MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

[NDAlum]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread



2022 - End of April (15-8, 1st NL East - 1.5 game lead over Washington)

This team bolted out of the gates with a 10-3 start but hit a cold patch going 2-5 to make it 12-8 but a 3-game win streak to end the month kept the Braves in first place.

Offensive Production

• CF Austin Meadows - .258/.308/.474 with 4 HR 12 RBI 4 SB
• SS Carlos Correa - .326/.422/.641 with 7 HR 21 RBI
• RF Bryce Harper - .293/.420/.524 with 3 HR 7 RBI
• 1B Matt Thaiss - .325/.453/.584 with 4 HR 19 RBI
• 2B Miguel Fuentes - .386/.463/.526 with 2 HR 6 RBI
• 3B Richard Barnard - .259/.310/.444 with 3 HR 15 RBI
• C Miguel Vasquez - .208/.284/.278 with 1 HR 6 RBI
• LF Steve Schultz - .184/.236/.184 with 8 RBI
• C Dom Nunez - .348/.423/.739 with 3 HR 11 RBI

We came out super hot offensively but cooled off a great bit. Nunez made a case to platoon with Vasquez after a career game (4-5, 3 HR, 9 RBI [2 GS]) against the Brewers. Harper's power shortage in the first month is alarming and he's showing signs of slowing down. He's usually really good in the early months. Correa/Thaiss continue to propel the offense and Meadows has done a great job in the leadoff spot. Barnard continues to perform well offensively and defensively for the club in his rookie season. Steve Schultz is being sent down to AAA as we have Odubel Herrera and Daz Cameron ready to take his AB's. Schultz is going to need to really perform to get back to Atlanta. 49 AB's isn't a huge sample size but zero XBH in the month and swinging a wet noodle at the plate doesn't bode well for his future. He's limited with his ceiling as well.

Pitching numbers

1. Alex Reyes - 3-1 1.17 ERA 1.07 WHIP 49 K in 38.1 IP
2. Drew Pomeranz - 2-0 3.82 ERA 1.08 WHIP 29 K in 30.2 IP
3. Carlos Martinez - 4-0 2.84 ERA 1.20 WHIP 29 K in 31.2 IP
4. Michael Kopech - 0-3 9.16 ERA 2.09 WHIP 24 K in 18.2 IP
5. Guy Hogsett - 2-1 3.24 ERA 1.28 WHIP 19 K in 25.0 IP

Outside of Kopech we can't really ask for much more. Reyes is showing to be the ace we gave a $90M deal and Martinez is trying to pitch his way back to that #2 spot but Pomeranz has been dealing as well. Hogsett is a solid #5 in the roation. We're going to give Kopech two more starts and if he doesn't turn things around he's going to be sent down to AAA and hopefully figure it out. I'd pull the trigger now but we don't have anybody pitching well enough to get the call up and with a lead in the division we can run Kopech out there a couple more times without being set back.

Bullpen

• Kurt Lewers - 1-1 6.97 ERA 2.42 WHIP 8 K in 10.1 IP
• Jake Reed - 0-0 4.50 ERA 1.50 WHIP 9 K in 8.0 IP
• Howard Jensen - 1-1 6.00 ERA 1.67 WHIP 12 K in 9.0 IP
• Raymond Chang - 1-0 3.09 ERA 1.37 WHIP 6 K in 11.2 IP
• Dellin Betances - 0-1 4.70 ERA 1.96 WHIP 6 K in 7.2 IP
• Tanner Scott - 0-0 1.35 ERA 1.05 WHIP 8 K in 6.2 IP
• Jimmie Peters - 1-0 5 SV 4.00 ERA 1.00 WHIP 11 K in 9.0 IP

We're hurting in the pen which has been the story of this organization. Peters has actually done a solid job as the closer with the exception of giving up a 3-run HR to blow a save but the team won the game anyways. Chang has been a great surprise as a dependable arm and Scott is rebounding well from a bad '21 campaign. Jensen/Lewers are going to be under the microscope and are candidates to make trip to AAA if they continue to struggle.

Minor league notes

• AAA pitchers Pedro Sanchez and Julius McFarland are struggling early. They were tabbed as guys ready to make the jump this year.
• Spencer Turnbull has yet to allow a run in his new relief role in 10.2 IP, he's 28 and got the call up to the MLB team on 5/1
• 2021 2nd Rd pick Tony Hendricks is dealing in his first 25 pro innings in AA with a 1.08 ERA
• Our highly touted closer, Francisco Dias (AA), has already wore two losses and is out for a few weeks with injury
• 1B Ryan Suggs is hitting over .300 in AAA with some pop (4 HR 13 RBI) in 83 AB's
• Top 50 prospect LF Francisco Chacin is hitting .196 and at the age of 26 he's at the crossroads. *Acquired in Gallo trade*

Nobody is truly standing out during the first month of the season. One things that's encouraging in C Alfred Carnes continuing to progress. After a great first season in the minors he's hitting .373 in 67 AB's (0 HR). The pitching staff is what we really want to see improve so we can have options if some MLB guys continue to struggle. Offensively we're pretty solid.

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

I'm thinking of starting again with a real, tough rebuild, so I was wondering which team do you guys think are in the worst shape, both currently and going forwards?

There are a few contenders, Padres, White Sox and Phillies obviously have the worst current teams, but they all have pretty decent long term futures as they don't carry any bad contracts and have acquired a lot of young talent. Then you've got the Angels, Mariners, Giants, Marlins and Tigers who really don't have much of a farm system, but have some pretty tradeable assets.

So who overall do you think is the hardest team to do well with?

[Trent Booty]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

I'm thinking of starting again with a real, tough rebuild, so I was wondering which team do you guys think are in the worst shape, both currently and going forwards?

There are a few contenders, Padres, White Sox and Phillies obviously have the worst current teams, but they all have pretty decent long term futures as they don't carry any bad contracts and have acquired a lot of young talent. Then you've got the Angels, Mariners, Giants, Marlins and Tigers who really don't have much of a farm system, but have some pretty tradeable assets.

So who overall do you think is the hardest team to do well with?

I'm gonna suggest White Sox or Phillies. If you want a long-term franchise, maybe Angels.

[scooterperpetual]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

The Astros Come Back From 3-0 To Capture Their First World Series Title!
WOW! I dont even know what to say. I got through the rest of the regular season a couple days ago and then got into the playoffs where things were very easy up until the Fall Classic. But we will get into that shortly.

Recap

Spoiler

So we had a very rough month of July as was said in my last update and at the deadline I made a play to acquire Raisel Iglesias he was a lockdown closer locked up for a while so I traded Teoscar Hernandez who was having an average year in AAA for him. It wasnt the best deal for the Cincinnati but I dont get TOO caught up in the ultra realistic trades as long as it makes some sense then I am happy for it.

Raisel had about a 1.30 ERA when I traded for him and he was exactly what this ball club needed and what he honestly may have won us the World Series.

I decided to make no more moves upon acquiring Iglesias Sipp was DFA'd and sent down. When McHugh came back I went ahead and sent down Brad Peacock who as you will see in a bit was having a very good year but he just happened to be the odd man out and he had options. Morton was moved to the pen as Fiers was doing better than him and Musgrove still had a sub 3 ERA.

Aoki was DFA'd and Fisher was called up and he had a decent finish to the year. I thought about making a play for Chris Archers as the Rays were losing but they didnt seem to be selling even though they wern't making the playoffs and to be honest I just didnt need him.

August was rough for us and we lost Yuli Gurriel to a broken hand which hurt so I called up A.J. Reed since Tyler White was still injured. We finished August going 17-13 but not too bad all in all. September we dominated only losing 6 games all month and we closed out the season on a 10-2 stretch, winning our last 4 games.

Stats

Spoiler

Prospects

Spoiler

So despite me not planning to call up Kyle Tucker unless he got his average higher almost immediatly after the All-Star break we suffered an injury in the outfield of AAA so I decided to go ahead and call up K.
Tuck. He had a disappointing time in AAA to start but ended the year with a ~.250 average if I remember correctly.

Franklin Perez came back and was dominant it was very hard not to call him up to AAA for the last month of the season but he is only 19 and coming off of that scary shoulder injury I didnt want to risk it. He finished the year very strong and was dominant in the AA playoffs as well.

Martes did well in AA and he will be back in Fresno to start 2018.

Yordan Alvarez made a name for himself when he saw significant playing time after White went down and Reed got called up. He is only a 58 overall but he finished the year batting in the .290's spending about a month in AAA.

J.D. Davis also got a call up to AAA and he was awesome I greatly considered calling him up to the big league roster for September callups but decided against it as we had a pretty full infield and Yuli would be back shortly.

Around the League

Spoiler

I also have all the around the league stats but being lazy I dont want to take screenshots hah. Anyways I will go over Astros in the Top 5 for some categories.

Pitching:
Keuchel was #1(20) and Fiers #5(16) in Wins.
Iglesias was #4(46) in Saves.
Keuchel was #3(2.04) in ERA.
McCullers was #2(223) in K's.
Keuchel was #1(242.1) in IP.
Keuchel was #2(0.96) in WHIP.
Keuchel was #T-1st(6.7) in WAR.

I honestly think Cy Young could have gone many different ways but we finished the season with 108 wins which in my fantasy world will be why Keuchel got it. Michael Fulmer out in Detroit though is going to be having a very bright future ahead of him he had a 1.99 ERA in over 200 IP.

Batting Stats:
Altuve was #4(.313) in AVG.
Gonzalez was #5(.307) in AVG.
Altuve was #2(194) in Hits.
Altuve was #1(55) in 2Bs.
Springer was #4(43) in 2Bs.
Correa was #T-4(43) in 2Bs.
Altuve was #5(9) in 3Bs.
Correa was #4(39) in HRs.
Springer was #5(38) in HRs.
Correa was #1(129) in RBIs.
Altuve was #1(112) in Runs.
Correa was #4(99) in Runs.
Springer was #4(99) in Runs.
Altuve was #2(44) in SBs.
Altuve was #1(86) in Walks.
Correa was #2(.575) in Slugging.
Correa was #2(.947) in OPS.
Altuve was #3(.942) in OPS.
Altuve was #2(8.4) in WAR.
Correa was #3(7.4) in WAR.
Bregman was #4(6.8) in WAR.

So yeah we have a pretty great core you could say especially when it comes to batters. I cant wait to see what Bregman does next year. He was struggling for a good chunk of this season I could realistically see him batting >.310 with close to 30 home runs next year.

The Playoffs.

Spoiler

So this is where anything can happen and legacies are made.
In the AL Wildcard the Twins beat Toronto and I am very happy about this as I did not want to face the Blue Jays.

In the NL wildcard SF beat Colorado to face the Cubs in the division series.

Boston swept Detroit and we swept Minnesota in the ALDS.

SF had a tough series with the Cubs but won in 5. And here is where the big storyline of the post season somewhat begins. The Dodgers were down 2-0 in the NLDS to the Nationals and I was starting to get excited I just didnt want to face the Dodgers they were the one team in all of baseball that I felt could match us eye-to-eye but they came back from being down 2-0 to win in 5.

In The ALCS we dominated the Red Sox as they just could not stop our offense, the same was true with our series with the Twins. We had easily the best offense this season and maybe one of the best ever the only team that could stop us without a miracle would be a team with beyond elite pitching (The Dodgers).

In the NLCS the Dodgers beat the Giants in 6 so it was set. The best offensive team this year against the best pitching team this year. The two teams that matched up talent wise and honestly despite us winning 6 more games I still think the Dodgers had to be the favorites they had the elite pitching and Kershaw had been ON for the playoffs and they had enough offense that even if their pitching failed they could keep up with us,
or at least keep it close.

The World Series

Spoiler

So Game 1 in Houston I am a little intimidated but feeling confident I mean we are 7-0 so far in the playoffs. Well it was a battle for the ages in this game, Keuchel had been having a some what rough postseason allowing runs early in his 2 outings in the ALDS and ALCS but he was on for this one. Keuchel and Kershaw matched up almost perfectly pitch for pitch,
hit for hit, walk for walk through 6 innings when Puig broke that trend and hit a solo shot to left center to give the Dodgers the first lead in the World Series. Keuchel got through the rest of the 6th and had a solid 7th.
Meanwhile Kershaw was dominating us. Keuchel hit the first batter of the 8th and I pulled him putting in Devo who promptly got a double play and got the 3rd out. In the top of the 9th I decide to leave Devo in. That was a mistake after a walk and a hit I pulled him and put in Iglesias who gave up a couple hits and got both of those runners in giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.
Jansen locked us down in the 9th and we lost game 1 and I instantly started worrying about this series.

Through all of the playoffs Correa and Springer were dominating matching each other in RBI's and dingers and Springer got cold in the World Series but Correa got things going in Game 2 with a home run in the 1st inning.
McCullers was also having a rough playoff run but he was good in this outing allowing 2 runs in 6 innings. Things were going great we had a 4-3 lead going into the 9th but Iglesias had an extremely rare outing giving up 2 runs.
Feliz came in to hopefully clean things up but it didnt work out he gave up another and once again Jansen shut us down in the bottom half of the 9th.

So Game 3 I am thinking my worst nightmare is coming true, we have an amazing season great playoff run just to potentially get swept in the World Series. I am having flashbacks to 2005 already in this series. We once again strike first in Game 3 as Correa stepped up big again knocking in an RBI to give us a 1 run lead which would hold up until the 7th inning. I left McHugh in to long and he gave up a run, I put in Devo hoping to get a couple innings out of him but he also gave up a run and we lost the lead. Once again you can probably guess it the Dodgers bullpen and namely Jansen locked us down and just like that we are down 3-0 in the World Series after going 7-0 in the first 2 rounds and winning 108 games.

Game 4 in LA Musgrove is getting his 2nd start of the playoffs after having a very bad outing against Boston (Though our offense and Mike Fiers covered for him and we obviously won). He was great going 6 scoreless innings but our offense was even better. We hit them early and often and had a 5-0 lead in the 5th inning after 1 in the 2nd, and 2 in the 4th and 5th. The bullpen was able to keep things clean and we ended up shutting them out.
So at least we aren't getting swept but we have some life now, if we win Game 5 anything can happen back in Houston.

Game 5 Lance is taking the mound once again, Keuchel had a long outing Game 1 so I decided to let him get 1 more day of rest and match him up against Kershaw in G6 assuming we managed to win this game. Well I instantly had regret as Lance gave up a lead off home run. But he quickly recovered and it was smooth sailing from then on. In the 4th inning Jose Altuve finally woke up from his mini slump of not hitting a single dinger so far in the playoffs to tie things up. But McCullers would give up a run in the bottom of the 6th to give the Dodgers the lead and I am slowly starting to lose hope. But we have one of the greatest offenses of all time and manage a 3 run 7th inning courtesy of some small and we take a 4-2 lead. Now its just on the bullpen to hold out. I get solid innings out of Devo, Gregerson, Giles and of course Iglesias and we end up winning. We picked up 2 more runs in the 9th so we had enough cushion in the 9th to not bring out Iglesias but I wasnt about to risk it, not with these Dodgers.

So now we are starting to have a lot of hope its Game 6 we are back in Houston back home we have our Ace on the mound who had a great Game 1 performance and we have all the momentum but we have to go against the best in the game in Kershaw. The only way we win this series and game in my mind is if Keuchel can out duel Kershaw. Keuchel gets through 6 strong innings as does Kershaw but he gives up a run in the 7th I immediatly pull him and get Will Harris who had a disappointing year but I still felt I could depend on him when stakes were the highest with runners on and down 1.
Ill be honest though I was losing hope once again, this was all starting to go down exactly like game 1. And I did not want to be needing a run against Kershaw. But somehow we got it done in the 8th inning Altuve manages to knock in the tying run and Marwin Gonzalez knocks in the go ahead run.
We now had a 2-1 lead and once again I was going to be depending on Iglesias and once again he delivered striking out the side and getting us to Game 7.

In Game 7 I had a big decision to make. I could pitch Lance on shortt rest or I could go to McHugh who was fully rested. Obviously Lance is my go to man in this situation he is our 2nd ace and at this point was having a solid series but for some reason I picked McHugh I know I should have gone with McCullers but I went McHugh. The Dodgers would be sending out Alex Wood.

Well my decision seems to be bad right off the bat as the Dodgers get a lead off home run. But we match that home run with a home run of our own from Springer who busted out of his slump at the perfect time. In the 3rd though the Dodgers picked up 2 more runs. Well our offense has Collins back and they get those 2 runs right back courtesy of Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman.
In the 4th inning George keeps it going and hits an RBI double.

I pull McHugh after the 5th inning and get Michael Feliz in who ends up giving up a home run to tie the game back up. Tensions are now building tied game bottom of the 7th Game 7, Dodgers have blown a 3-0 series lead to get here.
Springer and Altuve manage to get on base Springer with a double and Altuve with a single which unfortunately did not advance George. Correa flies out and the runners dont move we have 1 down and Gattis who had been having a very rough series and post season in general comes up and he hits an 2 RBI double and we have a 6-4 lead. The Dodgers avoid any further damage and both sides end up scoreless in the 8th.

So it comes down to the top of the 9th inning. Iglesias has pitched in the past 3 games and is arguably a big reason as to why we are even in a position to win the World Series. He is tired but I march him out there. He falls behind the first batter and gives up a deep fly ball but it dies out just before the warning track in right field. Now the second batter is up. He grounds out 2 down we are one out away from making history. Raisel gives it everything he's got and strikes out Joc Pederson with a nasty down and out slider and we win the World Series.

We make history and cap off an amazing season. We capture the Astros first ever title and the first Houston title in over 20 years. Jose Altuve is named the MVP which is definitely debatable even if he is my favorite player.
But it makes for a great storyline. He was our lone shining bright spot for so many years and now here we are and he is winning World Series MVP. But if it wasnt for his home run in Game 5 who knows what happens.

It could have gone to a lot of people and Springer was huge in this game but personally I have to say Iglesias is my personal MVP for this series. He showed true grit and played a big part in every one of our wins in the series. He was well worth the pickup and I even feel a little bad for the deal I pulled off to get him.
If I would have known he would play this big of a role in winning the World Series I would have given up a whole lot more than a B potential outfield prospect.

Correa ended up being named the Postseason MVP for the AL and deservedly so as he was easily our most consistent player through all of the playoffs.
Without him always showing up for us in big spots we definitely would not have gone this far. He ended up with 7 home runs and 12 RBIs batting .360 for the playoffs. Altuve by the way batted .370 in the World Series with 1 home run and 5 RBI's. Justin Turner was named the NL Postseason MVP batting .310 for the playoffs with 3 home runs and 7 RBI's.

You have to give up to the Dodgers and Kershaw especially they really showed up this year and something tells me this wont be the last time we see them.

Honestly after that series I get a lot of Cav's/Warriors vibes from 2016 with how the Dodgers came back from a 2-0 lead (Warriors coming back from 3-1) just to blow a 3-0 lead (Cavs coming back from 3-1) but that is probably just because I am a big basketball fan. I should also hope that if it is some sort of prophecy that it doesnt end up with the Dodgers somehow getting a top player this off season.

Without a doubt we had an amazing year but we need to reload and get even stronger for next year. I still feel the Dodgers are the more evenly talented team and I am sure they will look to bolster their offense this offseason. That just means we will need to look to add some pitching help.

I will post another update after the offseason. Also I would like to thank I believe it is NDAlum as I made a copy of his Braves Google Docs spreadsheet and it is great for me to keep track of all these stats.

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

I'm gonna suggest White Sox or Phillies. If you want a long-term franchise, maybe Angels.

Yeah I was tempted by the Angels as I used them last year and it was fun, but I think I'm leaning NL to compliment my Rays franchise. Phillies are interesting as they suck, badly, yet there farm system is decent but not spectacular. They don't really have anyone in the majors who you'd say could get you much, other than people like Nola who you wouldn't trade in a rebuild anyway.

Then there's the Marlins who have pretty much no farm system and a team which isn't anywhere near good enough, so it would probably mean selling off Yellich, Ozuna and Realmuto to try and start a rebuild. But I don't know if I'd really want to play 81 games a year in that stadium tbh.

I guess I'll see what it looks like after the deadline and once the latest OSFM comes out. Phillies are definitely tempting

[scooterperpetual]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Astros 2017 Offseason
So this was a big offseason for us with a lot of big signings, mainly our own players but we also grabbed someone from free agency. One thing of note is Carlos Beltran retired after finally getting his ring.

Astros Acquisitions

Spoiler

Free Agency
RP Tony Watson - 2yr/13.2M

I had my eye on Watson at the trade deadline as a lefty specialist but Tony Sipp was actually doing very well I think he had a low 2's ERA but it shot up by the end of the year and he was a very large negative in the playoffs. Watson is a lockdown reliever who can be more than just a lefty specialist.

Pittsburgh offered Watson a 4 year deal at around 6M a year but he chose to come to Houston for slightly more money per yer and being in a winning situation.

C Jack Durant - 1yr/70k (59/B)
3B Mario Valido - 1yr/70k (70/B)
2B Bucky Law - 1yr/70k (63/C)
3B Frederic Brunson - 1yr/60k (51/B)
RP Ryan Crowell - 1yr/60k (61/D)
SS Tim Plliman - 1yr/70k (63/C)
SP Yency Almonte - 1yr/520k (64/C)

Most of these guys are just roster fillers I try to limit myself with signing B Prospects by waiting 2 weeks into free agency and then waiting for another team to put in a bit then putting in the same bid as them. If they pick my team over the other then I get them.

Trade
3B Tyler Saladino from White Sox for SS Jonathan Arauz, RP Tony Sipp, SP Cionel Perez

With Beltran retiring I decided I would be moving Marwin to the DH position full time but he will still also be our backup infielder. However with that move I wanted to grab another utility man. I spent a long time looking for a deal and I wanted to make a deal with the Mets for one of their 2nd basemen but the price was too high. I settled on Saladino who is under control for a while. He had a decent year last year batting .263. He really doesnt do much more than that though as he has very poor power and discipline.

Chicago looking to go fully into the rebuild got themselves a solid SS prospect in Arauz a lottery ticket in Perez and a 1 year salary dump in Sipp.

Projected Opening Day Lineup & Position Battles

Spoiler

Projected Opening Day Lineup:

Altuve-2B
Bregman-3B
Correa-SS
Springer-CF
Reddick-RF
Gonzalez-DH
Gurriel-1B
Gattis-C
Fisher-LF

Bench:
Marisnick
McCann
Saladino
?????

I am thinking I would like to move Altuve back to the leadoff spot. I just didnt get the run production I would have liked from him last year and with the amazing years that both Springer and Correa had I feel like having them deeper in the order will benefit us. Altuve lead the league in walks laster year and will still get plenty of run producing opportunities as we probably have the deepest lineup in baseball.

Projected Rotation & Bullpen:

Keuchel
McCullers
McHugh
Musgrove
?????

Feliz
Gregerson
Harris
Devenski
Giles
Watson
Iglesias

Bench Position Battle:
A.J. Reed - 1B
Tyler White - 1B
Tony Kemp - 2B
J.D. Davis - 3B
Colin Moran - 3B
Preston Tucker - LF

J.D. Davis is likely the front runner for this spot he had a great year in AAA and I have high hopes for him as a potential DH in the future depending on Marwin's future with the team as he is in his contract year.

If Tucker disappointing in Spring Training there is a real chance he will just be cut at this point.

Also it is of note that Saladino's spot is not 100% guaranteed but he will more than likely get that spot.


Starting Pitcher Position Battle:
Charlie Morton
Mike Fiers
Brad Peacock
Brady Rodgers
David Paulino
David Martinez
Francis Martes

I think Fiers is probably the frontrunner, likely either Fiers or Morton will be DFA'd or traded after this however as they just dont have a future with the franchise especially with Rodgers being ready to go Martes hopefully ready for his callup this year and a ton more prospects in the works.

It is also very likely that Peacock will be traded. He is a + asset and was very good as a long reliever and spot starter through 40 innings last year. He could likely fetch either a bench piece or a Low B prospect. Same deal for one of Fiers and Morton.

We have 3 A SP prospects and 4 B SP prospects.

I will also say same deal with Musgrove his spot isnt 100% guaranteed but after how great he was last year and he was solid in the playoffs I would says its pretty much 95% guaranteed he will be our #4 man.

Astros Prospect Rankings

Spoiler

1. RF Kyle Tucker - 69/A - 21 Years Old - AAA - MLB ETA: 2019
2. SP Francis Martes - 69/A - 22 Years Old - AAA - MLB ETA: 2018
3. SP Forrest Whitley - 63/A - 20 Years Old - AA - MLB ETA: 2020
4. SP Franklin Perez - 67/A - 20 Years Old - AAA - MLB ETA: 2019
5. C Jack Durant - 59/B - 22 Years Old - AA - MLB ETA: 2021
6. CF Lucius Burgos - 66/B - 19 Years Old - AA - MLB ETA: 2019
7. SP David Paulino - 64/B - 24 Years Old - AAA - MLB ETA: 2018
8. SP J.B. Bukauskas - 64/B - 21 Years Old - AA - MLB ETA: 2021
9. SS Miguelangel Sierra - 56/B - 20 Years Old - AA - MLB ETA: 2022
10. CF Daz Cameron - 58/B - 21 Years Old - AA - MLB ETA: 2021

Out of all of these I am probably most excited for Franklin Perez he was amazing in AA and I cant wait to see how he does in AAA. Durant seems to have a high potential I didnt look at it but when sorting by potential he is my top B prospect. He will either be a hit or miss as he is already 22 but I have high hopes that he can be our catcher of the future.

[The Chef]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Well it happened again. I got out to a blazing hot start in year two with Seattle (21-9) and the AL West has been having a down year across the board so far but then it happened. For the second year in a row Nelson Cruz got injured and will be out for 1-2 months again. My team is a high contact, average power lineup but wthout Cruz in the lineup I've got Seager and Haniger as my only true power options and Haniger is barely hitting above .200 on the season so far. I've got the wiggle room in the standings but the lack of power is most definitely going to catch up to me at some point I'm sure. First game without Cruz I lost 4-2 at Oakland if that tells you anything. To top it all off Edwin Diaz, my CP, has been brutal starting the season with an ERA of 5.00 and having already blown 3 of his 10 save chances on the season with the most recent one coming against Oakland when he couldn't record an out.

I've started kicking around the idea of making a trade for an OF'er who can defend and slotting Jarrod Dyson and his fragile *** into the DH slot. As far as trades go Michael Conforto is available and he would slot in nicely in the OF and allow my plan to work out. However Colorado is shopping Arenado and then I'd DH Segura but the asking price is awfully high. Decisons, decisions. One thing is for certain, Nelson Cruz won't be on the roster for 2019 and if I make a deal for someone like Arenado I may be dealing Cruz at the deadline anyways.

[Ranger Fan]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Texas Rangers Update: Season 3 MOM

Well season 3 has come to an end and all in all I am happy with the results. We overcame a 2-0 series deficit to Toronto to win the ALDS in 5 games. The ALCS saw Texas and Detroit face off and Detroit dominated us as our pitching staff fell apart. Tigers won in 5 games and the lost in 7 games in the World Series to the Giants. Weird thing is that in 3 seasons the NL has won every pennant. With that the MVP for the season has been a pitcher and that teams has won the series.
In year 1 it was Kershaw. In year 2 it was Scherzer and in year 3 it was Baumgardner. The off season was quiet as we lost Roark but signed Garret Cole in free agency. Spring Training starts as maybe I can capture that White Whale and get to my first ever World Series

[NDAlum]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Well it happened again. I got out to a blazing hot start in year two with Seattle (21-9) and the AL West has been having a down year across the board so far but then it happened. For the second year in a row Nelson Cruz got injured and will be out for 1-2 months again. My team is a high contact, average power lineup but wthout Cruz in the lineup I've got Seager and Haniger as my only true power options and Haniger is barely hitting above .200 on the season so far. I've got the wiggle room in the standings but the lack of power is most definitely going to catch up to me at some point I'm sure. First game without Cruz I lost 4-2 at Oakland if that tells you anything. To top it all off Edwin Diaz, my CP, has been brutal starting the season with an ERA of 5.00 and having already blown 3 of his 10 save chances on the season with the most recent one coming against Oakland when he couldn't record an out.

I've started kicking around the idea of making a trade for an OF'er who can defend and slotting Jarrod Dyson and his fragile *** into the DH slot. As far as trades go Michael Conforto is available and he would slot in nicely in the OF and allow my plan to work out. However Colorado is shopping Arenado and then I'd DH Segura but the asking price is awfully high. Decisons, decisions. One thing is for certain, Nelson Cruz won't be on the roster for 2019 and if I make a deal for someone like Arenado I may be dealing Cruz at the deadline anyways.

Conforto has a hose in LF and he crushes RHP

[Trent Booty]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Seattle Mariners
End of 2017

Okay, so 2017 was a very good year, but also disappointing. The good news? We went 87-75. The bad news? We only went 87-75. We missed the playoffs (the wild card) by 1 game, behind the New York Yankees. They played the Rangers in the wildcard, and won to face the Astros, while the other first round match-up was the Indians and Blue Jays. In the NL, the Nationals and Rockies played a one game playoff to determine who would play the Giants in the WC game. The Rockies killed the Nationals, and then beat the Giants to face the 108-win Cubbies. The other series was the 106-win Dodgers agasint the 92-70 Mets.

In the ALCS we had the wild card Yankees facing the Indians, and in the NL, the wild card Rockies against the Mets. The Yankees and Mets ended up advancing to the world series, and in game 7, the Yankees won to win their 28th world series.

Offense stats/outlook for 2018:

Spoiler

I'll start with franchise cornerstone, all-star 2B Robinson Cano. Cano put up an MVP-type season, with a .355 batting average to go with 30 HRs and 115 RBI. He was great in the 3 spot, ahead of all-star DH Nelson Cruz, who hit .294 with 37 HR and 120 RBI.

3B Kyle Seager hit .280 with 25 HR and 114 RBI. The runner-up to rookie of the year RF Mitch Haniger, hit .311 with 17 HR and 76 RBI as well, and 1B Danny Valencia hit .275 with 15 HR and 81 RBI. Catcher Mike Zunino hit .247 with 15 HR and 70 RBI.

Lead off man and all star SS Jean Segura hit .343 with 10 HR and 69 RBI atop the order, and 9th hitter, CF Jarrod Dyson hit .326 with 1 HR and 25 RBI.

As for the bench/platoon players, Ben Gamel hit .316 with 10 HR, although he played mostly everyday. 4th OF Guilermo Heredia hit .290 with 1 HR and did a great job filling in for Dyson in CF, and Gamel in LF. Utility man Shawn O'Malley hit .296 with 1 HR, playing everywhere on the field except 1B, C and P. backup C Carlos Ruiz hit .256 in limited playing time, and was the only player not to hit a HR on the 25-man roster.

Players that played in september were a huge hit, including Tuffy Gosewhich, who hit .333 with 2 HR in 13 games, Dan Vogelbach, who hit 3 HR in 13 games and hit .242, Danny Espinosa and Gordan Beckham, who played solid defense at 2B/3B to spell Cano/Seager and Espinosa even had 2 HR. Utility man Taylor Motter hit over .400 with 3 HRs as well, as he got a lot of playing time in late september. Lastly, Leonys Martin hit .255 with 5 HRs, as he was called up in late August when Nelson Cruz was placed on the 10-day DL and did a great job allowing Haniger/Gamel to play DH and he would fill in nicely in the OF, playing all three spots.

In 2018, Cano/Cruz/Seager will fill out the 3/4/5 spots, and I'm planning on playing Haniger full time in RF and batting him 2nd or 6th depending on the offseason. Segura will still be leading off playing SS every day, and Zunino will be the starting catcher, and other than that nothing is for certain. I have a log jam in the OF with Jarrod Dyson (who is a FA), Guillermo Heredia, Ben Gamel, and Leonys Martin. I like all 4 OFers but I really only have room for three of them. At 1B, I don't know if I want to re-sign Danny Valencia, who is also becoming a FA, or let Vogelbach show what he could do. I might re-sign Valencia and platoon them in 2018, I'm not sure yet. I'm thinking of letting Tuffy be my backup catcher, and then Shawn O'Malley/Taylor Motter would battle it out in spring trainning to make the MLB squad as a utility guy. This is all subject to change, as I still have to go through the offseason.

Pitching stats/outlook for 2018:

Spoiler

In the rotation, Felix Hernandez (14-11, 3.30 ERA) and James Paxton (19-8, 2.81 ERA) were both great, and Paxton/Felix will be the first two starters in 2018. After that, I'm not sure. Iwakuma is going into the final year of his contract, and he did pretty good in 2017 (9-10, 3.57 ERA), but he's going to be 36, so I might look in FA to get a guy to be a consistent #3 and let Kuma be a #4 or #5 pitcher. Unfortunately Drew Smyly will miss all of 2018 as well, so he's off the table, and other than him, we have Ariel Miranda (8-11, 4.23 ERA), Andrew Moore (1-2, 2.84 ERA in 5 starts), and Marco Gonzales (2-1, 3.86 ERA in 5 starts). Sam Gaviglio struggled in his call-up with a 4.20 ERA in 4 starts, so he will likely not have a shot at the rotation.

As for the bullpen, closer Edwin Diaz finished the year with a 2.72 ERA and 35 saves. Mark Rzepczynski and Nick Vincent were both great as set-up men, and David Phelps and Tony Zych were brilliant, while James Pazos and Erasmo Ramirez struggled. All of the relievers (Altavilla, Scribner, Pagan, Martin, Marshall) that were called up in September struggles at least in one outing except for Shae Simmons, who was brought up from AA and threw 4 perfect innings with 6 strikeouts.

I won't give a huge update on my prospects, although at the start of 2018 I'll post an updated prospect list/outlook on my team, including 2017's draftees, including top pick SP Jose Spanos (aka Felix Jr.), and infielders Alberto Pacheco and Xavier Richardson. I'll also have offseason moves and trades, etc. along with my 2018 25-man roster!

Here were the awards:

MVP:
AL: Miguel Sano, Twins: .320, 45 HR, 122 RBI (Cano was 3rd)
NL: Kris Bryant, Cubs: .317, 56 HR, 127 RBI

Cy Young:
AL: Chris Sale, Red Sox: 19-7, 2.49 ERA, 266 K (Paxton was 3rd)
NL: Madison Bumgarner, Giants: 22-5, 2.19 ERA, 232 K

Batting Title:
AL: Robinon Cano, Mariners: .355
NL: Andrew McCutchen, Pirates: .328

Reliever of the Year:
AL: Glen Perkins, Twins: 39 SV, 1.46 ERA
NL: Jeurys Familia, Mets: 53 SV, 1.60 ERA

ROY:
AL: Aaron Judge, Yankees: .273, 36 HR, 97 RBI (Haniger was 2nd)
NL: Jae-gyun Hwang, Giants: .236, 30 HR, 102 RBI
Hank AaronAward:
AL: Miguel Sano, Twins
NL: Kris Bryant, Cubs

Postseason MVP:
AL: Aaron Judge, Yankees
NL: Michael Conforto, Mets

World Series MVP:
Chase Headley, Yankees

[scooterperpetual]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Astros Reach Extensions with Correa, Springer, and Keuchel
So I probably forgot the biggest part of my offseason. Now I will state this before I even get to the extensions. It is my universe, so while someone like Correa would not sign an extension this long this early in his career it is my universe and in that universe he will retire an Astro.

C Evan Gattis Re-Signed 2yrs/8M

Gattis will be the Astros starting Catcher this year after splitting time with McCann. I am very excited to have him locked up for the next 2 years and he will hopefully be sticking around even after that.

SP Dallas Keuchel Re-Signed 4yrs/106M

This was the big one, Dallas has stated that he hopes to reach an extension with the Astros and this one will lock him up for a while. The 2 time Cy Young that matched Kershaw eye for eye in the World Series will remain the Astros ace.

CF George Springer Re-Signed 6yrs/126M

Springer had always been the biggest wildcard in the Astros young core but he shows a lot of loyalty and takes a paycut after having a big year last year. Springer has consistently improved year to year and was sporting a .290 average for a good chunk of last year.

SS Carlos Correa Re-Signed 10yrs/200M

The Puerto Rican sensation has commited to the Astros forfeiting a ton of money to help keep the Astros core together. He is already worth a (MLB The Show) max contract but he takes probably over a 10M paycut to help keep the core together.

With these re-signings the Astros are in a very good position. They have Altuve locked up for 2 more years. The only major free agent other than him in the next 3 years is Marwin Gonzalez next year. He is coming off a career year and is poised to do even better as he will be given the DH spot from the get go this year.

Spring training is about to kick off and some of the young highly touted prospects the Astros have are going to have their chance to make a play for a big league roster spot.


I plan to quick manage every spring training game and hop in if there are any interesting situations. Generally I sim games in the regular season other than the ones I play but I want to get a closer look here in Spring Training so I will have something to do with every game.

[Trent Booty]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Seattle Mariners
Start of 2018

At the start of the offseason, I had to re-sign all my players, some key re-signings were avoiding arbitration with P Erasmo Ramirez, SP Drew Smyly, SP James Paxton, RP Evan Scribner, RP Nick Vincent, C Mike Zunino, C Tuffy Gosewhich, RP David Phelps, RP Ryan Cook, RP Nick Hagadone and OF Leonys Martin. We managed to re-sign Danny Valencia to a one year deal, but lost Jarrod Dyson to the Mets. The only real move we made in free agency was signing SP Francisco Liriano to a 2-yr deal to be our 3rd starter.

We also fired Scott Servais as manager and made Edgar Martinez manager.

Here is my roster heading into 2018:

Lineup:
1.) SS Jean Segura
2.) RF Mitch Haniger
3.) 2B Robinson Cano
4.) DH Nelson Cruz
5.) 3B Kyle Seager
6.) 1B Danny Valencia vs. LHP/Dan Vogelbach vs. RHP
7.) C Mike Zunino
8.) LF Guillermo Heredia vs. LHP/Ben Gamel vs. RHP
9.) CF Leonys Martin

Bench
C Tuffy Gosewhich
INF Taylor Motter

Rotation:
LHP James Paxton
RHP Felix Hernandez
LHP Francisco Liriano
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma
LHP Ariel Miranda

Bullpen:
LR Erasmo Ramirez
RP Evan Scribner (beat out Pazos in Sping Training)
RPDavid Phelps
RP Mark Rzepczynski
RP Tony Zych
SU Nick Vincent
CL Edwin Diaz

In AAA I have guys like RP James Pazos, UTL Shawn O'Malley, SP Marco Gonzales, SP Andrew Moore, SP Rob Whalen, RP Emilio Pagan, RP Dan Altavilla, RP Ryne Harper, SP Christian Bergman, RP Evan Marshall, C Tyler Marlette, RP Shae Simmons, RP Cody Martin, RP Jonathan Aro, and RP Zac Curtis to play if injuries occur at the MLB level. (Bold = never played in MLB before)

Top 30 Prospects:

Spoiler

1.) SP Jose Spanos, 20 years old - Was our first round selection in 2017, will spend all of 2018 in A. Also a part of top 50 prospect list. Ace potential.

2.) SS/2B Alberto Pacheco, 19 years old - was our second round selection in 2017, has good speed but could become great all around player. Will spend all of 2018 in A.

3.) RF Kyle Lewis, 22 years old - didn't progress much in 2017, will spend most, if not all of 2018 in AA. Will not be playing CF anymore. Superstar potential.

4.) SP Nick Neidart, 21 years old - performed well after call up to AA, will start 2018 in AA and if he dominates, he could easily pass up guys at AAA and make his way into the rotation sooner rather than later. Probably gonna be a nice back end starter in the future.

5.) SP Sam Carlson, 19 years old - Will start 2018 as a 19 year old in AA, probably going to spend entire year there, but dominance at AA could help him leapfrog other starters at AAA.

6/7.) OF Robert Francis & Douglas Francis both 20 years old - Mariners drafted Robert in 2017 and traded for Douglas in the offseason. Both are from California, both pay all three OF spots, and both are really fast. Thought this was super cool.

8.) 3B Joe Rizzo, 20 years old - Will start at AA as a 20 year old. Will be playing 3B and LF everyday, expected to spend all of 2018 in AA.

9.) 1B/OF Evan White, 22 years old - Mariners first round pick in 2017, will start 2018 in AA but could be a fast mover through the minors. Gold glove cantidate at 1B and at all three OF spots. Great contact hitter, power needs to show. Pretty quick for a 1B, He's a lot like Paul Goldschmidt without s much power.

10.) Andrew Moore, 23 years old - Made MLB debut in 2017, threw 38 innings and had a 2.84 ERA. The signing of Liriano blocked him but he is first in line for a spot in the rotation if injury/bad performance occurs.

11.) SS/2B/3B Xavier Richardson, 18 years old - Good all around playerwho is great on the basepaths and in the field. Could be a good starter in the MLB if his bat comes around, until then his potential is backup infielder at best. Will spend all of 2018 in A.

12.) SP Rob Whalen, 24 years old - Will start at AAA, will most ikely be called up at some point in 2018, even if it is just in September.

13.) SP Max Povse, 24 years old - Will also start in AAA, however, he isn't on the 40-man like Moore/Whalen so he has a harder path to Seattle.

14.) 1B/DH Dan Vogelbach, 25 years old - Will start at 1B in Seattle against RHP, has a good shot to play in around 90 games and hit 15+ home runs. It's time for him to prove himself.

15.) 1B/3B/DH DJ Peterson, 26 years old - Will need to really improve and play well at AAA to ever make the MLB. as he is not currently on the 40-man roster. Could be Danny Valencia's replacement at 1B vs. LHPs, but is in jeopardy of being leapfrogged by Evan White, so this is a make or break year for Peterson.

16.) SS/2B Bryson Brigman, 22 years old - Will start at AA, Could be a serviceable starter once he reaches the MLB, but likely will be a AAAA middle infielder backup.

17.) SP Chase De Jong, 24 years old - Was called up to AAA during the MLB all star break,pitched really well and will look to continue at AAA and maybe get called up in setember, although he is currently not on the 40-man roster. Could eventually be a long reliever in the MLB or 5th starter.

18.) RP Thyago Vieira, 24 years old -Will start as the closer in AA, could get called up to AAA quickly if he impresses.

19.) OF Braden Bishop, 24 years old - Will leadoff and play CF everyday in AA, Will hit for high average but not very good power, hit 1 HR in AA last year.

20.) RP Dan Altavilla, 25 years old - Will close games in AAA, pitched 3 innings in september of 2017 and gave up 4 runs, is currently oon the 40-man so will eventually see Seattle again at some point this season unless he gets an injury.

21.) C Tyler Marlette, 25 years old - Will start at AAA after mashing AA pitching all year last year, will be the 3rd catcher, and is on the 40-man so expet him to debut if Tuffy Gosewhich struggles, an injury occurs to Gosewhich/Zunino or at the very latest in September.

22.) OF Boog Powell, 25 years old - Will play every day in AAA, is currently not on the 40-man. Has a ciling of a 4th OF or a 5th OFer who mainly spends time in AAA

23.) OF Luis Liberato, 22 years old - a deep OF in the farm sysytem has Liberato spending another year at A, although he could be called up to AA by the end of the year.

24.) 2B/SS/3B Rayder Ascanio, 22 years old - will start as the utility infielder in AAA, could get some good amounts of playing time. Will spend all of 2018 in AAA unless he struggles and gets sent back to AA.

25.) RP Juan Fransisco, 18 years old - was a late round draft pick in 2017, will spend all of 2018 in A. Most likely depth player who willl barely make it to AAA in his career.

26.) OF Ian Miller, 26 years old - not on the 40-man sp blocked by that factor, but his speed and good defense is getting him the chance to lead off at AAA and play CF everyday. Hits RHP very well, his improvement against LHP will be the deciding factor on whether he can be an average MLB regular or a platoon/4th OF type.

27.) LF Luis Martinez, 18 years old - Drafted in 2017, will spend all of 2018 in A. Not being able to play CF will most likely hurt in him the future. Good bat, but bad fielding and absolutely no arm puts him as a LF-only type, although his bat could warrant play at DH if he ever makes it to the MLB. Also a possibility to move to 1B in the future.

28.) C John Peterson, 19 years old - Will spend most, if not all, of 2017 in A ball. Has good contact/power, just needs to prove he can be a reliable catcher in the field. His size (6'4) could help him if he ends up having to move to 1B/LF/RF in the future.

29.) LF Chuck Taylor, 24 years old - Will start in AAA as a backup OFer/DH but could play well and get more playing time, but could also perform badly and get sent back to AA. Doesn't really have a true position, as he's too small to play 1B/3B, and throws left handed so he's basically stuck as a LF/DH type.

30.) SP Dylan Unsworth, 25 years old - Will start in AA but good perormance could bump him to AAA. Most likely will be depth for his whole career, could carve out a nice career in the bullpen if he makes the switch.

My expectation for 2018 is to make the wild card. Win or lose, that's my main goal, to get the Mariners to the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

[Number999]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

2025 Miami Marlins Season Overview

Regular Season Summary: Coming off of a World Series Championship, it would have been easy for the Marlins to sort of stay the course and not make too many changes. Bring back as much as you can and give it another go next season. After all, the only postseason games you dropped were Game #3 vs Washington and Game #4 vs Los Angeles in the World Series. Still, Miami decided to make some moves. Following the retirement of Jean Segura(he knew his time was up, he went out with a ring), Joey Hernandez was named the brand new fulltime Marlins shortstop. In a block-buster move, the Marlins shipped off 1B Ronald Guzman(a WS hero in many ways with his big homers) off to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for 3B Damon Wagner and RP Rick Hudson. This was an enormous move considering it showed the audacity to believe that Guzman's future contract due in the 2026 MLB Offseason would not be worth paying. Finally, the Marlins made a move to replace Lance McCullers who was left to walk off in Free Agency by acquiring Carlos Martinez from the Minnesota Twins in a package centraled around Doug Boggs. The 33-year old Martinez was in the final year of his 10.3M deal and after posting a 6-16, 4.80 ERA, 1.51 WHIP in Minnesota they decided to dump him salary wise.

So how did things go for Miami in the 1st half of the season? Pretty freaking horrendous if we're being honest. The team started the year 0-7, getting swept by the Pirates and Phillies as well as losing the homer vs Atlanta. It was not merely a slow start though, since by the end of April their record was 7-13. By the end of May, it was 20-28. The lowest point in the entire season was attained on June 11th. A series swept on the road against the Washington Nationals, which saw Miami drop their record to a pathetic 23-35. 12 games below .500, it was fair to wonder if this was the hang-over of back-to-back World Series appearances taking a toll on so many of the Marlins players. So many seasons playing intense postseason matches. But also, there was a more real fact... the new acquisitions were bombing. Damon Wagner was batting .170, and his defensive ability did not justify his atrocious hitting. Tom Doty? The Marlins 5th round prospect who was given the starting role at 1B to replace Guzman? Try .220 with little to no pop. Joey Hernandez was also floundering in the .210 range. But not only that, remember the previous dynamite duo that carried the Marlins throughout all the late games in the 2024 MLB Playoffs? Juan Jimenez and Kelvin Herrera? Jimenez had an ERA over 6.00 and Herrera had one over 5.00. That mystique of an incredible bullpen had vanished overnight, and now the Marlins were suffering the consequences.

But despite that awfulness to start the year... Miami was determined to stay the course. Despite their record, everyone in the National League was so tightly compacted they were only 5 games back. Thus, Miami started wheeling and dealing. They got rid of Tom Doty and outfielder Teoscar Hernandez(minor leaguer) and sent him to their rivals in the AL, the Los Angeles Angels, in exchange for 1B Matt Thaiss! A lefty with experience and under contract, he was hitting well but LA wanted to go in a different direction. Then they made the move of giving away SP Jim Andrade, a once highly touted prospect, to the San Francisco Giants along with 2 other developmental players in exchange for SS Nate Hutson. Hutson could not start with the Giants as SS Christian Arroyo was their main starter and Renato Nuñez also controlled 3B. Considering his unbelievably cheap contract, it made sense for all sides to pull through on the deal. In order to fulfill their new hole in the rotation, the Marlins called up SP Rich Cairo from the minor leagues. He's a 25-year old who's been with Miami since being taken in the 6th Round of the 2020 MLB Draft. He was now gifted the opportunity to start.

How did those moves pan out? Well, the Marlins finally found some footing by ripping off a 7-game winning streak after that sweep to Washington. They finished the month of June with a record of 35-41. By the All-Star Break, the record had recovered to a total of 44-45. Just a game back of .500, and 2 games back of the NL East leading Phillies, jut about damn near everyone in the NL was within 5 games of each other with the exception of the LA Dodgers who had seriously pulled away from the pack. The highlight of the season came after the All-Star Break after the first series vs St. Louis where Miami dropped 2 of 3. With 3-game series against New York, St. Louis, and Oakland, Miami swept all 3 opponents and were on a 9-game winning streak with a record of 54-47 before they had to decide whether they'd sell at the Trade Deadline, which was a serious plausibility prior to the winning streak. Having newfound faith in the organization, the front office decided to keep the core together and it paid dividends. The month of August was kind to Miami, despite serious stretches against Seattle and San Diego on the road, the Marlins pulled away from all of their NL East foes and held a commanding 7 game lead of the division entering September. The Marlins had climbed out of the gutter of 23-35 to a new record of 74-55. From July 21st - August 21st, Miami went on an unbelievable 25-4 run. That success carried over to September, and though the team looked more human, they ended the regular season on a high note capturing yet another NL East Division Crown and finishing in total with a record of 94-68.

2025 Miami Marlins Roster & Stats Overlook
Starting Pitchers:
#1. Braxton Garrett (27, 90 OVR) ---> 9-12, 200 innings, 38 BBs, 169 Ks, 2.88 ERA, 1.05 WHIP
#2. George Nuñez (26, 88 OVR) -----> 15-8, 221 innings, 83 BBs, 228 Ks, 2.97 ERA, 1.27 WHIP
#3. Yohander Mendez (30, 90 OVR) -> 15-7, 186.2 innings, 64 BBs, 200 Ks, 3.04 ERA, 1.37 WHIP
#4. Carlos Martinez (33, 78 OVR) ---> 12-10, 161 innings, 78 BBs, 171 Ks, 3.75 ERA, 1.52 WHIP
#5. Rich Cairo (25, 78 OVR) ----------> 4-2, 77 innings, 18 BBs, 69 Ks, 3.39 ERA, 1.17 WHIP

Summary: Braxton Garrett had a bit of a drop-off this year compared to how he looked the previous two seasons. Granted, he was insane in 2023 and 2024 with a WHIP sub 1.00 one season and also an ERA averaging to 2.42, plus you also have to account for the fact the offense was trash and gave him 0 support to start the year but he didn't help his cause by also struggling at the start of this season. It's going to be an interesting offseason both for Miami and Garrett, since the 27-year old has completed his 6 years of MLB Service Time and is eligible to become a Free Agent. Miami hasn't committed 5+ years and monster money to a pitcher truly since this regime has taken over. It's mostly all be done with young arms on cheaper contracts. Garrett is likely to command 22M+ per year, will Miami be willing to pay that? After him, you have George Nuñez who finally showed the sort of skill you've been wanting to see out of him. Much like Lance McCullers previously, you could very easily say that he's been a disappointment thus far considering the expectations given of him. But you can't argue with him this year... sub 3.00 ERA, over 220 innings, over 225 strikeouts, and a WAR of 4.0? If he replicates this in 2026, he'll deserve a hefty contract along with Garrett.

Yohander Mendez was coming off a Cy Young sort of campaign in 2024. Perhaps it's a bit of an overstatement but he was arguably the best pitcher in the rotation last year. This season in 2025, his record improved to 15-7 but he as a player and his ability did indeed regress. He struck out more in less innings, but allowed a higher ERA and WHIP. Still he produced a 5.4 WAR and he's on the books for just 3.9M next season when otherwise he would have been a Free Agent. It'll be one of the best value gets in MLB next year, but of course Miami will have to worry about paying him in 2027 if they wanna keep him around. Finally, we move on to Carlos Martinez. Picked him in a deal focused around Doug Boggs and Kyle Farmer from the Minnesota Twins, Martinez is on the final year of his deal making 10.3M... how did he fare? Just average mostly. 12-10 record, 161 innings, decent walks/strikeouts ratio and that 3.75 ERA is an improvement to the 4.80 ERA he produced in his one prior year in Minnesota. The biggest debate surrounding Martinez is whether or not he'll be who the Marlins go to in a Game #4 situation should they get to the NLCS or even the World Series. That question is risen due to the performance of #5 starter, Rich Cairo. A Marlins draftee in the 5th back in 2020, Cairo bursted onto the MLB scene after the trading away of SP Jim Andrade. In 14 starts, Cairo went 4-2, pitched 77 innings, and put up a 3.39 ERA and more impressively a 1.17 WHIP. His FIP is 3.17, and even though he's a rookie he's already 25-years old. Though missing bats and striking out is important as a pitcher in the playoffs, it may be a baptism by fire sot of process for him if the Marlins don't feel comfortable riding out with Carlos Martinez.

Bullpen:
LRP: Felix Hernandez (38, 68 OVR) ---> 6-2, 95.1 innings, 38 BBs, 66 Ks, 4.15 ERA, 1.48 WHIP
RHP: Juan Jimenez (27, 82 OVR) ------> 4-6, 96.2 innings, 23 BBs, 80 Ks, 4.56 ERA, 1.25 WHIP
LHP: Aroldis Chapman (37, 64 OVR) --> 4-3, 78.1 innings, 55 BBs, 71 Ks, 5.06 ERA, 1.75 WHIP
RHP: Adam Costello (24, 81 OVR) ----> 8-4, 79.1 innings, 22 BBs, 73 Ks, 3.18 ERA, 1.20 WHIP
RHP: Rick Hudson (25, 77 OVR) ------> 5-3, 64 innings, 27 BBs, 50 Ks, 5.77 ERA, 1.44 WHIP
LHP: Owen Savage (27, 81 OVR) -----> 4-2, 65.1 innings, 21 BBs, 57 Ks, 3.31 ERA, 1.26 WHIP
CP: Kelvin Herrera (35, 76 OVR) ------> 4-4, 65.1 innings, 15 BBs, 65 Ks, 3.99 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 48 saves

Summary: More than any other spot in the organization, the bullpen is where the Marlins must improve next season. First of all, King Felix is no longer fit to be a pitcher in MLB. I'm sorry, I hate to say, but I thought this mother****** was gonna retire literally 3 whole seasons ago. Instead, he's continued to hang in for the last two years as a main reliever role. Want to see how his ERA and WHIP have dropped from 2023 to 2025? (2.63 ---> 3.46 ---> 4.15 --->) as well as (1.29 ---> 1.37 ---> 1.48) that's just crazy. He's 38-years old, he has a record of 254-163 All-Time, he has pitched over 3788.2 innings, he's struckout exactly 3,500 hitters in his lifetime all culminating for a ERA of 3.11, WHIP of 1.18, FIP of 3.17, and a total career WAR of 85.6! Just retire man, geez!

Beyond that, Juan Jimenez had a MEAN regression as a pitcher. This year wasn't an exception either. Many of his stats declined harshly, and it's quite bizarre considering the Venezuelan is only 27-years old. After such fantastic 2023 and 2024 MLB Seasons, he looked so much more horrendous with his ERA sky-rocketing along with his WHIP. Will the Marlins hold onto him or move on? Aroldis Chapman was a total and utter flop of an experiment. The 37-year old Cuban declined with the Yankees, had one awful and one great year with Detroit, was bad with Seattle last year, and even worse with Miami this season. He simply has no control at this point in his career, and he'll likely be forced into retirement. Adam Costello was a nice little bright spot. His ERA was sub the 1.00 mark for quite some time throughout the rough stretch of the season before he too regressed, still he was our best reliever this season. Rick Hudson is somebody who was horrendous and makes that Baltimore deal look 10x worse considering how Damon Wagner played. He's a rookie and all, but at the age of 25 and the fact Miami doesn't need him, he won't be on the Marlins 2025 MLB Postseason Roster. Then we have Owen Savage who was good... just good. He's due another contract, and he'll be the best lefty available. Finally there's Kelvin Herrera who still managed to produce 48 saves after his incredible 58-save campaign last year. It's his worst year as a Marlin, but the 35-year old Dominican is still the closer heading into the playoffs. As long as he performs there, what else matters?

Lineup:
C: Lucas Herbert (28, 80 OVR) -------> 89 games, 5 HRs, 25 RBIs, 1 SBs, .257 AVG, .358 OBP, .711 OPS
1B: Matt Thaiss (29, 83 OVR) --------> 149 games, 22 HRs, 77 RBIs, 0 SBs, .280 AVG, .369 OBP, .838 OPS
2B: Kurt Rush (26, 97 OVR) ----------> 156 games, 19 HRs, 77 RBIs, 30 SBs, .300 AVG, .383 OBP, .878 OPS
SS: Nate Hutson (26, 89 OVR) -------> 145 games, 25 HRs, 79 RBIs, 33 SBs, .296 AVG, .361 OBP, .851 OPS
3B: Joey Hernandez (27, 83 OVR) ---> 148 games, 19 HRs, 75 RBIs, 13 SBs, .302 AVG, .363 OBP, .858 OPS
LF: Aaron Judge (32, 94 OVR) -------> 156 games, 42 HRs, 128 RBIs, 10 SBs, .300 AVG, .379 OBP, .950 OPS
CF: Christian Yelich (33, 92 OVR) ----> 162 games, 40 HRs, 100 RBIs, 10 SBs, .316 AVG, .413 OBP, 1.008 OPS
RF: Giancarlo Stanton (35, 82 OVR) -> 136 games, 19 HRs, 72 RBIs, 4 SBs, .259 AVG, .336 OBP, .752 OPS

Bench:
C: J.T. Realmuto (34, 71 OVR) -------> 83 games, 4 HRs, 29 RBIs, 3 SBs, .259 AVG, .337 OBP, .697 OPS
1B: Kennys Vargas (34, 77 OVR) ----> 75 games, 8 HRs, 22 RBIs, 0 SBs, .199 AVG, .246 OBP, .598 OPS
2B: Breyvic Valera (33, 71 OVR) -----> 95 games, 4 HRs, 18 RBIs, 5 SBs, .340 AVG, .385 OBP, .827 OPS
2B: Dee Gordon (36, 72 OVR) --------> 62 games, 0 HRs, 3 RBIs, 20 SBs, .165 AVG, .216 OBP, .425 OPS
3B: Damon Wagner (25, 81 OVR) ----> 84 games, 5 HRs, 18 RBIs, 8 SBs, .206 AVG, .292 OBP, .584 OPS
LF: Jonathan Dailey (27, 73 OVR) ----> 125 games, 3 HRs, 18 RBIs, 8 SBs, .340 AVG, .413 OBP, .910 OPS

Summary: Lucas Herbert had an up and down season in 2025. On one hand, he suffered an injury that kept him out of the lineup for a solid 2 months in the thick of the Marlins comeback from their rough start in the 1st half of the season, and on the other hand his numbers took a notable up-tick despite his reputation as a pure defensive catcher. Realmuto who had his 2nd year as a primary backup also saw his stats improve considering he batted .210 back in 2024. As long as Herbert does his job behind the plate in the postseason, the front office will be happy to keep him around. Over at 1B, the Marlins had a very tumultuous season when it comes to production. Trading away Ronald Guzman, trying to play Tom Doty who sucked ***, and then trading Doty for a World Series Veteran and former enemy rival from the Angels in Matt Thaiss. In terms of his performance, Thaiss was put up some admirable #'s as a lefty batting in the #5 hole, but considering the number of win-now trades Miami made during the season how he produces in the playoffs will make or break regarding whether or not the Marlins want to keep him around. In terms of off the bench production, Kennys Vargas was a bit of a failed experiment. He got some starting time at 1B and played DH against AL teams but he's just not the same player he used to be back in Minnesota.

Over at 2B, Kurt Rush had a superstar year leading off and towards the final month of the season he batted in the 3rd slot, swapping roles with Giancarlo Stanton. Rush put up some of his best power numbers ever. He's quite arguably become the best player in MLB when you factor in leadership ability and how he projects for the next 5+ years. Shockingly enough, Breyvic Valera who completed yet another year as Miami's main utility man continued to provide fantastic depth off the bench. .340 batting average off the bench? Considering most people think of him as a defensive substitute? Damn impressive. You may also notice a familiar name in Dee Gordon on the Miami bench. Dee was with the Marlins all through the 2020 MLB Season, but chose to go back to his old club in the LA Dodgers and see them win a title in 2021. His next few seasons he was sent to the bench and played behind Willie Calhoun. Now 36 years old, he's comeback to Miami to finish out his career and is mostly serving as a pinch runner/pinch hitter vs righties. Over at SS, Nate Hutson produced most of his numbers as a San Francisco Giant this season but his skills did translate over to Miami with his speed and defense. Considering how cheap his contract is and considering he'll be in his prime for the majority of that deal... Huston's likely to become a fan favorite with his luscious beard playing alongside Rush.

3B... phew. Look at Damon Wagner's numbers. Miami dealt Ronald Guzman for that. Wagner has quickly become despised among many Marlins fans with his pathetic production leading to Miami having such a poor start to the 2025 MLB Season. He's only 25-years old, so there's still some hope he can turn his game around but it's hard to comeback from such an awful campaign that he had. With no other real options in sight, Miami made the decision to put Hutson at SS and slide Joey Hernandez over to 3B. The result? Hernandez showed flashes of what he did towards the tail end of the 2024 MLB Season. His bat came to life, showing more pop than expected and his cannon of an arm contributed to the Marlins having one of the stronger defensive infields in baseball. It'll be intriguing to see if Miami decide to stick with Hernandez or move him when he's at his highest value this offseason. In at left field, you have the NL MVP. That's right. Aaron Judge was the king of baseball this year. This is why Giancarlo Stanton decided to recruit him over to South Beach in the first place. 128 RBIs is mind-boggling. He struggled adapting last year with a .830 OPS in 2024 but this season... you finally saw his full potential unleashed, and man if that translates to the postseason you may as well gift the World Series Title back to Miami. Jonathan Dailey had yet another outstanding year off the bench. It's the role he's most comfortable with and it's shown by the way he produces year in and year out. The only question mark with him is how much he'll want to be paid since his 6th year of service time has been completed. Christian Yelich arguably could have won MVP over his own teammate. He produces a career high in HRs with 40, something many felt he would never be able to attain. Many years ago it looked like giving him that mammoth 8-year extension would be a mistake but through the 1st half of that deal, Yelich has done nothing but live up to the hype. What more needs to be said? Finally, we have Giancarlo Stanton going through the depressing decline of an aging baseball superstar. His power showed a strange decline. After hitting 56 bombs in 2023, he hit 32 in 2024, yet failed to crack the 20-mark with just 19 this year... quite bizarre. His OBP and OPS decline is a shame... but if the 2024 MLB Postseason is any reminder, he hit 7 homers, (3 NLCS, 4 WS) and won Postseason and World Series MVP. That's the reason he's still playing at this point, and let's just hope his production comes back to life when we need him most.

The Miami Marlins will take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLDS, 'till then!

[Trent Booty]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Just completed the 2018 draft. We are currently 33-26, a half game behind Texas for the division lead. We ARE the first wild card team as of now so that's cool.

Draft Results:

1st round, 20th overall: C Brody Williams, 18 years old - the power hitting catcher from Washington was a perfect match for the Mariners. I could see him hitting 30+ home runs routinely in a Mariners uniform. Can handle being behind the plate, although can also play 1B/OF. Honestly going to rush him to the majors as he seems like he'll be a lot of fun to play with. He even looks cool.

2nd round: SP Chuck Rogers, 19 years old: the kid from germany has good stuff, could potentially be a #3 starter in the major leagues.

3rd round: CF Ike Bloom, 20 years old: The speed is great, however, is a horrible fielder. Could one day progress into a good starting CF but most likely will be a 4th OF who pinch runs and pinch hits, because as of now, his defense is a huge liability,

4th round: LHP Bill Bolton, 18 years old - The lefty has the makings of a future LOOGY or long reliever in the big leagues as he has good, but not great stamina.

5th round: 2B/3B/SS Charlie Trotter, 21 years old - Can really hit, especially against lefties, but the power hasn't shown yet. Also bad defense will probably keep him from 3B/SS so he could potentially be a starting 2B in the big leagues eventually. Also has good, not great speed, but is extremely good on the base paths.

6th round: RP RHP Reggie Reeves, 22 years old - took him due to his age and ability to actually be productive early in his career. Will probably bypass my "spend whole first year in A" rule and start this kid in AA in 2019.

7th round: SP Charlie Hilton, 23 years old - this guy is a huge project, as he can throw really hard, but doesn't really have the stuff as a reliever and has good stamina, but doesn't have the stuff of a starter either. Time will tell with this kid, as he'll likely be depth his entire career.

In 2019's top 30 prospect list, I could easily see 5, maybe 6 of these guys on the list. I'll post another update at the all star break as well as give updates to the top prospects so far in 2018.

[Trent Booty]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Franchise Discussion Thread

Seattle Mariners

All-Star Break

So far, so good. The Mariners are 47-41 and currently 5 GB of the Rangers for the lead in the AL west. The Astros are 49-43and also 5 GB, and we both are the first and second wild card.

Our team's all stars:
- DH Nelson Cruz (reserve): .291 AVG, 16 HR, 64 RBI
- 2B Robinson Cano (reserve): .312 AVG, 11 HR, 53 RBI
- SP James Paxton (reserve): 6-6, 124 SO, 2.39 ERA, 0.98 WHIP

Offensive notes:

Spoiler

Nelson Cruz has not shown any type of regression as he is still raking as a 37 year old. The same could be said for Cano. While they have been very good, someone flying under the radar is Kyle Seager. the 30 year old is hitting .286, which is a career high (.280 in 2017) and has 11 HR and 47 RBI, narrowly missing an all star spot to Josh Donaldson of the Blue Jays and Matt Chapman of the Athletics.

Jean Segura is having a down year, hitting .263 but has almost matched last year's HR total has he has 7 at the ASB (he had 10 all of 2017), while also playing great defense and stealing 26 bases so far.. Leonys Martin has done a great job filling in for Jarrod Dyson as the everyday CF, playing great defense. His bat, however, is leaving something to be desired, as he's only hitting .232 with 4 HR and 16 SB.

Mike Zunino has had a typical year, hitting .216 with only 3 HRs and 24 RBI. The fact that our backup catcher Tuffy Gosewhich was only hitting .200 has forced Z to play a lot more than expected, and we picked up C Geovany Soto, who failed to find a home in the offseason. Tuffy was DFA'd, leaving Tyler Marlette as the 3rd catcher on the 40-man roster.

In the corner OF spots, Mitch Haniger has struggled after a breakout 2017 (.233, 7 HR, 28 RBI), while Ben Gamel has flourished (.327, 6 HR, 28 RBI) and has found his way into more playing time, as he was expected to just platoon in LF with Guillermo Heredia, who has also struggled (.213).

Utility man Taylor Motter has been very well off the bench, hitting .277 with 2 HR in 26 games, pinch running and pinch hitting and getting spot starts.

The biggest suprise so far has been the fall of Danny Valencia (.210, 3 HR, 10 RBI), and the rise of Dan Vogelbach (.330, 11 HR, 34 RBI). Initially supposed to be a platoon, the lefty has ended up getting more playing time, as he's played in 59 games compared to Valencia's 39. Valencia will likely be let go at the end of 2018 and Vogelbach will be able to play 1B full time in 2019 and beyond (until Evan White possibly comes to Seattle, which is going to happen until around 2020 anyway).

Pitching notes:

Spoiler

Besides Paxton making his first all star team, Felix Hernandez also narrowly missed being an all star as he had a 2.91 ERA and 104 SO in 123.2 IP with a 10-4 record. #3 starter Fransisco Liriano has also been great, posting a 3.56 ERA with 124 SO in 116.1 IP. Iwakuma has a 4.31 ERA and Miranda has a 3.63 ERA.

In the bullpen, David Phelps has struggled to the tune of a ERA just under 7 and will also likely not be brough back in 2019. Rzepczynski also has a 4.55 ERA and dependeing how Pazos does in September, will also not be brought back. Erasmo Ramirez has made a few spot starts for Iwakuma and Miranda and has a 3.77 ERA as mainly a long reliever. Scribner and Vincent both have a ERA over 3 (Scribner/ 3.16 and Vincent/3.09) and Zych has been our best reliever not named Edwin Diaz, as he has a 2.96 ERA.

Diaz, has been brilliant, and just barely missed the all star team, as he has a 1.91 ERA with 22 saves.

Top 30 prospects updates:

Spoiler

1.) SP Jose Spanos, 20 years old - A - No stats

2.) SS/2B Alberto Pacheco, 19 years old - A - No stats

3.) RF Kyle Lewis, 22 years old - AA - hitting .228 with 7 HRs. Has improved a lot, although will likely spend all of 2018 in AA and potentially start 2019 in AAA

4.) SP Nick Neidart, 21 years old - AA - Has a 1.68 ERA in 107 AA innings. Very easily could get called up to AAA later this year and will definitely start 2019 in AAA

5.) SP Sam Carlson, 19 years old - AA - had a 2.42 ERA in 89 innings before getting hurt and hasn't pitched since. Will be out until around september, so will likely not play much more in AA and will likely have to start 2019 in AA again.

6/7.) OF Robert Francis & Douglas Francis both 20 years old - A - No stats

8.) 3B Joe Rizzo, 20 years old - AA - struggling in AA, hitting only .209 with 2 HR, is in danger of getting sent down to A if struggles continue.

9.) 1B/OF Evan White, 22 years old - AA - doing very well, hitting .288 with 7 HR in AA, could possibly be called up to AAA by the end of 2018, but will start 2019 in AAA for sure. Could easily be a full time player in the bigs by 2020

10.) SP Andrew Moore, 23 years old - AAA - Currently has a 2.54 ERA, is really pushing to take a rotation spot from Iwakuma if he struggles and is moved to the bullpen.

11.) SS/2B/3B Xavier Richardson, 18 years old - A -No stats

12.) SP Rob Whalen, 24 years old - AAA - struggling in AAA with a ERA over 4,hopefully by the end of 2018 he has it down under 3.

13.) SP Max Povse, 24 years old - AAA - has a 2.72 ERA, is really impressing me

14.) 1B/DH Dan Vogelbach, 25 years old - MLB - hitting over .300 in the MLB, I consider him a major success.

15.) 1B/3B/DH DJ Peterson, 26 years old - AAA - hitting .263 in AAA with 11 HR, is playing well so far, could potentially be a 40-man addition and eventually debut for 2019.

16.) SS/2B Bryson Brigman, 22 years old - AA - hitting .235 in AA isn't impression anyone, but he is playing good defense, as he is expected to do.

17.) SP Chase De Jong, 24 years old - AAA - has a 3.48 ERA, likely won't be in the big leagues until late 2019 at the earliest.

18.) RP Thyago Vieira, 24 years old - AA - is struggling in AA with a 4.26 ERA but striking out a lot of guys and is progressing as a pitcher. could eventually see AAA this year if his stats improve.

19.) OF Braden Bishop, 24 years old - AA - only hitting .235, but he projects more as a platoon agasint RHP anyway, so I'm not worried as he ois currently playing every day in AA.

20.) RP Dan Altavilla, 25 years old - AAA - has a 2.57 ERA as the AAA closer, will definitely see time in September and could become a regular next year if he does well, replacing David Phelps.

21.) C Tyler Marlette, 25 years old - AAA - hitting .241 with 6 bombs, about what you'd expect. Will get some playing time in September unless the Mariners are in a really close race for the division or wild card.

22.) OF Boog Powell, 25 years old - AAA - hitting .221 in every day action in AAA, most likely will only ever be a 4th OF at best.

23.) OF Luis Liberato, 22 years old - AA - was called up to AA early in the year and has hit .279 with 14 SB, showing his baserunning is improving.

24.) 2B/SS/3B Rayder Ascanio, 22 years old - AAA - hitting .235 playing almost every game at all three spots. Will likely serve as depth in AAA for most of his career, but could still be a quality backup infielder.

25.) RP Juan Fransisco, 18 years old - A - No stats

26.) OF Ian Miller, 26 years old - AAA - hitting .254 as the leadoff man for AAA and has stolen 29 bases. could potentially make it to the MLB but is just running out of time as he'll be 27 in 2019.

27.) LF Luis Martinez, 18 years old - A - No stats

28.) C John Peterson, 19 years old - A- No stats

29.) LF Chuck Taylor, 24 years old - AA - hitting .218 but has 6 HRs in AA after getting sent back down to AA early in the season.

30.) SP Dylan Unsworth, 25 years old - AA - has a 2.52 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP in AA, is climbing the depth chart slowly but surely, and could potentially be a good long reliever or 5th starter.

Thanks for reading Will post an update at the end of 2018, with award winners, league leaders, and my teams stats for 2018.