OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Man tell me about it, I was hesitant on even signing the SP I feel like I'm being type cast by players and agents. Its funny to me, maybe I watch to many KBO highlights on twitter or something.

Relocate the team to an Asian city. Maybe Beijing or Seoul. Or find a small town in Japan the NPB ignored.

Go with it. Become the home of Asian baseball players everywhere.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

On 7/23 Thor made history. He threw a perfect game in front of the home crowd. Thor struck out 17 Padres en route to the second no hitter in Mets history and the first perfect game since 2012.

[canes21]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

I feel like the White Sox have given me two great deals in my franchise. Sean Newcomb got hurt, torn meniscus 4+ months, so my need at SP grew tenfold. I was already trying to get Garrett Richards from LAA, but after 3-4 weeks of talking we hadn't reached a deal. Well, right after Newcomb got hurt I saw the White Sox were unhappy with Carlos Rodon's start to the year and were shopping him around. I contacted their GM and all he wanted from me was Ian Anderson and William Contreras . I accepted that in a heartbeat. Anderson looks like he may be a solid pitcher, but I for whatever reason was not sold on him. Call it being a GM and thinking I am smarter than the scouting department.

Two days later I got an email from the LAA GM with the 127th counter offer in dealing for Garret Richards. It was something I finally could agree to. I ended up sending Max Fried, Wes Parsons, Kolby Allard, Brandon McCarthy, and Ryan Schimpf to the Angels in return for Richards. The Angels also retained 40% of his salary.

I like Fried, but at 24 his value is lower to me than it may be to many others. Wes Parson is another guy I just don't see turning into anything I'll miss. Allard I did like and was reluctant to send him off, but Richards is proven and already better than Allard is projected to be, or says my know it all scouting department. McCarthy is older, on the tail end of his career, and costing me $10 mil. I retained none of his contract and the Angels retaining 40% of Richards made me gain an additional $5 to 6 mil in my budget. Schimpf had no place in my organizational view and was just an extra, irrelevant piece to the deal.

In 2 days my pitching staff got stronger despite losing Newcomb to an injury. All of a sudden a rotation of Richards, Rodon, Teheran, Foltynewicz, and Kazmir doesn't sound as bad. It isn't elite, but it can certainly give my team the chance to win more ballgames. I'd love to move Kazmir, but I don't see it happening unless I retain a huge chunk of his contract and get a nobody in return. I'll have to live with him.

Back to the White Sox giving me deals. It's now May 18th and I was looking at Zack Collins since he was a Miami player and I wanted him on my team even more because of that. I contact my newfound buddy over at the White Sox front office and ask him what Zack Collins is worth to him. He said give me RF Alex Jackson and a PS4 and we'll call it a deal. I said yes before he could finish his sentence and now I have Zack Collins in my system. Maybe my scout is wrong and Collins isn't going to be a 75(20-80 scale) catcher, but my heart and Miami-bias says he will be so I view that as a steal. I need to come back to this guy in the future.

I've made 3 trades by May 18th. I didn't plan to make "so many" moves already, but an unexpected injury plays a role in that. I still want to get my rotation a bit stronger. I like the Braves bullpen for now. This first year clearly isn't a win it all year, but with my 25-19 start I would like to see if I can make a push for a wildcard even though I am still first in the NL East.

With the draft coming up I see a lot of good arms in there that can easily replace what I gave up, especially for Richards. I was able to keep my more highly valued prospects, though Fried and Allard hurt to lose, but like I said, I can replace them in this draft alone.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Giancarlo Stanton Signs With Twins
$143 Million Deal Highlights Early Offseason

The Twins aren't messing around. After winning the AL Central last season with 104 wins, they are showing that they want more.

Giancarlo Stanton will swat balls for the Twin Cities as he agreed to a $143 million deal that covers five years. He will join a middle of the order that includes Yasiel Puig and Miguel Sano. The Twins finished 11th in the AL in home runs, but that figures to go up a few notches now.

"AL teams are probably running scared right now. This team was scary enough with their best-in-the-AL pitching and now they add Stanton? Be afraid, American League, " analyst Dan Plesac commented.

Stanton was happy to stay in the AL, saying that he "couldn't believe the Yankees didn't want to keep me" and that "they will regret that and I will show them every game we play against them".

Stanton hit 54 home runs last season. He hit 42 the year before and 62 in his first year with the Yankees.

Diamondbacks Woos James Paxton

The Ketel Marte trade might have made this possible as the Diamondbacks found the money room to make a big offer to James Paxton, locking him up for a five-year, $120 million contract.

Paxton was probably the most coveted pitching in this year's free agent class. He led the AL in WAR with 5.3 for the Mariners and posted a 4.4 WAR in 2018.

"Paxton doesn't do a lot of things excellent, but he does almost nothing wrong and makes few mistakes. He doesn't take big risks with his pitches so he kind of has an even, steady streak to his performance that always keeps his team in the game, " one scout commented.

Paxton went 15-10 with a 3.31 ERA in 196 innings of work for the Mariners last season. He will head up a staff that was one of the worst in the NL last season.

Cubs Extend Rizzo, Re-sign Quintana

The Cubs signed one of their stars in the person of Anthony Rizzo. Player and team came together on a $160 million contract extension that lasts for the next six years.

Rizzo is a centerpiece for the Cubs lineup, stroking 41 HR and collecting 104 RBI. He, along with Ian Happ, scored 117 runs as well. Rizzo posted a .995 OPS and over 7 WAR last season.

"Glad to hear he's locked up, " manager Miguel Centena commented, "Having him in the middle makes my job easier. He can manufacture the runs so I don't have to figure it out."

The Cubs also brought back Jose Quintana. The pitcher had refused extension talks and tested the market. He decided to return to the Cubs and sign a $23 million per year offer sheet that is rumored to be good for six years.

Quintana was 11-8 with a 3.51 ERA and a 4.12 FIP last season. He worked 156 innings, striking out 132 batters.

Rule 5 Draft

Marlins Selections
C Kyle Overstreet - He was selected to be direct competition for J.T. Realmuto as the team looks for either an upgrade to the position or an increase in Realmuto's offensive production. Overstreet seems to be a good OBP type hitter that makes a lot of contact. He would likely displace Telis at the least.

SP Jacob Nix - Nix will be a candidate for a rotation spot. Only three are settled (Park, Ohtani, Saotome), so Nix will have a decent chance to get a spot if he does well in Spring Training.

Marlins Players Selected
No Marlins were selected in the draft.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

CAROLINA KNIGHTS 2018 AMATEUR DRAFT



1st Rd Pick

Spoiler

2nd Rd Pick

Spoiler

3rd Rd Pick

Spoiler

4th Rd Pick

Spoiler

5th Rd Pick

Spoiler

6th Rd Pick

Spoiler

7th Rd Pick

Spoiler

8th Rd Pick

Spoiler

9th Rd Pick

Spoiler

10th Rd Pick

Spoiler

Summary

Spoiler

An exciting new phase in the life of an expansion franchise. The Carolina Knights found themselves drafting once again, but this time it was picking out amateur players. The Knights had the 2nd pick, slotted in after the Montreal Expos. The Expos selected RHP Casey Mize out of Auburn University with the 1-1 pick. Mize projects to be a mid-rotation starter with an above average-to-plus fastball/slider/splitter arsenal.

Bobby Cox was seriously torn with pick 1-2 and kept scouting director Kevin Ramsey working continuously from draft pool reveal until the June 4th draft. Of the 20 or so personally scouted players, there were about a half-dozen in consideration at 1-2, but only three of those six were seriously agonized over. It came down to either power-mashing 1B/LF/RF type Lawrence Butler, right-handed pitcher Ethan Hankins, or second baseman Duke Kinamon. The scouting director wanted Kinamon badly. No matter how many times I mashed the "recommend" button, he never changed his mind. However, Hankins would go 1-3 to the Tigers and Kinamon was picked 1-9 by San Diego.

Carolina decided on Butler with the second overall pick. A somewhat risky move because OSA is nowhere near as high on Butler as the Knights' scouting director. Butler signed for $2.3MM which was $800K above his 'extremely hard' demand, but $500K below the $2.8MM slot value.

Ramsey's report on the 17-year-old Butler read thusly:

Lawrence Butler is a big 6-foot-3, 200-pound left fielder from Atlanta, Georgia. He has elite power potential. He should be great at working the count and drawing walks. As he develops he should be able to play the left fielder position at the next level. Butler has the highest ceiling imaginable as an elite first baseman.

Despite the confusion about what position he will actually play, there seems to be little question about his power. The major issue to be determined is his hit tool. Carolina rates it as 16/43 (100-pt scale) whereas OSA sees it as 3/3, and basically not close to a major league talent.

OSA was similarly down on Carolina's 2nd round pick, Max Alba. Alba is an 18-year-old 6'5" 190-pound righty out of Franklin, WI who has quite the repertoire. He throws 90-92 mph and features a 40/59 sinker, 32/71 slider, 14/49 changeup, and a 12/69...knuckleball.

Ramsey's report:

Originally acquired by the Carolina Knights in the 2nd round of the 2018 draft, Max Alba is a 6-foot-5, 190-pound starting pitcher. He projects to have a great slider and an excellent knuckleball in his four-pitch repertoire. He pounds the zone and has good movement on his pitches which should help keep the ball in the park. Alba should end up near the top of any major league rotation.

OSA disagrees vehemently. They like his changeup but little else.

Without going into too much detail with the other 8 players featured in spoilers above (and the 25 rounds not pictured), Bobby Cox feels this draft was a rousing success. Not only did the Knights spend just $4MM in total bonus money, despite allotting $10MM for the draft, but they got some potential generational talents at the top of the draft (risky, but high ceiling) while getting some sure things in the middle rounds. Cox made it a special point to prioritize players that both scouting director Kevin Ramsey and OSA were high on. 3rd-round power RHP Luke Shilling (93-95 MPH with possibly the best curveball in the draft), 5th round UCLA product Brian Gadsby (a funky sidewinding righty who throws 86-88 MPH with nasty stuff), 6th-round LSU righty Zack Hess (93-95 MPH with possibly the best slider in the draft and my new top prospect), 7th-round UTIL Nick Guimbarda, and 10th-round RHP Austin Leonard (who OSA thinks is gonna strike out people to the tune of 37/96 stuff) are all fairly safe bets with exciting potential.

The prospect hounds among Carolina's new fan base will be quite pleased.

[jvalverde88]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress





I decided to check the FAs since it was right before the start of ST and I saw he was still available. I said screw it and tried to sign him to a 1 year deal and lo and behold he was asking for the same type of deal. I lost a 1st round pick but its a late pick so I didn't really lose anything.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Opening Day 2021

NL Season Predictions:

Spoiler

Predicted NL Top Players:

Spoiler

These predictions are rather interesting. The Marlins are expected to be in the Wild Card race with the Diamondbacks again expected to be the mix. In fact, a tie for the second NL Wild Card is predicted, which is rather interesting.

On top of that, the Marlins are expected to have no top hitters or pitchers. So, either BNN is all-in on the total team effort style of the Marlins or they know something no one else does.

"We're supposed to stink our way to 88 wins I guess, " K.L. chuckled, "I mean, I'd take it, I just think we'll have at least one or two guys do well. What's funny about all this? BNN has Royce Lewis as the #2 player in the whole league with Se-woong Park right behind him at #3. Yet they won't have among the top performances in the NL?"


Opening Day Pitching Staff:
(last season's stats shown)

Spoiler

Last year's NL ERA leader will be the Marlins Opening Day starter with Ohtani moving up from #3 to #2, swapping places with Saotome.

New faces in the rotation include Carlos Rodon, who was signed to a small 1-year contract. He was amazing in Spring Training and outright won a spot in the rotation. Jacob Nix, one of the team's Rule 5 selections, was also very strong, earning himself a spot.

That leaves Sandy Alcantara, who has more lives than a cat. Every time it looks like he will fall out of the rotation, someone does worse or looks overwhelmed and he claims a spot. This year, Jorge Guzman looked the part and was demoted to AAA-New Orleans. Some wonder if it's his back acting up again because he looked terrible and played terrible.

Of course, the elephant in the room is Jared Dixon. He got some spring action and looked decent but not great in his spring work. That said, scouts got a good look at him and they think he is close to being ready. Should this progress continue, Dixon might make his way to the majors around the All-Star Break.

"I think he'll have to wait a bit to hit the majors, but he will be throwing 98 MPH sinkers at people's ankles before he'll take his first legal drink. I'm pretty sure of that, " head scout Stan Meek spoke.

In the bullpen, Moya will be the team's closer, something he's eager and excited to do. He was the team's best reliever and no reason not to give him the opportunity. An interesting development involved Tyler Kolek. After initially resisting any idea of being in the bullpen, a spring ERA of 0.76 in relief usage seemed to warm him to the idea. He dropped all objections and agreed to serve in the bullpen. He will be the team's right-handed set-up man/middle relief swing pitcher, coming in any time during the second half of the game before the 9th inning.

Mejia is a surprise, and some say questionable, addition to the bullpen. However, he played well in the spring so he stuck. Making the jump from High-A will be interesting to watch, and if he struggles, how long the leash is.

Opening Day Lineup:
(last season stats shown)

Spoiler

Unable to find an upgrade to first base and with Justin Bour departing to the NPB, the Marlins moved Ketel Marte to first base, which he was able to learn with ease.

Yordan Alvarez will likely be taking over 1B sooner than later as the young hitter matures. When (if) that happens, then Richard Urena will be back under pressure to hang on to second base or else he may be moving on to another team or will have to adapt to being a bench player.

Arriving to the majors is the Marlins 2018 1st round pick, Max Marusak. He's taking a utility "where ever you need me" role for now, but Monte Harrison might be getting challenged again. Center field is Harrison's to lose, but he might want to start doing a better job acting (and playing) like he wants to hold on to the spot.

Marusak, for his part, is trying to endear himself to his new teammates and buying into the team culture. He hung several signs around the clubhouse that read: Organized Chaos. Controlled Aggression. Winners. 2021 Marlins.

Overstreet and Realmuto battled to a draw, essentially, in the spring, so the two will split the position as the season opens.

"We'll put someone in because I need to know who to write on the lineup card, but both men will get plenty of time to show who deserves it more, " manager Don Mattingly spoke.

Also making a jump from High-A to the majors is Isael Soto. He's an aggressive swinger that looks to launch the ball every cut he takes. The approach has seen some success at Jupiter as nearly half his hits went for extra bases in each of the last two seasons. He's here mostly due to an injury to Magneuris Sierra, who sprained his knee in spring action and will miss at least 5 more weeks.


Organizational Depth:

Spoiler

Pretty clear where the quickest path to the majors lies right now: Catcher, first base, and second base.

Kristofer Armstrong is an interesting situation, aside from the unique spelling of his first name.

Armstrong is trying to become a two-way player in his own right. He's given his minor league managers fits with his insistence on it, and so far it's not slowed his progress, though that might be changing. As a first baseman, he's got the best potential in the organization, but he's stuck in AA because his pitching side is not catching up.

"If he would just drop it because it's not working for him, he might be at AAA at the least, " AA manager John Farrell commented.

Armstrong, however, is determined that he can pitch and play first base. He finally got the chance to start on the mound and play first base at Greensboro after being a bullpen arm for two seasons. He posted a 3.97 ERA in 118 innings, going 7-5 with a 1.30 WHIP. At the plate, he racked up a .329/.379/.538 line in 330 AB.

"I'm sure I can do it. I even had Scott [Aldred, Greensboro's pitching coach] teach me a change-up before I got promoted so I can have four pitches to use, " Armstrong spoke at an interview, "I wish they would just let me learn and stop trying to get in my way."

Whether its for the hitting or the pitching, or both, Armstrong has slowly crept up BNN's prospect rankings. He was not in the top 200 when he was drafted, but now is a #158 on their list.

The team's top prospect remains Jared Dixon, who's also the #1 prospect in baseball again according to BNN. Others that made the top 100 include Tyler Kolek (68th) and James Nelson (71st).

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Well - the power suddenly cut out in the middle of a save and corrupted the database.

For whatever reason, it's taking me back to 2018. I don't why it's not loading my backup...unless that got corrupted too...

UGH.

I don't know if I want to start over and replay the last 3 years...try to put the team back with forcing trades (that won't fix the rest of the league though)...or just start over with another team...

[notsobabybombers]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Well - the power suddenly cut out in the middle of a save and corrupted the database.

For whatever reason, it's taking me back to 2018. I don't why it's not loading my backup...unless that got corrupted too...

UGH.

I don't know if I want to start over and replay the last 3 years...try to put the team back with forcing trades (that won't fix the rest of the league though)...or just start over with another team...

Man, that's terrible.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Man, that's terrible.

I think I'll just replay the 3 years and post again when I'm back to 2021.

Hopefully, I can get Ohtani again...I was so excited to get him because the Angels changed direction of their franchise and the new GM didn't like Ohtani's hitting.

Or perhaps I could just play my Red Sox. I don't know if big market teams are "easier" but dealing with the Yankees and the AL East in general might be something different.

[N51_rob]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

I decided to check the FAs since it was right before the start of ST and I saw he was still available. I said screw it and tried to sign him to a 1 year deal and lo and behold he was asking for the same type of deal. I lost a 1st round pick but its a late pick so I didn't really lose anything.

What did Harper sign for and where?

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Actually, I'm going to start a Red Sox save.

I will set some goals for myself to help guide how I want build the franchise.

-450 non-HR extra base hits in a season

-Either a rotation of "all Wakefields" (all knuckleballers), or all 300+ K's pitchers.

-#1 farm system in the league, hopefully without rebuilding or taking a step back (i.e. keep pushing for at least playoffs and still have #1 farm)

I'll probably post less often. Probably starting draft time/mid point of 2018 or maybe just start at 2019.

Thoughts?

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Decided to restart the Marlins franchise.

Now to get back to 2021. LOL... *cries*

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Decided to restart the Marlins franchise.

Now to get back to 2021. LOL... *cries*

You just can't quit them. I remember you also had a pretty long MLB The Show chise with the fishes as well. What was that star pitcher's name? Moses or something a bit unusual?

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

You just can't quit them. I remember you also had a pretty long MLB The Show chise with the fishes as well. What was that star pitcher's name? Moses or something a bit unusual?

Ah - Boeve. Damian Boeve. He was such a bad ***. That Dixon kid reminded me so much of him.

Yep and I started a Marlins one in MLB18 and brought over a few of those guys (via editing).

I guess I remember that this was a franchise that had TWO World Series...and were blown up each time. Since I'm a Marlins fan, it was really sad to see.

I thought about the White Sox, honestly. I never really played them in any franchise. Either them or the Padres.