BM 2014 - St. Louis Cardinals
 

I picked up BM 2014, loaded some rosters for the 2013 season from the forums and kicked off a St. Louis Cardinals career.

I'm on "Mogul" level for everything.

Depending on how much time I have to play, this will be a fast paced dynasty report. Baseball Mogul is extremely easy to sim month after month in little time.

It's kept my interest for a week, so I figured I'd do some sort of writeup on how I'm doing.. and for you Reds fans, on how crappy my start has been.

New for BM 2014 is "stat based" scouting, so ratings are based on stats instead of scouts.

2013 Season Roster

2B Matt Carpenter (86)
CF Carlos Beltran (86)
LF Matt Holliday (86)
RF Allen Craig (84)
C Yadier Molina (87)
1B Matt Adams (86/92)
3B David Freese (84)
SS Daniel Descalso (80)

Bench - OF Adron Chambers (80), SS Ryan Jackson (77/79), C Tony Cruz (77), IF Pete Kozma (76/78), OF Shane Robinson (75)


Pitching

SP Adam Wainwright (85)
SP Lance Lynn (82)
SP Shelby Miller (83/93)
SP Jake Westbrook (73)
SP Jaime Garcia (70)

CL Trevor Rosenthal (78/86)
SU Edward Mujuca (75)
SR Barret Browning (76)
SR Fernando Salas (77)
MR Sam Freeman (79)
MR Mitchell Boggs (71)
LR Joe Kelly (70/74)


We have an excellent lineup, but our pitching doesn't look all that great on paper.

Horrible start to the season...

Like I suspected, our pitching has been horrible.

May Transactions

Cardinals release P Randy Choate (72)

Cardinals trade CF Jon Jay (80) to Baltimore for P Zach Braddock (79/81)

Cardinals trade SP Jaime Garcia (70) to New York Yankees for CF Almonte Zoilo (58/64)

Cardinals sign SP Kevin Millwood (73) for 1 year at $5,100,000

We are way out of a Central title as our pitching has been a sore spot this season thus far.

Well.. we are looking more and more like sellers this season...

We pick #19 in the 2013 draft and we draft a SS.

Headlines.. Boston lays a beat down on the Angels.

NY Loses A-Rod.

Chris Carpenter makes his debut..

All Star Break

2013 First Half Stats

Not the year I was expecting.. 26 games behind the Reds?

We lead the division in hitting, but are last in pitching. I didn't think our division had this kind of pitching.

Do we keep going now that Wainwright is back from the DL and Carpenter has made it back into the rotation after being out for so long? Our only shot would be a wildcard berth, but we are 13 games out of a spot right now.

I have 12 games to decide what to do before the trading deadline.

We could prepare for 2014 by shopping 3B David Freese and RF Carlos Beltran as 2B Kolten Wong and OF Oscar Taveras should be stepping in next season into those slots. On the pitching side, it might be time to shop Chris Carpenter to a playoff contender.

Decisions.. decisions..

All Star Weekend

2013 Home Run Showdown

FIRST ROUND (10 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
Matt Kemp (LAD) 14
Troy Tulowitzki (COL) 11
Chris Davis (BAL) 11
Mark Reynolds (CLE) 10
David Ortiz (BOS) 9
Shin-Soo Choo (CIN) 7
Miguel Cabrera (DET) 6
Carlos Gonzalez (COL) 6
Chase Headley (SDP) 5
Torii Hunter (DET) 1

SECOND ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
Mark Reynolds (CLE) 8
Troy Tulowitzki (COL) 4
Chris Davis (BAL) 3
Matt Kemp (LAD) 3

FINAL ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
Mark Reynolds (CLE) 2
Troy Tulowitzki (COL) 2

EXTRA INNINGS (3 outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
MARK REYNOLDS 5
Troy Tulowitzki 4

WINNER: Mark Reynolds

1B Prince Fielder (DET) received the most All Star votes with 3,107,744

St. Louis sends two players to the All Star game:

SP Shelby Miller
2B Matt Carpenter

Oakland trades LF Yoenis Cespedes to San Francisco for two minor league prospects, SP Edwin Escobar and SP Joan Gregorio.

The Giants lead the NL West by 7 games and the A's are 10.5 games out.

Milestone - 7/28/13 - Todd Helton gets his 2500th hit
Milestone - 7/28/13 - CC Sabathia gets his 200th win

Cleveland sends SS Ronny Rodriguez, P Danny Salazar, P Rich Hill and 3B Robel Garcia to Miami for RF Justin Ruggiano.

Trading deadline is here and we need to forget about 2013 and focus on 2014.

Cardinals trade 3B David Freese to the Chicago White Sox for CF Courtney Hawkins.

We have our best month at 12-12.

A very quiet trading deadline.. but it ends with a 7 player deal.

As much as I hate to say it.. The Reds are the best team in baseball right now, sitting at 80-40 on the season. I'll post the standings after August is over, but they are on a tear this season with great hitting and great pitching.



What a lineup.. and Jay Bruce is has been out with a hip fracture, he has 28 home runs and 72 runs batted in.



They have the lowest ERA in the division and only 2nd to the Washington Nationals who are at 3.45.

This season can't end soon enough...

Cincinnati and Detroit with the best records.

NL and AL League leaders...

Cincinnati Reds - 2013 NL Central CHAMPS

Philadelphia Phillies - 2013 NL East CHAMPS

Detroit Tigers - 2013 AL Central CHAMPS

Future looks bright for the Cardinals at 2nd base..

Tampa Bay Rays - 2013 AL East CHAMPS

Cleveland Indians make the playoffs...

Los Angeles Angels - 2013 AL West CHAMPS

Arizona Diamondbacks make the playoffs...

Texas Rangers make the playoffs...

Pittsburgh Pirates make the playoffs..

Cardinals finish in dead last, 44 games behind the Reds.

Final 2013 Standings

2013 Wildcard

World Series

Lineups and Pitching Staff

Game 1

Phillies come back from a 2-0 deficit to win game 1, 3-2 over the Tigers.



Game 2 probable starters: Justin Verlander (18-10) vs Cole Hamels (13-11)

Game 2

Philadelphia wins 6-4, takes control of series.



Game 3 probable starters: Roy Halladay (11-8) at Max Scherzer (18-7)

Game 3

Tigers win in 10 innings, a must win.



Game 4 probable starters: Kyle Davies (9-9) at Doug Fister (19-7)

Game 4

Tigers even up series after 8-3 win.



Game 5 probable starters: Cliff Lee (19-6) at Anibal Sanchez (10-6)

Game 5

Home cooking continues to be the recipe for success, Tigers now one win from a World Series Championship.



Game 6 probable starters: Justin Verlander (18-10) at Cole Hamels (13-11)

2013 End of Season

Arbitration:

3B Matt Carpenter signs a 1-yr deal at $6.8 million
INF Daniel Descalso is released
SS Rafael Furcal is released
C Tony Cruz signs a 1-yr deal at $1.5 million
SS Pete Kozma is released
OF Shane Robinson is released
C Rob Johnson is released
P Lance Lynn is signs a 1-yr deal at $2.3 million
P Kevin Millwood is released
STL declines P Jake Westbrook option
P Jake Westbrook is released
P Edward Mujica is released
P Marc Rzepczynski
P Mitchell Boggs is released
P Chris Carpenter is released
P Clayton Mortensen is released
STL exercises team option on P Jason Motte