Owner Q&A #1 Responses

Hey guys,
Here are the responses everyone gave to the first list of HBD-related questions we sent out. These emails were also read in the podcast #2. Thanks for all who contributed.

1. How do you construct your batting order? Traditional (leadoff, onbase guy, best hitter, best power, then decreasing power) or Nontraditional (your own unique method)?
2. Overall would you say HBD leans more towards batting-heavy or pitching-heavy or is completely balanced?
3. How significant is the effect of coaches on prospect development or game strategy?
4. Lastly, what MLB team is your favorite and favorite player?

Scranton Nittany Lions --camaro31st
1 For the most part I go with a traditional lineup with a little twist. I like to have speed and OBP guys in the top 2 spots. I put my best two hitters 3rd and 4th. I then try to start over with another speed OBP guy and work down to another power hitter in the 8 or 9 spot.

2. HBD is somewhat balanced but does lean a little toward the offensive side. There are way to many players with 30+ home runs each year. There is also some flaws in base running and the stolen base logic but beyond that the game is quite realistic.

3. Coaches have an effect on both prospect development and game stratagy. To what effect I am not sure yet but I am in several different leagues and I do notice a few points of difference here and there between my good and bad coaching staffs.

4. My Favorite team is and always will be the Brewers. Thank god that Bud Selig is gone and now my Brew Crew has a chance to win some games. My favorite current player is Prince Fielder and my Favorite of all time is Nolan Ryan.

Wichita Shockers --bigking0505
The way that I put my line up togeather I would say would be more traditional. I like having my high OBP guys near the top and then load up with power through the middle. If possible I try and have some speed and a decent OBP near the bottom of the line up as well, but havent had the right type of players to do that every season. I would say that I believe that the most important position in the line up is the #2 spot because that is where I believe is the difference between big innings or not. You need to have a guy with a good eye that can lay down a bunt, but also has the ability to drive the ball as well. I used to try and keep Felix Hogan there when I had him because I think he is the type of hitter that works well there.


I think that success in HBD is based mostly on solid pitching. It seems that a .280 hitter that can hit 30+ HR's are everywhere, so in order to be succesful you need to have top notch pitching. You can see this by my records in the past, most of my best teams were led by great pitching.

I think that coaching has a huge impact on the game, and I employee the stratagey that the longer a coach is with an organization the better he will be. I believe that as long as you don't change what type of owner you want to be, the coaches that stay with you from year to year, will help run you system the way you want it. I might be wrong but that is the way I feel about it.

My fav team is the Oakland A's and my fav player is Ken Griffey Jr.

Toledo Boonse Farmers --hockey_brian
question 1. I try to have speed at the top then my best hitters and then speed again at the bottom
#2 it is probly = the key is to build to your ball park
3 not real sure on the coaches I try to stay in the upper middle of the pack as far as talent of coaches at each position
4 Detroit Tigers favorite player Placido Polanco but fav all time Gibby


San Juan Crownrificos --wang35
1. High obp guys up top and big boppers in the middle

2. Depends on the ballpark. Burlington has a bigtime pitchers park so he is more pitcher dependent. My ballpark is a hitters ballpark so it's a must to have the big sticks.

3. I think it's significant if you have bad coaches. They can really hurt development. Guys can go backwards with a terrible coach. Other factors in development are age, playing time and how well the individual and team are doing.

4. White Sox. Frank Thomas

Colorado Mountain Oysters --buck18
1) like speed and contact in the top 2 spots. preferably a guy who can bunt as well in the 2 hole. 3,4,5 I like average and on base percentage, I don't worry much about power being in coors all my guys hit home runs but if I have a good power hitter he would go in the 4 or 5 hole. the rest of the lineup is dictated by the type of players on the team, dont really have a strategy for 6,7,8 I do like to have another speed guy in the 9 hole though. If I don't have one then I put my worst hitter in the 9 spot.

2) I'm going to have to go with balanced. it seems like second city is more hitter friendly (my view may be scewed as I am in coors) but the other league I am in seems more pitching oriented.

3)I think there important for both. I like to run a lot and i have noticed that if I have good baserunning coaches at 1st and 3rd my guys steal more bases and are thrown out less. Also I like to draft high school kids and I believe that in order to get them up to there potential you need to surround them with good coaches. I have noticed that on the teams where I didn't have good coaches the prospects didn't improve as much as when I had better coaching.

4)why the RED SOX of course, and living in wisconsin most of my life I do have a soft spot for the brewers. But if they were playing each other I would go for the Sox every time. My fovorite player has always ben and will always be Dweight Evans. I don't relly have a favorite current player, but the guys I like to watch on the pitching side would be maddux, santana, and probably dice K, as far as hitters i would say Manny, Puljos, And Im interested to see just how good prince fielder can be.


Las Vegas Double Downs --gtce98
1. More traditional, but actively monitor and adjust to go with hot hands.
2. Can't say I try to base my team mainly on good pitching and has had success in regular season but not so much in the playoffs. Always felt like I was beat by teams with better bats.
3. Dunno, I know I just hate the coach hiring period.
4. Chicago Cubs, no real fav on current roster but Fukudome is warming up (just love the name) all-time fav is Ryno.


Monterrey Conquistadors --kmueller
1. How do you construct your batting order? Traditional (leadoff, onbase guy, best hitter, best power, then decreasing power) or Nontraditional (your own unique method)?
Pretty traditional... but I will also put guys in if they are hitting well that year, as opposed to just looking at the ratings.

2. Overall would you say HBD leans more towards batting-heavy or pitching-heavy or is completely balanced?
Our league is batting heavy... but I find other leagues to be the opposite.

3. How significant is the effect of coaches on prospect development or game strategy?
Less significant than I'd hoped... that said, the hiring process needs work.

4. Lastly, what MLB team is your favorite and favorite player?
Indians - Grady Sizemore!

Mexico City Bandejos --dyuen
1) fairly traditional. though i believe in an on base guy at the top and i dont care if hes fast or not. i think having a guy like juan pierre lead off just cause hes fast is moronic.

2) i think there is too much offense in HBD. the hitting is out of hand.

3) coaches are very important in player development. i dont care about them for strategy

4) white sox, buehrle now. when i was a kid the reds and johnny bench and george foster


Burlington Bulldogs --mike1184
1. I usually assemble my batting order on the basis of OBP, with some consideration for SLG pct. as well. Basically if my best OBP also has my best SLG, he has the three spot. If I put him in the one spot he would get the most at bats on the team, but he will have more runners on if he bats third, while also still getting a ton of at bats so that is what I do.

If two players have relatively the same OBP, I will look at SLG to see who hits where. OPS is a statistic that is also looked at, but for the top of the order OBP is the key to my batting order.

2. As a whole, HBD is slanted more to the hitting side than the pitching side, and this is through no fault of the developers, but of the mindset of the owners. My view is that pitching wins you games, and you have great pitching and poor hitting, you will still win some games, and would win more games than if you had great hitting and poor pitching.

Many owners are allured by the 50 HR, 150 SO guy, and while this is all fine and dandy for them, if his OBP is .310 and his SLG barely reaches .500, I am sure I can find someone better for that spot who is a much more balanced hitter.

Also, the effect that parks such as Colorado and Santa Fe have on hitting are disproportionate, especially when considered to the extreme pitcher's parks such as Burlington and Portland. A guy who would hit 25 HR in Portland would hit 50 HR in Colorado, and this is too wide a gap in my opinion, and also supports the hitter's mentality that is predominant in the change, but has been moving more towards pitching as of late.

3. Favorite team: Toronto Blue Jays

Sioux Falls Dakota --jwendt
a few of my thoughts

2 - The real question here is about value. The value of any particular attribute is determined by how your competitors see it. For example, if everyone's drafting power early, spending FA $ on power, then it gets relatively expensive whereas another trait might be undervalued. I'm not of the opinion that the game has a particular bias, but you do see way more scoring overall in HBD and Second City than in real life. I believe that is largely due to teams undervaluing defense and the handful of teams that are or have been mis-managed leaving them with bad or tired pitchers getting a lot of innings.

3 - Coaches have a big impact on player development. They have a minimal impact on strategy, but at the big league level can impact performance. Aside from the rare occasions where you get tossed, you can dictate the strategy with all your settings.

4 - I'm a Chicago White Sox fan (you'll see a few of these in the league). I can't say I have a particular favorite player right now but my wife loves Joe Crede's mullet so I'll go with him.

Helena Hound Dogs --dberube7
1. How do you construct your batting order?
Traditional (leadoff, onbase guy, best hitter,
best power, then decreasing power) or
Nontraditional (your own unique method)?

Ideally, I want speed leading off. My best 2 hitters
are in the 2-3 spots, I want them to get the most AB's possible. It's a big plus if the
2 guy has speed too. 4-5 is the power guys. After that, in decreasing order of power,
although if I am in the AL and I have another .300 hitter with speed, I like him in the 9 hole.

2. Overall would you say HBD leans more towards batting-heavy or pitching-heavy or is completely balanced?

The game can be a little offensive heavy, which is why stud pitching is so important. The big bats can get you
to the playoffs, but an ace can shut them down for 1 game in the playoffs and will be the difference. I also like to make sure all my
guys make the defense req. for their positions. With Helena I don't have the best offense so I have to do everything possible to
keep the score down.

3. How significant is the effect of coaches on prospect development or game strategy?
I have always spent 16-17 on coaching for my team, so I don't know if bad coaching can hurt you or your prospects,
but I'm not going to chance it. I have always treated coaching as very important and am willing to pay for the best
coaches I can get.


4. Lastly, what MLB team is your favorite and favorite player?
Just so I will know who to kid :)

Boston Red Sox - Tim Wakefield

That's it for the responses and thanks again.
-Darren