MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

[mkilcNYR]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

Yea, I get what you're saying and it def wouldn't put the Mets in a hole if they lost but we were playing the Diamondbacks who hadn't been able to do much (3-12) so I wanted to sweep the bad teams now and try and get a cushion since the Braves and Cardinals are up next for the schedule. More like it was crucial for me lol

[mkilcNYR]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

I wouldn't say they're CRUCIAL, but obviously it's not fun to lose ball games. This early in the year it's not gonna hurt like it would in August/September

Yea, I get what you're saying and it def wouldn't put the Mets in a hole if they lost but we were playing the Diamondbacks who hadn't been able to do much (3-12) so I wanted to sweep the bad teams now and try and get a cushion since the Braves and Cardinals are up next for the schedule. More like it was crucial for me lol

[mkilcNYR]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

Mets 2014 Franchise Season:

Game 14: (Played the whole way through controlling everything) Not a great game down in the desert at Chase Field. Niese was chased from the game after 2+ innings of work and the Mets suffered a 12-3 thrashing at the hands (fangs?) of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bright spot was David Wright who seemed to be breaking out of his slump and picked up two hits including a solo homer in the first inning.

Game 15: (Player lock as SP Jeremy Hefner) Much better time for the Mets. Hefner is not injured and came back after skipping his turn in the oration in California against the Angels to fire a complete game against the Diamondbacks giving up just one run and scattering six hits while striking out 9. Ike Davis hit his own two run homer in the game and the Mets picked up the win, 6-1.

The road trip went okay. The Mets head back to Citi Field and Queens with a record of 5-4 on the 9 game week and a half, cross country outing.

Game 16: (Player lock as SP Matt Harvey) Harvey continued to dominate. Literally that's all that happened in the game. The Braves were one hit (even better since their a division rival) and Matt Harvey threw a complete game striking out 9 along the way and improving his own record to 3-0 on the year. The Mets pick up the win 1-0 against the Atlanta Braves. Harvey also now has an 0.60 ERA and leads the All Star Voting.

Game 17: (Played the whole way through controlling everything) Bartolo Colon gets one more chance to prove himself and get revenge on a team that handed him a loss at Turner Field. In the end the performance was meh. The Mets gave him plenty of run support with David Wright hitting a grand slam in the first and Curtis "The Grandyman" Granderson hitting two solo home runs to give Colon a huge lead to work with. In the end though he only went 5 innings again and left with a pitch count in the low 90's, giving up 1 run on 5 hits. Mets went on to win the game against the Braves (and guarantee themselves another series win against them) by a score of 6-2.

The Mets are so far actually doing very well to start the year and are heating up in these last few games. The Mets have a 3 game winning streak going and have won the last 4 games they've played at Citi Field. Bartolo Colon though will not remain in the rotation for the moment though. I demoted him to bullpen duty and raised Dillion Gee to the starting rotation who has already been lights out in the bullpen this year. He'll take the second rotation spot for now and Colon will take his place in long relief from the 'pen. The current NL East standings look like this:

Washington Nationals 12-6 -
New York Mets 10-7 1.5
Miami Marlins 9-9 3.0
Philadelphia Phillies 8-10 4.0
Atlanta Braves 8-10 4.0

Quirky Side Note: The Braves have lost 4 straight to the Mets this season and the Mets have won 4/5 from Atlanta (80% win)

[DJeterFan2]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

I've just lost 11 straight and went from having a 10.5 game lead to a 0.5 game lead in the AL East. Thankfully it's only June. However, my monumental collapse has garnered some attention from the national media. A brief transcript from the discussion can be seen below.

Spoiler

Greg Amsinger: "Welcome to MLB Tonight, I'm your host Greg Amsinger, joined by Al Leiter, Dan Plesac, and Mitch Williams, left to right. Guys I almost called in sick today due to this losing streak. We're getting calls on the XM station and our guys are trying to convince Yankees fans not to jump off the bridge."

Mitch Williams: "This is a catastrophic losing streak. It's unprecedented in this era of baseball. I mean a 10 game lead blown in the span of what, 2 weeks? I don't know how the Yankees are going to right the ship, but it needs to happen soon, or you may see the GM Brian Cashman make some moves to shake things up."

Al Leiter: "I don't think any hasty moves are necessary. The starting pitching has been ok through out this slide for the Yanks. They've pitched to a 3.54 ERA and held opposing teams to a .260 batting average. That's not all that bad considering how potent this lineup can be. With that being said, as a pitcher, you always want to be perfect every time through if you team is struggling. Unfortunately, that can't always be the case."

Dan Plesac: "I agree with you Al, the offense is clearly the problem here. When you've got a team scoring 2-3 runs a game, it's going to be tough on those guys in the rotation and bullpen to keep their ballclub in the game. And during this streak, the Yankees have managed to score only 2.9 runs a game. If you take out yesterday's 10-9 loss against the Rangers, you see that they've only scored 2.1 runs per game. If you look a little deeper into numbers, you can see that they're only batting .181 with runners in scoring position. That's just not going to get it done.



Greg Amsinger: There's the man who is just about all out of answers at this point. Hopefully these guys can right the ship. They've got a series coming up soon against the white-hot Jays, winners of their last 9 ball games.

[KBLover]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

Only the Marlins would end a 3-game losing streak by getting ONE hit in the first inning. A 3-run HR by Viciedo.

Beyond that, nothing but 2 BB in the next 8 innings.

That's the #MarlinsOffense for you...



Thank goodness Fernandez had his stuff and threw his 5th shutout of the year.

[baseballphanatic]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

Only the Marlins would end a 3-game losing streak by getting ONE hit in the first inning. A 3-run HR by Viciedo.

Beyond that, nothing but 2 BB in the next 8 innings.

That's the #MarlinsOffense for you...



Thank goodness Fernandez had his stuff and threw his 5th shutout of the year.

Do u not have Stanton? I have my roster set up to where all contracts run out when Stanton becomes a FA. Just gonna cross my fingers and hope he doesnt sign with the Marlins (in my Franchise) and throw stupid amounts of money at him!

[KBLover]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

Do u not have Stanton? I have my roster set up to where all contracts run out when Stanton becomes a FA. Just gonna cross my fingers and hope he doesnt sign with the Marlins (in my Franchise) and throw stupid amounts of money at him!

I have Stanton (that's who played RF - he went 0-for-4 with 2 K's...and facing LHP for three of the PAs as well...ugh).

In MLB13, I was hoping he'd free up, but he never did, they kept him. Otherwise, I was planning on the same thing.

[baseballphanatic]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

ya I'm gonna just hope he doesnt sign. I have Venable (who I absolutely rake with) signed thru 2015 so that offseason its throw the money out and hope. assuming hes a FA....If not, I'll probably just roll with my prospect Rymer Liriano

[BTownSlinger]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

I play the Mets and for the 2nd straight year Stanton is "on the interstate" not sure why his batting average is so bad. I was hoping to grab him in FA too but those plans are gone because he can't hit. As the Mets, I don't mind.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

After a 2-4 start to the 2015 season, the Cardinals rattled off 6 wins in a row to push their record up to 8-4 and 1/2 game out of first. After splitting a brief 2 game series with the Sox in Boston, we met with the division leading Cubbies. We lost 2 of 3 to the Cubs because our bullpen is absolutely horrendous.

Joel Peralta whom, we signed in the offseason to help a stabilize a young pen has been awful through the first 20 games of the season. Really starting to re-think my decision to bring him in.

[NDAlum]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

I am absolutely LOVING my Pirates franchise. I just played the 1st game of June and I'm 25-31. My bullpen has been getting better and I'm one good streak away from being back in the thick of things. My pitching staff has been better outside of a few blemishes. I gave up 7 runs in the first inning against SD last night with Liriano. Ended up losing 7-6 too

I've had issues closing out games at times. Melancon has been amazing outside of two appearances, but in those appearances he's give up like 7 ER total. So overall his ERA is mid 4's.

Rotation: Cole has an ERA of 2.12 and is 7-2. Charlie Morton and Volquez are starting to do well for me while Locke/Liriano continue to struggle. I think Liriano is around 6.00 ERA and Locke is up there as well. Morton/Volquez are around 4

Lineup:
Marte - .290s
Polanco - .250s
McCutchen - .250s with 10 HR 30+ RBI
Alvarez - .280s with 13 HR and 45 RBI (I think 1 or 2 in NL)
Ike Davis - .250s with 9-10 HR
Russ Martin - .180s with 6 HR
Neil Walker - .220s with 4-5 HR
Jordy Mercer - .220s with 0 HR

Bench:
Travis Snider is hitting just over .300 with 2 HR and 15 RBI
Gaby Sanchez is hitting under .200 with 2 HR

Overall I'm trending in the right direction. Alvarez has been a complete stud and yes, he's #2 in strikeouts as well. Cutch is heating up so I'm feeling pretty good about the offense. If Mercer doesn't pick it up I might start looking to improve the SS position through a trade if I'm in the race, which I anticipate being in. I think I'm 7 GB of CIN right now.

The draft is in a couple days and I'll be sure to post my picks.

[OReilly10]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

I am the Indians.

At 32-28 right now in the 1st season. Still loooove it.

Havent made any moves, but I am keeping my prospects like Lindor and Naquin in the minors as long as possible, although Lindor already is an 82 at 20 years old. Im probably going to trade Asdrubal and Masterson later this season now that they are gone. If Im going for the playoffs though... i dunno.

Tied for the 2nd wildcard with Seattle. NYY, KC, Texas are very good and Boston is 2 games ahead for wildcard #1. NL East stinks, STL is taking control of the Central, and Dodgers in West. Milwaukee, Cubs, and Padres are primary WC Contenders.

[Cre8]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

Just got into August with my Indians and we are cruising in a really weak AL Central. We are 83-45 and 10.5 games ahead of the Royals with Detroit, Chicago and Minnesota all over 20 games out.

My offense has been decent this season, but it has really been a solid team effort as we play a lot of small ball. Michael Bourn is leading the Majors with 51 steals, but no one in the starting lineup is batting over .290. It is kinda frustrating to not have a player on this great team competing for any sort of league lead in a batting category worth talking about.

On the other hand, my pitching has been fantastic as we are the #2 team in the league in Strikeouts and ERA.

Masterson has 16 wins and I am really considering a long-term deal after the season is over. I just don't want to pour money into him if there is a chance I could get a true superstar in the next year or two.

I didn't expect this to happen in my last game against Houston though. I am kinda annoyed that I did it while playing with quick counts as there are no trophies for it.

Why include quick counts as a major feature but not allow them to be a part of trophies?! I know some will tell me to shut up, but seriously. Things like that infuriate me.

[guayo10]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

Chicago Cubs: Year 1

A lot of new faces have arrived since the 2013 season, Jeff Samardzija has been dealt for a nice haul and other pieces have been moved as well.

Players that have left the club:

-SP Jeff Samardzija & SP Jason Hammel to Oakland for SS Addison Russell, CF Billy McKinney & SP Dan Straily

-CF Emilio Bonifacio & RP James Russell to Atlanta for C/3B Victor Caratini

-2B Darwin Barney, RP Jose Veras to the Dodgers for SP Jonathan Martinez, SS Erisbel Arruebarena

-1B Anthony Rizzo, SP Travis Wood, & RP Marcus Hatley to Seattle for SP Taijuan Walker, SP Luiz Gohara, & 1B Jesus Montero

-SS Starlin Castro, C Wellington Castillo, & RF Jorge Soler to the Dodgers for SP Julio Urias, 3B Corey Seager, & LF Joc Pederson (might have gotten too much here, some are really high on Soler though. Also Seager would be expendable as Starlin would play SS & HanRam 3B. Castillo gives them a cheap C option)

New Signings

-LF Juan Pierre, 2 year 1.10 M with player option
-SP Dontrelle Willis, 2 year 940 K with player option

Opening day projected lineup
CF Juan Pierre
LF Ryan Sweeney
RF Nate Schierholtz
3B Mike Olt
SS Junior Lake
1B Jesus Montero
2B Luis Valbuena
C John Baker
P Edwin Jackson

Projected Bench
LF Junior Lake
SS Erisbel Arruebarena
LF Chris Coghlan
RF Brett Jackson/C Eli Whiteside

Spring Training Invitees
SS Javier Baez
SS Addison Russell
3B Kris Bryant
LF Ryan Kalish
2B Arismendy Alcantara
CF Matt Szczur
3B Christian Villanueva
3B Corey Seager
LF Joc Pederson
LF Josh Vitters

Projected Rotation
1.Edwin Jackson
2.Dan Straily
3.Jeff Francis
4.Jake Arrieta
5.Felix Doubront

Projected Bullpen
LRP Dontrelle Willis
MRP Justin Grimm
MRP Neil Ramirez
MRP Blake Parker
MRP Kyuji Fujikawa
SU Pedro Strop
SU Arodys Vizcaino
CP Wesley Wright

Invitees
SP Taijuan Walker
SP Julio Urias
SP Dallas Beeler
SP CJ Edwards

Keeping the younger guys in the minors till July/August. Taijuan should be up in June depending on how AAA goes.

I'll be playing all the games (AA-MLB) so I could see who I'm good with and who I can deal for help in the big league club.

[NDAlum]

Re: MLB 14 The Show Franchise Progress

2014 MLB Draft - Pittsburgh Pirates pick #23 in each round




Quality guy who I am going to look to call up near the AS break if he's doing well in the minors. He's got a MLB ready bat and he can play a little 1B/3B to hit LHP. There were no outstanding prospects available at #23 so I went with a guy I felt could be an immediate impact. Obviously he has a low ceiling with 78 POT.


Debated hard between Reilly and Oh for this 2nd round pick. I went with the hard throwing Reilly who is also one year younger. He'll be an asset in our system for a few years. Quite possible 3-4 years away from the bigs.


Did not expect Oh to last to round 3. Snagged him immediately and he'll be another guy who is 3-4 years away and will simply be an asset in the system.


Intrigued by this flame thrower but he only throws FB/SL so I'm going to move him to the bullpen in the minors. He might be a young guy who is able to move up pretty quick as I don't ever see him being a SP.


I'm going to get rid of this pick as I found an exploit in the draft system. It's a pretty major bug IMO and it completely cheats the system. I have a new house rule to eliminate drafting guys like this.


He'll be a filler in the minors for a while. Doubt he steps foot in AAA let alone the MLB.