The Quest For Donny Baseball 1987 Yankees Franchise Year 4 MLB The Show 20

[Armor and Sword]

Spring Training Has Arrived As Yankees Look To Make Another Run Following Early Exit From The Post Season

Year 1 has come to an end. The San Francisco Giants blew by the KC Royals in the World Series 4-2 to take the Fall Classic. The Giants dominated year 1 with an astounding 107 win season. Will "Thrill" Clark won the NL MVP and led his team to an incredible season. However the Yankees fell flat in a heartbreaking finish to the season. After losing their one game playoff to the Red Sox to lose the AL East after winning 96 games, they dropped their wild card game to the Astros 3-0 and found themselves home for the October playoff chase. Many roster decisions were being made. Here are some key roster moves and some huge trades in the winter meetings.

In a shocking development 3B Mike Pagliarulo was forced into early retirement due to complications from his season ending rotator cuff injury. Mike was holding back tears as he had a press conference to deliver the shocking news. "My dream of being a MLB player and part of the great history of the New York Yankees has come to an abrupt end". "I am in shock and disbelief as I was told by our team doctors as well as my own that the nerve damage I suffered was too severe to recover from".

Adding insult to injury was the sudden retirement of 3B John Castino. John was signed right after Pag's went down and did a solid job of holding the fort. The Yankees inked him to a modest 3 year deal and expected him to be back. "It is with great thanks that I stand here today and announce my retirement from the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball". I feel like I have done everything I have wanted and have other goals in life to attain". It was a shock to GM Michael Sword and he was left looking at utility man Wayne Tolleson, and very raw prospects in Mike Blowers and Hensley Mullens as his 3B options heading into Spring Training.

The Yankees had plenty of budget space to resign all their key veterans as well as young prospects. The starting rotation has 4 spots filled on paper with:

Rhoden
Guidry
Hudson
Tewksbery (inked to a 4 year deal worth over 7MM a season)

So the 5th starter is up for grabs and the Yankees have plenty of pitchers in the pipeline fighting for rotation time in:

Dennis Rasmussen
Al Leiter
Rod Nicohls
Ben McDonald (inked to a 4 year deal worth 6.7MM per year)

(as a side note I have a house rule in place where I ink all minors leaguers to one year deals at the minimum unless I am willing to pay them serious dollars to lock them up as to not cheese the AI so McDonald and Tewksberry were paid true market value to lock them up till their arbitration year).

With the Yankees roster mostly in place after the exclusive rights period, Sword started working the phones. Rumors were swirling about Met's SS Julio Franco being unhappy and wanting out. The Cubs were (rumored) to be in hot pursuit offering Shaun Dunston as a starting point.

Sword swooped in and offered Jay Bell and two prospects as a starting point. The Yankees acquired Jay Bell for 2 outstanding pitchers (who are with the big league Indians now) and felt he was their future at SS. But Sword felt aquiring a Julio Franco in his prime would give them ultimate flexability with Wille Randolph advancing in age, the loss of Pags and Castino, so Sword pulled the trigger.

Julio Franco is now a Yankee and is penciled in as their starting SS (as well as utility to play play 2B and 3B as needed). Franco brings an amazing bat, some decent speed and a prime veteran presence to the clubhouse.

Other major moves around the league saw The A's, Dodgers and Mets active. Bob Welch was shipped the A's, Jose Rijo shipped to the Reds, basically the real trades from the 1987 off season going into 1988 happened with those major players changing teams.


The biggest non Yankee retirement that was news worthy was Bip Roberts from the Padres. He has a career ending injury and Bip will be sorely missed by the Friars.

Free Agency was muted in Year 1's off season with very little movement and nothing noteworthy. The trading was the real excitement......and then the rule 5 drive where the Yankees struck some gold with a dose of incredible luck.

In round one the Yankees took Seattle Pitcher Eric Hanson who was not protected on the 40 man roster. It was a shock. Hanson is a solid B prospect and is looking to earn a spot in the rotation. At a minimum he will pitch in the bigs as a long reliever.

But lighting stuck twice for the Yankees. With 3B a glaring hole Ken Caminiti (B Potential) was sitting there. Sword snagged him. He is raw but he will be on the big league roster fighting with Tolleson for 3B! A huge long term land and the Astros truly dropped the ball on that one. It was shocking.

Dave Winfield was resigned for 2 more years at 10MM per season. Big Dave is 36 but still a highly effective ball player.

Ron Kittle coming off his 32 HR 100 plus RBI season was inked for 4 more years to be the Yankees primary DH.

So those are your major moves in The Quest For Donny Baseball. Spring Training is well underway as the Yankees are looking to settle their pitching staff and bench players.

Here is your projected starting lineup and starting pitching rotation thus far:

1B - Don Mattingly
2B - Wille Randolph
3B - Ken Caminiti
SS - Julio Franco
LF - Dan Pasqua/Claudell Washington
CF - Ricky Henderson
RF - Dave Winfield
C - Rick Cerone (resigned for one year)
DH - Ron Kittle

Projected bench:

Utility - Wayne Tolleson
Utility - Bob Meecham
Catcher - Bob Geren
OF - Gary Ward

Starting Rotation :

Rick Rhoden
Ron Guidry
Charles Hudson
Bob Tewksberry
Eric Hanson


Please join me on twitch for Year 2 as we stream the regular season once again (playing every single game for the Yankees).



http://www.twitch.tv/todem23

[Joey]

Wait, the Welch and Rijo moves happened without you doing it yourself? That's crazy!

Sad news about Bip. He was one of my favorites from back when I played Baseball Stars and made custom AS teams. Those were some good times, thanks for the memory jog...

Now let's get this next season rolling!

By the way, I started an '87 season with the Royals. I'm only 3 games in so far but plan on a video franchise blog - just working out the kinks.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Armor and Sword]

Quote: Originally Posted by Joey

Wait, the Welch and Rijo moves happened without you doing it yourself? That's crazy! Sad news about Bip. He was one of my favorites from back when I played Baseball Stars and made custom AS teams. Those were some good times, thanks for the memory jog... Now let's get this next season rolling! By the way, I started an '87 season with the Royals. I'm only 3 games in so far but plan on a video franchise blog - just working out the kinks. Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

LOL I wish. I recreated those deals. I want some level of authenticity as I move forward as this will be a true Y2Y file for me. Certain historical aspects I want like certain players with their teams in formative years. In Year one I recreated the Stillwell and Montgomery to the Royals from the Reds.

[Joey]

Oh I see, I was thinking that was some freaky stuff going on right there!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Gronk4M13]

Glad this is back, you got some good additions in the offseason.

[Armor and Sword]

Spring Training Update

Rule 5 draft pick Ken Caminiti is tearing the cover off the ball this spring!

March 1988 - Spring training in year 2 of The Quest For Donny Baseball is in full swing. The Bronx Bombers are 4-1 thus far and have been very impressed with some new additions to the team for the upcoming season. 3B Ken Caminiti (2nd round pick in the Rule 5 draft) has been on a tear. He has been starting each game and thus far is hitting .457 with 2 HR's and 10 RBI's through 5 games. Not only is he dazzling at the plate he is showing his glove off as well. Ken is making his case as the opening day starter for the Yankees. Pitcher Eric Hanson also taken in the Rule 5 draft (1st round) has been lights out on the bump. He has shown full command of his three pitches thus far en route to a 1-0 record with a sub 2.00 ERA in 7 innings pitched. He has started a game as well as making a short 2 inning relief appearence

Eric is showing his stuff so far this spring and making a strong case to be the teams 5th starter!

Pitcher Pete Filson also has been showing he can be effective throwing 4 shut out innings in his last start vs the Astros in a 4-3 loss. Pete showed he has great stuff via his 4SFB and Vulcan Change. His sinker was also highly effective. Manager Lou Pinella has some tough decisions to make this spring between several young pitchers. Ben McDonald, Al Leiter, Pete Filson, Dennis Rasmussen and Hanson are all vying for a spot in the rotation as the teams 5th starter. The first 4 spots are set. Long relief is also up for grabs between them as well as Rod Nicohls.

At the plate Ron Kittle is sizzling and his hot finish has carried over into spring this season. Ricky Henderson already has 4 SB's. Veteran Willie Randolph is rounding into form after an injury plagued year one.

It is early but the Yankees are feeling great about themselves this spring. One of the major goals is to stay healthy and start fast. The sting of last seasons collapse still burns. The team is determined to win the AL East and leave no room for failure again. The Yankees are expected to be in a huge battle with rivals Toronto (who are expected to be a major contender) and of course Boston.

A mid Spring training report will be forth coming with a Twitch update show to go around the league and show some stats and standings as well as some news stories here on players vying for roster spots.

Some other young Yankees to watch this spring are:

CF Roberto Kelly
OF - Dion Sanders
1B - Kevin Mass
1B - Orestes Destrade


All of them are getting plenty of playing time.

[Armor and Sword]

Coming soon........The Quest For Donny Baseball Year 2 Update.

Year 2 is in full swing and we will get you updated on how our Bronx Bombers are fairing thus far. You can catch some games if you follow my twitch channel as I will start streaming again tonight as Ron Guidry takes the mound vs the dreaded Boston Red Sox in the rubber match of an early season 3 game series.

And then I will really get active posting reports here once I transfer the file to MLB The Show 16!!!

[Armor and Sword]

Live stream right now in Todem23 on Twitch


Yankees at Blue Jays year 2!