[niles08]

Still going in my Cubs franchise and using the sliders "thepick88" on all-star hiting and pitching incase anybody is interested in picking those up. I did make CPU solid hits a little higher to get the CPU offense going. The way I play franchise is I play 1 game, and then sim 5. that way I get about 6 starts with each staring pitcher during the year, and that way I can also play multiple seasons! I am in the first part of May and there have been some dissapointments, and some surprises so far. I went into free agency and took a look around on May 1st. I usually like to give the CPU the first month to sign free agents if they wish. I also don't ever go hogwild on free agents, and just by my rule, if I sign somebody in free agency, no matter how long of a contract, I cannot turn around and trade them the same year. I signed Derrek Lee to a 3 year deal for 1.2 million a year. This will give Rizzo some time still in the minors to develop and Lee will also be a good bench player in a year or two. I also signed center fielder Jorge Soler as I think the Cubs will end up signing him. These are the only 2 free agents that I signed. I actually traded David Dejesus to the Rangers for a 2B prospect. This gave Lahair the start in right field. Geovany Soto(B Overall) was struggling behind the plate, and since he was in his last year of his contract he and pitcher Jay Jackson(B Potential) were shipped off to the Yankees for Manny Banuelos(A Potential) and Joba Chamberlain(last year of contract, B potential). Matt Garza was also put on the trading block and the Brewers actually offered a trade. They gave up Aramis Ramirez, and two B potential prospects. With no catcher, I turned my attention to that position eventually trading for the catcher of the future. Christian Bentancourt(D Overall, B Potential) from the Braves. I traded away one of the B potential prospects the Brewers gave up for him and one of my C potential prospects. So now my lineup looks as follows. For my last trade I acquired the left handed aging Ted Lilly(36 years old) for tony campana(B potential outfielder), Trey Mcnutt(B potential) and Ian Stewart(B Potential) infielder.


My pitching staff now looks like:

Ted Lilly
Dempster
Samardzija
Zambrano
Minor

Bullpen(From what I remember) is

Volstad
Wells
Wood
Marmol
Chamberlain
Dolis

Lineup:

SS Castro
RF Lehair
LF Soriano
1B Lee
3B Ramirez
CF Jackson
2B Barney
C Soto
Pitcher

Bench Players:
Josh Vitters(Plays against lefties)
Reed Johnson(Platoon's in the OF on days off)
Jorge Soler(signed as a free agent)

I am currently 14-17 and trying to get the offense going as pitching has been spectacular. I think that my trading for the season is done and may stand pat at the deadline, unless there is a trade somewhere that helps both teams. Lehair has been lighting it up so far in the season. he has 8 home runs and 24 RBI to lead the team in each category. Ramirez and Lee have been slowly coming along with each hitting near .300 now that the season is going. Barney is the biggest dissapointment to me as he is struggling to even hit his own weight, and he doesn't weight much. I am considering platooning Josh Vitters at 2B with Barney.