MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

[Mercury53]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Well we opened the season and got crushed. Hernandez was pitiful, giving up five to the Baltimore Orioles. Adam Lind hit a two run homerun but we lost 7-3. Not a good way to open the season in front of the home fans. Here is the lineup and the starting rotation for the 2012 M's.

CF - Ichiro
3B - Figgins
LF - Kubel - 31 homeruns
DH - Fielder - 56 homeruns
RF - Lind - 44 homeruns
1B - Smoak - 32 homeruns, 8 in postseason
2B - Ackley - 12 homeruns
SS - Wilson
C - Olivo

1 - Hernandez
2 - Pineda
3 - Garza
4 - Vargas
5 - Fister

Needless to say, the Mariners have some power. As far a trading anybody goes, I dunno yet. Ichiro will probably retire next season so that's $9.4 million off the books, which will go resigning Pineda probably.

[MaddenFanPS3]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Slacked off a bit with my franchise since Madden came out, but I hopped on briefly. I love my team, we're well on our way to winning the world series

C - Barajas
1B - Hosmer
2B - Bonifacio
SS - Furcal
3B - Pujols
OF - Sands
OF - Kemp
OF - Manny

1 - Kershaw
2 - Billingsley
3 - De La Rosa
4 - Kuroda
5 - Garland

Amazingly, Garland has been the best pitcher of the staff, been able to maintain a sub-2 ERA with him (I've played all the games). Gonna have to do some wheeling and dealing later though since my prospect pool is pretty thin at the moment.

[hitstreak13]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Is anyone doing a franchise with the Astros? Man, this team is just flat out terrible. Through the first week, I have lost Wandy for about a week and Carlos Lee for the first month. J.D. Martinez is my only power threat and I just can't get anything going on offense. This has definitely been one of the most challenging teams that I have had.

[citizenbrain]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Is anyone doing a franchise with the Astros? Man, this team is just flat out terrible. Through the first week, I have lost Wandy for about a week and Carlos Lee for the first month. J.D. Martinez is my only power threat and I just can't get anything going on offense. This has definitely been one of the most challenging teams that I have had.

THAT SUCKS and they were bad to begin with without losing those players.

[DJ]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Is anyone doing a franchise with the Astros? Man, this team is just flat out terrible. Through the first week, I have lost Wandy for about a week and Carlos Lee for the first month. J.D. Martinez is my only power threat and I just can't get anything going on offense. This has definitely been one of the most challenging teams that I have had.

I think you may be the only one brave enough, lol. That certainly is a challenge right there. Good luck, though. I do like the stadium and the uniforms aren't that bad.

[citizenbrain]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

did anyone else have to turn the wind slider way down? its absurd how much it influences the game. i just played a game vs the nationals and the wind was 13mph to left field and the slider was in the default position at 50% and they jacked like 6 or 7 home runs off Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen.its like you cant even throw a pitch above the middle of the square or else it'll get jacked its absurd. i just wanted to vent...

[Scruffy05]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

OK guys bear with me, this may be long.

I started a St. Louis Cardinals franchise. This was closer to the beginning of the season and then I traveled a lot for work and haven't had a ton of time but I just finished the draft and here is how I got to there.

I am actually a Blue Jays fan (Canadian) and Mariners fan (proximity) but did not want to either fight the Yankees and Red Sox constantly, have a lineup full of suck or look at the ugliness that is Rogers Center. My third team is the Cards. Mainly for Pujols but also because I liked the lineup. I wanted to take a decent team and move it to the upper echelon.

I started the season relevant to what was happening in the game. The Dodgers were in disarray, the Mets as well. Michael Young was (at the time) asking for a trade. With these three tenents I moved forward.

First off was granting a Michael Young trade request. I wanted him, though I did check to see if other teams could have offered more or had a more perfect fit of a deal. In the end I sent Kyle Lohse and a B rated pitching prospect (who was 23, I believe) for him. I decided I was going to include 'and future considerations'... If Young turned into an all-star I was going to send more. Good move too, Freese got injured for 4 months...)

I also wanted to platoon Shumaker with a lefty masher and sent a couple of minor prospects Houston for Keppinger.

Outfield stayed the same.

At pitcher, to make up for the loss of Lohse (who's pitch selection and stats I wasn't overly enamored with and who I felt would turn into a mid rotation starter for them) and to coincide with the 'Dodgers have no money' story line I started the season with I decided to shed like 6-8 million from their line up. This turned into a deal for Kuroda and MacDougal (the closer) in which they got a couple of B rate prospects.

I also signed Bonderman.

Every other pre-season trade I did were depth moves and prospect swaps. Using Ian Snell (Who became their number 3 pitcher) and two relief pitcher pitcher prospects (B rated) I snagged Gose and Hechevarria from the Blue Jays.

I also leveraged Shelby Miller, a speedy A rated 19 year old shortstop prospect and a couple others that escape me at this moment into Moustakis and Lawrie. I know, I know, neither Kansas or Toronto would get rid of them but I went to school with Brett Lawrie, I was darn well going to acquire him and I gave up quite a lot of talent to grab them. It was actually a three team deal with the Jays getting Montgomery from the Royals and a few B rate prospects from me and Kansas City getting Miller, the speedy SS (I think he was a SS, might have been 2nd base). I worked hard at this deal. Everybody got quality. Kansas loved it, they were willing to give me Hosmer too but I knew for a fact that that was unrealistic. I did get Betemit out of it though.

So, opening day roster was as follows:

2B Shumaker
3B Young
1B Pujols
LF Holliday
RF Berkman
CF Rasmus
C Molina
SS Theriot

Bench
IF Punto
2B Keppinger
OF Jay
C Laird
PH Betemit

Pitchers

Carpenter
Wainright
Garcia
Kuroda
Westbrook

Bonderman
Batista
Mclellan
Motte
MacDougal
Miller
Franklyn

At least that is how I thought.

Just completed the draft and am doing well as a team, in a battle with Philly and the BoSox for first at like 36-18 which is where I thought I would be. I can't beat the bloody Astros for some reason.

Anywho, onto the story. Carpenter and Wainright are lights out awesome. Kuroda has been acceptable and occasionally brilliant. Garcia has been spotty and is currently injured for another couple weeks. Westbrook has been inconsistent. I brought a perfect game into the 8th with him on one game, got spanked hard in three others.

-Schumaker is raking. His platoon partner Keppinger has been terrible. Schumaker is currently near the top of the league in hitting. He also has 4 homers, 2 inside the park thanks to spotty right fielding by the pirates and the Padres.
-Young is still in the number two spot and is having a solid if unspectacular season. Pretty average for him
-Pujols is Pujols.
-Holliday is Holliday.
-Berkman is finally hitting. I got his average up to .260 now after it miring in the dumps. I stopped batting him against lefties making his switch hitting useless. He has great power numbers and I believe he is 5th in voting for the all star game but his defense is cringe inducing. He is not my kind of right fielder.
- Colby is so frustratingly inconsistently awesome. He has 12 homers (rather high) and like 200 strikeouts. Defensively he is solid, but one game he will het a game winning double, the next he will strike out 3 times.
- Molina is Molina, though almost no power...
-Theriot has been another frustrating borderline disappointment. He is batting .250ish but defensively he is bugging me. He tends to give up on balls. Punto has become the starting shortstop and is actually hitting better than him, though marginally. Pint sized Punto even has one homer.

On the bench, Betemit has been great, Laird has been useful and Keppinger has been atrocious.

Jay is another inconsistent performer. He is batting like .180 with 5 game winning homers. I keep sending him to AAA.

Trevor Miller is incredibly useful in the bullpen.

Mid season acquisitions:

Because of Jay's constant struggles and shoddy defense, I leveraged Gose in a deal to get Ben Revere from the twins. He was a bench warmer there. They had used him in 3 games and we were 2 weeks from the draft. The deal actually saw Gose go back to the blue jays, it was a three team trade. Revere has been inconsistent, sometimes hitting, but his defense and basepath speed is what I really got him for.

Franklin was scary for me to pitch with. He was saving his games but my heart was palpitating constantly. He would always put a runner or two on. Finally I pulled the trigger and got Heath Bell and Denorfia for Descalso and what remained for pitching prospects in my system (including one fireballer reliever who will replace Bell shortly). Bell, in two months (3 weeks with me) has yet to allow a run. I decided to add 'and future consideratoins' onto this deal because he has been amazing. I kept Franklin as a $4.5M reliever for a while until about a week ago when I noticed the Orioles were competing in the AL East like a game behind the Yankees and 2 behind the BoSox. Looking at their lineup and stats I realized they would be higher if not for the severe amount of blown saves. Gregg had 6 alone.Well, I just happened to have a closer for them. In a three team deal I sent Franklin to the Orioles, Machado to the BoSox and Ranaudo to my AA farm team. I added in a couple of 19 year old moderate prospects to even out the deal on my end, however I had the Matt Capps deal in my head when I pulled the trigger. Since then, Franklin has been incredible for the Orioles going 5 for 5 in save attempts.

Plan for the future:

Moustakis is here in case Pujols cannot be resigned. I need a clear successor. If I get Pujols locked up I will move Moutakis out for a pitcher (probably). Lawrie is was supposed to be my future second baseman but now with Schumaker being amazing those plans are a little in question. I may move Young to shortstop and put next year and put Lawrie and or Schumaker at 3rd...

I am leaning towards not resigning Lance Berkman. He is hitting well and all but I will need the money elsewhere (I have given myself a hard $100 million cap and it won't go up too much next year) and he is not a right fielder in my books. Most likely I will use Rasmus in right next year with Revere and Jay sharing center field.

I also claimed Kevin Pucetas off waivers and he is currently filling in for the injured Garcia. I rather like him, the Pirates should never have waived him() He went 6-0 in AAA before the callup.

Just did the draft and because of 30 team control I just pressed 'recommend player' for every team that wasn't me. Managed to nab an A potential SS who projects as a second baseman and a bunch of garbage but their were not that many A rated players.... at the 19th pick, not bad.

Projected lineup next year:

Wainright
Carpenter (if he doesn't retire)
Garcia
(open)
(open)

CP: Bell.... I will pay him what he wants if he continues pitching like this...

1B Pujols/Moustakis??? (Would be hard pressed not to resign Pujols...)
2B Schumacher
3B Lawrie
SS Young (do not like the idea of a 37 year old shortstop but came with a 3 year deal)
LF Holliday (signed until the end of eternity)
CF Revere
RF Rasmus

Not certain when players start looking at retirment in this game as I have a couple approaching 37 (the age that retirement starts looking like an option for anybody not named Moyer...) Hechevarria (on LTIR) is too young to take over shortstop next year. I have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to depth as it stands, though I did pillage my pitching prospects.

Any comments, ideas? Especially, what can I trade Keppinger for and to whom? He is wasted with me. Yankees will take him but the trade makes no sense to me. Uribe is injured for the dodgers, but they have a few prospects in the wings...

Also, wondering if I should not send Jay to the Nationals who would kill for a center fielder... They had a trade for Desmond Jennings in place but it didn't go through....

Let me know.

[citizenbrain]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

well i scrapped my fantasy draft franchise, just didnt feel right. the teams were all messed up and unbalanced like they'd be number 1 in hitting and number 29 in everything else it was weird. so i started a Braves franchise and the roster update i downloaded was AWESOME. starting out i've got 4 SP at A potential in AAA and close to being LRP level in MLB to begin with which is awesome. the rest of my team is pretty week depth wise i'm scouting SS's and 3B's (in case chipper retires after this season)

i put a lot of training assignments on the catcher spot because McCann is one of my favorite players and he's only 27 so he's got time to progress still. But i wanted to get a backup for him so i went after Hank Conger (Catcher, A potential, switch hitter, his hitting sucks but he's a good fielder/catcher) from the Angels and traded David Ross and a B level 2b i had behind Dan Ugla for Hank Conger and Tyler Chatwood (SP, A potential) and i got them.

So i'll be weak at the catcher spot when Conger comes in during the season to give McCann a rest but its worth it i think, he'll bat 8th and hopefully not hold me back too much. the depth of my starting pitching core is amazing though, should be a fun season. i plan on letting tim hudson and derek lowe go once their 2 year deals are up. i put on ignore budgets but i'm gonna hold myself to a 100million dollar cap. i just didnt want to deal with the 2015 free agent bug if i make it that far.

[Scruffy05]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Alright... I need ideas. My SS and backup infield position is being a thorn in my side. Punto is now only batting .240ish, Theriot is closer to .250 with no power, no OBP and not the best defense and Keppinger hits very little and I can't risk playing him at short.

My shortstops of the future are either injured for the year (Hechevarria) or just drafted.

Do I play Michael Young at short and bring somebody up? I have Tyler Green at AAA but would have to add him to the 40 man roster. I need only a 1 year solution. It has to be cheap and I patently refuse to put a poor defender at short.

I'm think of trying out Omar Vizquel... short term solution so Hechevarria isn't blocked. Cheap(ish), great glove and I may make some use out of his bat. Plus, he won't cost me a ton to acquire.

Anybody have a better idea?

I could probably send Keppinger and a little bit for him.

Christian Guzman is in the free agent pool... he is tempting too at $1Mish but then I still have to move Keppinger for 25 man room.

[citizenbrain]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Alright... I need ideas. My SS and backup infield position is being a thorn in my side. Punto is now only batting .240ish, Theriot is closer to .250 with no power, no OBP and not the best defense and Keppinger hits very little and I can't risk playing him at short.

My shortstops of the future are either injured for the year (Hechevarria) or just drafted.

Do I play Michael Young at short and bring somebody up? I have Tyler Green at AAA but would have to add him to the 40 man roster. I need only a 1 year solution. It has to be cheap and I patently refuse to put a poor defender at short.

I'm think of trying out Omar Vizquel... short term solution so Hechevarria isn't blocked. Cheap(ish), great glove and I may make some use out of his bat. Plus, he won't cost me a ton to acquire.

Anybody have a better idea?

I could probably send Keppinger and a little bit for him.

Christian Guzman is in the free agent pool... he is tempting too at $1Mish but then I still have to move Keppinger for 25 man room.

Pick up Christian Guzman i believe he's a switch hitter and can play 2B too. i've used him before he's a good player and a worthy aquisition. just sign him to a 1 year contract even if you have to pay more for that one year that is if you have the cap space. but trust me i think you'll be happy with the results.

[Shield]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Pick up Christian Guzman i believe he's a switch hitter and can play 2B too. i've used him before he's a good player and a worthy aquisition. just sign him to a 1 year contract even if you have to pay more for that one year that is if you have the cap space. but trust me i think you'll be happy with the results.

Guzman is a good pickup however i had to pay him 2yr/$3.5mil and he's now a backup at 2b.

[Mo]

Re: MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

Beat the Cardinals in the NLCS.

Here's the highlights of the World Series


<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/blTTcXI983k?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[cardsfan2222]

Re: MLB 11 The Show &quot;Franchise/Season&quot; Progress Thread

I haven't updated my season here for awhile. Mid-August, I was half a game behind Milwaukee for the division lead. Now with 9 games to go, and having won 8 in a row and 12 out of 13, I'm up by 2 games. Milwaukee has matched me every step since then, making it a great race down the stretch. I have 2 left against the Pirates, then 4 on the road in LA and 3 on the road in Cincy. I always seem to struggle against LA, so that will be the hardest test the rest of the way.

[Scruffy05]

Re: MLB 11 The Show &quot;Franchise/Season&quot; Progress Thread

So, I signed Christian Guzman and moved Keppinger and a AAA reliever to the bluejays for Patterson (CF) and a AAA closer. Patterson was then moved to Washington who needed a centerfielder BAD for two AAA pitchers in their mid 20's, one a C pot, the other a B (Both 25 I think). Not a bad trade, me thinks.

I signed Guzman to one year with a team option at (I think) 1.5M per year.
Now my lineup and bench looks like this:

1B Pujols
2B Schumaker
SS Theriot/Punto/Guzman (still not locked down, but Guzman did great his first game albeit at 2nd since schumaker was tired)
3B Michael Young
LF Holliday
CF Rasmus
RF Berkman

OF Jay
OF Revere (will probably go to AAA once Garcia is back from DL, but I love his speed....)
PH Betemit
C Laird
and two of Punto/Theriot/Guzman

I am happy with that. Guzman is everything Keppinger was plus rather more in almost all facets.... 10x more expensive though (Keppinger is CHEAP). Also, I managed to get back roughly what I gave up to acquire him. So the Keppinger fiasco was a wash.

[Scruffy05]

Re: MLB 11 The Show &quot;Franchise/Season&quot; Progress Thread

I haven't updated my season here for awhile. Mid-August, I was half a game behind Milwaukee for the division lead. Now with 9 games to go, and having won 8 in a row and 12 out of 13, I'm up by 2 games. Milwaukee has matched me every step since then, making it a great race down the stretch. I have 2 left against the Pirates, then 4 on the road in LA and 3 on the road in Cincy. I always seem to struggle against LA, so that will be the hardest test the rest of the way.

I can't beat Houston, figure that out... like 1-6 against them.