Just A Little Outside - Harry Doyle's Tribe

[KeanuReevesRules]

Out of the unfortunately fictional radio booth and into the fictional owners booth - Harry Doyle is now the owner of the Cleveland Indians.

After making the purchase over a couple bottles of Jack he shared with no one, he decided to say 'screw it' and throw an offer they couldn't refuse.

His investment into Rick Vaughn's hedge fund '#Winning' brought him immense wealth and all the Jack he could ever want. What did he want more than riches and liquor? He wanted to own (and protect) his beloved Cleveland Indians.

"I know I have said some things that weren't misunderstood, and maybe they were too honest to be on any real radio station - but this isn't a joke to me. The team has been a joke lately, don't get my wrong... but this franchise and this city deserve to win. I believe my knowledge of the game will help in this regard. I have a team of great people helping in the Front Office and I know we will start winning very soon. That is assuming we can bring in someone that can hit for more power than a kid in a wheel chair league."

Doyle didn't disappoint with his Front Office and Scouting Department hiring either.
General Manager - Jake Taylor
Accounting - Roger Dorn

Taylor and Dorn will be taking care of most of the day to day operations behind the scenes while Doyle plans on writing recaps of each game, series or month of Indians baseball with updates on the rest of the league as well.

Asked if his recaps are a sign that he plans on returning to broadcasting - "I'd have to rock an eight-ball with Ricky Vaughn before I did that again... and both might kill me."

It's going to be something... it might not be great - but it will certainly be something.

This Franchise will be started with OSFM Opening Day Rosters (MLB 15) and the first season will be played through on MLB 15 before I consider purchasing MLB 16 and moving the save over.

House Rules -
+ In the spirit of all things ridiculous and hopefully even a little bit of fun, I will be making trades and signings that are more befitting an entertaining and fun story for you to follow and me to play.
+ I will be using dynamic difficulty for both hitting and pitching. With the 'Worst Sliders Ever'
Personal Rules For Each Game

Here are some of the things I will do to try and make it through the season with relative ease and hopefully update the story as I go. I do have a very full-time job and spend most of my spare time with family, so gaming isn't so much in the back seat as it is in the UHaul trailer we tote behind us.
That said - I am looking forward to this story as it is going to be quite a bit of fun on this end as long as people realize that it isn't a 'sim' Franchise as much as it is a fun way for me to play the game and put my own weird tilt to the story.

Play Ball!

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[KeanuReevesRules]

Spring Training 2015 -
Well Tribe fans, it's finally here... my shot glass and keyboard that is. The things you have to do to get drinks and technology delivered to your bathroom these days. I digress... Baseball is back and now that I own the Indians and I am on this secured server that no one else in the league can read (thanks largely to your imagination!) I can tell you all about my plans for your 2015 Cleveland Indians.
First off, we have pretty stellar pitching as far as our top three hurlers go in the rotation. To go with that we have Cody Allen as our closer. I don't foresee many changes with these guys this year (Kluber, Carrasco and Salazar along with Allen). They are virtual locks to stay with this club as long as they perform and choose to stay. On the other hand, I am not sold on Trevor Bauer, Josh Tomlin and most of the bullpen - they might as well be extras in the Major League movies.
Our team has some bright spots and even a few decent prospects to keep your eyes on, but some of these guys might be better suited elsewhere. Here are some of my 'locks' for the team as we begin spring training.
C - Yan Gomes
1B - Carlos Santana
2B - Jason Kipnis
LF - Michael Brantley

Yup, that means there are at least four or five guys I am not sold on as far as things go for this team's starters.
SS - Francisco Lindor - He is great, he is wonderful and he is possibly one of our biggest pieces of trade bait. I realize that SS is one of the most important positions in the game, but unless he can show that he can be a leadoff batter (hit over .300 consistently for one thing) I don't see a reason to keep him if someone else finds a tremendous value in him - so be it.
RF - Lonnie Chisenhall - I love the kid... he tries as much as anyone to contribute to this team, but if we have to have him in Right Field we might see every team push and pull their bats in his direction. He isn't an outfielder in this game, so unless his speed gets better and he learns to field in the grassy area, he might have to return to 3B or find another club.
CF - Abraham Almonte - I think the guy is on steroids, and to be honest I'd hope for our sake he has something that is undetectable and he shares it with our other guys because this team has next to zero power in their bats. That said, he doesn't impress me with his fielding and I really do question his viability as a true starter for us in the future.
3B - Giovanny Urshela - He is a decently sized player, but come on... if you can't put that size into some sort of power in your swing and you are at best an average fielder at the hot corner - you won't last long. Again, he might be desired elsewhere and if that is the case, let's make a deal.

My favorite unappreciated player on this team is -
Ryan Raburn - He can play almost any position and has a knack for hitting home runs at the most pointless time in games. Almost always during a blowout in either direction - he likes salt in both his wound and the other team as well.

Other Guys No One Really Cares About
C - Roberto Perez - He is like every other extra catcher in baseball... a necessity but no one really knows anything about him. I might have to see if he is just a hologram.
UT - Mike Aviles - He is a great guy and a family man, but I don't see any reason to keep him in Cleveland if he would be happier elsewhere.
3B - Chris Johnson - He has a contract that pays him $7 million to be awful and overrated, maybe someone will be dumb enough to want him in a trade.
Some Guy
Some Other Guy

Outlook For 2015 -
We have a few unanswered questions and I am currently texting a couple GMs around the league about making some trades before Spring Training gets into full swing.
I don't see us winning the World Series as the team is right now. I see us trailing behind the Royals and Tigers simply because they have more talent than we do - especially when it comes to power hitting and the ability to drive in baserunners. Not to mention the bottom of our rotation needs help and our situation at 3B and RF isn't getting much better unless I move Chisenhall over to 3B and make a move for some power bat from RF.
That's so crazy it might just work.
Okay folks, that does it for now.
Until next time, keep your bottles stocked and your glasses filled!

[BlueJays09]

Following. Looking forward to this!


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[KeanuReevesRules]

April, 2015 – The season has started and it’s time for some updates out there in Wahoo Wonderland!

Trades and Personnel Moves


We did make a few moves early on that I hope will add up to better performance later this year and over the years to come. You can chalk up our great moves to me being a fine business man or other owners being drunker than me. Either way it goes, we have made off with a king’s ransom as far as I’m concerned. Our farm teams will be the home of most of these young guys this year.

· SS/UT Mike Aviles to the Yankees for 3B/RF, Dante Bichette Jr., Catcher/1B Eddy Rodriguez and RP, James Pazos.
· SP, Gavin Floyd and RP, Brian Shaw to Orioles for SP, Dylan Bundy
· RP, Carlos Moncrief to Rockies for SS/3B Trevor Story
· SP, Shawn Marcum to Brewers for OF, Domingo Santana

Let The Games Begin


It’s been a great month for my pitching staff so far. The starting rotation is ranked among the best in ERA, Strike Outs and Walks Allowed. The relievers on the other hand… they seem to give up most of our runs and have largely accounted for four of our five losses.

We made a couple moves during Spring Training to help out after losing Raburn and another bench player for the first couple months of the season. We ended up trading for (RF) Domingo Santana from the Brewers and picking up Alex Castellanos as a utility player. We also made a trade for SS/3B Trevor Story from Colorado as we aren’t sold on Chris Johnson or Gio Urshela taking over the hot corner. Chances are good that Johnson will make decent trade material if he can bat decently enough to keep us contending into July. If we can train up Story or Urshela to take over after that it might be tempting to bring in a real power threat that we seem to be missing.

Our first series against the Astros felt like the beginning of a season that might see us break records for almost every offensive category. We scored at least eight runs in our first three game series against them and had at least two home runs in each game as well. Carlos Santana hit two in the first game alone.

We then went on to lose our first series against the Tigers as they beat us two out of three. We swept a quick two game series against the White Sox and then lost two of three to the Twins. The first loss came when Kluber pitched his heart out and just like in the real world the Tribe bats went silent for the former Cy Young winner. The second loss to Minnesota in the rubber match saw us make our first snap trade of the season. Brian Shaw threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded in a tie game during the bottom of the ninth. He rushed home to take the throw from Yan Gomes and got it with more than enough time to tag out the player running home and simply didn’t make the tag.

By the next day he was on his way to Baltimore with Gavin Floyd and another prospect for SP, Dylan Bundy. Say what you want, but that kind of performance is enough to drive me up the wall. This goes without saying that our bats all but died at Target Field.

I can explain how good it felt to get out of Minnesota. We just didn’t bring our best and they were just above average enough to knock us down a bit. With two more series’ away from the 216 we were off to face the Pale Legs for a set of three and the Tigers for the same amount of time. It was not a good vibe going into those games.

Somehow… some way we managed to sweep the White Sox and the Tigers with our great pitching and a few timely at bats from Chris Johnson and Lonnie Chisenhall. Johnson must have heard about what I said regarding his skill level and salary because he is leading the team with a .370 average. Chisenhall is also swinging a good bat these days and leads the team with 7 homers.

As we closed out the month (or at least nearly) we swept the Royals and took over first place by 1.5 games. The Royals are going to be a tough team to face as our games were all within a couple runs and clutch at bats of going in either direction. I have high hopes that this is a good sign for the rest of the season, but right now I am still keeping my bar stocked and my feet firmly planted. I’ve seen this before… Cleveland has seen this before… and hopefully it doesn’t get bad.

My next update will have the official MLB leaders for important stats through the month of April. This means we will probably see how many homers the roided out Tigers are hitting these days. Unfortunately for them, they have only managed two off of our guys so far this season.



I just wish we had bats like that.

Well, until next time Tribe Fans!

Sit down, Drink Up and Go Indians!

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