Devil Rays Owner Mode

[mtrash]

All settings are default, budget is set to medium.



OPENING DAY ROSTER:

C Toby Hall
1B Aubrey Huff
2B Jorge Cantu
3B Alex Gonzalez
SS B.J. Upton
LF Eduardo Perez
CF Rocco Baldelli
RF Jose Cruz Jr.
DH Josh Phelps (1B)

BN Kevin Cash (C)
BN Chris Pogue (3B) 20 yr old free agent signing, looks promising
BN Julio Lugo (SS)
BN Danny Bautista (RF)

SP Mark Hendrickson
SP Dewon Brazleton
SP Scott Kazmir
SP Rob Bell
SP Doug Waecher

RP Travis Harper
RP Jorge Sosa (SP)
RP Lance Carter
RP Jesus Colome
RP Travis Miller
RP Danny Baez

My payroll is about $51m, so I'm gonna try to dump some of the larger contracts. Alex Gonzalez (1Y, $3m per), Danny Bautista (1Y, $1.9m per), and Jose Cruz Jr. (1Y, $3m per) are all going on the block. I'd like to get some good young pitching and maybe some power on third.



TOP 100 PROSPECTS:

SP Scott Kazmir, 21 (MLB)
CF Joey Gaithright, 23 (AAA)
RF Kristopher Morales, 19 (AA)



Well, I guess I'm ready for Opening Day. Wish me luck!

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

April has come and gone and the Rays are sitting in 3rd place, 3 games out. We posted a very respectable 13-11 record in the month that included a 3 game sweep of the defending champion Red Sox. The final game of the series was a 3-0 shutout in front of my first sellout of the year. I also bought an Ice Cream shop and two concessions during the month. But after a six game road stand in the final week, I'm $300k in the hole. Hopefully we can put together some wins in May and make some money.

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

10-19 in May, 10.5 games back now. Things are starting to look gloomy. We lost our first 6 games of the month and only won two in row twice.

Aubrey Huff is putting together a pretty good season. He's batting .356 with 10 HR and 38 RBI. He's also costing me $4.8m. =\

No news on the trade wire yet. I really need to lose some payroll, I'm about $1.8m in the hole right now.

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

June saw a slight improvement as we went 12-14, bringing the season record to 35-44. We're 13 games out of first now as Boston and New York battle for the East again.

I did make a big trade though. At the end of the month Cincinnati offered 2B D'Angelo Jiminez, 3B Joe Randa, and SS Felipe Lopez for Bautista, Cruz Jr., and Alex Gonzalez. Bautista and Cruz were both having pretty good years so the Reds probably got the better end of the deal. I was able to cut $3m in payroll though and Jiminez is making an All-Star push along with Aubrey Huff.

I'm still way in debt though and need to start making some money fast.

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

July saw my team continue to plummet. We ended up 11-15 for the month after losing 5 of our last 6. We're currently 24 games out.

I also moved Huff to the Indians on the trading deadline for Ben Brousard. Aubrey was having a great year but the fire sale has begun.

And I'm still hemmoraging cash.

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

Not much to report from August. 13-15 in the month, 59-75 overall, and 30 games back. Toronto is 33 back so we might slip in to the basement before its all over with.

The Red Sox are absolutely dominating. 88 wins already and they're batting .318 as a team.

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

2005 SEASON WRAP UP:

AL East Standings
Team - W - L - GB
Red Sox - 105 - 57 - 0
Yankees - 93 - 69 - 12
Orioles - 79 - 83 - 26
Blue Jays - 73 - 89 - 32
DEVIL RAYS - 70 - 92 - 35

Bank: -$11.2m
Fan Happiness: 2.75
Owner Rating: C+
Attendence Average: 15,674



Awards:
AL MVP - Johnny Damon
NL MVP - Carlos Beltran

AL CYA - Randy Johnson
NL CYA - Ben Sheets

AL ROY - B. Barnes (DET)
NL ROY - M. Williamson (ARI)


Team Leaders:
AVG - Jorge Cantu, .311
HR - Rocco Baldelli, 22
RBI - Rocco Baldelli, 96

ERA - Lance Carter, 3.39
W - Jesus Colome, 12
K - Scott Kazmir, 162
SV - Danys Baez, 25



Playoffs:

LDS:
STL 2
*PHI 3

SF 2
NYM 3

BOS 2
TEX 3

DET 2
NYY 3


LCS:
NYM 4
PHI 2

NYY 3
TEX 4


WS:
TEX 4
NYM 3

WS MVP: Mark Teixeira


My single A club, the Visalia Oaks won the California Leauge Championship.

Its gonna be a long, hard offseason. I'm in debt up to my eyeballs and am gonna have to lose a lot of talent. There's gonna be a very young team in Tampa Bay next year.

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

2005 OFFSEASON

Notable Retirements:
Julio Franco
Terry Mulholland
Andres Galarraga, 402 HR
Adam Kennedy
B.J. Surhoff
Darren Oliver
Ruben Sierra

Devil Rays Retirements:
RP Travis Miller, 32



Draft Summary: (3rd selection)
1 - RF Tankersley
2 - SP Rincon
3 - 2B Bong
4 - 2B Higginson (NOT SIGNED)
5 - CF Vargas
6 - RF Ozuna
7 - SS Wheeler
8 - 1B Johnson (NOT SIGNED)
9 - RF Bragg
10 - 3B Burkart (NOT SIGNED)



Free Agency
C Guillermo Queroz - 2Y @ 300k
2B Placido Palanco - 2Y @ 900k
3B Michael Cuddyear - 2Y @ 400k
LF Matt Holliday - 2Y @ 800k
SP Ryan Drese - 3Y @ 3m
SP Brandon Backe - 3Y @ $2.7m
RP Luis Vizcaino - 2Y @ $1.3m
RP Dan Smith - 2Y @ $1.2m
RP Jason Stanridge - 2Y @ $1.1m
RP Tim Spoonybarger - 2Y @ $1m
RP Ian Snell - 2Y @ $1m

1B Keijro Miyagi - 2Y @ 300k
2B Michael Williams - 2Y @ 400k
2B Ramon Castro - 2Y @ 200k
LF Ramon Erdos - 2Y @ 300k

As you can tell, my pitching staff was the emphasis of the free agency period. I tried to pick up some young position players in the draft and fill up my bullpen with free agents. I also grabbed some backups that may end up as trade bait. I was in the bidding for Johnny Damon and Dontrelle Willis for a the first few weeks, but then it got out of my price range. Willis ended up signing with the Red Sox =\

I also hired a new minor league manager in an attempt to cut some more payroll.

On to 2006!

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

2006, we've gotta make some $.

OPENING DAY ROSTER:

C Toby Hall
1B Ben Broussard / Matt Holliday (LF)
2B Placido Palanco
3B Felipe Lopez (SS) / D'Angelo Jimenez (2B)
SS B.J. Upton
LF Carl Crawford
CF Rocco Baldelli
RF Michael Cuddyear (3B)
DH Josh Phelps (1B)

BN Guillermo Quiroz (C)
BN Joey Gathright (CF)
BN Chris Pogue (3B)

SP Ryan Drese
SP Jorge Sosa
SP Scott Kazmir
SP Brandon Backe
SP Dewon Brazleton

RP Pat Snow (SP)
RP Jason Stanridge
RP Luis Vizcaino
RP Dan Smith
SU Travis Harper
CL Lance Carter



TOP 100 PROSPECTS:

C Dan Averette, 24 (AAA)
3B Chris Pogue, 21 (MLB)
CF Joey Gaithright, 24 (MLB)
CF Matt Seanez, 25 (AAA)
RF Kristopher Morales, 20 (AAA)
SP Jose Roa, 24 (AAA)



Player payroll is at $50.8m, so hopefully we can put together some wins and get out of the red.

[highlight_reel]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

I like this- I really like the Stanridge and Snell signings on your part. Hopefully cash is cut.

[cubsfan203]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

Go Rangers! Wish they could do that in reality.

[mtrash]

Re: Devil Rays Owner Mode

April got of to a sluggish start as we lost 7 of our first 8. Things got better as the month went along, we're 11-14 and 5 games out right now.

Michael Cuddyear and B.J. Upton have both gotten off to terrible starts. I'm gonna give Chris Pogue a chance to start in right over Cuddyear. Upton is gonna get a chance to turn things around though while platooning with Felipe Lopez. He's batting a horid .235 despite his 78/83 ratings, so I think he'll come around eventually.

The revamped bullpen is looking good so far this year. Every except for Dan Smith has a sub-4.00 ERA. Lance Carter has already blown two saves though. He might be out as the closer before long.

Don't even ask about the team financial situation.