Mastering the GUBA-verse: An Online OOTP Dynasty

[JetsIn06]

In late summer/early fall of 2014, I saw a post on Reddit's OOTP board about a rare opening in a super competitive and active online league called the GUBA. I've been in online leagues before, but they were always very casual, and to be honest, less active than I'd like. This promised something different.

The GUBA (Global Unified Baseball Association) has its roots all the way back to OOTP3, if I'm not mistaken. There was the MBBA and the FIBB, and at some point these two leagues merged to form the GUBA. In July of 2012, after five real years and thirty years of fake baseball as the GUBA, the league ran into a league-history issue, and the majority of owners voted to reboot the league. Most people stayed but a few left. Some teams stayed the same and some re-branded. But the GUBA was born again.

So fast-forward again to late summer/early fall of last year, and I see this post on Reddit. I quickly sent in an application and registered for their board. Immediately, I knew this place would be a good home. I looked through as much as I could. Lots of custom rules, financials; but the best part was looking through the trade thread. Multiple trades from the last few game months were 20 or 30 posts long. Every team had their own thread, and most of them had weekly if not daily reports being written by their owners.

And the end of September, a long-time owner had quit, because...well you'll get to know him. I got the invitation to join, and I was in. I had found home.

Now, the reason I'm starting this dynasty is for a few reasons. One, I don't think I've seen a dynasty thread about an online OOTP league before. Two, I've loved doing OOTP dynasties and this seems like it will add an interesting twist. And finally three, the GUBA has a writing requirement. I love writing over there, but there's some things I can't always talk about without giving things away or pissing people off. The one other thing I just realized is that it will be fun and probably helpful to bounce ideas off people here.

We just started the 2030 offseason tonight, but before I get into the current happenings I'll post up a brief history our first three seasons in the league and go over some of the intricacies of the GUBA rules.

[JetsIn06]

The first thing I noticed when I joined this league were the rules. There weren't a ton, but there was enough to make me a little confused and cause me to double check before I did anything. Some of the important ones:

No multi-year extensions before Free Agent eliibility. If you play OOTP, you know that pre-arbitration guys will happily accept deals that are way below their market value. Once the player hits six years of service time, you can offer him an extension.

Team options come with a 25% fee to buyout.

Each off-season, up to 30 players are chosen as compensation eligible. A custom formula that uses VORP determines whether a free agent is worth one or two picks. In our draft, there is no traditional third round. We use the third round as the compensation round. So letting a premier player go in free agency can net you two third-round picks, or a good player can get you one. Most players will get you nothing. Because of this, most teams just do not have a 3rd round pick.

Draft pick trading is allowed.

In terms of financials, here's how things go. Generally speaking, every team has a $130M budget. However, the only thing that really matters is that you don't lose money. The game will not let you do things beyond your budget, but you can add payroll past $130M through trades. If you have a $145M payroll, but you bring in $145M of revenue, you're safe in the eyes of the league. But if you lose money, there's a penalty.

We call this "austerity". This happens whether you have a $80M payroll and lose money or a $150M payroll and lose money. If you are over $-10M in the red, your budget is docked by that amount the next season. So if you ran a $130M payroll in 2014, and were $30M in the red, your budget for the next season is $100M. Again, this severely impacts your ability to sign free agents or re-sign players. My first full year in the league, I inherited a financial mess, and for a full season could only sign players to minor league deals.

This can really start impacting you when you're also negative in cash, which tends to happen when you have a negative balance. Again, my first year I had $-30M in cash and was also $-30M in the red, and ended up with a $70M budget. Not fun.

This leads to a lot of cash trades as we get towards the end of a season, as teams that would be going into austerity try their best to balance the books. Rebuilding teams that run really low payrolls and manage to bring enough fans to the park to actually turn a profit use their cash to get picks from teams trying to avoid austerity. It's not uncommon to see a rebuilding team send $10M in cash to a better team in return for a 2nd round pick.

The one other thing related to cash is there is a $20M cash cap. We do this out of game though, and track cash over the cap each year and put it into something called Bonus Funds. We can then use Bonus Funds to do things like modify our stadium seating, dimensions, etc.

[JetsIn06]

There's one other thing that I really love about this league. We have a draft lottery to determine the order of teams that did not make the playoffs. I'm not sure of the formula, but I do know that it's a dynamic system where the worst team has a larger percentage to get the #1 pick as the lottery goes on. We have 30 teams, and 12 make the playoffs, so 18 picks are determined by the lottery system.

[JetsIn06]

There are 30 teams in the GUBA. 15 represent the MBBA, which is completely constructed of teams based in the United States. The 15 members of the FIBB all represent an international city.

The structure is as follows:

MBBA East

Greenville Moonshiners
Cape Cod Hooks
New York Knights
Birmingham Bandits
Philadelphia Brewers

MBBA Central

New Orleans VooDoo
San Antonio Outlaws
Des Moines Kernels
El Paso Prospectors
Houston Orbits

MBBA West

Denver Bears
Honolulu Island Kings
Oakland Oaks
Kansas City Monarchs
San Francisco Pelicans

FIBB Latino

Bogota Toros
Mexico City Diablos Rojos
Santo Domingo Gallos
San Juan Tiburones
Port-au-Prince Liberators

FIBB Euro

Dublin Shamrocks
Moscow Enforcers
Frankfurt Fette Hennen
Barcelona Conquistadors
Krakow Dragons

FIBB Far East

Sydney Marauders
Jakarta Tidal Wave
Seoul Crushers
Hangzhou Reds
Tokyo Sumo

[timmae]

Awesome dynasty... Been lurking on guba for a few months.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by timmae

Awesome dynasty... Been lurking on guba for a few months.

Nice! I was wondering if anyone from FOFC had been in the league.

[JetsIn06]

When I joined the GUBA, it was right before the trade deadline of the 2026 season. I was still wrapping my around around everything, so I decided to stand pat to avoid getting absolutely swindled in a trade. If you've been a part of online leagues before, in any game, you'll know that the vultures come out to try and pick new guys apart. Without having any idea of how players were valued, I had absolutely zero confidence of doing something that was actually helpful. On top of that, before I really knew how financials really worked in the league, I wasn't confident I could even come up with a plan. So I let the season play out.

I don't remember exactly, but I do know that our team was very good and already in a position to make the playoffs. I also quickly realized that, as I said before, that we had a nearly $130M payroll with a budget of just $70M. $30M in austerity, and $30M in the red in cash. The only moves I made were call-ups and mostly I just watched other owners do things to try and figure things out.

2026 ended with us in the playoffs at 95-62, but we got knocked out in the 2nd round. Oh, FYI, the GUBA has four rounds in the playoffs. Six teams from each league make it, three division winners and three wildcards. The two best division winners actually get a bye. In 2026, both Houston and Denver led their own divisions with a better record, so we didn't get the advantage of a bye.

Keep in mind though, the 95-62 record had literally nothing to do with me. I inherited a beast of a team, but as you'll find out soon, once I dug deeper, it was clear that it was completely unsustainable.

[timmae]

I am in MBWBA which was split off she Guba was created. Some kind of rift between gms from the old MBBA league.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by timmae

I am in MBWBA which was split off she Guba was created. Some kind of rift between gms from the old MBBA league.

Ah yea. I've seen some rumblings about that.

[korme]

I'll be following. I need to get into another league.

[JetsIn06]

2026 was the 10th straight season we had made the playoffs. After the season, we had lost a couple players, most notably two very good relievers, a decent RHB center-fielder, and a decent catcher. But there was one key thing that made me realize things were about to change.

We had three key players. We had another handful of good players, but there were three marquee guys that were really keeping this thing going. 3B Jesus Tellez, OF/DH Jorge Polanco, and SP Cesar Herrera. All three were in their early 30's, and all of them had two seasons remaining on their deal. I had zero chance of re-signing them unless I traded all of my picks for cash. And with their age, that seemed like I was just delaying the inevitable. Every penny would go towards these three, we'd drop further into austerity, we'd have no young players to acquire new players through trades, etc etc etc.

2027 would become the end of an era. We'd keep these core three for one final year, trade other aging, expensive pieces throughout the season, and then following the season, kickstart the rebuilding process by trading all three players for as much as we could squeeze out of other owners.

We ended the season at 85-77, but managed to make the playoffs as a wildcard team. The lack of depth due to a bunch of trades we made and the general in-between strategy of rebuilding while trying to contend led to a first round sweep. But the rebuild had started, and was about to get a major boost through three major trades.

[JetsIn06]

Does this link work for you guys? I think only the forum is blocked for un-registered people. I'm assuming the HTML will work for anyone. Let me know and I can link to player pages.

[JetsIn06]

Sort of has a moneyball ring to it, doesn't it? Three players that we really couldn't afford to keep, but it was more than just financials. It was a turning point. Go for it one more time, or kickstart the rebuild with the sale of three premier players?

Without any ability to sign new players because of austerity, we really had no choice. The rebuild was on.

First to go was SP Cesar Herrera. I had posted my trade block before the playoffs were even over, but I wanted to be patient. Offers for Tellez and Polanco were coming in hot and heavy. Seemingly everyone was interested. One team actually wanted to try and trade for all three! That wasn't an option, but I kept them in mind as an interested party for Herrera. That team was New York. Their owner was famous for dragging out trades, not responding to PMs; but he seemed very interested in all three of my guys.

There was one other suitor for Herrera, and that was Moscow. Moscow has been an elite team in this league for a long time, making the playoffs twelve times in the leagues history, but they've never won a championship. There team was stacked, but sustained success also led to a somewhat barren farm system. When Moscow first PMed me about this trade, I pretty much flat out said no to his offer. There wasn't a thing in his system that I really liked, other than draft picks, and they were late picks.

New York had the pieces I wanted; two legit SP prospects, a DH prospect, and top-10 draft picks. As a rebuilder, there was a part of me that really wanted to make sure I hoarded as much talent as possible. Draft picks were like gold to me. A few days into the off-season, Moscow makes a trade that brings in an elite relief prospect. He messages me again, asking me if it changes anything. The answer again was no. I was waiting for New York to budge.

But after pushing harder and harder, without hearing a damn thing, it felt like hope of a trade with New York was disappearing. Finally, New York messaged me back and said he was much more interested in one of my hitters OR trading for all three. Just trading for SP Herrera was off the table.

I waited a few more days, bumping my trade block and pushing hard to get interest in Herrera up. I considered waiting until the middle of the season, but that meant a chance at an injury and a resulting chance of losing him for a couple third-round compensation picks.

I sent Moscow a message, and asked for two more fringe prospects just to get a little more value. I knew I was losing the trade, but I pulled the trigger. We brought in a couple late 1st round picks, a couple 2nds, a 4th, the really nice relief prospect and two fringy hitting 'specs. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but injecting eight new pieces into my system felt okay to me.

Next to go was Polanco. The San Francisco Pelicans team hadn't been very good, but they were making moves. They had traded for arguably the best pitcher in the league and still had some nice prospects left, along with the following years 1st round pick. Once again, New York was also trying to get in, and this led to my only real drama in this league. San Francisco and I negotiated back and forth for about a week, and we finally came to a package that I liked. New York was given the chance to match, and this is where the drama started.

New York put together a package that I was comfortable with, and I messaged each of them with the few quibbles I had with their package. What I really wanted was a first-round pick for the following draft. I wanted this because if either of these teams had a bad year, it would give me a chance, even a small one, at a lottery pick. So I asked each of them to swap out one of the pieces for their first next year. San Francisco immediately said yes, and New York proceeded to ask me why. "Why do you want that pick? Draft picks are crapshoots. I'll give you this instead, this is worth more."

Needless to say, I disagreed with him. I proceeded to tell him it didn't matter why I felt the other trade was better, but that I was going with it. For almost an hour, he messaged me over and over, asking me why. "Just give me a reason why." It was fucking annoying as hell, and I haven't talked to that owner since. I went with the other trade, and Polanco was dealt for a 1st round pick the following year, a nice SP prospect, a nice OF prospect, and some other smaller pieces.

The best part? Polanco failed to re-sign with San Francisco, they ended up getting the #10 spot in the lottery because they just weren't very good despite their additions, and then when the lottery came around, they got the #1 pick, which would head to us because of the trade. We used that to take a guy named Cibor Huchro, aka "Swamp Fox", a starting pitcher who should make his debut sometime in 2031.

Finally, there was Tellez. The GM of Krakow had been in contact with us multiple time throughout the offseason. I felt like I was being lowballed multiple times, and there was other interest throughout, but Krakow was the most persistent. Every few days, he'd come to me with a new offer, slightly better, but still not what I was looking for. The real key to the trade was this pitcher named Zhao, a AAA guy who was pretty close to being major league ready. I was told he was off the table, but finally, after some crazy negotiations, Zhao was included, along with a corner OF names Manuel Pineda. Pineda made his debut this year, and in just 400 PA hit 33 HR, and finished 3rd in the rookie of the year voting. I also got a 1st round pick that ended up being #16 the following year.

There were a few trades before this, like the trade of SP Claudio Dominguez to Denver in return for SP Finn Loen and a really nice catcher who has since lumped to hell. I traded off everything that wasn't under team control for a while and anything that was expensive. My team was terrible, but we also had the best farm system. I'd write a post about 2029, but seriously, it was bad. There was literally nothing exciting, and even our 1st round pick was somewhere else due to the previous owner's moves. That, of course, was made up for by getting the #1 pick.

Next up, we'll talk about 2030, a tale of two seasons and the beginnings of a new era.

[timmae]

Very nice grab of that to be #1!!

I have had my fair share of crazy trade talks.. Part of the "fun"!!

[Icy]

Nice, I played in the GUBA for a season or two, in 2008 (real date) with the London Spitfires with good success for a team with no good players that I inherited, it was basically playing moneyball and signing ageing average players that were overlooked by other owners mainly because their age.

Then had to quit as it required a lot of writing that was great for the immersion factor, but caught me in a time where I couldn't keep committing to all the writing, but for sure I could say it has been one of my favourite online leagues ever.

I see I still have access to the forums, my ex-team is now named Soul Crushers for what I see as I still have access to the forums, you can search for Icy username there to see my writing back in 2008.

I'll be following!

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Icy

Nice, I played in the GUBA for a season or two, in 2008 (real date) with the London Spitfires with good success for a team with no good players that I inherited, it was basically playing moneyball and signing ageing average players that were overlooked by other owners mainly because their age.

Then had to quit as it required a lot of writing that was great for the immersion factor, but caught me in a time where I couldn't keep committing to all the writing, but for sure I could say it has been one of my favourite online leagues ever.

I see I still have access to the forums, my ex-team is now named Soul Crushers for what I see as I still have access to the forums, you can search for Icy username there to see my writing back in 2008.

I'll be following!

Awesome! Good to see a past GUBA owner around here.

[JetsIn06]

We're finally getting close to catching up with present day, but there's one more important piece to the story. That's the 2030 season, which we just wrapped up last week. 2030 could be, hopefully, the defining moment where we went from rebuilder to contender.

To be completely honest, I wasn't planning on this. When I initially had those three big pieces to trade, my goal was to get a glut of 19-20 year olds and then reap the rewards of four or five terrible years with draft picks. I was thinking 2033-34. But the returns on those trades were mostly close to major-league ready. It became pretty clear that 2031 was actually the target year. Obviously, that's good. Having a losing team for five years sucks. But it also meant we'd be coming into competitiveness with less top talent than we could have. But when I would do some back-of-the-napkin roster projections, it actually was promising. I had someone, whether they were just league average or a solid player, for almost every position. When the draft came and we took Swamp Fox, a 21-year-old, it made it even clearer. By 2031 we'd be okay again, and by 2032 we'd be good.

The first three months of the 2030 season, we had (roughly) a .230 winning percentage. We were terrible, on track to have one of the worst GUBA seasons EVER. There's literally nothing good to write about the beginning of this season. But then July came, and in July we replaced roughly half of our 25-man roster with call-ups. And from July until the end of the season, we went .500. That's not great, but it's pretty good from a team full of not-fully-developed rookies. On top of that, our division winner, Greenville, actually finished with a 79-84 record.

In the end, our final record was 61-101, but we had a core to build around, and heading into this off-season, we had a few key holes to fill.

[JetsIn06]

Made some really big moves today. Will tell you about them tomorrow!

[JetsIn06]

FYI, I posted this on the GUBA forums when the trade went down, so for the sake of a chronology that makes sense, I'm posting it here. Still more moves to come.

The playoffs are still going on, but for a bunch of teams including our own, it’s onwards to 2030. We put up our own block stating that we intend to buy. I’m wavering back and forth on how aggressive to be. I’m certainly not interested in sending SP Cibor Huchro (18/16/13 Talents) anywhere, although I’d consider the #3 overall pick and 1B Karno Sumual (12/15/17/17/13 Talents), but the key is that I really don’t want to move them for an older player who will only give me a couple years. We’ll see if I can resist the urge.

After putting together a back-of-the-napkin roster, my biggest needs are a shortstop, another piece for the rotation, a center-fielder who can hit lefties, and some assorted bullpen arms. I didn’t plan on adding another corner outfielder or first baseman, but Tokyo was pitching switch-hitter Ben Hock (11/10/13/17/15 Talents) and right-fielder Harry Panther (11/16/20/12/8 Talents).

Initially, I had considered moving Junji Fujimoto (16/15/6/10/18 Talents) to first-base. He’s struggled at third-base in recent years in Frankfurt, although he was better with us in some regards. I’d move the surprisingly productive Juan Gonzalez from shortstop to third, and focus on adding a shortstop. I’d also consider using Alberto Palma (13/14/14/8/12 Talents) in left-field against lefties.

But after some back and forths with Tokyo, we came to an agreement to send both Hock and Panther to Birmingham in exchange for our second best pitching prospect Francisco Cervantes (13/13/14 Talents), bullpen arm Tesema Naybet (15/11/12 Talents), and a first-rounder from last year, Maik Overresch (11/13/15/13/10 Talents). Cervantes was the major piece in this deal and giving him up was tough. He was certainly in our plans, but looked to be a flyball pitcher which won’t fit so well in our bandbox park. He should do really well in Tokyo.

So for now, the plan is to roll Manuel Pineda (10/15/19/11/7 Talents), Mike Gregory (13/13/14/8/11 Talents), and Harry Panther (11/16/20/12/8 Talents) outfield from left to right, and we’ll continue looking for a platoon bat with some better defense to replace Gregory against lefties. Hock will man first base regularly, Fujimoto will stick at third, and we’ll continue looking for an upgrade at shortstop.

[JetsIn06]

It's been pretty obvious for at least two seasons, if not more, that we needed a shortstop. SS Dennis Paul (10/15/9/13/10 Talents) was a good addition a few years ago but his bat leaves a little to be desired. We also have Juan Gonzalez but he played way above his true talents and also is more of a REALLY good third-baseman. So going into this off-season, getting a shortstop was a major priority.

First, we went after SS Eric Martin (15/12/7/18/14 Talents) of Moscow. Even before he was on the block, I considered cold-calling Moscow about him. While we went back and forth a few times on a deal for Martin, I was also talking to Jakarta about a more defensive-minded shortstop in Phil Brett (14/11/2/13/13 Talents). One thing I loved about Brett was his versatility. Not only could he play shortstop, but he could also play centerfield, which was another spot I wanted to upgrade on our team, specifically against left-handed pitching. Brett would give us an option of playing him in two positions, playing SS against RHP with Mike Gregory (13/13/14/8/11 Talents) in CF, and CF against LHP with Dennis Paul (10/15/9/13/10 Talents) at SS. I'm not sure if we'll be doing that yet but I like having the option. We went back and forth with Jakarta, eventually coming to something that felt very close to a deal, and when Moscow eventually chose the deal with Des Moines, we sealed the deal to bring Brett to Birmingham.

Brett brings a very good defensive game to our club, which is very helpful when we're trying to building a pitching staff based on groundball pitchers. He's got a decent bat too, and was actually the best offensive SS (according to wOBA) of any other shortstop with defensive ratings equal or better to his.

He does have a bit of an injury history, and is listed as "wrecked" in the game, but so was Martin. The other great news was that, after our trade, we were able to sign Brett to a potential five-year deal for much less than he currently makes. He'll make $12M in 2030 and then drop to $5M, $4M, $4M, and two $3M team options to round out the deal.

[JetsIn06]

Aside from the #incestuous nature of inter-division deals, Greenville seemed to be a perfect match for a deal. They're tearing it down, looking for a large quantity of young players. Oliver Ingebretsen (12/16/17 Talents) is 35, but he's also exactly the kind of pitcher we're looking to put in front of Zhao, Loen, and Hes.

This trade, which looked like this:

BIR Sends:

2B Freek van Es (12/14/8/9/14 Talents) (AAA)
SP Jose Alvarez (13/10/12 Talents) (S A)
1B Connor Northam (10/14/14/10/10 Talents) (A)
SP Wene Cardinia (14/12/11 Talents) (R)

GRE Sends:

SP Oliver "Crash" Ingebretsen (ML)

took about ten minutes to finalize. Freek van Es (12/14/8/9/14 Talents) is a little old and didn't really have a spot, and Connor Northam (10/14/14/10/10 Talents), despite being on my radar since I've taken control of the team, is inevitably blocked by Karno Sumual (12/15/17/17/13 Talents). The other two guys are just 19, and are far enough away for me to not worry to much about them. It always hurts giving up four known pieces in a deal, but in this case I felt it was worth it to add a very good starter to the top of our rotation, even if it is for just one year.

Crash was less of the strikeout pitcher I was looking for, but his movement and control more than makes up for it, which he proved in 2029 in Greenville with a 3.07 FIP. This also allows us, with some other additions in FA, consider moving Finn Loen (16/17/13 Talents) to the bullpen, where he could really take off.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by korme

I'll be following. I need to get into another league.

I'll let you know if there's an opening...we were in the PCJBL for a bit together and I can vouch for you. No openings yet and haven't been in a while but there's some drama brewing which could mean someone storms away soon!

[JetsIn06]

This off-season was our first real chance to actually make big adds in free agency. We've been waiting for this opportunity to make a few big adds without the need to give up an assets, and took advantage of our stockpile of cash to bring three new players to Birmingham. We spent a shit-ton of money, but I also think I spent it in a way that makes sense for our team's current needs and our future. Maybe.

First, we add Zenos Karabachos (13/13/16 Talents), a 33-year-old SP who comes from his second stint in Dublin. He's got a 4.00 career ERA, but has been better in his recent years. Plus, he's coming from a park that should hurt him a little more than ours, so I'm feeling good about what he can contribute in Birmingham. We were close to picking up Karabachos from Dublin in a pre-FA trade, but ended up deciding against it. It was a little expensive in terms of picks, and we'd still be paying Karabachos quite a bit. I felt the picks were important considering we were sending out a bunch of prospects in trades, and just dishing out the money to get him in FA was a better move. His deal is front-loaded, dropping from a whopping $28M this year to $20M in year four, and after four years there is a team option that can be declined for a cool $5M.

Second, was Diederick Baars (10/14/16/11/14 Talents). We had been considering already the idea of moving Junji Fujimoto (16/15/6/10/18 Talents) to first-base to protect his underwhelming defensive skills, and Baars will allow us to do that, which also lets us move Ben Hock (11/10/13/17/15 Talents) to DH. Baars adds some balance to our lineup as a left-handed hitter as well, so it really just made sense to bring him on. Baars is also signed for a potential six-year deal, going from $12.5M in the first year to $14.5 in the fourth. Like Karabachos, we can decline his fifth contract year for a little over $4M.

Finally, we also added CF Leland Allen (11/11/12/12/14 Talents). He'll be more of a backup, but a much needed one, as we really needed a right-handed OF'er to pair with Daniel Rivera (9/11/15/15/8 Talents) or Jon Bounds (10/8/9/12/13 Talents).

[JetsIn06]

Oliver Ingebretsen (12/16/16 Talents)
Shih-k'ai Zhao (16/14/17 Talents)
Zenos Karabachos (13/13/16 Talents)
Drees Hes (15/13/12 Talents)
Julian Waylen (12/14/13 Talents)

Building a strong rotation is a big part of my overall plan. It might seem a little counter-intuitive, but because the offense is built around power, I really need to make sure that I have the run prevention side of things in a good place since power can be so streaky. A couple solo shots won't do much for me if I'm giving up five runs per game, and I don't have the team to small-ball my way to wins, so pitching will have to get it done quite often.

To be completely honest, I wasn't really sure what type of team I wanted to build until after I had acquired the assets that have become the major league team. When I started rebuilding, I was really just looking to get as much talent in return as possible. What I quickly realized was that I had three pretty good right-handed pitchers in Shih-k'ai Zhao (16/14/17 Talents), Drees Hes (15/13/12 Talents), and Finn Loen (20/17/13 Talents) as well as a ton of right-handed power bats. So building around right-handedness seemed to be a trend I wanted to keep pursuing.

Coming into this year, Zhao, Loen, and Hes made up the top three of our rotation, and Julian Waylen (12/14/13 Talents) was a decent guy to run out there every five days as the #5 starter. Hes seemed like a #4 to me, so going in my goal was to add a #3 starter at the very least, but go bigger if the right move came along.

On 12/20/29, Zenos Karabachos (13/13/16 Talents) joined the team on what will probably amount to a four-year deal worth just under $100M. He could slot in behind Zhao and Loen and be a pretty solid #3 guy. However, there was also the issue of Loen. Loen is probably a bullpen arm, and out of sheer necessity and the fact that we could afford to try him out, he was in the rotation last year. He wasn't bad by any means, posting a 3.72 ERA and a 3.61 FIP, but if I could add another guy to the rotation, I could move Loen to the bullpen and really strengthen that area.

So we did, adding Oliver Ingebretsen (12/16/16 Talents) through a trade with division rival Greenville, and our rotation now looked like this:

Oliver Ingebretsen (12/16/16 Talents)
Shih-k'ai Zhao (16/14/17 Talents)
Zenos Karabachos (13/13/16 Talents)
Drees Hes (15/13/12 Talents)
Julian Waylen (12/14/13 Talents)

Ingebretsen is getting old, but is in the last year of his contract. He won't talk to me, but I'm not losing sleep over it. My payroll drops to roughly $65M last year and I can use that money to go after a younger pitcher, but Ingebretsen is here and ready to help us get over the hump in 2030. He's a low stuff, good movement, good control guy who had a terrific year in Greenville last year. He's an extreme groundball pitcher, which is exactly the type of guy we're looking for with Phil Brett (13/12/2/13/13 Talents) in the fold at shortstop.

Zhao is a young pitcher who's yet to fully develop to his potential. He wasn't lights out last year, but still has five points of control to develop and if he can do even half that, he will be a very, very good pitcher for us in the near future.

Karabachos is a control specialist, and his biggest issue will be giving up the long ball. He pitched well in Dublin the last two years, in a park that should be less favorable than ours. There's a few folks calling this guy a massive overpay, and I can't really argue with that, but if he can do what he did in Dublin for the next two-three years, I'll be happy with my decision to bring him in.

Hes has a sweet 'stache, but his control leaves a lot to be desired. He'll pick up K's at a decent rate but otherwise there's not a ton to really love about this guy. He probably won't ever be more than a #4 starter, but he's making league minimum for another two seasons after this and I'll be content with a league average ERA from him.

Finally, Waylen is a groundball pitcher without big strikeout numbers or low walk totals. He's been below average with an 83 ERA+ last year, but with a better defense in 2030 he should be able to contribute enough to stick around for a little longer.

Beyond our five current rotation guys, I can't talk about starting pitching without mentioning Double-A starter Cibor Huchro and recent draftee Marcus Lindholm. Huchro AKA "Swamp Fox" is exactly the kind of guy we want to build around. Right-handed groundball pitcher, great stuff, good movement...this guy is mowing through minor league hitters right now and should be in the majors by the end of next year, replacing whoever is in the #5 spot at that time. Lindholm, on the other hand, will provide some balance to our rotation as a left-handed arm with solid ratings across the board, but is just 18.

In five years, the top three of our rotation could look like this:

Huchro
Lindholm
Zhao

[JetsIn06]

The goal on offense is simple. Load up on power hitters, and surround them with a few guys who can get on base. Our skill level is not quite at the level it needs to be to really make this plan work, but we're getting there. Here's the fourteen guys who will try to make things happen.

Catcher:

Kang-keun Kim
Romano Monaco (10/13/20/16/8 Talents)

Monaco is clearly the long-term answer here, and while there's some doubt over whether he should be in the majors or in AAA, his development as hit a little bit of a stall in his development and I think having him in the bigs could make things move again. Kim is a defensive-minded catcher but brings some nice pop to the plate in the way of his extra-base power. In 59 games last year he hit 7 HR but also had 20 2B, so I'm totally fine with his production. Monaco has the potential to become a massive power threat, but until he proves he can do it against LHP, the LHB Kim will get most of the playing time against right-handed pitching.

First Base:

Junji Fujimoto (16/15/6/10/18 Talents)

Fuji is not the prototypical first-baseman. In fact, he was our third baseman until we brought in Diederick Baars (10/13/16/11/14 Talents) in free agency. Fuji was moved to us in a trade by Frankfurt, who was willing to part with him because of his poor defense. It improved a touch last year in Birmingham, and he provided a lot of value with the bat despite being a contact/gap-only hitter, hitting .285/.325/.412. We can't really take his bat out of the lineup since we lack the contact skills he provides, so moving him to first-base seemed like the logical option despite the fact that his bat profiles terribly at the position. I'm not sure what the future holds for Fuji, but we do have him under control through the 2033 season.

Second Base:

Andrya Neupokoev (10/15/14/13/15 Talents)

I've liked this guy a ton since we picked him up in a trade from Athens back in 2027 for SP Antonio Ramos. He's off to a ridiculous start through the first two weeks of this season, hitting .429 so far, and this isn't the first time he's had a hot bat. This guy always seems to provide a lot of value offensively for stretches. In 2028 he was dominant against LHP, but he fell of a bit last year. I'd be totally happy with a .250/.340/.500 line from this guy, and I think he can provide it.

Third Base:

Diederick Baars (10/13/16/11/14 Talents)

Baars was a big add in free agency, coming over from Moscow. He's left-handed, but played in in a similar home park last year in Moscow, so I'm expecting results that are fairly close. He's hit 20+ HR this last three seasons, and that's what I'm hoping for again in 2030. His defense is a huge upgrade from what we had last year, so 3B should add quite a bit of value to our team this year.

Shortstop:

Phil Brett (13/12/2/13/13 Talents)

There really wasn't anyone who could play defense as good as Brett did last year and provide the value on offense like he does. His ratings have taken a dip since coming over, but he's still capable of providing good offense relative to the rest of the league at the position. If we can get 2 WAR out of Brett between his bat and glove, we'll be happy.

Left Field:

Manuel Pineda (10/15/19/11/7 Talents)

This guy really got us excited last year. He had an OPS+ of 132, hitting 33 HR in just 417 PA. He strikes out too much, doesn't take enough walks, and will never hit for a high average, but if he can knock out 25-30 HR a year, he'll be a huge contributor to our offense. He also provides some good defensive value in the corner OF spots.

Center Field:

Mike Gregory (14/13/14/8/11 Talents)
Leland Allen (10/11/12/12/14 Talents)

Here's where things get hairy. We don't really have a true CF on our team, so we're stuck putting corner OF's with good range out there. We are built around groundball pitchers so that helps a bit, but I'd still like to get a better defender out there. Gregory can probably make up for it a bit with his bat, but Allen is pretty average and is much better off as a bench player. For now, there guys will platoon out there.

Gregory is a nice contact bat with some gap and homerun power, but not a ton. 15 HR and 20 2B is probably all you'll see out of this guy, but he's definitely capable of hitting .275 or so. Wish he'd walk more, though.

Right Field

Daniel Rivera (9/11/16/15/9 Talents)
Harry Panther (11/16/20/12/8 Talents)

Going into the season, we had planned on giving Panther the full-time job, but so far he's disappointed with his new club. He has better ratings than Pineda, so we thought Panther and Pineda could team up to do something special, but it hasn't materialized yet. We'll see how things go with him platooning with another all-or-nothing type hitter in Daniel Rivera (9/11/16/15/9 Talents).

Designated Hitter:

Ben Hock (11/10/13/17/15 Talents)
Odoardo Muginstein (12/15/14/13/8 Talents)

We picked up Hock in the same trade that sent us Panther, and Hock is probably the much better overall player. He can't play defense, and I don't even trust him at first-base, so he'll be the DH from here on out. Though he's a switch-hitter, he struggles against LHP, so we brought in Muginstein on a one-year deal. He's also a switch hitter, but is much better against LHP, so it's a good and pretty versatile match.

Bench:

Juan Gonzalez (10/10/5/17/8 Talents)

Gonzalez is our utility infielder, and the only offensive player to not start in either the vs RHP or vs LHP lineup. However, he's a great option off the bench. He can play all four infield positions and has a great eye, which led him to post a very solid .351 OBP last year in 404 PA.

[JetsIn06]

We're one month in to the season, and after a very hot start, things have cooled down a bit in Birmingham.

We actually had a pretty tough schedule the first month of the season. We played Greenvile once away, and Cape Cod at home, but those were the only series against the MBBA East. We had to play Des Moines, Honolulu, San Francisco, Oakland, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Barcelona, all of whom are .500 or better except for Honolulu, and I think it's pretty clear they're better than they're playing. So I'm pretty happy going into May two games above .500, despite the fact that we kind of stumbled our way into it.

Our pitching has been good so far, specifically our bullpen. We lead the MBBA with a 1.81 bullpen ERA and and a 3.02 team ERA. A lot of that comes from Finn Loen moving to the bullpen, and he's been lights out as the closer. In 22 innings, he has a 1.21 ERA and 8 saves with a 10.9 K/9. We have him slotted into the "8th inning or later" role since he was pretty good as a starter and has pretty good stamina, and he's on pace to pitch 113 innings. I'd love to get that kind of value out of a bullpen guy.

At the same time, we have Levka Gvichiya set to pitch in the 6th inning or later, and in 19 innings of work he has a 1.40 ERA. He's also on pace to reach right around 100 innings of work. If the Loen and Gvichiya can provide that value I'll be very happy.

There's also Jerry Woodford and Sawao Ohayashi, two guys we picked up on waivers in the second half of 2029 and they're both off to a great start. Woodford hasn't let up a run yet and Ohayashi has a 1.84 ERA.

Rounding things out in the pen, we have Duane Richter, who was so good for us last year but has really struggled so far, as well as Etienne Martinella, a lefty we picked up in free agency on a one year deal. Richter is just flat-out sucking, but Martinella, despite a 6.75 ERA, has a 0.75 FIP. This is only through 5 innings of work but he should be able to bring that down. Richter and Martinella are both specialists now against righties and lefties, respectively, and hopefully that helps each of them contribute a little more to the pen.

[JetsIn06]

As our previous post discussed, our pitching has been pretty good so far this year. But that's largely coming from our bullpen. We've been getting decent results from the rotation, but a closer look at the numbers suggests that things could come crashing down.

Zenos Karabachos (2 - 3, 4.14 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 39 K) has been giving up far too many homers, and is on track to give up a career-high. The thinking going in was that those numbers could improve in Birmingham since our perk hurts LHB a bit, but that hasn't been the case. His walk totals are also too high at 2.5 BB/9, and control is supposed to be what he does best. The 4.14 ERA isn't the worst thing in the world but the 5.21 FIP sucks. If he can get the control performing as it should, the FIP will improve and I'll feel better. Julian Waylen (0 - 5, 5.29 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 29 K), on the other hand, has a 5.29 ERA but a 4.33 FIP, and the .325 BABIP coming back into line will make him a solid #5.

So pitching really isn't what we'll be chasing at the deadline. We need a bat. Despite the additions this off-season, the bats just haven't totally clicked yet. We've gotten great performances from Andrya Neupokoev (.307/.361/.500, 8 HR, 18 RBI) and Daniel Rivera (.272/.362/.478, 4 HR, 9 RBI), two remnants of the total rebuild we've undergone, but Ben Hock (.188/.263/.312, 4 HR, 14 RBI) and Phil Brett (.248/.292/.276, 0 HR, 9 RBI) have under performed quite a bit.

We went 4-2 last sim after two poor weeks, and getting back above .500 and within a game and a half of the wild card is good. We just need to stay there until we can make an addition at the plate and hope that the pitching continues to keep our runs allowed low.