MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

And Jake Arrieta is off the market as he just signed a 5 year $122M deal with the Royals.

The Tigers signed Matt Wieters to a 1 year $9M deal.


We made an offer to Carlos Martinez of 5 years $72.5M ($14.5M per year)

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

We ended up re-signing Carlos Martinez to a 5 year $77.5M deal with a player option after the 4th year.

We were also after Tyler Skaggs as we desperately need/want a left handed pitcher in the rotation but unfortunately he signed with the Nationals. The plan was if we signed Skaggs then Lynn would be shipped out.

Still searching for a left handed pitcher. Time to scout other teams and see if we can't make something happen.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

As if they needed any more weapons, the Dodgers have signed Jose Abreu to a 1 year $7M deal.

[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I am having a heck of a time trying to make up ground on the Nationals, who jumped out to an 8 game lead by early May. I got hot and one 13 out of 14 and was only able to makeup 1.5 games. I'm already finding myself scoreboard watching, I'll see Washington losing and think I have a chance to make up a game and they pull off a comeback and it's so demoralizing. Just like in real life my offense is terrible, but my pitching staff especially the starters are carrying the team. Familia is on pace to shatter the single season save record, he already has 24 saves in 52 games

[Ranger Fan]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Texas Rangers Season 3 MOM

It has been a while since my last update. We have had an absolute terrible season thus far. I am currently at the tail end of July and sit at 40-64 in dead last. This is coming off a 63-99 season and one that saw the Dodgers and Red Sox meet for the 2nd consecutive year in the World Series. It was the Red Sox prevailing this year in 7. In the offseason I thought I addressed our SP problems by signing Garrett Cole. What a disappointment. ERA well in to the 5's and is currently in the minors trying to work things out. I did make a couple of trades on 1 July that will hopefully help me next year. I traded Odor for Danny Salazar and Erick Gonzalez. Salazar has been tearing it up in his 4 starts since the trade. I also got rid of Dan Strailey and picked up Tucker Barnhardt from the Reds. Here is how my team look as of 15 July

C- Barnhardt- 285 hitter. addressed a much needed hole at catcher. Trevino was terrible and McCann is getting old
1b- Derrick Dietrick- an offseason FA addition he leads the team with 19HR's
2b- Wilmer Difo- Another offseason FA addition. Good speed and average
SS- Elvis- Got hurt in the 3rd game of the season and missed a month and a half. Terrible season since returning. Hitting only 250 with almost no power.
3b- Gallo- What a disappointment. Just like his real life self its all or nothing. 210 hitter strikes out to much with the occasional solo blast.
LF- Michael Brantley- Hitting 270 this year
CF- Leody Tavaras- love this kid. He has been up with the big club since he was 19 and is now a 280 hitter with great speed
RF- Mazara- 3rd straight season where he cant hit in April. Barely over 250 right now. He is just a big dissapointment


SP- Danny Salazar
SP- Mike Minor- Great season sub 3 ERA on a team 24 games under 500
SP- TJ House- OK 4 ERA avrerage stuff
SP Matt Andriese- Tore it up in AAA and is doing ok up with big team in 4 starts
SP Amos Durango- Rookie 21 year old with a 99MPH fastball. 5.8 ERA. Stuff is there but needs to harness it

Pitching is the problem this year. Once again 30th in MLB in that column. Only hope is Pen whi has blown probalbly 20 games this year will rebound and Cole can come back along with Salazar and Minor to anchor team. Playing out the string and evaluating things for next year. Fun Fun

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Our 3 main focal points at the moment are:

* Find a LH Starting Pitcher
* Opening Day Starting Catcher
* Decide what to do with our log jam in the outfield


We really went after Tyler Skaggs to be our left handed starter in the 2020 rotation but he opted to sign with the Nationals for more money and a year longer deal. We have targeted Josh Rogers of the Yankees but the asking price for him appears to be extremely high. The Yankees are deep with starting pitching talent, but they aren't just going to give Rogers away. He did struggle in his first full season in the big leagues (12-12 record with near 6 ERA) but his makeup, youth (24 years old), controllability, and potential make him a prime target for us. We are not even to Thanksgiving yet so we have time to determine if their is a package we can put together to land him. As if stands right now, today, our starting rotation would be:

Michael Wacha
Carlos Martinez
Lance Lynn
Jack Flaherty
Miles Mikolas


Catcher is once again an area of concern. Carson Kelly tore it up in Memphis (.340 hitter) last year but again struggled (.204 avg in 112 plate appearances) at the big league level. His arm is average, but he does a good job of calling a game. We are exploring the option of bringing back 36 year old Dioner Navarro on a one year deal worth $3M, but he declined in September and the post season last year, only getting one hit in 5 games in the NLDS. His arm is still better than good, borderline great. Francisco Pena will still serve as the back up in St.Louis.

Our outfield is crowded, very crowded. Here is the list of players who played in St.Louis in 2019:

Randal Grichuk
Magnerius Sierra
Stephen Piscotty
Harrison Bader
Tommy Pham
Oscar Mercado
Jeremy Hazelbaker
Nick Martini
Juan Fabregas

Here are the players who are on the fringe of playing at the MLB level:

Corey Ray
Nick Plummer
Randy Arozarena
Jose Aroldis Garcia

For those not counting at home that is 13 players for 5 MLB spots. Grichuk, Sierra, Piscotty, and Bader are definitely starting the year in St.Louis regardless of Spring Training. The lone 5th spot is up for grabs amongst the other 9 players. We need to make some moves, but I really don't want to make moves because I love the depth...LOL. Question becomes who do we move? Some of these guys could be put into a package to get Josh Rogers from the Yankees as they are seeking youth for their outfield.

So those are our 3 main focal points as we are at November 16th, just a few weeks into the offseason. Long way to go, lot of decisions to make, and hopefully we can put a roster together that not only wins our 4th NL Central division title in 5 years, but gets us back to the NLCS and the ability to knock off the Dodgers.

[DJ]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I typically don't complain about losing a game, but man, last night it was clear the game was conspiring against me.

I should've taken photos and video, but was too upset. This was all in the same inning, by the way, and I was up 2-1 at the time.

I had at least 5 pitches completely inside of the strike zone called balls, which led to 3 walks in the inning. There were two instances of my OF's loafing towards a fly ball, which led to those balls dropping in for hits instead of being caught for outs. The CPU hit me with a squeeze play that I appeared to have snuffed out, but my pitcher decided to do a lazy underhanded toss to the catcher, allowing the runner to score.

All told, the CPU scored 7 runs and went on to win 8-3.

Again, no qualms with losing, but it's the manner in which I lost that really burned me up. I don't like to see the game manipulating outcomes in such a way to get the desired result.

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

There were two instances of my OF's loafing towards a fly ball, which led to those balls dropping in for hits instead of being caught for outs.

Someone else just posted about this, and the same thing was happening to me last night seemingly out of nowhere. Fielders getting caught in the slow jog animation and not running after the ball. Frustrating.

[DJ]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Someone else just posted about this, and the same thing was happening to me last night seemingly out of nowhere. Fielders getting caught in the slow jog animation and not running after the ball. Frustrating.

Yeah, I hadn't seen that happen in a while and then last night it occurred multiple times in the same game.

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Someone else just posted about this, and the same thing was happening to me last night seemingly out of nowhere. Fielders getting caught in the slow jog animation and not running after the ball. Frustrating.

I haven't seen this happen much, but i have seen it. I don't like it, but at least it goes both ways. I hit what i thought was a sure fly ball out to right centerfield, to the point i wasnt even watching the play as much as my other runners. All of the sudden my guy was on first base. I thought how in the world did that happen? Looked at the replay and Springer was in the slow jog, allowing the ball to drop in. This happened when i was ahead, late in the game, so it seems it didn't try to give the CPU the advantage over me because i was ahead.

While i don't like this bug in the game - at all - it seems it happens to both sides, so as not to give one side an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to this bug.

[Rocket32]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

The Yankees have advanced to the World Series with a 4-0 sweep of the LA Angels in the ALCS. Game 1 was a tight 5-4 win for The Yankees at home. In game 2 the Yankees would win by a score of 10-8. Game 2 nearly went to the Angels as they managed a 6 run outburst in the 8th putting them up 8-4. New York went quietly in the bottom of the 8th. In the 9th after driving in 1, Stanton walked up to the plate with 2 on, then launched a 3 run HR to tie it! Skip to the 11th, Judge worked a walk with 2 out bringing Stanton to the plate again. Stanton then launched another shot to left sending the Yankees home winners. Crazy day for him.


Headed to LA up 2-0 the score line finally came down as the Yankees won again 3-1. LA was slaughtered 12-4 in game 4 eliminating them from the postseason.


Nationals Vs Cubs NLCS.
The Nationals suffered a similar fate to the Angels as they were stomped out of the postseason only managing 1 win in the series in game 1. The Nats lost 2-1 in game 2. They were then blown out 9-1 in game 3. The Nats had a chance to tie the series in game 4 but the Cubs broke through with 3 runs in the 14th to win 4-1. In game 5 the Cubs brought home the go ahead run in the top of the 9th and the lead held. Cubs win series 4-1.

Another disappointing end to the season in DC falling short once again. Does that mean that game 5 was Harpers last in a Nationals uniform?

The 107 win Yankees Vs the 102 win Cubs in the 2018 World Series. We have home field advantage.
Our World Series Rotation: Severino
Tanaka
Gray
TBD, could be CC or Montgomery.

The Cubs rotation for the series:
Quintana
Hendricks
Darvish
Lester

A tough challenge for sure. Like us they also bring plenty of power to the table with the likes of Rizzo, Bryant, Schwarber, Happ, Baez, and Contreras. They are also stacked with high quality arms in the rotation. Their bullpen is strong as well led by Morrow and Strop. With quality guys like Cishek, Edwards Jr, and Wilson as well.

On paper the Cubs should probably win this series. They can match our offense and have a better rotation and our bullpen isn’t really that much better.

We start off at Yankee Stadium for the first 2 games, then head on the road for 3, then back to New York for 2 if needed. Something to note, the Yankees have yet to lose a single postseason game at Yankee Stadium this year. Should be a good one. Let’s go get #28.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I love the baseball offseason.

Some key FA signings:

Marlins signed SP Julio Teheran to a 4 year $41.20M contract
Orioles signed SS Xander Bogaerts to a 6 year $132.60M contract
Yankees signed 2B Brock Holt to a 3 year $30.90M contract
Rays signed SP Homer Bailey to a 2 year $14.80M contract
Blue Jays signed SP Erasmo Ramirez to a 3 year $19.50M contract
White Sox signed SP Jake Odorizzi to a 4 year $33.20M contract
Indians signed RF Yasiel Puig to a 5 year $109.00M contract
Royals signed SP Rick Porcello to a 3 year $17.04M contract
Rangers signed 2B Starlin Castro to a 5 year $69.50M contract


As I figured the Dodgers let Puig go, moved Cody Bellinger to right field and will put Jose Abreu at first base. They are also negotiating with 2B Jason Kipnis.

Oh and I have topped the $100M payroll and still have roughly $35M left to spend.

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Just lost a no-hitter with Sean Newcomb against the Reds in Cincinnati on a clean single by Billy Hamilton to lead off the 9th. Newcomb walked 2 and hit a batter in the first 2 innings before settling in to throw 110 pitches and strike out 9 before being taken out after the hit. We still won 4-0 to snap a horrid 8-game losing streak. Team fell flat on its face out of the gate and is now 6-13 in mid-April. Hoping this W can start to right the ship.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

And the rich get richer. The Dodgers signed Jason Kipnis.

The D'Backs signed Starling Marte.

[Rocket32]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

And the rich get richer. The Dodgers signed Jason Kipnis.

The D'Backs signed Starling Marte.

Curious, about how much of the offseason are you advancing through each day? I kind of like your approach to it, taking your time moving through it instead of just blowing right through it. I haven’t heard of anyone else doing it like that.