OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

[N51_rob]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Finish of Orioles 2021 Season

So I was playing last night and I couldn't pull myself away so I blew past the 2021 season here is a "brief" recap.

When we left off the O's were 38-19 4.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East. June saw the O's finish off their 10 game winning streak from May with a 4-2 win vs Seattle, the streak would end the next day in a 2-0 loss to Seattle. We would win our next 4 before dropping 4 of the next 5 as players and coaches started to long for the all-star break. In the last series before the break the team would sweep the Tigers at home for a record of 48-26 at the break 5.5 games back of Toronto. But there was some interesting news in Toronto on June 21st Bryce Harper suffered an elbow strain that would sideline him for 5 weeks.

July was an amazing month for the organization and fans. The team got hot, and took back to back to back series against the Red Sox, Blue Jays and Rays gaining valuable ground in the highly competitive AL East. For the month the club would finish the month 21-8. At the start of the month we were 4.5 games back at the end of the month we were 1.5 games up with a record of 72-38. Joc Pederson was on fire in July winning the AL Player of the month award. He posted a .330 average with 13 home runs 26 RBI and scored 28 runs It wasn't all good news though. Closer Yin-Tou Lai went down with shoulder inflammation on July 7th and injury that would effectively end his season with a 3 month diagnosis. At the time of the injury Lai was 2-2 with 23 saves a 2.27 ERA. He was a very good anchor finally living up to the contract he signed as a free agent in 2018. Lai's injury was a telling precursor for things to come. Happy with the club we didn't want to rock the chemisty with any trade deadline moves, but did see that Cleveland was shopping 2B Jonathan Schoop who's production had fallen off. After posting a 14.3 WAR in Baltimore his Cleveland WAR is -2.4 his slash 191 games for the Indians .218/.257/.377 29 HR 103 RBIs. Maybe letting him go wasn't the worst move....

For a young club that hadn't had much success, August was a real gut check. For all the fun and excitement of July August was a tough month. The team would go 14-15 their first and only month of the season below .500. Their 1.5 game lead was now a 2 game deficit and worst of all the injury bug didn't leave the locker room. 3B Ryan Mountcastle was lost on August 8th with a left knee sprain for 5 weeks injury to an insulting 16-1 loss to Detroit. But we did notch win number 81 on August 18 to assure us of atleast a .500 record.

September was a race to the finish with us, Toronto and Tampa all battling for playoff positioning. The a fore mentioned injury bug kept on coming. On September 7th bench 1B Preston Palmerio suffered a torn elbow ligament. In 158 ABs he had posted .272/.236/.544 11 HRs 25 RBI. Five days later SP Dylan Bundy who only two months early had agreed to a 4 year extension worth $28 million total was diagnosed with bone chips in his elbow and a diagnosis the ended his season. Bundy was 10-7 with a 3.96 ERA in 28 starts. Tom Eshelmen replaced him. Eshelmen had been the long man in the pen and his season numbers ended up being pretty good. 11-2 4 Saves a 3.87 ERA in 61 games, 123.1 innings including 4 starts to end the year. We secured the Wild Card on September 22nd and there was a chance at the AL East. With three games left we trailed Toronto by 3. They lost their 5th game in a row on Septmber 23 and our 10-1 victory over Cleveland closed the gap to 2 games, with 2 to play. But a 4-5 loss the next day ended the dream of a division title. A win on the last day of the season assured us the opportunity to host the wild card game against the Tampa Bay Rays though.

The playoffs for the first time in 5 years had finally returned to Baltimore! Powered by the home crowd and a deep bullpen we beat the Rays in a thrilling wild card game. Trailing by one in the bottom of the 9th LF Joc Pederson drilled a solo HR in the bottom of the 9th off Diego Castillo to keep the season alive. Not to be out done SS Manny Machado won it in walk off fashion belting a 2-run series winning HR in the bottom of the 11th off Jamie Callahan!!! The Orioles a team that three season ago has lost 102 games, were moving on the ALDS and the rival Toronto Blue Jays! Alas, that win at home was bittersweet as it was the last win of the season for the Orioles the young team was swept by the defending World Series Champions in 3 games to end their incredible season.

Awards, Retirements and Arbitration

Spoiler

So that was a painful way to end the season, but several members of the 2021 Orioles saw their individual efforts rewarded at the end of the season:
RP Jose Torres won the reliever of the year award his 19 saves and 1.38 ERA were impressive filling in for the injured Yin-Tou Lai. Torres was also an All-Star
SP Roniel Raudes won a gold glove for his work in the field, in addition to his first all-star selection.
CF Billy Hamilton won his 2nd straight gold glove in CF.
SS Manny Machado won the Silver Slugger and was again voted to the All-Star game.
LF Joc Pederson was elected to the All-Star team again his 3,419,278 votes were best in the American League.

SP Carlos Carrasco decided to retire from the game at 34 years old. His loss was a hard one, he was a popular player and despite his age was 11-8 with a 4.67 ERA on an Oriole team that had finally found some answers to its starting pitching woes.

In Salary Arbitration, the O's took some hits. The biggest being C Chance Sisco being awarded his 2nd big victory over the club. In 2021 his salary jumped from $545,000 to $6.8 million and in a stunning 2021 ruling he will make $10 million in 2022. The club wasn't surprised when CP Lai opted out of his contract that paid him $9.4 million but won their arbitrtion ruling paying him only $10.5. Despite his emense talent Lai has two major injuries during his 4 year career and his salary coupled with Jose Torres could make Lai expendable, as his loss wouldn't be missed in the clubhouse. He has been called a selfish player, by unnamed teammates.

The Off-Season ahead

Spoiler

The on field success got me a 3 year extension with the club and an increased budget to $156 million a smaller than expect increase from the $140 million of 2020 especially considering the increased revenu across the board. Over $36 million Y2Y in increased revenue with most of that coming from gate, and season ticket sales.

We have $14 million in funds for free agents at the moment and again holes that need to be addressed in the rotation. With the 2023 salaries expected to be over $140 million we may look to deal either Yai or Torres for starting pitching help, preferably Yai as Torres is only making $3.5 million and has been just as good in the closer or setup role.

We let Matt Harvey walk, who despite his injury history was able to pitch the full season (although on a 90 pitch pitch count)with good results. 12-7 3.58 ERA 186 innings and no major injuries. There are talks of bringing him back, but that will depend on the market and his demands. RP Mychal Givens was also given leave to test the market.

The rotation only has 3 names on it right now, Raudas, Bundy and Eshelman at the moment. Looking at the lineup an everyday option in RF is desirable but we can live with the platoon of Kole Calhoun and Steven Souza for another season if need be at age 34 and 32 respectively this is probably their last go round with Baltimore. A more offensive upgrade at 2B is also on the shopping list. 2B Kevin Newman is a team captain and great locker room presence but his his BB total dipped by half this year and with little pop and pedestrian defense if there is an upgrade we will explore it.

So that is where we are on November 19th, 2021 Free Agency has just started and the winter meetings are around the corner. It was my best season and easily the most fun I've had in my time with the Orioles. This might be the winter where I make some moves not sure I like Chance Sisco's contract or his additional arbitration year and refusal to really talk long term deal with me. So we'll see. I always end these with an attached screen shot so here are the batting numbers from the 2021 season.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Harrison Hits For Cycle, Named All-Star
Marlins Nearly at .500

Monte Harrison has officially been deemed "scary" by his manager.

"The kid is scaring me now. It's like he's on a hellbent mission to be the best player in the league...and it's showing in his play, " Mattingly spoke.

Just a few months ago, Harrison was close to being back in AAA. Now he's an All-Star and ripping the cover off the ball.

Since June, Harrison is 61-for-161 (.379) 16 doubles, 2 triples, and 4 home runs. He is 18-for-22 in stolen bases in that span. His July line alone is .438/.494/.720, including hitting for the cycle on July 15th in a 9-1 win over the Phillies on the road.

These fast and furious two months have placed the rookie on the NL All-Star team...and on the top of many of the rookie charts so far.




Meanwhile, the Marlins as a team are closing on the .500 mark. They currently sit at 45-50 as the All-Star Break arrives. The starting rotation has been leading the team forward these last few weeks.

The Marlins will take the time to rest and prepare for the traditional second half of the season.

[notsobabybombers]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

I also love reading how you all play this amazing game. KBL, I remember that I used to love reading your posts in the MLB franchise threads and I’m glad you’re enjoying OOTP.

My game keeps crashing (when I play games rather than sim through,) and I’ve gotten into the habit of starting a new save every time the game crashes. So, now I’m with the Tigers. They’re rebuilding, they traded away JD Martinez and others last year and I expect it’ll take some work to build the team back up.

The way I’ve been playing so far, I’ve been simming through the 2018 season, managing the ML roster in terms of who gets called up/down. I’ve kept an eye on the waiver wire and the free agent market. I’ve signed some players to MILB deals, either youngsters with potential or guys in their mid-late 20s that intrigue me.

I’ve reached the draft and the team has fared better than I expected, though I don’t expect that to last. We’re 28-32, third in the division. We’ve enjoyed beating up on the 4th place Royals and especially the 16-win White Sox. (Chicago’s record is the second worst in the league behind Miami’s 14 wins.) We’re 10th in RS but a pleasantly surprising 4th in BA. We’re 7th in OBP and only 10th in HR but we are 5th in steals. Pitching, especially the BP, has been our downfall. Despite a starters ERA that’s 5th in the AL, we’re 12 in RA as our BP ERA is the worst in the AL. Our defense has also hurt us (13th in the AL.)

Injury wise, we’ve been hit hard and I expect that to catch up with us. Fulmer just went down with a torn labrum on 5/30 and he’s out 10-11 months. Liriano went down on 5/16 with a torn flexor tendon and he’s out 7-8 more months. That’s 2/5 of our rotation done for the year. Our closer, Joe Jimenez, went down with a torn rotator cuff on 5/6. His ERA was 10.06 in 15 games, though….He’s young (23) and I like his talent, so I have hopes that he’ll keep progressing after he recovers.

Looking at the lineup: leadoff man Leonys Martin has really surprised me He’s hitting .311 and he’s on pace for a 4.2 WAR season. Assuming we’re officially out of the hunt in July, I expect him to be a trade piece. 2B Dixon Machado is hitting .270 and is on pave for a 3.4 WAR season, showing he might be a part of our future. I signed Brandon Moss to a MILB deal and, after he hit .318 in 21 AAA games, I called him up. He’s our starting LF and he’s hitting .309 with 8 HR. If he keeps it up, he could be a good trade piece. Starting infielder turned starting OF, Nick Castellanos has hit 13 HR, though I want to see him improve his .254 average. I like his talent and he’s only 26. At 3B, “Candy Man” Candelario is hitting .258 and is on pace for 3.3 WAR. He’s only 24 and I like his talent, too. Our starting DH is Mikie Mahtook and he’s only hitting .233 with 8 HR. That’s below replacement level, IMO. (He’s on pace for a -0.9 WAR season.) James McCann is hitting .192 with 2 HR, which shows that C might be a big weak spot. At SS, Jose Iglesias is hitting a nice .289. He’s 28 and in a contract year so he’s playing for a job, whether it’s with us or elsewhere. Of course, the elephant in the room is Miggy. Our future HOF 1B is hitting just .232 with 9 HR which is disappointing and we’re stuck with his monster contract for several more years.

Off the bench, John Hicks is hitting .240 and might challenge for the starting C spot if McCann doesn’t step up. 39 year old V-Mart is hitting .255 in what will lily be his last year as a Tiger, if not as a major league player. Since being claimed, waived again and called up from AAA after hitting .376 there, Christian Colon is hitting .455 in 6 games with us. It’s a similar story with Ben Revere, who’s hitting .579 in 4 games.

Looking at the BP, Spencer Patton, signed to a MILB deal and called up when Jimenez went down, has taken over as CL. I like his talent, though he is 30. Austin Adams followed similar path as Patton and he’s out primary setup guy. He hasn’t allowed a run in five games with us. Alex Wilson is fighting for a job, with us or somewhere else. His ERA is 4.46, which puts him on pace for a -0.3 WAR season. Shane Greene is struggling with a 5.71 ERA and I don’t know how much more of a chance I’ll give him. Waiver claim Wilmer Font (an SP in the LAD system) has a 1.80 ERA in five games with us. I called up Preston Guilmet, a waiver claim who then spent some time with Toledo and impressed there. He hasn’t pitched an inning for the big league club yet. Lefty Daniel Stumpf has a 4.72 ERA and I’m on the lookout for another lefty that could be an upgrade.

As for the rotation:
1: Daniel Norris: 12 GS, 2-4, 5.73 ERA
2: Matt Boyd: 12 GS, 1-5, 4.33 ERA
3: Jordan Zimmerman- 1 GS, 4-1 ERA, 4.11 ERA (had been working out of the BP)
4. Our best healthy SP this year: Mike Fiers. He just won the AL pitcher of the month award in May with an incredible 0.92 ERA in the month and a 4-0 record. Overall, he has a 2.27 ERA in 11 games started. He could be a very good trade piece.
5: Wade Miley: MILB signing and called up. 3 GS, 2-0, 2.55 ERA

Looking down at the farm
Waiver Claims and MILB signings Tyler Collins, AJ Schugel and Steven Wright have played well and could get called up.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

I also love reading how you all play this amazing game. KBL, I remember that I used to love reading your posts in the MLB franchise threads and I’m glad you’re enjoying OOTP.

Glad it's still enjoyable Sometimes I wonder about my formatting and whatnot and if it's too long, etc.

Yeah, I'm getting into OOTP again. I missed this level of depth and how the AI teams run (very diverse, don't always make the best moves, tough on trades, etc.)

I've just discovered outright buying independent league players. I will probably spend too much time "shopping" for players now.

[notsobabybombers]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Glad it's still enjoyable Sometimes I wonder about my formatting and whatnot and if it's too long, etc.

Yeah, I'm getting into OOTP again. I missed this level of depth and how the AI teams run (very diverse, don't always make the best moves, tough on trades, etc.)

I've just discovered outright buying independent league players. I will probably spend too much time "shopping" for players now.

OOTP is amazing. I love it. Don't worry about you if your posts are too long etc. I really like how in depth they are.

I missed your most recent update above my post. Damn, man, that's a quick turnaround and you did in a fair way (you didn't rip off the CPU and trade for Bryce Harper or anything.) Well done!

-----

----

Ah, there’s nothing like the pressure of having of #1 pick in the draft. Choose well and you could get a superstar, a player that changes the course of your franchise in the best way possible. Choose poorly and you miss on some amazing players and your team’s misery continues even longer than it would have otherwise. Welcome to draft season, everyone! As The Tigers, I have the #1 overall pick in 2018.

According to the game SPs Ethan Hankins and Casey Mize are the best players in the draft this year. My scout says OFs Nick Decker and Cole Roederer are even better in terms of pure potential. Our scout has a great reputation so I felt inclined to stick with his judgement. That being said, I felt that we really needed pitchers. Hankins and Mize had pretty high bonus demands and I didn’t have a whole lot of cash to dish out to dudes playing level A ball. It was a tough call, but we chose SP Ryan Rolison out of Ole Miss to be our #1 overall pick. Our scout says he as a HOF potential arm. We also really like Yeankarlos Lleras, as out scout said this 17 YO as the potential to win several Cy Young awards. We anxiously simmed pick by pick through the first round and Lleras went unselected so we chose him with our second round pick. Two of the batters we liked a lot were still available when we were on the clock in the third round: 3.5 star potential C Michael Benson and 3.5 star potential OF RF Jordyn Adams. According to out scout, these two, along with “unsignable” SS Osiris Johnson, were the best players left in the draft. Our scout says Benson could develop into an elite catchers and we need a franchise catcher, so we took him. The Rays room Adams with the 17th pick in the third round, so we’ll be keeping an eye on him. In the 4th, Colten Panaranto grabbed our eye. He entered the draft as a 3B and our scout didn’t see any pontential at all for him there. But he has a lot of potential as a pitcher: nasty stuff and a wicked changeup. We took him. It was fun being able to control the draft by having the first pick in every round and I’m excited to see how our players turn out.

—

Well, it’s July 2nd and the Tigers are .500. We sit at exactly 42-42 after a four game win streak. It feels like the first time in a long time (throughout the first half of this season) that we don’t have a losing record. I mentioned in my first post how I expected this team to drop off because I thought the injuries would catch up with us. Well, we’ve been hit by more injuries, but we keep trucking. On 6/22, Mike Fiers, who had become our ace, went down with a torn flexor tendon and he’ll be out for a year plus rehab time. That one hurt. Then, on 6/26, V-Mart fractured his knee, ending his season and maybe his career. He’d been playing well too, as he raised his average to .286. No one new has adopted that next man up attitude in his absence; we called up Chad Huffman and he’s only played in 2 games so far. But here we are, at .500. Wilmer Font was sent back down to AAA when we claimed lefty Enny Romero from the Nationals. When Fiers went down, Font was called back up and took the empty spot in the rotation. Font delivered a quality start, his first of the year and the first in his MLB career, in his first action.

James McCann is down to a .182 average. Ugh. Hicks *should* have taken over the job, as he’s hitting .243 and is on par for a 1.6 WAR season vs McCann’s -0.6. But Gardenhire insists on starting McCann… Moss is still raking; he’s hitting .318 with 19 homers. I really hope he doesn’t get hurt because I want to sell high on him. Miggy has upped his average to .261 and now has 11 homers. I’m glad to see him getting somewhat back on track. Martin has cooled off a little but he’s still batting .288. Adams and Patton are pretty good as our setup and closer, which is surprising given that they were both MILB signings.

We’ve arrived at the ASG and the team is starting to drop off We lost five straight before winning the last game before the ASG. We are now 46-51, 22 GB of the division lead and 12.5 games back of the second WC. Before we think about that, though…

Brandon Moss made the ASG! He is our only ASG representative. He’s hitting .312 with 20 HR as our starting DH/outfielder/backup 1B. What a year for Moss, considering we gave him a minor league deal and he was playing ball in Toledo for a while. Congrats to Brandon on making his second ASG.

Miguel Cabrera was very disappointed to miss the mid summer classic for the second year in a row. He’s upped his average to .270 and he has 14 homers. Miggy said briefly said that he was disappointed in not getting selected for the game. He also said he’ll keep working because he loves the game and he’ll focus on giving 100% every day.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

I missed your most recent update above my post. Damn, man, that's a quick turnaround and you did in a fair way (you didn't rip off the CPU and trade for Bryce Harper or anything.) Well done!

Thanks and we'll see...

Half of this is a lot of guys getting ridiculously hot in June and July.

This is the same squad that went 7-21 in May...so...I'm happy and hopeful...but it's baseball and I know better.

Your Tigers are sitting in a similar spot. Playing .500 ball but wondering if it's sustainable. Here's hoping it is for both our squads.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Spoiler

Despite what has suddenly become an incredibly hectic personal life, I finally was able to get my 1999 historical expansion started. Here's a look at the Carolina Blue Sox.




I'm going to be constantly looking to adjust, but here's a quick look at the lineup/rotation after the expansion draft.



The lineup has some good pop and patience, but stringing hits together may be a concern. Add in the relative lack of speed and there's going to be a lot of "all or nothing" offensive performances.

Justice was my biggest reach, given his contract and injury history. Jaha and Sanders are similar risk/reward pickups in terms of their health, but their contracts were less prohibitive. If I can keep them healthy though, I'm hoping their bats prove valuable to a contender. If I go at least 1-3 here, I'll be pleased.

Starting pitching is weak outside of Chen (if he even reaches potential), but my bullpen could potentially be quite good.

I'm going to try Nelson in the closer role and see if he can perform well enough to garner some attention on the market. I'll probably hang onto the younger arms, though I'm obviously open to anything that builds for the future.

Thankfully, I have an owner who is relatively patient and wants me to build the farm system.

Love how you're sticking it to the Braves with David Justice, Michael Tucker, Keith Lockhart, and Bruce Chen all on your team. We Carolina expansion teams have to stick together. What, no Ryan Klesko?

[KSUowls]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Love how you're sticking it to the Braves with David Justice, Michael Tucker, Keith Lockhart, and Bruce Chen all on your team. We Carolina expansion teams have to stick together. What, no Ryan Klesko?

Keep your hands to yourself!

[SoxFan01605]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Love how you're sticking it to the Braves with David Justice, Michael Tucker, Keith Lockhart, and Bruce Chen all on your team. We Carolina expansion teams have to stick together. What, no Ryan Klesko?

Ha! I almost grabbed Otis Nixon's old *** too, since he still has some wheels and my team is slooow. I realized after the draft that my team's a weird mix of a lot of former Braves and future Red Sox (Francona is even my manager).

I also currently have a FA offer in on Prime Time, for some speed/name recognition. The 90s Braves certainly have plenty of castoffs to choose from!

[KSUowls]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

2019 All-Star Break:

The busy off-season seems to have paid off as the Atlanta Braves sit atop the NL East (52-45), 2 games up on the New York Mets. One interesting note is that despite being 7 games over .500 the Braves have a run differential of just +4.

The Good
It's hard to pick a team MVP 97 games into the season. The 1-4 hitters in the lineup (Endar, Acuna, Freddie, Ozuna) all have OPS of .838 or higher. combined for 66 home runs, 229 RBI's, and 239 runs scored.

On the pitching side of things the rotation has really been a pleasant surprise. While far from a dominant staff they rank right in the middle of starter ERA's, and it has been improving as some young arms have started to establish themselves a bit.

The Bullpen is ranked 9th in the NL, but that number is largely inflated by Folty who just continues to struggle even after being bumped into long relief status early in the season. The stoppers though have done exactly that. Setup man Trevor Rosenthal and Closer A.J Minter both have ERA's below 2. They are a large reason why this team is 21-15 in 1 run games.


The Bad
Production out of the catcher position hasn't been quite as we had hoped. Though far from great, McCann was at least serviceable. Rookie Brett Cumberland was a black hole at the plate though and the team finally saw enough signing free agent Matt Wieters in July (early results have been good).


The Ulgy
Opening Day starter at 3B Austin Riley suffered an oblique strain in June which sent him to the DL. This may have actually been a blessing as he was barely over the Mendoza Line

4th OF Mallex Smith was putting together a nice season in a limited role, but he suffered a broken elbow just a couple weeks before the all-star break.

Every young starter not named Michael Fulmer, Kolby Allard, or Kyle Wright. Outside of these guys it has not been a good year for starting pitchers younger than 25.
Luiz Gohara didn't make the opening day roster and has not pitched well in AAA Gwinnett.
Mike Soroka was sent back to Gwinnet after 8 starts and only been marginally better since then.
Touki Toussaint replaced Soroka in the rotation. The early results were pretty good, but hitters seemed to have figured him out.
Joey Wents (21) was pitching in AA Mississippi before an abdominal injury sidelined him and his 6+ ERA.


The Draft
Last year the plan was to attack the organizational weakness at catcher with numbers. This year the strategy was largely to take the best player available with a focus towards starting pitching. Unfortunately the team did fail to come to an agreement with the 2nd round pick and will be adequately compensated in the 2020 draft.

International Amateurs
The Braves were able to sign 2 interesting 16 year olds out of Latin America.
OF Juan Guerrero already has a big bat at a young age, and projects to show even more power as he matures. He's also shown an impressive eye for the strike zone. He was considered the best player available, and a guy who really works to improve his game.

SS Arturo Uribes is a defensive wizard. He shows a strong arm, good range, and he rarely makes a mistake. Offensively he could be a doubles machine combining good speed with a very advanced eye at the plate. There are some concerns over his work ethic though.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

What even is this split

A RHB that loves facing RHP but is lost against LHP?

Did he see that video of Randy Johnson blowing up a bird with his fastball and now he's got southpaw-phobia?

I request a re-scout and my scout insists this is true.

I think my scout is drunk.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Injuries Strike as Marlins
Briefly Break .500
Five Game Losing Streak Jeopardizes Dark Horse Run

"Baseball being baseball, " manager Don Mattingly commented on the injuries that have struck the Marlins outfield.

Lewis Brinson strained his shoulder sliding into a base and was expected out 5 weeks. As September dawns, Brinson is still out a minimum of two weeks.

To make matters worse, Derek Dietrich, now the starting right fielder, suffered an abdominal strain. That diagnosis was three weeks and he was also put on the DL. However, team doctors are now unsure of when Dietrich will return.

This has forced Stone Garrett to jump from AA to the Majors and Garrett Cooper, primarily a 1B who has some experience in right, to come up for depth.

The injuries came just as a five game losing streak struck. The Marlins were 63-61 at the time and 4 games out of the second wild card. Now the team is 8 1/2 behind and a stunning dash to the playoffs seems dire now.

"I think the goal has to be to get back and maybe over .500. That would be a nice way to end what's been a very strong improvement. It's probably disappointing to the guys but they have no reason to feel bad if they don't pull off the miracle run at this point, " a local sports talk host commented.

On top of the injuries at the majors, there's some serious injuries to some of the team's better prospects.

Tyler Jay has suffered the worst of those, tearing his UCL and will be out at least 12 months.

"It sucks. It ******* sucks, " Jay cursed as he had his shoulder wrapped and braced, "September call-ups coming and this **** happens."

OF Max Marusak suffered torn ankle ligaments and will be out for the rest of the season.

P Tyler Kolek is recovering from elbow tendonitis and could be back in action soon for High A-Jupiter.

P Dillon Peters has a sore shoulder and doctors have advised he do only light activities for the next four weeks, effectively ending his season.

Captain Carpio - Leading not Playing

Many would argue that Luis Carpio was the most ineffective of the Marlins' Rule 5 selections. The opinion inside the Marlins clubhouse would be a complete opposite.

"He's helped keep us focus and united. He's keeping our vision on the game and the goals we have for ourselves and as a team. He's been a real contributor off the field, " catcher J.T. Realmuto spoke.

Indeed, Carpio's play on the field has been...unproductive. .190/.301/.190, 38 OPS+ -0.2 WAR...not a positive thing to be said there except that he's decent at walks.

But that's been just fine as his job is mostly behind the scenes helping everyone else play better.

"Can you put a number on what he's done? By all rights, some of what every one of us is doing belongs to Luis [Carpio], " Realmuto commented.

Lewis Talking Long-Term Extension??

There are conflicting reports of Royce Lewis and/or his agent having a brief talk about a long-term contract extension. According to anonymous sources, the deal would have been 9 years long and the salary eventually reaching $22 million per year in the last three years, presumably what would be his free agency eligible seasons.

"It's hard to believe, and the Marlins are officially saying nothing. I know he was overjoyed by his team starting that charity, he's made no secret about that, but still this would be very unusual, " MLB Network analyst Dan Plesac commented.

Lewis was quoted as saying "as long as they want me to play for them, I will" after the Marlins agreed to start the team-sponsored charity. Many thought those were just expressions of gratitude, not really meant to be taken literal. Perhaps we should rethink that theory.

Marlins Purchase Eri Yoshida's Contract

In one for the "and now for something completely different" file, the Marlins bought the contract of the so-called "Knuckle Princess" Eri Yoshida and have assigned her to Low A-Batavia.

For what it's worth, Yoshida has 9 starts, going 2-3 in that span with a 3.53 ERA in 43 1/3 innings of work.

No word from the Marlins or the Yoshida camp on hows or whys of this happening or what the future is other than "she will be considered and treated as any other major league prospect and how ever she performs and progresses will determine her movement in the system."

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Spoiler

2019 All-Star Break:

The busy off-season seems to have paid off as the Atlanta Braves sit atop the NL East (52-45), 2 games up on the New York Mets. One interesting note is that despite being 7 games over .500 the Braves have a run differential of just +4.

The Good
It's hard to pick a team MVP 97 games into the season. The 1-4 hitters in the lineup (Endar, Acuna, Freddie, Ozuna) all have OPS of .838 or higher. combined for 66 home runs, 229 RBI's, and 239 runs scored.

On the pitching side of things the rotation has really been a pleasant surprise. While far from a dominant staff they rank right in the middle of starter ERA's, and it has been improving as some young arms have started to establish themselves a bit.

The Bullpen is ranked 9th in the NL, but that number is largely inflated by Folty who just continues to struggle even after being bumped into long relief status early in the season. The stoppers though have done exactly that. Setup man Trevor Rosenthal and Closer A.J Minter both have ERA's below 2. They are a large reason why this team is 21-15 in 1 run games.


The Bad
Production out of the catcher position hasn't been quite as we had hoped. Though far from great, McCann was at least serviceable. Rookie Brett Cumberland was a black hole at the plate though and the team finally saw enough signing free agent Matt Wieters in July (early results have been good).


The Ulgy
Opening Day starter at 3B Austin Riley suffered an oblique strain in June which sent him to the DL. This may have actually been a blessing as he was barely over the Mendoza Line

4th OF Mallex Smith was putting together a nice season in a limited role, but he suffered a broken elbow just a couple weeks before the all-star break.

Every young starter not named Michael Fulmer, Kolby Allard, or Kyle Wright. Outside of these guys it has not been a good year for starting pitchers younger than 25.
Luiz Gohara didn't make the opening day roster and has not pitched well in AAA Gwinnett.
Mike Soroka was sent back to Gwinnet after 8 starts and only been marginally better since then.
Touki Toussaint replaced Soroka in the rotation. The early results were pretty good, but hitters seemed to have figured him out.
Joey Wents (21) was pitching in AA Mississippi before an abdominal injury sidelined him and his 6+ ERA.


The Draft
Last year the plan was to attack the organizational weakness at catcher with numbers. This year the strategy was largely to take the best player available with a focus towards starting pitching. Unfortunately the team did fail to come to an agreement with the 2nd round pick and will be adequately compensated in the 2020 draft.

International Amateurs
The Braves were able to sign 2 interesting 16 year olds out of Latin America.
OF Juan Guerrero already has a big bat at a young age, and projects to show even more power as he matures. He's also shown an impressive eye for the strike zone. He was considered the best player available, and a guy who really works to improve his game.

SS Arturo Uribes is a defensive wizard. He shows a strong arm, good range, and he rarely makes a mistake. Offensively he could be a doubles machine combining good speed with a very advanced eye at the plate. There are some concerns over his work ethic though.

Did you run out of $$$ to sign that 2nd round catcher? Was his demand just too much? That seems unexpected that you didn't sign him.

Spoiler

Injuries Strike as Marlins
Briefly Break .500
Five Game Losing Streak Jeopardizes Dark Horse Run

"Baseball being baseball, " manager Don Mattingly commented on the injuries that have struck the Marlins outfield.

Lewis Brinson strained his shoulder sliding into a base and was expected out 5 weeks. As September dawns, Brinson is still out a minimum of two weeks.

To make matters worse, Derek Dietrich, now the starting right fielder, suffered an abdominal strain. That diagnosis was three weeks and he was also put on the DL. However, team doctors are now unsure of when Dietrich will return.

This has forced Stone Garrett to jump from AA to the Majors and Garrett Cooper, primarily a 1B who has some experience in right, to come up for depth.

The injuries came just as a five game losing streak struck. The Marlins were 63-61 at the time and 4 games out of the second wild card. Now the team is 8 1/2 behind and a stunning dash to the playoffs seems dire now.

"I think the goal has to be to get back and maybe over .500. That would be a nice way to end what's been a very strong improvement. It's probably disappointing to the guys but they have no reason to feel bad if they don't pull off the miracle run at this point, " a local sports talk host commented.

On top of the injuries at the majors, there's some serious injuries to some of the team's better prospects.

Tyler Jay has suffered the worst of those, tearing his UCL and will be out at least 12 months.

"It sucks. It ******* sucks, " Jay cursed as he had his shoulder wrapped and braced, "September call-ups coming and this **** happens."

OF Max Marusak suffered torn ankle ligaments and will be out for the rest of the season.

P Tyler Kolek is recovering from elbow tendonitis and could be back in action soon for High A-Jupiter.

P Dillon Peters has a sore shoulder and doctors have advised he do only light activities for the next four weeks, effectively ending his season.

Captain Carpio - Leading not Playing

Many would argue that Luis Carpio was the most ineffective of the Marlins' Rule 5 selections. The opinion inside the Marlins clubhouse would be a complete opposite.

"He's helped keep us focus and united. He's keeping our vision on the game and the goals we have for ourselves and as a team. He's been a real contributor off the field, " catcher J.T. Realmuto spoke.

Indeed, Carpio's play on the field has been...unproductive. .190/.301/.190, 38 OPS+ -0.2 WAR...not a positive thing to be said there except that he's decent at walks.

But that's been just fine as his job is mostly behind the scenes helping everyone else play better.

"Can you put a number on what he's done? By all rights, some of what every one of us is doing belongs to Luis [Carpio], " Realmuto commented.

Lewis Talking Long-Term Extension??

There are conflicting reports of Royce Lewis and/or his agent having a brief talk about a long-term contract extension. According to anonymous sources, the deal would have been 9 years long and the salary eventually reaching $22 million per year in the last three years, presumably what would be his free agency eligible seasons.

"It's hard to believe, and the Marlins are officially saying nothing. I know he was overjoyed by his team starting that charity, he's made no secret about that, but still this would be very unusual, " MLB Network analyst Dan Plesac commented.

Lewis was quoted as saying "as long as they want me to play for them, I will" after the Marlins agreed to start the team-sponsored charity. Many thought those were just expressions of gratitude, not really meant to be taken literal. Perhaps we should rethink that theory.

Marlins Purchase Eri Yoshida's Contract

In one for the "and now for something completely different" file, the Marlins bought the contract of the so-called "Knuckle Princess" Eri Yoshida and have assigned her to Low A-Batavia.

For what it's worth, Yoshida has 9 starts, going 2-3 in that span with a 3.53 ERA in 43 1/3 innings of work.

No word from the Marlins or the Yoshida camp on hows or whys of this happening or what the future is other than "she will be considered and treated as any other major league prospect and how ever she performs and progresses will determine her movement in the system."

Is Yoshida actually a female? I kinda think "knuckle princess" would be a cool nickname for any gender of ballplayer.

Hopefully your entire minor league system doesn't end up with gruesome injuries. Always sucks to see your fave prospects not on the field.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Is Yoshida actually a female? I kinda think "knuckle princess" would be a cool nickname for any gender of ballplayer.

Hopefully your entire minor league system doesn't end up with gruesome injuries. Always sucks to see your fave prospects not on the field.

Yep. She's really a female. If you see the girl holding a knuckler in my profile pic, that's her.

And "knuckle princess" is her nickname. The Japanese gave it to her when she first signed on as a pro player in their independent leagues.

I was hoping Melissa Mayeux was in the game. She's a teenaged shortstop that's being mentored/coached by Barry Larkin. She's actually on the MLB registry so she could be signed by a club. She's the girl that's on my arena card.

[N51_rob]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Off-Season Report

We went into the off-season with a couple of clear goals in mind. Find a veteran pitcher to be the face of the rotation while Raudas continued to establish himself and someone else for the back end of the rotation in case none of the guys in the minors are ready for the opportunity. Second, was looking for more offensive production at 2B and finding an everyday RF we were comfortable with. Lastly look into moving Yin-Tou Lai's contract.

In the Rule 5 draft took CF Desmond Lindsay from the Reds Organization at the behest of my head scout, will give him a go in Spring Training but fully expect to return him to the Reds by opening day. Looking for CF help because Billy Hamilton will be a Free Agent after this season. He's played to a WAR of 10.1 and swiped 236 bases in Baltimore.

As free agency opened there was one name that caught our eye Chris Sale. In his signing I saw an opportunity for my first real bonafide Ace at the top of the rotation and pursued him with a back loaded 6 year deal worth $117 million. In the first two years Sale is only owed $28 million total before his salary jumps to $22 million in 2024. It was a calculated gamble believing that our roster probably has its best chance for a deep run in the next year or two with so many young players hitting their peak ages.

After locking up Sale we went after another lefty starter in Jason Wheeler. Wheeler was a career minor leaguer who's only pitched 3 innings in the majors. He's bounced around including a stop in the KBO where he posted a 13-6 record and threw 181.1 innings in 30 starts. But what we didn't know until after he signed his 2 year, $2.2 million contract is this guy is a freaking nut case. Two days after we agreed to terms he went to India to see a "guru". He came back and was spouting a bunch of nonsense that I wasn't prepared to deal with so I suspended him for 7 games....I can see now I probably just threw 2 million dollars out the window...

Spoiler

I thought I had managed to solve a couple of my problems in one fell swoop with a potential deal with the Cubs. I had them sending LF Ian Happ and promising CF prospect Nelson Velazquez to Balitmore while assuming 65% of Happs remaining contract or $43 million in exchange for Yin-Tou Lai, and two prospects C Will Banifield and SP Quinn Priester and one throw away pitching prospect. But the deal fell through as they didn't have the money to complete the deal. I've tried on three occasions to make the deal happen but neither of us really have the room with money to make it work w/o the other eating a significant portion of the cost.

To that end, I've offered Yeonis Cespedes a minor league deal. He spent last season in Japan too. He told me no and went back to Japan with the Hanshin Tigers.

Free Agent Signings around the league

Spoiler

C Buster Posey signed with Arizona for 4 years $80 Million
SS Franciso Lindor opts to join San Fran for 6 years $106.9 million
SP Max Scherzer 2 years $44 million to seattle,
SP Gio Gonzalez 3 years $45.9 million to Toronto
SP James Paxton to Reds 5 years $130
C Jonathan Lucroy to Mets 3yrs $39
SS Carlos Correa 7 years $148 million to Arizona
LF Christian Yellich to Philly for 4ys/$36
LF Cory Dickerson to Giants for 5 years 72.9 million
SP Matt Harvey to Angels 3 years $26.5 million....and last but not least
RP Mychal Givens to the Orix(Ni-Gun) Buffalos hes in Japan in AA ball for $428,000.

Going to go with a 6 man rotation in spring to give guys a long look before deciding on the last two spots in the rotation. Also going to let Desmond Lindsay show he can occupy one of the spots on the bench as a pinch runner and spot player in the outfield.