Matty, Thank you for agreeing to do the interview in the next part of the knowing your first class mogul series. How about we start off with the get to know you stuff, tell us a little bit about yourself.
For starters, no, I am not nor related to the actual Matt Nokes. My name is Matt Nikolaus. I'm 28, married, and in southeastern Ohio. Though we're getting ready to move shortly. I have an associate's degree in Fitness Management and after working in the area for a few years, we're both ready for something new and planning to go back to school for a bachelor's and be really old college students. I'm looking at getting a statistics degree.
If memory serves me right you came a few seasons into after we started in FCM. Do you remember who or what brought you in?
Scott actually asked me to join from the get-go. He was in another league with me at the time, but having two leagues on my plate, I declined. Once one of the leagues folded, I got in contact with him to join here and the rest is history.
For many seasons you have put together some outstanding teams, I know in some of my seasons in Chicago and LA, I feel I did some of my best work in years that did not end up with a championship. Is there a particular season that you can look back at and say, this season was my best season of work?
Probably 2033 with Colorado where I won 107 games. I don't remember a lot of the specifics, but I remember thinking I finally had the stocked and loaded team to do some serious damage...then I lost in the championship series.
Matty, listening to you on the podcast with that other questionable individual, it is pretty clear that you have a set process in place in how you look at prospects. Would you care to share any of your trade secrets without giving up too much obviously?
I look for players who will produce and don't necessarily shy away from builds simply because a specific vital isn't high enough. There are tells in the player's profile and minor league/amateur stats that can suggest where a player is at right now. I don't think it's any secret that I've been critical about Contact and Control.
Contact is the ability to put the ball in play, in which strikeouts play a large role in what the rating looks like without changing the player's ability to hit for average. You can have two players with 90 Contact, one with 50 Ks and one with 150 Ks, and they'll hit for two different averages.
For Control, I definitely want something tolerable and don't totally dismiss the importance of Control. However, with the amount of ground ball outs (and double plays) in Mogul, it lessens the burden walks can create. Keep the ball in the park and much more than not, I'll show you who's the better pitcher.
Looking back at all your draft success through the years, is there a particular prospect that you consider your best draft pick of all time?
I could easily say Kyle Arrington. I can't lie and say I saw him being one of the best pitchers in the game, but I did see a great RP>SP convert on hand and definitely saw him doing great things.
However, there's two on Colorado that I'm more proud of. Sean Zlotnick (2024) was another guy that I converted and it was nice seeing a guy win two Cy Youngs in Coors.
Then there's also 2B/LF Aaron Brand (2018). He was a versatile switch hitter who could do a little bit of everything. I bought the pick that I selected him with for 10M, which was thought to be a lot back then. Funny how times change.
On the other hand we have also had some draft failures, is there a draft pick that you felt so sure on that did not pan out?
Charles Bickford (2021), Frankie Sporer (2025), or Ricardo Rivas (2027)
I thought Bickford was going to develop into a well-rounded middle of the order bat and his development was just too sluggish. Sporer developed, but I was just dead wrong on how he'd turn out. Rivas drew some criticism on draft day because of his low contact, but I thought he was going to be like Guillermo Meza, and he was looking good (a 90 overall) at one point. But a series of random drops, down in the low 80s, rendered him useless.
Looking at trading with people, everyone has their people that they can trade with and people that they dread trading with. Who is one individual that is a rather joy for you trade with and a pain for you trade with? The pain does not have to be because they are difficult maybe because you have been burned in a trade with them in the past and are hesitant to do so again.
Really it boils down to anyone who's willing to look at the full spectrum of the trade. Things like age, salary, team control all matter in the assessing the player's value. Some people seem to expect face value no matter if the guy is 35 and going to be a FA at the end of the season.
The other type of people that I have a tough time dealing with are the ones that just want to field offers. Now, I have no problem making offers, but I expect some help in what positions or players you like. Nothing is more frustrating than someone saying, "just make an offer", and you oblige only for them to retort with, "no, I don't want OF prospects."
JPS is someone who is rather easy to deal with. He takes all that I've said into consideration. Sometimes he'll make the offers, other times he'll give me a list of interest, or at least a generalized "this is what I'd need". He's also not going to quit on trade talks just because you don't line up on the first or second offer. It's nice to know someone gets it and is willing to scour all avenues before abandoning trade talks.
Is there a particular trade you can remember where you clearly came out on top and another where you kick yourself afterwards?
This is tough, because I tend to not follow my guys after I've traded them. Really I'd have to say the collective trades that I made with Seattle to turn in a quick rebuild are where I've came out on top. Very few seemed to bust and a lot of my core is made up of players I traded for during the '42 and '43 seasons; Bradley Lamp, Joe Connor, Justin Vail, and Luis Barraras.
I do remember my Marc Graf trade (2028) not working out at all for Colorado. Graf simply didn't hit near the expectations I had for him.
Another one would be when I traded for Hector Quiala and Marty Frow from San Fran in 2019. I thought those two were going to headline my future rotation. Quiala fizzled out, but Frow developed nicely. Like so many other of my promising pitchers in Colorado, the random drop hammer drove him out of being a key piece for me.
If I gave you the ability to make a team from anyone in the FCM file, Can you give me your all-time starting FCM lineup and rotation. You can throw in some bench players and bullpen players as well if you like.
I've seen Andy and Hokey do this and basically suggest the same team, so I'll take a different approach and go for the all-time underrated team.
C Keith Thiel (NYM): Retired with a slash line of .301/.398/.463. He didn't have a great arm, but did a good job of limiting errors and passed balls.
1B Manny Capestany (WAS): 470 homers in a slight pitcher's park and doesn't get much love for the Hall. Also was impressive that he walked over 400 times more than he struck out (1,185 to 703).
2B Aaron Brand (COL): From 2023 to 2028 he only put up an OPS under .850 once (.846 in 2025).
3B Ed Edwards (TBR): Won a MVP in the tough hitting environment of Tampa and finished with an impressive career .871 OPS and walked 1,269 RBI.
SS Jason Blume (SEA): He didn't last long, but for a few years his base stealing and run scoring prowess were extremely impressive.
LF Kurtis Pounds (OAK): He was like the Energizer Bunny, he just kept sticking around and kept on hitting. It was incredible to see him get to 2,500 hits.
CF Murray McManaman (STL): He was a great rangey, power hitting outfielder, who quite frankly I'm surprised didn't get more consideration for the HOF.
RF Chris Taylor (CLE): The walks (1,126), the RBI (1,392), the home runs (424), and average (.284). He was a well-rounded offensive threat.
SP Sean Zlotnick (COL): Two Cy Young Awards in Coors is very impressive. His run was short, but he was top notch during his peak.
SP Dylan Mills (BAL): He's possibly the most underrated pitcher we've had in FCM. Even when we've had pitchers who are underrated, they rarely hold as long as Mills has.
SP Kurt Woodcock (HOU): The guy was dominant for a period in Houston. For a time he was good for 15 Wins, a 3.00 ERA, sub-1.00 HR/9, and a .230s OBA.
CL James Threadgold (HOU): 10.9 K/9, .212 OBA, with a 3.00 ERA. He was dominant when he closed and, combined with Edmund Poez, he helped make 7 innings games while on Colorado.
You have been here for a long time now, Is there a single season team that you can remember as being the clear cut best team of all time in FCM?
I think that's really tough to say. There's been some great teams throughout the years. Your Angels in the late 20's to early 30's, Andy at times has had some dominant teams, and DLee had some loaded teams in Philly.
However, I think one of the most underrated events in our league was when JPS had Miller, Eason, and Gartner at 3-4-5. That 2026 year, in which Cincy won 114 games was impressive. The trio combined for 338 Runs, 390 RBI, 255 BBs, and 108 HRs with the lowest OPS being Gartner's .951. I might put that up as the best 3-4-5 trio FCM has seen.
Lets say you are in charge of building a mount rushmore type of monument for FCM. Does not have to be owners, can be players. Who are the 4 faces at the end of the day that have to go up on that monument?
Donovan Pace, Steve Miller, Sean Vogel, and Peter Carson
Thank you for your time, any last remarks?
This is an interesting series to be a part of and a good read picking the brains of the GMs of FCM.
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