MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

[RogueHominid]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Update on my Orioles Franchise (Year 3):

The defending WS champs have been shuffling as of late, losing 7 of 10, mostly to division foes (34-23 now). My hold on first place has been slipping as a result, but I'm still 2.5 games ahead. I guess it's to be expected given the injuries my team has sustained, though.

Here's a list of some recent injuries:
Shawn Hill, SP - out 4+ months
Adam Jones, CF - out 2 months
Brian Roberts, 2B - out 2 weeks (not put on DL, just have him playing through it most of the time)
Vlad Guerrero, DH/LF - out 10 days (not put on DL, playing through it)

Unfortunately that represents 4 of my top 10 players.

Last night I played against the Red Sox and couldn't get anything going, despite their SP going down in the first inning with an injury. I couldn't hit Alceves for the life of me and things only got worse as I faced Fuentes and Paplebon in the late innings. I lost 3-1.

I'm still thinking about working on my pitching with some trades, and Luke Scott's days are numbered despite being recently being re-signed for a 2 year deal. He's been almost completely unproductive, not giving any power to the lineup and is getting slow in his upper age--especially defensively.

I might need to package him and a 5 star potential minor leaguer to get anything decent, but I'm going to start looking if the team doesn't turn it around.

Some other notes on the division:

- The Blue Jays are still in 2nd place despite having one of the worst records in the majors last year. Definitely a huge turnaround for them! Then again, it's just the 1st week of June.

- The Yankees are dead last in the division and are under .500. Could it be because Derek Jeter retired and the Yankee lore is fading?

- Matt Wieters (C, Orioles) is having a very strong start to the season much like the last two years. Will he be able to keep from fading late in the year like he also has in the last two years? If he keeps it up, he could very well be the third different AL MVP from the Orioles in the last 3 years.

Man, those injuries are brutal. I play with them at 50, and there are times when things are peachy and everyone is healthy, and then there are stretches like the one you've got, where half your good talent is out. I hope you can tread water for a couple weeks while Vlad and Roberts get healthy.

I actually really like that you can have a guy play through minor injuries. Those bigger injuries to your staff are tough, though. If the Jays start getting too close, you might have to move some talent for pitching. As hard as Os fans have had it, they'd throw you out of town if you didn't sell the farm to stay in contention .

[Wavebird99]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

I just started a franchise with both the Blue Jays and Indians. Gonna try and get back into this game a bit

Won the season opener with the Jays 12-6 over the Twins. Crazy game, I was down 6-2 heading into the 7th, but scored 4 runs that inning to tie it (thanks in part to homeruns from Corey Patterson and Rajai Davis, haha) and then scored 6 runs in the 8th to take a commanding lead.

Arencibia had a 3-run homerun to cap off the scoring. Really nice come from behind win. I managed to really shut them out the final three innings after laboring through 6 with a combination of Romero and Dotel (I walked 3 guys in one inning with Dotel, crazy).

Probably gonna play a game with the Indians next, see how I fair with them.

[zorroomega]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

General Outlook

New Here. Gonna start posting! I agree with injuries being weird like playing guys and they hurt their wrist but then they throw fine. I `m gonna be posting about my Pittsburgh Pirates franchise. Didn`t make many changes. BTW I`m on opening day on year 2. Had to release Scott Olsen during the offseason due to money. But before the season year 1 I signed Carl Pavono. I have been watching the website to see if the people here are any helpful and they are.

Roster

1B Lyle Overbay 2B Neil Walker 3B Pedro Alvarez SS Ronny Cedono LF Jose Tabata CF Andrew McCutchen RF Garrett Jones C Jason Jarmillo . Good Pinch Hitters Matt Diaz and Ryan Doumit

I will have to get my rotation, Carl Pavano, Paul Maholm, James McDonald ( J-Mac) are in it. Closer is Evan Meek. I`ve done many franchises lasting only a month in the game (LOL) so I`ve figured out when I get ripped off. If anyone wants to know something or comment feel free to ask or say.

[cardswin2006]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Man, those injuries are brutal. I play with them at 50, and there are times when things are peachy and everyone is healthy, and then there are stretches like the one you've got, where half your good talent is out. I hope you can tread water for a couple weeks while Vlad and Roberts get healthy.

I actually really like that you can have a guy play through minor injuries. Those bigger injuries to your staff are tough, though. If the Jays start getting too close, you might have to move some talent for pitching. As hard as Os fans have had it, they'd throw you out of town if you didn't sell the farm to stay in contention .

The injuries are bad at the moment, but I'm still treading water as of right now with a 5.5 game lead in the division. Besides, I like the challenge . Roberts is healthy now but he's on a wicked cold streak, so he's been sitting on the games I play. Vlad is still effective even with the injury, so he's been playing most of the games.

Adam Jones is on his way back next week so that will help with the OF depth. In the meantime, Matt Wieters has the injury bug but is playing through it. Luckily it isn't very significant and he's still putting up above average numbers.

It really stinks have Hill out though as he was the 2012 AL Cy Young. I'm not going to complain though, because as you stated, there are times when I'm skating through with no injuies (or at least significant ones). I just wish my starting pitching could be left alone and have some bullpen guys go down instead. At least I have depth there

[RogueHominid]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Okay, so after much debate on sliders and control settings, I've settled all that and am beginning a fresh A's franchise.

Hitters
We have some interesting dilemmas to sort out. There's not enough power from top to bottom in the lineup as it is. I have some redundancy at several positions that I'll have to try to trade down the road. Here are the big positional battles:

1B:

Derrick Barton: who is a weak hitter but a solid fielder

Chris Carter: better hitter than Barton and is a decent fielder though just below Barton's level.

2B:

Mark Ellis: has great hands and range but a weak arm and bat.

Adam Rosales: average hitter with more power than Ellis, a passable fielder, and a super-utility type.

LF:

Josh Willingham: plus power potential but no defensive skills.

Connor Jackson: average hitter and is rated OVR similarly to Willingham, though he also cannot field.

RF:

David DeJesus: good contact hitter, especially vs. RHP, and is a plus defender.

Ryan Sweeney: almost a DeJesus clone.

Pitchers

The starting rotation is one of the best in the league with Cahill, Anderson, Gonzales, McCarthy and Braden. The bullpen is also solid from top to bottom, boasting a very solid setup and closer tandem in Balfour and Bailey.

Prospects

I have a 5* defensive catcher named Andrews in AAA. He is 25 and is at 2* currently.

I also have a 5* DH type RF named Underwood in AAA who is 21 and is at 3* currently.

Lastly, I have a 4* MR named Magnuson in AAA who is 25 and is at 3* currently.

In AA I have a 5* 1B named Lyons who is 21 and is 3 stars currently.

Thoughts

I'm going to platoon Barton and Carter most likely and see if one of the two stands out. Lyons will need two years before he's ready for the bigs. In the mean time I'll have to live.

I need to decide between Willingham and Jackson in LF. Willingham is the better player. Keeping Jackson would be a depth move. Given his decent OVR he might be tradable later in the year.

Given my organizational commitment to Suzuki, I am strongly considering moving Andrews in a deal for a veteran hitter down the road. I don't need two stud Cs.

What do y'all think of this setup and the roster?

[zorroomega]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Chris Snyder was catching for me last year, but with the progression he dropped 1 OVR. I wonder if Jarmillo really progressed. Mostly playing NHL now so......I might get to it want to get to though.

[cardswin2006]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Okay, so after much debate on sliders and control settings, I've settled all that and am beginning a fresh A's franchise.

Hitters
We have some interesting dilemmas to sort out. There's not enough power from top to bottom in the lineup as it is. I have some redundancy at several positions that I'll have to try to trade down the road. Here are the big positional battles:

1B:

Derrick Barton: who is a weak hitter but a solid fielder

Chris Carter: better hitter than Barton and is a decent fielder though just below Barton's level.

2B:

Mark Ellis: has great hands and range but a weak arm and bat.

Adam Rosales: average hitter with more power than Ellis, a passable fielder, and a super-utility type.

LF:

Josh Willingham: plus power potential but no defensive skills.

Connor Jackson: average hitter and is rated OVR similarly to Willingham, though he also cannot field.

RF:

David DeJesus: good contact hitter, especially vs. RHP, and is a plus defender.

Ryan Sweeney: almost a DeJesus clone.

Pitchers

The starting rotation is one of the best in the league with Cahill, Anderson, Gonzales, McCarthy and Braden. The bullpen is also solid from top to bottom, boasting a very solid setup and closer tandem in Balfour and Bailey.

Prospects

I have a 5* defensive catcher named Andrews in AAA. He is 25 and is at 2* currently.

I also have a 5* DH type RF named Underwood in AAA who is 21 and is at 3* currently.

Lastly, I have a 4* MR named Magnuson in AAA who is 25 and is at 3* currently.

In AA I have a 5* 1B named Lyons who is 21 and is 3 stars currently.

Thoughts

I'm going to platoon Barton and Carter most likely and see if one of the two stands out. Lyons will need two years before he's ready for the bigs. In the mean time I'll have to live.

I need to decide between Willingham and Jackson in LF. Willingham is the better player. Keeping Jackson would be a depth move. Given his decent OVR he might be tradable later in the year.

Given my organizational commitment to Suzuki, I am strongly considering moving Andrews in a deal for a veteran hitter down the road. I don't need two stud Cs.

What do y'all think of this setup and the roster?

Sounds like you might have to wait a year on your OF. I would see who rises to the top and if you have any outgoing FAs at the end of the year. You should give your 5 star potential AAA OF another year to mature and succeed (hopefully significantly raising his numbers) and move him into an everday spot the following year. Since you have a strong rotation, you could trade from strength and hopefully get some solid position players in return.

It may just be my franchise, but it seems like there are better pitchers available in FA than position players, so it's important to get those guys established.

However, if you don't have any decent pitching depth in AAA, you may want to hold off on that and try to get some decent prospects that you can sign long term.

It looks like you have a few years of rebuilding (just like real life) ahead of you. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

[bulls23]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Sounds like you might have to wait a year on your OF. I would see who rises to the top and if you have any outgoing FAs at the end of the year. You should give your 5 star potential AAA OF another year to mature and succeed (hopefully significantly raising his numbers) and move him into an everday spot the following year. Since you have a strong rotation, you could trade from strength and hopefully get some solid position players in return.

It may just be my franchise, but it seems like there are better pitchers available in FA than position players, so it's important to get those guys established.

However, if you don't have any decent pitching depth in AAA, you may want to hold off on that and try to get some decent prospects that you can sign long term.

It looks like you have a few years of rebuilding (just like real life) ahead of you. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Interesting following your franchise: 2 questions:

1. How did you decide on the Orioles?
2. How many games are you playing/simming?

[JeriousNorwood]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

So in my franchise I got pretty pissed off. It wasn't bad enough that we are on a six game losing streak and that Longoria is on a 0-19 slump in which he dropped from around .300 to .239. Well I got excited because the next game Longoria got a hit to break out of his slump. I figured, why not, things are looking up! So I steal a base with him. Well guess what? After being safe he injures his leg probably from sliding into the base and is out for a little over a month.

I traded for Emilio Bonifacio and I called up Hank Blalock, but there is no way I can replace Longoria, my top power hitter. It's going to be a rough season.

[shane79013]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

So in my franchise I got pretty pissed off. It wasn't bad enough that we are on a six game losing streak and that Longoria is on a 0-19 slump in which he dropped from around .300 to .239. Well I got excited because the next game Longoria got a hit to break out of his slump. I figured, why not, things are looking up! So I steal a base with him. Well guess what? After being safe he injures his leg probably from sliding into the base and is out for a little over a month.

I traded for Emilio Bonifacio and I called up Hank Blalock, but there is no way I can replace Longoria, my top power hitter. It's going to be a rough season.

Haha in my franchise the last week of April I lost Dan Uggla for 4 months. During the end of may Prado, Gonzalez, and Heyward are all batting around .220 and on huge cold streaks. Heyward is something like 4-35 just terrible. Anyway I finally manage to get Prado out of his cold streak the 1st day of June. I hit a triple and he fractures his shin sliding into 3rd. Tim Hudson had a 1 hit shut out going into the 8th inning and tore his roator cuff in the same game.

So I have no Uggla, Hudson, or Prado until August at the earliest. Not to mention the little nagging injures some guys get. Heyward is dang near worthless. Really the only person hitting the ball is McCann who now has 94 con 98 power. But he is only hitting line drive singles all over the field. I'd like to use that 98 power. My pitching is saving my butt just like in real life. I do have a 3 game lead in the division though. Things are gonna be tough though now that I have Minor and Beachy in the 4th and 5th spot instead of sharing the 5th spot. Neither one of them is really dependable yet.

It's going to be like playing with a whole new ball club come September when my main guys come back. I just hope I don't fall apart before then.

[cardswin2006]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Interesting following your franchise: 2 questions:

1. How did you decide on the Orioles?
2. How many games are you playing/simming?

1. Well, I didn't want to play as the Cardinals because I knew it would be too easy, plus I always play as them so it's nice to mix it up a bit. Second, I knew I wanted to play in a beautiful stadium, and I've always loved Baltimore's. Third, I wanted a real challenge to succeed every year, and the AL East always seems the toughest if you aren't the Red Sox or Yankees. Of course, the Orioles are the old St. Louis Browns, so that helped

2. I'm playing 1 and simming 5 (it's genius really, I wish I had come up with on my own so I could take credit for it, but it's pretty common here on OS). This way it allows you to play as a different starting pitcher every 5 days. It also keeps you from nerfing your teams numbers too drastically and you end up getting very realistic stat lines. Plus, since you only end up playing 27 games a year (I sim spring training), you get through seasons quickly, which when you're playing Franchise, is perfect as it actually gives weight to your roster decisions. For example, if you sell the farm to get the big gun to win the WS, you're going to pay for it in 4-5 years.

[JeriousNorwood]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Haha in my franchise the last week of April I lost Dan Uggla for 4 months. During the end of may Prado, Gonzalez, and Heyward are all batting around .220 and on huge cold streaks. Heyward is something like 4-35 just terrible. Anyway I finally manage to get Prado out of his cold streak the 1st day of June. I hit a triple and he fractures his shin sliding into 3rd. Tim Hudson had a 1 hit shut out going into the 8th inning and tore his roator cuff in the same game.

So I have no Uggla, Hudson, or Prado until August at the earliest. Not to mention the little nagging injures some guys get. Heyward is dang near worthless. Really the only person hitting the ball is McCann who now has 94 con 98 power. But he is only hitting line drive singles all over the field. I'd like to use that 98 power. My pitching is saving my butt just like in real life. I do have a 3 game lead in the division though. Things are gonna be tough though now that I have Minor and Beachy in the 4th and 5th spot instead of sharing the 5th spot. Neither one of them is really dependable yet.

It's going to be like playing with a whole new ball club come September when my main guys come back. I just hope I don't fall apart before then.

Hahah wow, now I don't feel so bad. I was angry at the time, but at least it mixes your team up some and makes you have to adapt. That's what makes franchise mode fun, and frustrating. Yeah, I've had to call up players as well. Luckily I had some prospect in the minors who can play first base and outfield, and Emilio Bonifacio and Ben Zoberist can play the whole infield pretty much, so I have versatility if someone have injuries which is key.

However, besides Kelly Shoppach against righties, I have zero power in my lineup. Looks like it will be small ball for a month unless I make a trade lol.

[stlstudios189]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

I fired up my Detroit Tigers Franchise last night sitting in 1st place at 45-46 in a 104 game season with 13 to go my franchise file became unreadable So now it's on to MLB 2k11 I am going to run as the Balt. O's

What sucks is that was my most enjoyable season that I have had ever!!! my sliders were perfect and it was fun as heck

[JeriousNorwood]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

I fired up my Detroit Tigers Franchise last night sitting in 1st place at 45-46 in a 104 game season with 13 to go my franchise file became unreadable So now it's on to MLB 2k11 I am going to run as the Balt. O's

What sucks is that was my most enjoyable season that I have had ever!!! my sliders were perfect and it was fun as heck

Wow dude, that sucks. Very unfortunate.

Well in my Rays franchise I'm now on a nine game losing streak. My lineup is pathetic without Evan Longoria. I finally sent Sam Fuld to the minors due to him frustratingly not being able to hit anything. Basically Ben Zobrist and Kelly Shoppach versus righties have been trying to take my team's offensive load and it hasn't helped. If that wasn't enough, I lost a game 4-3 to Baltimore in 18 innings. Now that pissed me off.

I was so mad with my pitching depth that I decided to make a trade to the Brewers for Takashi Saito where I took on his crappy contract and I gave them a prospect for him. He has been great so far. Him and Joel Peralta have been carrying the relief innings. Everyone else has sucked. Kyle Farnsworth has been demoted from closer work due to blowing multiple leads and giving up the run in the 18th inning and Takashi took that over spot over. Man, I really need to pull out of this slump soon.

[cardswin2006]

Re: MLB2K11 Franchise Progress

Update on my Orioles franchise (year 3):

Just completed the All-Star break (NL won) and am sitting in first place by 3 games. The Red Sox have come on strong as of late and my Orioles have been scuffling. Just before the break I lost 2 of 3 to the Sawx, was swept in 3 games by the Tigers, then split a 4 game series with the Rangers. So 3-7 in my last 10

The strangest thing is that I can't quite pin down what the issue is. My offense is still ranked at the top or near the top in every offensive category, and my pitching is at or well above the pitching statistics as a whole. Still, I have guys on my team struggling to put up decent numbers for some strange reason:

Brian Roberts is hitting .240. He's been off and on injured the whole year (he is getting old, I guess) but as my lead off guy, he hasn't been the spark he was last year.

JJ Hardy has come back to earth and is hitting under .290 with 4 HRs. So he's back to being the JAG (just a guy) that he was before. Robert Andino hasn't been hitting at all either, so my middle infield continues to plague me.

Matt Wieters is still hitting over .300, but he hasn't hit a HR in a few weeks. He's been sitting at 20 for awhile, which is certainly a respectable total, but he has tailed off every year so far and I'm worried he's doing it again. Now I'm not sure who the real player is: the one with game changing power, or the one with gap power and hits for average and a sprinkling of RBIs?

Vlad Guerrero is in a similar situation as Wieters. He also has been battling the injury bug, but he only has 8 HRs for the year. When you're in your 18th season that's also a respectable number by the AS break, but when his past few seasons have had him hit over 35 HRs, it's a significant dropoff.

Adam Jones is back from his injuries but hasn't brought the spark to the lineup I was hoping for. He's still one pace for a solid year, but he's certainly not going to put up the numbers I needed him to to remain the elite offensive team in the MLB.

Josh Bell has also come back down to earth. His strong start has given way to a sub .300 average and 8 HRs. He's still playing a solid 3B, and Mark Reynolds is still having a solid year at 1B, but he was so hot at the beginning of the year it's hard not to feel disappointment now that he has evened out. I have to keep in mind that he's a rookie, though...

One bright spot has been Nolan Reimold. After starting the year in AAA, he's come on strong (and on a hot streak) and is knocking the ball out of the park the last couple of weeks. So far he is hitting over .300 and has more HRs than Vlad at 11. Not bad for only playing for the last 2 months...and spot starting in certain circumstances.



So now I'm 2 1/2 weeks from the trade deadline and I have to start seriously considering shaking things up so I don't blow this division lead. I have a little bit of time to figure out whether this is a momentary slide or whether it's a long term trend that needs to be addressed, but I'm starting to think it's the latter. I've been basically playing .500 ball for about a month and a half and it's starting to catch up to me. But even if I consider going out and getting somebody, do I try to improve an already statistically dominant offense? Or do I add to an above average pitching staff? Both?

Tough calls