supply Manager...Just One Guy (no reason given) 
• Pitcher-Myself ("I was good at pitching") NOTE: she's a small caucasian female, currently in 9th grade

The interactive piece is that I need the help of this community to brainstorm actual players I can put into WIS' Dream Team in order to simulate games for this most glorious and entertaining of squads. My goal is to match personalities as closely as possible to the provided descriptions (ie Miku would ideally be an Asian player known for speed etc.) Let the brainstorming begin, and send me your thoughts via Trade Chat, Sitemail or simply post in World Chat 😀

                           Another Saturday night drinking with the scout at the Barleymoe

            Tonight Elijah Craig is joined by Hiram Walker, Captain Morgan, and Jack Daniels.

Elijah:  Captain were you surprised to get your invitation to join us tonight?

Captain: Yes, you have made horrible accusations about me, in the past, taking owners hostage and using them to extort ransom from Mr. Stickball that he never pays.

Elijah: Well Seventy_77 and billhowell75 have been returned to us, so you are once again welcome at the Barleymoe.

Captain: I want you to know that not a single dollar was exchanged between me and Mr. Stickball.

Jack: I can verify that Elijah. Feamster, of the Jersey League, paid Bill's ransom and bruinsfan911 , of the Plumpy Rules! league , paid the ransom on Seventy.

Captain: I thought bruinsfan911 was an emissary from Mr. Stickball. I thought I had finally got some of his money.

Hiram: After all this time you should know Mr. Stickball is too cheap to pay you ransom.

Elijah: Regardless of who paid what, we are delighted that Seventy_77 and billhowell75 are back in the league. Now let's get down to business fellas. I want to talk about the players who were drafted or signed as internationals last year.

Hiram: Well when I started looking at these youngsters, I was flabbergasted that pimpbotlove used Wilin Uribe in the majors last season.

Jack: Well he paid him a bonus in excess of 19 million dollars. You don't win 8 World Series in this league unless you're bold.

Captain : And bold he was. Uribe made 5 starts at Hi-A and then was promoted to the majors; starting 24 games for Vegas in the regular season.

Jack: I could be mistaken but I think Vegas had three starters on the sixty day disabled list last season. When you get that thin on the mound you got to go with what you have.

Elijah:  Are there any other of the newly signed players that you like?

Captain: Javier Seanez was the only international to get more than a 20 million dollar bonus last year.

Elijah: Only one? Are the owners suddenly getting frugal or was this a bad year for internationals?

Hiram :  Eleven guys got bonuses in excess of 5 million dollars; I wouldn't call that frugal.

Elijah: Of the eleven,  are there any  that you think are definite Hall-of-Famers?

Hiram: I wouldn't go that far this early in their careers but the guy I like most is Wichita's first baseman Cesar Ortiz. He had an OPS over 1.0 at Low-A last year. He kills right handed pitching and has power.

Elijah: Jack of the players drafted, do you see any Hall-of-Famers?

Jack: Yea, I like three of them a LOT. Eight of the first twelve picks were pitchers. The first pick Jerrod Diaz will be a starting pitcher that I think will make the Hall. The fourth pick Rip Nunnari, a right fielder will also make the Hall in my opinion. But the guy I like the best is guy dudemac took with the ninth pick. Norm King is going to save a lot of games in his career. He pitched at three levels last year, had a little trouble in Hi-A but I think he will break Geoff Reuschel's record for most career saves.

Captain: That's a little bold isn't Jack?

Jack: Well I don't think anyone is going to remember what I said fourteen seasons from now.

Elijah: Let's have one more round fellas. Hiram call the uber.

Another Saturday night drinking with the scouts at the Barleymoe

This Saturday Elijah Craig is joined by Johnny Walker,  Jim Beam, and George Dickell

   Editors note: I'm hesitant to resume to begin blogging again, since the leagues bloggers  are more serious and better writers. However this topic interest me. The Barleymoe is a typical Irish bar where important facts are mixed with both whiskey and humor.

Elijah: Fellas tonight I thought we would talk about how the players chosen in the rule 5 draft have faired this season.

Johnny: The thing that most strikes me about this draft is how aggressive Ottawa was to add important pieces to their system.

George : You don't see a lot of teams that go 102 and 60 allocate 4 or 5 spots for rule-5 players; the next season.

Jim: I think thuggis struck while the iron was hot. He hadn't used the rule 5 draft much in previous seasons.

George: Well he did really well getting 19 wins from pitchers in the rule 5 draft.

Johnny: The most amazing thing about his draft, the whiff he had on the first round with his pick of Terry Sheffield. After 16, forgettable games for Ottawa. Sheffield caught on with Montreal and was much better for the Magnifies.

Jim: Who the hell goes 19 and 5 with rule 5 pitchers?

Johnny and George in unisons: thuggis.

Elijah: Okay the guy is good but which player was the best pick in the rule 5 draft?

Johnny: Well I like Rigo Ordonez.  Taken in the second round,  by Wichita he hit .290 starting 92 games at first base.

George: Do you have a prejudice against batters in Colorado? Nathan Sanders slugged .477 for the Stickballers, his ops was .100 higher than Ordonez.

Johnny: Yes I do but I also grant that prejudice to pitchers that have to pitch in that ballpark.

Elijah: Jack what say do yee?

Jack: Well if you ask the question like a scotsman -yee- I'll go with Rigo Ordonez.

         But when it comes to the pitchers I want to point out Bruce Morgan dominated for Wichita with a 12-6 record and a 3.06 ERA.

George: Buster Lavarnway won 12 games for Harford. Ottawa won 11 more games than Hartford, so his contribution is greater thanMorgan's.

Jim: Elijah, am I supposed to render a decision about this two pitchers?

Elijah: No Jim I send out the invites so I get to make the final statement; have another drink it will make what I say easier for you to understand. The three of you come into this public house and believe you can pontificate what has happened and what will happen. The rule 5 draft is not about this year, it's about what these players do three season from now.

Johnny: So we wasted all this time on the draft with no results?

Elijah: No we had a very spirited discussion about the league while imbibing the only thing we love more than HBD.

Jim: Do you want me to call the uber?

Elijah: Please