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 It has been a couple of years since we done one of these. Let's crowdsource management of an MLB team! Come enjoy the thrill of your top 10 pitching prospect miss a calendar year with injury, then come back and be terrible! Our role will be as the General Manager. We're the guy/gal who interacts with the team owner, who makes all of team hiring/firing decisions, manages the roster, develops prospects, and spends the owner's money. The coaching staff we hire manages day to day lineups, training, playing time, and game strategy. Helping us through this process are two legends of the game: the Two Petes. First, we have Peter Brand, the most famous fictional assistant GM in sports history:  Hi everyone! My role here is to give you advice and ask you questions to help you manage your team! Like everything else in OOTP, the information I give you will be imperfect, and I may be horrendously wrong about things from time to time. However, I am competent if somewhat insufferable, and listening to me is probably a good idea in most cases. Second, we have legendary Super Scout Pete Ward, master of disguise. Pete will run our scouting efforts and give us feedback on players we can trade for, draft, or sign as free agents.  Glad to be back, kid. Some under-the-hood notes for OOTP vets: - We'll use "challenge mode" settings for the most part. - High injury rate - Normal scouting accuracy - Yearly inflation 1-3% - 20-80 scouting system, with stars - Player/pitcher aging .750 - MLB standard rules everywhere else - Dynamic league evolution with all possible changes, including more/less offense and more/less pitching How we play the game! This game will feature as much democratic participation as possible. Big team decisions, like overall strategy, major signings or extensions, high draft picks, trades, and so on. That said, there's a zillion things that happen over the course of the season, so Peter will handle a lot of the unimportant stuff, leaving us to handle the big picture. The main way we'll discuss players is in terms of STARS. In OOTP, STARS are everything. Every player has two STARS ratings: their current ability, and their potential ability. STARS are on a 0.5 to 5 system. They break down roughly as follows for a Major League team; I'll include some examples for reference: - .5 star: farmhand at best. Think Tim Tebow. - 1 star: AA-quality player. - 1.5 star: AAA-quality player. - 2.0 star: Replacement-level player. Brian Goodwin, Dane Dunning - 2.5 star: Passable MLB starter. Alex Verdugo, Julio Teheran - 3.0 star: Good MLB starter. Anthony Rizzo, Domingo German - 3.5 star: Excellent MLB starter, potential all-star: Gio Urshela, Zack Greinke - 4.0 star: Regular All-Star, outside MVP/CY candidate: Aaron Judge, Charlie Morton - 4.5 star: Superstar, top 3-5 at position, regular MVP/CY candidate, outside Hall of Fame candidate: Fernando Tatis Jr, Trevor Bauer - 5 star: Legend; good shot at the Hall of Fame, top MVP/CY candidate: Mike Trout, Jacob Degrom As a player enters the MLB system, they'll usually have a much higher potential ability than current ability (ie, top prospect Wander Franco is currently 2.0 stars current, 5.0 stars potential). They'll gradually peak (usually in their late 20s) and then begin their steady, inevitable decline, (ie, Clayton Kershaw, a long time 5.0 star player, is now down to merely 4.0) until finally they're a tattered 0.5 star guy riding the bus down in AAA (it is funny to see random former star players show up in your minor league system). When discussing players, the Petes will usually include their star rating right after. For example, Anthony Rizzo (3/3), or Vladimir Guerrero Jr (2.5/4.5). Note: one of the BEST things about OOTP is watching your 5 star prospect gradually lose stars, until finally they break into the bigs as a 2.5/2.5 player at age 26. Things like injuries can make a huge difference to both player development and aging, plus the game has random talent level changes as a main feature (not bug). Some guys will flame out by 30, some will keep balling into their 40s, just like real life. To help guide The Petes, we'll use 3-Year Strategies and Yearly Priorities. 3-Year Strategies are biggest picture: stuff like "stockpile prospects" or "emphasize speed." Yearly Priorities give them more specific objectives: "find a 3 star 3B" or "loving tank to get the #1 overall pick." As for the rest of our player info, let's take a look at a couple of sort of good players:   You can see the various skills broken down: hitting, running, and fielding for the hitter, pitch arsenal, velocity, and stamina for the pitchers. This all really represents a scout's view of the player rather than a traditional video game system where values are absolute, and they all work together behind the scenes in a complex way. The first step to baseball glory is getting hired! Being as we have no professional baseball experience, the available GM jobs are not terribly exciting or high profile. In fact, they're all terrible. I'll put a brief description of the team and their current situation below each possibility.  Seattle Mariners Projected wins: 77 One of MLB's most consistently hearbreaking franchises is currently at or near rock bottom, which is where they've been for a while. They have a terrible roster, a smaller market and a dick of an owner, but they do have the league's 2nd best farm system and a huge, pretty nice stadium.  Pittsburgh Pirates Projected wins: 73 The Pirates are a tough go. Their roster is bad, their market tiny, and their owner, awful -- maybe the worst in the sport. They have the 6th ranked farm currently, however, and are about to see a big boost there with the #1 overall pick this summer.  Texas Rangers Projected Wins: 73 The Rangers are reaching rock-bottom after a period of fairly sustained competitiveness. They enjoy a big market and generous owner, but both their roster and farm (#17 overall) are in rough shape. Still, they have almost no bad contracts, and huge potential financial resources. They may also start a new round of COVID, so there's that.  Colorado Rockies Projected wins: 62 The Rockies are coming through a period of hysterically bad management: somehow, they've managed to field both the worst current roster in baseball AND the worst farm system, something I cannot remember ever seeing before in OOTP. Their owner is not great but not terrible, and they enjoy a good market and good fans despite their incompetence. Between a couple of ugly contracts and the total lack of quality prospects though, this is a big challenge.  Baltimore Orioles Projected wins: 68 The Orioles have spent half a decade in the toilet and this doesn't look to turn around soon. Their roster is just...brutal, their market small, fans uninterested, and owner, bad. They do have a couple upsides: an elite prospect in Adley Rutschman, and a very old owner who will likely die or sell soon. And as a signing bonus, we can bring along with us ONE of the following:  Jay Niles, a loving intense 21 year old 1/3.5 pitching prospect who, after it was clear he couldn't touch 90, developed a killer knuckleball.  Pedro Cerrano, a 22 year old 1/3.5 outfield prospect with an 80 power tool and some strange locker room tendencies.  Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez, a 19 year old .5/3.5 2B/SS/3B with absolute blazing speed, a plus glove, and great leadership qualities. Our first vote is on the team that we'll manage and the prospect we'll luck into. List your first and second team choices in bold, along with your signing bonus! Me: 1. Colorado Rockies 2. Seattle Mariners Signing bonus: Jay Niles
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Apr 7, 2021 15:54
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 Welcome aboard! I'm John Stanton, face of the Mariners' ownership group, George Steinbrenner lookalike, and your new boss/adversary! I was not particularly impressed by your baseball knowledge, competence, or personal hygiene, but I was overwhelmed by your offer to work for less money than any other potential candidate. As MLB owners go, I'm actually not that terrible. You should know, though, that you're entering a team front office that is in complete disarray, a fan base that is seriously jaded, and a team with very little going for it. I also think I know a lot about baseball, so you can expect me to inject myself in all manner of irritating ways. To start, here's what I expect from you this season:  You don't necessarily have to meet all the goals I set out for you, but doing so keeps me happy, and keeping me happy keeps you employed! Here's a closer look at team finances:  As you can see, despite our minimal payroll, we don't have much money to spend! Well, that just about covers it. See you at spring training!
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Apr 8, 2021 14:33
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So, we have a ton of big decisions to make and only about a month to make them. From where I sit, this roster as-is wins about 75-80 games without much input from us. Here's our hitters:  And our pitchers:  Depressingly mediocre, isn't it? Some good news: our contract situation isn't too terrible, aside from that absolutely baffling Evan White contract.  Also, our prospect pool is outstanding! Thanks to new signing Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez, we now have the #1 prospect pool in baseball:  Heya Chief. Here's my thoughts on our top guys: Benny projects as a plus glove just about anywhere on the field, probably topping out at an .800 OPS guy with plenty of steals. Kelenic looks like a potential 900 OPS guy who gets on base a ton and is a solid corner outfield glove. Julio Rodriguez is a big time power bat and potential OBP monster with a passable COF glove. Emerson Hancock is a 4-pitch guy with good velocity but middling stamina. Logan Gilbert is a hard thrower with tremendous control. And here's the Jet's player page.  Pretty good kid, that one. Anyway, we have some big decisions to make here. 3-Year Strategy First, we need to map out what we want the next 3 years to look like. The biggest part of this is deciding two major things: our roster strategy and our scouting priorities. Our roster strategy determines how we spend money how hard we push to be competitive. We're over a bit of a barrel here this year: we probably won't make the playoffs, but our owner wants a .500 record, so we won't be looking at a top 5 draft pick...unless we ignore him, which we can do to a certain extent. As far as our general approach to player acquisition goes, we can do one of four approaches: - Build through prospects. Try and acquire as many highly regarded young players as we can, develop them, and build around them. Example: Padres - Trash Heap Players: Try and find inexpensive, undervalued players through trades, Rule 5, and free agency. Example: Rays - Veteran Trades: teams nowadays often want to unload good but expensive veteran players still in their prime years to save some bucks. Example: Cardinals - Free Agents: Each offseason, try to fill gaps with unrestricted free agents. Example: Yankees When it comes to competitiveness the next 3 years: - Tank hard the next two years, let the prospects marinate a bit, and push for the playoffs in year 3. - Tank hard next year, and push for the playoffs in year 2. - Push for a .500 record this year, and playoffs in year 2-3. And finally, when it comes to team strategy, we need to decide how to build our roster. - Sabermetrics. Value on base percentage, power, and a big stable of lots of hard-throwing pitchers, let the math do the work. - Smallball. Value speed, defense, and contact hitting, win through a relentless barrage of balls in play and gold glove defense. -Tactics. Look for platoons, power, contact hitting, win through creating favorable matchups. For our scouting priorities, we need to give Pete the kinds of players we want him to look for. First, very simple: do we prioritize hitting or pitching? For hitters, we can prioritize two of five tools: - Power - Contact - Eye - Defense - Speed And for pitchers, we can prioritize one of the following: - Velocity - Control - Movement And prioritize either: - Starters - Relievers Coaching Bottom line, from where I sit, our coaching team is pretty bad. In particular, I have concerns about their ability to develop our young players: thus far, they've failed pretty badly at this.  Problem is, they're all under contract through at least 2023, and it'll cost a bundle to fire folks, not to mention, the season is only a month away, so throwing the coaching team into turmoil might be a recipe for disaster. That said, from where I sit, there are some very interesting coaching options out there that we could potentially jump on. It'd probably cost us some wins this year, but might be worth it in the long run. And when you're thinking of all this, consider that we have one of the more unique parks in baseball: It heavily favors pitchers (1.000 is average) and right handed batters, and has the lowest XBH rate in baseball:  VOTES note: when we have a vote on things, I'll put it at the bottom of the post Player acquisition 1. Build through prospects 2. Trash Heap Players 3. Veteran Trades 4. Free Agents Roster Strategy 1. Tank hard this year and next year. 2. Tank hard this year. 3. Push this year. Team Strategy 1. Sabermetrics 2. Smallball 3. Tactics General Priorities 1. Hitting 2. Pitching Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 1. Power 2. Contact 3. Eye 4. Defense 5. Speed Pitcher priorities: 1. Velocity 2. Control 3. Movement 1. Starters 2. Relievers Coaching Staff 1. Keep them on 2. Fire manager, hitting, pitching coach note: when making your decisions, go for a coherent strategy. IE, prioritizing power and eye probably doesn't fit well with a smallball approach. Remember also that there are lots of other teams, nearly all of which are more competitive than we are -- while some strategies or courses of action may seem more appealing on the surface, that may put us in more direct competition with other clubs. bewbies fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Apr 8, 2021 |
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Apr 8, 2021 15:59
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Alright, so we've got a pretty good strategy here. It is pretty much the opposite of Moneyball, which you know I'm partial to, but we can work with this. We're going to push for a playoff spot this year. We're going to use a smallball approach. We're going to prioritize pitching, focusing on starters with sick spin rates. We're going prioritize contact and disciplined hitters. and last, we're going to shitcan our current coaching staff. So, from where I sit, if we're going to have to make some significant muscle movements in order to get to a .500 record and get us in contention for the division crown. 1) Hire a new coaching staff. Duh. 2) Improve the bullpen. Our current pen is a trainwreck, and our blue-chip reliever (Andres Munoz) is out at least 3 more months with an elbow explosion. 3) Upgrade a position player or two. Definitely 1B, probably middle infield, possibly catcher. We have a ton of big decisions to make, so get ready! Coaching staff hiring Candidates for each position are waiting in the hallway for you to interview. Manager Candidates Ned Yost is incredibly experienced, and led the Royals to a brief episode of glory on the back of a smallball approach. He's done well leading small market teams over the years and is well regarded as a developer of young talent. He's old, however, and is likely going to retire after a couple of years. Buck Showalter is a legendary manager who never quite got over the top. He's famed for his ability to develop young players, but has also overseen some absolute trainwreck seasons. Mark Hallberg is a young whiz-kid with an MBA and an impressive -- if short -- resume as an assistant coach and analyst. He'll likely struggle a bit with player interactions, but he'll bring a hardline analytic approach. Hitting Coach Candidates Joey Demonte is, I think, a regen coach who apparently has an incredible approach to developing young contact hitters. Bernard Gilkey is an old timey major leaguer with a decent resume developing OBP players. Pitching Coach Candidates Darren Balsley is a very highly regarded veteran pitching coach that focuses on spin rate and works well with veterans, but isn't as well regarded for developing youngsters. Bruce Billings is a recently-retired minor leaguer who enjoyed considerable success in a couple of seasons in the minors. He's inexperienced but is very analytically inclined. Roster Decisions We have to make some tough calls early on with our roster. Outfield logjam. Ironically enough, we have too many quality outfielders. From where I sit, this is how I see them: Taylor Trammell: young guy, fast, projects as a .350 OBP guy with an average glove in LF. Kyle Lewis: last year's rookie of the year; plus glove in CF and 800 OPS, a great combo. Mitch Haniger: 800 OPS guy with a meh glove in RF. Jarred Kelenic: top prospect, ML-ready. 800 OPS this year with a meh glove and good speed; will get better. Julio Rodriguez: #15 overall prospect. ML-ready, but could use more seasoning. Will flirt with 800 OPS this year, eventually has 40 HR power. If we are going to call up Kelenic, we need to trade one of these guys (probably not Lewis). There's huge interest in Rodriguez as well; as he doesn't really fit our smallball strategy that well, we could look to trade him for an upgrade elsewhere. Anyway, that's all I've got. I'll hand it over to Pete for his thoughts. Bullpen/Pitching Upgrades Got some interesting deals for you, kid. Michael Kopech (2.5/3). Once a top prospect, it looks like the White Sox are wanting to cut their losses. He can still throw 99 with a plus-plus slider, but his control is always an issue. Could be a starter or pen guy, and we could get him for a B prospect. He does have some character concerns, though. Drew Rasmussen (3/4). He's pretty much just a hard thrower, but he does throw it hard. He'll cost a bit but he's MLB ready and has a filthy, filthy slider. Darwinzon Hernandez[(3/4.5). He's a lefty with one of the best god drat curveballs I've ever seen. He struggles with the control, but my god can he spin the ball. He'll cost a fair amount, more than the others. Brett De Geus (2.5/4). He's very young, but I love what I see. Plus-plus fastball and slider, and I think he's a bit undervalued by the Rangers. He's tentatively ML-ready and will get better; one for the future. David Robertson is a 35 year old free agent with a famed curveball. We can probably snag him for 3-4 mil a year for 1-2 years. Infield Upgrades Ha-Seong Kim (3/3.5) is a 25 year old KBO superstar the Padres signed this offseason to a long-term deal. I think they need that money back, so they're looking to deal. He looks like a solid 2B glove, can play SS or 3B in a pinch, and should be a solid OBP guy with some room to grow. Only downside here is his contract: 5/35, so its a longer-term deal. If he pans out though, $7m a season is a bargain. He should come fairly cheap, maybe a B prospect. David Fletcher (3/3) is a 26 year old plus/plus glove at 2B and a 350 OBP guy. He'll cost a bit (an A prospect probably) but he's just entering arbitration and is a rock solid MLB player. Catcher Upgrades Well, we signed both Steve Baron (.5/.5) and Jose Heberto Felix (1/1) per your suggestion. They're both outstanding defensive catchers but are black holes with the bat. Murphy was solid in 2019, but we could use an upgrade here. Carson Kelly (2.5/2.5) is one of the best defensive catchers in the game, and won't kill you with the bat. He'll cost a bundle though, and is already in arbitration. Austin Hedges (2.5/2.5) is even better defensively, but is a downgrade with the bat and has a higher arbitration salary. He'll also cost a fair amount Keibert Ruiz (2.5/3.5) is only 22, is a switch hitter, and is decent with the glove. He'll cost a lot though -- the Dodgers have been sniffing around Marco Gonzalez.... Alright. Anyway, from where I sit, we have two more important roster decisions to make. First, TRADE EVAN WHITE. There, I made that decision for you. Doesn't matter what we get back, as long as it is cheap. Second, what do we do with Kyle Seager and James Paxton? Both are quality vets. Seager (3/3) has a team option for $15 mil next year. Paxton (3.5/3.5) is a top shelf SP on a good (8.5m) contract, but he's very injury prone (IRL he just blew out his elbow..  ) and has a ton of trade value right now, and we have some ML-ready SP prospects ready to step in. He'll be a BIG help to us this season, but if he gets hurt, we get nothing for him. VOTE note: when making your decision, bear in mind the cost of each player. They're all cheap salary-wise, but they'll cost player capital for us to acquire, so we can't afford all of the top options at once. A rough cost estimate is included. Manager: 1. Ned Yost 2. Buck Showalter 3. Mark Hallberg Hitting Coach: 1. Joey Demonte 2. Bernard Gilkey Pitching Coach: 1. Darren Balsley 2. Bruce Billings Outfield: Keep/Trade/Demote 1. Taylor Trammell 2. Kyle Lewis 3. Mitch Haniger 4. Jarred Kelenic 5. Julio Rodriguez Pitching upgrades (pick 1-3): 1. Kopech 2. Rasmussen 3. Hernandez 4. De Geus 5. Robertson Infield upgrades (pick 0-1): 1. Ha-Seong Kim 2. David Fletcher Catcher Upgrades (pick 0-1): 1. Carson Kelly 2. Austin Hedges 3. Keibert Ruiz Keep/Extend/Trade 1. Kyle Seager 2. Jim Paxton bewbies fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Apr 9, 2021 |
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Apr 9, 2021 15:49
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Crap, I'm sorry kid, I forgot to list some cheap 1B/DH options! Pick 0-1 of these guys, if you want! John Nogowski (2.5/2.5) is an OBP monster and not much else; he's available more or less for free. Pavin Smith (2.5/3.0) is another OBP monster who has a solid 1B glove and can also play RF, poorly. He's slow on the bases, but could eventually be a .400 OBP guy. He'll cost a bit, but not too much. Franmil Reyes (2.5/3.0) is a pure-DH, but he's gigantic, and he hits baseballs very hard. He doesn't cost too much and is just starting arbitration.
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Apr 9, 2021 15:59
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Good point, probably kinda hard for you to know what do to with Big Maple and Not Corey unless you have all the facts. Big Maple is starting at 4/100 for an extension, which is so far out of our ballpark its probably in the next county. As far as trade possibilities for him go, there are some good ones. Willson Contreras (4/4) is one of the best catchers in baseball, and still has a year of arbitration left after this one. Cubs are also dangling Javier Baez (3.5/3.5), though he'd be a one year rental and an expensive one at that. Yoan Moncada(3.5/3.5) is a former top prospect who hasn't quite reached his potential, but he's young and a solid 3B. Problem there is his contract balloons big time after this season: starts at 7m, then goes to 14, 18, 24, and a final team option at 25m. Tyler Mahle (3/3) is a rock solid young starter with a plus slider and 3 years of TC left. Christian Javier (2.5/3.5) Is a kid with absolutely ludicrous stuff and a full 6 years of TC left, but he still has a bit of development to go. Blake Snell (3/3) is a former CY winner who has slowed down a bit since then. He's on an expensive but reasonable 3 year contract (10/12/16m). He's a big name but I'm not sure I'd take him over Mahle, even considering the difference in salary. Emmanuel Clase (3/5) is arguably the best RP prospect in baseball. Easy 100 with a plus slider. Austin Martin (.5/5) is the #21 overall prospect, a plus glove probably at 2B and a future 800-850 OPS guy. Years out from the bigs though. As far as Seager goes: Kyle Wright (2.5/3.0) is a pretty solid young arm and former top prospect with a ++ curve and 6 years of TC left, ready to go now. 3/4 starter now, eventually maybe a 2. Not really sure why the Braves are over him, but he'd be a good one to go after even if we keep Seager. ....that's probably about it for him. Anyway, if that changes anyone's mind about either player, speak up! bewbies fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Apr 10, 2021 |
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Apr 10, 2021 00:02
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We signed Ned Yost to manage the club, Joey Demonte as our new hitting coach, and Bruce Billings as our pitching coach. This is a solid coaching team. We traded for Ha-seong Kim, giving up 2B Donavan Walton (1.5/1.5) and two young SP prospects: Sam Carlson (.5/2.5) and Juan Then (.5/2). Losing a couple good young arms hurts our org depth, but from where I sit this is still a grossly one-sided trade. One of the better I've seen recently.  We worked a similarly good deal with Jim Paxton. We traded for Tyler Mahle, and by paying half of Paxton's reasonable salary this year ($4.2 mil) -- which we weren't spending anyway -- and offering a nothing prospect we were able to get Michael Siani (1.5/2.5) tossed in as a kicker. I love this kid. He's already a plus-plus glove at all 3 outfield positions, has blazing speed, and could someday be a .350 OBP guy. At worst he's a great 4th OF, defensive replacement, and pinch runner. At best he could be a rock solid leadoff guy. Our biggest trade chip aside from Paxton is Mitch Haniger. So, we went hunting. The White Sox were in a hurry to offload trashman Michael Kopech (2.5/3), but we held them to the fire, and brought Garrett Crochet (2.0/2.5) into the discussion. Crochet is a lefty with absolutely vile stuff who can touch 101, and is currently the #19 overall prospect. He sits more as a tweener rather than a true SP -- which is probably why the Sox are low on him -- but he fits our mold perfectly. We had to toss in a B prospect to make this happen though: SS Noelvi Marte (.5/2.5) is #87 overall, so that's a significant loss. Still, adding two elite young arms for the price of an unneeded outfielder and a decent MIF prospect 4 years from the majors is a solid deal. The Brett De Geus trade was very simple: Cal Raleigh (1.5/2.5) is a farmhand catcher and Justin Dunn (1/2) a AAAA pitcher. The DBs actually came looking for us with Pavin Smith (2.5/3). They wanted a B prospect, but they settled for an assortment of low-grade lottery tickets. Guy won't hit too many out, but he'll be an OBP and doubles machine. Similarly, the Dodgers came looking for Evan White. I don't even know why they felt the need to load up up so many first basemen, but we ended up negotiating a deal around White and Ty France for RP and curveball master Corey Knebel (3/3) and young switch-hitting catcher Keibert Ruiz (2.5/3.5). I almost fell out of my chair when they said they wanted both White and France, but from where I sit, this is a killer deal. The Braves backed off on dealing Kyle Wright, and nothing else for Seager looked interesting. Finally, as we unexpectedly dealt Ty France, we had to bring in a 1B/DH. 28 year old John Nogowski (2.5/2.5) fir the bill absolutely perfectly: he's the literal embodiment of a trashman. Drafted in the 34th round, kind of chubby, a 1B/DH with minimal power. But...get this. In AAA in 2019, he hit 295/413/476 over 463 PAs. Let's give this man his shot. Unfortunately, David Roberton spurned our generous offer to sign a cheaper deal with the Rays. Screw you, man. So, to summarize this flurry of deals: In 2B Ha-Seong Kim SP Tyler Mahle OF Michael Siani SP/RP Michael Kopech SP/RP Garret Crochet (#19) RP Brett De Geus 1B/OF Pavin Smith RP Corey Knebel C Keibert Ruiz 1B/DH John Nogowski Out SP Sam Carlson SP Juan Then SP James Paxton (50% retained) OF Mitch Haniger SS Noelvi Marte (#87) 1B Evan White 1B Ty France
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Apr 10, 2021 16:18
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Thursday, April 1, 2021 Predicted wins: 84 And so, the season kicks off. Our Opening Day lineups and staff:    We may just be on the fringe of a wild card spot! Also, interesting Marco Gonzalez slides into the "top pitchers" list. Only weird thing Ned did is slot Dylan Moore into RF, though that makes some sense considering his blazing speed and solid glove. I will sim up to the ASG today, and we'll make some decisions about what to do at the deadline. bewbies fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Apr 10, 2021 |
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Apr 10, 2021 16:27
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rickiep00h posted:Just a quick under-the-hood question: how are you doing trades? Are you fishing manually or using the Shop Player menu option? And how are your negotiations from there? Do you just keep trying to grab players til they say no? I always do "shop player" unless we have a specific hole to fill, and generally try and avoid the "add 2 star prospects until the AI gives in" technique. The AI is usually very difficult on these settings, which made those deals with the Padres and Dodgers pretty surprising. That said, I'll usually ID potential targets by shopping a guy and seeing which teams are most interested and what they're offering, which keeps me from having to comb through a thousand "not ever in a million years will I trade this 2.5 star player" interactions.
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Apr 10, 2021 20:17
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July 13, 2021 Record: 52-39, .571, 3rd Place, AL West / #2 Wild Card Spot Standings and Leaders    League News Mets? Wtf? AL West is baseball's toughest division. Lucky us. Ravaged by injury including Mookie destroying his knee, Dodgers historically underachieving. Team Stats    Team News As anticipated, Kumar Rocker went #1 overall. NOT as anticipated, his possibly-even-better teammate Jack Leiter was there for us at #12. I couldn't mash "draft" fast enough, despite his VERY heavy bonus demand of $9.5 mil. It is a good thing we did not spend much on added salary this offseason, as it took every dime left in our budget to sign the guy. BUT WE DID. Or we will. He hasn't signed yet, but should shortly. Leiter is a 1.5/4.5 SP, with a 97 mph heater, two elite breaking pitches (CB/SL), and a changeup that, if he develops it, should give him four plus pitches. We also got a solid 5 tool OF prospect Lonnie White (.5/2.5) in the third, and another nice 5 tool 2B named Tyler Black .5/2.5 in the 2nd. We have been HAMMERED by injuries. Perhaps the White Sox knew something we didn't: after "fleecing" them in a trade, both Crochet and Kopech suffered long-term injuries early in the year. Kopech's elbow exploded -- again -- and he's out until next season. Crochet tore a rotator cuff, and might be back later in the year. In "good" news, the Reds got 29 mediocre innings out of James Paxton before his shoulder blew up. So that deal was smart. We also lost our solid starting SS JP Crawford for the season to a knee and starting RF Dylan Moore lost a few months to a busted hand. As far as player performance goes, Kelenic has been a huge disappointment, although Pete is still confident he'll turn into an elite major leaguer. Kim has been bad with the bat but great with the glove. Nogowski has been an OBP monster and our best hitter. Maybe best of all, our catchers, who we're using in a true platoon, have both been absolutely fantastic. Between the two of them, they're approaching a 7 WAR pace, which would be the best catcher season in years, albeit split between two guys. Our pitching, on the other hand, has been incredible. Mahle is having a CY caliber year; all of our starters have been outstanding. Better yet is the bullpen: despite losing two nuclear arms, it is the best in baseball. Adding young star Andres Munoz, back from injury, will just make it better. Now, decisions! First, we need to decide if we're buying, selling, or standing pat at the deadline. Losing Crawford was a big blow; if we're going to compete the rest of the year, we probably need to backfill that spot. Our outfield production has also been putrid, aside from Kyle Lewis. We either need an upgrade there, or our young hitters need to get their heads out of their asses. Trade block options include some big stars: - Max Scherzer - Javy Baez - Pierce Johnson - Luke Voit - Jorge Soler All of them except for Johnson and Voit are pending free agents. Freddy Galvis is out there as another SS option, but he costs more than a 2.5 star player probably should. We could also rummage around in the dumpster for a replacement 2B/SS...probably a not terribly exciting glove-only guy ala Nicky Lopez. We have a couple of potential extensions to consider. Corey Knebel (3.5/3.5) has been one of the best RPs in baseball this year, and wants 4/31 (can probably get him down to something like 3/24 with the last year as a team option). Kendall Graveman (2/2) has been a surprisingly passable 5th starter and wants a whopping 2/2.8 for an extension. We have a LOT of young arms behind him though.... Julio Rodriguez(2/3.5) is raking in both AA and AAA. If we want to start his clock this season, he'd be a help at the MLB level. He still has a bit more growing to do, but he could probably do it on the big league roster. Finally, I hate to say it, but we may consider sending Kelenic back down. He's been seriously overmatched by MLB pitching, no way around it. He'd be replaced by Trammell and Jose Marmolejos, who is pretty meh. VOTE Do we: 1. Stand pat and see if our young OF and replacement SS/2B can bring it together this season. 2. Go after a big name (probably Javy Baez) on the trade block. We have NO money to play with, so the biggest guys are going to cost a fortune in player capital. 3. Look for a trashman replacement at 2B/SS and maybe an OF spot. If #2, we could potentially deal for Luke Voit and send Pavin Smith to the OF, upgrading 2 positions. Voit won't come cheap but he's an absolutely elite hitter with 3 years of (fairly expensive) arbitration left. Extensions 1. Corey Knebel 2. Kendall Graveman Transactions: 1. Send down Kelenic 2. Call up Rodriguez bewbies fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Apr 11, 2021 |
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Apr 11, 2021 20:25
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PS: should probably add "sell big" as a deadline option. We have a LOT of players generating interest around the league, so if anyone thinks we should pack it in and sell, vote accordingly!
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Apr 11, 2021 20:51
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Sunday, October 3, 2021 93-69 (.574) 3rd Place, AL West. #2 Wild Card Standings and Leaders    League News The Mets roll to one of the best seasons in recent memory mainly on the back of DeGrom sacrifice bunts. Lorenzo Cain wins a batting title and Salvy Perez rips 44 dingers, good stuff for the old best buds. Lucas Giolito has a season for the ages. The Pirates bring Kumar Rocker to the bigs almost immediately. He isn't great, but he holds his own. Look forward to them ruining one of the best pitching prospects in recent memory, somehow. FTJ and Trout MVP favorites. Team Stats    Team News The Luke Voit deal falls through as we can't afford even his reasonable salary and asking the Yankees to foot the bill put his asking price into "lol" territory (like, Kelenic + J-Rod territory). All other potential deadline buys were similarly astronomically priced, so Peter opted out of a move on our behalf. Ha-Seong Kim puts together a rock solid second half playing mostly at SS. Our pitchers and defense are elite. 2nd best starter ERA, best bullpen by a mile, and top 2 overall defense. Mahle and Gonzalez are the league's best 1/2 punch (probably); Knebel, De Geus, and Vest are the best bullpen trio. Kyle Lewis misses 6 weeks with a hammy, will be out for at least the first couple rounds of the playoffs. Otherwise, a great year. Kelenic goes down to AAA and finds his stroke immediately. We call him back up in September, and he slashes a respectable 278/367/392 the last month while solidly filling in for Lewis in center. Not a great rookie year, but not a total disaster. J-Rod is somehow even worse than Kelenic was. He's like... in pitcher hitting territory. Bad pitcher hitting territory. On the plus side, Pete gave him a bump to both his power and contact upsides, though I'm not sure why. Jack Leiter slid into AA like a champ and dominated. He could potentially be ML-ready next season. Added a couple MPH to his fastball, also. He's now the #4 overall prospect. We extend Corey Knebel to an incredibly reasonable 3/18 deal, with the last year a team option (what a deal for the Reliver of the Year frontrunner). Also extend Kendall Graveman to a dirt-cheap 2/2.8 deal. We play the Astros in the Wild Card game. Will be Mahle vs McCullers. Best offense in the AL versus the 2nd best defense. Season record vs was 10-9 in our favor. Note: I'll post the full game summaries for all of our playoff games. They'll be spoilered, so you won't know how many games a series goes.
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Apr 12, 2021 21:46
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2021 Wild Card Series: Seattle Mariners vs Houston Astros Wild Card Game
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Apr 12, 2021 21:56
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2021 ALDS: Seattle Mariners vs Los Angeles Angels Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5
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Apr 12, 2021 22:03
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Flesnolk posted:Could you darken the fonts a little, if possible? Those pdfs were nearly impossible to read. I agree, and unfortunately I don't think there is a way as they're generated by the game. If anyone knows any tricks though let me know and I'll be happy to integrate them. edit - never mind, I got it! Should be better from now on. bewbies fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Apr 13, 2021 |
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Apr 13, 2021 21:08
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2021 ALCS: Seattle Mariners vs Toronto Blue Jays Note: from now on, I'm just going to merge all of these into one big PDF as that will be easier for me and probably easier for you. If anyone really hates this, let me know and I'll figure out a better way. Holy loving hell, what a series. This poo poo was like...2001 Series, or 2004 ALCS kind of baseball. Maybe was better than any of them. Game 4 was won by walk/single/single -- walkoff (against Roberto Osuna, who was available as a free agent before the season, but gently caress that guy.) Game 5 was ALMOST a blown save...the Jays hit a 2 run dinger to get it to 6-5, and the next guy walks on four pitches...only to have Todd Frazier ground into a game ending double play. WHEW Finally...Game 7, we were up 1 headed into the 9th...and the league's best bullpen gives up a loving WALK OFF HOME RUN AFTER AN ERROR TO LOSE THE GAME. I watched the game "live" and my wife heard me scream gently caress from downstairs. Rowdy Tellez indeed. He hit that thing a loving mile too... The Series was incredible too - Mets got out 2-0, then lost 3 in a row, then won the last 2. DeGrom pitched 42.2 innings in the playoffs over 6 games, had a 1.90 ERA, 62 Ks and only 5 walks. And his record was 2-2. edit: Holy hell Ned, just keep trotting Kikuchi out there even though he's getting loving shelled. HOW COULD THAT GO WRONG bewbies fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Apr 13, 2021 |
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Apr 13, 2021 21:39
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Offseason 2021-2022 Well, that was a thrilling but disappointing run! Now, to get down to GM business. The offseason and spring training consist of several different phases; I need marching orders to figure out where we're headed. First, we have to establish our Yearly Priorities. Then we have to make our arbitration decisions. Then we have to go through free agency and the Rule 5 draft. And that will bring us to spring training! First, our Yearly Priorities. From where I sit, we have a solid-looking playoff-caliber roster, but we have some significant holes. As always, we're going to be heavily resource-constrained. First, take a look at our contracts, finances, and prospect pool.    Yusei Kukuchi did us a HUGE favor opting out of his contract; between him and Seager's option that potentially cuts $32m from our payroll (to potentially add to the $12m of surplus we already have). We also have 3-4 young and good SP prospects potentially ready for the big leagues next season. We do, however, have some significant holes, mainly on the offensive side of the ball. Right now we have a good group of starting pitchers, an absolutely elite bullpen (soon to get better with the addition of Kenny Giles), a very, very talented but underachieving outfield, and a group of random trashmen around the infield. From where I sit, there are the options I see as possible priorities. 1) Invest our extra cash in extending young players. This gives us some financial stability and potentially saves us money down the line, but also carries some big risk in the case that these guys regress or don't pan out. Extension possibilities include Tyler Mahle, Kyle Lewis, Keibert Ruiz, Julio Rodriguez, Brett De Geus, JP Crawford, Jarred Kelenic, and Pavin Smith. All of these guys are still in either arbitration or pre-arb. We can go up to 10 years on a contract. 2) Remodel 3B. We don't HAVE to cut ties with Seager: he's still a solidly average/above average MLB 3B, and $15m for him is not jaw dropping. There are some solid options to replace him though: we could spend a fortune on an Arenado or Kris Bryant, trade for a talented youngster, or bring in some trashmen from rule 5 and later free agency to compete for the spot. If trade, it'd likely take one of our blue chip prospects or a couple of our elite pitchers to get a deal done for a ML-ready starter...but there are some very exciting young 3Bs out there to consider. 3) Spend big on a marquee free agent. We potentially have the juice to go after either Arenado or Lindor, either of which would fill an immediate need. They'd take virtually all of our money to make it happen, but they'd come on board for "free" in terms of player capital! 4) Trade away some of our excess pitching for prospects or promising youngsters. We have...a lot of good pitchers. A solid rotation already, with several youngsters who look ML-ready just sitting there. We could potentially trade away either a vet or two (Marco Gonzalez, Chris Flexen) or some youngsters (a huge list) to either pump up our farm system somewhere, or bring in some depth or talent for the big club. Here's the league's upcoming free agents:  Arbitration  From where I sit, Kikuchi is the only no-brainer withdraw. He's redundant, and WAY too expensive. We could also consider trading Tom Murphy, who has been great for us, but Keibert Ruiz looks ready to step into the full time role, and $4.6m is a lot for a team like us to pay a backup catcher. I'd also recommend cutting ties with both Middleton and Montero; we could shop them, but neither is likely to bring anything very exciting. If you strongly want to cut ties with any other players, speak up! VOTE Priorities (pick as many as you like, but consider that some are kind of mutually exclusive): 1) Invest our extra cash in extending young players (if this, note who) 2) Remodel 3B (note if you want FA, trashmen, or blue chippers) 3) Spend big on a marquee free agent (if this, note who) 4) Trade away some of our young pitching for prospects or promising youngsters Arbitration List who you want to cut ties with; otherwise, we sign them to a 1 year deal probably pretty close to our offer. If we decide to make some trades, Pete is standing by with the scouting reports.
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Apr 14, 2021 14:44
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IcePhoenix posted:Since Kikuchi is under Arb let's see what the market for trading him looks like first before just cutting him for nothing. Even a lotto ticket prospect or two is better than letting him walk. Maybe we can tie that into something to fill one of our holes. The rest of the league was -- shall we say -- uninterested. To the point of being offended that we even asked. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Can Kim play 2B? Yes, he definitely can. In fact, that's far and away his best position (his arm is a bit on the weak side for an elite left-side IF). The only reason he was playing SS is because of JP Crawford's tattered PCL.
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Apr 14, 2021 15:22
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Here's a few blue-chip/near blue-chip 3Bs for you to consider, kid. Bobby Witt Jr (2.5/4.5). Just finished a solid rookie year as a 20 year old (243/301/410, 2.0 WAR). Fits our ballpark and style of play perfectly, and a potential gold glove 3B or decent SS. He'd cost a fortune though: either Kelenic straight up, or J-Rod plus one of our A pitching prospects. He's likely to be one of the best 3Bs in baseball for the next decade but we're giving up...a lot. KeBryan Hayes (3.0/3.5). His first full season as a 24 year old was brilliant (271/346/438, 5.6 WAR). He's also a gold glove caliber 3B and fits our scheme perfectly. Older and more seasoned than Witt; lower top end, but better right now. Costs a bit less than Witt, but still a bundle. Lol that the Pirates are listening to offers on him. Issac Paredes (2.5/3.0). 22 year old who had a solid quarter season last year (300/358/440). He projects as about an average glove and probably about that slash line, maybe a bit more walks as he matures. A solid contact hitter. Costs one A pitching prospect. Abraham Toro (2.5/3.0) Also just finished a great quarter season (276/381/520). Is probably an average to minus glove, but looks like a plus bat and OBP guy. Costs a bit more than Paredes.
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Apr 14, 2021 15:40
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Some awards: Knebel finished 2nd in Reliever of the Year voting. 28 year old John Nogowski won "rookie" of the year. Marco Gonzalez finished 5th in CY, Tyler Mahle 7th. Dylan Moore won a gold glove in RF. Some early free agent estimates: Frankie Lindo wants 8/350, with an opt out after year 5, and the last 2 years player options. Arenado wants 8/360 with a PO in the last year. Now, if that is making your eyes water, remember, that's just where negotiations START. They'll end up taking less (probably) but the question is, how much less.... Also Arenado won the NL MVP. bewbies fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Apr 14, 2021 |
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Apr 14, 2021 15:51
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Veryslightlymad posted:Please note: I don't understand baseball or baseball stats or strategy. This is a good question, probably worth some discussion. We all know there are 3 OF positions in baseball. They're not entirely interchangeable, but they all require the same basic tools. In OOTP and real life, they're broken down as range (speed + reading the ball + getting to the ball), glove/error (catching and transitioning the ball to throw) and arm (power and accuracy of throws). Center field has long been the place for the best OF defenders, and a good defensive centerfielder is incredibly valuable. Elite defensive CFs who can hit at something like a ML level are incredibly rare, also. By my count, there's exactly four-ish in the world right now: Christian Pache, Byron Buxton, Harrison Bader, and Jackie Bradley Jr (note: this is according to Pete's scouting). Range is the number one quality you look for in a CF; arm is somewhat less important as they're a bit closer to the bases. Left field used to be where you put your worst defender, but in recent years, rangy LF defenders have shown some serious value. Oftentimes now you see a plus defender preferred over the old slow power bat in left. Right field values range a bit less, but a big arm is useful here to make the long throw to 3rd base on a 1st-to-3rd run. If you're going to have a minus range/glove guy, RF is probably the best place for them to be unless you have a weird ballpark like Fenway, where Mookie made big money as a great defensive RF. In addition to the tools, OOTP considers experience at the position. So, a player with very good tools needs to gain experience before reaching their full potential. Usually we manage this by assigning positions early in their minor league career, but you can do the same at the ML level...you'll just have to deal with weaker defense while they get better. So, for us right now, this is how our OF looks: Jarred Kelenic: plus range/glove for the corners, minus for CF. He'll be a great COF defender, minus in center. Long-term, looks like a best-fit for LF. Taylor Trammell: average glove/range and weak arm, probably a LF candidate, or a slight minus in right. Can play center, but will not be great there. Julio Rodriguez: average glove/range, but a plus arm. Ideal RF candidate, will be a slight plus there, but a liability in center. Kyle Lewis: plus range, good glove, above average arm. Could be an elite COF, or a very good CF. Dylan Moore: plus-plus range and a plus arm, mediocre glove though. Elite COF, or good CF. Better OF defender than IF defender. Jake Fraley: solid range and glove, noodle arm. Could be a plus LF, average elsewhere. Pavin Smith: minus everything; could be a passable RF, liability elsewhere. Michael Siani: Plus-plus range and good arm. Possibly excellent CF, elite elsewhere. So, when you see players move positions, oftentimes it is the manager doing it to fill in for injuries (like to Lewis last year). Most guys who can play the corners can do both. A good CF can play anywhere. The tricky thing for us right now is seeing how these youngsters play out...that was the biggest reason for the huge offensive black hole in our outfield last year. Kelenic and J-Rod are both absolute top-shelf prospects, but they both struggled at the ML level last year. Trammell also looks like a potential elite hitter, but hasn't found his ML stroke yet. We'll have to decide this spring what to do about this lot: we can always send one or more down for some more seasoning, let them try to work it out against ML pitching, or even trade them if we think they're looking like busts. bewbies fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Apr 14, 2021 |
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Apr 14, 2021 17:20
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Alright, we've been negotiating hard with the Pirates for Ke'Bryan Hayes and this is the best deal we've found: SP George Kirby (2.0/3.0, #23 overall) SP/RP Garret Crochet (2.5/3.0) 1B Sam Travis (2.0/2.0) Kirby is probably ML-ready; he'll be a good control pitcher and inning eater who probably tops out as a 2-3 guy. Crochet seems over his injury from last year, but has been inconsistent so far on the MLB level so far. He's still ridiculously talented though. I have no idea what they want with Travis, he's a AAAA guy at best. Tough call, but it fills a huge position of need with the reigning rookie of the year. Hayes will struggle to reach 20 dingers a year in our spacious ballpark, but he'll put a ton of balls in play, hit a ton of doubles/triples, and get on base all while playing elite 3B defense. Thoughts? bewbies fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Apr 14, 2021 |
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Apr 14, 2021 19:25
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rickiep00h posted:Fix 3B by picking up Bobby Witt Jr. Alright. So, here's the deal with BWJ. After hard negotiations with the Royals, we've reached three mutually acceptable possibilities: 1) Kelenic straight up. 2) George Kirby, Emerson Hancock (2.0/3.0, #27 overall), Taylor Trammell (2.0/3.5), and Garrett Crochet 3) Julio Rodriguez (2.5/5.0) (#12 overall) and Kirby. Witt is still the #4 overall prospect despite almost a full year in the bigs. I'd predict his peak as 25-30 HRs, a ~380 OBP, and 15-20 steals, along with GG-caliber defense at 3rd. He's already a good MLB starter, but is probably 2 years away from producing at an elite level. So, a bit more power and more steals than Hayes, but otherwise pretty comparable. We're giving up a lot for him though. This needs a solid vote: Bobby Witt Jr or Ke'Bryan Hayes. Or, neither, we're giving up too much
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Apr 14, 2021 22:01
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Well, from where I sit...if we're going for both these guys, we don't really need JP Crawford anymore. By eating his $3.1m salary (the Pirates "dont have the money" lol), we were able to pull off: Ke'Bryan Hayes and 1B Luken Baker (1.5/2.5), solid looking bat-only 1B/DH) for Garret Crochet, JP Crawford (100% retained), Sam Travis, and 0.5 star reliever Tim Elliot. We then sent Jarred Kelenic and SP Brandon Williamson (0.5/1.5) to the Royals for Bobby Witt Jr., RF Seuly Matias (1.0/2.5), SP Austin Cox (1.5/2.5), and CF Erick Pena (0.5/2.5) Matias is an intriguing guy: huge arm, potential big power. He struggled at AA, but is loaded with talent. Cox is a solid bet to mature into a 4/5 SP, and Pena is a very young but VERY talented prospect probably destined for LF in the majors. Now, we need to decide who gets converted to SS. Witt has some experience there and has better hands, but Hayes has better range. Witt is probably the right choice: he won't be a gold glover, but he's got solid hands and a great arm and should be solidly above average. Bryant COULD be great there, but only if he gets a lucky bump to his ball handling. We also traded Tom Murphy for Dennis Santana (3.0/4.0), a young pre-arb SP/RP who will help fill in the hole left by Crochet's leaving and has an absolutely sick slider. We'll need to sign a backup catcher: we will prioritize catcher defense uber alles. bewbies fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Apr 15, 2021 |
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Apr 15, 2021 01:09
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I assume you mean Hayes when you say Bryant? Or I'm getting confused. No, no...I'm getting confused. Hayes to 3B, Witt to SS. But otherwise, yes. I feel like we should wait and see what Rule 5 and later free agency offers in terms of a cheap power bat at COF (we could really use a lefty, specifically). There's a good chance one or more of those guys sticks around until later in the process and signs at a discount.
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Apr 15, 2021 01:20
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Spring Training 2022 We put in offers on Kyle Schwarber and Joc Pederson. Kyle didn't like Ned Yost for some reason, and Joc signed a mildly absurd deal with the Orioles instead of us. Lindor went to the Angels, which is a tough break for us. He also signed a 4 year deal with an opt-out after year 2, which is bizarre. Arenado got 6/231 from the Cubs. The Tigers were in a huge hurry to drop Matthew Boyd (3.0/3.0) for some reason, and came at us with an offer to take him off their hands for next to nothing. So, we sent a .5/.5 prospect away and got a solid 2/3 starter in return. He's in the last year of an $8.3m deal and might be worth extending. We signed Buster Posey as our backup/platoon catcher to a nothing 1 year/1 option year deal. He's 34, still clubs lefties, and is still one of the best defensive catchers in the game. Plus, he's a well-regarded leader and a veteran presence. Players were excited by him coming on board. We got 2 of our star players extended: Tyler Mahle signed for 5/65, with a TO in the last year. Ke'Bryan Hayes signed for 8/120, with a TO in the last year. Both contracts carry through their age-32 seasons. We tried VERY hard to sign Nomar Mazara to be our lefty power bat, but Boston decided he was their guy and ended up doubling our offer. We were able to sign Hunter Renfroe to a minor league option contract, but it looks like left field will be manned by a platoon of Dylan Moore and Taylor Trammell...which, to be honest, has the potential to be pretty solid. If Trammell sucks again, we can always go after a big lefty bat there at the deadline. We did well on the Spring Training injury front: the only long-term injury to a major piece was our recent acquisition Dennis Santana, out until August with a shoulder issue. Good spring training news: Kenny Giles is back, and looks devastating. He reinforces an already-killer bullpen. Hayes, Ruiz, and BWJ all raked this spring. BWJ completed his transition to SS quite smoothly, and grades out as a plus there now. Posey and Dylan Moore had bad springs, as did Benny Rodriguez, though he's still a couple years out from being ML-ready. The one major decision we need to make this spring is on Jack Leiter. He added a tick to his fastball this winter and can now touch 100; he was outstanding in AA last year and lights out in ST this year (20 IP, 23 K, 6 BB, 1.80 ERA). He still has some growing to do -- he needs to work on his secondary stuff -- but he's probably an average-to-good ML pitcher right now. Our probable Opening Day lineup and rotation: Kim 2B Hayes 3B Witt Jr SS Rodriguez RF Smith 1B Nogowski DH Trammel LF Lewis CF Ruiz C Gonzalez Mahle Sheffield Kopech Flexen Giles (CL) De Geus Munoz Vest Knebel Delaplane Gilbert Boyd VOTE For Jack Leiter, do we: 1) Put him on the opening day roster (probably for Flexen) 2) Wait to see what he does in AAA/call him up after Super 2 day (contract fuckery!) 3) Plan on leaving him in him in the minors this season unless we seriously need an SP
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Apr 15, 2021 17:10
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Veryslightlymad posted:Will keeping him down harm his development or make him resent us? Like, in game mechanically, and not just narratively? Like everything else with OOTP, "it depends." Usually you want to pair a guy with the highest level he can compete at, but sometimes giving someone time at a lower level can jumpstart their development by letting them work on stuff against lesser competition. OTOH, if you leave them too low for too long, they can start to stagnate. Pretty close to real life to be honest. Average Lettuce posted:From what little I understand from this, it would cost us less in the future to keep him in the minor leagues, right? (i.e. he would keep longer his junior contract) If so, I would only bring him up in case we need him. Right now he's on a minor league contract; once he's promoted, he starts his MLB service time. In GM terms, this starts the 6-year clock that dominates so much of baseball player development: once your clock starts, you have 3 years at league minimum, then 3 years of arbitration (usually, single-season contracts with gradually increasing salaries -- though nowhere near free market values). The "service time fuckery" thing relates mostly to the "Super 2" clause: if a player is among the earliest called up as his position (top 17% I think?) then they get to arbitration and eventually This was supposed to be a nice way to reward elite prospects, but it has become more of a way for teams to hold onto players and suppress their value a bit longer. Kris Bryant was one of the great early examples of this: by holding him in the minors until mid-May, the Cubs basically got an extra year of service time from him. Our own former super prospect Jarred Kelenic is a more recent example. Were this real life and I a fan, I'd think it reasonable/fair to keep Leiter down as we have legit developmental reasons to do so. We will, however, have pitching injuries this year, and if Leiter is destroying AAA as he likely will, we'll have some tough decisions to make about whether or not to start his clock early. bewbies fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Apr 15, 2021 |
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Apr 15, 2021 19:04
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It sounds like we're heavily in favor of leaving Leiter down. Where do want to put Wacky Jack (that's his new nickname) on the callup priority list? We WILL suffer several catastrophic injuries to our staff this season; the main question is how quickly do we want to call him up when they happen? We have some serious other options available. Emerson Hancock (#21 overall) George Kirby (#36 overall) are both elite SP prospects who are more or less ML-ready; Wyatt Mills and Joey Gerber are both excellent RP callups. Do we only call up Wacky Jack after exhausting these options, or is he the first to go?
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Apr 15, 2021 20:50
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Also, we need nicknames for Bobby Witt Jr, Julio Rodriguez, Ha-Seong Kim, Keibert Ruiz, and Ke'Bryan Hayes. I've been using "BWJ" and "J-Rod" for the first two but those aren't very original.
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Apr 15, 2021 20:52
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July 19th, 2022 57-34 (.626), 1st place, AL West       Our young hitters are getting the job done. The year's biggest surprise has been Taylor Trammell, who is giving us competent defense in left to go along with a pretty staggering .440 OBP. Pete was right about him, it turns out. Bobby Bats, HSK, and Kobe (Ke'Bryan Hayes actual middle name, lol) have all been more or less exactly as advertised. We lost J-Rod for a month to a major concussion, which is legit terrifying -- like in real life, concussions in OOTP can be disastrous. He's been great otherwise, though. Our pitching leans heavily on our two star SPs and an elite bullpen. Kenny Giles has been baseball's best reliever, with de Geus and Munoz capping off our top 3. The bottom 3 of the rotation have been forgettable, so we may want to look at a deadline upgrade there. Michael Kopech worked his rear end off to come back from reconstructive surgery only to get injured again on his rehab assignment, this time a knee. He's out for the rest of the year. With the 30th overall pick in the draft we took RHP Hunter Schmitt (0.5/4.0). He's hitting 93 mph as an 18 year old with 4 plus pitches, including a wipeout changeup. Like Leiter, he probably fell to us due to a stratospheric bonus demand ($7m) which we were easily able to pay. Note: I'm going to start injecting interesting historical players into the draft and see where OOTP takes them. One rule: we can never trade for them. They can't all be legendary hall of famers as that will mess with the game engine, but I'm all for putting in anyone interesting from baseball history. The first such player is Bo Jackson, the toolsiest baseball player to ever baseball. He runs a 4.1 40 y dash, can bench press your car, and can throw a baseball 110 mph. He was never a great baseball player -- more an incredible athlete who happened to play baseball -- but we'll see what the (checks notes) Texas Rangers (ugh) can get out of him. Wacky Jack has been about average in AAA; was probably smart to leave him down and keep him there this season. Benny the Jet, meanwhile, has played his way into AAA ball, and has looked tremendous. He projects now as a slightly below average MLB bat, good OBP guy, with plus plus plus defense (that's 3 plusses: we're into Andrelton Simmons or possibly even Ozzie Smith territory) and 50+ SB potential. I thought his ETA was 2 years out, but he could be MLB-ready next year...meaning, we have a logjam on the left side of our infield. A good problem to have. We had four all stars: Marco Gonzales, Tyler Mahle, Kenny Giles, and Taylor Trammell. Jarred Kelenic may be the best player in baseball. Glad we got rid of that bum. From where I sit, the only big hole we're looking at in our lineup is the DH. Nogowski has been better the last month, but prior to that, he was one of the worst full-time DHs in baseball history. Pete has downgraded him; he's looking increasingly like a flash-in-the-pan, ala Bob "The Hammer" Hamelin. We need to decide if we're going to try and upgrade the DH spot, try someone else there, or let him try and work through this half-season slump. We also need to consider getting a veteran 3/4/5 arm. We have several tweener pitchers, but a proper inning-eater will be a nice upgrade for a playoff run. Alternatively, we still have a couple of bright young arms in AAA; we could bring one of those guys up and trade away one of Boyd/Sheffield/Flexen. Heya kid...there are some interesting options out there for a DH. Tell me what you think... Nelson Cruz (2.5/2.5) can still mash, and is available more or less for free. He's DH-only and kills lefties; he's really only a half-season solution. He's OPS-ing .830 right now though. Marcell Ozuna (3.5/3.5) is far removed from his gold glove years, and the Braves are tired of his bad defense. He's an elite hitter though: 303/364/965 at the moment. He'll cost a couple of decent prospects, but is gettable. He does come with a beefy contract: 16/18/18/16 (TO) for the next 4 years. Franmil Reyes (2.5/3.0) is actually in AAA right now (a year after an all-star appearance), but he could still OPS 850 in the bigs. He's free and in arbitration, but is currently paid $4.4m. Jared Walsh (2.5/2.5) is a no-glove XBH machine still in pre-arb. He won't cost us too much -- probably a B prospect -- and is the lefty power bat we've been needing. Josh Naylor (2.5/3.0) has played his way out of Cleveland's OF (which I assume is why Reyes is down) but still has a solid bat. You can expect a sky-high OBP and plenty of doubles, but probably no more than 20 HRs. He comes cheap both salary and player capital and is a lefty. Jesse Winker (3.0/3.0) is having a great year. He's an OBP monster with decent power; he's OPSing almost 900 right now. As a result, he'll cost an A prospect, and is looking at $14m+ in arbitration next season. We also have a kid named Luken Baker in the organization from the Hayes trade; he's pushing 300 lbs but can hit baseballs. He may be worth a look in our DH spot. As for SPs, as far as a meaningful upgrade goes, we're looking at either Jose Berrios or Lance Lynn. Berrios is better, but is on a one year contract and will cost more in trade capital. Lynn has a TO for next year. VOTE DH. Do we: 1) stand pat with The Nog 2) make a trade (if this, say who) 3) Call up Baker SP. Do we: 1) Stand pat with our current staff. 2) Make a trade (if this, say who) 3) Call up a prospect and demote someone bewbies fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Apr 16, 2021 |
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Apr 16, 2021 19:52
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KICK BAMA KICK posted:Sorry if you already mentioned this -- did the NL get the DH in this world? It doesn't now, but "league evolution" is on, and universal DH is a very common event. I've also seen "abolish DH" before but it is very rare. Voodoofly posted:Do any of the relievers have below average stamina (40+) and at least a third pitch that isn't total garbage? If so maybe slide them into the 5th slot and see what they can do for 4-5 innings. This also applies to any journeymen AAAA pitchers we have sitting around in the minors. I don't want to put one of our future stars in there but sometimes you can get a great half a season out of someone before they return to the mean. We actually have two young starters working out of the pen, one as a 6th SP, the other as an opener. I suspect Ned will give them a shot at some point if Boyd/Flexen keep struggling, but then, Ned. I forgot to mention: we signed a primo international youngster this year with some of our leftover funds. Leo Maldonado is only 16, but he projects as a plus LH COF/1B bat with a solid glove/arm combo. He cost a bundle and won't be here for probably 5-6 years, but we had a bit of cash to burn so, why not. We also got Kyle Lewis extended to the tune of 5/47.5, with a TO in the last year. That takes us through his arbitration years and two seasons after, his age 32 season. He reminds me of Lorenzo Cain so I have kind of a soft spot for him, plus he inexplicably ripped 20 dingers the first half of the season. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:edit: can you post the super goofy little video recaps? those are fun Got this figured out! I will post these from now on in lieu of game logs! bewbies fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Apr 17, 2021 |
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Apr 17, 2021 14:40
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Tuesday, October 3, 2022 102-60, .630. 1st Place, AL West League News Jarred Kelenic puts up one of the best non-Trout seasons in recent memory. Wonder how the Royals landed that guy. Dodgers rip off a 108 win season and head to the playoffs on a 9-1 hot streak. The Royals eek out a playoff spot for the first time in a while. Lucas Giolito continues his march to the hall of fame.    Team News We trade a couple of middling bullpen prospect arms for Josh Naylor, who immediately catches fire and runs a hot bat through most of the summer. We lose Taylor Trammell for a month, and he cools down in August, but he comes back just before the playoffs and finishes the season hot. Bobby Bats rips off a great second half and finishes with the team lead in WAR. Logan Gilbert emerges as our #4 starter and puts up a great late season run. We lead the league in runs against, OBP, bullpen ERA, and defense. A good combo. We'll play either the Royals or Angels in the ALDS. Both are very, very dangerous teams.   
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Apr 17, 2021 15:53
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ALDS: Mariners vs Royals Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 note: this is the first time I've tried video highlights -- if anyone has any suggestions for improvement please let me know bewbies fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Apr 17, 2021 |
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Apr 17, 2021 16:47
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IcePhoenix posted:the upgrade to our infield still outweighs it imo I agree actually, I just enjoy the teasing. Bats looks like he's gonna be a legit superstar at a really valuable position. that said, if Benny the jet looks Major League ready next year we are going to have to make some tough decisions about who to keep and who to play where. as for the video highlights, if folks prefer the sheets I'm happy to post those instead but doing them both would take for-drat- ever. as a compromise, I'll post highlights of the best game from each series, and sheets from the rest? how does that sound?
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Apr 17, 2021 20:22
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2022 ALCS: Mariners v White Sox Box scores and game logs. Game 5 Highlights. TIM ANDERSON Game 5 would have ended on a routine grounder to second except for PAVIN SMITH, YOU HAD ONE JOB PAVIN We were outmatched in the ALCS, but still, to lose again in the ALCS to a walk off homer seems like a bit deja vu...
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Apr 18, 2021 14:21
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Offseason 2022-2023 League News White Sox stroll to a Series win over the Dodgers. Jarred Kelenic wins AL MVP, FTJ wins NL. Giolito wins another CY; Mahle/Gonzales finish 2/3. Mackenzie Gore wins NL CY. We don't win any Gold Gloves despite our league-best defense. Jacob DeGrom and Aaron Judge hit the open market.   Team News Ned Yost gives a long, detailed, and entirely accurate account of the Apollo 8 mission, then retires. Shortly after, Buster Posey looks around the room and appears to decide on the spot to retire also. We pick up options on Kenny Giles and Chris Flexen. Nothing of note in arbitration. Leiter and Benny top the prospects list.   Yearly Priorities First, we need to hire a new manager. Normally I'd wait until after year 3 to pose the question of taking our tactical approach in a new direction, but as we're hiring a new guy, it seems prudent to take a look at the way we're playing the game. Based on who we decide to hire, we'll change (or keep!) our tactics. Mangerial Candidates Bruce Bochy is one of the most experienced baseball men of all time. He's probably looking for a 2-3 year project, so like Ned, he's most likely a short term hire. He uses a very conventional approach and is very well regarded for his development of young players and roster management. He does tend to alienate pitchers, however, so he won't be a perfect fit for the clubhouse. Buck Showalter is also still out there. He's pretty much everything Bochy is to include a short-term hire, but he's a smallball guru, and pitchers like him more. Lou Marson is the current hotshot AAA manager, but has no ML experience. He's 36 years old and a sabermetrics disciple, well regarded for both developing players and getting the most out of veterans. He'll fit in very well with our team chemistry, but is totally unproven at this level and may struggle with the man management side of things. Jake Lowery is only 32, but has developed a reputation for building elite smallball teams in the lower minor leagues. He's also shown an incredible aptitude for developing young players and managing the tactics of the game. He's a straightforward clubhouse guy and won't alienate anyone, but also won't breed much loyalty from his players. Mike Scioscia managed the Angels for a generation, was fired, and spent last year up in New Hampshire managing an indy league team. He's a tactics guy obsessed with matchups and shifts and whatnot, well regarded for developing players, and he'll fit in great with our roster. Skip Schumaker is the Padres bench coach. He's...unorthdox. I'm honestly not entirely sure what that means. He's done a great job with player development though, and will fit in well with our staff and clubhouse. Roster moves There are rumblings of dissatisfaction with Pavin Smith; we could look at an upgrade there. Smith still has some growing to do; probably tops out as a 290/400/450 kind of guy in a neutral park, and despite his playoff gaffe is very good defensively, whatever value a good defensive 1B might have. He's unlikely to ever top 20 dingers, but he'll hit 40-50 doubles and will get on base a lot. There aren't really many elite 1Bs in baseball anymore: talented players tend to be shuffled to more important positions as they're developing, so the age of a Pujols/Bagwell/Thomas kind of hitter may be gone. There are some decent options out there though; it may make sense to take a guy behind the curve at another position and transition him to 1B...most guys would be able to pull it off, especially infielders. As far as options go, we could: - Go big on a FA. The 1B market is pretty dire; Jose Abreu is on the decline, JT or Wilmer Flores aren't really upgrades, but we could take a below-average SS like Bogaerts or Trea Turner and convert them. They'll cost upwards of $20m a year in salary but would be quality players for several years. -Go cheap. Bring in several AAAA guys and see if one can beat out Smith. Luken Baker is in the system already and is an outside shot; rule 5 and garbage trades and free agency should net a few more (think guys like Miguel Sano, CJ Cron, or Jesus Aguilar...all 2.5 star, TTO, no-glove kinds of guys). - Trade for a blue chipper. There aren't any eye popping youngsters out there, but there are some guys with some serious upside. We're hunting either for 1B conversions or natural 1Bs, and trying not to overpay for defense. Here's some options for you, kid. All of these guys cost about the same; along the lines of an A prospect or a couple of ML-ready talented youngsters. Alec Bohm isn't cutting the mustard in the majors at 3B, but his bat looks great and he's more than adequate at 1B. He's signed to an escalating contract through 2027 and could be a 300/380/550 kind of guy for us. Triston Casas is a true 70 power tool guy, but will strike out plenty and hasn't yet learned to take a regular walk. If he hits his potential, we could be looking at 40+ dingers though, and he's still pre-arb. Alex Kiriloff is actually a passable COF, but a move to 1B would suit him long-term. He's pre-arb and slashed 300/346/501 last year as a 24 year old rookie. He's more of a 30 homer guy, though he'll hit 40+ doubles and will be a top OBP guy. - Stand pat with Pavin. We also have Josh Naylor in the mix, who is looking like a fantastic hitter and could easily play 1B, leaving us to (again) fill the DH hole. We also have to consider what to do with Benny the Jet. Right now, we have 3 elite young infielders. Benny is probably ML-ready: expect something along the lines of 250/300/350 next season, with an all-world glove and a shitload of steals (he had 89 last year in 118 games). So, his effective slugging percentage is probably 65-70 points higher than that, just thanks to his nearly always swiping second. He can play anywhere but catcher, but the quality of his defensive tools makes playing him anywhere but SS a serious loss of value. Bobby Witt Jr has matured into a quality defensive shortstop, and would be an elite 3B or very good 2B. Playing him at 2B would waste his amazing throwing arm a bit, but he'd still be a huge plus there. HSK is one of the league's better 2Bs, but he's looking at an opt-out after next season and a BIG pay raise. He's also the weakest hitter of the 3. Ke'Bryan Hayes has probably topped out at a plus 3B glove and ~800 OPS guy, which is nothing to sneeze at. We also have him locked down to a solid contract through his prime years. He wouldn't be a good option at SS or 2B due to his weakness turning the double play, and his great glove/arm combo would be largely wasted at 1B. If we want to upgrade 1B to one of the blue chippers, one of those guys along with someone like Kopech (who the league is VERY interested in, despite his injury history and unpleasant personality) will form the basis for our trade package. We could also always leave Benny down another season. Finally, there's a VERY interesting RP on the market: Danny Arteaga put up some of the best seasons ever in the Mexican league and decided to cross the border this season. He's kind of a redux of Mariano Rivera: he only really throws one pitch -- a cutter -- but it will likely be baseball's single best pitch. He also throws a curve sometimes, but doesn't usually need to. His cutter hits 98 and has more movement than some sliders; he can hit his spots and throw it anywhere in the zone. He'll probably cost around $6-7m a year. Is he worth looking at, even with our great bullpen depth? We could also...pursue Jacob DeGrom. He had a down year last year and fought some injuries, but Pete thinks he's still one of the best pitchers in the majors and is over his health issues. We'd likely be looking at something in the $27m a year range for 4-5 years, which will seriously impact our financial flexibility as our youngsters age out of pre-arbitration...but can you even imagine a healthy DeGrom in our ballpark, with our defense? VOTE Manager: 1. Bruce Bochy 2. Buck Showalter 3. Lou Marson 4. Jake Lowery 5. Mike Scioscia 6. Skip Schumaker 1B: 1. Go big in FA 2. Go cheap 3. Blue-chipper 4. Stand pat Infielders: 1. Trade Bobby Bats 2. Trade HSK 3. Trade Kobe Hayes 4. Leave the Jet in the minors Pursue Danny Arteaga? Pursue Jacob Degrom? bewbies fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Apr 18, 2021 |
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Apr 18, 2021 21:28
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Spring Training 2023 We trade HSK, OF Jake Fraley, and LHP Maddux Bruns (0.5/2.0) and $7m cash to the Twins for 1B/OF Alex Kirilloff. We had to kick in the cash as the Twins were dirt-rear end poor; it just pays HSK's salary this season. Kirilloff is locked in as our 1B and will play lots there to build experience; he should be at least average defensively if not good by the end of ST. We trade Pavin Smith and RHP Rawley Hector (0.5/2.0) to the Rays for OF Josh Lowe (2.5/3.0) and 2B Tyler Frank (2.0/2.5). Lowe is a very interesting prospect. He projects a 60 power tool plus 70 speed/stealing and a plus OF glove at all 3 positions; at worst, he's a decent 4th OF. At best, he could be a 30/30 guy with a great defense. Frank has a solid glove all over the infield and isn't a total offensive black hole. The Diamondbacks come calling for Michael Kopech for some baffling reason. They offer Zac Gallen (3.5/4.0), one of the better SPs in baseball. He throws four plus pitches including an absolute wipeout changeup and still has two seasons of arbitration left. I think the D-backs are cutting cost or something? Anyway, he'll likely be one we want to extend assuming he takes his killer stuff to T-mobile. (seriously, no idea why this trade was offered) The clubhouse rejoices with Kopech gone, lol. I have no idea why he was so unpopular. We sign RHP Danny Arteaga to a 5/25 deal, with a TO in the last season. The Red Sox gave the tattered remains of Byron Buxton 6/146. Lol. We make a competitive bid on Jacob Degrom, but the Giants come in at the 11th hour with a huge bid that torpedoes us completely. We trade a nothing prospect to the Marlins for C Brian Navarreto, who fits in well -- he's a glove and framing wizard who can basically only hit lefties, so he'll likely step in for Ruiz when we have lefty starters. We have a bit of an overload of middling starters: we send off Chris Flexen for RHP Luis Cessa who clears waivers and will serve as a taxi squad bullpen arm while saving us about $3m. We get through ST with mercifully few injuries; only Nick Margevicius goes down long-term, but he for the entire season. Kirilloff slides very nicely into 1B, Bats into 2B. Benny struggles a bit in ST but he's 100% ready for the bigs, or so says Pete. Opening Day Lineup 1. Benny Rodriguez, SS 2. Taylor Trammell, LF 3. Alex Kirilloff, 1B 4. Julio Rodriguez, RF 5. Josh Naylor, DH 6. Bobby Witt Jr, 2B 7. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B 8. Keibert Ruiz, C 9. Kyle Lewis, CF Brian Navarreto, C Tyler Frank, IF Josh Lowe, OF 1. Tyler Mahle 2. Jack Leiter (100 pitch limit) 3. Zac Gallen 4. Logan Gilbert 5. Justus Sheffield Danny Arteaga (CL) Kenny Giles Brett De Geus Will Vest Wyatt Mills Corey Knebel Andres Munoz Marco Gonzales (SP) Emerson Hancock (SP) We're predicted 105 wins, tops in the AL (the White Sox are only predicted 83? Wtf?) Our owner expects us to make the playoffs. As far as concerns go, the roster looks solid right now, though we don't have any top shelf lefty relievers. Marco Gonzales struggled this spring and lost some velo; he has a fairly expensive raise coming up. We could potentially dangle him to land a good LHP for the bullpen. Or, just let him be our main lefty reliever. Benny is going to get his shot; if he can't cut it, we have both Dylan Moore and Tyler Frank (who had a GREAT spring training) ready to step in at 2B and Bobby Bats can slide back to short no problem. Jack Leiter is still on a pitch count, as he should be, so he likely won't get past 200 IP this year. bewbies fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Apr 19, 2021 |
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Apr 19, 2021 19:12
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I suppose it is of interest who is running our ball club! Welcome Lou Marson! He seems very popular with the players and has otherwise not hosed anything up yet. Kirilloff had zero 1B experience, but he has a solid IF arm and a decent enough glove, which got him to somewhere between adequate and solid at 1B defensively after a spring training of playing 1B full-time. He will likely never turn a double play, however. I guess outfielders just don't understand the nuances of such complex baseball things. Sure enough, Buxton has been at/near 700 PAs the last two years! Normally he's completely cooked by age 30 but so far in this game he's stayed fairly healthy. He still seems offended by the idea of walks though.
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Apr 19, 2021 20:10
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2023 All Star Game July 18, 2023 66-23, .741 1st Place, AL West League News Some guy named Trout reasserts himself. Mariners run away with the AL...so far. Braves and Dodgers dominate the NL, again. Will the Tigers ever be good again? Danny "Quiz" Quisenberry takes his 88 mph sinker to the draft.    Team News    Benny the Jet is a baseball revelation. His combination of speed and defense shoots him to the upper echelon of MLB infielders from the day he steps on the field. He is probably riding a high BABIP and his OPS will come down a bit in the second half, but this is probably close what he's gonna look like for the next decade or so. Wacky Jack Leiter is not to be outdone; started the season on an absolute tear but cooled down a bit in the summer. Justus Sheffield finally reaches his enormous potential and has arguably been even better, although his BABIP is comically low right now. Danny Arteaga struggles a bit early on but hits his stride in June. Kenny Giles continues to be one of the best RPs in baseball. Alex Kirilloff has a fine start to the season, but then misses time to a concussion and then a thumb thing that won't seem to go away. Hopefully he'll be healthy after the all star break. We sign Alfredo Quintero to an international deal. He's a big lefty COF prospect with a high-end bat. Tyler Mahle, last year's CY runner-up, struggles mightily all spring and season, and is eventually relegated to the bullpen. In early July, it is revealed he has a UCL tear, and will be out for a calendar year. (we have 3 more years of him at $13m a pop...tough break)With the 31st pick in the draft, we take Drew Bowser, a rangy 3B/SS who Pete is VERY high on. Good glove, good OBP, great speed, lots of doubles....our kind of ballplayer. Only oddity is he's 6'4".... Julio Rodriguez finally reaches his lofty potential before going down with an oblique for a few weeks. Josh Lowe has been an incredibly nice surprise in his absence. The media starts calling the boys Los Hermanos Rodriguez though they're not technically hermanos. We have a few decisions to make. Outside of converted starter Marco Gonzalez (who has been ok but not dominant) we have NO lefties in the pen. It might be a good idea to chase one, either as a rental or a long-term purchase. Our coaching staffs' contracts are expiring. As a reminder, we have Bruce Billings as hitting coach and Joey Demonte as pitching coach. Ken Giles is our only expiring player contract. We're almost out of money though: we have about $35m in cash to burn this year, but thanks to some huge arbitration bumps and Marco Gonzales' pay raise, we're almost out of projected cash for extensions. Kenny wants 4/46; we'd probably be looking at something like 3/30 after negotiating. So you're interested in a lefty reliever, kid? Gotta tell you...the market is dire. We can build a package around someone like Marco Gonzales and Josh Lowe; our prospect cupboard is getting a bit empty though. Darwinzon Hernandez (3.5/5.0) is probably the best of the bunch. He has a wipeout curveball and has been closing for Boston, although they're surprisingly willing to cut bait with him. Burl Carraway (2.0/4.0) is still grinding away in the minors, but I think he's ML-ready. He also has a wipeout curve and a 99 mph heater. He'll only cost a B prospect. Matt Cronin (2.5/3.0) has been tremendous for Washington this year, and they're looking for bats. He's pre-arb and would cost a roster player. VOTE Kenny Giles, do we: 1) try and extend 2) ride it out and let him walk 3) trade him (he'd bring back either a A- prospect or a younger but not as good RP) Coaching staff: 1) Extend both 2) Extend one or the other (say which) 3) Let them walk LOOGY: 1) Trade for one of Pete's guys (if so, say who) 2) Ride it out Marco Gonzales: 1) Trade him now to avoid his $12m next season 2) Keep him on board bewbies fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Apr 21, 2021 |
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Apr 21, 2021 15:52
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oldskool posted:Any chance we can combine three votes and move Giles/Gonzales in the move for Hernandez? This'll definitely be where we start if we decide to go that direction -- I'm not sure what the Sox finances look like though.
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Apr 21, 2021 16:29
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