OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

**KSUowls** · 04-21-2018, 11:37 PM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

So, I've hardly played the last week or so. I finished the first season of my new Braves franchise, and things went pretty well. Winning record and mathematically in the playoff picture until the final week. Lots of good things going on with the team.

I really enjoy the write-ups in this thread. Putting them together actually is one of the most fun aspects of my experience in OOTP19 so far. Ironically it's also what's kept me from playing the last week+ because they end up being very time consuming. I haven't done my write-up of the 2nd half of the season, and I don't want to get too far ahead in the sim before I do. One of those awkward dilemmas lol.

**N51_rob** · 04-22-2018, 02:06 AM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Man, I would've liked to have seen Harper playing for the Knights, funny to see Machado land in Seattle of all places.

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**WaitTilNextYear** · 04-22-2018, 11:20 AM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Originally posted by N51_rob

Man, I would've liked to have seen Harper playing for the Knights, funny to see Machado land in Seattle of all places.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Me too.

I also should've mentioned that the Nats replaced Harper by trading the Mets Gio Gonzalez for Cespedes. They also replaced Daniel Murphy by trading for Robinson Cano. I guess the M's used that cash to get Machado.

**N51_rob** · 04-22-2018, 11:38 AM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

In my franchise Cespedes just quit what ever team he was on because they wouldn't let his kid in the clubhouse during spring training a la Adam LaRoche. I thought it was funny. Seems like the Nats went way older.

**N51_rob** · 04-22-2018, 12:23 PM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Opening Week mini-report

So we opened the 2025 season with three games vs Seattle and then a road trip to Texas and Cleveland. Opening with 9 straight limited some roster movements. But this is just a short recap of our first time through the new rotation.

Starting pitching continues to be our best asset after all these years of overpaying veterans and struggling to find consistency. First time throgh the rotation has a record of 4-1 with a combined ERA of 2.16. Nick Storz ws the best of a good bunch going 8 innings allowing 1 earned in a 6-1 victory vs Seattle. In fact every starter but Jeremy Good allowed only 1 earned run. Good allowed 4 in a 4-2 loss to open the Rangers series.

The Bullpen has been just as good early. Not allowing an earned run in 9.2 innings. New closer Zack Burdi has recorded 2 saves in that span as well.

Offensively SS Bobby Witt Jr seemes to have found himself in the majors. He's off to a hot start hitting .500 with 2 HRs in 5 games. New 3B Zane Denton is also enjoying his time in the show after 5 years kicking around int he clubs minors. He hitting .333 with a homer in 18 early ABs. The only area of real concern early in the season is the unusual struggles of RF Griffin Conine the 2023 AL ROY, 2024 Sliver Slugger winner has yet to record a hit in 22 plate appearances, but he has reached base 4 times in 5 games via the base on balls.

Just played one week through the rotation will probably sim the next month or so. But wanted to write it up and share.

**KBLover** · 04-22-2018, 02:00 PM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Adrian Beltre Announces Retirement

"I hate to admit it, but I think my time in the game is over. I am ever grateful for the years I've been able to play this great game, and I would like to thank the Angels for making my last couple baseball years exciting and fun, " Beltre spoke at a press conference.

The decision to retire didn't come easy. Beltre's agent confirmed that he was seeking another one-year extension for his client when he got word of Beltre's decision a couple weeks later.

"He loves the game, loves being around the guys. I know this was hard for him. I almost wonder what made him decide to walk away, " Beltre's agent spoke.

At this moment, Beltre is a career .285 hitter with over 3,400 hits and 500 home runs. He might have a chance to reach 3,500 hits as the Angels will likely increase his playing time a bit to let him take more of a farewell tour around the league as he is beloved player by many fans and teams.

**KBLover** · 04-22-2018, 06:20 PM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

First Half-ish Overview

The Angels have been up-and-down heading into the trading deadline. They started off fast then swooned from mid-April to mid-May. The bats where the reason as the "cold Angels" showed up, wasting several good outings by the pitchers.

Then the "hot Angels" showed up and put up a 19-7 record in June (.731 win pct). The bats woke up, the pitchers kind of took a nap, but getting Trout and such hot will make up for a lot.

Now July is about to draw to a close and while the team is still holding at a solid, if not unstoppable, level, there's still pockets of poor performance.

On that negative side of the ledger sits most of the free agent acquisitions, unfortunately. RP Aroydis Vizcaino has been underwhelming. He has a 12.9 K/9 rate, but a 6.16 ERA to go along with it. The home run ball has really destroyed him. He has the highest HR/9 rate on the team, north of 2.0.

C Tucker Barnhart has been useless and was almost put on waivers (and would have been, probably, if Ali Sanchez couldn't have been optioned to AAA-Salt Lake). There's just no nice way to say it. So much so, that the team made a trade with the Orioles to get Chance Sisco. The Angels traded a pair of prospects, SP Ernesto Barajas, the #107 prospect in the game, and SP Cesar Cappellan. Along with Sisco, the Angels got 3B Luis Manon, a low minors shot-in-the-dark prospect.

Sean Wymer might have the distinction of being the first Rule 5 pick returned on Yarrow's watch. Only thing stopping him is scouts insisting there's talent under that 7+ ERA. The leash, or perhaps noose, is getting tighter on Bruce Rondon. Last year - written off to a bad year with bad luck. It's repeating itself. 6 ERA this year vs 5 ERA last year. No bueno.

In addition to catcher, center field has become a cesspool. Trout, why did you ever have to lose your range??

The other Rule 5 pick Oswal Leones has been horrific at the plate. He's got a 56 OPS+. But if that seems bad (and it is), Vanderven has a pitcher-level 24 OPS+. In fact, there are nine pitchers (that qualify for the ERA leaderboard) with a higher OPS+ than 24. Eight if you want to exclude Ohtani as a special case.

On the positive side, Stiward Aquino, a 23-year-old pitching prospect, has returned from Salt Lake to replace Jake Fishman. Upon his arrival, team's have beaten the door down trying to get him in trade. Meanwhile, Aquino is 2-1 in his first five career starts with a 2.43 ERA. Aquino won't be winning any personality contests, to put it tactfully, but he, so far, can pitch.

Clayton Kershaw might be fraying at the edges at 34 years old, but he's still doing well. He has a 3.55 ERA (137 ERA+), though it might be time to move Ohtani (2.77, 172 ERA+) up to the #1 spot instead.

Free agent pickups that worked? Jeurys Familia is doing his job. A 1.73 ERA is plenty fine. He's picking up where Britton left off last year. "The General", Juan Chairez by name, has lived up to the hype in the first half of the season. He is 13-5 with a 3.01 ERA, eerily close to BNN's projections. Chairez has the most innings in the rotation, the most WAR, and is on pace to win 21 games.

Trout is going off again with a 199 OPS+, 199 wRC+, 6.7 WAR already. That's pretty much "enough said" on the offensive side, though Ohtani is still hitting well (138 OPS+, 135 wRC+), just down from the last two years where he was completely ridiculous at the plate.

With Andrelton Simmons hurt, SS prospect Raynel Delgado finally got a taste of the majors. So far, he's holding up okay. Hitting .274/.348/.440 at the plate in 168 ABs with defense that's not Simmons-level, but has be slightly above average.

Matt Thaiss has been getting playing time with Bobby Bradley on the DL. Thaiss is providing a steady batting average in the .280's and doing the job well. No complaints at all from anyone.

Lastly, in a bit of a personal triumph, OF Jonah Davis, the Angels' 18th round pick in the 2018 draft, has become the starting center fielder. He probably won't wow anyone, or maybe not even be average overall and at 25, his ceiling won't be high. But, he can say that no only did he make it to the majors, he was starter on a contender. He'll have a Topps baseball card. Matty V. will say his name in MLB The Show 23 and be on the official roster, and he can say that he got a major league hit, something very few people can ever say. Who knows, he may even end up with a World Series ring.

**KBLover** · 04-24-2018, 12:13 AM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

There's more turmoil in San Fran as the Giants are undergoing another wholesale change in leadership.

After spending cash and trying to bring in talent, the Giants were considered by BNN for a return to the playoffs.

Instead, they are on track to undersell those projections by a sizable margin. The team has already lost 93 games, so the best they can do is 69 wins. They were projected to win 87.

That has led to another firing of both manager and general manager.

Willie Adams was brought in from the Frontier League to be the manager to finish out the season. No word on if he'll be there next season.

Eichiro Umaba, the ex-Giants manager who had success with the SoftBank Hawks in the NPB, did not stay unemployed long. The Angels hired him to be manager of A-Burlington on a four-year deal.

**KBLover** · 04-24-2018, 02:38 AM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Season Summary:

Playoffs:

Angels Season Summary

Anytime you win the World Series, successful is the only way to describe the season.

That's what the Angels accomplished in 2022, the third World Series victory under Yarrow's watch.

Leading the way was the pitching staff, and leading the staff is Ohtani hitting his prime full steam ahead. Now a 28-year-old pitcher with some seasoning under his belt, Ohtani has emerged into his own star on both sides of the stat sheet. The word "potential" no longer applies. Ohtani led the AL in ERA with a 2.43 mark as well as in Wins (16), WHIP (0.97), WAR [as pitcher] (7.4), and HR/9 (0.7).

Scoring the runs for that staff was a career year from 30-year-old Mike Trout...and it was as scary as that sounds. Not only did he win the AL batting title, he set career bests in batting average (.332), on-base percentage (.462), OPS (1.132), and WAR (10.6).

While Trout grabs the headlines, perhaps the biggest relief for Yarrow (and Scoiscia) is that Chance Sisco might finally settle the catcher position. Sisco batted .321 with over .900 OPS in just under 200 ABs for the Angels.

Prospects News and Notes

P Luidemid Zerafa still doesn't have a fastball. Instead, scouts think he'll end up with one of the nastiest knucklers around. The concern has shifted more to his inability to locate his pitches, giving up a lot of hard (and home run) contact.

P Shinji Mukai is winning friends in the coaching staff and continues to elevate his velocity. Coaches rave about Mukai's personality, and scouts are liking the fact his cutter can now touch 90 MPH. "He has three developed, decent pitches. He's on track to be a starter. Just needs to refine, " head scout Kota spoke. Mukai has moved from out of the top 200 to 11th overall in the prospect rankings.

P/OF Jim Lenhart will make the jump from A to AAA according to officials. Scouts think he's ready to bypass AA completely, putting Lenhart just one step from the majors. The question remains: will he try to debut as a two-way player. The pitching half of Lenhart is progressing more quickly to this point, though the hitting half is still raved about by most scouts.

P Stiward Aquino has likely earned his place in the rotation. He posted an 8-4 record with a 2.99 ERA, and the Angels probably want to see more of him to get a better read on his potential. These early signs surely point positive.

CF Domenic Hutchinson, one of the few hitters at the top of the system, has started his ascent from the rookie leagues as he will start in A-ball next season. Domenic posted an .891 OPS for Orem, which isn't quite as impressive as it sounds given the level of Orem's competition and the highly offense-favored the league is. Still, the performance combined with his develpment has bought him tickets to Burlington.

Overall, the trend is clear, the Angels system is good at developing pitchers for whatever reasons. The next batch is rising through the system. Lenhart is in AAA. Mukai will start in AA. Denton and Mavity have begun their climbs out of the rookie leagues.

**KBLover** · 04-25-2018, 01:35 AM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

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2023 Offseason Transactions Overview

Notable Free Agent Signings
A’s sign 2B Tetsuto Yamada (NPB) for $15 million/5 yrs.
Mariners sign P Jacob deGrom for $11 million/4 yrs.
Indians sign P Carlos Martinez for $10.3 million/4 yrs.
Mariners sign P Dallas Kuechel for $9 million/2 yrs.
Mariners sign 1B Daniel Murphy for $14.6 million/3 yrs.
Mariners sign 2B Rougned Odor for $14.4 million/5 yrs.
Phillies sign P Brandon Morrow for $3 million/1 yr.
Astros sign P Hansel Robles for $9.1 million/3 yrs.
Mets sign 3B Justin Turner for $10.8 million/3 yrs.
Mariners sign 3B Kyle Seager for $7.8 million/3 yrs.
Yankees sign 2B Luis Lozano (Int’l) for $21.8 million/4 yrs.
Rangers sign LF Han-wu Lam (Int’l) for $13.7 million/6 yrs.
Yankees sign SS Xander Bogaerts for $15.4 million/3 yrs.
Yankees sign P Lance McCullers for $21 million/5 yrs.
Cardinals sign CF Lorenzo Cain for $18.8 million/3 yrs.
Dodgers sign 3B Manny Machado for $24 million/7 yrs.
Mets sign C Jonathan Lucroy for $10.2 million/2yrs.
Yankees sign P Gio Gonzalez for $21.6 million/3 yrs.
Red Sox sign P Jake Diekman for $18.8 million/3 yrs.
Giants sign P Zach Britton for $24.5 million/2 yrs.

Angels Free Agent Signings
P Brad Brach for $3.4 million/2 yrs.

Extensions Signed
Indians extend 3B Jose Ramirez for $135 million over 6 years.
Angels extend P Will Smith for $9.2 million over 2 years.
Angels extend CF Manuel Margot for $46.3 million over 7 years.

Other MLB News
The Giants get yet another new owner as the team was sold again this offseason.

Indians 3B Sergio Venerio suffered a serious concussion after his car ran into a ditch. He is expected to miss nine months. No details on how the vehicle ended up in the ditch.

Rockies fired manager Don Mattingly.

P Roy Halladay was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He went 203-105 with a 3.31 ERA. He racked up 2,117 strikeouts in over 2,700 innings. He compiled 63.1 career WAR.

Angels Award Winners
Mike Scoiscia wins AL Manager of the Year.
Shohei Ohtani wins AL Cy Young Award and AL MVP Award.

Retirements
Angels 3B Adrian Beltre has retired as he stated during the season.

Major Trades
The Dodgers trade C Joey Bart to the Braves for P Mauricio Cabrera, P Chris Gannon, and cash considerations.

The Dodgers trade P Danny Salazar to the Padres for 2B Allan Cordoba and P Robert Touron.

The Angels trade P Luis Rangel and P Dan Maier to Padres for CF Manny Margot, P Omar Fernandez, and 3B Juan Gill.

The Nationals trade 1B Jose Abreu to Pirates for P Andrew Triggs.

The Mets trade P Sonny Gray and cash considerations to the Nationals for RF Tristan Graham and P Noah Nunez.

Cubs trade 1B Kyle Schwarber to Indians for P Brandon Woodruff.

Rule 5 Draft
Round 1 – Angels select 3B Mark Vientos

Round 2 – Angels select P Carlos Jose Romero

The Angels lost no players to the Rule 5 draft this year.

Other Angels Moves
The Angels refused arbitration to P Alex Meyer, making him a free agent.

Angels Spring Training News and Notes
Two-way prospect Jim Lenhart got a non-roster invite to spring training as did Tim Mavity and Shinji Mukai.

Mukai was rather impressive both in some bullpen work and as a starter. He posted a spring ERA of 2.25 and allowed only 15 runners in 18 innings of work.
Mavity was solid in the bullpen but he was whipped in his one spring start. Some wonder if this is him having just a fastball and change-up or if it was just a bad outing.

Lenhart was pretty good at the plate. He drew some walks, hit a home run and had some doubles. On the mound, he was more mixed, putting up a good start and a couple mixed starts that could have been better.

All three will be returned to the minors. Mukai and Lenhart will be in AAA while Mavity will go back to A-ball.

**N51_rob** · 04-25-2018, 05:04 PM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

O's End Hot April With 3 Game Division Lead.

The start of the 2025 season has gotten off to a great start for the defending champion Baltimore Orioles. After sweeping the Seattle Mariners to start 3-0 the O's dropped the first game in Texas, what followed was an impressive 12 game winning streak. After dropping two of three to the Blue Jays the club responded winning the series vs the Yankees, sweeping the Tigers and taking two of three from the Red Sox to finish the month. The clubs record is 22-5

Offensively the club was offensive resurgence of LF Joc Pederson, who hit .322 in April with 8 HRs and 19 RBIs. After starting the season 0-23 Griffin Conine has managed to battle back and ended the month hitting .214 going 22 for 80 to close out the month. While 2B Trea Turner was stuggling early on Bobby Witt Jr was given the lead off spot and he continues to hit the ball. He's hitting .340 on the year, while not the stolen base threat of Turner (yet) he continues to get on base and give the guys behind him a chance to hit with runners on.

Pitching continues to be excellent in Baltimore after years of struggle. The starters have pitched to a 3.16 ERA and the Pen is throwing to a 1.85. Merandy Gonzalez, Nick Storz and Matthew Turner all have recorded 3 wins. While he is 0-2 Jeremy Good has pitched well. In 31.2 innings he has a WHIP of 1.07. He has been the victim of late inning heroics more than anything. In his 5 starts the team is 3-2 with him going at least 6 innings in each game, but the club not getting the runs to win until the 8th inning or later he's been the tough luck loser a couple times. Good will have a chance as George Kirby is still 7-8 weeks away from being ready to get back at it.

In the Bullpen new closer Zack Burdi has 10 saves already and oft-injured Dylan Bundy has managed to stay healthy and has pitched an impressive 14 innings early on. With Bundy the thought is how long till he's on the DL again, but in the meantime he is pitching well. Pete Merrill who was moved to set-up man has struggled a bit his 4.35 ERA is the highest in the bullpen, but he is 3-0 in that span.

It was a good April and the club looks to continue their hot streak into May with a schedule that features games Houston, Chicago, the Angles and Cleveland

**WaitTilNextYear** · 04-28-2018, 03:52 PM

Carolina Knights Update

JUNE 1, 2019

Season Record: 21-30 (11.5 GB NL East, 9 GB Wild Card)
May Record: 12-14
Position: 6th Place NL East

TEAM PAGE

SUMMARY

Spoiler

Carolina broke camp in 2019 after deciding to essentially stand pat with its 2018 roster. The club did add a few bargain bin veterans on 1-year deals [Lonnie Chisenhall, Sean Rodriguez, Brett Gardner, Matt Wieters, Eduardo Nunez, Marco Estrada], but one bullet the team dodged was in not signing pitcher Charlie Morton. Morton's 2018 season with the expansion Expos came to an early end with a UCL injury. He repeated the feat with the Boston Red Sox in Spring Training this season.

The Knights looked fairly coherent in Spring Training, going 16-12. Then, the real season began and Manager/GM Bobby Cox immediately started to regret his decision to stand pat. There aren't really any expectations for this club, aside from the owner's mandate to hover near .500; the club was picked to go just 57-97 (154 games due to the oddity of having a 34-team league...) so anything other than last place could be seen as beating expectations. With a $102M budget, the Knights rank dead last with an extremely frugal $41M player payroll. Carolina did expand BB&T Park by 1500 seats in the offseason [new capacity = 37,400] and sold $20.6M in season tickets (26th in MLB). The team is judged by OSA to have the 4th worst minor league system.

The starting rotation suffered a rash of early injuries: Marco Estrada had an especially short tenure with the club after making only 52 pitches in game 2 of the season before suffering a season-ending UCL injury. We hardly knew ye. Luis Perdomo, he of the comically low--but effective--strikeout rate was hurt in Spring Training with elbow tendinitis, which lingered into May. Rule 5 pick from Seattle Max Povse left his 3rd start of the season after making only 10 pitches and recording one out. He was otherwise very poor for Carolina [33.1 IP, 2-3, 6.75 ERA, 1.68 WHIP]. After giving up 7 runs on 13 hits in 4 IP on May 22nd, the team decided to cut the cord on Povse and return him to Seattle. Within about a month, 60% of the team's original starting staff had been turned over or was hurt. As the calendar flipped to May, Trevor Williams also went down with a short-term injury after throwing just 2.2 IP on May 2nd. Williams has been subsequently shuttled between the AAA Providence Roosters and the big club. He walked 8 men in 4.1 IP in game 3 of the season to help lead the starters to an ignominious 9.82 ERA through its 1st turn. Carolina signed veteran Lance Lynn to a $1M deal on April 22nd to provide some stability here; Lynn has worked out pretty well so far [49.2 IP, 3-3, 3.81 ERA, 1.19 WHIP].

The only constant has been team ace Collin McHugh. McHugh was battered on Opening Day by the St. Louis Cardinals, but rebounded in May to win NL Pitcher of the Month honors. He tossed 41.2 IP in May to the tune of a 5-1 record with a 2.38 ERA and 36:13 K:BB ratio. The club is very interested in extending its "original player"--the 31-year-old is asking for about $60M over 6 years. Last year the owner himself stepped in to handle contract talks with McHugh.

The bullpen has been a pretty major letdown. Once again identified as a team strength, everyone not named Dellin Betances has been burned at least a few times. The team's bullpen ERA is 4.10, good for just 8th in the 17-team National League. Betances has been great [20 G, 11/11 SV, 1.83 ERA, 11.0 K/9, 2.9 BB/9], but the rest of the bullpen has blown 8 save opportunities at various stages of games. Lefty Tyler Jay leads the team in that regard with 4 blown saves, but righty Jonathan Holder has probably been the most pathetic reliever. It's to the point that it's not if the opponent will rally off of him, but whether it will be walks, consecutive hits, or homers off of Holder. Even with plus ratings in stuff and control, average ratings in movement, Holder has an awful 7.25 ERA through 24 appearances. When Bobby Cox brings Holder into a game, he watches from the dugout through small gaps between his fingers or simply listens for the crack of the bat. The club is actually one win behind its Pythagorean W/L expectation largely due to bullpen fires in high leverage spots.

There has been some good and some bad with the Knights' offense. But mostly bad because the team is 14th in the NL in runs scored and dead last in homers. Many of the stop gap vets are simply not working out. Starting RF Lonnie Chisenall [.194/.289/.335, 5 HR 19 RBI, 195 PA] has played himself into a platoon with...Starlin Castro? Castro + cash was acquired on May 29th from Miami for another struggling vet Sean Rodriguez [.159/.293/.246, 1 HR 3 RBI, 82 PA] plus a couple of so so minor leaguers. Carolina wants to make Castro into an outfielder. Mikie Mahtook got himself designated for assignment [.191/.282/.309, 2 HR 7 RBI, 78 PA] as the Knights attempt to stash him in AAA. Matt Wieters [.202/.295/.281, 1 HR 9 RBI, 129 PA] would have also been waived had his catching counterpart Jett Bandy [.174/.276/.349, 4 HR 8 RBI, 98 PA] not been equally offensively challenged.

Perhaps the most saddening development for the offense has been the 2019 version of Breyvic Valera not at all resembling the 2018 NL ROY version of him. Valera has been riding a 14-game, still active hit streak but his season line stands at just .269/.300/.324. After 9 homers last year, he's still looking for one in 2019 despite a team-high 227 plate appearances. Lots of weak contact in place of the flares and lasers through the infield he was hitting last season. If Valera has been the biggest disappointment, then OF Phil Ervin gets the silver. Ervin played his way from Opening Day starting LF, into the wrong side of a platoon with Brett Gardner, into a stint at AAA. Ervin [.185/.273/.343, 4 HR 10 RBI, 122 PA] has been recalled, but man his season has stunk.

On the bright side, free agent mercenary 3B Eduardo Nunez has been a phenomenal signing for his 1 year $5M price tag. Marked as a "line drive hitter," he has been a veritable laser show with 22 doubles in 48 games started. Nunez is batting .343/.362/.530 with 5 HR and 39 RBI (1.8 WAR) in 210 PA. He also set a franchise record with a 5-hit game in an 8-3 extra inning win over Colorado on May 28th. Franchise HR king A.J. Reed has also been having a decent sophomore campaign [.255/.333/.516, 11 HR 38 RBI, 177 PA] manning first base. Finally, the left-handed trio of SS Nicky Lopez [.301/.360/.358, 1 HR 22 RBI, 216 PA], CF Mallex Smith [.308/.411/.350, 0 HR 6 RBI, 15 SB, 145 PA], and LF Brett Gardner [.287/.347/.417, 3 HR 14 RBI, 119 PA] have been productive in their own particular, light-hitting ways.

**KBLover** · 04-28-2018, 07:00 PM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Angels Sitting Pretty At the Break

Hard to have any complaints when you're playing .670 ball in the first half. A lot of that is due to two red hot months, April and so far in July where the team played .700 ball in April and are currently 12-2 in July.

Injuries have poked on Clayton Kershaw, though, and these days are getting more numerous. He still seems to have his best stuff, but the body might be fraying more with each passing week.

Kershaw's issues have opened the door for Shinji Mukai to get some work at the bigs. So far, it's been an adjustment for him and he's giving up way too many home runs, which is a bit disappointing. Still, the team is keeping him around in the bullpen so that he can keep getting major league experience and instruction from John Farrell.

Elsewhere on the mound, Ohtani is still doing Ohtani things. In fact, his home run rate has plummeted to 0.4 HR/9. No one knows how or why this happened, but if it keeps up, he might become more devastating to enemy batters.

Mike Scoiscia might have a tough decision to make regarding Jose Soriano. He's doing great work in the bullpen, carrying the bulk of the innings load with a 2.60 ERA. However, Jose wants to start. The problem is two-fold: One, his stuff plays up out of the bullpen so he's actually helped by working in relieve, and two, who would he replace? Dunsing is the only real candidate, and Soriano might not be much better as a starter.

On the offensive side, Jahmai Jones is the story of the first half. His current power output is completely surprising scouts and management alike. Last season, Jones posted a career high of 26 home runs and he's looking to break into the 30's at his current pace.

Prospect Derrick Cherry is getting a chance with the Guillermo injury, and Cherry might be "wasted" as a starter given that he has the capacity to play any defensive position, given time...something that might be happening once Guillermo returns and Cherry heads back to AAA on an option.

The Angels made a couple trades, the significant one being trading SP prospect Mike Wishorn to the Phillies for 3B Carter Kieboom. The injury to Chavis necessitated this move as the team is devoid of 3B in the system. The team also signed veteran infield D.J. LeMahieu to a minor league deal. He's currently playing in AAA.

The other was pulling the plug on Rondon, dumping him for a scrub prospect just to clear the roster spot more than anything else as he refused demotion.

On the farm, Tim Mavity continues to do good things on the mound. His 3.53 ERA is a marked improvement over last season. I guess opposing hitters are following "the rules". He may be slated for a climb to AA soon.

Jeremy Denton's path has taken a very sideways turn, however. The former top prospect in the game has developed serious issues with his command. Scouts are worried that it will limit his upside despite what might be positively filthy offspeed and breaking pitches.

The Angels will have an international signing penalty next season as they splurged on some international prospects. The best of these is 1B Koji Yamamoto, who has "future DH" written all over him. Hopefully, the bat will develop that way in the future. The Angels also signed his twin brother CF Masumitsu Yamamoto, who's not as gifted but might be a harder worker.

Looking ahead, the Angels will likely stay the course and stand pat as the trading deadline approaches, barring any severe injuries or chances at a major upgrade.

**KBLover** · 05-03-2018, 01:45 AM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

David Price Retires

David Price tried to bounce back but will retire.

The former star pitcher was doing fine in Boston until he suffered a season-ending injury in 2020.

After a decent 2021 in San Francisco, it looked like Price would bounce back to have a soft landing to the end of his career.

But it all came tumbling down this year after two not-so-great seasons prior.

The Giants let Price go and the pitcher tried one more time in Colorado. This probably wasn't the best place to try to make a last gasp, and he indeed could not make a turnaround. His ERA climbed to over 7.00 on the season and that signaled to Price to call it a career.

Price will retire with a 155-125 record, a 3.74 career ERA, and 40.8 accumulated WAR value.

**KBLover** · 05-03-2018, 12:13 PM

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Angels Begin Pondering Ohtani's Valuation

"We all knew that if Shohei became what people thought he could that it would present an interesting question on how to value a true two-way All-Star. Well, that time has come and the league will be watching, " Dan Plesac of MLBN commented.

While the Angels still have Ohtani under arbitration for one more year, thanks to a league rule change a couple years ago to move the service time for free agency out another year to seven years, the team is already trying to figure how to budget that extension they will want to give their two-way monster.

Ohtani's success won't make things easy. There's no denying what he's done and the Angels are going to have to come up with a pretty hefty number in all likelihood.

Ohtani's hitting stats

Ohtani on the mound

"At this point, I'm not too concerned about getting Ohtani signed. I think we'll be able to come to something that's even close to reasonable quickly. I mean, we got Mike [Trout] signed with no issues. I think we could get that kind of quick and agreeable resolution here, even if it costs more than it should according to some. The important thing is that we keep him here with us, " GM Yarrow commented.

Trout was the first $40 million per year average contract in baseball. Could Ohtani be the second?

Time will tell, but the Angels don't seem like they'll be pulling many financial punches.

OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

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