OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

[KBLover]

Oh and Zach Britton.

I don't know what it is with him, but he's 40 now and still got skills like he's 27!

Spoiler

Goldschmidt isn't exactly falling apart, either.

Spoiler

These two are the oldest in MLB but the oldest player in the save is Luke Gregerson at 43 playing in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

Really liking the lowered aging modifier

[WaitTilNextYear]

AUGUST 1, 2020

Season Record: 50-52 (13 GB NL East, 7.5 GB Wild Card)
July Record: 14-11
Position: 5th Place NL East


TEAM PAGE



SUMMARY

Quote:

As the temperatures shot up this summer, Carolina has been playing more watchable baseball. The month of July saw the 3rd year expansion club post a 2nd consecutive winning record at 14-11. The Knights are now 50-52, just half of a game behind the Nationals for 4th place in the NL East division. Also, perhaps not insignificantly, 7.5 games out of the 2nd wild card spot and chasing the Pirates in this regard. Overall a solid month, July was a month of peaks and valleys for Carolina. One of the highs was a 9-game winning streak from July 6th-19th that wrapped around the All-Star Game. This little spurt included sweeps of the Brewers, Cardinals, and Padres. But, the latter part of the month proved more challenging with Carolina dropping 8 of 11 to ensconce them back under .500 by the end of the month. The division-leading Atlanta Braves are riding a 10-game winning streak and have been a particularly tough out for Carolina, sweeping them late in July and taking 6 of 7 so far this season. The ASG, by the way, featured a pair of Carolina Knights players--the first time the team has been represented by more than the one token player. Both 2B Forrest Wall [.297/.386/.468 | 396 PA | 11 HR | 46 RBI | 24 SB | 51 R | 47 BB | 56 K | 2.6 WAR] and SP Gerrit Cole [104 IP | 8-6 | 3.20 ERA | 1.11 WHIP | 7.5 K/9 | 2.2 BB/9 | 1.8 WAR] made the NL squad. The 24-year-old Wall has been everything the Knights hoped for when dealing Dellin Betances to the Rockies last trade deadline season. Cole has been a steadying influence in the rotation, albeit him being a little injury prone and on the DL once again dealing with a strained forearm. Other big happenings in July included the Knights maxing out their IFA budget and dropping a cool $5M on consensus top prospect SS Juan "Jumbito" Badillo. Knights' scout Kevin Ramsey sees the 16-year-old Dominican as having plus tools (potential: 70/100 contact, 78/100 HR power, 55/100 speed, 60s/100 defense) across the board, but legendary off-the-scale (110/100) plate discipline. OSA is even higher on Badillo rating his hit tool potential as 115/100. Badillo has immediately assumed #1 overall prospect in baseball status and has made such an impact as to raise the Carolina farm system from 25th best to 5th best in MLB before ever setting foot on a minor league field. On the trade front, it was a tough call being kinda sorta on the periphery of the wild card race. Ultimately the Knights decided to basically stand pat and see what happens while shifting some parts around. OF Aaron Hicks was dealt to the Reds for 24-year-old 3B prospect Josh Anthony and RP prospect Dauri Moreta. Hicks was on a 1-year $5M contract and being outperformed by waiver claim Kike Hernandez in LF, with a couple of other decent options at AAA, so it seemed like a prudent move. Another deal of note included taking a fully-subsidized Evan Longoria off the trade block from the floundering Giants in exchange for mid-level catching prospect Bryant Bowen (8th round pick in 2018) and UTIL Ehire Adrianza. Kyle Seager has unfortunately not been very good either offensively or defensively at 3B, but Bobby Cox needs to keep him to fulfill the "hometown player" goal. The solution was bringing in Longoria to form one of the most expensive 3B platoons in baseball history. Although the Giants are paying 100% of Longo's salary for the next 2 years and the Knights are only responsible for the $3M buyout on his 3rd year team option. The M's are also paying 30% of Seager's salary--although he's still expensive and disappointing. The last deal of significance involving Carolina was sending a pair of players languishing at AAA, INF Yangervis Solarte and OF Mike Gerber, to the Yankees for SP Jordan Montgomery. With Carolina being a bit short-handed in the rotation (Jon Duplantier, Gerrit Cole, and Tom Eshelman all on the DL) and the Yankees rolling with both Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner among others, it seemed to make sense. The Knights have also plugged waiver claim Steven Brault and reliever Tyler Jay into the rotation as stopgap measures.

[saintrules]

Nearing the All-Star break in July of the 2018 season with my Cubbies. We're about 11 games back on the Cards and 5 or 6 games back in the Wild Card. Consistency with the bats, like in real life, has been our biggest problem. Baez and Rizzo have been superb, but consider everyone else well below their expected potential, especially that of Russell.

Clubs are starting to make trade deadline moves and guys such as Wilson Ramos and Jose Abreu have been picked off of their rebuilding orgs and put onto potential contenders. I'm at a crossroad with my guys, do I ship? If I don't, will I sink?

Our starting rotation (Quintana, Darvish, Lester, Hendricks, and Chatwood) has pitched well, especially Quintana and Hendricks, albeit Lester and Chatwood are so-so, but are carried by Q and Hendricks. I don't want to move anyone from these five, it seems to be working. Justin Wilson is garbage in the pen and he'd be the first to go if I was making a move in the staff.

Prospect wise I am not attached to anyone, consider all of them usable. Suggestions for trades would help out greatly! I've been eyeing Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas, they're both hitting well, but are completely different types of players (AVG vs. Power), plus, KC ain't gonna give them away for cheap, they want at least two of Happ/Russell/Contreras/Hendricks

[KBLover]

2028 Review

BNN was correct that the Angels didn't particularly miss Ohtani, which is a good sign since he won't be around forever. Ohtani returned on schedule and in time to get some work in before the season ended. Perhaps that will help get him back into the routine for the playoffs.

Shinji Mukai did very well at the #1 spot in the rotation, leading the way like a true ace for much of the season. His final 14-4, 2.66 ERA line was very welcome and the organization definitely elevated their view of the finesse youngster.

Tim Mavity, on the other hand, had a very rough and frustrating season. Everyone is baffled as to why he performed so poorly. FIP is confused as well as, according to the metric, he performed the same as he has in years prior. Nothing in his stats provides any clue to this lost season. Adding to the mystery is Mavity looking like himself in September.

Injuries continued to ravage Josh Schnaidt, the promising young relief arm that seems to be a home-grown closer in the making. That pressed Cam Bedrosian into the role, and he came through with flying colors.

Injuries also claimed a very important arm. Juan Chairez, known as "The General" will be out for months with a serious injury. Concerns abound as the 35-year-old will need at least 8 more months to recover. The shortened rotation will help cover the loss, but that just adds more pressure to Mavity and Lenhart to hold things up from the bottom of the playoff rotation.

"The Angels had the best #3 in baseball, and that really shows up in the playoffs. Now, they have decent arms there but they don't have a dominant advantage there, " a sportswriter commented.

Offensively, there's no mystery to what Sakai did at the plate. His 64 home runs lead baseball by a wide margin and he continued to maintain a high batting average and on-base percentage as well. This led to him posting 10 WAR, which also led baseball.

New blood Yousuke Takada was as advertised, providing some power, plenty of doubles, and able to move around on the bases. The batting average might have been lighter than expected, but no one will gripe about an .826 OPS and 4 WAR from second base.

Trout's 47 HR gives him 684 for a career. He should be able to reach 700 with little issue. Scouts are thinking that Trout will have plenty of pop left and some are whispering about an 800 HR career...

Dominic Hutchinson didn't win the batting crown as predicted, but that didn't stop him from having a career year. His 44 home runs are a personal best as was his nearly 1.000 OPS on the season. He amassed nearly 9 WAR as well. This level of production was completely unexpected, and the team hopes it will continue in the playoffs.

"The bats are well positioned to be a force for us come the playoffs. I was pleased at how we continue to gel as a lineup and do whatever it takes to get the upper hand at any point of the game, " manager Moulin commented.

Among the younger players, Max Alba put together another decent campaign. He hasn't wowed anyone yet, but he's been serviceable in the bottom of the rotation, and that's fine as long as the Angels stay with the six-man rotation.

Zerafa was a similar performer. Like Alba, he's not turning many heads, but he could be a useful arm in some aspect of the staff, even if its long relief. For now, that's where Zerafa will go, assuming he sticks on the playoff roster (which is llikely).

[WaitTilNextYear]

It will be interesting to see what you do as your cast of superstars continues to age. Is there enough talent in Japan to replenish this team? Apparently there is, looking at the year your first baseman had. Hopefully his "unknown" injury doesn't knock him out of the playoffs.

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by WaitTilNextYear

It will be interesting to see what you do as your cast of superstars continues to age. Is there enough talent in Japan to replenish this team? Apparently there is, looking at the year your first baseman had. Hopefully his "unknown" injury doesn't knock him out of the playoffs.

Yeah, indeed.

Hopefully we can keep finding those gems and they keep coming across the Pacific.

Looking at the farm, I am nervous for sure. When the pitching injuries happened during the year, I was scrambling for serviceable arms.

What I might have to do is find some guys to sacrifice and try swinging them for some prospects. Maybe deal Jones or perhaps Fukuda if we can find a decent defensive SS replacement that was like Andrelton Simmons.

I did get a possible 2B from the Rule 5 Draft last offseason before Takada happened. I might could turn that player into a SS. If it works, maybe Fukuda could be dealt to jumpstart the farm a bit.

I'm really concerned about the pitching. Past Alba and Zerafa, it's bleak and/or not nearly ready.

[KSUowls]

2021 Season Recap

The best team in baseball regular season was also the best team in baseball's post season as the Atlanta Braves make it 3 straight. They did so in dominating fashion losing just 3 postseason games in total.

Ronald Acuna had a historic season winning the NL triple crown, and he finished with huge leads in two of the Crown's categories.

Offense Summary
Atlanta's offense was the best in the lead, but it relied heavily on a 1-2 punch of Acuna and Freddie Freeman. Acuna won the triple crown, and Freddie was just 8 HR shy of finished #2 behind Acuna in all major offensive categories. Ozzie Albies also was a major contributor hitting .284 with 20 HR and also stole 55 bases. Things were much less consistent in the rest of the lineup though.

Pitching Summary
Atlanta's offense often stole the show, but their pitching gave hitters headaches all season. No starter had an ERA over 4, and two of them were sub 3. The bullpen was just as amazing as they too led in ERA.

In one of the more odd stat lines for a pitching staff which had the best run support in baseball...Atlanta had 4 pitchers with at least 30 starts in the season. Their ERA's ranged from 2.58 to 3.85, and only one of them managed 15 wins. In fact, Luiz Gohara who had the 2nd best ERA in baseball only managed 10 wins over 31 starts.

Awards:
It should come as no shock that the league's best defense would have several players taking home some gloves of gold.
2B Ozzie Albies brings home his 4th conseecutive GG
SS Andrelton Simmons is up to 7 GG
LF Ronald Acuna makes it 4 in a row
RF Drew Waters wins the GG as a rookie

It's the year of 3's when it comes to silver sluggers. The Braves had 3 silver sluggers in 2021 and for each of them it was their 3rd such award in their careers.
P Shohei Ohtani
1B Freddie Freeman
LF Ronald Acuna

Cy Young:
Mike Soroka edged out Noah Syndergaard for the NL Cy Young going 15-5 with a 2.58 ERA over 195 innings of work.

MVP:
The wait was merely a formality, but Ronald Acuna was awarded his 2nd consecutive MVP award after a historic season.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Dang, I feel like I'm the only one not winning the World Series regularly around here. lol. The Braves are annoyingly good in my save, having added Bryce Harper and Dellin Betances to go with the development of everyone else.