MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

I still haven't made a decision on the trade. A few hangups I have as I got into the game and revisited the trade:

* Wacha is on the DL for the 2nd time this season. If this trend continues, then losing Bumgarner would mean that we are then relying on 2 young arms from the minors while in the midst of a pennant chase. Again, while I'm confident in the young arms, they aren't MadBum

* I was reviewing McCann and Miller. Miller is fine, but McCann is declining and only hitting .237 this year with 8 homeruns and 40 something RBI. While Thole isn't McCann, he is hitting around .250 and doing a serviceable job as a backup/platoon with Kelly.

* While MadBum has struggled he did pitch well in his first start after the break. He is 7-8 on the year with a 3.71 ERA (I thought it was higher). So what happens if he pitches dominantly in the 2nd half and I've dealt him away?

After strongly leaning towards making the deal, I'm now leaning towards not making the deal.

The life of a GM...

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Turning the attention back to the games on the field, we have now won 7 straight games as we came from behind to beat the Mets 4-3. Trailing 3-0, we put 4 on the board in the bottom of the 7th and our bullpen shut the door to preserve the 4-3 win. With the Marlins coming from behind to beat the Pirates (trailed 9-2 going into the 8th) we are now 2 1/2 games ahead of the Buccos in the division.

We are going for the series sweep of the Mets in the Wednesday matinee with Tim Cooney (pitching for injured Wacha) squaring off against Matt Harvey (10-3 with a 1.83 ERA)

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

We swept the Mets to push our winning streak to 8 games and now lead the division by 3 games over the Cubs and 3 1/2 over the Pirates.

But once again the injury bug strikes. Tim Cooney, who was pitching for injured Michael Wacha, suffered a strained oblique after the 4th inning thus landing him on the 15 Day DL. Memphis standout Harrison Bader suffered a broken hand which landed him on the DL, and most likely means the end of his season. We called up Marco Gonzales to take Cooney's spot in the rotation until Wacha returns at the end of the month.

Next up is a 3 game series with the Padres, before we make a west coast trip to Los Angeles and Colorado.

The quest for a 3rd straight division title is alive and well. Just need to hold on for another 9 weeks...

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

The win streak moves to 9 as we come from behind to beat the Padres 11-8. We trailed 6-2 heading to the bottom of the 7th. We scored 3 to make it 6-5. After the top of the 8th we trailed 8-5, but proceeded to score 6 runs without recording an out to take an 11-8 lead. It was 8-7 when Magnerius Sierra launched a grand slam into the home team bullpen. It was his 2nd homerun of the night, as he increased his RBI total to 5 for the game.

Seth Maness and Sam Freeman were called up to help an exhausted bullpen and they were anything but effective, as they combined to give up 5 runs while only recording 0.2 IP combined. Both are heading back to Memphis.

Next up is game 2 with Carlos Martinez taking the mound as we look to win our 10th straight game!

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

A perfect 10!

We beat the Padres 3-1 to win our 10th straight game. Carlos Martinez pitched 7 2/3 dominant innings and Kevin Siegrist went the final 1 1/3 to get the save as our bullpen got to rest.

Next up is the series finale as we look for our 3 straight sweep since the All-Star break.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Make it 11 in a row, as we sweep the Padres with a walkoff 2 run homerun by Grichuk in the bottom of the 13th. Our lead is still 4 over the Pirates.

We were up 2-0 going to the 7th when Hunter Renfroe hit a 2 run shot off of Lance Lynn to tie the game at 2. Each team had chances to win the game, but it wasn't until the bottom of the 13th, after Piscotty opened with a single, and Carpenter flew out to right, that Grichuk took a 1-0 fastball deep to the seats in left to win the game 4-2. Tyler Lyons was exceptional out of the bullpen pitching 5 innings and striking out 8. He allowed only one hit.

Next up is a trip to LA to take on the Dodgers. Dodgers are once again ahead in the West over the Giants and are the best team in baseball as it stands. We'll have Leake, Gonzales, and Bumgarner going in this series.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Make it a dozen! We dismantled the Dodgers 11-3 to win our 12th game in a row. With a good portion of our big bats resting (Carpenter, Piscotty, and DeJong) we managed to bang out 15 hits and push across 11 runs to defeat the Dodgers 11-3 in Dodger Stadium.

Mike Leake pitched effectively going 7 2/3 innings allowing 3 runs while striking out 8. Randal Grichuk provided the big bat hitting a homerun and driving in 4 runs.

Next up is game 2 as we seek to win a baker's dozen.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

The winning streak ends at 12, as we lost to the Dodgers 3-2. Our bats were quieted most of the game by Joe Kelly until the 9th, when a depleted Kelly walked Piscotty and then allowed a 2 run homerun to Carpenter to make it 3-2. Jensen came in and got Holliday and DeJong to each fly out.

Marco Gonzales took the loss but he actually pitched well, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits and pitching 7 solid innings.

Next up is series finale with Bumgarner facing off against Kershaw.

[zippy2212]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Great run. I think it's cool when out of nowhere your team goes on a run like that. Especially when you have a "bench" day and kinda think you'll lose only to win going away.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Losing streak now at 2 as once again Madison Bumgarner is not effective in a big game. He goes 5 innings, striking out 3 while allowing 11 hits, 3 homeruns, and 6 runs.

We hit Kershaw, but were not able to keep up with Bumgarner's poor outing.

Next is a day off before we travel to Coors Field to take on the Rockies for 3. Hopefully we get back into the win column

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

We are back in the win column with a 7-4 victory over the Rockies in Coors Field. We fell behind early, tied it up and then exploded for 4 runs in the 7th to make it 6-2. Miguel Socolovich quickly gave that lead away as the Rockies struck for two runs after Mark Trumbo's 2nd homerun of the game, to make it 6-4. Kevin Siegrist came in and put an end to any further damage.

We added one run in the 8th with Magnerius Sierra homerun and Walden and Rosenthal shut down the Rockies to preserve the 7-4 victory.

Carlos Martinez collected his 11th win on the season.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Thanks to another come from behind victory we have now won 2 games in a row. Once again the 7th inning was the magical inning as we broke a 3-3 tie thanks to a Matt Carpenter 2 run homerun. We got up 6-3 but our bullpen a bit shaky as Farqhuar allowed a run in the bottom of the 7th to make it 6-4 and then Rosenthal gave up a run during the 9th to make it 6-5, but managed to strike out Nolan Arenado to secure the save.

We are still 4 games up on the Pirates as we head to the series finale against the Rockies.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

The Rockies btw, have a decent lineup:

CF: Charlie Blackmon
2B: Forrest Wall
1B: Jose Abreu
3B: Nolan Arenado
C: Salvador Perez
RF: Mark Trumbo
SS: Trevor Story
LF: Alejandro De Aza


If they could get one or two solid pitchers for the rotation they are going to be extremely tough to contend with in the NL West.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

No comeback needed as we sweep the Rockies in Colorado. We didn't need to come from behind, but we had to hang on as we won 2-1. Grichuk started the scoring with a solo homerun in the 4th and then Holliday singled home a run in the 8th to make it 2-0. In the bottom of the 8th, our defense let us down as the Rockies got 3 hits and scored a run without hitting a ball further than 120 feet. But with bases loaded and 1 out of a 2-1 game, Farqhuar got Arenado to ground into a inning ending double play. Rosenthal notched his 30th save of the year getting the Rockies 1-2-3 in the 9th on just 10 pitches.

Off day then we head home to take on the Brewers for 3.

Trade deadline is 2 days away, but I really think we are going to stay put with the roster we have.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

The comeback Cards strike again, this time taking down the Brewers 4-3 at Busch Stadium. Taylor Jungman was shutting us down all game long and Michael Wacha was rusty in his return from the DL. Wacha walked 5, allowed 3 runs, and only fanned 2 as he worked 6 innings. Trailing 3-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th, Matt Carpenter instilled some life in our offense with a solo homerun making it 3-1. In the bottom of the 8th, Kolten Wong made the game interesting with a solo blast of his own making it 3-2. Bottom of the 9th, Matt Carpenter would strike again with his second solo homer of the game tying it at 3. After Grichuk struck out, Matt Holliday launched a solo homerun into the seats in left for the walk-off 4-3 win.

The trade deadline has come and gone with us not making a move. There are a few interesting players on trade waivers as we have placed claims on Nolen Arenado, because you have to, and Dioner Navarro as we actually looked at him in the past day or so.

We will see how things shake out as the calendar flips to August with us holding a somewhat comfortable 5 1/2 game lead over the Pirates.