My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

[Angel_Fan]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

Have you received any "call him up?" emails during your season?

I had a few for guys in A and AA whos ratings matched guys on the AAA squads, but the only players I brought up to the majors were Alex Cora and Brandon Phillips because Belliard and Peralta got injured.

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

In case you were wondering, here's an update to my Indians dynasty -- I really should get my own thread for this, but I don't think I have the time or energy to maintain it like you do your webpage.

World Series

Game 4 (@ Hou)
Cliff Lee vs. Carlos Hernandez. I was debating whether to have the CPU pitch Clemens on 3-days rest, but decided against it since it wasn't exactly a must-win game for them. In retrospect, I should've taken a better look at their pitcher ratings and picked a better #4 starter than the CPU did. Tribe scores 2 in the 1st, then (who else?) Blalock adds a grand slam in the 3rd. Indians rebound with a vengeance, winning 8-4 to even the series.

Game 5 (@ Hou)
Sabathia vs. Clemens. Sabathia reverts to his regular season form, giving up 3 solo HRs, including 2 to Brad Ausmus. Rhodes gives up another solo shot, and the Stros win 5-2. Astros lead series 3-2.

Game 6 (@ Cle)
Millwood vs. Oswalt. Indians return to the Jake with their backs to the wall. Tribe jumps on Oswalt for 2 in the 1st on a Crisp double followed by a Martinez HR. Then its time for the little guys to step up -- Alex Cora hits a 2-run HR in the 4th , and Belliard adds a 2-run double in the 5th. Indians win easily 7-2 to tie the series.

Game 7 (@ Cle)
Westbrook vs. Pettite. A real nailbiter! Westbrook gives up his 9th 1st inning run in 4 postseason starts on a Berkman solo HR. Indians respond with a single by Belliard & an RBI double by Jose Hernandez in the bottom of the 1st. With the score tied at 2, Blalock comes through again, looping a bases-loaded single into LF to score 2 in the 4th and give the Tribe a 4-2 lead.

In the 7th, Brad Ausmus drives in Khalil Greene with a 2-out double to cut the Indians lead to 4-3. Biggio follows with a single to CF. Stros send Ausmus home! Coco Crisp charges the ball and fires it to home. The throw is horribly offline to the 1B side. Martinez grabs it and lunges back to the plate, barely tagging out Ausmus to end the inning! Tribe still leads 4-3.

In the 8th, I decide to leave Westbrook in even though I've got Rhodes & Shuey all warmed up in the bullpen. And of course Westbrook gives up a leadoff single to the backup 3B (Ensberg separated his shoulder a few innings earlier breaking up a DP). I bring the hook & replace him with Rhodes. Rhodes gets Lance Berkman to hit a hard grounder to 3rd -- a potential DP ball -- but it ricochets off the bag & strikes Blalock in the thigh. He retrieves the ball & fires to 1st, where the throw barely beats Berkman. 1 out, man on 2nd. DH Mike Lamb hits a single to right. Its hard hit to JuanGone, so the CPU holds up the runner at 3rd. 1st & 3rd, 1 out, next up Jeff Bagwell. Bagwell fouls off 2 high & in fastballs, and after wasting 2 pitches outside, Rhodes makes him look foolish on an inside slider. 2 outs. We bring in Shuey to face Khalil Greene. After the CPU steals 2nd, Shuey pitches around Greene to load the bases. Shuey jams Jason Lane with an inside fastball and he pops up weakly to Ron Belliard. Inning over, disaster averted! In the 9th, Wickman sets the Astros down in order.









The Cleveland Indians win the World Series, 4 games to 3!!!

World Series MVP: Hank Blalock (in 14 postseason games: .278, 6 HR, 18 RBI, .667 Slg)
Blalock carried our offense in the postseason. The next highest run producer was Victor Martinez with 9 RBIs. Cora was 3rd with 6 RBIs, which was more than Juan Gonzales and Travis Hafner... combined!

[Angel_Fan]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

Damn, thats a pretty crazy story you got there. I would have never thought that you (the Cleveland Indians) would win the world series any time soon. By the way, was the idea of trading for Blalock good or what ? Nice job man !

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

Damn, thats a pretty crazy story you got there. I would have never thought that you (the Cleveland Indians) would win the world series any time soon. By the way, was the idea of trading for Blalock good or what ? Nice job man !

Hey, I'm as surprised as you. I didn't think it was that unrealistic for us to win the division. An upset, yes, but I remember seeing a few writers predict that Cleveland would make the playoffs. I think the Blalock trade put us over the top. I probably need to make it up to Texas, even though Gerut went on to hit .310, 10 HR, 37 RBI with them in the last 79 games.

I feel like there was definitely some luck involved in winning it all. I'm still not sure how I swept the Yankees after falling behind 4-0 in game 1. Getting to play the Mariners (without Sexson) in the ALCS instead of Boston was a HUGE break. We probably would've gotten crushed by the Red Sox offense (they scored 209 more runs than us in the reg season ).

And trust me, there were no "power button rainouts"! In fact, I had some reservations about winning it all in year 1. It almost makes me want to start from scratch with a new dynasty. I'm at least glad that the Stros put up a great fight and the series went 7.

I may especially need to start over after the insane offseason I just had. I can't believe the talent that was available in free agency. Assuming I can keep them all under contract (a big if), this team should be in title contention for the next 5-10 years!

[Angel_Fan]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

My only gripe is that nearly everyone on the roster, is signed for only ONE year. Im thinking to myself, how can you keep a bunch of players together if they are only signed for one year. BTW, what is your financial statement? Im guessing it's looking pretty good since you won the championship, but mines looking pretty bleak heading into the last two months of the season (around $-5 million).

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

BTW, what is your financial statement? Im guessing it's looking pretty good since you won the championship, but mines looking pretty bleak heading into the last two months of the season (around $-5 million).

I don't really have one since I'm playing a dynasty, not owner mode. I just had no interest in building a replacement for Jacobs field. Maybe once I burn out on this dynasty I may try playing owner mode as the Devil Rays or Twins or someone else truly in need of a new stadium.

I was given an extra $8.6 mil to spend on payroll because of my success. If I'd known payroll could increase that much I probably wouldn't have cheated a teeny bit at the start of my dynasty. I just felt like the budget was not accurate for the current roster or the future (I think JuanGone is being paid way more IRL than he is in the game). So I added John Olerud & his $7 mil salary to the Indians in the roster file I used before starting my dynasty. I did make a point in my first season to not actually use any of that surplus after I released Olerud. And even after I went on a wild spending spree in free agency in 2006, I still have around $8 mil leftover.

So do you know what happens in OM when you're at -$5 mil? Does it mean you can't sign any free agents & have to cut payroll? Do you have to liquidate some of the ballpark stuff you bought? I know there's a guy posting in the main MVP forum that just lost $12 mil in his most recent season! And this was after he won the championship the previous year.

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

By the way, I really should get my head examined. For some strange reason I resigned Jason Davis for 2 years. Now after free agent signings and some negative progression (geez he's only 25) he's back in Buffalo. More dumb moves -- resigning David Riske & Bob Howry. I signed guys who are better than them in free agency & now Riske & Howry are keeping Davis company in Buffalo.

Since I signed all these guys to MLB contracts, Buffalo is not going to be a happy place! My trading block is now full.

[Angel_Fan]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

I dont know how the money really affects you in the offseason (havent made it that far yet).

Dont you think 7 mil for Olerud is just a little too much? Howry has produced for my team, Riske has been adequate, and Davis is my long reliever/spot starter. I just got to get another big bat and pitcher in the offseason. But first, the last two months of the season .

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

Dont you think 7 mil for Olerud is just a little too much?

Absolutely. I just placed him on the Indians in the roster management section of the game BEFORE I started my dynasty so that it would increase the team's starting payroll by $7 mil. This also increased the team's budget by $7 mil and gave me a little more money to work with in the future. Does that make sense? Dynasty mode works a little different than Owner Mode. I was just looking for a high-priced free agent to add for accounting purposes.

Howry has produced for my team, Riske has been adequate, and Davis is my long reliever/spot starter. I just got to get another big bat and pitcher in the offseason. But first, the last two months of the season .

Howry wasn't bad in 2005, but his ratings took a hit in the offseason. I've never been able to pitch well with Riske & Davis because their only good pitch is the fastball.

[Angel_Fan]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

About the bullpen, what you thinkn of Rafael Bentacourt? I dont think hes that good at all. Thats part reason I got Baez. I think that Baez, Wickman assuming he doesnt retire, and Rhodes, along with Howry if he keeps up his performance can make out to be a solid pen. Plus I got Sauerbeck and Shuey in AAA if I need them. I should really send down tadano for one of those guys though.

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

About the bullpen, what you thinkn of Rafael Bentacourt? I dont think hes that good at all. Thats part reason I got Baez. I think that Baez, Wickman assuming he doesnt retire, and Rhodes, along with Howry if he keeps up his performance can make out to be a solid pen. Plus I got Sauerbeck and Shuey in AAA if I need them. I should really send down tadano for one of those guys though.

Unfortunately I can't offer much advice on Betancourt. I traded him away right at the start of the season to the Cubs for P Angel Guzman. That was the only trade I made other than picking up Blalock & trading Boone for Ray Durham. I thought Shuey's ratings looked a lot better, so I made him the setup man.

One potential problem with your bullpen is that most of these guys are old! I don't know how they'll progress in your OM, but Rhodes, Wickman, and Howry all suffered significant ratings declines in my offseason. Rhodes especially lost a lot on every pitch. Wickman's stamina is down to 37. Howry's ratings didn't fall quite as much but enough that now he's stuck in AAA after I wasted a 2 year deal on him. My advice to you (depending on how much realism you're striving for) is to let all of these guys go to free agency. I don't think there'll be much demand for any of them, and you may find better ones available. If not you can re-sign them as free agents.

Unfortunately, progression isn't calculated until after you've signed free agents and played spring training. I re-signed Wickman. He wanted a 4 yr deal @ around $4.5mil/yr. I signed him for 2 yrs @ a little over $5 mil/yr. If I knew how much his ratings would sag I wouldn't have done it. He's still the closer for 2006, but 2007 is looking doubtful. Shuey still wanted over $3 mil/yr so I released him and signed Chad Bradford to take his place for less money.

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

I may have asked this before... are you playing on default All-Star, or have you made some slider adjustments?

I'm concerned that I may need to make some significant changes to my current All-Star settings. Its difficult to figure out a good set when you only play 35% of your games. Even if you play them all I think its not easy because hot/cold streaks are part of the game, so its tough to decide where to draw the line and start making changes.

During the 2005 playoffs (where I played every game), other than Blalock our hitting was poor. Now in 2006 I've got tons of new talent on the roster, and I thought I would try to play every game for at least a while. Trouble is (good trouble) we are hitting the cover off the ball. Through 7 games nearly everyone is around .400 or above. The exception is Coco Crisp who is in a huge slump around .120. I couldn't hit with him in 2005 either. Its difficult to say whether I need to change anything yet -- our first 6 games were against the Orioles & Devil Rays and none of the pitchers were noteworthy. But I became a little concerned in game #7 against the A's & Rich Harden. We struck out 14 times, but still scored 8 runs because of 3 multi-RBI homers. I gotta think some of these guys are just on hot streaks -- I hit a grand slam during the game without aiming the stick and swinging way too early when I reviewed the pitch analysis.

We've started 6-1 in 2007. The only loss was when Tadano gave up 6 runs & blew a 5-run lead. Yeah, I was really asleep on the bench in that one! Guess I was starting to feel invincible with the new lineup. I have a feeling after playing 20 or 30 games I'm gonna end up starting all over again or reload before free agency to go for a more realistic roster in 2006.

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

Thanks to the MVPSavReader program even a lazy bastard like myself can create a nice dynasty stats webpage! Check out the 2nd link to see the new & improved 2006 roster.

Just noticed something I forgot to fix... 7 games into 2006 and I've still got two players wearing #1 this season.

[Angel_Fan]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

Thats pretty sweet looking. About the sliders, I play on All-Sat with some adjustments. Sometimes i hit, other times I dont. But that happens in baseball, so I have to live with that. With school over Im going to start updating again. It looks like nearly half of your entire roster has changed. Lets see if you can repeat.

[edmus]

Re: My New Cleveland Indians (MVP 2005)

It looks like nearly half of your entire roster has changed. Lets see if you can repeat.

I was thinking about restarting this dynasty, but now I might just continue. Why? Because this team has a flaw which makes us not as invincible as I initially thought -- pitching, especially relief pitching. This is getting frustrating, but in a good way. Last year Wickman was nearly untouchable, and Rhodes and Howry were pretty good. Now my relievers seem to be running in from the bullpen with a gas can in each hand!

Dennis Tankersley just pitched really well in a fill-in start at Fenway for the injured Westbrook, exiting with a 5-2 lead in the 7th. Then Tadano, Rhodes, Bentz, and Bradford combined to give up 6 runs total in the 7th & 8th. A real team effort by the bullpen...ugh... results in a heartbreaking 8-6 loss.

And as for Wickman, he's pitching as awful as possible for having a 0.00 era. Basically, every runner he inherits seems to score. We're at 11-5 now, only 1 game up on the Twins.