Enhancement ideas for NSBB

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Are the blogs going to be linked to the message boards so that people can discuss what the bloggers are writing about?

That is my intent. Kind of like how the articles have a link to a thread down at the bottom. I might go one step further and display the messages in the thread at the bottom of the blog post, though. I'll have to think about the best way that can be done.

 

Cool. If deemed worthy, I'll do a blog.

[Guest]

Are the blogs going to be linked to the message boards so that people can discuss what the bloggers are writing about?

That is my intent. Kind of like how the articles have a link to a thread down at the bottom. I might go one step further and display the messages in the thread at the bottom of the blog post, though. I'll have to think about the best way that can be done.

 

Cool. If deemed worthy, I'll do a blog.

I'm thinking I'll keep it pretty open to anyone that wants to do one (and abides by my simple guidelines stated earlier). If the number of them becomes large, I'll probably set up through RSS so that people will be able to see when one of the blogs they've subscribed to has a new entry.

[series65cubsfan]

Great ideas Tim. I was thinking that living in the Los Angeles area there are many colleges, universities and high schools that spectators could scout players at. Pepperdine is in Malibu, Chatsworth, Sylmar, Garfield and many more high schools play ball and have good prospects come out of their systems.

 

I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if Raisin would still follow UCLA players. Would you want high school and college scouting as well as minor league scouting? Rancho Cucamonga isn't that far from here and the Quakes have a great bunch of prospects for the Angels. It's probably the best way I could help the site.

[CubsInNC]

All I can say about having the contracts database here is that I have some downstream ideas on how to use that information. Here are a few examples: the database could be used for analyzing team structures and trying to discern tendencies of various GM's; combining it with stats to look at production per dollar or true player value: creating a "GM Simulator" that could be used to simulate trades, build teams, etc. There are more ideas beyond that, but it gives a flavor of why I want the database to be available on the site for other uses.

 

And that's why I don't admin (among many other reasons) this site or 1 like it. I'd never pushed the thoughts that far. But it would be helpful. Simple queries targeting team's budgets 3 years down the road so you know now whom you likely will be able to get in a salary dump in 2 years.... I get it. It makes a TON of sense. But I think that it would make sense to get the stats up and running first, because that honestly will be the most likely strain on the server (probably need it's own tbh), and will likely eat up the most RAM and HD space. So adding contract data on top of that will be "child's play." This may not be PG enough, but I liken it to bittorrent trackers. There's usually a webserver, and a tracker, each run on seperate machine. Some of the more "potent" trackers likely have 3 seperate servers, if not a 4th. One exclusively for the needs of the database, one for webserver, one for tracker. This allows for the spread of the core processes across 3 boxes, 3 RAM sets, and 3 HDs. Mega good.

 

On the stats:

 

BK found a way to programatically get pitch by pitch data loaded into the database. The stats package would be based on that data source and would give the finest grain of detail available anywhere. If you'd like to know how often a player swings at balls high and out of the zone as opposed to low and away, what their batting average is, whether they tend to hit home runs on pitches up in the zone or down in the zone, etc. -- all that would be available. There's an incredible amount of data there and my only concern with doing that one first would be that I think I'm going to have to get a second server up and running and do some load balancing to properly serve those pages in combination with the forum. The cost of doing that is going to be pretty steep.

 

The cost is going to be steep, but the cost is going to be steep any time you do it. What I'd suggest, and I don't know if you've done this in any steps so far, but I'd get it started now. Because it's also going to likely take the most time and effort. Once your biggest database is done, and operable, on your test machine, bring it over to the site (or if you have it internet accessible as is leave it) and let your mod's test it's functionality. Bring in a few people to see if they can break it. It's pretty much a guarantee that the stats DB will need it's own server because of the RAM and processor requirements. So, you don't have to bring it online until you're set with that. But developmentally, you probably need to have it done before you do any of the other parts that will tie in to that DB. It's almost as if you'd have to roll that, the blogs, and the player info out at the same time. Player info, so the stats are at least starting to be utilized, and blogs for the extra money. Once you get close to the roll-out (and it's been beta tested to hell and back), I'd advertise the coming stats and blogs on the front page, as well as mention the other things you know that are going to eventually happen. And maybe some of the members here (fans of this team or other teams) could make mention of the changes on those fansites.

 

I'll assist you in any way I possibly can in this. If you don't have a beta test site for the stats DB, I can probably help you with that as well. Lemme know.

[Guest]

Great ideas Tim. I was thinking that living in the Los Angeles area there are many colleges, universities and high schools that spectators could scout players at. Pepperdine is in Malibu, Chatsworth, Sylmar, Garfield and many more high schools play ball and have good prospects come out of their systems.

 

I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if Raisin would still follow UCLA players. Would you want high school and college scouting as well as minor league scouting? Rancho Cucamonga isn't that far from here and the Quakes have a great bunch of prospects for the Angels. It's probably the best way I could help the site.

Hmm...I was mainly thinking about players already in pro ball, but once the infrastructure is built, I could extend it to cover amateur ball, too. I'd just need to build the database of teams & players.

[Guest]

All I can say about having the contracts database here is that I have some downstream ideas on how to use that information. Here are a few examples: the database could be used for analyzing team structures and trying to discern tendencies of various GM's; combining it with stats to look at production per dollar or true player value: creating a "GM Simulator" that could be used to simulate trades, build teams, etc. There are more ideas beyond that, but it gives a flavor of why I want the database to be available on the site for other uses.

 

And that's why I don't admin (among many other reasons) this site or 1 like it. I'd never pushed the thoughts that far. But it would be helpful. Simple queries targeting team's budgets 3 years down the road so you know now whom you likely will be able to get in a salary dump in 2 years.... I get it. It makes a TON of sense. But I think that it would make sense to get the stats up and running first, because that honestly will be the most likely strain on the server (probably need it's own tbh), and will likely eat up the most RAM and HD space. So adding contract data on top of that will be "child's play." This may not be PG enough, but I liken it to bittorrent trackers. There's usually a webserver, and a tracker, each run on seperate machine. Some of the more "potent" trackers likely have 3 seperate servers, if not a 4th. One exclusively for the needs of the database, one for webserver, one for tracker. This allows for the spread of the core processes across 3 boxes, 3 RAM sets, and 3 HDs. Mega good.

My thinking is that I could run the contracts, transactions, scouting & blogs off the current server without expanding. The stats are going to be both database and processor intensive enough that they'll require their own server on their own, if not splitting that amongst a couple servers for itself as you suggest.

 

On the stats:

 

BK found a way to programatically get pitch by pitch data loaded into the database. The stats package would be based on that data source and would give the finest grain of detail available anywhere. If you'd like to know how often a player swings at balls high and out of the zone as opposed to low and away, what their batting average is, whether they tend to hit home runs on pitches up in the zone or down in the zone, etc. -- all that would be available. There's an incredible amount of data there and my only concern with doing that one first would be that I think I'm going to have to get a second server up and running and do some load balancing to properly serve those pages in combination with the forum. The cost of doing that is going to be pretty steep.

 

The cost is going to be steep, but the cost is going to be steep any time you do it. What I'd suggest, and I don't know if you've done this in any steps so far, but I'd get it started now. Because it's also going to likely take the most time and effort. Once your biggest database is done, and operable, on your test machine, bring it over to the site (or if you have it internet accessible as is leave it) and let your mod's test it's functionality. Bring in a few people to see if they can break it. It's pretty much a guarantee that the stats DB will need it's own server because of the RAM and processor requirements. So, you don't have to bring it online until you're set with that. But developmentally, you probably need to have it done before you do any of the other parts that will tie in to that DB. It's almost as if you'd have to roll that, the blogs, and the player info out at the same time. Player info, so the stats are at least starting to be utilized, and blogs for the extra money. Once you get close to the roll-out (and it's been beta tested to hell and back), I'd advertise the coming stats and blogs on the front page, as well as mention the other things you know that are going to eventually happen. And maybe some of the members here (fans of this team or other teams) could make mention of the changes on those fansites.

 

I'll assist you in any way I possibly can in this. If you don't have a beta test site for the stats DB, I can probably help you with that as well. Lemme know.

The cost will be steep. I'm guessing it would raise my baseline costs on the site to at least $1000 per month to run that kind of architecture. My current revenues don't even approach that level. So while I can work on the development of the stats right away, I think I'd have to launch some of the other enhancements first to ramp up the site revenues to pay for the extra hardware / bandwidth.

 

As for advertising, I'm going to boost my ad budget significantly once these enhancements are coming online.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Here's my thinking this morning on the sequence...

 

If I'm looking to get one of these done by the end of the year, the scouting enhancement would be lowest priority. That doesn't really help until spring training (at the earliest). The contract & transaction enhancements are probably most appropriate to the season. The blogs are year-round. The stats are most appropriate in-year, but can also be very interesting during the offseason. The player pages will probably be last because information from the other enhancements need to be built-in first.

 

I like your order and agree because the scouting aspect seems the most open-ended and biggest. The contract wiki has already got a start thanks to what you and TT did earlier, so it'd be an easier one to keep going.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Great ideas Tim. I was thinking that living in the Los Angeles area there are many colleges, universities and high schools that spectators could scout players at. Pepperdine is in Malibu, Chatsworth, Sylmar, Garfield and many more high schools play ball and have good prospects come out of their systems.

 

I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if Raisin would still follow UCLA players. Would you want high school and college scouting as well as minor league scouting? Rancho Cucamonga isn't that far from here and the Quakes have a great bunch of prospects for the Angels. It's probably the best way I could help the site.

 

I head out to Rancho a couple times a year (last year I saw Jered Weaver, Kendry Morales, Howie Kendrick and Brandon Wood; this year, I saw Nick Adenhart). Also, the Dodgers have moved their high-A team from Vero Beach to San Bernardino. And I'll definitely go wherever I have to (including Lancaster) to see Justin Upton next year.

[Derwood]

what is the fee for having a blog?

[Andy]

what is the fee for having a blog?

A poor college student can probably scrum up the money for a fee, but I won't object if I can donate my Google-ad revenues to the site in lieu of one.

[Guest]

what is the fee for having a blog?

A poor college student can probably scrum up the money for a fee, but I won't object if I can donate my Google-ad revenues to the site in lieu of one.

This would be the more likely scenario based on how the conversation has flowed.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

what is the fee for having a blog?

A poor college student can probably scrum up the money for a fee, but I won't object if I can donate my Google-ad revenues to the site in lieu of one.

This would be the more likely scenario based on how the conversation has flowed.

 

Tim,

 

Would it be possible to make having a blog a benefit of premium users with those individuals keeping their google ad share, while non-premium users could have a blog as well, but google ad share would go to the site?

[Guest]

what is the fee for having a blog?

A poor college student can probably scrum up the money for a fee, but I won't object if I can donate my Google-ad revenues to the site in lieu of one.

This would be the more likely scenario based on how the conversation has flowed.

 

Tim,

 

Would it be possible to make having a blog a benefit of premium users with those individuals keeping their google ad share, while non-premium users could have a blog as well, but google ad share would go to the site?

Sure, that would be possible.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Here's my thinking this morning on the sequence...

 

If I'm looking to get one of these done by the end of the year, the scouting enhancement would be lowest priority. That doesn't really help until spring training (at the earliest). The contract & transaction enhancements are probably most appropriate to the season. The blogs are year-round. The stats are most appropriate in-year, but can also be very interesting during the offseason. The player pages will probably be last because information from the other enhancements need to be built-in first.

 

I like your order and agree because the scouting aspect seems the most open-ended and biggest. The contract wiki has already got a start thanks to what you and TT did earlier, so it'd be an easier one to keep going.

 

I'm disappointed to point out that due to the previously mentioned time constraints, and the general malaise the Cubs suckitude has brought upon me, a lot of the information I had is now out of date. Over the summer I had a brief run of inspiration and got a little bit squared away, but there's a good deal of work to get the information updated even before this offseason. My laptop screen crapping out on me this morning isn't helping matters either. However, with Tim back in a more active role I'm going to try to make more of an effort to get it back to where it was(after the '04 offseason I was pretty sure I had mostly all the correct info for just about everybody).

[Derwood]

You can put me down to blog about at least the NYPL, and would be happy to take on other assignments. Maybe all the Short-A leagues? There's only 2 or 3, right?

[Outshined_One]

Will these blogs just be about the Cubs, baseball in general, or could it stretch out to other areas (say, football)?

[Guest]

Will these blogs just be about the Cubs, baseball in general, or could it stretch out to other areas (say, football)?

I'd want them to be primarily about baseball.

 

further announcements about football/basketball may or may not be forthcoming. :D

[Outshined_One]

Will these blogs just be about the Cubs, baseball in general, or could it stretch out to other areas (say, football)?

I'd want them to be primarily about baseball.

 

further announcements about football/basketball may or may not be forthcoming. :D

 

Count me in, then. ;)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I would love to do a blog on the minors (if anyone would actually read it is another matter), but then my post count would take a big hit. :(

[Andy]

I tried to keep a Cubs daily blog this season (including Cubs MVP for each game, rundown of when and how the game-winning run scored, winning or losing pitcher for the Cubs, etc), but by mid-May they had sucked all the life out of me in that regard. Of course, no one was looking at that one, so the thought of people actually viewing a blog would be enough motivation in itself to keep going even if they suck. :D

[Derwood]

yep, 2. NYPL and NWL. I'm down for blogging on those....wouldn't even have to start until mid June :)

[Twiggy]

Hey Tim, if your blog idea doesn't work out I know where some of the people that would write a few articles etc can get some work :) Good luck they all sound like great additions for NSBB

[soccer10k]

I would love to do a blog, but if I was going to do one it would have to be for all sports so count me out for that. With the new sportswriting job (and keeping my old bartending/managing restaurant job part time as well) I don't have a ton of free time anymore. I like the general blog idea though.

[Guest]

3) Stats.nsbb.com

 

• Bob’s Keeper and I were working to get a very significant and sophisticated set of stats and visualization tools up and running. That is still one of my primary near-term goals. It would be a stats database unlike anything out there on the web (that I’ve seen anyway).

Yeah... Sorry I've kind of lapsed on this one, Tim. I pretty much had the scripts working like I wanted them to back in June when various circumstances pulled the rug out from under me. First and foremost was yet another change in the data source's format, coupled with a sudden and sustained lack of free time for me fix the errors this caused. I seem to say this to myself every few weeks, but hopefully I'll have more time to devote to this project pretty soon.

 

On the downside, the functionality will be a bit more limited than I had initially hoped; Pitch location information stopped being posted around mid-season.

 

EDIT: Oh, and if anyone is curious as to what kind of stats we're talking about here, it would be a database like the one used to generate reports like this one.

[hardcorecubfan]

What should come first?

 

the easiest and most recognizable feature by web users, with the intent that tyhe most unique idea which will probably take a bit more time follow. Delegate to others thing that can be handle by others.

 

These are great ideas you have and I am glad that stupid job stuff isn't in your way, besides who needs to feed a family?