Two important issues came up this week regarding the nature of our team selection and management.
This morning at least one player suggested that the teams were unfair in the first game. Empirical evidence alone (a 4-2 game in which the tying run came to the plate in the last inning) suggests this is not the case. I will go on to describe the process of making these teams not so much to defend my personal honor, but that of the position of team maker because if players believe that teams are purposely being given an advantage it will destroy our good will. I made what were, to the best of my ability, two even teams (minus the pitchers) and declared that Laura Stoeth and I would pitch. I then gave Laura a list of players for each team and asked her to choose which one she wanted. She chose her team. A few minutes later I found I had forgotten to include Marvin Cohen on either team. I offered to take Marvin in exchange for swapping our shortstops. Phil Ciccone came to my team and Bob Holzwasser went to Laura's team. I clearly took the less advantageous choice. If anything, these teams were skewed (because of the addition of Marvin) in favor of Laura's team. As an aside to this, I want to acknowledge that I errantly made one team stronger in the second game. This happened because I was rushing to create two new teams in under a minute so that we could get game two in. I had to make up two new teams because of the complaints that the original teams (from the 4-2 game one) were unfair.
Pitching assignments: We have several pitchers. In recent years I've been doing much of the pitcher choosing. Alex Rivera has suggested that after I make teams we choose two captains (varying the captains each week). While i am skeptical that this will work because most players don't want to be captains, I am hopeful that I can give the responsibilities of positioning and choosing pitchers to these captains. Starting next week, we will be asking for volunteer captains. They will be responsible for assigning positions, creating a batting order and choosing pitchers, with the proviso that no player can pitch in both games.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
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Game one was a success. I didn't think the teams were balanced, I still don't, but it was a 2-run game, so that's a point for you. Game two was actually played with almost the same teams-- in effect, you traded me, Don, and Laura for Freddy, Mike Palma, and Rosengard, and this did unbalance things a little more, and it showed. The teams you make are generally well balanced, but I think you are overcompensating for Marvin, and perhaps undercompensating for Phil Ciccone, who is playing his best ball of the last three seasons.
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