[PC] OOTP 14 Last Ride

[RyanLeaf16]

So I have decided to start up one last OOTP 14 run. After winning the World Series with the Rays, I have decided to start anew and change some of my overall setup. I will be running the first season as the Commish and not interfering. After the World Series is over, I will enter the league and take over the Rays again. Only this time, I have had no effect on the roster that I inherit and the virtual Friedman actually made quite a few trades.

Quick rundown of what took place. The Rays actually finished last in the AL East and the AI actually fired Friedman itself, so it works out well that I can just come in and take over. The virtual Friedman made the following trades during the 2013 season.

- C Jose Molina to the Yankees for 1B Gil Velazquez

- SP Roberto Hernandez to the Athletics for SP Chris Lamb, 3B Renato Nunez

- 3B Tyler Goeddel, C Omar Narvaez to the White Sox for SP Jon Danks

- SP Parker Markel to the White Sox for RP Nate Jones

- OF Brandon Guyer to the Angels for 1B Paul McAnulty

- 1B Vince Belnome to the Indians for CF Drew Stubbs

WTF??? Only the move for Danks and Jones really brought back quality. The problem is Danks has 3 years left on a deal that pays $14+ million per.

As for the rest of the league, the biggest deals of the year were Andre Ethier to the Phillies for prospect Zach Collier. Max Scherzer was moved to San Francisco in a deal for Hunter Pence and Chris Marlowe.

Also saw the Cubs send Jorge Soler to San Diego for Brad Brach. V-Mart was sent to the Mets in exchange for Daniel Murphy and Gabriel Ynoa.

Mark Trumbo also went to the Mets in exchange for Zach Lutz and Wilfredo Tovar.

The Cubs weren't done dealing OF prospects either as they sent Albert Almora to the Indians for Jason Kipnis.

The Red Sox won the World Series over the Giants in 7 games. Mike Napoli was the series MVP. Napoli slugged OVER .700 with 5 HRs during the series.

I also went in as the Commish and suspended Alex Rodriguez for 162 games entering the 2014 season.

I post some shit later tonight. Have to work on the roster and get some stuff together.

[RyanLeaf16]

Looking over the roster right now and I have set a few main objectives for myself this off-season:

1. Get more speed in the lineup.
2. Make more contact
3. Solidify catching position

I'm not looking to let runners take off whenever they want, but, adding speed in the field and on the base-path's should take the pressure off of our bigger bats.

Making contact is important obviously, but, the numbers are showing a lot of whiffs and lack of balls put in play. I need guys who are more consistent with putting the ball in play.

Finally, our catching is weak. Not looking for a offensive powerhouse, but, looking for guys who can help out from time-to-time offensively and have solid defensive ability. Our current catching platoon at the Major League level is Jose Lobaton and Chris Gimenez. Neither does anything outstanding.

[RyanLeaf16]

Going through the arb eligible guys and I am only focused on working out deals with Sean Rodriguez and Matt Joyce. I plan on non-tendering "The Big Nyquill" Jeff Niemann, Ryan Roberts and Drew Stubbs.

I know I mentioned speed earlier, but, Stubbs doesn't do enough of everything else to take-up a roster spot. Niemann has no real place on the roster either. He wouldn't be a starter, and he would only serve as a long-man out of the 'pen, but, his morale is shit. With that I'm ready to move on from him as well.

When it comes to our other FAs, I have some guys we want to bring back. Have already submitted an offer to Juan Carlos Oviedo (the former Leo Nunez). Oviedo spent all of 2013 on our DL, but, he still has decent stuff and excellent velocity. I think he can be a valuable piece to our 'pen. I offered a rather cheap 1-year deal with a team option for a 2nd year. I could let this guy blow up as a high leverage guy and then auction him off to a team in need as well.

For some reason the game does not have Yunel Escobar's option year on his contract so he is a potential FA right now and I certainly want to bring him back (+14.7 ZR) to trot out to the SS position for 2014, but, I don't have enough money to offer an extension. I guess I will have to try and compete on the open-market for him. I'm not ready for Hak-Ju Lee...just yet. Hoping to bring Yunel back for 2014 via Free Agency.

Looking at James Loney, I have decided, at this point in time, to not pursue an extension for him. I don't expect much from him offensively, but, his splits against lefties is terrible. I would have to platoon him with someone else which would require paying two players for part-time work. I'm just not going to do that.

Other guys I will not attempt to bring back include: Kyle Farnsworth, Fernando Rodney, Jamey Wright, Kelly Johnson and Luke Scott.

[RyanLeaf16]

Gold Glove Winners 2013:

SP Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at P.
C Alex Avila of the Detroit Tigers honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at C.
1B Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at 1B.
2B Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at 2B.
3B Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at 3B.
SS Yunel Escobar of the Tampa Bay Rays honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at SS.
LF Coco Crisp of the Oakland Athletics honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at LF.
CF Austin Jackson of the Detroit Tigers honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at CF.
RF Shane Victorino of the Boston Red Sox honored: Wins the 2013 ML AL Gold Glove at RF.

SP Mike Fiers of the Milwaukee Brewers honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at P.
C Ryan Hanigan of the Cincinnati Reds honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at C.
1B Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at 1B.
2B Brandon Phillips of the Cincinnati Reds honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at 2B.
3B Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at 3B.
SS Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at SS.
LF Matt Holliday of the St. Louis Cardinals honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at LF.
CF Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at CF.
RF Starling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates honored: Wins the 2013 ML NL Gold Glove at RF.

[RyanLeaf16]

Rookies of the Year 2013:

AL - Rangers CF, Leonys Martin
NL - Reds SS, Billy Hamilton

[RyanLeaf16]

Going through all this right now and it is really difficult to make any moves for FAs. I may be forced to make a few trades due to our financial situation. Our current costs for 2014 are fine, but, the owner is worried about costs in 2015 which is causing him to block any FA deals because of lack of money to commit in 2015.

Only thing I can do right now is move some pieces. Will be working on a trade of Jon Danks and possibly David Price. It's a tough call on Price, but, I need to be able to bring in personnel for this year and down the road. I just can't do that right now with the money situation.

[RyanLeaf16]

Simmed a few days and I have received a trade proposal from Oakland. I also have a deal worked out for Jon Danks.

Yankees get: SP Jon Danks
Rays get: P Ty Hensley (20 yo, Rook lg), C Luis Torrens (17 yo, Rook lg)

I just really wanted to move that salary so I could free up money for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Danks is a mid-rotation guy and I got good value out of it. Getting two really young guys who have high potential, but, are still early in development. This move doesn't help us this year, but, hopefully down the road we can see these two guys develop.

[RyanLeaf16]

The trade of Danks freed up the money needed to pursue FAs. I was able to make an offer to Yunel Escobar. Here's hoping we bring back our Gold Glove SS for 2014!

[RyanLeaf16]

We were able to sign Yunel Escobar to a 1-year deal with a team option for a 2nd year. Total value if the option year is executed is $12.3 million.

Also, we were able to fill our hole at 1B with Gaby Sanchez. We had a similar deal to Escobar's. 1-year with an option for a 2nd. Total value is $2.8 million.

[RyanLeaf16]

Just got the message that one of my main targets has agreed to a 1-year $3.59 million deal. Wanting to add speed, I was looking for a defensive component as well. We were lucky enough to sign Juan Pierre to cover some ground out in LF.

Right now, our Opening Day lineup would look like this:

C - Jose Lobaton
1B - Gaby Sanchez
2B - Ben Zobrist
3B - Evan Longoria
SS - Yunel Escobar
LF - Juan Pierre
CF - Desmond Jennings
RF - Wil Myers
DH - Matt Joyce

Next area of concern is adding an arm in the bullpen. We may sign someone or we may make a deal. For some reason I have been getting a shit ton of offers from teams for Sam Fuld. I was declining all of them until we officially signed Pierre. Now that we have sealed the deal there, I may acquire an arm from a team that has an interest in Fuld.

[RyanLeaf16]

I don't know how much of my game progress was saved. I was quickly advancing through days during the off-season and it froze up on me. So I have no clue where the last save point is. So it is possible that everything I posted today will not be accurate. Either way, I will pick up on it. Have to take Little Leaf to a BDay party this afternoon.

[RyanLeaf16]

Ok, so it picked up at Jan 1, 2014. Still have Gaby Sanchez, Escobar and Pierre. So all is good.

[RyanLeaf16]

End of April 2014

Finished the month of April at 13-9 and in second place behind the Red Sox.

Surprised we were able to do that with all the injuries we had. We lost the following players to the DL in the month of April: Jake McGee, Sam Fuld, Juan Pierre, David Price and Jeremy Hellickson.

Evan Longoria is having a hell of a start to the season. 10 HR, 23 RBI, .803 SLG, 1.200+ OPS, .500 wOBA. Pretty stupid start if you ask me.

Last Ride - end of april 2014.jpg

[RyanLeaf16]

End of May 2014

Smoke and mirrors...and pitching. That's how we are surviving in the AL East race right now. Our team offense is abysmal. We've suffered through quite a few injuries. Price missed most of April with a injury. Jake McGee is also out on the DL with Yunel Escobar and Jake Odorizzi.

Jeremy Hellickson is back from an off-season injury that delayed his progress and in a move of absolute desperation, we signed Johan Santana to a 1-year deal due to injuries. After just a few starts, we cut him. He was awful. Still, at the end of May, we are in 2nd in the AL East. Here's hoping we get healthy and our offense gets on track.

Last Ride - end of may 2014.jpg

[RyanLeaf16]

First Year Player Draft - 2014

Finished the draft and went with a BPA strategy. With so many rounds, I simply want to get the best players in our system regardless of what position they play. You can see our first 5 picks below. All of the first five picks were offered slot bonus. Our first pick, 12th overall, was SS Jon Smith out of Grandview HS in Missouri.

Last Ride - 2014 first year player draft.jpg