OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

As a newbie here, I'd love to see a thread started for that!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Operation Sports mobile app

Well it's there. Start breaking it in

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Pujols and Colon Retire

Two grizzled veterans decided to retire on top as both Albert Pujols and Bartolo Colon decided to retire after the Angels dramatic postseason run.

Pujols will retire with 622 career home runs, putting him in consideration for the Hall of Fame. He has a .304 batting average and 1,947 RBI to go with it. He has 81.5 career WAR.

Colon retires with a 246-178 record and a 4.07 ERA. He pitched 3,441 innings and struck out 2,533 batters. He has 39.6 career WAR.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Free Agency Begins
Angels Ponder Options

Despite winning it all last season, the Angels have some areas that could use improving and retirements galore have left the team with plenty of cash to go shopping.

Jose Abreu can fill the hole at 1B and go back to his natural position. But that would leave both corner outfield spots as position to consider improving. Blash turned out to be a decent bat, but still the team might consider upgrading.

The rotation will be in flux. Garrett Richards turned down the Angels extension offer. Ohtani and Shoemaker has spots secured. Zach Petrick likely did enough to warrant another chance. That would leave question marks around Tyler Skaggs and the potential return of Alex Meyer, who seems to have held up well from his shoulder reconstructive surgery and rehab. He has five more weeks, which will be enough time for him to heal for spring training.

The Angels could use Meyer in the bullpen, another area of need, to assess his health and easy him back into a baseball routine. If so, then the Angels will need at least two starters.

There's possible options out there. Bryce Harper has hit the open market. He will be a tempting target for improving right field. Clayton Kershaw has also hit the open market and having a top-2 of Kershaw-Ohtani has to be appealing for the Angels. The fans might go completely nuts if Kershaw was "stolen" from the other L.A. team.

Machado, Miller, Blackmon, Donaldson, heck even Beltre might be worth checking out on reasonable terms. The 39-year-old put up another 3.5 WAR season with very steady overall performance.

"Getting Kershaw. I really like the sound of that. He'd check a lot of boxes off on the field and in the clubhouse, " GM Xander Yarrow commented, "But to be sure, there's more than a couple options to consider."

[notsobabybombers]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

KBL, congrats on the quick success with your Angels! What a way to win the WS, beating the rival Dodgers in 7! Wow.

Well, everybody, this game has officially reached drug-like status for me. My laptop has been on the fritz, so I've been unable to play OOTP since last night. (A whole day! haha) I took my laptop to the IT department at school today and they took a look at it. I just got it back and, thankfully, everything is working. (Nervously knocks on wood.)

Now, it's time to get back to it, just in time for the first Yankees/Red Sox game of the season.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Kershaw Arrives
Ace Signs Six Year Deal

GM Yarrow's top target was landed as the Winter Meetings Began.

"The Angels were first team to contact me and they pretty much met me where I was. Being able to stay in the Los Angeles area also helped. Much more stability for my family, " Kershaw commented, "I'm eager to help the NEW Los Angeles team repeat as champions!"

Kershaw immediately bolsters the Angels rotation, takes some pressure from Ohtani, and has whipped an already excited fan base into a total frenzy.

"Start printing World Series tickets!" a fan yelled in a sports bar where everyone was watching MLBN's coverage of the Winter Meetings, "Clayton is ours!"

[N51_rob]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Well gentlemen, my 2023 season is officially over and its only July 1st. More than that there is a very good chance I will be out in Baltimore at the end of this year.

My guys basically gave up in June and there is no coming back from the month we had. They went 4-21 in June. Currently sitting 18.5 games back. Bobby Witt Jr, who started to play better in AA suffered a concussion and is down for 5 weeks, so his 2023 is pretty much done.

Offensively Griffin Conine has continued to be a great addition in RF. He has 23 homers (only 51 RBIs though) his slash .267/.334/.535 is one of the best on the team. On the other end of the spectrum is Joc Pederson who by the look of it is just cashing checks. I've moved him up and down the line trying to find him a place and protection in the lineup and nothing seems to help. He is only hitting .205 this year and his 10 HRs are the fewest he's had in Baltimore this late in the season. Even his OBP of .355 is a far cry from the .425 he posted last year. 1B Jedd Gyorko continues to fill a need at the position with his bat, nothing special, but productive.

The pitching that was surprising early has gone into the toilet as of late. Jeremy Good who was 7-2 entering June and getting some All-Star and Cy Young mentioning went 0-3 in 5 starts and saw his era rise from 3.77 to 5.49. Dylan Bundy is finally back but not sure what if anything he can really add at this point. Its not all bad news in the rotation 23 year old lefty SP Matthew Turner notched 5 starts in the month and went 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA. Not only that, but in in those 5 starts he's managed to pitch 27 innings giving the bullpen what break he can. Lin continues to do what he can when given the chance he has 19 saves in 30 innings.

In the draft we kept firing bullets at SPs. Bringing in Sam Bilbrey who's fastball and curve project to be plus or better him developing his change will determine if he gets a shot in the rotations or pen as he moves through the minors.

Gonna be honest this is probably the lowest I've felt this late in the season. We ended up trading Chase Anderson to Memphis for Catcher Meibrys Viloria as we no longer needed Anderson with Bundy coming back and #2 catcher is a position that Viloria improves. Gonna see what we can do to bring things back these. We need to win 50 of the last 77 games to finish at .500 lol. Despite all that we are at least on track to bring in more revenue Year over Year so thaere's that...

Picture of the international FA we have targeted to go after. 16 years old so no telling if I'll be around to even see if he develops.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Angels Set to Begin 2019 Campaign
Team Expect to Duel Astros for Division

<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><link href="http://dynasties.operationsports.com/css/depth_chart.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></head><body><div id="depthchart"><div class="teamheader" style="background:#B51349;">Los Angeles Angels Depth Chart - 2019</div><div class="depthchart"><div id="catcher"><ul><li class="title">Catcher</li><li class="odd"><b>Wilson Ramos (.232/20/64)</b></li><li class="even">Reese McGuire (Rule 5)</li></ul></div><div id="first_base"><ul><li class="title">First Base</li><li class="odd"><b>Jose Abreu (.285/24/94)</b></li><li class="even">Bobby Bradley (Rule 5)</li></ul></div><div id="second_base"><ul><li class="title">Second Base</li><li class="odd"><b>Nick Solak (only 22 PA)</b></li><li class="even">Daniel Robertson</li></ul></div><div id="third_base"><ul><li class="title">Third Base</li><li class="odd"><b>Zack Cozart (.241/21/58)</b></li><li class="even">Daniel Robertson (.211/9/53)</li></ul></div><div id="shortstop"><ul><li class="title">Shortstop</li><li class="odd"><b>Andrelton Simmons (.298/6/71)</b></li><li class="even">Daniel Robertson</li></ul></div><div id="left_field"><ul><li class="title">Left Field</li><li class="odd"><b>Gerardo Parra (.338/6/50)</b></li><li class="even">Kole Calhoun (.223/15/59)</li></ul></div><div id="center_field"><ul><li class="title">Center Field</li><li class="odd"><b>Mike Trout (.316/54/126)</b></li><li class="even">Luis Carpio (Rule 5)</li></ul></div><div id="right_field"><ul><li class="title">Right Field</li><li class="odd"><b>Jabari Blash (.220/20/47)</b></li><li class="even">Kole Calhoun</li></ul></div><div id="rightcol"><ul style="margin-bottom:5px;"><li class="title">Starting Pitcher</li><li class="odd"><b>Clayton Kershaw (17-8, 2.85)</b></li><li class="even">Matt Shoemaker (12-6, 3.38)</li><li class="odd">Shohei Ohtani (15-11, 4.51)</li><li class="even">Zach Petrick (8-11, 4.89)</li><li class="odd">Gregory Soto (Rule 5)</li></ul><ul style="margin-bottom:5px;"><li class="title">Relief Pitcher</li><li class="odd"><b>Cam Bedrosian (9-6, 3.61)</b></li><li class="even">Alex Meyer (injured, no stats)</li><li class="odd">Alex Colome (5-7, 5.49)</li><li class="even">Jose Alvarez (7-5, 3.99)</li><li class="odd">Bruce Rondon (0-2, 2.71)</li><li class="even">Trevor Rosenthal (injured, no stats)</li></ul><ul><li class="title">Closer</li><li class="odd"><b>Zach Britton (25 Sv, 3.14)</b></li></ul></div><div id="leftcol"><ul style="margin-bottom:5px;"><li class="title">Designated Hitter</li><li class="odd"><b>Shohei Ohtani (.307/13/59)</b></li></ul></div></div></div></body></html>








Overall, the Angels pitching is expected to be their strength, projected to be second in the AL, just behind the Tampa Bay Rays.

The big weakness will probably be the same as last year, inconsistent offense.

Hopefully, a full season of Jose Abreu will help that and if Jabari Blash can keep improving, that will help as well. Wilson Ramos figures to be an upgrade at catcher, where the Angels got next to nothing offensively.

And there's Jahmai Jones looming. Expectations are that he was sent down to AAA just to refine his defense at left field and gain experience. He was impressive in spring training, batting .350 with some power.

The Angels might pursue a bat as the season goes on, but their farm is not impressive, especially if/when Jahmai Jones sticks in the majors. He's one of only two top 100 prospects. It is equally likely that the Angels will carry on with the offense they have and try to squeeze runs out of it and hope the pitching staff can do a good job keeping the team in games as they did in the postseason.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: Carolina Knights Update

AUGUST 1, 2018

Season Record: 49-64 (15 GB NL East, 16 GB Wild Card)
July Record: 12-16
Position: 4th Place NL East

Pics

Spoiler

The Carolina Knights expansion franchise couldn't quite keep up its .500 pace from May/June. The Knights had a couple of tough stretches in July and finished 12-16 for the month (49-64 thru 113 games). However, Carolina maintains its 4th place position in the division with a 7.5 game lead on Philly and a 10 game lead over the tanking Marlins. The Knights are also in prime position to beat out the Expos, who are a whopping 33 games below .500 (40-73), for expansion franchise of the year. The Expos lost both Chris Owings and Charlie Morton (their 1st round expansion pick) for the season a while ago.

Roster-wise, July began with Carolina INF Jorge Polanco being reinstated from the restricted list and 1B Luke Voit being sent down to AAA to scrap with Sam Travis for organizational relevance. Polanco has been sharing SS duties with light-hitting Nick Ahmed in July as well as spelling 2B and 3B positions. However, Polanco hasn't really given the team much beyond versatility with his .181/.214/.277 line through 99 plate appearances. Voit wasn't much better before being demoted; he had a .203/.269/.308 slash line with 3 HR in 133 ABs. Voit has been worse still at AAA Providence so he will need to stop sulking and soon.

The month of July was also much more active than Bobby Cox expected it would be on the transaction front. Thinking he had made all his moves already (4 deals in May, 2 in June), Cox was an unwitting, frequent target of trade feelers from other GMs. He certainly enjoyed shutting down Toronto's ill-conceived offer of LHP Ryan Borucki straight up for RHP Dellin Betances, but some legitimate business was conducted.

The first deal that Carolina swung in July was sending 31-year-old LHP Ryan Buchter to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers originally broached this idea of Buchter for 24-year-old RHP Nick Gardewine, but Cox was able to get them to sweeten the offer. Along with Gardewine, Carolina acquired 23-year-old LHP Joe Palumbo and 23-year-old OF Jairo Beras. Buchter was slated to go through arbitration for the first time next season and a salary near $2MM seemed too rich for a lefty specialist on an expansion team. Also, Buchter was having a phenomenal season: 1.71 ERA 1.02 WHIP 11.4 K/9 in 42 IP for Carolina--it was a good time to deal him. Both Gardewine and Palumbo give the Knights bullpen options with strikeout stuff that are doing quite well at AAA, but most importantly have next-to-nil MLB service time. Beras is a high-power-upside lottery ticket that comes with a lot of risk. The type of player you shortlist, forget about, and find out he hit 40 HR in AAA 2 or 3 years later. Time will tell.

The second deal (of 4) of July was actually Carolina's idea. Looking at the salary page and depth chart, they noticed that Steven Souza Jr. was projected to earn $4MM in arb year 2 next year, but his backup Phil Ervin was both putting up better numbers (.229/.313/.360 9 HR 37 RBI in 314 AB for Souza; .243/.356/.391 6 HR 18 RBI in 202 AB for Ervin) and will be making minimum wage until 2021. Accordingly, Carolina installed Ervin as the starting RF (Ervin promptly homered off of Clayton Kershaw in his 1st game as the starting RF) and shipped 29-year-old Souza + 28-year-old RHP Matt Andriese + 2 filler players to Pittsburgh for rehabbing 25-year-old RHP Nick Burdi and 25-year-old UTIL Chris Bostick. Andriese was pitching very poorly for Carolina and was set to be arbitration eligible...bye Felicia. The Knights don't really care that Burdi will be out for a few months while rehabbing his surgically-repaired UCL. He figures to be a great, cheap bullpen piece in the years ahead. Bostick provides a player than can play INF/OF and could fill in adequately in a pinch. Impressively, Carolina somehow got Pittsburgh to take on money in the deal while sending back $250K in cash.

Deal #3 of the month was initiated by the Tampa Bay Rays. They offered up 24-year-old RHP Diego Castillo for 26-year-old RHP Michael Lorenzen. The Rays would sweeten with 23-year-old RHP Kevin Gadea. Lorenzen, like Buchter before him, was having an outstanding year in the pen: 2.39 ERA 1.10 WHIP in 49 IP. And, also like Buchter, was due a healthy raise in arbitration next year. Castillo was the prize here for Carolina and, with less than 1 year of MLB service time, projects to be striking people out alongside Nick Burdi and Dellin Betances for the forseeable future.

The 4th and final deal Carolina was involved in was a relatively minor trade deadline day thing. The Knights shopped and shipped off slightly injured (dtd) 30-year-old RHP Nathan Karns to Toronto for slightly injured (dtd) 25-year-old OF Teoscar Hernandez. This was mostly a financial move because Karns was due an arbitration raise and had been pitching well lately. Karns made 20 starts for Carolina while 6-7 with a 4.47 ERA, 94 K, and 49 BB in 114.2 IP (0.5 WAR).

Aside from trades, the biggest developments have been Breyvic Valera continuing to hit and Collin McHugh going back into the crapper. Valera is now batting .317/.345/.443 with 6 HR and 35 RBI in 309 AB (2.1 WAR). After batting .333 in June, he decided to take it up a notch and hit .349 in July. He's played himself into contention for the NL ROY award along with Brett Phillips (2.9 WAR), J.P. Crawford (2.6 WAR), and Franchy Cordero (2.3 WAR). It would appear that Carolina has a 2nd baseman here.

McHugh, on the other hand, has been terrible. The Knights' #1 starter had a 6.10 ERA in July while giving up 1.7 HR/9 and 4.9 BB/9. He's got a 6-13 record with a 5.10 ERA in 143 IP this season. The owner saw fit to step in and give McHugh a 1-year extension for $5.76MM when he was due only $5.5MM in arbitration. Dude. Bruh. Could've low-balled him in arbitration after this season, but...bruh. Really hurts the penny pincher in me.

Odds and Ends

*It's been a brutal year for Baltimore. First, Buck Showalter was dumped on April 17th, then both Dylan Bundy and Alex Cobb were lost for the season. Chris Davis is batting .157 with 9 HRs while making $23MM. They've struggled to a 41-72 record. Owner Peter Angelos passed away on trade deadline day. His son "Jorge Angelos" takes over and is said to be fiscally "charitable" and a "tolerant" owner. So...maybe it's actually been a good season for the O's?

*Baltimore OF Austin Hays has been amazing and is a near shoo-in for AL ROY. He's first among AL rookies in batting average (.320), HRs (28), RBI (68), OBP (.350), SLG (.623), OPS (.973), wOBA (.406), WAR (4.5). Shohei Ohtani (1.7 WAR) is a very distant suitor for AL ROY.

*Billy Hamilton has, uh, 74 stolen bases and still 50-ish games to play.

*Ross Stripling is leading the majors in both ERA (2.22) and wins (17). He's not in the top 10 in pitcher WAR, however.

[notsobabybombers]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Chicago Cubs, Champions Again!

The Cubs broke the Billy Goat Curse in 2016 when they beat the Indians in a classic World Series. Last year, their championship defense ended when they fell to the Dodgers in five games in the NLCS. In 2018, Chicago was determined to get back to the mountaintop and win another championship. The Cubbies looked dominant for stretches throughout the first half of the season. They somewhat cooled off in the second half but they still won 101 games and won the NL Central by a whopping 22 games. (Pittsburgh was in 2nd place with a 79-83 record.) The club ranked second in the NL with 771 runs scored with only the sixth best batting average. More impressively, the team led the NL in runs against , the starters had the 2nd best ERA, as did the bullpen and the defense also ranked second in the NL.

Last year’s prize acquisition, Jose Quintana, shined in his first full year as a Cub. He won the ERA crown and was second in the majors with 10 shutouts. Anthony Rizzo was one of the best hitters in the NL, as he ranked in the top five in several major categories. He led the NL in extra base hits and ranked second in isolated power.

It was a bit of a tough year injury wise; several members of the rotation spent chunks of time on the DL, including this year’s big addition, Yo Darvish, who was limited to 23 games. Jon Lester (5/30) and Carl Edwards (8/14) went down for the year but the club aggressively traded for Matt Moore in on the first day of June and Cole Hamels in July to compensate. Hamels had a 2.09 ERA in 14 GS with the Cubs. The team will likely decline his $20 million dollar team option for 2019, but they’ll likely want to bring him back at a lower price.

The team claimed legendary Ichiro Suzuki on Aug 1, which really boosted the already amazing fan interest. Ichiro played terribly (.136 BA) but he was a boost for the fans and the team itself. Howkie Kendrick was already claimed off waivers and he played very well (.338 BA in 36 games.) A bunch of receivers such as Greg Holland, Brian Moran and Colton Murray, joined the team and played very well. Jorge Alfaro was claimed off waivers and hit .400 in 7 games with the big league club. However, Victor Caratini’s versatility and prolonged time with the team (.300 in 100 games) stand in his way. Steve Cishek had a 1.82 ERA which somewhat made up for disappointing seasons by Morrow and Wilson.

As for the playoffs, the Cubs drew the NL Wildcard, the Phillies, in the NLDS. (Chicago had the best record in the NL.) Philly stole G1 in Chicago, winning with a Maikel Franco HR off Justin Wilson in the 11th inning. The Cubs won the next three games, though, to take the series. Then, Chicago met the Dodgers in a rematch of last year’s NLCS. LA was a bit banged up from injuries, and the Cubs, like sharks in the water, smelled blood. Chicago got sweet revenge as they swept the Dodgers in the NLCS.

In the WS, the Cubs met the Yankees, who upset the team with the best record in baseball, the Oakland A’s, in the ALCS. Chicago took games one and two at home, outscoring NY 14-7. The Yankees took the next three games in New York, though, putting the Cubs on the brink of elimination. Joe Madden rallied his troops, though, as the Cubs easily beat the Yankees in games six and seven to win the championship. 2018 All Star Kris Bryant won the NLCS MVP and the WS MVP. First time All Star Willson Contreras won NLDS MVP. Hayward made the ASG. Quintana made his first ASG, as did Cishek and Morrow. Rizzo somehow missed out.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Angels in First at the Break
Warts Remain, However

Overview

The Angels have had a successful title defense campaign to this point. The team has reached as high as a .630 winning percentage but has hovered around .600 for much of the year after a slow couple of weeks to start the year.

The team has a 58-39 record and is currently in 1st place in the AL West by 2 1/2 games over the Oakland A's. The two teams are heading in opposite directions. The Angels have lost five straight while the A's are 6-4 in their last 10 games.


Batting and Fielding

The offense has improved...somewhat. However, it's not been for the expected reasons. It's largely been because Ohtani is becoming ridiculous at the plate.

The now 25-year-old Ohtani is hitting .350 and is posting a .928 OPS through the All-Star Break.

"He's feeling more comfortable, getting more a handle on how to prepare and think along with the pitchers and with the counts, " hitting coach Tim Bogar commented, "It's impressive to see someone of his talent be willing to listen and take advice."

Scouts have been glowing about how Ohtani is improving in both facets of the game...and now...Ohtani is playing right field. And getting better at it.

The outfield situation has gotten that dire for the Angels. Gerardo Parra didn't work out and was waived. Jabari Blash is back to his .200 hitting ways and has been optioned to AAA-Salt Lake. Jahmai Jones has looked completely overmatched. The team even traded for Wil Meyers from the Padres a couple weeks into July, and the jury is out on if that will pan out.

So enter Ohtani from DH to RF. Adding one more thing to his plate. That's something that GM Xander Yarrow is concerned about, but not Mike Scoiscia, which was revealed when Myers arrived.

"I get why we made the move. Xander [Angels GM] is wanting to protect Ohtani from having to do too much and increasing the chance of an injury. I won't say anything bad about a player, but I wonder how Wil [Myers] will get along with some of the guys, " manager Mike Scoiscia commented, "So far, Ohtani has not failed at anything we've thrown at him. I understand, but maybe when Jahmai or Jabari can get right, we can move him back to DH."

So far, the GM has deferred to Scoiscia and left Ohtani in right field. To Ohtani's credit, he adapted well and perhaps his arm will deter base runners.

Elsewhere in the offense, Trout is doing "just" usual Trout things. No crazy hot runs for him to this point, but no real slumps either. He's on pace for "just" 43 home runs and a .990 OPS. That would drop off from last season's crazy run.

Nick Solak is not cutting it as an everyday player, but so far the team is tolerating his lack of production at the plate. Solak's defense has been competent, probably one reason why he remains as starter. He and Simmons seem to have synergy up the middle.


Pitching

For a while, Kershaw was giving fans anxiety. He started off the season looking very un-Kershaw-like, finishing April with a 4.30 ERA. Since then, he's looked more and more like his usual self, peaking in a June performance where he went 5-1 with a microscopic 1.46 ERA.

Ohtani on the mound has been decent, though he will have to prove that he can keep it up all season along. He's currently 8-4 with a 3.88 ERA, and the last couple months have shown that same dropping off, which is concerning.

The Gregory Soto experiment has been moved to the bullpen while Alex Meyer returns to the rotation. He, along with Chih-Wei Hu will try to round out the rotation down the stretch.

Matt Shoemaker has struggled in the first half, looking nothing like the dependable pitcher he was last season. He's been moved down in the rotation for the time being.

Oscar de la Cruz is still lurking in AAA-Salt Lake, slowly putting things together according to team pitching coaches.

"He's healthy, that's one thing, and that's letting him get time on the mound and in the video room instead of the trainer's table. It's starting to pay dividends, " Salt Lake pitching coach Chris Seddon spoke.

Angels pitching coach John Farrell agreed, saying, "I took a visit to him, just to see what the kid was like in person. I heard about him, of course, but once he reached the high minors, I wanted to see his stuff and how hitters reacted to it. I think he's getting ready."

The pick up of Zach Britton has been absolutely a godsend. He's provided the lockdown to any leads coming his way and has lowered his ERA to below 1.00 thus far.


Draft News

With the Angels losing their first and second round picks due to free agency compensation, finding top talent in the draft would be difficult at best. It, perhaps, was even more difficult than that as not a single one of the team's draftees was good enough in BNN's eyes to crack the team's top prospect report.

Perhaps the best of what was brought in comes in the person of 3B Steve Farlee. Early reports are that he's a hitter that should take walks and put the bat on the ball, but has a swing that seems prone to be too uppercut, causing him to hit lazy flies and pop ups.

When the swing works, he's a good bet for an extra base hit. So far, his performance has played along with this report as he's batting .254 with 11 of his 18 hits going for extra bases.

Pitcher Devon Roedahl, a 4th round selection, is pretty much the run-of-the-mill starting pitcher. He's got the usual pitches and seems as developed as you expect from a pitcher coming from college. Scouts and coaches like his smarts and his hustle, so hopefully that will let him separate from the pack.




Prospect News

"Knuckleball Bros" Max Alba and Octavio Lara both moved up to High-A to see some action there. Each has enjoyed mixed success in the Dominican Summer League, with Lara doing the better of the two.

Jordon Adell is sending very worrying signs that he just might flame out. He is again struggling at Class A-Burlington, hitting .210 with nothing much to show for it, nearly identical to last season's poor performance. Scouts aren't noting any improvements in his approach either, painting a very dire picture of his prospects going forward.

A pair of arrivals from the international complex will make their way to Orem to play in the Pioneer League. 16-year-old Japanese prospect Shinji Mukai, a finesse pitcher in every way, and Domenic Hutchinson, a 16-year-old outfielder from Australia who relieved glowing praise from scouts and was signed in the International Free Agency period, will both begin play for Orem immediately.

Overall, the Angels farm is struggling and the organization hopes that international talent will be a catalyst to feed talent to farm and, hopefully, the majors.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

I drafted Max Alba also.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

How's he doing for you? I'm hoping he turns into something. I need a good knuckleballer lol

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

How's he doing for you? I'm hoping he turns into something. I need a good knuckleballer lol

Struggling so far.

Drafted this season, Alba started at A ball: 5 IP 5.40 ERA 1.60 WHIP.

Promoted to Hi A: 51.2 IP 9.06 ERA 2.09 WHIP 4.2 K/9 6.1 BB/9 0.7 HR/9.

My scout sees him as a potential #2 starter. He's only 19 so I'm not thinking I wasted my 2nd round pick quite yet, lol. Hi A is a tough assignment for a 19-year-old. So I demoted him to low A and locked him into that level (my assistant GM controls MiLB levels).

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Struggling so far.

Drafted this season, Alba started at A ball: 5 IP 5.40 ERA 1.60 WHIP.

Promoted to Hi A: 51.2 IP 9.06 ERA 2.09 WHIP 4.2 K/9 6.1 BB/9 0.7 HR/9.

My scout sees him as a potential #2 starter. He's only 19 so I'm not thinking I wasted my 2nd round pick quite yet, lol. Hi A is a tough assignment for a 19-year-old. So I demoted him to low A and locked him into that level (my assistant GM controls MiLB levels).

Alba's doing a bit better for me but that wasn't in A+ so we'll see.

Wow 2nd round? I took him in the 4th in my Angels save.

My scout hates Alba (projects to spot-starter) but is 45/50/45...so MLB average in K/BB/HR...that sounds better than spot-starter?

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Alba's doing a bit better for me but that wasn't in A+ so we'll see.

Wow 2nd round? I took him in the 4th in my Angels save.

My scout hates Alba (projects to spot-starter) but is 45/50/45...so MLB average in K/BB/HR...that sounds better than spot-starter?

My scout likes my version of Alba much more than that...

Spoiler