MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

[Wavebird99]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

With OSFM 3.1 launching, I'm starting up a dual Yankees/Padres franchise. Plan is to mostly play as the Yankees in 2018, but control the Padres rebuild from afar and take over more of their games as their farm system starts to mature in 2019/2020.


Excited to get rolling, and have been enjoying reading the updates you all have been sharing from your own franchises!

With that said - quick, random question that I figured I'd ask. Has anyone else noticed the CPU occasionally throwing a Long Reliever out to start, as opposed to a starter? It seems to happen in the lineup prep area. Just had the Blue Jays decide to start Sam Giviglio over JA Happ in their opener.

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

With that said - quick, random question that I figured I'd ask. Has anyone else noticed the CPU occasionally throwing a Long Reliever out to start, as opposed to a starter? It seems to happen in the lineup prep area. Just had the Blue Jays decide to start Sam Giviglio over JA Happ in their opener.

Yes it happens - your pitching coach will occasionally prompt you to do the same. “So and so broke a nail on the way to the park today, perhaps he should be replaced for a spot starter so he doesn’t make the injury worse” etc.

[Wavebird99]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Ah, okay. Good to know. (I had already 'made up' a scenario similar to that, but also vaguely recall what you just mentioned).

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

We continue to play well in the Spring as we just came from behind to beat the Astros. Juan Fabregas was the hero with a the go ahead solo homerun in the Top of the 10th inning to give us the lead at 7-6. Zack Burdi recorded his 3rd save of the spring by striking out the side in the bottom half.

With Fabregas continuing to play so well (.302 avg 4 HR, 13 RBI) this spring, and ST coming to a close, we made the move to finally relieve some of the crowdedness that we had in the outfield by sending Tommy Pham to the Padres for 2 pitching prospects, both left handed. Pham will most likely get a chance to be an everyday player in San Diego and with any luck, he'll resurrect his career the way Mike Leake did last year when we traded him to the Friars.

This move now guarantees that Fabregas will be on the opening day 25 man roster. He will join Harrison Bader as the 4th/5th outfield spots. This move now means that Oscar Mercado, Nick Martini, and Jeremy Hazelbaker will be the starters in Memphis, and Corey Ray, Nick Plummer, and Jose Adolis Garcia will be the starters in Springfield. The other outfield positions haven't been determined 100% but will include the 4 players being assigned, Randy Arozomena, Eddie Casilla, Scott Hurst, and Dylan Carson.

With this move the only question now for our 25 man roster will be who will be in the bullpen to start the season. John Brebbia, Zack Burdi, Miguel Socolovich, and Jordan Hicks are all battling for that final spot. As of now, our bullpen will be:

Lefties

Tyler Lyons
Sam Freeman
Dean Kiekhefner

Righties

Roberto Osuna
OPEN SPOT

Set Up Man

Jordan Walden

Closer

Trevor Rosenthal

Our line up will be:

C - Dioner Navarro
1B - Matt Carpenter
2B - Kolten Wong
SS - Paul DeJong
3B - Patrick Wisdom
LF - Randal Grichuk
CF - Magnerius Sierra
RF - Stephen Piscotty

C - Francisco Pena
IF - Greg Garcia
IF - Aledmys Diaz
OF - Harrison Bader
OF - Juan Fabregas

I'm ready to get the regular season going.

[KnightTemplar]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Interesting NLC race thru current date:

Pirates 56-44 -
Cubs 56-44 -
Brews. 56-46 1.0
Reds. 53-47 3.0
Cards. 52-48 4.0

Should be a fun race.

[KBLover]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

"People need to shake in fear when our name appears on the schedule, " Winter commented after the Marlins won their 7th straight game and four straight in blowout fashion.

Indeed, the Marlins are getting on one of those stretches were the bats are swinging and the arms are doing their jobs.

This last win was a 12-3 drubbing over the Red Sox. The Marlins have scored 46 runs in the last three games.

Stan Brito coming alive is one big reason. The slugger is pushing up near .350 and is raking doubles as well as home runs. He's hitting the ball hard and drilling the gaps, usually a sign he's really about to get hot. Sam Javeri is getting back going at the top and Bo Winter is showing why the Marlins want to keep his bat in the lineup.

On top of that, the pitchers are settling in. Boeve is Boeve, no shock there, but rookie Shane Koehne continues to surprise with his excellent play and Ricky Paris is trying to settle in as well.

The bullpen is calming down as well, arguably the true strength of the staff. Rookie Justin Samules is figuring things out gradually, and the back end of Guerra, Anders, and Ramirez are shortening games with their dominance.

"We're playing at the top of our game. We're riding high for now, but we have to keep it going. No one sits on top of the hill forever, " Boeve commented.

For now, the Marlins are the kings of the hill and it will be a fight to push them off even a little.

[Wavebird99]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Got my 'chise off to a great start - 4 game sweep of the Jays in Toronto! Closed out the sweep with an 11-4 victory. Judge had 3 homers and 6 RBIs in the final game after mustering only 1 hit over the course of the first 3. Hicks also had 3 homers over the course of the series - not a bad way to get started!

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

On top of that, the pitchers are settling in. Boeve is Boeve, no shock there, but rookie Shane Koehne continues to surprise with his excellent play and Ricky Paris is trying to settle in as well.

Im really hoping that guy’s name is prinounced “Shane Kane.” Just a superb baseball name.

[KBLover]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Im really hoping that guy’s name is prinounced “Shane Kane.” Just a superb baseball name.

I think the audio for it is "Shane Kanie" but I might change it to Kane when I play again

[Rocket32]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

This is a bit out of no where though I’ve been thinking about it for quite a while but I’ve decided to put my Yankees franchise on hold for a while. Gonna take on a way bigger challenge.

Starting up a new franchise with an NL Team this time, the Miami Marlins. Probably the most challenging rebuild in sports gaming right now, and the perfect rebuild. Free to build the team however you want from the ground up. I actually like their ballpark as well.

Though they have 2 championships the Marlins fan base has gone through a lot of misery. Many fire sales, watched their team owner fire the NL Manager of the year years ago, watched the reigning NL MVP Stanton get traded for pretty much nothing, etc.

Most recently they watched as new ownership replacing the incompetent Loria, quickly dismantled their team and burned it to the ground. This organization has fallen far from the team that not long ago featured the likes of Stanton, Ozuna, Yelich, Fernández, and the dynamic Dee Gordon. There was never much their on the pitching side of things which held that core back but at least their was always that huge bright spot in a having a young stud ace atop the rotation in Fernandez. A tragic incident robbed them of that.

So out goes the lastest Marlins core, and likely some of the fan base. Looking at what’s left..Not much outside of Barraclough, Bour, and Realmuto. All 3 are likely destined to be in different uniforms come August as this team needs all the young talent it can get. Loria didn’t leave a farm system behind when he left, the Jeter fire sale helped but not enough. Still the best the farm system has been in years but far from the best.

Not much to get really excited about in the minors but you have some guys like SP Trevor Rogers, SP Braxton Garret, maybe SP Sandy Alcantara, 2B Isan Diaz, CF Braxton Lee, and CF Monte Harrison. The only true top prospects out of those guys are Rogers and Lee.

As for what’s on the MLB roster, very few of these guys have a chance at being part of the next contending Marlins team. The 2 players to build around are 3B Brian Anderson and CF Lewis Brinson. Rest of the roster can pretty much be dumped. On pitching theirs really nothing. You have RP Drew Steckenrider who’s decent but already 27, not really gonna improve. Jarlin García is a decent lefty but not gonna turn into anything spectacular. That overview is excluding the obvious 3 trade candidates.

First move was to bring SP Henderson Alvarez back to Miami on a 1 year 4.4M prove it deal. Can’t hurt, aren’t flooded with quality rotation options. This is where he’s had his MLB success, maybe he can turn back the clock to 2014. He’s young enough to possibly recapture it, still just 27. He’s the new ‘ace’.


Gonna be a long rebuild but should be satisfying afterwards. Likely a long term franchise that I’ll carryover.

[maxymoose]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Hey Everyone,

Found this thread couple weeks ago and been reading it at work, decided to contribute a little.

I've been trying something a little different the past couple of days with a Pittsburgh Pirates fantasy draft, just to change things up from the usual rebuilding bad teams. I did about 10-15 rounds of the draft and then simmed the rest, prioritizing young, established stars in the early picks, with a few prospects coming later on. So mainly building for the future, but we got some studs.

With their first pick at 28th overall of the draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Steven Strasburg, A POT, 92 OVR. With the draft being serpentine, the Pirates had the 33rd pick as well, which they used to select Javier Baez, A POT, 86 OVR. This would be the core moving forward, here's how the rest of the draft panned out:

SP
Steven Strasburg--29yrs--A--92
J.A. Happ--35yrs--B--80
Andrew Triggs--29yrs--C--80
Tyler Skaggs--26yrs--B--78
Joe Ross--24yrs--B--76

Alec Hansen--23yrs--A--67
David Paulino--24yrs--B--63
Oscar de la Cruz--23yrs--B--63
Nate Pearson--21yrs--B--61
Ian Anderson--19yrs--A--59
Darwinzon Hernandez--21yrs--B--58
Brendon Little--21yrs--B--57

BULLPEN
Luis Garcia--31yrs--C--81
Gregory Ingante--30yrs--C--80
Michael Feliz--24yrs--C--78
Bruce Rondon--27yrs--C--79
Wandy Peralta--26yrs--B--70
Chad Bettis--28yrs--C--73
Joakim Soria--33yrs--C--79
Roberto Osuna--23yrs--B--91

Miguel Castro--23yrs--B--68

C
Evan Gattis--31yrs--C--81
Noah Naylor--18yrs--B--55

1B
Ryon Healy--26yrs--A--76

2B
Javier Baez--25yrs--A--86
Yangervis Solarte--30yrs--C--76

3B
Matt Carpenter--32yrs--C--78
Jeimer Candelario--24yrs--B--70
Jomar Reyes--21yrs--B--59

SS
Paul DeJong--24yrs--B--79
Wander Javier--19yrs--B--52

LF
Kyle Schwarber--25yrs--B--71
Andrew Stevenson--23yrs--B--67

CF
Keon Broxton--27yrs--B--75
Harrison Bader--23yrs--A--63

RF
Gregory Polanco--26yrs--A--83

I only included MLB level players and key prospects for sake of space. Following the draft, we quickly flipped CP Joakim Soria to the TB Rays for prospect catcher Noah Naylor--18yrs--B--55

I am starting this recap from the 2018 allstar break so I will only summarize the 1st half of the season, but future posts will include more detail.

The season started off slow, with the Pirates going 3-10 out of the gate. They managed to get back to playing 500 ball through the rest of April and May, but once June hit, the Buc'os popped off baby! After a 17-game win streak to start the month, the Pirates finished off the month 24-3, vaulting them into first place in the NL Central division. Now halfway through July and into the All Star Break, this is how the league standings look:

AL East
1. Orioles 57-41 -
2. Red Sox 56-42 1.0
3. Rays 47-49 9.0
4. Blue Jays 44-51 11.5
5. Yankees 43-53 13.0

AL Central
1. Royals 52-43 -
2. Twins 50-46 2.5
3. Tigers 50-48 3.5
4. White Sox 48-49 5.0
5. Indians 43-52 9.0

AL West
1. Mariners 55-42 -
2. Angels 53-44 2.0
3. Rangers 48-49 7.0
4. Athletics 43-54 12.0
5. Astros 42-57 14.0

AL Wildcard
Red Sox -
Angels -
Twins 2.5
Tigers 3.5
White Sox 5.0
Rangers 5.0
Rays 5.5

NL East
Marlins 54-44 -
Braves 51-44 1.5
Nationals 46-50 7.0
Phillies 44-52 9.0
Mets 42-53 10.5

NL Central
Pirates 58-39 -
Reds 50-46 7.5
Brewers 49-49 9.5
Cubs 47-48 10.0
Cardinals 47-48 10.0

NL West
Giants 58-40 -
Padres 53-46 5.5
Dodgers 41-55 16.0
Rockies 39-57 18.0
Diamondbacks 39-58 18.5

The last series leading into the All Star Break was a sweep of Pirates' division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers, which was capped off by a 9 inning Steven Strasburg shutout. The Brewers, led by Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Haniger, both batting .274 and .279 respectively, could not manage a hit on Strasburg until the 5th inning. Strasburg was throwing fire with 6 hits allowed and 9 strikeouts in the end. The Pirates got to knuckleballer Steven Wright early, with Gregory Polanco smacking a solo shot in the bottom of the 2nd. this was followed by RBI doubles from Baez and Polanco in the 3rd and 4th, and finally an 8th inning solo shot by Kyle Schwarber to set the table for Strasburg to cap off the shutout.

Looking forward to posting here in the future, hope you guys like this!

[maxymoose]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Hey Everyone,

Found this thread couple weeks ago and been reading it at work, decided to contribute a little.

I've been trying something a little different the past couple of days with a Pittsburgh Pirates fantasy draft, just to change things up from the usual rebuilding bad teams. I did about 10-15 rounds of the draft and then simmed the rest, prioritizing young, established stars in the early picks, with a few prospects coming later on. So mainly building for the future, but we got some studs.

With their first pick at 28th overall of the draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Steven Strasburg, A POT, 92 OVR. With the draft being serpentine, the Pirates had the 33rd pick as well, which they used to select Javier Baez, A POT, 86 OVR. This would be the core moving forward, here's how the rest of the draft panned out:

SP
Steven Strasburg--29yrs--A--92
J.A. Happ--35yrs--B--80
Andrew Triggs--29yrs--C--80
Tyler Skaggs--26yrs--B--78
Joe Ross--24yrs--B--76

Alec Hansen--23yrs--A--67
David Paulino--24yrs--B--63
Oscar de la Cruz--23yrs--B--63
Nate Pearson--21yrs--B--61
Ian Anderson--19yrs--A--59
Darwinzon Hernandez--21yrs--B--58
Brendon Little--21yrs--B--57

BULLPEN
Luis Garcia--31yrs--C--81
Gregory Ingante--30yrs--C--80
Michael Feliz--24yrs--C--78
Bruce Rondon--27yrs--C--79
Wandy Peralta--26yrs--B--70
Chad Bettis--28yrs--C--73
Joakim Soria--33yrs--C--79
Roberto Osuna--23yrs--B--91

Miguel Castro--23yrs--B--68

C
Evan Gattis--31yrs--C--81
Noah Naylor--18yrs--B--55

1B
Ryon Healy--26yrs--A--76

2B
Javier Baez--25yrs--A--86
Yangervis Solarte--30yrs--C--76

3B
Matt Carpenter--32yrs--C--78
Jeimer Candelario--24yrs--B--70
Jomar Reyes--21yrs--B--59

SS
Paul DeJong--24yrs--B--79
Wander Javier--19yrs--B--52

LF
Kyle Schwarber--25yrs--B--71
Andrew Stevenson--23yrs--B--67

CF
Keon Broxton--27yrs--B--75
Harrison Bader--23yrs--A--63

RF
Gregory Polanco--26yrs--A--83

I only included MLB level players and key prospects for sake of space. Following the draft, we quickly flipped CP Joakim Soria to the TB Rays for prospect catcher Noah Naylor--18yrs--B--55

I am starting this recap from the 2018 allstar break so I will only summarize the 1st half of the season, but future posts will include more detail.

The season started off slow, with the Pirates going 3-10 out of the gate. They managed to get back to playing 500 ball through the rest of April and May, but once June hit, the Buc'os popped off baby! After a 17-game win streak to start the month, the Pirates finished off the month 24-3, vaulting them into first place in the NL Central division. Now halfway through July and into the All Star Break, this is how the league standings look:

AL East
1. Orioles 57-41 -
2. Red Sox 56-42 1.0
3. Rays 47-49 9.0
4. Blue Jays 44-51 11.5
5. Yankees 43-53 13.0

AL Central
1. Royals 52-43 -
2. Twins 50-46 2.5
3. Tigers 50-48 3.5
4. White Sox 48-49 5.0
5. Indians 43-52 9.0

AL West
1. Mariners 55-42 -
2. Angels 53-44 2.0
3. Rangers 48-49 7.0
4. Athletics 43-54 12.0
5. Astros 42-57 14.0

AL Wildcard
Red Sox -
Angels -
Twins 2.5
Tigers 3.5
White Sox 5.0
Rangers 5.0
Rays 5.5

NL East
Marlins 54-44 -
Braves 51-44 1.5
Nationals 46-50 7.0
Phillies 44-52 9.0
Mets 42-53 10.5

NL Central
Pirates 58-39 -
Reds 50-46 7.5
Brewers 49-49 9.5
Cubs 47-48 10.0
Cardinals 47-48 10.0

NL West
Giants 58-40 -
Padres 53-46 5.5
Dodgers 41-55 16.0
Rockies 39-57 18.0
Diamondbacks 39-58 18.5

The last series leading into the All Star Break was a sweep of Pirates' division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers, which was capped off by a 9 inning Steven Strasburg shutout. The Brewers, led by Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Haniger, both batting .274 and .279 respectively, could not manage a hit on Strasburg until the 5th inning. Strasburg was throwing fire with 6 hits allowed and 9 strikeouts in the end. The Pirates got to knuckleballer Steven Wright early, with Gregory Polanco smacking a solo shot in the bottom of the 2nd. this was followed by RBI doubles from Baez and Polanco in the 3rd and 4th, and finally an 8th inning solo shot by Kyle Schwarber to set the table for Strasburg to cap off the shutout.

Looking forward to posting here in the future, hope you guys like this!

forgot to mention we traded with the Rockies for catcher Mike Zunino, B POT, 87 OVR around the big win streak to bolster the team and make a run for it. The trade sent Andrew Stevenson, B POT, 67 OVR, along with 2 other C POT prospects back the other way.

Stats heading into the all star break:

Keon Broxton: 12 HR, 35 RBI, .247/.343/.474
Javier Baez: 12 HR, 32 RBI, .291/.364/.480
Paul DeJong: 20 HR, 49 RBI, .262/.335/.534
Mike Zunino: 27 HR, 58 RBI, .281/.345/.588
Kyle Schwarber: 14 HR, 46 RBI, .271/.345/.519
Gregory Polanco: 16 HR, 48 RBI, .252/.340/.442
Matt Carpenter: 13 HR, 44 RBI, .269/.386/.446
Ryon Healy: 11 HR, 38 RBI, .241/.303/.376

lots of pop in the order, 1st in MLB HRs. Zunino has been huge since the trade and our bats our really producing throughout the lineup.

Steven Strasburg: 13-2, 151 SO, 1.46 ERA, 0.91 WHIP (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
J.A. Happ: 5-7, 96 SO, 3.68, 1.37 WHIP
Tyler Skaggs: 7-6, 99 SO, 4.59, 1.53 WHIP
Andrew Triggs: 7-6, 111 SO, 2.77 ERA, 1.11 WHIP
Joe Ross: 7-5, 71 SO, 4.40 ERA, 1.28 WHIP

Gregory Infante: 2-0, 50 SO, 2.56 ERA, 1.18 WHIP
Michael Feliz: 5-2, 82 SO, 3.21 ERA, 1.28 WHIP
Wandy Peralta: 1-2, 48 SO, 2.68 ERA, 1.44 WHIP
Bruce Rondon: 4-3, 45 SO, 6.17 ERA, 1.51 WHIP
Luis Garcia: 4-0, 18 SO, 1.50 ERA, 1.42 WHIP
Roberto Osuna: 1-4, 38 SO, 5.80 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, 26/31 SV

Strasburg has been lights out all year long. Pleasant surprise from Andrew Triggs with the sub 3.00 ERA. Osuna needs to get his stuff together in the second half heading into October if we're gonna go deep this year. Feliz is only 24 and can be a staple in the bullpen for the next few years, as is Peralta, who went from 70-75 since the fantasy draft.

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Atlanta Braves Franchise

September 30, 2019 - End of Regular Season

Braves Record: 61-101 (5th) - ughhhhhh

We had the worst September imaginable. Freddie Freeman and Brian Dozier BOTH came down with broken legs, heading to the DL and pretty much sealing our fate as we finished in a complete freefall. Game 162 was a great microcosm for our season. We got clobbered by the Nats in Washington, 14-1, and every pitcher that came in to relieve was worse than the last. I have a lot of work to do this offseason. I've put together an offense that has the potential to be dynamic (when healthy), but I've strategically ignored building a pitching staff through trades or free agency as I have been absolutely loaded with prospects. Some of them are beginning to venture into bust territory. More on that later.

Team Leaders

Games Played - Ender Inciarte - 159
Runs - Ender Inciarte - 92
Hits - Ender Inciarte - 176
Home Runs - (Tie) Freddie Freeman & Brian Dozier - 25
RBI's - Freddie Freeman - 81
SB - Ozzie Albies - 30
Batting Average - Freddie Freeman - .306
OBP - Freddie Freeman - .404
Slugging - Brian Dozier - .567
Doubles - Ender Inciarte - 33
Triples - Ender Inciarte - 7

Pitching Wins - Mike Soroka - 9
Innings Pitched - Luiz Gohara - 179.0
Strikeouts - Luiz Gohara - 160
ERA - Tony Zych - 2.53
WHIP - Mike Soroka - 1.23
Games Pitched - Tony Zach - 86
Saves - Arodys Vizcaino - 14
Holds - Tony Zych - 22
Quality Starts - Luiz Gohara - 17
CGSHO - Mike Soroka - 2

Manny Pina, Ender Inciarte, and Ronald Acuna win gold glove awards. Its the first for Pina, the 4th consecutive for Inciarte, and the 2nd for Acuna in 2 seasons in the majors. I had 4 winners last season. It clearly has not helped us win much.

For the second year in a row, I had a second place finisher for rookie of the year. Third baseman Austin Riley batted .254 with 18 HR and 50 RBI. He was beaten out by Pittsburgh first baseman Rowdy Tellez. Riley only played in 106 games, and at age 22 next year his potential and quick ascent are tantalizing. His emergence could force Dansby Swanson or Ozzie Albies into a utility role. Albies was a disappointment this season. He batted .250 with 10 homers and most of his stats regressed from 2018. He played well defensively after moving to short after the Dozier signing, but almost never got hits with runners in scoring position. Swanson improved in leaps and bounds, batting .283. He did however miss about 2 months with a torn groin. Ronald Acuna was mediocre most of the year, then really took off down the stretch. He finished at .258, with 22 HR and 76 RBI. I'm hoping next year is when he finally realizes his superstar potential. Free agent acquisition Marwin Gonzalez was underwhelming, losing his starting LF job to Ezequiel Carrera mid way through the year. Dozier, Inciarte, and Freddie Freeman were great as expected. I don't expect to have to tinker with this roster much (for position players, anyway) as we head to the offseason. It will just be a matter of working out who will start and who will fill the bench.

What can I say about my pitching staff? It is a mess. Mike Soroka was my best pitcher - the rookie went 9-8 with a 3.70 ERA and had a month stretch where he was downright untouchable. He figures to be the only given in my rotation next season. When I started this franchise I had two guys who were major-league ready, with ace potential, who were supposed to be at the forefront of this rebuild. Let's look at their MLB career numbers so far:

Luiz Gohara: 15-30, 4.43, 382.2 IP, 347 SO, 1.51 WHIP
Sean Newcomb: 15-27, 4.95, 347.1 IP, 369 SO, 1.65 WHIP

Gohara will be 23 next year, and actually pitched well down the stretch. He probably has a spot on the team. Newcomb will be 26, and spent half the season getting bombed in AAA. Two other prospects made their debuts this season: Kolby Allard (7-6, 4.95) and Kyle Wright (1-5, 6.39). My bullpen wasn't much better, highlighted by Bryan Shaw (2-5, 3.58) and Tony Zach (0-7, 2.53). The rest of them took turns getting bombed. These guys all still have sky-high potential, but to bank on them all putting it together at the same time after they've all had some time in the bigs now does not seem like the smart move. My plan for the offseason is to sign a top-notch closer, and make a blockbuster trade for a top-notch starter. That means I will have to shop some prospects a bit. My system is loaded and a lot of these borderline big-leaguers are still super young, so I'm confident there is a deal to be made. I will also need to find a new pitching coach (clearly) and will try to re-up with third base coach Ron Washington.

Here is the postseason bracket:

AL Wild Card:
Mariners (92-70) at Yankees (98-64)

NL Wild Card:
Cubs (91-71) at Giants (94-68)

ALDS:
Wild Card at Red Sox (104-58)

Indians (87-75) at Angels (100-62)

NLDS:
Wild Card at Brewers (108-54)

Mets (88-74) at Dodgers (103-59)

Antsy to get the offseason started. Might run through it tonight.

Update: Red Sox win their 2nd consecutive WS title. After allowing the Yankees to make a come back from down 2-0 in the ALDS, they won 9 straight games to clinch. NL champs were the Mets, who didn't stand a chance against a stacked Boston team. Xander Bogaerts is your WSMVP.

[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Pedro Strop and Jeurys Familia are having a Sosa/McGwire-esque battle to see who is going to break the single season save record. Both guys right now have 31saves 70 games in to the season

[MightyMaxxx13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Atlanta Braves Franchise

February 23, 2020

Offseason Wrap and Start of Spring Training

It was a busy offseason for the Braves as we look to rebound from a 101-loss season. Chief on our to-do list was rectifying a pitching staff that was among the worst in the majors in 2019. This included hiring a better pitching coach. We would also need to find a new third base coach, as baseball lifer Ron Washington retired at the end of the season.

Unfortunately we are not a financial juggernaut, so almost every move that we made was done under intense budget scrutiny. We shed the contracts of Julio Teheran ($6M) and Arodys Vizcaino ($5M) during the season, so I had at least some wiggle room to work the free agent market. Our big remaining payroll hits are Brian Dozier (3 yrs, ~$25M per yr), Freddie Freeman (2 yrs, ~$16M per yr) and Ender Inciarte (2yrs, ~$6M per yr). My plan was to have my lineup built around these guys and watch my stud pitching prospects flourish around them. Unfortunately the latter hasn’t materialized, so I’m stuck working the market to try to build a contender before I inevitably lose one or two of these guys. I also have an unfortunate bottleneck on the horizon as my youngsters will all start to hit arbitration at the same time. Dansby Swanson hit it this offseason, but we agreed to a $5.5M contract before the hearing. Next year Ozzie Albies, Sean Newcomb, Luiz Gohara, and Ronald Acuna will all be arbitration-eligible as well. Unfortunately I may end up faced with the decision of losing a few of those guys, or trading Dozier to shed his salary. I decided to get busy now and cross that bridge when I get to it - we clearly aren’t making any noise sitting on these pitching prospects and none of it matters if I can never build a winning team.

Sights set on the free agent market – my original goal was to make a hard run at the best reliever available. That was Dellin Betances, who at 32 years old and shaky command I was not very excited about. A notch below him sat Kevin Siegrist and Liam Hendriks, both coming off strong seasons as the closer for the Pirates and A’s respectively. The only true ace on the market was Gerrit Cole – 29 years old and looking for $25M+. I thought about going after him but balked at the salary, and he jumped on the first team to make him an offer – the surprise Oakland A’s who snagged him for 4 yrs and 100+. Other starters available included Sonny Gray coming off two mediocre seasons for the Yankees, and Gio Gonzalez, who was now the best starter available but also 34-years-old. I decided to float Gio a one-year offer for $8 million, which he accepted. Low-risk here, as I had room in the short term and on a one year deal I will quickly get out from underneath it after he starts to regress. Next up the bullpen – Siegrist and Hendriks were both still available and were getting 4-year offers from other clubs. I jumped in and tendered offers to both – Hendriks accepted for 4 yrs. And $24.5 million total. A modest deal that should finally give me a solid and dependable closer. After this the free agent pool became very thin – so it was time to turn to the trade market.

I decided I was going to make a serious run at prying Julio Urias from the Dodgers. And by serious I mean I tried everything and they wouldn’t budge. I had a glut of prospects that I made available, and none were good enough. Seems like they would have taken Dozier, but their budget didn’t allow for it. Hard to blame them – he’s 23-years-old and one of the premier pitchers in the game. My plan B was Luis Castillo from Cincinnati – who I acquired at a steep price.

Braves receive:
RHP Luis Castillo
27 years old with workhorse stamina, under team control for 3 years, and coming off a 14-win season with an ERA in the low 3’s. I finally found a theoretical ace. Maybe his presence helps kickstart the development of my other young pitchers who have been mostly duds so far.



Reds receive:
SS Dansby Swanson
Had to do it. Swanson was supposed to be one of the centerpieces of my rebuild but has largely been a dud so far. After a very disappointing 2018 season, he missed 2 months in 2019 with a torn groin. The signing of Dozier pushes Albies to short, and after missing time with injury he was Wally Pipped by Austin Riley at third who stepped in and blasted 18 homers as a rookie in 106 games. That means heading into 2020 either him or Albies would end up on the bench. He’s 26 and just hit arbitration, and I was able to turn him into an ace pitcher. He will be missed but this was the right move.

I also gave up catching prospect Andres Alvarez in the deal. He is 20-years-old and projects as a .300 hitter in the majors, however I have a stud power hitter ahead of him in Alex Jackson who could be ready to make the majors this season. Overall I think a fair price that gives me a second legit starter to start the season.

Majority of the rest of the offseason was spent on internal moves. I signed the coaches I had to sign and tendered contracts to the minor leaguers I wanted to keep. I let aging veterans Lane Adams, Rex Brothers, Ryan Flaherty, Preston Tucker, and Tommy Layne walk. I also avoided arbitration with everyone who was eligible, which was good. In taking stock of my minor league system and 40-man roster, I realized that I still had a lot of young guys with potential in the vicinity of age 25 who still had potential but were venturing into “now or never” territory and probably weren’t going to get a chance to play for me due to my depth or general structure of my roster. I decided to trade some of these guys and bolster my bullpen. Lucas Sims, Rio Ruiz, and Max Fried go to the Phillies in exchange for relievers Edubray Ramos and Taylor Rogers. Ramos emerged as a lights-out closer in 2019 and will be the set-up man for Hendriks, and Rogers gives me another lefty option out of the pen. All three of the guys I gave up could end up being all-stars, but they also were buried in my system and were probably all headed back to the minors. I also traded pitchers Tanner Scott, Aaron Blair, and Jake Thompson in minor transactions to add position-player depth around my system. Offseason wrapped with the signing of infielder Dilson Herrera, who will compete with Johan Camargo for a bench role to start the season.

Offseason is always stressful – but I’m ready to start the spring and hopefully, actually compete in 2020. I’ll make another post with spring training depth charts and positional battles, pre-season top prospects, and more