Josh Raup is
The Minister of Strat Mayhem
Volume II, Number 2
June, 2002
The Psychology of Strat
My friend Al, in his column, talked
about how playing Strat has changed many of his baseball views. And, in general I agree with his assessments
about it. But I first discovered this
phenomenon while playing Roto baseball.
It get’s even more interesting when watching games, and it’s your batter
against your pitcher. Who do you root
for? Or as Al put it, Who do you
looooove?
As
the Doc is at loose ends for a while, I thought I’d get his comments on
this. That and I’m being real lazy and
unimaginative about my subject matter this time. Thanks for being my inspiration Al. You’re my hero. >bats eyelashes<
“Fantasy
sports brings on many a psychosis for it’s participants.” The Doc witched into
full lecture mode. “Games such as Strat
break down the traditional loyalties of fans.
They find themselves pulling for guys on teams that only recently were
the hated enemy. A Red Sox fan who has
Derek Jeter on his fantasy team, will be torn apart psychologically if Jeter
has a great game against the Sox, and wins the game. “
“Ok,
I see your point. I certainly find
myself in that situation. Another
friend of mine once asked, which would you prefer in that situation, your
pitcher doing well, or your hitter?”
“I’ll
take the pitcher. Hitters have more
opportunities to rebound from a bad game than do pitchers. One bad game can ruin a pitcher for a long
time. While a bad game for a hitter is
a blip on the radar screen. “
“I
agree. But what else goes on in the
Strat players mind in the regular baseball season?”
“Well,
the normal team loyalties are weakened if not broken by playing games like
Strat. Players find themselves scanning
the box scores and highlights for players on teams that under normal
circumstances, they wouldn’t have bothered with. Red Sox fans looking at Yankee player stats, Dodger fans looking
at Giants players, that sort of thing.
Of course, no matter what team certain players may play for, a Strat
player’s hatred for them will transcend even if they play for their favorite
team.”
“Now
that I can relate to. I couldn’t get
rid of Wade Boggs or Rickey Henderson when I had them on my Strat team.”
“Exactly. Some dislikes carry on no matter what, and
that’s a good instance.”
“So
what else is there lurking in the mind of a Strat player?”
“Darkness
and evil. Very dark, very evil
thoughts.”
“Care
to explain?”
“Sure.
When it comes down to it, Strat is a cut throat game. Owners scheme and plot not only to better their own team, but to
ruin as many of their opponents as possible.
And some will try anything to get their way. Much like big league GMs and owners.”
“Ah
I see. That explains a lot.”
“Amazing
isn’t it?”
“Sure
is. Now, in the past we’ve talked about
ways of throwing your opponent off during a game. How about in the trade market?”
“Well,
that’s a bit more involved. One has to
be more devious, and sly, and ruthless to get the best of a trade.”
“Expand
upon that if you will.”
“Well,
first off, you hype up the guys you’re looking to move. Then you down play the impact of the guys
you want to acquire. “
“Like
in Al’s article, when he talked about Larry.”
“Sort
of. How successful has Larry been?”
“Not
very really. Most of his deals are
pretty transparent.”
“Ah,
so he isn’t sly enough to get the deal done.
If he was slicker, he’d run away with the league every year. That’s the key…you have to sell the deal so
that your opponent thinks he’s getting the best of the deal, irregardless of
the actual impact. It’s not so much a
science as an art form. There is a
special art to trading, and not everyone has a talent for it.”
“I
think I got that. This would also apply
to drafting too wouldn’t it?”
“Absolutely. Drafting borrows many of the same concepts
as trading. You sell up marginal
prospects and players, while short changing the top guys so you can draft them
yourself. Also, as draft picks are often part of trading proposals, making the
right move with picks can be as important, if not more so than a normal trade
just involving players. It is a
significant portion of the game, besides actually playing the game itself.”
“Anything
else you care to expound upon?”
“I
think that pretty much covers the basics of this. Unless of course you want me to go into clinical detail about the
effects long term Strat playing has upon the psyche of an individual.”
“No,
not really, at least not now.”
“I
thought so. So, when do I get to write
my own column again?”
“When
you come up with an original idea to talk about.”
“Sure,
make it difficult. You just don’t want
me to take over don’t you?”
“That’s
got nothing to do with it. Get an
original idea, and it’s yours again for a column.”
“Fine,
be that way.”
As
usual, I thought more about what the Doc said as I hung up the phone. One would
think that with all this great advice, I would be doing much better at this
game than I am. And I should be really. But, as they say, we wouldn’t have to play
the games if everything went as predicted.
So, here I sit, struggling through another year of Strat, watching great
players under achieve, and marginal players over achieve. Too bad none of the over achievers are my
guys.
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