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 It has been a couple of years since we done one of these. Let's crowdsource management of an MLB team! Come enjoy the thrill of your top 10 pitching prospect miss a calendar year with injury, then come back and be terrible! Our role will be as the General Manager. We're the guy/gal who interacts with the team owner, who makes all of team hiring/firing decisions, manages the roster, develops prospects, and spends the owner's money. The coaching staff we hire manages day to day lineups, training, playing time, and game strategy. Helping us through this process are two legends of the game: the Two Petes. First, we have Peter Brand, the most famous fictional assistant GM in sports history:  Hi everyone! My role here is to give you advice and ask you questions to help you manage your team! Like everything else in OOTP, the information I give you will be imperfect, and I may be horrendously wrong about things from time to time. However, I am competent if somewhat insufferable, and listening to me is probably a good idea in most cases. Second, we have legendary Super Scout Pete Ward, master of disguise. Pete will run our scouting efforts and give us feedback on players we can trade for, draft, or sign as free agents.  Glad to be back, kid. Some under-the-hood notes for OOTP vets: - We'll use "challenge mode" settings for the most part. - High injury rate - Normal scouting accuracy - Yearly inflation 1-3% - 20-80 scouting system, with stars - Player/pitcher aging .750 - MLB standard rules everywhere else - Dynamic league evolution with all possible changes, including more/less offense and more/less pitching How we play the game! This game will feature as much democratic participation as possible. Big team decisions, like overall strategy, major signings or extensions, high draft picks, trades, and so on. That said, there's a zillion things that happen over the course of the season, so Peter will handle a lot of the unimportant stuff, leaving us to handle the big picture. The main way we'll discuss players is in terms of STARS. In OOTP, STARS are everything. Every player has two STARS ratings: their current ability, and their potential ability. STARS are on a 0.5 to 5 system. They break down roughly as follows for a Major League team; I'll include some examples for reference: - .5 star: farmhand at best. Think Tim Tebow. - 1 star: AA-quality player. - 1.5 star: AAA-quality player. - 2.0 star: Replacement-level player. Brian Goodwin, Dane Dunning - 2.5 star: Passable MLB starter. Alex Verdugo, Julio Teheran - 3.0 star: Good MLB starter. Anthony Rizzo, Domingo German - 3.5 star: Excellent MLB starter, potential all-star: Gio Urshela, Zack Greinke - 4.0 star: Regular All-Star, outside MVP/CY candidate: Aaron Judge, Charlie Morton - 4.5 star: Superstar, top 3-5 at position, regular MVP/CY candidate, outside Hall of Fame candidate: Fernando Tatis Jr, Trevor Bauer - 5 star: Legend; good shot at the Hall of Fame, top MVP/CY candidate: Mike Trout, Jacob Degrom As a player enters the MLB system, they'll usually have a much higher potential ability than current ability (ie, top prospect Wander Franco is currently 2.0 stars current, 5.0 stars potential). They'll gradually peak (usually in their late 20s) and then begin their steady, inevitable decline, (ie, Clayton Kershaw, a long time 5.0 star player, is now down to merely 4.0) until finally they're a tattered 0.5 star guy riding the bus down in AAA (it is funny to see random former star players show up in your minor league system). When discussing players, the Petes will usually include their star rating right after. For example, Anthony Rizzo (3/3), or Vladimir Guerrero Jr (2.5/4.5). Note: one of the BEST things about OOTP is watching your 5 star prospect gradually lose stars, until finally they break into the bigs as a 2.5/2.5 player at age 26. Things like injuries can make a huge difference to both player development and aging, plus the game has random talent level changes as a main feature (not bug). Some guys will flame out by 30, some will keep balling into their 40s, just like real life. To help guide The Petes, we'll use 3-Year Strategies and Yearly Priorities. 3-Year Strategies are biggest picture: stuff like "stockpile prospects" or "emphasize speed." Yearly Priorities give them more specific objectives: "find a 3 star 3B" or "loving tank to get the #1 overall pick." As for the rest of our player info, let's take a look at a couple of sort of good players:   You can see the various skills broken down: hitting, running, and fielding for the hitter, pitch arsenal, velocity, and stamina for the pitchers. This all really represents a scout's view of the player rather than a traditional video game system where values are absolute, and they all work together behind the scenes in a complex way. The first step to baseball glory is getting hired! Being as we have no professional baseball experience, the available GM jobs are not terribly exciting or high profile. In fact, they're all terrible. I'll put a brief description of the team and their current situation below each possibility.  Seattle Mariners Projected wins: 77 One of MLB's most consistently hearbreaking franchises is currently at or near rock bottom, which is where they've been for a while. They have a terrible roster, a smaller market and a dick of an owner, but they do have the league's 2nd best farm system and a huge, pretty nice stadium.  Pittsburgh Pirates Projected wins: 73 The Pirates are a tough go. Their roster is bad, their market tiny, and their owner, awful -- maybe the worst in the sport. They have the 6th ranked farm currently, however, and are about to see a big boost there with the #1 overall pick this summer.  Texas Rangers Projected Wins: 73 The Rangers are reaching rock-bottom after a period of fairly sustained competitiveness. They enjoy a big market and generous owner, but both their roster and farm (#17 overall) are in rough shape. Still, they have almost no bad contracts, and huge potential financial resources. They may also start a new round of COVID, so there's that.  Colorado Rockies Projected wins: 62 The Rockies are coming through a period of hysterically bad management: somehow, they've managed to field both the worst current roster in baseball AND the worst farm system, something I cannot remember ever seeing before in OOTP. Their owner is not great but not terrible, and they enjoy a good market and good fans despite their incompetence. Between a couple of ugly contracts and the total lack of quality prospects though, this is a big challenge.  Baltimore Orioles Projected wins: 68 The Orioles have spent half a decade in the toilet and this doesn't look to turn around soon. Their roster is just...brutal, their market small, fans uninterested, and owner, bad. They do have a couple upsides: an elite prospect in Adley Rutschman, and a very old owner who will likely die or sell soon. And as a signing bonus, we can bring along with us ONE of the following:  Jay Niles, a loving intense 21 year old 1/3.5 pitching prospect who, after it was clear he couldn't touch 90, developed a killer knuckleball.  Pedro Cerrano, a 22 year old 1/3.5 outfield prospect with an 80 power tool and some strange locker room tendencies.  Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez, a 19 year old .5/3.5 2B/SS/3B with absolute blazing speed, a plus glove, and great leadership qualities. Our first vote is on the team that we'll manage and the prospect we'll luck into. List your first and second team choices in bold, along with your signing bonus! Me: 1. Colorado Rockies 2. Seattle Mariners Signing bonus: Jay Niles
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Apr 7, 2021 15:54
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Let's run this franchise into the ground. 1. Pirates - Because anyone good we develop we'll have to trade away since owner Bob Nutting is a penny-pinching rear end in a top hat. 2. Rockies - Because dingers, and because their owner Charles Monfort will not only trade away our mega-star player, he'll tell us to give the other team $50 million while he's at it. Jay Niles as our bonus, you can never have enough pitching and knuckleballs are loving rad.
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Apr 7, 2021 16:13
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1: Mariners 2: Pirates Benny the Jet
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Apr 7, 2021 16:36
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Welcome back, Pete, you beautiful son of a bitch. The best scout there ever was. My votes are: 1. Mariners - Baseball needs this. Win one for The Kid, win one for Ichiro, win one for King Felix and The Big Unit. And I guess for Jay Buhner. 2. Pirates - We can't let Nutting keep doing this. Sign: Benny "The Jet" - We're gonna need some positional flexibility, and I hear that kid is good in a rundown, too.
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Apr 7, 2021 16:37
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Looks like some b-ballin' fun's 'bout to go down. I like the promise. 1. Rockies 2. Orioles Sign: Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez, could do with a young go-getter with some gusto.
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Apr 7, 2021 16:42
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1. Rockies 2. Mariners Prospect: Pedro Cerrano Dingers.
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Apr 7, 2021 16:42
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1. Mariners 2. Pirates Signing bonus: Pedro Cerrano Seattle needs another bandwagon capable team, let’s be honest
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Apr 7, 2021 16:58
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1. Rockies 2. Rangers Pedro Cerrano, I want to see how many dingers he can smash playing at Coors field
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Apr 7, 2021 17:03
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1: Pirates 2: Mariners Benny the Jet Any excuse to get the kid from Sandlot would be a shame to waste
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Apr 7, 2021 17:29
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1. Rockies 2. Mariners I don't need to watch us be bad with the Orioles, I can do that in real life anytime I want. 
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Apr 7, 2021 17:45
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1. Orioles 2. Giants
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Apr 7, 2021 17:48
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Let's go for a hard start this time! 1. Rockies 2. Orioles Benny will lead the franchise to glory!
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Apr 7, 2021 18:35
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1. Mariners 2. Pirates Signing Bonus: The Jet because a solid utility man is never bad.
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Apr 7, 2021 18:37
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Ooh, this looks fun. 1. Mariners 2. Mariners Can you tell which team I have a soft spot for? Also, Benny 'The Jet' sounds pretty good.
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Apr 7, 2021 19:42
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I'm going to go: 1.) Rockies cause some one needs to take up the challenge of fielding a competent team in the mountains 2.) Orioles cause I love that cartoon bird. As for the signing bonus... Niles is tempting cause knuckleballs are cool af. But I've played enough OOTP games that went south due to clubhouse problems so I'm going Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez for the clubhouse influence. Traxis posted:Pedro Cerrano, I want to see how many dingers he can smash playing at Coors field Oh hell... that's a good point. Can I provisionally vote Cerano if and only if we get the Rockies job and Benny otherwise?
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Apr 7, 2021 22:22
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Pirates there is no other options Cerrano because gently caress you Jobu, that's why
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Apr 7, 2021 23:52
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Artix posted:1. Rockies If past performance is any indication, we will be very, very good with no matter what team we pick. The Petes are very good baseball brains.
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Apr 7, 2021 23:56
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1. Rangers 2. Mariners Niles
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Apr 7, 2021 23:58
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1. Mariners 2. Rockies Benny
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Apr 8, 2021 04:00
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 Welcome aboard! I'm John Stanton, face of the Mariners' ownership group, George Steinbrenner lookalike, and your new boss/adversary! I was not particularly impressed by your baseball knowledge, competence, or personal hygiene, but I was overwhelmed by your offer to work for less money than any other potential candidate. As MLB owners go, I'm actually not that terrible. You should know, though, that you're entering a team front office that is in complete disarray, a fan base that is seriously jaded, and a team with very little going for it. I also think I know a lot about baseball, so you can expect me to inject myself in all manner of irritating ways. To start, here's what I expect from you this season:  You don't necessarily have to meet all the goals I set out for you, but doing so keeps me happy, and keeping me happy keeps you employed! Here's a closer look at team finances:  As you can see, despite our minimal payroll, we don't have much money to spend! Well, that just about covers it. See you at spring training!
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Apr 8, 2021 14:33
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Two things. 1) Go through our front office, coaching staff, and minor league staff and shitcan the people who are anything less than good at their jobs. Hire people who are good or better for those jobs. Plenty are available. This costs some money up front, but not that much and might significantly improve our player development and our scoring. 2) Promote Jarred Kelenic and make him our starting CF. This is a new day in Seattle, and if we reach 6 years of game play then we can feel with not having that extra year of service time.
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Apr 8, 2021 15:34
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So, we have a ton of big decisions to make and only about a month to make them. From where I sit, this roster as-is wins about 75-80 games without much input from us. Here's our hitters:  And our pitchers:  Depressingly mediocre, isn't it? Some good news: our contract situation isn't too terrible, aside from that absolutely baffling Evan White contract.  Also, our prospect pool is outstanding! Thanks to new signing Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez, we now have the #1 prospect pool in baseball:  Heya Chief. Here's my thoughts on our top guys: Benny projects as a plus glove just about anywhere on the field, probably topping out at an .800 OPS guy with plenty of steals. Kelenic looks like a potential 900 OPS guy who gets on base a ton and is a solid corner outfield glove. Julio Rodriguez is a big time power bat and potential OBP monster with a passable COF glove. Emerson Hancock is a 4-pitch guy with good velocity but middling stamina. Logan Gilbert is a hard thrower with tremendous control. And here's the Jet's player page.  Pretty good kid, that one. Anyway, we have some big decisions to make here. 3-Year Strategy First, we need to map out what we want the next 3 years to look like. The biggest part of this is deciding two major things: our roster strategy and our scouting priorities. Our roster strategy determines how we spend money how hard we push to be competitive. We're over a bit of a barrel here this year: we probably won't make the playoffs, but our owner wants a .500 record, so we won't be looking at a top 5 draft pick...unless we ignore him, which we can do to a certain extent. As far as our general approach to player acquisition goes, we can do one of four approaches: - Build through prospects. Try and acquire as many highly regarded young players as we can, develop them, and build around them. Example: Padres - Trash Heap Players: Try and find inexpensive, undervalued players through trades, Rule 5, and free agency. Example: Rays - Veteran Trades: teams nowadays often want to unload good but expensive veteran players still in their prime years to save some bucks. Example: Cardinals - Free Agents: Each offseason, try to fill gaps with unrestricted free agents. Example: Yankees When it comes to competitiveness the next 3 years: - Tank hard the next two years, let the prospects marinate a bit, and push for the playoffs in year 3. - Tank hard next year, and push for the playoffs in year 2. - Push for a .500 record this year, and playoffs in year 2-3. And finally, when it comes to team strategy, we need to decide how to build our roster. - Sabermetrics. Value on base percentage, power, and a big stable of lots of hard-throwing pitchers, let the math do the work. - Smallball. Value speed, defense, and contact hitting, win through a relentless barrage of balls in play and gold glove defense. -Tactics. Look for platoons, power, contact hitting, win through creating favorable matchups. For our scouting priorities, we need to give Pete the kinds of players we want him to look for. First, very simple: do we prioritize hitting or pitching? For hitters, we can prioritize two of five tools: - Power - Contact - Eye - Defense - Speed And for pitchers, we can prioritize one of the following: - Velocity - Control - Movement And prioritize either: - Starters - Relievers Coaching Bottom line, from where I sit, our coaching team is pretty bad. In particular, I have concerns about their ability to develop our young players: thus far, they've failed pretty badly at this.  Problem is, they're all under contract through at least 2023, and it'll cost a bundle to fire folks, not to mention, the season is only a month away, so throwing the coaching team into turmoil might be a recipe for disaster. That said, from where I sit, there are some very interesting coaching options out there that we could potentially jump on. It'd probably cost us some wins this year, but might be worth it in the long run. And when you're thinking of all this, consider that we have one of the more unique parks in baseball: It heavily favors pitchers (1.000 is average) and right handed batters, and has the lowest XBH rate in baseball:  VOTES note: when we have a vote on things, I'll put it at the bottom of the post Player acquisition 1. Build through prospects 2. Trash Heap Players 3. Veteran Trades 4. Free Agents Roster Strategy 1. Tank hard this year and next year. 2. Tank hard this year. 3. Push this year. Team Strategy 1. Sabermetrics 2. Smallball 3. Tactics General Priorities 1. Hitting 2. Pitching Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 1. Power 2. Contact 3. Eye 4. Defense 5. Speed Pitcher priorities: 1. Velocity 2. Control 3. Movement 1. Starters 2. Relievers Coaching Staff 1. Keep them on 2. Fire manager, hitting, pitching coach note: when making your decisions, go for a coherent strategy. IE, prioritizing power and eye probably doesn't fit well with a smallball approach. Remember also that there are lots of other teams, nearly all of which are more competitive than we are -- while some strategies or courses of action may seem more appealing on the surface, that may put us in more direct competition with other clubs. bewbies fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Apr 8, 2021 |
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Apr 8, 2021 15:59
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Lets dig through trash for gold and fire the trash, all the trash
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Apr 8, 2021 16:34
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FREE KELENIC! Player acquisition 2. Trash Heap Players - You'll get plenty of useful pieces from the waiver wire and we should be filtering for Roster Strategy 3. Push this year. - We've got a good to very good farm system, have no major long term commitments, and we're not that far from being a .500 club. We shouldn't take on any major contract commitments, though. Team Strategy 2. Smallball - Sabermetric three true outcomes is probably a more optimal way to play, but it's loving boring. General Priorities 2. Pitching - You can never have enough pitching. Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 2. Contact - Smallball requires it. 3. Eye - Speed might work better for smallball, but getting on base is really important. Pitcher priorities: 3. Movement - Only the filthiest stuff for the people of Seattle. Pitcher priorities: 1. Starters - Starters, even in this day of 7 inning starts being rare, still pitch way more than relievers do. Coaching Staff 2. Fire manager, hitting, pitching coach - I'd need to see their actual stats to determine who to actually fire, but I might keep Servais as a sacrificial lamb to pin the blame on if this season goes poorly... and fire the trainer.
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Apr 8, 2021 17:08
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Player acquisition 1. Trash Heap Player -- I already know how to turn 5 star potential into 2.5 star benchwarmers, let's just cut out the waiting. Roster Strategy 3. Push this year -- tanking is for chumps Team Strategy 2. Smallball -- Call it the Suzuki Method General Priorities 2. Pitching -- why not Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 2. Contact 3. Eye Pitcher priorities: 2. Control -- the least sexy option! Pitcher priorities: 1. Starters - relievers are a dime a dozen in this game (at least as of a few years ago versions) Coaching Staff 1. Keep them on -- think of their families!
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Apr 8, 2021 17:22
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Voodoofly posted:Pitcher priorities: Dehumanize yourself and face towards Carlos Silva.
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Apr 8, 2021 17:59
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VOTES Player acquisition 2. Trash Heap Players We have a stingy budget. Roster Strategy 3. Push this year. Tanking isn't just stupid, it will also piss off our owner. Team Strategy 2. Smallball Seattle feels like a scrappy town. General Priorities 2. Pitching I find this more interesting. Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 2. Contact 4. Defense Grind them down. Pitcher priorities: 3. Movement Give em all the bullshit. 2. Relievers All of the bullshit. Coaching Staff 2. Fire manager, hitting, pitching coach Upon succession, always change the ruling council. note: when making your decisions, go for a coherent strategy. IE, prioritizing power and eye probably doesn't fit well with a smallball approach. Remember also that there are lots of other teams, nearly all of which are more competitive than we are -- while some strategies or courses of action may seem more appealing on the surface, that may put us in more direct competition with other clubs. I know nothing about baseball, but I feel my strategy is coherent for how you described things.
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Apr 8, 2021 18:15
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Player acquisition 2. Trash Heap Players Roster Strategy 2. Tank hard this year. Team Strategy 2. Smallball General Priorities 2. Pitching Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 3. Eye 5. Speed Pitcher priorities: 2. Control 2. Relievers Coaching Staff 2. Fire manager, hitting, pitching coach
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Apr 8, 2021 19:14
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Player acquisition 2. Trash Heap Players - theres good stuff in this dumpster I swear to God Roster Strategy 2. Tank hard this year. - wouldn't be the Ms without some kind of lovely tank job Team Strategy 3. Tactics because I want bewbies to suffer through building a complicated conditional depth chart General Priorities 2. Pitching Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 1. Power - i want a bunch of dudes who mash with absurd platoon splits 5. Speed - make em fast why not Pitcher priorities: 3. Movement We live in the Stuff era of pitching, let's get the best Stuff 2. Relievers what if we made the team entirely of swingmen and long relievers Coaching Staff 2. Fire manager, hitting, pitching coach
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Apr 8, 2021 19:55
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Also how is 22? I think 19 is the last one I played for more than a few minutes (I bought 20 on some sale but don't remember ever doing much with it).
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Apr 8, 2021 20:05
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Interested to know as well, gotta do my historical league thing again.
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Apr 8, 2021 22:56
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Awesome to see this, I did a long run with the Mariners in last year's game so I'm excited to see how they do here. Player acquisition 2. Trash Heap Players - So many players that we can pick up at bargain bin prices which saves room in the budget for pitchers and stars like Kelenic Roster Strategy 3. Push this year. - The AL West is softer than it's been historically, we could probably ride out close to .500 as is. Team Strategy 2. Smallball - It's time to bring it back. High speed and contact teams can still work and are more fun. General Priorities 2. Pitching - Always more pitchers Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 2. Contact - High contact players are so good in this game if they have even decent power. 3. Eye - Getting on base is also good. Pitcher priorities: 3. Control - A pitcher with even decent stuff can be great with good control. 1. Starters - Starters are what make the world go round, and they're the only part of this team as is I like. Coaching Staff 2. Honestly I think Servais is fine, but if the baby must be thrown out with the bath water he can go. Thordain fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Apr 8, 2021 |
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Apr 8, 2021 23:16
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Thordain posted:Awesome to see this, I did a long run with the Mariners in last year's game so I'm excited to see how they do here. Just gonna echo this post for the most part, let's do some small ball bullshit.
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Apr 9, 2021 00:43
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Player acquisition 2. Trash Heap Players Roster Strategy 3. Push this year. Team Strategy 2. Smallball General Priorities 1. Hitting Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 2. Contact 5. Speed Pitcher priorities: 3. Movement 1. Starters Coaching Staff 2. Fire manager, hitting, pitching coach 
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Apr 9, 2021 03:21
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Player acquisition 1. Draft with one notable exception: catchers. Specifically I would like to trade for Austin Hedges or Roberto Perez. Or if they are too expensive Taylor Davis. Or, if by some chance you included the Mexican League or Independent Leagues, what I really want is for you to purchase the contract of Steve Baron from the Vallejo Admirals or Jose Heberto Felix from the Aguascalientes Rieleros edit: it just occurred to me that Sylteve and Jose probably don't exist even if you included those leagues. I imagine OOTP probably creates players for those leagues when the game is created. I dunno. Point is, get some cheap catchers with high framing skills I just realized Hedges and Perez will be free agents at the end of the year. So maybe not them for a trade. But still. Framing catchers! Roster Strategy Tank this year, go for it in year 2. Team Strategy 2. Sabermetric General Priorities 1. Hitting Hitter Priorities (pick 2) 2. Contact 5. Speed Pitcher priorities: 3. Movement 1. Starters Coaching Staff 2. Fire manager, hitting, pitching coach alpha_destroy fucked around with this message at 13:13 on Apr 9, 2021 |
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Apr 9, 2021 12:55
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Alright, so we've got a pretty good strategy here. It is pretty much the opposite of Moneyball, which you know I'm partial to, but we can work with this. We're going to push for a playoff spot this year. We're going to use a smallball approach. We're going to prioritize pitching, focusing on starters with sick spin rates. We're going prioritize contact and disciplined hitters. and last, we're going to shitcan our current coaching staff. So, from where I sit, if we're going to have to make some significant muscle movements in order to get to a .500 record and get us in contention for the division crown. 1) Hire a new coaching staff. Duh. 2) Improve the bullpen. Our current pen is a trainwreck, and our blue-chip reliever (Andres Munoz) is out at least 3 more months with an elbow explosion. 3) Upgrade a position player or two. Definitely 1B, probably middle infield, possibly catcher. We have a ton of big decisions to make, so get ready! Coaching staff hiring Candidates for each position are waiting in the hallway for you to interview. Manager Candidates Ned Yost is incredibly experienced, and led the Royals to a brief episode of glory on the back of a smallball approach. He's done well leading small market teams over the years and is well regarded as a developer of young talent. He's old, however, and is likely going to retire after a couple of years. Buck Showalter is a legendary manager who never quite got over the top. He's famed for his ability to develop young players, but has also overseen some absolute trainwreck seasons. Mark Hallberg is a young whiz-kid with an MBA and an impressive -- if short -- resume as an assistant coach and analyst. He'll likely struggle a bit with player interactions, but he'll bring a hardline analytic approach. Hitting Coach Candidates Joey Demonte is, I think, a regen coach who apparently has an incredible approach to developing young contact hitters. Bernard Gilkey is an old timey major leaguer with a decent resume developing OBP players. Pitching Coach Candidates Darren Balsley is a very highly regarded veteran pitching coach that focuses on spin rate and works well with veterans, but isn't as well regarded for developing youngsters. Bruce Billings is a recently-retired minor leaguer who enjoyed considerable success in a couple of seasons in the minors. He's inexperienced but is very analytically inclined. Roster Decisions We have to make some tough calls early on with our roster. Outfield logjam. Ironically enough, we have too many quality outfielders. From where I sit, this is how I see them: Taylor Trammell: young guy, fast, projects as a .350 OBP guy with an average glove in LF. Kyle Lewis: last year's rookie of the year; plus glove in CF and 800 OPS, a great combo. Mitch Haniger: 800 OPS guy with a meh glove in RF. Jarred Kelenic: top prospect, ML-ready. 800 OPS this year with a meh glove and good speed; will get better. Julio Rodriguez: #15 overall prospect. ML-ready, but could use more seasoning. Will flirt with 800 OPS this year, eventually has 40 HR power. If we are going to call up Kelenic, we need to trade one of these guys (probably not Lewis). There's huge interest in Rodriguez as well; as he doesn't really fit our smallball strategy that well, we could look to trade him for an upgrade elsewhere. Anyway, that's all I've got. I'll hand it over to Pete for his thoughts. Bullpen/Pitching Upgrades Got some interesting deals for you, kid. Michael Kopech (2.5/3). Once a top prospect, it looks like the White Sox are wanting to cut their losses. He can still throw 99 with a plus-plus slider, but his control is always an issue. Could be a starter or pen guy, and we could get him for a B prospect. He does have some character concerns, though. Drew Rasmussen (3/4). He's pretty much just a hard thrower, but he does throw it hard. He'll cost a bit but he's MLB ready and has a filthy, filthy slider. Darwinzon Hernandez[(3/4.5). He's a lefty with one of the best god drat curveballs I've ever seen. He struggles with the control, but my god can he spin the ball. He'll cost a fair amount, more than the others. Brett De Geus (2.5/4). He's very young, but I love what I see. Plus-plus fastball and slider, and I think he's a bit undervalued by the Rangers. He's tentatively ML-ready and will get better; one for the future. David Robertson is a 35 year old free agent with a famed curveball. We can probably snag him for 3-4 mil a year for 1-2 years. Infield Upgrades Ha-Seong Kim (3/3.5) is a 25 year old KBO superstar the Padres signed this offseason to a long-term deal. I think they need that money back, so they're looking to deal. He looks like a solid 2B glove, can play SS or 3B in a pinch, and should be a solid OBP guy with some room to grow. Only downside here is his contract: 5/35, so its a longer-term deal. If he pans out though, $7m a season is a bargain. He should come fairly cheap, maybe a B prospect. David Fletcher (3/3) is a 26 year old plus/plus glove at 2B and a 350 OBP guy. He'll cost a bit (an A prospect probably) but he's just entering arbitration and is a rock solid MLB player. Catcher Upgrades Well, we signed both Steve Baron (.5/.5) and Jose Heberto Felix (1/1) per your suggestion. They're both outstanding defensive catchers but are black holes with the bat. Murphy was solid in 2019, but we could use an upgrade here. Carson Kelly (2.5/2.5) is one of the best defensive catchers in the game, and won't kill you with the bat. He'll cost a bundle though, and is already in arbitration. Austin Hedges (2.5/2.5) is even better defensively, but is a downgrade with the bat and has a higher arbitration salary. He'll also cost a fair amount Keibert Ruiz (2.5/3.5) is only 22, is a switch hitter, and is decent with the glove. He'll cost a lot though -- the Dodgers have been sniffing around Marco Gonzalez.... Alright. Anyway, from where I sit, we have two more important roster decisions to make. First, TRADE EVAN WHITE. There, I made that decision for you. Doesn't matter what we get back, as long as it is cheap. Second, what do we do with Kyle Seager and James Paxton? Both are quality vets. Seager (3/3) has a team option for $15 mil next year. Paxton (3.5/3.5) is a top shelf SP on a good (8.5m) contract, but he's very injury prone (IRL he just blew out his elbow..  ) and has a ton of trade value right now, and we have some ML-ready SP prospects ready to step in. He'll be a BIG help to us this season, but if he gets hurt, we get nothing for him. VOTE note: when making your decision, bear in mind the cost of each player. They're all cheap salary-wise, but they'll cost player capital for us to acquire, so we can't afford all of the top options at once. A rough cost estimate is included. Manager: 1. Ned Yost 2. Buck Showalter 3. Mark Hallberg Hitting Coach: 1. Joey Demonte 2. Bernard Gilkey Pitching Coach: 1. Darren Balsley 2. Bruce Billings Outfield: Keep/Trade/Demote 1. Taylor Trammell 2. Kyle Lewis 3. Mitch Haniger 4. Jarred Kelenic 5. Julio Rodriguez Pitching upgrades (pick 1-3): 1. Kopech 2. Rasmussen 3. Hernandez 4. De Geus 5. Robertson Infield upgrades (pick 0-1): 1. Ha-Seong Kim 2. David Fletcher Catcher Upgrades (pick 0-1): 1. Carson Kelly 2. Austin Hedges 3. Keibert Ruiz Keep/Extend/Trade 1. Kyle Seager 2. Jim Paxton bewbies fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Apr 9, 2021 |
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Apr 9, 2021 15:49
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Crap, I'm sorry kid, I forgot to list some cheap 1B/DH options! Pick 0-1 of these guys, if you want! John Nogowski (2.5/2.5) is an OBP monster and not much else; he's available more or less for free. Pavin Smith (2.5/3.0) is another OBP monster who has a solid 1B glove and can also play RF, poorly. He's slow on the bases, but could eventually be a .400 OBP guy. He'll cost a bit, but not too much. Franmil Reyes (2.5/3.0) is a pure-DH, but he's gigantic, and he hits baseballs very hard. He doesn't cost too much and is just starting arbitration.
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Apr 9, 2021 15:59
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bewbies posted:
 This is like Christmas. Hell yeah. This is the decision that is going to turn this franchise around baybee. For real though, if these guys never make the majors and we just stash one in AA and one in AAA, they are going to pay for themselves 10 fold just by helping to develop our pitching prospects.Also it is good fun that one of first moves is signing some non-prospect catchers. We are crushing it.
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Apr 9, 2021 17:04
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Does having a good defensive catcher help out the pitchers in the minors? I always assumed it might but never really dug deep enough to figure it out. I also usually just turned off the staff aspect because it got to be too much micro, although I think in more recent versions I just assigned it to the assistant Gm or whatever and let them deal with it. And because I always play in GM only mode most of my staff interaction is sending 2.5 star players back to AAA so that my idiot manager will finally put my all-star prospect in the lineup when I’m having them learn a new position.
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Apr 9, 2021 17:08
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Manager: 1. Ned Yost I like Yost, he ran some fairly smallball teams in KC, and we don't really care about keeping a manager long term. Yost is a great pick here.. Hitting Coach: 1. Joey Demonte Contact all the way! Pitching Coach: 1.Darren Balsley I don't love either of these guys but one has Ball in the name. Outfield: 1. Taylor Trammell - KEEP 2. Kyle Lewis - KEEP 3. Mitch Haniger - TRADE 4. Jarred Kelenic - KEEP 5. Julio Rodriguez - DEMOTE I don't know who's playing DH this year, if they aren't any good then I say bring Rodriguez up and let him start there. Otherwise let's stash him for now and see if he grows, then reexamine what he goes for. Pitching upgrades: Kopech I always end up with a bullpen full of guys who can pitch 120 innings, that kind of flexibility is so valuable here. One bad character guy is not going to have that much of an impact. On the subject of character, how is our locker room morale/leadership looking? Infield upgrades: Ha-Seong Kim The Padres are so maxed out I bet we can get him for a decent price, maybe even get San Diego to still pay some of his contract. Catcher Upgrades: None I don't love any of these guys. Let's hold on with the dudes we have. Keep/Extend/Trade: 1. Kyle Seager - KEEP 2. Jim Paxton - KEEP I kind of want to trade Paxton but that hurts our chances at .500 this year if he can even put together 100 innings. Seager is a solid vet and a career Mariner, and he's probably our best infielder as is. Keep him and see. cheap 1B/DH options: Pavin Smith Reyes sounds more appealing but a guy who can split between 1B and DH works for us and Smith being cheap works out well. Thordain fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Apr 9, 2021 |
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Apr 9, 2021 17:17
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