First thanks to the Pikes Peak Rum Runners as the Baseballczar 03 World Series Champions! This season’s post season offered an exciting and in some places extraordinary games.
I wanted to outline a few items that are important for the near and long term.
Lineups: RFA moves and newly aquired players are not autoplaced into your lineup. Games will be delayed if lineups are not set.
Long Term:
I am still working on a new User Interface. There is a demo of the page essentially for looking, but not navigating, at the end of this blog is a link to the demo. I feel it is a vast improvement over our current UI layout. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I had planned to release this by July, which brings me to my next item.
My full time job is with a national news organization. This week I am going to Afghanistan for about two weeks on assignment. I will have very limited access to Baseballczar for that period of time. So please be patient with any problems the site has. I can’t guarantee I will be able to address issues as they arise or answer emails. I will send a tweet out when the our air date comes up in late July. This will also force the new UI into late July/early August
That said:
Please make sure the lineups, rotations and bullpens are not missing players. If it is games will not get played. If your game did not get played check your lineup, rotation and bullpen for a missing player. In the last month 100% of games not being played were from missing players in a team’s lineup, rotation or bullpen.
Upcoming Season 4:
The focus is on continuing work on the UI, and updating outdated pages. Currently I'm working on an over haul of the Private Leagues.
New Features of the UI in development:
Drop down menus
Team Avatars via Gravatar.com
New easier to read layout.
New features in development:
Inviting Friends, - To make Baseballczar better we need more players. We will make it easy to invite friends to play along. Of course you can always just invite your friends anyways.
New Lineup/Pitching Roster Page - Making it easier to set the lineups.
Training Page - A much needed upgrade to the player training interface.
Farm System - Want to develop players faster? Send them to the farm, create working agreements with other managers to swap players to increase their skills.
Karma - Players will use the Karma created by your participation in Baseballczar. Karma will be an asset your team uses to create a better team.
Any questions just shootem my way.
See you on the field.
Rod Griola
Founder
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
RFA SHUT DOWN-UPDATE
All good RFA is back up and running.
I had to shut down the offers because the offers were being immediately accepted. I know what the problem is I just need to work through the code and fix it. I will update this ASAP. Though the players will still take offers ALL RFA OFFERS WILL BE RESET, once I fix the bug.
Thanks for your patience,
RG
Thanks for your patience,
RG
Friday, June 17, 2011
Monday is Free Agent Week
Just a reminder Monday starts free agent week or your opportunity to sign any Restricted Free Agent with 0 years on his contract. All RFA's can be viewed in advance here if you are signed in. RFA LIST
Not sure what an RFA is? Click Here
Players not on a manager's team cannot be fully viewed until the start of RFA week Monday at Midnight EDT. But you can get a sense of who is out there.
Changes from last season:
RFA signing period will be open from Midnight June 20 - 11:59pm June 25 EDT.
Players will take offers all week. Last season a player would decide after 3 days.
Newly signed RFA's will appear on your roster day 1 of the next season June 27, first game season 4 is June 29.
RFA players not receiving an offer from any team, including their own, are auto signed to their current team by the Sim to a 1 year contract with roughly a 15% pay raise. Managers that do not want a player can release him after the start of the next season with no penalty.
I did this because last season only about 15% of all RFA's got an offer. Which would have given the league 800 Free Agents and a massive amount lineups to fill by either the Sim or Managers themselves. This also gives everyone a chance to manage team personnel given the quick turnaround of the season.
Not sure what an RFA is? Click Here
Players not on a manager's team cannot be fully viewed until the start of RFA week Monday at Midnight EDT. But you can get a sense of who is out there.
Changes from last season:
RFA signing period will be open from Midnight June 20 - 11:59pm June 25 EDT.
Players will take offers all week. Last season a player would decide after 3 days.
Newly signed RFA's will appear on your roster day 1 of the next season June 27, first game season 4 is June 29.
RFA players not receiving an offer from any team, including their own, are auto signed to their current team by the Sim to a 1 year contract with roughly a 15% pay raise. Managers that do not want a player can release him after the start of the next season with no penalty.
I did this because last season only about 15% of all RFA's got an offer. Which would have given the league 800 Free Agents and a massive amount lineups to fill by either the Sim or Managers themselves. This also gives everyone a chance to manage team personnel given the quick turnaround of the season.
Round 2 Games Delayed
There was a hiccup in the Sim that has delayed games from being played. The problem is now resolved. 3rd Round Games Should be booked ASAP.
RG
RG
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Season 3 Post Season first round upsets!
As we descend into post season play the first round came off with a major upset. The Defending World Series Champions and #1 seed Oaklawn Warrior were upset by the NY Spartans. Though not completely surprising the NY Spartans came in second place in MLB this season and have been with Baseballczar since nearly the beginning.
Check out the Round 1 results and Round 2 Match ups in the playoff link in the sidebar.
A quick note about round 2. Group 33 should be Iowa Corn Growers v The Bat Crushers. The Sim added the incorrect team name to the match up and should be corrected by tonight.
Round 2 starts June 16th at Noon.
RG
Check out the Round 1 results and Round 2 Match ups in the playoff link in the sidebar.
A quick note about round 2. Group 33 should be Iowa Corn Growers v The Bat Crushers. The Sim added the incorrect team name to the match up and should be corrected by tonight.
Round 2 starts June 16th at Noon.
RG
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
First Round Season 4 Post Season Booked
The first round is booked for the fourth exciting season of Baseballczar post season play! Games start at 12noon Eastern Time Tuesday June 14th 2011. All managers check out the seedings, if you see any problems let us know ASAP.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Post Season-Thanks-New-Interface-Update
So I just realized I've been a little off the radar as of late. With the post season and Season 4 fast approaching I have been working on a new design and concept for Baseballczar.
The first part rolls out in July with a new UI (user interface).
Check it out here == > BBZ UI Concept Page<==
New UI Features:
Most all Manager tools will be available via a dropdown menu. The goal is to give managers no more than 2 clicks to get to all parts of the site. Also each page should have 2 ways to nav to it, ie lineups and rotations.
The GM, Clubhouse, and Owner pages will be removed, though the dropdown will still use these as menu headings. These pages essentially provided interim snapshots of each of the sub pages available. Removing these pages is sort of a no brainer. I feel this approach should make nav much quicker and direct given the new drop downs menus.
The Site Guides are all being moved to the drop down link.
The Team Data will move to the left side, with the right side containing a "Team Box" with Team Vitals, Team History, and Team Assets.
The Team Box will change depending on which team is being viewed. This will provide a better snapshot of deals your team has been working and other public team data. We will add Icons that will notify managers to invites for Private Leagues, Sandlot Games, and Transactions.
Best of all the Team Box will have a spot for a Team Logo or Picture. Gravatar.com provides the server backbone for this feature. Managers will need to sign up for a Gravatar account separate from Baseballczar but you will be able to manage those images outside our site and use them wherever Gravatar is supported. Check out Gravatar.com for more info.
On the Team Data side ie Standings, Scoreboard, Schedule will be have improved navagation and layouts.
Changes to Features:
Head to Head Games become Sandlot Games. To challenge a team Managers will have to nav to the team's home page and click the Sandlot Icon. There will be a new larger icon to notify teams of invites to this.
Private Leagues will be updated to make invites easier to deal with. The current system is a little clumsy and incomplete. One update will allow managers to create "Open Leagues" to allow any manager to join regardless of invite.
Set Game Roster. I am working on a quick set roster that will allow managers to change the lineup or rotation or bullpen with available players. Adding new players to the game rosters will still require a the other set lineup page.
New Features
These will be implemented over the summer, with a target for season 5.
"THE FARM"
Build your own minor league system via working agreements with other Teams. The complete system has not been finalized. The concept allows players to be loaned out on either a options system, similar to the MLB's 40 Man Roster or Season to Season Loan similar to loan system in European Soccer.
"FRIENDS"
Yes you will be able to make friends in Baseballczar. The final system has not been set yet but it will integrate with other site features.
"FORUMS"
We will set up a public BBZ Forum for all of us to participate in the dialogue of Baseball. We are currently looking for a vendor for this feature that will integrate with our registration system.
"KARMA"
Give a little get a little. The more a manager participates in baseballczar the higher the Karma. Your players feed off of your interest in them and the site.
"Facebook"
Add Facebook Connect to allow you to log in with your fb userID and password. Registration will still need to be done through Baseballczar then connect to facebook.
Any questions just shoot'em my way.
RG
The first part rolls out in July with a new UI (user interface).
Check it out here == > BBZ UI Concept Page<==
New UI Features:
Most all Manager tools will be available via a dropdown menu. The goal is to give managers no more than 2 clicks to get to all parts of the site. Also each page should have 2 ways to nav to it, ie lineups and rotations.
The GM, Clubhouse, and Owner pages will be removed, though the dropdown will still use these as menu headings. These pages essentially provided interim snapshots of each of the sub pages available. Removing these pages is sort of a no brainer. I feel this approach should make nav much quicker and direct given the new drop downs menus.
The Site Guides are all being moved to the drop down link.
The Team Data will move to the left side, with the right side containing a "Team Box" with Team Vitals, Team History, and Team Assets.
The Team Box will change depending on which team is being viewed. This will provide a better snapshot of deals your team has been working and other public team data. We will add Icons that will notify managers to invites for Private Leagues, Sandlot Games, and Transactions.
Best of all the Team Box will have a spot for a Team Logo or Picture. Gravatar.com provides the server backbone for this feature. Managers will need to sign up for a Gravatar account separate from Baseballczar but you will be able to manage those images outside our site and use them wherever Gravatar is supported. Check out Gravatar.com for more info.
On the Team Data side ie Standings, Scoreboard, Schedule will be have improved navagation and layouts.
Changes to Features:
Head to Head Games become Sandlot Games. To challenge a team Managers will have to nav to the team's home page and click the Sandlot Icon. There will be a new larger icon to notify teams of invites to this.
Private Leagues will be updated to make invites easier to deal with. The current system is a little clumsy and incomplete. One update will allow managers to create "Open Leagues" to allow any manager to join regardless of invite.
Set Game Roster. I am working on a quick set roster that will allow managers to change the lineup or rotation or bullpen with available players. Adding new players to the game rosters will still require a the other set lineup page.
New Features
These will be implemented over the summer, with a target for season 5.
"THE FARM"
Build your own minor league system via working agreements with other Teams. The complete system has not been finalized. The concept allows players to be loaned out on either a options system, similar to the MLB's 40 Man Roster or Season to Season Loan similar to loan system in European Soccer.
"FRIENDS"
Yes you will be able to make friends in Baseballczar. The final system has not been set yet but it will integrate with other site features.
"FORUMS"
We will set up a public BBZ Forum for all of us to participate in the dialogue of Baseball. We are currently looking for a vendor for this feature that will integrate with our registration system.
"KARMA"
Give a little get a little. The more a manager participates in baseballczar the higher the Karma. Your players feed off of your interest in them and the site.
"Facebook"
Add Facebook Connect to allow you to log in with your fb userID and password. Registration will still need to be done through Baseballczar then connect to facebook.
Any questions just shoot'em my way.
RG
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