MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Atlanta Braves Franchise

July 28, 2019

Braves Record: 43-63 (4th)

Well we finally pulled off a big trade as sellers. It marks the end of a long Braves tenure for Julio Teheran, who goes to Chicago to try to help the Cubs steal the division from Milwaukee. We received 3 players back in the deal, 2 major league pitchers and a stud single-A prospect.

Cubs receive:
RHP Julio Teheran
Teheran first reached the majors in 2011, and after a brief layoff for Tommy John surgery was a fixture in the Braves rotation from 2013 on. He holds the franchise record for most career opening day starts, at 6 consecutive. His career line is 74-73, 3.83 ERA, 1,342.2 IP, 1,137 SO, 1.25 WHIP. Very respectable, as those numbers place him among the franchise leaderboards as well. As an impending free agent with several key prospects on the horizon, this was the right move. Teheran was in the midst of the worst season of his career, boasting a 5.77 ERA in 21 starts this season. However, the Cubs believed enough in his big league pedigree to give him a shot at getting them to the postseason.

Braves receive:
2B Adolfo Zapata
Zapata was the centerpiece of this deal for us. He is 24 years old in single-A, but is quite the lottery ticket with sky-high franchise cornerstone potential if he can put everything together. Due to his age we run the risk of him being a bust, but we were also able to leverage two controllable pitchers in the deal which fills an area of dire need for our organization.

LHP Mike Montgomery
Career 3.53 ERA in over 400 innings, at age 29 with the stamina to fill a valuable swingman role for us. He enters the big league pen immediately and is under team control for 2 more years, so should be a bullpen fixture for us through 2021 if he stays healthy.

RHP Tyler Chatwood
A bit of a throw-in here for the Cubs, Chatwood is in the second year of a 3-year deal at the MLB minimum salary. He has spent the season in AAA pitching to a 4.30 ERA, but serves as valuable depth for the weakest area of our organization. He heads to Gwinnett but will see some action during September call ups and could be in the mix for a rotation spot next season.

Top prospect Kyle Wright comes up to Atlanta to make his MLB debut in Teheran's place in the rotation. He has the highest ceiling and best stuff of my pitching prospects, and after a much-improved season in AAA is ready to show what he is capable of.

Arodys Vizcaino is still on the block, but so far only losing teams have expressed interest in him. Not sure if I will be able to get a decent prospect return for him, but we shall see.

[Sumodeads]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

The offseason is over and spring training 2019 is here. We made a few late significant moves.

We were considering making a run at Syndergaard in a trade but arbitration spiked his salary up too high for us to afford. With the possibility of trading for a top starter going out the window we turned to the bullpen instead. We missed out on the dominant lefty reliever we wanted in free agency so we used the trade market instead bringing in Brad Hand from the Padres. We gave up Andujar, Tate, and a SP we took in last years draft, B potential Raul Irizarry. In order to clear salary to make the deal happen the Padres helped us out by taking on Torreyes, Cessa, and Oliver Perez’s contracts. Two of those players had salaries of over 1M.

We addressed the 5th starter spot by signing Brandon McCarthy as he was unsigned as spring training was closing in. That rotation will do, especially with the bullpen and lineup we have.

In the rule 5 draft we selected 3 pitchers, SP Nick Tropeano, RP Kevin Siegrist, RP Sean Gilmartin. That was before the McCarthy signing and Hand trade. We ended up not needing Gilmartin so we released him, his old team didn’t want him back so he went to free agency. We then signed him back into the organization as depth.

Wainwright, Alec Asher, AJ Schugel, Jim Johnson, Bryan Mitchell, Bryan Pena, Joe Mauer, Garret Cooper, Brock Holt, Adrian Beltre, Sean Manuel, Alexi Amarista, Hunter Pence, Derek Dietrich, Rusney Castillo, Nick Markakis, Lonnie Chisenhall, were all brought in as cheap depth. Surprised no one wanted some of those guys, some of those guys are still decent, a lot of veteran depth there.

Nelson Cruz somehow fell into our lap as well right before spring training, he’s now our everyday DH in a very cheap 1 year contract. Though he can’t play defense and I don’t really like the idea of a guy clogging up the DH spot full time rather then rotating it, couldn’t resist making that signing. Regression has started to go to work on him but he’s plenty good with the bat, all contact and power are over 70 still. I suspect that thanks to regression he won’t be worth keeping the full season.

Once that time comes we can just DFA him thanks to that cheap 1 year deal he’s on.

On another note, it was a happy ending for Brett Gardner and the Yankees, after receiving no interest through free agency, with spring training almost here the Yankees and Brett Gardner agreed on a cheap 1 year contract to bring him back. He will serve as the next man up in case of injury, at AAA. Likely means he’ll be retiring in a Yankee uniform. Couldn’t just let him rot in free agency.

Might move a few of the higher rated vets I signed to teams that need players at that position. Seems a bit unfair.

So you won the World Series and then added Harper and Cruz' bats to the Yankees lineup??? Good luck Boston haha.

I actually have a fantasy franchise going right now that has both Harper and Cruz and I rake with both. Can't wait to see how you break up the lineup. Do you still have Hicks?

[glennporter2]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

So you won the World Series and then added Harper and Cruz' bats to the Yankees lineup??? Good luck Boston haha.

I actually have a fantasy franchise going right now that has both Harper and Cruz and I rake with both. Can't wait to see how you break up the lineup. Do you still have Hicks?

I pulled off signing both Machado and Harper in my Yankees franchise

[Sumodeads]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I pulled off signing both Machado and Harper in my Yankees franchise

That's some 2009 Evil Empire stuff right there.

[Rocket32]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

So you won the World Series and then added Harper and Cruz' bats to the Yankees lineup??? Good luck Boston haha.

I actually have a fantasy franchise going right now that has both Harper and Cruz and I rake with both. Can't wait to see how you break up the lineup. Do you still have Hicks?

Yeah, only guys that are gone from that WS winning squad are Robertson, Walker, and Machado. Jose Abreu is still on the team from last season as well, this upcoming season is the last year of his contract. Just an insane lineup. Added DJ LeMahieu as well to replace Machado. Didi moves back to SS and LeMahieu takes over at 2B. 3B is a battle between Torres and Drury.

Honestly made the LeMahieu signing in anticipation of Gleyber being gone in a trade for Syndergaard. That didn’t work out. Not a big deal though.

Going off mind/memory here, not right from the game, but this is likely pretty close if not exactly what the lineup will be:
#1 2B DJ LeMahieu
#2 CF Bryce Harper
#3 RF Aaron Judge
#4 LF Giancarlo Stanton
#5 C Gary Sanchez
#6 DH Nelson Cruz
#7 1B Jose Abreu
#8 SS Didi
#9 3B Drury/Torres

[Sumodeads]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Yeah, only guys that are gone from that WS winning squad are Robertson, Walker, and Machado. Jose Abreu is still on the team from last season as well, this upcoming season is the last year of his contract. Just an insane lineup. Added DJ LeMahieu as well to replace Machado. Didi moves back to SS and LeMahieu takes over at 2B. 3B is a battle between Torres and Drury.

Honestly made the LeMahieu signing in anticipation of Gleyber being gone in a trade for Syndergaard. That didn’t work out. Not a big deal though.

Going off mind/memory here, not right from the game, but this is likely pretty close if not exactly what the lineup will be:
#1 2B DJ LeMahieu
#2 CF Bryce Harper
#3 RF Aaron Judge
#4 LF Giancarlo Stanton
#5 C Gary Sanchez
#6 DH Nelson Cruz
#7 1B Jose Abreu
#8 SS Didi
#9 3B Drury/Torres

That lineups gonna be hell on everyone, but lefties have zero chance against you guys! You still have Bird or did you move him?

[Bushido]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Yeah, only guys that are gone from that WS winning squad are Robertson, Walker, and Machado. Jose Abreu is still on the team from last season as well, this upcoming season is the last year of his contract. Just an insane lineup. Added DJ LeMahieu as well to replace Machado. Didi moves back to SS and LeMahieu takes over at 2B. 3B is a battle between Torres and Drury.

Honestly made the LeMahieu signing in anticipation of Gleyber being gone in a trade for Syndergaard. That didn’t work out. Not a big deal though.

Going off mind/memory here, not right from the game, but this is likely pretty close if not exactly what the lineup will be:
#1 2B DJ LeMahieu
#2 CF Bryce Harper
#3 RF Aaron Judge
#4 LF Giancarlo Stanton
#5 C Gary Sanchez
#6 DH Nelson Cruz
#7 1B Jose Abreu
#8 SS Didi
#9 3B Drury/Torres

(sarcasm font)

You were that guy who enjoyed winning 100-0 in Madden, huh?

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Atlanta Braves Franchise

August 1, 2019

Braves Record: 45-65 (4th)

Deadline has passed, and we failed to move Arodys Vizcaino. A few rebuilding teams expressed interest, but no real match there for making a deal so we held our cards. We will continue to find a suitor for him if we can pass him through revocable waivers, though he is making a modest $4.9M so I expect there will be a team that will put a claim on him.

Dansby Swanson is out, likely for the rest of the season, with a torn groin. That gives Austin Riley a shot at finishing the season at third base. The next two months will basically be open tryouts for pitching staff spots for 2020. Our top pitching prospect Kyle Wright makes his MLB debut tonight at Citi Field against the 2nd place Mets.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Finally ended the streak of 4 straight extra inning games last night, beating the Marlins 3-1 in a regular 9 inning game.


As Spring Training winds down, we are still faced with roster decisions.

* OUTFIELD - Yes we are still crowded. And yes we are trying to decide between Oscar Mercado, Tommy Pham, Juan Fabregas, and Jeremy Hazelbaker who will be the 5th outfielder. Then the question becomes who plays well down in Memphis and Springfield. We have guys not currently on the 40 man roster who need to be filling spots to get themselves ready for the 40 man roster and playing at the MLB level.

Right now we are considering sending Tommy Pham to the Angels, who need outfield help, for a couple of prospects, primarily at 1st base, but I'm hesitant as I don't want to get rid of him. But at the same time, he's out of options and could potentially be claimed if sent to Memphis if we go with one of the other three. Although, I have yet to have a player claimed during the transition from ST to regular season, but there's always that possibility I guess.


* BULLPEN - Another position that has become crowded. Last season we added Roberto Osuna and he struggled in his time with us last year, including the playoffs. He started out rough this spring, but has since been lights out. He is the 7th inning guy we needed, as we have Walden for the 8th and Rosenthal to close the game out. Danny Farqhuar was not retained and signed a deal with the Red Sox in the offseason, thus opening a spot in our pen. The thought was that John Brebbia would take that spot, but we now have Miguel Socolovich, who we signed in the offseason, Zack Burdi, and Jordan Hicks making a push for that spot. Going into the spring I thought this position was locked, but now I'm not so sure. Socolovich is out of options so he runs the risk of being claimed if sent to Memphis. Burdi, Hicks, and Brebbia have option years, but I really can't decide what to do. The thought even came up of trading Osuna, since he's a free agent after this year, but he's young that we could potentially lock him up to be a staple of our pen for years to come. Walden and Rosenthal are both free agents in the offseason as well, so there is the risk of losing those guys and parting with pieces that could potentially replace them doesn't make much sense. Right now, I'm thinking we'll stick with our original plan, hope Socolovich doesn't get claimed and see where we are at Memorial Day weekend.

The life of a GM...

[dansaint]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Cards dominate division, win the 2075 NL Central with 104 victories.

The Cards, riding an amazing 26 game winning streak in August, reached 104 victories to win the NL Central.

Stephen Madson hit .342 with 60 HRs and 145 RBI's to win the NL MVP going away. Madson also won the Batting title, Hank Aaron Award and Silver Slugger (C),

Diego Robles went 25-4 with a 3.08 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP to win NL Cy Young honors.

1B/OF Anthony Frye hit .312 with 38HR and 104 RBI to take home NL ROY honors.

1B Garrett Lusk won the Gold Glove at 1B

3B Riley O'Neill won the Gold Glove at 3B

Madson (C), Lusk (1B), Carson O'Brien (2B), O'Neill (3B), McLeod (SS) won Silver Sluggers at their respective positions.

The Cardinals (104-58) will face the winners of the Braves (84-78) and Dodgers (84-78) in the NLDS.

The other NLDS game will have the Phillies (86-76) taking on the Padres (93-69).

The American League looks like this:

AL MVP
Donny Sorvala-Tigers (.280 42HR 119RBI)

AL CY Young
Shawn Lyon-Mariners (18-5 3.44ERA 220K 1.16WHIP)

AL Wild Card Game
Indians (86-76) vs A's (85-77)

ALDS
Tigers (90-72) vs Wild Card winner

Mariners (86-76) vs Orioles (89-73)

[DoubleZ_3]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Cards dominate division, win the 2075 NL Central with 104 victories.

The Cards, riding an amazing 26 game winning streak in August, reached 104 victories to win the NL Central.

Stephen Madson hit .342 with 60 HRs and 145 RBI's to win the NL MVP going away. Madson also won the Batting title, Hank Aaron Award and Silver Slugger (C),

Diego Robles went 25-4 with a 3.08 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP to win NL Cy Young honors.

1B/OF Anthony Frye hit .312 with 38HR and 104 RBI to take home NL ROY honors.

1B Garrett Lusk won the Gold Glove at 1B

3B Riley O'Neill won the Gold Glove at 3B

Madson (C), Lusk (1B), Carson O'Brien (2B), O'Neill (3B), McLeod (SS) won Silver Sluggers at their respective positions.

The Cardinals (104-58) will face the winners of the Braves (84-78) and Dodgers (84-78) in the NLDS.

The other NLDS game will have the Phillies (86-76) taking on the Padres (93-69).

The American League looks like this:

AL MVP
Donny Sorvala-Tigers (.280 42HR 119RBI)

AL CY Young
Shawn Lyon-Mariners (18-5 3.44ERA 220K 1.16WHIP)

AL Wild Card Game
Indians (86-76) vs A's (85-77)

ALDS
Tigers (90-72) vs Wild Card winner

Mariners (86-76) vs Orioles (89-73)

2075? Jeez. What an era in baseball that must be. Were all either old as **** or dead lmaooo

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

[jmcole33]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

There’s a chance I’m missing something, but I’m not seeing any type of notification when I re-sign a player. Have no idea if they’ve accepted my offer until I dig into the contract status page... I guess not the end of the world but strange way to go about things by The Show


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

There’s a chance I’m missing something, but I’m not seeing any type of notification when I re-sign a player. Have no idea if they’ve accepted my offer until I dig into the contract status page... I guess not the end of the world but strange way to go about things by The Show


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

There is no notification this year. You either have to view the transactions page or your contract status page or roster.

[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I got red hot and cut the Nationals lead from 8.5 games to 2.5 games in a little over a month, but then I turned around and lost 4 of 5 and now I'm down to 6.5 out. If my starting pitching doesn't dominate I don't have much of a chance of winning. I did have what I'd consider a pretty good draft though, got a CF with 89 potential and pitchers with 89 and 87 potential in the 4th and 5th rounds, also grabbed an OF with a lower ceiling but he's pretty close to being major league ready. My focus has been on adding team speed because I can't score unless I hit a HR or string together three hits

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Atlanta Braves Franchise

August 30, 2019

Braves Record: 51-83 (5th)

Not much to say about how bad we have been in August. Looks like we will have a run at last year's 99-loss benchmark unfortunately. We have won only 6 games in the month of August, and the entire team has played terribly. I already know that my offseason will be focused on adding as much pitching as possible.

Anyway, we were actually able to pass Arodys Vizcaino through revocable waivers, and finally found a suitor for him in the AL West-leading Angels. We snagged 3 mid-level prospects in the deal.

Angels receive:
RHP Arodys Vizcaino
He has spent the majority of his career in Atlanta, and departs having saved 82 games for the franchise in 268.1 innings of work, with a 3.82 ERA and 334 K's. Respectable numbers, but he totally fell off this year and was twice demoted from the closer role. He can still throw 100 mph at will with a nasty slider, so he could help add some bullpen depth for the Angels playoff run. He is 28 years old and will be a free agent, so it was time to go.

Braves receive:
1B Rob Wada
Lefty-swinging Japanese first baseman. He has slugged an impressive 29 homers with 99 RBI's in AA this season, and already has a potentially gold-glove caliber defensive skill set. He strikes out a lot and is limited to first base, but his power potential was too much to pass up. Still only 21 years old.

SS Nonie Williams
20-year-old switch hitter who has spent the season in A-ball. Has solid tools all around, so he could develop into a MLB-caliber starting shortstop.

OF Zach Gibbons
Steady player who can field any outfield position, has at least average tools all around except for power which grades a mark below average. .321, 10 HR and 41 RBI with 16 SB at AAA Salt Lake before the trade. 25 years old.

September call-ups are just around the corner. The following guys will come up from the farm to help us avoid 100 losses: (* denotes MLB debut)

RHP Lucas Sims
RHP Tyler Chatwood
LHP Tanner Scott
LHP Sean Newcomb (Note: we sent him down to AAA to work on his terrible command. He was just as bad there and is currently in AA. Yikes)
RHP Caleb Dirks*
LHP Grant Dayton
RHP Jose Ramirez
LHP Sam Freeman
RHP Jake Thompson
C Carlos Perez
C/1B Tyler Marlette
1B/3B Rio Ruiz
OF Justin Williams*
OF Preston Tucker

Minor League Player of the Year

OF Justin Williams (AAA)
.275/.370/.432, 14 HR, 60 RBI, 7 SB, 49 R, 17 2B
Not blow-you-away numbers, but he improved in leaps and bounds while sticking in AAA all year splitting time between RF and DH. He was the centerpiece of our 2018 trade of Brandon McCarthy to Tampa and has a future as a potential all-star. He earns his first taste of the show in September call-ups and could be in the mix for a starting job in the majors next season.

Minor League Pitcher of the Year

RHP Johnny Hammock (AA/AAA)
16-5, 2.38 ERA, 170.0 IP, 124 SO, 30 BB in 27 starts
He looks like a steal as our 4th-round pick in 2018 out of Ohio. The 21-year-old was dominant at 2 levels posting a better than 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio. He has a bunch of prospects ahead of him on our unofficial depth chart, but if he keeps pitching like this it will be impossible to keep him in the minors for much longer.

Im getting sick of the losing, its embarrassing. I have 2 more years of Freeman and Inciarte and 3 of Dozier, so I want to compete before I have to make a decision on re-signing them. That means I am all-in for pitching this offseason.