My Franchise: Phixing the Phillies

[lce5007]

End of the Month Report

Standings:

NL East
Phillies 18-10
Braves 17-11
Nationals 13-15
Marlins 12-16
Mets 12-16

NL Central
Brewers 20-9
Cardinals 17-12
Reds 15-14
Pirates 11-17
Cubs 5-22

NL West
Diamondbacks 21-10
Giants 16-12
Dodgers 15-14
Rockies 15-15
Padres 14-15

AL East
Yankees 18-10
Rays 17-13
Blue Jays 15-13
Orioles 13-14
Red Sox 13-16

AL Central
Royals 16-12
Tigers 12-14
Indians 12-17
Twins 9-18
White Sox 9-20

AL West
Rangers 18-10
Athletics 15-14
Angels 14-13
Astros 13-15
Mariners 10-18

First month of the season, so not overly important at the moment. Looks realistic at least with the Cubs having the worst record in the entire league though.

[lce5007]

Sorry for the big gap in posts here. I had to move for my job and on top of that, didn't have internet for about a week and a half here (as you can see by the date of my last post). I was still playing though, so I will finish out this week and the next update will cover about three weeks worth of info and changes. Only thing noticeable that I can think of is that Ben Revere got hurt while stealing second and is out 2-3 weeks, so he was put on DL and I brought up Tony Gwynn Jr.

[lce5007]

Alright again I apologize for the big gap here. Work has been keeping me later and later, plus the lack of functional internet, and I have just been slacking on this. This post will be covering everything concerning stats and roster moves since the previous few posts. Anyways, my team is at 29-19 and second place in the division behind the Braves by half a game. Here is a rundown of what the stats look like so far:

Stats
Pitchers (Stats listed are record, innings pitched, earned run average, and strikeouts. For the closer, I also added in saves and blown saves.)

Cole Hamels 5-3, 70.2 IP, 1.91 ERA, 62 K
Cliff Lee 6-2, 75.1 IP, 2.27 ERA, 57 K
Chris Archer 4-3, 70 IP, 2.57 ERA, 52 K
Michael Pineda 3-4, 52.1 IP, 4.99 ERA, 53 K
Jeff Niemann 4-2, 31.2 IP, 4.26 ERA, 28 K
AJ Burnett 6-1, 56 IP, 3.38 ERA, 57 K
Ivan Nova 3-0, 27.1 IP, 2.63 ERA, 20 K
Jesse Biddle 0-0, 8 IP, 3.38 ERA, 2 K
Mike Adams 0-1, 20.2 IP, 3.05 ERA, 17 K
Antonio Bastardo 2-2, 19.1 IP, 2.33 ERA, 24 K
Jake Diekman 0-1, 17.2 IP, 2.04 ERA, 14 K
Jonathan Papelbon 0-1, 16.2 IP, 2.16 ERA, 9 K, 14 SV, 4 BSV

Position Players (Stats listed are batting average, home runs, runs batted in, on base percentage, and errors. If they have any steals, I added that in too at the end. Also, DNP is for the players who did not play yet.)
Carlos Ruiz .263 AVG, 3 HR, 13 RBI, .303 OBP, 2 E
Cameron Rupp .194 AVG, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .256 OBP, 0 E
Ryan Howard .186 AVG, 3 HR, 11 RBI, .253 OBP, 1 E
Kendrys Morales .254 AVG, 8 HR, 24 RBI, .316 OBP, 2 E
Darin Ruf .286 AVG, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .308 OBP, 0 E
Chase Utley .282 AVG, 9 HR, 34 RBI, .356 OBP, 3 E 1 SB
Freddy Galvis .323 AVG, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .436 OBP, 0 E
Jimmy Rollins .255 AVG, 3 HR, 10 RBI, .319 OBP, 4 E 9 SB
Ronny Cedeno .208 AVG, 1 HR, 1 RBI, .300 OBP, 1 E
Cesar Izturis .257 AVG, 3 HR, 12 RBI, .329 OBP, 1 E
Domonic Brown .259 AVG, 10 HR, 23 RBI, .306 OBP, 2 E
Tony Gwynn Jr .286 AVG, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .375 OBP, 0 E, 1 SB
Marlon Byrd .221 AVG, 3 HR, 16 RBI, .259 OBP, 2 E

My pitching is still pretty good for the most part. The bottom portion of the rotation keeps moving around and doing poorly when starting, yet dominating when working out of the bullpen. Still, overall I'm fairly happy. I still continue to have a man-crush on Chase Utley and his ability to put up numbers with guys on base, and I also still consider that Kendrys Morales signing to be a great move. Dom Brown is looking good at the plate too for the most part. Ryan Howard, however, is horrible when he bats, yet is doing better defensively than everyone else who I've had at first thus far.

There were a few changes to the makeup of my 25 man roster. As mentioned in a previous post, Ben Revere had to be put on the DL, so that brought up Tony Gwynn Jr. You may have also noticed that Kyle Kendrick has dropped down to AAA and was replaced with Jesse Biddle. There were also quite a few ratings changes.

My new 25 man roster consists of this (number next to the name is their current overall rating):

Pitchers
Cole Hamels 90
Cliff Lee 88
Jonathan Papelbon 83
Chris Archer 82
Antonio Bastardo 79
Michael Pineda 78
Jeff Niemann 77
Jake Diekman 76
AJ Burnett 76
Mike Adams 75
Ivan Nova 75
Jesse Biddle 75

Position Players
Domonic Brown 82
Jimmy Rollins 82
Chase Utley 82
Carlos Ruiz 79
Kendrys Morales 78
Ryan Howard 76
Marlon Byrd 75
Freddy Galvis 74
Darin Ruf 72
Cesar Izturis 71
Tony Gwynn Jr 70
Ronny Cedeno 68
Cameron Rupp 67

My older guys are dropping like flies. If Papelbon keeps dropping like he is, I may consider trading him to pick up some breathing room on my budget. Ryan Madsen is still currently in free agency at a 79 rating, is the same age, and is cheaper. The rate at which my older guys are declining compared to the rate that my younger guys are improving worries me for the future. Again, I'm trying to clean up the mess made by Ruben Amaro aka "Ruin Tomorrow".

As for my prospects, a little bit of change has happened. Biddle is now back up to the majors in place of Kendrick. Franco finally improved, but is still refusing to pass Cedeno and be brought up as a sub to give Izturis a break at third. If only that prospect from Tampa could play more positions than second base, he would likely see time this season. That is not the case though, so he will likely remain at AAA level until at least next season. A few guys have had some ratings changes as well. Here is the rundown right now for the prospects:

Prospect Info
AAA
2B Ryan Brett 69
3B Maikel Franco 68
SS JP Crawford 67
SP Michael Feliz 65
SP Ethan Martin 65

AA
SP Severino Gonzalez 61
SP Chris Kohler 58
CP Julio Ruiz 56

Time to move on. I promise that I will keep up from now on. It won't be as often as I started off doing, but I will still try to keep up the posts each in-game week.

[lce5007]

Standings at end of May:

NL East
Braves 34-22
Phillies 33-22
Nationals 27-28
Marlins 27-29
Mets 23-33

NL Central
Brewers 34-22
Cardinals 32-25
Reds 30-25
Pirates 21-34
Cubs 19-36

NL West
Diamondbacks 38-20
Dodgers 30-27
Rockies 27-29
Padres 27-29
Giants 27-30

AL East
Yankees 35-20
Rays 32-25
Blue Jays 32-25
Orioles 25-30
Red Sox 24-31

AL Central
Royals 28-28
Tigers 27-28
Indians 26-31
White Sox 23-34
Twins 20-34

AL West
Rangers 33-23
Mariners 27-29
Athletics 27-29
Astros 27-30
Angels 24-31

Once June is over, this will mean a little more. I figure at that point, teams will start making more moves in terms of trades. Also after June is done, I will start posting the current leaders in each award. A lot can change in those final few months, but I'll include it anyways. Next post will be very soon and will include my draft picks!

[lce5007]

Alright so the draft has come and gone. My Phillies had the 7th pick in each round (aside from the compensatory rounds). Here are the players that I picked up, along with some info about them:

CP Dewayne Washington (21 years old, 61 overall, 97 potential) signed for 103k/year, 3 years plus a club option.
-Current roster would have him in AAA.
-Papelbon pisses me off to begin with, but this guy isn't ready to take his spot yet. That potential though...

2B Russell Gonzalez (19 years old, 64 overall, 94 potential) signed for 106k/year, 3 years plus a club option.
-Current roster would likely have him in AA.
-Also can play LF and RF, which would possibly help him move up quicker due to the logjam currently at 2B for me.
-Contact rating against lefties is already a 74.

1B Bradnon Reyna (19 years old, 74 overall, 78 potential) signed for 90k/year, 3 years plus a club option.
-Current roster would have him in AAA, about to jump to MLB due to decline of Howard and already rated higher than Ruff.
-Horrible at fielding, but makes up with it at hitting. All hitting ratings aside from bunts are already starting between 63 (discipline) and 80 (contact against righties). This guy looks like a solid player once I get him, but not much of a ceiling aside from where he already is.


1B Kevin Dietrich (22 years old, 49 overall, 76 potential) signed for 73k/year, 3 years plus a club option
-Current roster would have him in A
-Also can play 2B, 3B, and LF, which will help him move up quicker as well.

SP Daniel Redd (20 years old, 60 overall, 77 potential) signed for 80k/year, 3 years plus a club option
-Current roster would have him in AA

RP Glen Rivera (21 years old, 38 overall, 64 potential) unsigned
-Current roster would have him in A

RP Orlando Roberts (10 years old, 48 overall, 63 potential) unsigned
-Current roster would have him in A

Recap:

I am very happy with my draft. Of course, these guys are not added to my team until the current season is over. I'm eager to get through this season already just to see how things pan out in the offseason.