John Capobianco

[Former Indians GM (John C.)]

What is your name, age and general location?
  Hi -- I am John Capobianco, I am 56 years old, and I live in the Dallas TX area (McKinney, a suburb of North Dallas area).


What is your email address?
  [e-mail]


Which is your favorite real life team? How did you end up following them?
  I am a Texas Rangers fan, mostly because I am a "sports chameleon" who now lives in the Dallas area.  I am also a Marlins fan and a Rays fan (I was born in Tampa, Florida, and I grew up in south Florida -- I was a fan of the Marlins from when they first started playing in 1993 as an expansion team).  I am a retired US Air Force pilot, and now I am a pilot for Southwest Airlines, so I have moved a LOT.  I have been a fan (because of team proximity) of the Los Angles Dodgers (their Spring Training used to be in Vero Beach, Florida, about 30 miles north of where I grew up in Stuart FL), the California Angels (now LA Angels), the Seattle Mariners, the St Louis Cardinals, the Kansas City Royals, the Washington Nationals, and the Atlanta Braves.


How did you find this league?
  Pure happenstance!  I am currently in the Rotobaseballl league (it appears that several Rotobaseballl alums are here -- Hi Mac and Robert!).  I am really, really trying to help Darth to maintain that league, but it often feels like I am relegated to the role of Sisyphus, doomed by Zeus to forever push a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down again.  I am the Texas Rangers GM in that league, and I am also keeping the 8 un-owned team rosters up to date -- three of those tams are able to compete NOW if we would just recruit new owners, but that effort does not seem to be happening.  I have LM powers on the Rotobaseballl Fantrax site, but I do not have LM powers for the Proboards site so I am unable to just go out and recruit owners myself.  I did a Google search for Proboards fantasy baseball sites with the initial intent of trying to poach some owners, but I think this league's owners would not leave to go to Rotobaseballl ... so I thought I would inquire about coming here instead. 



Please give a brief overview of your fantasy baseball experience. How many other leagues are you currently a member of, and what format are they (ie H2H, roto, redraft, keeper, auction etc)?

How often will you be available to be contacted by fellow owners in this league?
  I have played fantasy sports since the late 1990's.  I am currently in two leagues (one hockey and one baseball), both operated on Proboards.  Rotobaseballl is a 30-team roto league, and the setup looks remarkably similar to this league with the exception of the "saves+holds" scoring category.  The fantasy hockey league is operated on Proboards and ESPN; it is a H2H league with a 12-player minor league system and 18 teams (I have been in that league for 10 years).  I am careful not to over-commit myself, and once I make a commitment to a league I always see it through.  As a pilot for Southwest Airlines, I frequently fly trips and have overnight stays in hotels ... but I always check in to my leagues every morning before I head to the airport and every evening once I arrive at the hotel, so I am very available throughout the year, not just during the season.



This is a league with 30 teams in it, and as such it can be expected that there will be a rather large number of teams that will not contend every season. Would you be content with building for the future? Do you need to always be in competition in order to remain interested in the league?
  One of my favorite things is to build a championship team starting from a really, really bad team.  In deep leagues, this process can take several years, but my approach is always to be as competitive as I can while rebuilding.  In my fantasy hockey league, a number of years ago I had a championship level Philadelphia Flyers team that was primed to win a championship, but we got a new owner who was taking over a really bad Tampa Bay Lightning team.  I and my fellow owners thought he would be a very good owner, but we were concerned that the rebuild would be too daunting for him -- so I traded him my championship level team (with which he won the championship that season) for his crappy Lightning team straight-up -- and I won the league championship with that Lightning team in 2019 (and, the guy who took over my great team is still a great owner in the league).  I get great satisfaction from making steady progress with my team until I finally get to the point where I can compete for a championship.


Is there any other information you think we as a league should know in order to best determine your eligibility?
  I am a good owner, I am very patient in the process of building a team, I am very responsive to e-mails and PMs, and I think I would be a good addition to the league.  Also, I am capable of helping out with taking care of administrative things on Proboards and/or Fantrax if the need arises.  I think I would get decent reviews from new owners Mac and Robert from the Rotobaseballl league, and perhaps others as well (is Bert the D'Backs owner in Rotobaseballl?).  Finally, I realize that it appears there are no current openings in this league, but I would like to be kept on the waiting list if you think I would be a good fit.


Please post links to any other leagues you participate in.  Here you go!

1) Rotobaseballl (I am the Rangers, so the link is to my team):  rotobaseball.proboards.com/thread/16734/2021-texas-rangers

2) Fantasy Hockey Dynasty League (I am the Lightning, so the link is to my team):  fhleaguedynasty.proboards.com/thread/5473/tampa-bay-lightning

[Rangers GM (Stephen)]

As discussed by PM, John will be added to the waiting list.

[Former Indians GM (John C.)]

Standing by .....

[Rangers GM (Stephen)]

Congratulations John! The Cleveland Indians are proud to welcome you as their new general manager. A fun and rewarding future awaits as you chart the course of your franchise!

What are the next steps to be taken to get started on the right foot?

1) Please use the username Indians GM (name).

2) Post your own roster page in your team folder. For continuity your first roster should contain the exact same players as the previous team roster. If you wish to make changes to your roster (by protecting/unprotecting players) then these should be posted on the Roster Transactions board. You should also check that the arbitration contracts of all of your players are accurate - you don't want to be unnecessarily overpaying anyone! The format of the roster page is open for customisation by each owner, but please bear in mind that it should be easy to read and well maintained. You may find the FAQ page helpful. mlbbaseballleague.proboards.com/thread/636/league-faqs-new-owner

3) Notify one of the commissioners if there is a player on a multi-year guaranteed contract whose contract length you would like to reduce (rule 2.12).
If you are taking over a team that has recently been unowned during free agency, notify one of the commissioners if there are any automatically signed players who you would like to drop (rule 5.9.5).

4) Check your real life team's major and minor league rosters to see if you can protect any arbitration players of value that your predecessor missed.

5) Check your email for an invitation to Fantrax. (Consult with one of the commissioners if there are any difficulties or delays.)

6) Check your Fantrax roster. It should match your Proboards roster and only include players receiving a salary on your team.

7) Post a trade block. You can't agree to a trade until your trade block has been posted for a week.

Make good use of your trade block, player evaluation advice, and the one week acclimatization period. The “trade block guidance” page is your friend. Please do not overlook this valuable tool. It is required reading. mlbbaseballleague.proboards.com/thread/732/trade-block-guidance

8) Protect a player (see Section VII of the rules). You won't be allowed to trade until this step is taken as a demonstration of understanding the procedure.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. You can post it publicly under “General Chat”, or ask any experienced league member. We’re here to help.

From all of your fellow friends and competitors, welcome to our league!