OOTP 20 Franchise Progress Thread

[KBLover]

2023 Foxes

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Once again, BNN isn't making many definitive calls about the races in either league.

In the AL, BNN is basically calling it as one big "too close to call". There's an expected four-team race in the AL East, a three-team race in the West, and the Royals in the Central. The AL Wild Card is a big mess and basically pick names out of a hat. In fact, every team but four is expected to be at 81 wins or more wins. Those four are the O's, Warriors, Rangers, and Twins, and only the O's are expected to be below 70 wins. The Royals are projected for 91 wins, the only AL team in the 90's.

The NL is not much different. The Braves are still considered the class of the NL, and having won the World Series two out of the last three seasons and the division each time in those three seasons, it's not hard to figure. Beyond the Braves, it's back to the dog fights. The fight for second in the NL East should be heated once again. The Braves are the only 90+ win team in the NL projected standings.

Given the starting players, the team might should be called the Montreal Southpaws, since all but four players between the rotation and the starting nine are left handed hitters or pitchers, and that's not considering that Wander Franco will likely be hitting lefty most of the time.

For the third year in a row, the Foxes are expected to be just short in a contested season for the duration. Twice, that prediction has come true, once, in 2021, the Foxes sneaked into the playoffs. BNN sees the Foxes as driven by the offense and expected this year to be the breakout year for Witt, Jr., with his power coming online. There's an outside chance he could even be a 30/30 hitter. A full season of Devers should help as well. BNN sees 35 HR from Devers, solidly inline with his previous production.

The Foxes pitching staff should be decent. Nothing great but it shouldn't get in the way either. That would be a win, all things considered, since the rotation is anything but determined beyond McKay at the top. In fact, if the staff didn't get in the way last September, the Foxes probably would have made the playoffs.


The team making strides faster offensively makes sense given their manager. Hildago has always been better at emphasizing offensive skills, and that's been the case so far in his tenure with the Foxes.

One place in the standings the Foxes aren't coming up short is farm system standings. The slow and steady accumulation and searching for talent has landed the Foxes in the top spot overall, although one of its prospects has been knocked down.

Luke Leto has been devalued from 9th to 22nd, still highly ranked but no longer a top 10 in the eyes of BNN. One of those top prospects is Masashi Asai, a pitcher picked up from the SILP independent league. He's well regarded for his potential strikeout ability. However, he has a very bad habit of giving up home runs, so he'll either need to fix that or really maximize his stuff to reach those lofty expectations.

[KBLover]

September Arrives and Foxes Eye Division
Blazing Second Half has Foxes in Position

The Foxes looked be hovering around .500 as has been the norm, keeping them hanging around but never able to build sustained momentum or pressure.

Then, manager Alex Hidalgo demoted Carl Edwards, Jr. to middle relief.

Suddenly, the bullpen fell in line, leads were protected more frequently and fewer late inning runs in general scored. This also allowed for some late-game rallies to turn into wins.

"I'm not going to say that move caused us to suddenly become red hot. I think not naming any closer and just rolling with who is ready and who feels most "on" that day is just helping everyone. There's no pressure and also no let down. You might go two innings if you're mowing people down. I get that freedom as well, " Hidalgo commented.

Of course, the manager didn't want to blame a player, implied or otherwise, for slowing down the team. However, moving Edwards, Jr. and his 4.60 ERA out of many of the late inning roles could only help the bullpen. In addition, it allowed the rapid-developing Mitch McIntyre to receive more work, which has helped him get into more of a rhythm.

Carl Edwards, Jr. had little to say, stating that "he's the manager, it's his call", but it was clear he wasn't all that thrilled.

That said, he sort of dug this hole himself. After three solid seasons, he inexplicable fell apart last season, posting nearly a 5.00 ERA. After Hidalgo stuck with him through that and more of the same this year, a move had to be made with the Foxes just constantly so close.

It remains to be seen how, or if, this will disrupt what's been a happy and excited clubhouse. Reese McGuire and Yo****omo Tsutsugo, the team captains, probably won't let it get out of hand. However, any energy that detracts from the field could be enough to derail things. The Foxes are ahead, but it's not an insurmountable lead.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Quote: Originally Posted by KBLover

September Arrives and Foxes Eye Division Blazing Second Half has Foxes in Position The Foxes looked be hovering around .500 as has been the norm, keeping them hanging around but never able to build sustained momentum or pressure. Then, manager Alex Hidalgo demoted Carl Edwards, Jr. to middle relief. Suddenly, the bullpen fell in line, leads were protected more frequently and fewer late inning runs in general scored. This also allowed for some late-game rallies to turn into wins. "I'm not going to say that move caused us to suddenly become red hot. I think not naming any closer and just rolling with who is ready and who feels most "on" that day is just helping everyone. There's no pressure and also no let down. You might go two innings if you're mowing people down. I get that freedom as well, " Hidalgo commented. Of course, the manager didn't want to blame a player, implied or otherwise, for slowing down the team. However, moving Edwards, Jr. and his 4.60 ERA out of many of the late inning roles could only help the bullpen. In addition, it allowed the rapid-developing Mitch McIntyre to receive more work, which has helped him get into more of a rhythm. Carl Edwards, Jr. had little to say, stating that "he's the manager, it's his call", but it was clear he wasn't all that thrilled. That said, he sort of dug this hole himself. After three solid seasons, he inexplicable fell apart last season, posting nearly a 5.00 ERA. After Hidalgo stuck with him through that and more of the same this year, a move had to be made with the Foxes just constantly so close. It remains to be seen how, or if, this will disrupt what's been a happy and excited clubhouse. Reese McGuire and Yo****omo Tsutsugo, the team captains, probably won't let it get out of hand. However, any energy that detracts from the field could be enough to derail things. The Foxes are ahead, but it's not an insurmountable lead.

Even virtual Carl Edwards is struggling. When you say you're going with the hot hand, what mechanic do you use for that? Do you not assign anyone to the closer role and assign 2 or 3 guys as "high leverage"?

lol at the language filter censoring the Japanese player.

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by WaitTilNextYear

Even virtual Carl Edwards is struggling. When you say you're going with the hot hand, what mechanic do you use for that? Do you not assign anyone to the closer role and assign 2 or 3 guys as "high leverage"? lol at the language filter censoring the Japanese player.

IKR?? LOL I should nickname him "Asterisks" or maybe just "****"


Here's my bullpen set up:



Normally, I carry 7 relievers. The bottom two "no specified role" are September call-ups.

No closer and no secondary roles. Setup roles set for early entrance (before 8th/9th) being possible. If they come in early, it lets MR move back. If setup doesn't come in, MR can come and stay in if effective and have energy, allowing setup to get save chances.

Connor Jones ends up with a lot of work this way because he keeps saying in as long as he can/is effective. It also works well with the manager's quick hook in general.

I thought about going all "no specified role", but I do like Connor being in long relief and there's some loose organization, especially with a quick hook manager. Keeps him from going too ADHD with bringing in guys without locking him in with subroles like high leverage or stopper. Also thought about setting setup to MR secondary and 2 MR to setup secondary but that seems redundant and might also lockout the other MR from innings, leading back to some guys getting overworked based on role.

If I could get the Opener/Follower thing to work, I'd try that, too, but I never see it work right. The Follower in the rotation just get outright skipped instead of coming in when the Opener is finished.

Some examples of it in action (played these just now...team now on a 9-game win streak lol).

[KBLover]

Oh, the other things I did was turn reliever usage back to Very Often (what it was in 19) and lowered Reliever Stamina to .900.

Extreme is just stupid. It led to guys getting way too many games and being constantly in the red for energy all year long.

I doubt real relievers are constantly exhausted from mid-April on. When I look at boxes, I don't see entire bullpens dumped out on every 9 inning game...

Relievers still get too many games, but it's reasonable and (perhaps most important) innings are very reasonable. Part of it is OOTP is NOT playing around when it comes to "specialist". There's lefties with 80 games and like 38 innings LOL

[WaitTilNextYear]

Nice write up.

I've tried the opener/follower thing once in Perfect Team and it seemed to work without any problems. My opener (Tom Burgmeier--a historical BoSox reliver) went 1.1 IP and then my follower (Hisashi Iwakuma) went 7.1 IP (probably a little too long actually). I had Iwakuma in the rotation, he was 100% rested, and his game strategy was set to "follower"--it said "fo" next to his name. I had Burgmeier's primary role set as "opener." He was 100% rested and in the bullpen. I didn't designate any other openers or followers on the pitching staff and I had the rotation set for it to be Iwakuma's turn. I also checked my team strategy just so the opener/follower slider was maxed out for that game.

Maybe you find a nugget in that paragraph that makes it work better for you.

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by WaitTilNextYear

Nice write up. I've tried the opener/follower thing once in Perfect Team and it seemed to work without any problems. My opener (Tom Burgmeier--a historical BoSox reliver) went 1.1 IP and then my follower (Hisashi Iwakuma) went 7.1 IP (probably a little too long actually). I had Iwakuma in the rotation, he was 100% rested, and his game strategy was set to "follower"--it said "fo" next to his name. I had Burgmeier's primary role set as "opener." He was 100% rested and in the bullpen. I didn't designate any other openers or followers on the pitching staff and I had the rotation set for it to be Iwakuma's turn. I also checked my team strategy just so the opener/follower slider was maxed out for that game. Maybe you find a nugget in that paragraph that makes it work better for you.

Only thing different was that I didn't max the opener/follower in the team strategy. I'll try that come spring training.

Otherwise, I had one follower (with the FO next to his name) in the rotation and only one opener in the bullpen.

[KBLover]

2023 Foxes

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If you want to see the story of the Foxes season, you only need to look at the following two lines:

Pre-AS record: 53-41 (.563)
Post-AS record: 47-21 (.691)

"It was surreal to watch this team in the second half. It's like they were just baseball zen masters. Everything worked, no one got flustered, everyone chipped in, pitching, defense, hitting, everything just fell in line. I've never seen this team play like this, " a local sportswriter wrote in her column.

Indeed, the Foxes probably played the best baseball of their young existence all compressed in a 2 1/2 month time frame. It peaked in September where the team put the hammer lock down with a 24-8 march that took a small lead and turned it into an NL East crown.

What is interesting is there's still not much in the way of classically elite performances on the roster.

WAR likes Royce Lewis (5.7) and Bobby Witt, Jr. (5.1) more than the NL home run leader Rafael Devers (4.7, 39 HR), and those three are the closest to "elite" in the category, and Lewis and Witt, Jr. are as much for their positional adjustment (especially Witt, Jr.) as for the bats.

wRC+, weighted runs created relative to the league, shows the story. Witt, Jr. is at 119, 19% better than average. Not bad, but not elite. Lewis? 130. Getting there. Witt, Jr.? 124. Nope. And those were the best among qualifiers.

What's elite? Jose Ramirez (Indians), 172. Juan Soto (Nationals), 169. Cavan Biggio (Blue Jays), 160. That's elite.

Yet the Foxes were tied for 2nd in the NL in runs scored, 3rd in average, 2nd in slugging, 1st in batting WAR.

"There's a pass the baton mentality that's taken hold in that dugout. No one wants to be the guy to end the threat, kill the rally, or leave a guy on base. No one stands out, but they all do the job, " MLBN analyst Mark DeRosa commented, "I think it's their manager preaching it day after day and the guys are believing it and doing it every time the walk up to the plate."


On the mound, the highly publicized demotion of Carl Edwards, Jr. grabbed the headlines, but what went unnoticed was a strong performance by the rotation. Will Smith might not get an extension from the Foxes, but he certainly put up a contract year that will get him noticed. Meanwhile, reports are that McKay's third consecutive season of solid production will get him to the negotiating table.

Then there's Rollie Lacy who came completely out of left field with a 2.56 ERA.

"He really looked good all year once he got another shot. I think he started getting that change up working and guys couldn't hit him hard, " pitching coach Johnny Gregory commented.

And, of course, the bullpen. Connor Jones continues to be an unsung hero, filling in any gaps necessary along with Brandon Brennan, who was signed this offseason on a minor league contract. Edwin Diaz, another addition this offseason, was also effective, leading the relievers with 13 K/9 and a solid 2.91 ERA.

The Foxes might develop a reputation for having a great home park advantage at this rate, too. The team posted a .691 winning percentage in The Fox's Den this season. This in contrast to being just seven games over .500 on the road. Their 56 home wins led all of baseball.

On the farm, outfielder Juan Salas and infielder Luke Leto continue to do exciting things in the minors. Both have reached the high minors, working at AA-Leon Valley.

A prospect that's causing more conflict is pitcher Masashi Asai. Scouts are in love with the fireballer and think his up-in-the-zone style will produce a lot of strikeouts. The front office is concerned that it will cause produce a lot of home run balls. While scouts agree it's a risk, for now, Asai is showing it will produce strikeouts more than home runs. Though, also for now, he's not assigned to the high minors.

McKay Extended
Five years at $9 million Each

While the playoffs are getting under way, Brandon McKay and the Foxes came to an extension agreement that will net the pitcher about $9 million per year for the next five years.

McKay was acquired in a trade with the Rays near the 2021 trading deadline where he posted a 5.20 ERA before the trade. As soon as he arrived with the Foxes, his ERA dropped to 3.50, and it's been at or lower the next two seasons.

"It's nice to be where an organization believes in you. I do wish I could swing the bat more, I miss it now that the DH is in the NL also, but I enjoy playing for the Foxes and glad it will continue, " McKay commented.

Foxes Playoff Run

The Foxes found themselves down 2-1 in the NLDS to the rival Mets when Larry Allen came up big with six shutout innings and McIntyre picked up the three-inning save to force a game five.

However, the Foxes were overcome in game five, falling 7-4 to have their season end. McKay faltered for one of the few times where he wasn't competitive, and, ironically, the Foxes were shut down by the Mets bullpen, preventing the chance for a miracle rally.

"Like I always say, we have work to do. We won the division, won 100 games, and we got a taste of what we can do when we're on the same page. But we have to keep going and keep improving, " manager Hidalgo commented.