2018 Draft Advice
 

Okay so I just started a replay with the 2018 Tigers and with the draft coming up, I am wondering if I should follow the real life draft and take Casey Mize. He seems like the best option. OSA has him the only guy with 4.5 stars. What have you folks seen in terms of this draft?

Played this out a while back - got all the way to 2029, so most of the 2018 draftees are around 30 years old.

Size ended up being really good. Won the Cy Young in his age-26 season, has racked up 41 WAR in his first ten seasons. He's also avoided injury really well, making an average of 31 starts in those years.

Another guy you might look at is Brice Turang. I took him #2 overall and he became an absolute phenomenon. 5.2 WAR as a 21-year-old rookie. Excellent eye at the plate, has drawn over 100 walks three times. Usually good for 25 stolen bases, 20 homers and above average defense at shortstop. Was the key player in getting my expansion Salt Lake team its first title.

I took Kyler Murray in my draft, and he was available with the 29th selection. I think it'll be fun to use him since he isn't playing baseball any more, but his tool are ridiculous. That is, of course, if you need an outfielder in 3-5 years...

OSA stinks never listen to them. Do you have a good scout? But I give Mize 75% chance of being a stud.

Well I ended up taking Mize. He really was the best player available. I have other problems now. The team is playing too well, leading the Central by 3.5 games on June 10th. Cabrera and Fulmer being healthy has a lot to do with that. I have a bunch of guys on their last contract year, so I have to make those decisions before the trade deadline. I may end up being a buyer (unless I just jinxed myself). This is definitely going to be an alternate reality.

pay attention to when people become available as FA, too.

in addition to being better at the draft, you'll have a good idea of what you can wait for. it won't happen the same way each time, but it will happen in a similar way for the first ~5 or so years. the teams taht won't be able to re-sign the expensive guys will be in the same financial situation, most of the time.

more than one time in the past i've gotten trout and harper in the same offseasons, respectively. one would be avaialble a year or 2 ahead of the other, but they'd hit the FA market most times that i played it out, back then. i haven't played more than 1 season of RL players in a few years at this point.

That's usually my problem. I hang on to guys too long on more expensive contracts. Right now I am stuck with Zimmerman's contract. He's working out of the pen for $25 million. If I try to stay status quo based a better than expected season, then I will will be screwing myself in the long term. The two guys that I have to make a decision on are Iglesias and McCann. Both are hitting well and are plus defenders in the game. They are 28. They want 7 mil plus. Tough decision.

with detroit, i'd take as many financial lumps that first fiscal year. there's no hope for that team in 2018 anyway. (this is the only team with which i am familiar enough to say such things)

can't trade zimmerman? dump him... take a loss that year and virtually no negative effects the following... and zero 2 years later as long as you don't spread out the costs. cabrara should be tradeable for some future asset... younger is better since it's likely a long rebuild.

cabrera, zimmerman, and any play on that team making multi-millions is just dead weight.

iglesias should be replaceable. a ~.250BA, no power and decent defense is replaceable most years... if not, you pay him for a bit longer, no biggie, but don't do anything long-term. 1 year contracts are no problem at all.

same with a catcher... even more so with a catcher. they are ubiquitous for the most part... very little differentiates them offesnively, except for 2-3 players per generation, if lucky to have that many.

for the most part with catchers you pay an exorbitant price for a bottom third bat, even if it's a "good" catcher's bat. you get less from improving your catcher than you do for paying more elsewhere on the roster 9 times out of 10. compare incremental changes of any decision... easy to see with catchers, or it should be.

if they aren't mike piazza, i'd rather they make 500k to 2-3million tops. one year contracts can go larger, of course. perfect stopgap contracts... as long as there is room, it is not a negative in any way to overpay for 1 year.

I totally agree with what you are saying and I guess my decision is do I do what Al Avila did, let Iglesias and McCann go because he couldn't find what he considered to be fair value. Or do I just take what I can get. Problem is how well the team is doing.I play every game out, so these are not immediate decisions. I'm just trying to mentally prepare for them lol.

Well it is the all star break and the Tigers are 2 games back in the Central and 2 games up for the card. I've extended a couple of contracts, but still have a couple that expire that I will probably have to keep. Mize pitched one game at A ball and is now at AA Erie where he is 4-1 with a sub 3 ERA.

Hope he works out. My last universe he ended up a bum!!! Yikes

But the other ones I all played he turned out an ace. good luck!

And your July 2108 pitcher of the month for the Eastern League...Casey Mize!
Still holding on to a 1 game lead in the AL Central...the Detroit Tigers!

Wow double AA in his 1st drafted year. Guess he developing real nice.

I simply do the fire sale as usual when I take over a team. The last time I took over for the Tigers was in 2012 and I got rid of every player but four of them. Ended up building a pretty good team. Admittedly I sacrificed my minors but I rebuilt quickly. Zimmerman is tradeable just get even a single A pointless player and let him go and Caberra has no trade clause but you bench him in june or july and every day try to trade him and eventually he will wave the clause as he wouldn't want to be benched or in minors. I did that and worked but in my case I stuck him in the minors and nobody claimed him. then he began waving and I got the trade done. Shame OOTP doesn't do what they do in real life and have player state what 4 or 5 teams they willing to be traded to

I've been reluctant to do the fire sale based on the fact the team keeps winning. I didn't even bother to try to trade Zimmerman. I had him in the bullpen to start, but Boyd had a 5 + ERA so I gave Zimmerman a chance to start and he has done rather well (3.80 ERA). I even started resigning players: McCann and Leonys Martin. Cabrera is still playing well, though I know for the team it would be better to trade him. I will see after this season where things stand. I have made a bunch of trades though, and should have some money even with Miggy and Zimmerman's contracts.

In my Detroit game last season Zimmerman wasn't tradeable at all but pitched OK as a 5th starter and later a long man for 3-4 years. Cabrera was only tradeable for other huge contracts so I kept him, but we were so bad that he decided to retire early and left almost $100M on the table, lol!

Mize threw a no-hitter yesterday in real life. Hope he develops that way for me too! It is now mid May 2019 in my replay and he is still in AA. He still has 5 star potential. As for the team, by some weird miracle we made the playoffs in 2018 as a wildcard, won the wildcard, but were then swept by Boston. Some of the trades I made last year have paid off as we have a competitive team this year too, though I don't think we will make the playoffs. I haven't traded Zimmerman but he was playing well until he blew his arm out and is gone for 12 months. Miggy keeps hitting, though his ratings are slipping. I think Mize will be up by 2020, also in real life, unless the real Tigers make some trades at the deadline.