4.0 DELI SCRUBS

OK so last Saturday was frustrating, and maybe I'm still frustrated, which is never a good idea to write something. But with that in mind, I'm going to open a can of worms. To me, and what I've also heard leaving the game, was it was difficult to get into rhythm as a hitter with so many guys hitting in the lineup (and we were missing two people) I can't imagine having 15 guys hit in a lineup. This is not what I signed up/paid for. I'm not blaming the new guys, they don't know how many players we have returning. Shoot, I don't even know how many guys are returning from year to year. I'm not sure if anybody knew how many guys were on the team. But I hope somebody had an idea. What I can say is having a line-up and a half (13-15 players)to go through per each at bat is tough on everyone. I know this is "how we've always done it" in the past, but we've never had this many players on the team in the past. I'm not attacking anybody. I dont want anyone to feel that way. I'm expressing my opinion before we have 15 guys there at a game and again I'll hear "it's how we've always done it." Just because that it true doesn't mean it is right. For starter's anyone that hasn't paid doesn't play. I don't know who they are but I guarantee if they sit through a whole game without playing, they will remember there check next time before they show up. Any other idea's on what should be done?
Btw, Brandon you did a great job catching me, I really liked you moving around in the box, I don't necessarily believe it is sequence of pitches or even sequence of signs that makes or breaks a pitcher. Personally, I think it is location that is more important then the type of pitch itself. And as for playing small ball that would be great, but we don't have signs, and I don't think enough people understand the game and the reasons behind doing things in certain situations. With that being said there are only a select few as well that can bunt, hit & run, ect when called upon. We never practice it (or practice at all fo that matter), and if we do ask someone to bunt who's never practice it we are setting them up to fail, in my opinion. I love the idea and wish we would work on it.
I feel better getting this out there, again it's not an attack just want some ideas on what we can/should do.

One last thing. I want this to be a discussion, not an attack on anybody.

Ok lets begin....

Number of players: My apologies to the team for a roster of 15... The new 3 season format is hard to grasp...It seems like when one season is winding down another one starts the next week... It was rather difficult this season to get certain people to give me a yes or no answer if they wanted to play. So i opened the roster up and it backfired and we ended up with 15.

Solution? I would love to get a core group of 11 players to cover the entire roster. And if one of the 11 is not going to make a game they call someone to fill in for them.... This in return would mean $180+ per player. Not a problem for some but for others in college etc... this would be difficult 3 times a year... And who would be the elite 11 guys? Each member of the Scrubs has played previous seasons...

We have always carried more then needed with the intention of a few people missing games each week. Obviously the past 2 weeks this has not happened.

I really am sorry and dont have a solution...




Lineup: This is also affect by having 15 players. We have always hit the entire roster and most of the time it has worked. I understand the importance of getting your better players more AB's etc... but when your roster consists of 1 great player, 13 good players, and one guy that sucks. How do you point a finger. And if I tell 4 guys they are not batting for the first 4 innings it will only cause more drama...

Personally If I am riding the pine for the first 4 innings I would be thinking why am I here. And what makes the starters on the roster any better then me?????


Every story has 2 sides....

-Everyone is on the team to have fun....if we loose its not fun.... If we bat less and bench others its not fun for the individuals on the bench....

I am trying to make if fair for each full paying Scrub's member....

Ask yourself this...If I bench you for 4 innings how much fun are you having...???? Sure the team won but how much fun did you have? I think all of us pay for AB's, not playing the field...


Questions?
-How many players should be on the Scrubs roster at the beginning of the season? Take into consideration the cost per player for 3 seasons, the importance of the player, and why Joe is not on the roster next year but Sam is. And how hard it is to get players money on time.

-Should the Scrubs only bat 9 and sub in the remainders? Take into consideration that everyone paid the same amount to play, yes we want to win but at what cost, and how do you determine who rides the pine...

Lemme weigh in on this
I feel like we have a great core group, and Idon't want to exclude "new guys" because quite frankly I am one of the "new guys" based on how long I have/have not played with the scrubs. I dont consider myself an elite player by any means but do feel obligated to have my opinion be known. We should bat our ten most productive players based on stats and different criteria that will help our team score more runs etc..... The formula in which we pick the ten best players should be discussed as a team so we know beforehand what the criteria will be. Batting average, on base percentage, strikeout ratio, RBI's, runs, stolen bases, willingness to bunt, ability to bunt, situational hitting, etc... I think this will benifit our team more than it will cause drama because we are all here to play, win and have fun. The fun will take care of itself when we win and that starts with a good line-up. If people are dramatic and want to cry about not playing then maybe they don't get the concept of being on a team. "I play to win" is a motto I live life by. Nobody likes losing, therefore lets maximize our chances to win.

As far as having fifteen players on the roster possibly sixteen it's overkill in my opinion. I understand that people didn't commit until one week prior to the season and Scott had to find replacements but people need to get their shit together and either commit to the team or find yourself on the free agent wire. A twelve person roster is more than enough for a team. Two subs should be on-call at all times. I don't envy the position of being the manager of this team so I know how hard it is for Scott to deal with such issues> It was a hard roster to fill and it was a clusterfuck. As far as choosing the core group of players I dont know about that.

Question:

Should the Scrubs only bat 9 and sub in the remainders? Take into consideration that everyone paid the same amount to play, yes we want to win but at what cost, and how do you determine who rides the pine...

Answer: Yes
make a 10 man lineup, and let them bat around. Following them batting around, add players to the bottom of the lineup, or add them into the game subbing for a player. Lets get 10 players based on stats to start the game and roll in the subs. The most liberal way to decide which 10 is perhaps by having a blowjob contest, oops wrong forum.

Question:

How many players should be on the Scrubs roster at the beginning of the season? Take into consideration the cost per player for 3 seasons, the importance of the player, and why Joe is not on the roster next year but Sam is. And how hard it is to get players money on time.

Answer 12+2 reserve players who pay when they play.

This is just a suggestion.

I have heard everyone speak so far and I see Derek's idea and hear his gears turning because there are more people than him that is frustrated but remain calm because we play to have fun first and foremost (winning is very, very, close behind--to win is our purpose right?). I hear Scott and understand Jesse, but there is a more democratic way---A line up rotation.

This line-up rotation will occur every game but the players subbing in will rotate week by week. This is an easy task that will take some obvious planning, but when complete, will be smooth and fluid.

Here's a rough sketch:

Starting batters 1-9 will bat all innings 1-4. 2 starting batters will be subbed out in the 5th, and 4 batters will add at the bottom of the line up in the 4th and 6th innings. The sub rotation will be as follows:

-subs A and B will add at the bottom in inning 4
-subs C and D will add in inning 6.
-subs E and F will sub for 2 starting batters in line-up in inning 5

Next weeks game...
Previous week's 4 subs (A,B,C, and D) will now be in starting line up, and
4 previous week's starters will now be subs.
2 different starters will be subbed in the 5th inning by 2 different E and F subs.
Everyone will be subbed for or will sub at some point in the season, but each player will have some weeks when they are not subbed for at all--They will bat the entire game.

This is a rough sketch, but can be worked out in detail so it will be a smooth rotation. I will volunteer to make a spread sheet if some one wants to get together before a softball game and work things out.

The Scrubs have always had a winning record since we first started this team 6 years ago. Nothing has changed since day 1. The lineup has always been the entire roster.

I think the problem is we have lost 2 games in a row and team moral is down. We are looking to point fingers and the lineup seems to be the logical choice. We have had lineups of 14 players plenty of times and won most of those games. Why is there no mention to fielding errors, more practices, setting up times to go to the cages as a team????

Problems that I see batting only 10:

-Its a 10 game season, its hard to prove yourself riding the bench over 10 games, getting maybe 2 Ab's per game....

-Lets say its a close game, are we going to keep the core 10 guys in the game....I would rather stay home then watch 10 guys win a game I paid to play in...

-Batting order based on, home-runs, on base percentage, batting avg., RBI's, ability to bunt.... Try telling the guy who has more hits but less RBI's that he is riding the pine because he did not meet the criteria... I am not pointing fingers but Gino has crushed the ball the past 2 games but does not have a hit yet....is he riding the pine since he does not have a hit? Rating players this way is a nightmare...and one that I dont want to deal with.

-Lets say you are in a slump but one of our better hitters...are you riding the pine




This is Single A baseball not 18 AAA, not College, not Minors, not Majors.... I personally play baseball to have fun...If I am riding the pine I am not having fun. I think this goes for most if not all the team. If we wanted to be more competitive why did a majority of the team want to stay down in single A?

The original core group of Scrubs left the Reds because they were sick of favoritism. I can bet that everyone who left the Red's has had a better time playing for the Scrubs .... This brings me back to why the Scrubs started their own team..... I could make the Scrubs a better team by bringing in ringers.... "Sound Familiar" .... How bad do we really want to win?

Yes...this post deals with me more then any other player on the team....I can tell you this....If I find myself riding the pine, I am done and would like a refund.... I said this before "the team consist of 15 players, 1 is great, 13 are good, and 1 sucks..." If we bat 10, I can tell you that I am on the bench, are you one of the other 4 players with me? Dont bitch to me if you find yourself not batting....

The real problem to me is a roster of 15 players.... Less players = more Ab's ( Let's concentrate on this rather then the lineup )
-Jesse mentioned 12 players.... Who are the 12 and why?
-How do we determine the 12? (number of season played, how well we like you, batting avg.)
-How do we overcome certain key players who cant afford the $180 + per season

Hey guys, in agreement with the previous posts I do not want to call anyone out or make myself seem any better or more important than anyone else on the team. Scotty I do not at all want to be in your position either and I am very appreciative of everything that you do to organize this team 3 times a year. However, there are some very simple changes than can and should be made to give this team a much better chance of winning every week. Our "core" group of players are far above and beyond every other teams skill level in this division. Our primary problem is not getting the top of our lineup the number of at bats that we need to produce enough runs to win a game. I think the least we can to start out is bat 10 at the beginning of the game: 9 position players and one EH. We have to start rotating bench players throughput the game to allow our best hitters to build us a lead before the 5th (the inning that I usually run out of gas, until my arm is stronger). As for playing the field, this should also be determined by our lead early in the game our ability to sub in players without forfeiting our chance to win. WE ALL WANT TO WIN! Nobody can doubt this. I feel that in a close game like Saturday, we have to put our best infield in the game in the late innings to help protect a 1 run lead. Matty came into the game and did everything he needed to do to get out ofthose tough middle innings but a couple of plays that were not made killed us. Again, ido not want to single anybody out but there are some simple and sensible solutions to losing a close game that we should have won. I would not be opposed to sitting down and discussing this with anyone who is interested and/or concerned. I love this entire team and we do have fun but I want us to give ourselves the best chance to win week and week out and batting 13-15 will not get the job done. On a lighter note, Saturday was probably the best beaseball game we have ever competed in and I was very exciting how we gotdown and came back. Good stufffrom the whole team. Let's see if we can't find a formula that is more conducive to taking the lead early and holding it throughout the game. Much love to you all

Lets look at some stats batting everyone...

From Spring 2008 to Summer 2010 (everything Doug has online)
-The Scrubs have won more games then they have lost, every season.
-We have more plate appearances then our opponents each season.
-Our batting average's have been higher then our opponents each season.

This has all been accomplished with rosters ranging from 12 all the way to 15 players...

And 4 out of the 5 seasons the Scrubs have gone to the playoffs.....


If you think a smaller lineup is key what happened the 1st game? We lost 23 to 8 with only 10 guys.... I was not there so you cant blame 3 outs on me.... and last week we only batted 13 guys not our roster of 15 like it seemed...

The way I look at it, the 1st week we did not have pitching and the 2nd week nobody could hit the pitcher.

All I am trying to say is we have batted 13 guys season after season and have a winning record across the board.

The SD Scrubs was created 6 or more years ago by 4 or 5 guys still on the roster today... We all played for Jimmy and did not like the preferential treatment certain players got. I still stand by this belief and want this team to continue in the same direction. We started this team so everyone could play and have fun. That was our goal. Jimmys goal was to improve each position. Each week Jimmy would bring out a new guy and put him in your position to see who was better. If this is what you want, to win at all costs, go play on his roster of 18 guys and fight for playing time. Talk to Gino, Peter, Matty, Dan, Doug, etc.. the original roster and see if they would liked playing for Jimmy.

I know life is not fair "bla bla bla" but everyone paid the same amount to play baseball. I did not play to sit the bench and watch someone win a game for me. You mention team, I sure dont feel like a part of the TEAM sitting on the bench.

I feel like I am in little league again, knowing I suck and the coach having to play me for at least 3 innings... If this team wants to be more competitive and win "first and foremost", then I am done. I dont want to sit the bench hoping the coach puts me in the game....I did not pay for that... I have a kid at home and would rather spend time with him then on a bench....


Spring 2008:
- .328 overall team batting avg. vs. .284 opponent
- 15 player roster
- 726 plate appearances vs. 711 (with a roster of 15)
Won 12 and lost 5

Fall 2008:
- .359 overall team batting avg. vs. .224
- 13 player roster
- 508 plate appearances vs. 398
Won 8 lost 3

Spring 2009:
- .336 overall team batting avg. vs. .247 opponent
- 15 player roster
- 809 plate appearances vs. 729
Won 11 and lost 6

Fall 2009:
- .379 overall team batting avg. vs. .279
- 12 player roster
- 488 plate appearances vs. 437
Won 7 lost 5

Spring 2010
- .376 overall team batting avg. vs. .266
- 12 player roster
- 440 plate appearances vs. 375
Won 6 lost 3

Summer 2010
- .531 overall team batting avg. vs. 475
- 13 player roster
- cant tell you plate appearances
Won 7 lost 4

Allow me to begin by congratulating Derek on a stellar topic of conversation that has gotten this board smoking hot once again. As I read through everyone's short stories above, I believe everyone has a valid point. With the exception of Brandon Culbertson. I quit baseball in high school because I couldn't hit a curveball and I dropped out of college because I couldn't pass a freakin math class. Leave the formulas and magic potions at the lab. Just kidding B, but really, I am not that smart. Please start writing your posts in english. I sell clothes for a living.
I apologize for that. Moving on...
I am sure Skotty is pacing his living room with his hands on his hips, flabbergasted at what is going to be expected of him this Saturday when he goes to write down a line-up. Now you see why you were "volunteered" to be the skipper. I for one don't really have much of an opinion on this matter and I will explain why:
10 games doesn't seem like much but we will see that it will be a rare occurance that all guys on the roster will show up to all the games. Hasn't happened so far. Guys will miss for various reasons. I missed last week because I stuck my head in a vat of beer and got stuck. Should have sat out and I apologize to all of my teammates for being selfish and taking an inning of outs away from us. I gladly would have sat and watched that game and not asked for a refund. I am a grown man and made a bad decision but I wasn't going to not play and then ask everyone for two bucks to cover my game fees nor should anyone ask for a refund due to vacations, etc. I have had bar tabs for more than our league fees and I am sure 90% of our team has as well. As far as getting your money's worth, well that is up to interpretation. If all you want to do is win, write a check and show up to the games and hope for the best. If you want to have fun, save your money, come be a fan and root us on. If you want to win AND have fun, come be a 4.0 Deli Scrub and put in work. ALL we do is win AND have a blast. Seems like we have forgotten that this is our motto and should be our mantra.
Looks like I actually do have an opinion, and I will continue...
Every Scrub player has at one point and will at some points throughout this season do great things for this team. It would be nice if we were all guaranteed to get 5 hits in 5 at-bats every game but that is not the nature of baseball. We slump at times and rip it at times. At this point I have forgotten my train of thought and if I ever even had a point to make. The emphasis of my rambling is that we are friends before baseball players and shoving someone out of the lineup or asking someone to take a different role may be detrimental to some friendships. Someone will be the bad guy. Time to remind ourselves why we do this....

Well put Doug.
I have been on a championship single A "win at all cost"team, and it didn't make my life anymore fulfilled, my friendship with you guys is what makes my life better.There are very few people out there that get the opportunity to hang out twice a week with there good friends and play sports at a competitive level like we do. I'm not going to be apart of hurting peoples feelings that are my good friends to give 1 more at bat to the top of the lineup. And maybe get a 1st place trophy, like I already have on my shelf in my guest room that is collecting dust.FYI: we have always been the top or close to it in offense, we lose 2 games and now we cant score runs?This is my 2 cents. Peace out. Save the drama for your mama!

Also we can hire a fortune teller to tell Scott before every game who is going to do good. This will solve all our problems.

How do we overcome certain key players who cant afford the $180 + per season

We all played for Jimmy and did not like the preferential treatment certain players got. I still stand by this belief and want this team to continue in the same direction.

Seems a bit of a contradiction Scotty. I left Jimmy for several reasons, some personal, but mostly cause he made bad decisions for the team, did much of what you mentioned, including letting certain players play for free. Why don't we have players come out to softball, play, not pay??? Cause we don't give a shit about softball, its like happy hour minus the beers. It's guy time. Why do we call in 'ringers' and let certain players have preferential treatment in baseball? Cause we all want to WIN. Don't lie to yourself about not caring if we win. If that be the case I need to find another team, cause that's bullshit!

Number of players: My apologies to the team for a roster of 15... The new 3 season format is hard to grasp...It seems like when one season is winding down another one starts the next week... It was rather difficult this season to get certain people to give me a yes or no answer if they wanted to play. So i opened the roster up and it backfired and we ended up with 15.

Why don't you assume that the core group of guys is 'in' every year. I look around and see the same clowns you do each Saturday,..the same for many seasons now. I like everyone on our team, I wouldn't say get rid of anyone. But 15 is a lot, it's a compliment to our team that so many people want to be involved in our organization I suppose.

What I expect from my manager:
--Know before the game who's in, be a man and know 24 hrs ahead if you aren't showing. Hungover isn't an excuse, get your ass there and play 1st base coach!
--Have the line-up made before the game--show some thought. It was a joke before, but you need to think about where people need to go. And that goes for defense also, need we forget we've played horrid D the last few games.
--Leave the pitching changes to the pitchers. Pitchers need to be understanding of their skills when you're done. No shame in getting out there on the bump and giving an inning, and move on. I can't do it...Pitchers only communicate this. Rob, Matty, Doc, Brent, Scooter period. If you got your stuff step up.

WESTSIDE!!!

1st let me apologize to anyone with hurt feelings, that wasn’t the purpose of my post.
2nd Brandon I actually understood your formula, but anytime you need to bring a spread sheet to make a lineup you’ve got problems. Ha
3rd My main concern was with the roster size (poorly worded and titled in the previous post). It hit me on Saturday that we were batting 13 and we’re still missing 2 people. As Scott pointed out we typically have 13 on the team and usually a couple guys miss and we bat an avg of 11. Now if a couple guys miss we bat 13 (which in years past didn’t happen very often where we had to bat our entire roster 13, which was fine with me I would deal with). My concern is what do we do when all 15 show up. If it’s all about fun, then that’s not fun to me.
Speaking of which, if it’s all about fun then why am I asked to pitch a couple of times a game. It’s not fun for me to go home with my elbow throbbing for a week and a half after one inning of pitching. I thought I was asked to pitch to help this team win. We need to figure out what our team mission statement is and post it on the website, because it is obvious that people have different philosophies/goals to how this team should perform. I know, whole other topic to light people up on. I will say this there is nothing better than kicking the shit out of someone with your boys!!
G yes you’re probably right that your life isn’t more fulfilled having a trophy collecting more dust, but I will say you created a memory or experience at Tony Gwynn Stadium that nobody can take away from you!!
4th , as Dan stated its all of our responsibility to let Scott know if we are going to make it. If you’re unreliable then Scott will call someone up to fill your shoes(what’s best for the team) and if you show up as well then we lose more at bats. I understand it is a lot more difficult with 3 seasons trying to figure out who’s playing and who isn’t and Dan is right we have a core group that play every year, but it is up to us to confirm to Scott that we are coming back. Like I said in the previous post if haven’t paid you don’t play. Scott what else do you need us to do to help you not have a roster of 15 again (unless we know a lot of guys will be missing games that season)?
Finally, this post is not met to hurt, offend, or make fun of anyone on the scrubs team!!!

The express written views does not mean the parent company, pbinc, agrees with these terms or beliefs

Just to add some numbers to this debate (trust me, I don't want to get engaged in the argument): I pulled the books on the last 27 games, ending with last Saturday's. That includes all of the 2010 games so far, as well as the end of Fall 2009 (just happened to be where the scorebook I grabbed started).

In the 27 games, the Scrubs have averaged 11.4 players in the lineup per game. We've batted 14 once, 13 three times, 12 six times, 11 twelve times, 10 five times. Our substituting has been minimal, usually involving Cole. The extremely long lineups (12+ batters) have been the exception, although it does knock down everyone's ABs.

I'm not going to calculate the won-lost records at each level of lineup. I suppose someone could, the information is all there on the Stats page.

Regardless what the consensus of the team turns out to be, if there is one, I will continue to register all the "usual suspects" with SDABL before each season starts. Then, if they show up for a game, they're legal.

I am OUT.

Doug...... What is the magic number to get out of the minor leagues as far as posting goes? I so want to be a big leaguer

That is highly classified and the gods of baseball have spoken from on high that they will smite me with a line drive foul if I ever reveal the number. They actually sent me a warning shot last Saturday. But you're getting very close. Keep posting!