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2034 Playoffs 104-58, .641. 1st Place, AL West      We hold onto Kelenic; Barrett doesn't get healthy before the deadline so we hold him too. Looks like we are ALL IN for this season! In an amusing throwback, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto win respective batters of the month for July. OLD MAN BASEBALL. Humberto de la Torre misses 6 weeks with a knee. We call up a long-forgotten name: Luis Salazar. We signed him with an international bonus all the way back in 2028; he then went from a top 20 prospect to off the list entirely. Now, at age 22, he's made the big league roster as a mainly contact hitter with a bad OF glove. He should be an on-base monster, but that defense situation is icky. We also bring up Jorge Sambrano following a couple injuries. Good thing we have some OF depth, at one point in August we have 4 OFs on the IL. Luis Sanchez gets a huge bump in his report and is now looking like an elite young reliever. It looks like all 3 of the youngsters we got in exchange for Double Lopez are working out, to one degree or another. Meanwhile, Joe Kalafut, hobbled by knee and hamstring injuries, loses ground at 1B, and is now just a straight DH. Which, Sadler was insisting on playing him in the field for some idiotic reason, so maybe that's finally at an end. We notice that we inadvertently drafted Tony Conigliaro in a later auto-draft round. Oops. We get healthy in September and a bunch of our young players finally settle into the big leagues -- and the team absolutely catches fire. We end the season on a 10 game win streak, highlighted by Joe Kalafut hitting dingers in 6 consecutive games. The Astros, meanwhile, are destroyed by injuries and fatigue, and fall out of the playoffs. As usual, we await the winner of the Yankees and (X) in the ALDS. "X" in this case is the Rangers. We now need to take a second to discuss Daemon "Demon Crow" Wrona's season.  He missed most of the month of June with a knee sprain. I'll just leave those numbers here without further comment. Josh Gibson had himself a season also: 333/402/1085, with 9.2 WAR in only 570 PAs. It took him a solid year to get over that concussion, but the big guy is back. bewbies fucked around with this message at 14:25 on Jun 6, 2021 |
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Jun 6, 2021 14:22
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1.204 Holy poo poo.
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Jun 6, 2021 14:59
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I wondered if we somehow over performed but wanted to keep things going as it is, I guess we were just fine  Wrona put up the 9th best season in history going by OPS, drat. Also, tied for second In WAR. EDIT: He only struck out NINETEEN times! 
Armitage fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Jun 6, 2021 |
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Jun 6, 2021 15:05
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rickiep00h posted:1.204 Armitage posted:Wrona put up the 9th best season in history going by OPS, drat. Also, tied for second In WAR.
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Jun 6, 2021 15:15
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it's the k:bb ratio that really gets me. like what exactly is your strategy for pitching to that
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Jun 6, 2021 15:20
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I would not be surprised at all if Wrona hits over .400 soon. Maybe he'll do it more than once.
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Jun 6, 2021 15:23
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bewbies posted:it's the k:bb ratio that really gets me. Late era Barry Bonds. Pitch to him with the bases empty or not at all.
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Jun 6, 2021 15:26
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habeasdorkus posted:Late era Barry Bonds. Pitch to him with the bases empty or not at all. Hell, Bonds was walked with bases loaded back in 98. I can't believe how fast this team turned around after dumping so much talent.
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Jun 6, 2021 18:18
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Just a solid career's worth of WAR by my 24th birthday nbd
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Jun 6, 2021 22:24
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Per BBR Daemon's OPS+ would be sixth all time, behind three of the Bond years, one absurd outlier year from this guy from the year the St Louis Maroons played in a jumped up minor league: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dunlafr01.shtml and then wedged in between Ruth's 1920 and 1921.
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Jun 6, 2021 22:45
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And he's only 24.  Still not as good as real life Mike Trout, though.
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Jun 6, 2021 23:18
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I'm latching onto his city of birth being Prospect, KY currently. Prospect. Shame about the Liberty University thing. EDIT Why the hell would a family in Nowheresville, KY that sends their kid to a Theological private school name their kid Daemon? Did..... did the Anti-christ decide to play baseball instead of end the world!? Veryslightlymad fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Jun 7, 2021 |
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Jun 7, 2021 00:24
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Veryslightlymad posted:EDIT He's a Yankee, you know that's part of his plan.
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Jun 7, 2021 01:29
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The devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a base to steal
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Jun 7, 2021 03:03
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syzpid posted:Hell, Bonds was walked with bases loaded back in 98. they walked Bonds with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with a two run lead https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi7IPZAcP78
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Jun 7, 2021 03:22
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2034 ALDS: Oakland A's vs New York Yankees
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Jun 7, 2021 14:08
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2034-2035 Offseason And...another dismantling by the Yankees. Fine. At least Kelenic won series MVP.  Look, I know that isn't how we wanted this season to end, but we have a very promising young team here! I think! We have a lot of moving parts this offseason, so I need your input! Arbitration and Free Agents Arbitration is pretty straightforward -- our only real question is if we want to trade any of the several relievers entering their expensive arbitration years. This includes JJ Doncaster, Kevin Wright, and Danny Bagley. The first two are due $7m+ this season, Bagley will get ~$5m. These guys are three of the best relievers in baseball and the core of our bullpen, but finding new relievers is always fairly straightforward, and we've always avoided spending big money on the bullpen. We have bigger decisions with our 5 upcoming free agents: - Steve Barrett - Tommy Coressel - Jarred Kelenic - Benny Rodriguez - Logan Tanner Our options with each are to extend, qualify, or release. QO is now a 1 year, $18.9m contract. Extension estimates: - Barrett: 4 years, $23-25m AAV - Coressel: ~$2m AAV as long as we want - Kelenic: 4-5 years, $35-40m AAV - Benny: 2-3 years, $4-5m AAV - Tanner: negligible We have our $12m team option on Jack Leiter, I assume that's a no-brainer but thought I'd ask. Next, we need to decide our Offseason Strategy! I see things like this, one of two ways: 1) Go heavy on some free agent talent; we have some money to spend 2) Keep the purse strings closed and let our kids play There are some elite starting pitchers entering free agency, as well as some hall-of-fame caliber hitters. If we decide to open the war chest, we'll have no shortage of targets. VOTE Arbitration Trade? 1. JJ Doncaster 2. Kevin Wright 3. Danny Bagley Free Agents: Extend, Qualify, Release? 1) Steve Barrett 2) Tommy Coressel 3) Jarred Kelenic 4) Benny Rodriguez 5) Logan Tanner Jack Leiter option? 1) Yes, duh 2) No, his shoulder will explode any day now Roster Strategy: 1) GO BIG. Ink a superstar or two 2) Let the kids play it out, let's see what they can do
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Jun 7, 2021 14:36
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Also the end of an era in Seattle: after 12 years, 11 playoffs, three World Series, and 5 Manager of the Year awards, Lou Marson is cut free by the Mariners.
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Jun 7, 2021 14:38
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Trade? I'd trade at least two of them Free Agents: Extend, Qualify, Release? Extend all except Kelenic Jack Leiter option? 1) Yes, duh Roster Strategy: 1) GO BIG. Ink a superstar or two, we clearly already have a good team, we should start to go big. (If Kelenic is a better deal than the possible superstars, extend him as well)
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Jun 7, 2021 15:16
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bewbies - how much budget would we have if we extended everyone (including Kelenic)? I think the main question here is are we confident this group can actually beat the Yankees with a couple of key additions? It doesn't really look like it, but maybe we'd have enough money that we could give it a go.
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Jun 7, 2021 15:51
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also my own pirates game rn is eerily similar to this one. Had to blow up the contending roster because of budgetary concerns and traded a 2-time MVP (in-universe Jordan Lawler who ended up a monster) and Ace (some random dude who only has two pitches but mother of god are they pitches) to the dodgers for the best pitching prospect in baseball. Signed a bunch of old men to small contracts or made negligible trades with some lottery tickets to secure a veteran or two on heavy retained salary and ended up with 104 wins. was then promptly dismantled by a back-to-back Atlanta team that has the scariest infield I've ever seen in ootp. Schnorkles fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Jun 7, 2021 |
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Jun 7, 2021 15:55
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Continue the "tank." Let em play. Extend the cheaper guys, make the trades, keep Jack. Big moves next year.
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Jun 7, 2021 16:00
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rickiep00h posted:Continue the "tank." Let em play. I mean realistically we won 100+ games this year. We could make a push, but there is the Yankees team to get past and I'm not sure how many pieces we'd actually need. At least one more Ace and an all-star quality CF at minimum.
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Jun 7, 2021 16:09
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Schnorkles posted:bewbies - how much budget would we have if we extended everyone (including Kelenic)? We're at around $108m payroll for next season, and around $120m for 2035. Our max payroll right now is probably in the $190m range. I think in Benny's case, we could let him file for free agency and then sign him in the preseason or ST for less...he isn't the kind of guy teams will line up for, and he likes it here. If we extend Kelenic @ ~$40m and Barrett @ $25m that still leaves $17m in space, plus whatever we get from trading a reliever or two.
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Jun 7, 2021 17:59
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Schnorkles posted:I mean realistically we won 100+ games this year. We could make a push, but there is the Yankees team to get past and I'm not sure how many pieces we'd actually need. At least one more Ace and an all-star quality CF at minimum. We won 100 games when we were trying to blow poo poo up. The goal was to flip or release guys when we inevitably became sellers and then we just... didn't do that, because our prospects ended up being even better and our old expensive trade bait guys kept performing. But we got obliterated because we weren't really planning on beating anyone in the playoffs. We weren't planning on getting to the playoffs. I guess run up the budget again, but it goes against the "get a ton of cheap talent and lock them up" plan.
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Jun 7, 2021 18:14
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bewbies posted:We're at around $108m payroll for next season, and around $120m for 2035. Our max payroll right now is probably in the $190m range. Thanks, this helps. I don't think we have quite enough room to push for contention next year with our current options. Think we let the kids play and try to score some decent draft targets/trades. 1.) Relievers Trade the two $7m ones. Keep the $5m one if a cheaper top notch option can't be found. 2.) Free Agents: Extend, Qualify, Release? (edit: re-thought about this, decided we're closer to contention and the ace is probably useful) Qualify Kelenic. Sign Benny in FA. Extend Coressel, Barrett and Tanner (back-up catcher is always useful). 3.) Jack Leiter option? Yes. 4.) Roster Strategy: 2) Let the kids play. Target high value/cost free agents if we have particular holes. If there's an appetizing trade to secure a top prospect, take it. Schnorkles fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Jun 7, 2021 |
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Jun 7, 2021 18:17
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rickiep00h posted:We won 100 games when we were trying to blow poo poo up. The goal was to flip or release guys when we inevitably became sellers and then we just... didn't do that, because our prospects ended up being even better and our old expensive trade bait guys kept performing. But we got obliterated because we weren't really planning on beating anyone in the playoffs. We weren't planning on getting to the playoffs. yeah we don't have enough budget to actually push past the yankees right now. I'm for securing some nice picks with Barrett and Kelenic and winning ~90 and keeping the fans on board while we try to find the right pieces to push for a WS.
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Jun 7, 2021 18:18
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agreeing with the plane's plan
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Jun 7, 2021 18:25
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Arbitration Trade whichever one of the three relievers brings back the single best prospect. Free Agents: Extend, Qualify, Release? 1) Steve Barrett - QO. I don't trust his arm to hold up. 2) Tommy Coressel - Re-sign for 2/4m with a cheap team option. 3) Jarred Kelenic - Obviously QO him. That'll weaken the free agent market and make it more likely we can get him for something like 3/90 plus an attainable vesting option. If we can't, no worries, we'll take the pick. 4) Benny Rodriguez - Do as Schnorkles suggested and offer a contract in February as Spring Training approaches 5) Logan Tanner - Re-sign, backup catchers are handy. Jack Leiter option? 1) Yes. Duh. Roster Strategy: 1) GO BIG. Get us a true ace from the FA market and try to find us a major bat for 1B unless you think Larsen will slash .280/.350/.500 next season.
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Jun 7, 2021 18:53
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Playoffs + anything can happen in baseball, etc., but Demon Crow gonna be kicking our rear end for a long time imho
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Jun 7, 2021 18:53
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Spring Training 2035 We extend Steve Barrett to a very reasonable "prove it" 4 year deal at $23m AAV, with the last year a TO. Even if he gets hurt or flames out, we're not on the hook long-term. Kevin Wright brings back a solid RP prospect in Masuhiro Mizuno(3.0/4.0), who has an outstanding baseball name. It is definitely one of those things where we hope Mizuno might one day turn into someone as good as Wright, but cutting the salary and getting a pre-arb arm back is a solid deal. I didn't realize this, but Wright was the guy we got in exchange for Reggie Crawford, who, for around $96 million in salary, has provided the Astros with a whopping 4.1 WAR over 3 seasons. He still has two more years left on that deal. Logan Tanner signs on for a year at $1.7m, and Tommy Coressel signs for 3 years at $2m AAV, with the last year a TO. He's been a thorough disappointment as a #1 overall pick, but I'll be damned if he hasn't survived a couple of complete team rebuilds and a zillion trade rumors to stick around the A's. Juan Vargas, once an extremely exciting waiver claim prospect, suffers more elbow trouble. His career may be over. Jeff Larsen wins rookie of the year. Sadler wins manager of the year. Josh Gibson wins NL MVP. The Yankees....continue to build their new dynasty. They sign Mike Gaar to an 8 year, $350m contract. Mike Gaar is the second best hitter in baseball, behind only his new teammate, Daemon Wrona. Fucccccck. Kelenic goes to the Mets on a 3 year, $106m deal. When I saw "Kelenic, New York Agree to Pact" as an email header I didn't want to open the email. Kelenic leaving hurts our clubhouse...he was a solid character guy to have around. Mike Trout makes the Hall of Fame. We sign Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez to a 3 year, $2m AAV contract with a TO in the last year. His glove is still elite and he can still wheel; as far as I'm concerned, his experience and leadership alone are worth the price. Francisco Lindor signs a 3 year deal -- at age 41. With the Dodgers. He put up 5 WAR in his age 40 season. His glove is fading just a bit, but the tools are all still there. Alex Flores -- one of the pieces from the Gabe Briggs deal -- is looking tremendous in the spring. He had a tremendous year in AAA last year that I didn't really notice (won a gold glove and 122 OPS+) and both his glove and bat developed considerably. He'll probably always struggle with contact, but he's now a big plus in CF and will walk a lot -- that combination can be sneakily valuable sometimes. We have a massive logjam in the outfield: we have no fewer than 8 ML-ready prospects or established ML players. We're also still badly in need of starting pitching. We need to rebalance our prospect portfolio. So, we put together a trade. Our target is Tony Cuero (2.5/5.0), a hard throwing righty with nasty, nasty stuff. He's a bit raw but he's ML-ready; once he develops his third pitch and gets his control under control he's potential ace material. The Reds love him though: it takes a package of Luis Salazar, Jose Gameros, and Ricky Palma, plus nothing SP prospect Ethan Cain, to bring him over. He cost a fortune in player capital, but this guy looks legit af:  I didn't even notice, but last year he was the #2 overall prospect. He isn't on the list now for some reason? Did the Reds just take us for a ride? He'll start the season in the pen, but look for him to make the move to the rotation sooner rather than later. No other big roster moves in the spring, though a minor-league vet named Brady Neal beats out Logan Tanner for the back up C role. Logan will be a nice option in AAA at least; Neal is a superstar defender which is nice. Opening Day Roster 1. Abel Bornstein, 2B 2. Juan Galindo, 3B 3. Joe Kalafut, DH 4. Humberto de la Torre, LF 5. Dan Jolley, SS 6. Jorge Sambrano, RF 7. Jeff Larsen, 1B 8. Alex Flores, CF 9. Manny Murillo, C Brady Neal, C Dan Bryant, 1B/DH Benny Rodriguez, IF Roger Barreras, OF 1. Jack Leiter 2. Steve Barrett 3. Tommy Coressel 4. Jim Kaczynski 5. Tim Brown JJ Doncaster (CL) Luis Sanchez Dan Williams (L) Joel Harris Danny Bagley (L) Chris Sharp Rob McHale Tony Cuero We and the Yankees both are tipped to win 106 games this season. We will see those fuckers in the ALCS, if we actually win a playoff round this year.
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Jun 8, 2021 14:40
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This year's LEGENDS OF BASEBALL entry is Ayami "Heartthrob" Sato, a female RHP from Japan. I've long thought an exceptional female could find a niche role in men's pro baseball as an elite junkballer, and her junk is just about the junkiest junk you'll find. She brings an 80 mph fastball and one of the filthiest curve/slider combos you'll see anywhere. She's a bit wild still and needs some serious polishing, but definitely has the stuff to be a late-inning change-of-pace player in the men's pro game. Will she make the big leagues someday?
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Jun 8, 2021 16:01
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I think if players hit a certain amount of major league time that they drop off the prospect list. As he's had 116 days in MLB, I'm not sure he counts as a prospect this year but i could be wrong!
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Jun 8, 2021 16:31
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Oh poo poo, now you gotta add Ginny Baker to the game. Sure she'd be somewhere from depth starter to mid-rotation, but a fastball that tops out at 87 and hellacious screwball to go with a decent slider and changeup is junkballer catnip.
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Jun 8, 2021 17:24
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I googled Sato and she's legit. Just clowning on international women's baseball.
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Jun 9, 2021 01:17
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2035 All-Star Break 57-33, .633, 1st Place, AL West    League News A's and Yankees are atop the power rankings all spring long. The Indians jump right in there as well, largely on the back of their superstar outfielder Ichiro. Ichiro Suzuki rips off a 37 game hitting streak, one away from Jimmy Rollins. It isn't likley Joe D's record falls, but this glut of elite contact hitters in the league right now are getting some great streaks. A 42 year old Mookie Betts signs a minor league deal with the Mets. There isn't much left there, but fans still love the Mook. Also he's now pretty fat, a robust 5'9", 205 lbs. Team News   We lose Abel Bornstein for 6 weeks to an oblique. Jorge Sambrano hits for the cycle on 4/20. He's looking thoroughly legit. Humberto de la Torre cycles a month later. What's the team record for cycles in a season? Tony Cuero joins the staff early on and flashes some top-shelf stuff. His curveball rounds into serious form as he gets regular playing time and he becomes close to unhittable when he's on his game. He's still prone to too many walks, but he's looking like a staff ace. Joe Kalafut hits his 400th dinger. He isn't getting on base with his usual regularity this year, but the power is definitely still there. Remember Jose Granados? Promising young 5-tool outfielder that was the centerpiece of the Lawnmower Briggs trade? Well, after hitting below the Mendoza line last year, we optioned him to Vegas this year, where he's been reasonably productive. However, on a recent scouting report, his numbers came back...ugly. So, I took a peek under the hood, and was...shall we say...amused by what I saw:  So, for those who aren't familiar with this, these numbers are the engine drivers in OOTP. A players "contact" rating is made up of a mix of BABIP plus his ability to avoid strikeouts. "Gap" is how often he hits hard non-home run balls. So, the numbers on the left are his current rating...the ones on the right represent his potential. I've NEVER seen a formerly promising player take such a stupendous nosedive in potential, especially at age 24. Anyway, I'm now very curious how this will play out, and will be sure to keep him in our farm system to see just how bad this gets. In better prospect news, a former international signing, Jonathan Fassi, is excelling in high A as a teenager. He's still several years out from the bigs, but so far so good. He jumps to the #2 overall prospect position. Our international signing is Andres Aquino, a big bat/big arm COF prospect noted for his excellent work ethic. Jack Leiter sends an angry email wondering why we haven't extended him yet. We get a couple quality prospects out of the draft: Ken Craig, a very enthusiastic 5-tool outfielder, and TRI ATLAS, a 6'7" flamethrower with a 5 pitch arsenal and an 80 name tool. We also snag a high school LHP named Jeremy Brandt, who looks absolutely top-notch except for middling velo. If he can add some MPH as he fills out, he'll be a good looking prospect as well. On the eve of the break, we lose our elite reliever Kevin Wright to a torn labrum. A tough loss. Our all-stars: Tommy Coressel (lol, what a weird career trajectory this guy's had) Tony Cuero Kevin Wright Humberto de la Torre Jorge Sambrano VOTE Two issues at play here: a reliever rental, and Wacky Jack's extension...or trade. What about Jack? He's starting at 5 years, $30m AAV...which he is not getting from us. He's been solid this season so far - his ratios are actually improved, but he's giving up more dingers for some reason. His shoulder is still a major concern, but he's gotten through 2.5 innings of absolute workhorse duty for us with only minor injuries here and there. Our options: 1. Offer him a high AAV for 2-3 years 2. Offer him a lower AAV for 4-5 yeras. 3. Trade him for a prospect at the deadline 4. Ride out his current deal and QO him Replacement reliever? The Rockies are dangling Jared Burns for trade. He's one of the best bullpen arms in the world, but is getting paid a TON ($26m) and has a bit of an injury history. He's healthy so far this year though, and is on the last year of that deal. We could bring him in for a middling prospect to backfill the hole left by Kevin Wright. 1) Trade for Burns 2) Stand pat with our current pen
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Jun 9, 2021 15:26
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That Granados drop is absurd, that's the kind of drop from current to potential you would see on like a 50 year old still trying to play. Ride out Leiter's deal we're not paying that kind of money to a guy with a 4.00 era this year. Don't do the trade. Also, can we get the Indians to change their name after this season? I feel like ownership has had enough time to decide on a change.
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Jun 9, 2021 15:36
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See what we can get for Jack and/or hold him through the year. Love him, but he's not worth extending like that. Keep the pen as is. We'll be in a good place to fill gaps and make a push next year.
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Jun 9, 2021 15:44
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Thordain posted:Also, can we get the Indians to change their name after this season? I feel like ownership has had enough time to decide on a change. Sure can! In fact, let's crowdsource their new name and logo/colors/uniforms. Now taking nominations! I'll submit the obvious one: Cleveland Spiders.
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Jun 9, 2021 15:50
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I mean it has to be Spiders.
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Jun 9, 2021 15:53
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