Miami Vice

[kinsmen7]

July 31st, 2018-

It's the trade deadline and we're sitting in the basement of the NL at 42-66, which isn't all that surprising.

If you combine one of the worst offenses in the league with a young pitching staff, you've set yourself up to fail.

One of the few bright spots, reliever Kyle Barraclough is one of our last trade chips. With some holes in the back end of their bullpen, Houston was more than happy to pick him up.

Miami: Kyle Barraclough
Houston: David Paulino + JB Bukauskas + Yordan Alvarez

A few other notable moves around the league included:

Yankees: Billy McKinney + Trevor Stephens
Jays: JA Happ

Jays: Donaldson
Cards: Dakota Hudson + Nolan Gorman + Casey Meisiner

Jays: Hwan Oh + Tepera + Granderson
Indians: Nolan Jones + Aaron Civale

Brewers: Mauricio Dubon
Rays: Wilson Ramos

Athletics: Jed Lowrie
Brewers: Kodi Medeiros + Brett Phillips

Red Sox: Blake Swihart
Royals: Kelvin Herrera

Certainly expected to see some more movement at the deadline, but right now there's 8 teams within 4 games of the AL wildcard, and 6 within 3.5 games of the NL wildcard. Baltimore, with a handful of high profile players becoming free agents at the end of the season, decided to hold on to their guys as they're only half a game out for the 2nd wildcard. If the Royals of 2017 are any indication, this is probably a bad move.

[kinsmen7]

September 3rd, 2018-

Our top two tier minor league teams, the Jumbo Shrimp (AA), the Baby Cakes (AAA), and both going to miss the playoffs.

Top prospect Brendan Rodgers was one of the top minor leaguers of the year, posting a .280/.374/.508 line. Unfortunately he was injured in the last week of the season, so he won't be getting a September call up.

Other bright spots included: SP Sandy Alcantara (165 IP, 3.00 ERA/1.28 WHIP), CF Monte Harrison (.254/.320/.480 w/20 HR), SP Jorge Guzman (151 IP, 3.10 ERA/1.40 WHIP), 2B Isan Diaz (.259 average with 16 HR), and Nick Neidert before suffering a season ending injury (41.2 IP, 0.43 ERA/0.84 WHIP).

September call-ups include: Pitchers Miguel Del Pozo. James Needy, Trevor Richards, Tayron Guerrero, Dillon Peters and Tyler Cloyd, as well as outfielder JB Shuck.

At this point, no jobs are guaranteed for next season, so despite our league worst 54-84 record, there's still a for our guys to play for.

[kinsmen7]

October 1st, 2018-

Sometimes you have to adjust your expectations.

Maybe it was inexperience, maybe naivety, regardless, I thought we'd be able to surprise some people.

63-99 was good enough to finish dead last in the MLB.

Were there any bright spots? Sure.

Lewis Brinson hit .293/.333/.490 with 16 bombs and 16 stolen bases, and free agent to-be Cameron Maybin boosted his stock by hitting .295/.374/.513 with 16 homers and 26 steals. Should we have moved him at the deadline? Sure, but at some point you have to say "We're a major league team, and our fans deserve to see major league caliber ball players.", or at least that's my justification for holding onto him and missing out at the deadline.

When it comes to pitching, Wei-Yin Chen bounced back this season in a major way. With 212 IP, a 3.01 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, he went a long way towards justifying his $20 million/year salary. With 2 seasons left on his deal, he could be an interesting trade chip this offseason.

Dan Straily was pretty good this year as well. With a 183.1 IP/3.29 ERA/1.23 WHIP, he could be looking at an extension in the offseason.

Elieser Hernandez justified his status as a rule 5 pick by posting productive numbers. With 142.1 IP, a 3.79 ERA, and 1.38 WHIP, along side of his 153 strikeouts, he could see his way into a permanent rotation role next season.

Brad Ziegler, Junichi Tazawa and Adam Conley all saw their numbers drop off significantly. Conley could be a non-tender candidate.

[kinsmen7]

November 3rd, 2018-

After dropping the first two games of the World Series, the Indians bounced back and won the next 4 to take the title. Hey, at least it wasn't Boston, right?

Two big names have retired in Albert Pujols and Adrian Beltre. Both are likely to be first ballot hall of famer's.

League MVP's were Mike Trout (AL), and Freddie Freeman (NL). Potential free agent Clayton Kershaw won another CY Young, as did Corey Kluber (AL).

Ronald Acuna beat our boy Lewis Brinson for the NL rookie of the year, but it came down to the wire.

Looking towards the offseason, we're hoping that we can lock up Cameron Maybin before he tests the market, but Tazawa and Sean Burnett are both as good as gone.

[kinsmen7]

November 7th, 2018.

Day one of free agency.

Lots of big names out there, many of whom won't even acknowledge our existence. We'll look to fill out our roster with veterans looking for playing time, and potential bounce back candidates. The Harper's, Machado's, Keuchel's, Kershaw's, and Dozier's of the world are out of the question.

Michael Brantley is an interesting target. The left fielder has posted excellent numbers when healthy, but has had a lot of trouble staying on the field. Cleveland chose to low ball him after another injury plagued season. Perhaps the promise of "Face of the franchise" status, along with an overpay could convince him to come to town? Carlos Gonzalez could be a decent backup plan if Brantley decides to sign with a contender.

Veteran starters Drew Pomeranz, Nathan Eovaldi, Tyson Ross and Ervin Santana could be some buy low options as well. None posted elite numbers last season, but all offer upside.

Reliever's Trevor Rosenthal and Tony Zych both missed the 2018 season with injuries. Rosenthal is only 28, and could be the answer at the back of the pen.

We also intend to sign internation free agents Takahiro Norimoto and outfielders Victor Victor Mesa and Eduardo Diaz.

Should be an interesting couple of months.

Edit:
-The Yankees bolstered their rotation by signing Patrick Corbin to a 5 year, $77.8 million deal.
-The Blue Jays shocked the baseball world by signing Bryce Harper to the first ever $403 million deal. They followed that up by stealing Dallas Keuchel away from the Astros. Two very surprising moves by a team viewed by most as being in a rebuild.
-Manny Machado opted for a future payday by accepting a 5 year deal worth $31/season with the Braves.
-Clayton Kershaw signed a 10 year extension with the Dodgers.

[kinsmen7]

November 16th, 2018-

Michael Brantley signs a 6 year deal with the Marlins.

This is huge. We definitely had to overpay, and give an extra few years (His next best offer was a 3 year deal), but if he can stay healthy, this is going to be huge. He's played a total of 180 games over the past 3 seasons, but with our current situation, you've gotta do what you've gotta do!

Takahiro Norimoto of Japan was also signed. He should step right into the rotation after posting outstanding numbers in Japan over the past handful of seasons.

Other Japanese players signed include:
-Pitcher Kodai Senga, the number one ranked international FA (Baltimore)
-Second baseman Tetsuto Yamada (Angels)
-Left fielder Yo****omo Tsutsugoh (Mariners)

Trevor Rosenthal was offered a handful of one year deals, but our 2 year $5.4 million offer was the best he could find. I have a feeling that he's going to have a great year for us.

[kinsmen7]

December 14th, 2018-

Last day of the winter meetings.

The week started out with one of the last big FA names signing. After missing out on Harper, Machado and the other big free agent names, the Phillies signed Zach Britton to solidify the back end of the bullpen.

The Rays finally moved Chris Archer. Atlanta sent a package of Kyle Wright, Max Fried and Rio Ruiz back to Tampa, as they hope to have found their ace.

The other big move had Danny Duffy being moved to the Angels in exchange for Jaime Barria, Brandon Marsh and Kevin Maitan.

When it comes to our squad, after a so/so season that saw him drop down on a lot of prospect rankings, Monte Harrison has been shipped to the Athletics for Jharel Cotton and 19 year old CF prospect Austin Beck. Cotton missed 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

[kinsmen7]

February 28th, 2019-

Off season wrap up:

Top 15 prospects-

1) SS Brendan Rodgers (22)
2) SS Humberto Feliciano (18)
3) LHP Justus Sheffield (22)
4) LHP Trevor Rogers (21)
5) CF Conner Elez (18)
6) LHP Michael Carmona (20)
7) RHP Riley Pint (21)
8) RHP Merandy Gonzalez (23)
9) RHP J.B. Bukauskas (22)
10) LHP Braxton Garett (21)
11) CF Austin Beck (20)
12) 2B Ramon Estrada (22)
13) C Will Banfield (18)
14) LF Yordan Alvarez (21)
15) RHP Trevor Richards (25)

Minor league signings: RHP Luke Hochevar, C Brayan Pena, 1B/3B Chase Headley, 3B Luis Valbuena, LF Jarrod Dyson.