We recently caught up with the GM of the World Series champion St. Louis River City RAGE, solowkoe, to chat about the state of his franchise, the recent trade veto, and Hoops Dynasty among other things. Here's what solowkoe had to say:What do you think were the keys to St. Louis’ World Series title run last season?
Not panicking. The first few season I was here, my team would do bad in the beginning and I would start calling people up, signing FA’s, looking for a waiver to pick up or start looking to make trades. Now, after noticing that my team almost always gets off to a slow start, I tend to do little things instead of panicking, like maybe changing up the order, or letting a back up get some time. Maybe do some micro managing or even do the opposite. The players are good enough; they can handle a small slump.
What sort of changes, if any, can we expect with the River City RAGE this season?
Well, I think the landscape is changing for me as some of my better players are starting to get up there in age. I have let a few go to FA and I’m always looking for that cheap FA that everyone passed on but is good enough. Last year, I would say that role went to Tony Burnits and Kevin Pong. Those 2 helped just as much as my stars. This year, I haven’t really brought anyone in, but I think I am going to be moving Alex Silva to 3rd to make way for my defensive SS coming up: Richard Hatteberg. I try to go for defensive players that can muster up some offense.
Who would you say is the greatest player in the history of the River City RAGE?
Carlos Carrasco, hands down in my opinion. I have a few other great players that I think will eventually be more important to this teams history, but this closer has 382 saves in 411 attempts with a lifetime WHIP of .95. He’s drop the ball 29 times in 411 attempts, I consider that a huge asset.
What kind of timetable can we expect with season 10 first round pick Kirk Watson’s journey to the big leagues and do you see him as a starter or a reliever once he gets to the majors?
I have no plans for him yet. So that usually means that he will have a long career in my minors until the call up, or trade bait. He eventually will be a very good player, but he doesn’t really fit my future. I’ve had problems in the past trying to get Lloyd Freel to be a starter, and his stamina is a little better, but he kept getting injured. So Kirk will definitely have to be a RP for me, maybe a everyday setup A or a long relief A.
A series of recent trades between Washington and Ottawa came under some scrutiny and were ultimately vetoed. What were your thoughts on the deals?
Any trade that gets that pitcher out of my division is a great trade IMO :P, but to be serious, it did seem questionable. In the end, it wasn’t anything that would have made me veto it, but I did think that 1 team got much more value then the other (which IMO I’ve seen plenty of times in here). I just didn’t think it was enough to destroy a franchise. Making deals, whether its bad or good, is usually part of baseball. Long as it isn’t a franchise fleecing, I don’t mind.
You’re the coach at DIII Stevens Tech in Iba World. Any plans to move up to DII? We could use another good coach in the Southern Conference (shameless, I know)!
:D great question. Yes, I do plan to move up, but not for at least 4 more seasons. I think I finally figured out a good plan for recruiting and this last recruiting season, I feel is the best I’ve had and I would like to see how good I really did. I have a freshmen PG that has already went up 16 points in perimeter shooting. I can’t wait to see him in his senior year.
The Miami Heat’s “Big Three.” Will it work and why or why not?
I think it will work, but they may need a different coach to make it work. I haven’t liked what the coach has been doing when I’ve seen their games. I think they need more time to get cohesive as well. Will they win it all? No, not until they get bigger. Look at LA and BOS, they need to get bigger to compete with the KG/Perkins or Gasol/Bynum. I think it will work because neither of those stars are hogs. It will take a couple years, but eventually it will come together. Both LeBron and Wade are used to carrying their whole team. Now they need to figure out how to complement their team.
If you could change one thing about HBD, what would it be and why?
Price :P I like the game, but I don’t like how much I pay. Its not ridiculous, but I hate reoccurring charges. I would like to see a permanent discount for loyal customers of the game. I don’t know what it costs them to run this website, but it seems to me like the profit margins are probably decent.
I would like to say thanks to everyone who has helped me over the past. I came into this game as a noob and had to learn a lot. This is still my only HBD team and probably will always be that way. The owners in this world are great at helping and I always learn something new from reading the world chat. Special thanks to ACE, he has helped me with lots of questions, some questions were probably even repeats :). Thanks to KJ for keeping this world in order and for the good questions.
SEE YOU ALL IN THE PLAYOFFS :D
No comments:
Post a Comment