MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

How do you guys handle the trade deadline?

I'm at the All-Star break. Looking at the trade block, I know what moves I want to make. But most deadline deals go down around the 30th or 31st. A part of me wants to wait until then. A part of me wants to go ahead and make my moves the Thursday coming out of the break so I have my team set for the second half. And that way I get the guys I want.

BTW, the Rockies continue to infuriate their fan base in my dynasty. They traded German Marquez to the Yankees for a couple of decent prospects, but nothing special.

I make trades when I'm ready to pull the trigger and CPU agrees.

I don't wait until the last day or two, as the CPU will make deals whenever, so I don't want to miss out on someone because I was waiting until a more "realistic" timeframe and then lose that person because they were traded elsewhere.

The two trades mentioned above took place before the All-Star break and I had kicked around the idea of acquiring Dinelson Lamet when I saw him get placed on the block.

[Stars and Crowns]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Offseason:

The Royals have decided to part ways with the following veterans with expiring contracts:

SP Danny Duffy
RP Wade Davis
RP Greg Holland
RF Jarrod Dyson
RF Joc Pederson

The Royals have signed cheap contracts to the following veterans for Spring Training invites:

3B Maikel Franco
3B Tye France
OF Phillip Evans
OF Lewis Bronson
OF/DH Nelson Cruz
OF Mark Canha
C Willians Astudillo
3B Michael Chavis
3B Michael Brosseau
OF Tim Locastro
1B Jake Bauers

The Royals have also added top prospects Bobby Witt Jr and Nick Pratto to the 40 man, and they’ll have a chance to latch on to the big league club with a good spring.

The Royals have not made any movement on possibly trading Carlos Santana or Mike Minor, but may be open to the possibility during the spring. Both guys had a good season last year and could be valuable to contenders, but also have young players waiting to take there spot on the MLB roster.

[Stars and Crowns]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

*The Royals have dealt Carlos Santana to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for 18 yr old SP prospect Patrick Dunbar.

2022 roster:

SP
Brad Keller
Kris Bubic
Brady Singer
Daniel Lynch
Mike Minor

RP
Jakob Junis
Scott Barlow
Julian Merryweather
Asa Lacy
Jonathan Bowlan (R)
Kyle Zimmer
Josh Staumont

INF
Whit Merrifield
Alaberto Mondesi
Hunter Dozier
Hanser Alberto
Michael Brosseau

OF
Jorge Soler
Nelson Cruz
Mark Canha
Andrew Benintendi
Michael Taylor
Lewis Brinson

C
Salvador Perez
Meibrys Viloria

1B
Ryan O’Hearn

It was a fun spring, but youngsters Nick Pratto and Bobby Witt Jr will start in the minors. I feel like we added a lot of depth to the organization, and will be better able to withstand injuries this year.

The Royals will begin the year on the road for three game series in Cincinnati and Cleveland.

*I simmed most of spring training, but next year when there is even more roster turnover, I will be playing more of it. Now it’s back to the 162 game grind.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

We've made it to the All-Star break in my Braves franchise. We closed the first half with six games against the Pirates and Marlins, winning five. Coupled with the Mets hitting the skids, we've opened up a nice 9-game lead in the NL East.

BRAVES RECAP

Spoiler

We're 60-30 at the break for the best record in baseball. Pitching has led the way as we have an MLB-best 2.83 ERA. Mike Soroka (11-3, 1.76 ERA) and Charlie Morton (10-2, 1.78 ERA) pace the rotation. The bullpen has been the best in baseball. Will Smith has converted 22 of 24 save opportunities. Shane Greene, signed back in spring training, has been utterly dominant with a 0.24 ERA.

On the offensive side, we're boom or bust. Our .242 average is pretty mediocre, but we're second in home runs with 157 (the Yankees have 159) and sixth in MLB in runs scored. Ronald Acuña Jr. has cooled off a bit from his torrid start to the season. But he's still the leading NL MVP candidate with a .329 average, 33 homers and 72 RBIs.

After slow starts, Cristian Pache and Austin Riley were eventually optioned to Gwinnett. Ender Inciarte did a nice job for a while in center but eventually cooled way off. So we shipped him and two prospects to the Cubs for Joc Pederson. Pederson was swinging one of the hottest bats in baseball for the Cubs. He started his Braves career with a memorable two-run, pinch-hit homer to beat the Mets. But he too has cooled off since then.

Johan Camargo, meanwhile, has taken control of the third base job. He showed off power we didn't realize he had by homering in seven straight games just before the break.

DIVISIONAL RACES

Spoiler

It was us and the Mets for most of the first half in the NL East. But New York (51-39) cooled off and now has to watch its back as the Phillies (47-42) are coming up fast.

In the NL Central, the Brewers (52-40) lead the way with the Reds (49-42) right behind. The Cardinals (46-45) ended the first half on a four-game winning streak to keep alive their playoff hopes.

No surprises in the NL West. The Dodgers (57-34) got off to a slow start but are still the World Series favorites. The Padres (53-40) are hoping to keep things interesting.

The Yankees (55-35) are the prohibitive favorites in the AL East. The Red Sox (44-47) and Rays (43-47) are aiming for the wild-card now.

Minnesota (58-34) ended the first half on a 10-game winning streak. It's not the longest of the season for the Twins, who won 14 straight earlier in the year. The White Sox (51-40) are in good position to grab a wild-card spot, and the Indians (46-45) are hanging in there.

In the AL West, Houston (52-39) leads the way. The A's (48-44) are staying close while the Angels (47-44) still have designs on getting Mike Trout to October.

Speaking of Trout, there's no question he's still the best player in the game.

AWARD RACES

Spoiler

Trout looks to nab the triple crown with a .349 average, 36 homers and 84 RBIs art the break. He's clearly on track to win another MVP. The AL Cy Young is a tight race between Chris Sale, Gerrit Cole and Lance Lynn.

In the NL, Acuña is the favorite to get his first MVP award, although Cody Bellinger and Freeman may have something to say about that. Clayton Kershaw, Jacob deGrom and Morton are the favorites for the NL Cy Young.

ALL-STAR TEAMS

Spoiler

Five Braves made the All-Star team. Acuña, Freeman and Ozzie Albies were voted in as starters. Greene and Smith made the bullpen. Morton and Soroka were two of the bigger snubs. Below are the starters for the game in Colorado:

Catcher
AL: Salvador Perez, Royals
NL: Will Smith, Dodgers

First Base
AL: Yandy Diaz, Rays
NL: Freddie Freeman, Braves

Second Base
AL: Brandon Lowe, Rays
NL: Ozzie Albies, Braves

Third Base
AL: Anthony Rendon, Angels
NL: Nolan Arenando, Cardinals

Shortstop
AL: Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox
NL: Trevor Story, Rockies

Left Field
AL: Michael Brantley, Astros
NL: Christian Yelich, Brewers

Center Field
AL: Mike Trout, Angels
NL: Cody Bellinger, Dodgers

Right Field
AL: Aaron Judge, Yankees
RF: Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves

Designated Hitter
AL: Alex Bregman, Astros
NL: Dominic Smith, Mets

Starting Pitcher
AL: Lance Lynn, White Sox
NL: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

[decga]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Blue Jays swept the Braves in a 3 game series!

It was a tough series to play. Game 1, I moved Ronald back to leadoff. He got on base with a single to LF leading off the game. Playing a game of pick-off with the Pitcher. Well the pitcher won, diving back to 1B, Ronald out for 2-3 mnths with damaged knee cartilage.

We lost Game 1& 2 in last at bats situation. # heartbreaking!

Game 3 SP Anderson pitching very well with ERA of 1.69. Gets rocked for 5ER, with 2HR's & striking out 9 batters. We lost 5-2..


I made a trade with Marlins for Adam Duvall, sending a minor leaguer OF Jacob Pearson with "B" potential their way. We now sit 15-13 on the year in 4th place in the NL East. Trailing the 1st place Marlins(16-12) by 1 game.

Up next a 3 game series with the Nats in D.C. Followed by a 3 game series vs the Phillies. Both are ahead of me in the NL East.ef3d837c-6838-4aae-8502-2300802ec0e5_0.jpegd20169b7-b81f-4a46-a852-2b7af17a57fc.jpeg

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using Operation Sports mobile app

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Damn that sucks about Acuna man.

Hopefully Duvall's bat will fill in nicely

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Took CB's advice and made my trades coming out of the All-Star break.

In three separate deals we added relievers Diego Castillo and Felix Peña and brought back outfielder Adam Duvall.

Our bullpen was already arguably the best in MLB, but the way the game is played today you can never have enough relief arms. When the Rays made it known Castillo was available, we snuck in and grabbed him. The hard-throwing right-hander had a 2.77 ERA with the Rays, although he was 0-for-3 in save opportunities. We'll use him in a middle relief/setup role.

Going back to the Rays in the deal is 21-year-old starting pitcher Bryse Wilson. Wilson got caught in a bit of a logjam for us with all of our starting pitching prospects. Still, we weren't going to move him unless we got a cost-controllable player back.

Peña is an under-the-radar move. He had a 4.44 ERA for the Angels, but we like the fact he's an inning-eater out of the bullpen. One thing our bullpen lacked was a guy who could consistently throw multiple innings. We'll use Peña, who throws a 95-MPH sinking fastball, as a long reliever.

The Angels bullpen was full of long relievers and they were looking for middle relief help. So they acquired Ryan Tepera from us. After being acquired from the Cubs last month in the Joc Pederson trade, Tepera just never fit with us.

Last but not least, Duvall is back with the Braves. Duvall was one of the more popular players in the clubhouse last year and we always thought it was a mistake to non-tender him last offseason. The right fielder hit .236 with 13 homers for the Marlins this year. Pederson's bat has cooled considerably since we acquired him last month. So we're going to move Pederson to right and platoon him with Duvall. Ronald Acuña Jr. will shift to center.

Catcher Alex Jackson goes to the rebuilding Marlins. Jackson began the year as our backup catcher but struggled initially. He was eventually set down Triple-A after we signed Tyler Flowers. At Gwinnett, Jackson was hitting .308 with a pair of homers as the everyday catcher. The Marlins plan to try him in right field initially. Moving Jackson also allows more playing time for William Contreras at Gwinnett.

Grant Dayton and Guillermo Heredia were optioned to Gwinnett to make room on the roster. We're right at the $150M payroll budget Liberty Media has set for us. So we're definitely done making any major moves. We'd have to dump some salary to make any more moves at all.

How we look now:

Lineup
1 - Ronald Acuña Jr., CF
2 - Ozzie Albies, 2B
3 - Freddie Freeman, 1B
4 - Marcell Ozuna, LF
5 - Joc Pederson/Adam Duvall, RF
6 - Travis d'Arnaud, C
7 - Johan Camargo, 3B
8 - Dansby Swanson, SS
9 - Pitcher

Bench
Tyler Flowers, C
Pablo Sandoval, 1B/3B
Donovan Solano, INF
Ehire Adrianza, UTIL

Rotation
1 - Mike Soroka
2 - Max Fried
3 - Ian Anderson
4 - Charlie Morton
5 - Sean Newcomb

Bullpen
CL - Will Smith
SU - Chris Martin
SU - Shane Greene
MR - Diego Castillo
MR - Luke Jackson
MR - Tyler Matzek
MR - A.J. Minter
LR - Felix Peña

[Stars and Crowns]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

OPENING DAY IN CINCI
Game one:
WP: A. Lacy (1-0)
LP: M. Feliz (0-1)
S: J. Staumont (1)

After Whit Merrifield and Alaberto Mondesi strikeout in the top of the first, Salvy wasted no time hitting a solo HR off of Luis Castillo.

It was smooth sailing for a Brad Keller until he got to two outs in the fifth. He walked Jesse Winker and gave up a two run HR to Eugenio Suarez to give the Reds the 2-1 lead.

Keller would end up going 5.2 innings, allowing just two runs.

In the top of the sixth, Nelson Cruz reached on a pinch hit single and was lifted for Michael Taylor who stole second. With two outs Salvy took a very close ball for a walk, and then Jorge Soler went yard off of freshly inserted Heath Hembree for a three run lead to put the Royals up 4-2.

The Royals got another insurance run in the eighth when Merrifield drives in another run on a single.

Josh Staumont would come in for the ninth and slam the door for his first save.

Game two:
WP: J. Junis (1-0)
LP: S. Gray (0-1)
S: J. Staumont (2)

It took only two pitches for the Royals to jump ahead 2-0, as Merrifield doubled on the first pitch, and then Mondesi hit it over the wall on the second. Then after a Salvy walk, Ryan O’Hearn hit a two run HR. On the very next pitch, Somny Gray hung a curveball and Mark Hanha hit the Royals third HR of the inning.

Mike Minor flirted with danger through the first theee innings, walking five Reds, but managed to only give up one run and the game went to the fourth with a 5-1 Royals lead.

The Reds got their second run when they had runners at the corners with one out, and the pitcher Sonny Gray hit into a double play ball, except Merrifield threw the ball away allowing a run to score. The Reds would score once more on a sac fly.

Mike Minor had a good start, but couldn’t keep his pitch count down and left after just 4.2 innings.

Jakob Junis would allow a solo HR to Matt Adams in the sixth to trim the lead to 5-4.

The Royals had hit three HRs and a double within the first six batters of the game, and then didn’t get another base hit until two outs in the seventh, when pinch hitting Nelson Cruz hit a solo HR to extend the lead to 6-4.

Josh Staumont would come in and lock this game down as well, and the Royals take the first two game.

Game three:
WP: B. Singer (1-0)
LP: J. Hoffman

The Royals strike first in a two out RBI single by Ryan O’Hearn against Reds SP Jeff Hoffman.

The Reds would use a pair of walks to load the bases against Brady Singer in the fourth, but Tyler Naquin would would ground into an inning ending double play.

Jorge Soler drove in a run in a fielder’s choice in the single thanks to some great hustle running down the line. Soler would also drive in a run in the seventh on a two out double against Michael Lorenzen.

With the bases loaded in the same inning, Nelson Cruz pinch hit and drew a walk to make it 4-0 Royals. Hunter Dozier then singled in a run to continue the nice inning. Lewis Brinson walked to bring in a run and the Royals had batted around. Viloria would single in another run. Michael Feliz would come into the game for the Reds and get Merrifield to strikeout to end the inning.

With a 7-0 lead the Royals would put in Jonathan Bowlan in at pitcher to make his MLB debut. He would retire the Reds in order to end the game.

The season starts with a sweep on the road and we will now be heading to Cleveland for three.

[DonkeyJote]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Tough break for Max Fried. Left his first start of the season after 3 innings with a minor injury, but recovered in time for his second start. Pitched 6 scoreless innings in that start before going down with a fractured arm. Touki Toussaint will get the first crack at replacing him in the rotation, but he's got an era of over 32 in two relief appearances so far, so it's not looking good. But he'll get a chance to prove he's more suited for a starting role than the bullpen.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Operation Sports mobile app

[decga]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Tough break for Max Fried. Left his first start of the season after 3 innings with a minor injury, but recovered in time for his second start. Pitched 6 scoreless innings in that start before going down with a fractured arm. Touki Toussaint will get the first crack at replacing him in the rotation, but he's got an era of over 32 in two relief appearances so far, so it's not looking good. But he'll get a chance to prove he's more suited for a starting role than the bullpen.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Operation Sports mobile app

Ouch!! Join the club. Hopefully Touki will do good for you. At least it early in the year. Are you pitching with Soroka?

[decga]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Took CB's advice and made my trades coming out of the All-Star break.

In three separate deals we added relievers Diego Castillo and Felix Peña and brought back outfielder Adam Duvall.

Our bullpen was already arguably the best in MLB, but the way the game is played today you can never have enough relief arms. When the Rays made it known Castillo was available, we snuck in and grabbed him. The hard-throwing right-hander had a 2.77 ERA with the Rays, although he was 0-for-3 in save opportunities. We'll use him in a middle relief/setup role.

Going back to the Rays in the deal is 21-year-old starting pitcher Bryse Wilson. Wilson got caught in a bit of a logjam for us with all of our starting pitching prospects. Still, we weren't going to move him unless we got a cost-controllable player back.

Peña is an under-the-radar move. He had a 4.44 ERA for the Angels, but we like the fact he's an inning-eater out of the bullpen. One thing our bullpen lacked was a guy who could consistently throw multiple innings. We'll use Peña, who throws a 95-MPH sinking fastball, as a long reliever.

The Angels bullpen was full of long relievers and they were looking for middle relief help. So they acquired Ryan Tepera from us. After being acquired from the Cubs last month in the Joc Pederson trade, Tepera just never fit with us.

Last but not least, Duvall is back with the Braves. Duvall was one of the more popular players in the clubhouse last year and we always thought it was a mistake to non-tender him last offseason. The right fielder hit .236 with 13 homers for the Marlins this year. Pederson's bat has cooled considerably since we acquired him last month. So we're going to move Pederson to right and platoon him with Duvall. Ronald Acuña Jr. will shift to center.

Catcher Alex Jackson goes to the rebuilding Marlins. Jackson began the year as our backup catcher but struggled initially. He was eventually set down Triple-A after we signed Tyler Flowers. At Gwinnett, Jackson was hitting .308 with a pair of homers as the everyday catcher. The Marlins plan to try him in right field initially. Moving Jackson also allows more playing time for William Contreras at Gwinnett.

Grant Dayton and Guillermo Heredia were optioned to Gwinnett to make room on the roster. We're right at the $150M payroll budget Liberty Media has set for us. So we're definitely done making any major moves. We'd have to dump some salary to make any more moves at all.

How we look now:

Lineup
1 - Ronald Acuña Jr., CF
2 - Ozzie Albies, 2B
3 - Freddie Freeman, 1B
4 - Marcell Ozuna, LF
5 - Joc Pederson/Adam Duvall, RF
6 - Travis d'Arnaud, C
7 - Johan Camargo, 3B
8 - Dansby Swanson, SS
9 - Pitcher

Bench
Tyler Flowers, C
Pablo Sandoval, 1B/3B
Donovan Solano, INF
Ehire Adrianza, UTIL

Rotation
1 - Mike Soroka
2 - Max Fried
3 - Ian Anderson
4 - Charlie Morton
5 - Sean Newcomb

Bullpen
CL - Will Smith
SU - Chris Martin
SU - Shane Greene
MR - Diego Castillo
MR - Luke Jackson
MR - Tyler Matzek
MR - A.J. Minter
LR - Felix Peña

I did not think of sending C Alex Jackson to the Marlins, but Contreras is out for 2 months with a dislocated shoulder. I kept him for depth at the catcher's position.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

I did not think of sending C Alex Jackson to the Marlins, but Contreras is out for 2 months with a dislocated shoulder. I kept him for depth at the catcher's position.

I always use the suggest trades feature. When I inquired about Duvall, the Marlins first asked for Jackson. And since it was good enough for real life ...

With Contreras and Langeliers in the system, Jackson was a bit expendable for me.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Cardinals take series from Reds

The Cardinals (51-30) won 2 of the 3 games against the Reds in Cincinnati. The Cardinals now extend their divisional lead to 2 games over the Brewers.

The bats were hot this series. The Cardinals hit 12 homeruns in their trip to Cincy with Paul DeJong hitting half of those, including 3 in the series finale. Unfortunately pitching wasn't as strong as you'd like, which cost them game 2 (13-5 loss), the bats picked up the pitching to help secure the series win.

The Cardinals will now travel to Chicago after an off day Thursday, for a 3 game weekend series with the Cubs. They will then head home to face the Mets for 4 games and the Pirates next weekend for a 3 game series to close out the first half of the season.

Cardinals activate Nolan Arenado from 10 Day IL

The Cardinals have activated 3B Nolan Arenado off the 10 Day IL. He was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Arenado will return to a lineup that is starting to show life.

Nick Dunn will be optioned back to Memphis to make room on the active roster.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Duvall went 2-for-2 with a two-run homer and two walks in his return to the Braves. And Castillo pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts in a 12-6 win to open the second half of the season.

Peña didn't fare as well. With a 10-3 lead, we brought him in in the eighth. He gave up a leadoff homer that seemed to rattle him. He walked three and gave up three ERs that raised his ERA by nearly a full run. We probably should have pulled him, but we left him in with the bases loaded and he managed to get out of it. He's got good stuff, so hoping it was just nerves.

Meanwhile, Austin Riley is heating up at Gwinnett. Would love for him to get going and earn a promotion back to Atlanta.

The trading frenzy continued. The Red Sox are 44-49 and all but out of the AL East race. Even though they have a handful of teams to jump, they're only four games back in the wild-card race. And they've made it clear they're all in for a playoff spot.

Having already acquired Jon Gray, Eli White and Brian Goodwin, the Red Sox made their biggest move yet, getting Sterling Marte from the Marlins. They paid a high price for a rental, sending Gilberto Jimenez, Connor Seabold and Johan Mieses back to Miami.

The Marlins purchased the contract of top prospect J.J. Bleday from Double-A Pensacola and called him up for MLB debut. He'll take over as the Marlins every day right-fielder.

[DonkeyJote]

Re: MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

Ouch!! Join the club. Hopefully Touki will do good for you. At least it early in the year. Are you pitching with Soroka?

I am. I don't really follow real life injuries. Especially since this is my first year with the game being an Xbox owner, so I want to use guys like Acuña and Soroka. The only guys I do anything with are guys like Ozuna, Bauer, and Castro. They get removed from 40 man rosters and their ratings are dropped so the CPU won't re add them.

Right now my rotation is Soroka, Morton, Anderson, Ynoa, and Toussaint. Smyly and Muller are next in line down in Gwinnett. Though Kingham and Davidson actually have out performed the other guys early down there.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Operation Sports mobile app