Re: MLB The Show 19 Franchise Discussion Thread
I like the idea of grabbing cheap “D” players. I might have to do that this offseason to keep some of my prospects developing.
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After being swept in the World Series by the Astros, my Reds moved into the 2019-2020 offseason.
Much of our "offseason" building actually occurred during the regular season as many of the moves we made were forward-thinking and focused more on the future rather than a "win now". Frankly speaking, the goal for 2019 was to compete for the playoffs, but we not only did that, but got hot enough to carry momentum through the playoffs.
So, with the majority of the starting lineup and pitching staff in good shape, we had the following goals:
1. Improve the catching situation.
2. Improve the bench
3. Find a lefty starter to fill the number 5 spot
4. Find a lefty reliever (while we have 2 good ones now, I prefer having 3 in the bullpen)
So, this is what we did (I'm not in front of system, so I have no numbers):
1. Signed Tyler Flowers to be our starting catcher. Yasmani Grandal was a tempting target, but we wanted to be budget-conscious and Flowers represented a solid, if unspectacular, upgrade. Last year's starter, Yan Gomes, will be relegated to bench duty.
2. We made hay in filling our bench. We signed Josh Harrison, Jedd Gyorko, Kevin Pillar, and Ronald Torreyes all to short-term deals. Harrison will serve as a utility IF, Gyroko as a power righty off the bench who can fill in several spots (and may platoon a bit with Votto/Scooter), and Pillar will platoon in LF with Scott Schebler and serve as a solid defensive replacement. Torreyes may spend some time in the minors, depending on whether or not we keep a young Rule 5 pick on the roster. The bench will also be complemented by holdover lefty slugger Daniel Palka, who hit 20 HRs in limited duty last season. While the bench consists of a lot of aging vets, they give us a chance to develop a number of younger prospects in 2020.
3. While not a need, I wanted to have another lefty starter to pair with Madison Bumgarner. We snagged former Colorado SP Tyler Anderson to a 1 year deal. He had a solid 2019 in Coors field and I think he could be a solid number 5 for us.
4. I love having good lefties in the bullpen and we're in great shape with Amir Garrett and Jose Alvarado already in the bullpen. But, we overpayed slightly in negotiating a deal with Baltimore to acquire lefty flamethrower Tanner Scott.
We still have a lot of financial flexibility to make deals, if needed, but this is a team I feel pretty good about.
The projected 26 man roster looks like this (subject to change based on ST)
C - Tyler Flowers
1B - Joey Votto
2B - Scooter Gennett (who will be defending his Triple Crown)
3B - Eugenio Suarez
SS - Brandon Crawford
LF - Scott Schebler
CF - Floyd Ivey (I use SDS rosters and he was a AAA guy in the one I used...Ivey is a contact-hitting CF with very good speed/fielding)
RF - Randall Grichuk
I Bash Righties - Daniel Palka
I Bash Lefties - Jedd Gyorko
(F)utility IF - Josh Harrison
Defensive OF - Kevin Pillar (he'll also platoon with Schebler)
Backup C - Yan Gomes
26th man - up for grabs, but it WILL be a position player
SP - Madison Bumgarner
SP - Luis Castillo
SP - Marcus Stroman
SP - Tanner Roark
SP - Tyler Anderson
LRP - Yonny Chirinos (I use Yonny for a lot of purposes - he'll see ~150 IP)
MRP - Tanner Scott
MRP - Kyle Barraclough
MRP - Jose Alvarado
SU - Amir Garrett
SU - Ryne Stanek
CL - Craig Kimbrel
So, this is not a "sexy" team by any means, but I think we're good enough (on paper) to get back to the playoffs. We're going to again be a station-to-station team, with only Ivey representing a significant speed threat. We'd had hoped to get a faster backup OF than Pillar but the handful of those available were quite one-dimensional and Pillar checked a lot of other boxes for us. I also tried to find left-handed basher that could actually be OK in the OF, but none met the power potential of Palka, so we're going to have to live with his abysmal defense if he plays the field.
I also spent a fair bit of time evaluating our minor league system and grabbing some low-cost guys that might be able to play roles ("D" potential guys in their late 20s can be excellent bargains to fill out AAA and allow prospects to develop down in AA).
---From a "gamer" perspective, this was an off-season that really allowed me to scratch that "I want to be a GM and tinker" itch while staying true to the core of this roster and allowing me to follow storylines. I think we all have a tendency of making a bunch of "splashy" moves (and I did that in Year 1) but it can also be immersion-breaking as you can quickly lose that continuity of storylines. I don't need to "look up stats" to see what 2/3 of my roster did last year...I already know...because I was right there with them through every single pitch.
I'm still debating about starting year 2 now or waiting for MLB20 to drop....but I have a feeling I am going to just start it and carry it over whenever the game launches.
Much of our "offseason" building actually occurred during the regular season as many of the moves we made were forward-thinking and focused more on the future rather than a "win now". Frankly speaking, the goal for 2019 was to compete for the playoffs, but we not only did that, but got hot enough to carry momentum through the playoffs.
So, with the majority of the starting lineup and pitching staff in good shape, we had the following goals:
1. Improve the catching situation.
2. Improve the bench
3. Find a lefty starter to fill the number 5 spot
4. Find a lefty reliever (while we have 2 good ones now, I prefer having 3 in the bullpen)
So, this is what we did (I'm not in front of system, so I have no numbers):
1. Signed Tyler Flowers to be our starting catcher. Yasmani Grandal was a tempting target, but we wanted to be budget-conscious and Flowers represented a solid, if unspectacular, upgrade. Last year's starter, Yan Gomes, will be relegated to bench duty.
2. We made hay in filling our bench. We signed Josh Harrison, Jedd Gyorko, Kevin Pillar, and Ronald Torreyes all to short-term deals. Harrison will serve as a utility IF, Gyroko as a power righty off the bench who can fill in several spots (and may platoon a bit with Votto/Scooter), and Pillar will platoon in LF with Scott Schebler and serve as a solid defensive replacement. Torreyes may spend some time in the minors, depending on whether or not we keep a young Rule 5 pick on the roster. The bench will also be complemented by holdover lefty slugger Daniel Palka, who hit 20 HRs in limited duty last season. While the bench consists of a lot of aging vets, they give us a chance to develop a number of younger prospects in 2020.
3. While not a need, I wanted to have another lefty starter to pair with Madison Bumgarner. We snagged former Colorado SP Tyler Anderson to a 1 year deal. He had a solid 2019 in Coors field and I think he could be a solid number 5 for us.
4. I love having good lefties in the bullpen and we're in great shape with Amir Garrett and Jose Alvarado already in the bullpen. But, we overpayed slightly in negotiating a deal with Baltimore to acquire lefty flamethrower Tanner Scott.
We still have a lot of financial flexibility to make deals, if needed, but this is a team I feel pretty good about.
The projected 26 man roster looks like this (subject to change based on ST)
C - Tyler Flowers
1B - Joey Votto
2B - Scooter Gennett (who will be defending his Triple Crown)
3B - Eugenio Suarez
SS - Brandon Crawford
LF - Scott Schebler
CF - Floyd Ivey (I use SDS rosters and he was a AAA guy in the one I used...Ivey is a contact-hitting CF with very good speed/fielding)
RF - Randall Grichuk
I Bash Righties - Daniel Palka
I Bash Lefties - Jedd Gyorko
(F)utility IF - Josh Harrison
Defensive OF - Kevin Pillar (he'll also platoon with Schebler)
Backup C - Yan Gomes
26th man - up for grabs, but it WILL be a position player
SP - Madison Bumgarner
SP - Luis Castillo
SP - Marcus Stroman
SP - Tanner Roark
SP - Tyler Anderson
LRP - Yonny Chirinos (I use Yonny for a lot of purposes - he'll see ~150 IP)
MRP - Tanner Scott
MRP - Kyle Barraclough
MRP - Jose Alvarado
SU - Amir Garrett
SU - Ryne Stanek
CL - Craig Kimbrel
So, this is not a "sexy" team by any means, but I think we're good enough (on paper) to get back to the playoffs. We're going to again be a station-to-station team, with only Ivey representing a significant speed threat. We'd had hoped to get a faster backup OF than Pillar but the handful of those available were quite one-dimensional and Pillar checked a lot of other boxes for us. I also tried to find left-handed basher that could actually be OK in the OF, but none met the power potential of Palka, so we're going to have to live with his abysmal defense if he plays the field.
I also spent a fair bit of time evaluating our minor league system and grabbing some low-cost guys that might be able to play roles ("D" potential guys in their late 20s can be excellent bargains to fill out AAA and allow prospects to develop down in AA).
---From a "gamer" perspective, this was an off-season that really allowed me to scratch that "I want to be a GM and tinker" itch while staying true to the core of this roster and allowing me to follow storylines. I think we all have a tendency of making a bunch of "splashy" moves (and I did that in Year 1) but it can also be immersion-breaking as you can quickly lose that continuity of storylines. I don't need to "look up stats" to see what 2/3 of my roster did last year...I already know...because I was right there with them through every single pitch.
I'm still debating about starting year 2 now or waiting for MLB20 to drop....but I have a feeling I am going to just start it and carry it over whenever the game launches.
I like the idea of grabbing cheap “D” players. I might have to do that this offseason to keep some of my prospects developing.
Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports
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