I love to play Out of the Park Baseball. I play in an online league with 23 other people, and I also play a lot on my own, during the day while I’m at work. There’s just so much fun in being the GM of a team. I can draft who I want, call up and send guys down as I please, and scour the waiver wire for bargains. I never have to wonder what in the world the GM is thinking, because hey – it’s me!
However, when playing OOTP, there is a particular flaw I know I have. I seem to have something against depth. I want my decisions to be easy. If I have two first basemen and I can’t decide who is the starter, I will just trade one to make it easier on myself. When a player gets hurt, I often find myself scrambling to fill the hole by making a quick free agent signing or trade.
Lucky for us, the A’s don’t do that. I probably would have traded Bobby Keilty, Dan Johnson, or Antonio Perez by now because the whole 1B/LF conundrum makes my head spin. Since I tend to love platoons in OOTP, my solution probably would be Stewart/Keilty platoon in LF, Kotsay in center, Bradley in RF, with Goleski as the #5. Then Swisher plays 1B with Johnson backing him up. Perez probably would have been on his way out the door because, IIRC, he’s out of options.
But who is to say that is how it will play out in the next five weeks? Someone could get hurt, or someone could struggle, or (probably the biggest wrench in the plan) Erubiel Durazo could tear it up and force his way onto the active roster. Remember what happened in spring training 2004? One ground ball up the middle during an exhibition game and Marco Scutaro went from waiver pickup and “Marco who?” to Mr. Clutch and a fan favorite.
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