If I ever had Donald Trump or Bill Gates type money, one of the very first things I would do is buy a professional sports
franchise. With the program Baseball Mogul 2007, it effectively lets a user simulate a baseball franchise from behind the
scenes.
Two things constantly seem to stand in the way of the Devil Rays being a winning team. 1) Payroll. This is easily fixed
in the game with the feature of comissioner mode. I have increased the Devil Rays payroll to BEYOND that of the New York
Yankees to 400 Million. A Donald Trump/Bill Gates type persona would probably do the same thing, commit to win. Or think to
real life examples a la Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. No, he did not have his team win the NBA Championship but
his team DID make it to the finals. Which goes to show, if you do it right, you get the right results.
Another example is my hometown team the Buccaneers. Culverhouse, cheap owner, cheap reaults. The Glazers, go for it
all and get it all in return (though Tony Dungy was ousted in a less then classy way but that is another subject
for another time). You spend money, eg payroll, you get quality. Much like the majority of modern corperate America, The Devil
Rays think that they can get get more done with less.
2) The AL EAST. Not exactly a great division for a young Team. It is brutal having the Red Sox and Yankees in the same
division year in and year out. Thanks again to the magic of the commissoner mode, I am realigning the Devil Rays to the American
League WEST and shifting Seattle to take the place of the Devil Rays in the AL EAST.
With those two huge speedbumps out of the way the last thing to do is sign some freaking starting pitchers to boost
Kazmir and Shields that DON'T SUCK. Done, thanks to the wonderful payroll feature.
With all that prolouge out of the way, let's take the afternoon off, get out the hot dogs and mustard, but the 8 dollar
beers (or 5 dollar sodas), add on the fries and sit down to a simulated year of Devil Rays baseball on my fictional Radio
Station.
Just to wet your anticipation some one of the pitchers that the simulated DRays have signed is Roger
Clemens.
Thanks to Baseball Mogul 2007 and Dynastymanager.com for bringing this
all together in my mind : - )
