WOW! What an amazing 2021 Joey had. It started off slow, with Joey hitting only .313 with 5 HR and 12 RBI in April. However, as soon as the calender turned to May, Joey started to explode. In May, he hit .452 with 12 HR and 24 RBI. He surpassed that in June, hitting .479 with 11 HR and 28 RBI! By comparison, July, with a .337 average, 5 HR and 18 RBI was a bad month. However, Joey rebounded in August to .402/4/17. Then, in September (and 3 games in October), Joey put together one of the greatest months ever. He hit an amazing .460 with 6 HR and 27 RBI, and an OPS of 1.233. This allowed him to be the first player ever in my sims to finish above .400, with an unbelievable season of .409/44/126! His OBP for the year was .516 and his OPS was 1.198. All this in the year he turned 35!
The only down note on the season was the post-season, where Joey's Rangers lost in the ALCS, 4 games to 1. Joey only hit .289 in the post-season. Ironically, his post-season OBP, a respectable .400, was less than his regular season average.
Not surprisingly, Joey was the MVP of the American League, his eighth MVP award. He stole 24 bases this year, a career high.
Ricardo Casella sometimes seems like an afterthought to Joey's accomplishments, but his .294/61/153 year was nothing to be sneezed at. And he did it in 147 games due to a back injury in June. He did crack his 400th homerun of his career. He also passed 1,000 runs and RBIs. Casella's eye is still amazing, as he's struck out less than 300 times in his career (basically, about once every five games).
The Devil Rays finished at 80-82, very disappointing. Budget considerations prevented me from getting much in the way of free agents, and some of the returning players did not perform well. Many veterans were traded away at the deadline, and 2022 will be a new year. The team still seems a year or two from being really good, though.
Now, here's Joey from 2021 and his career numbers, and Casella's 2021 and his career numbers.
2021 Career Casella Career
G 159 2,226 147 1,470
AB 591 8,174 541 5,247
H 242 2,858 159 1,629
2B 17 262 7 176
3B 6 67 0 0
HR 44 596 61 408
RBI 126 1,692 153 1,116
R 136 1,804 119 1,068
K 132 1,921 33 293
BB 124 1,587 91 861
SB 24 191 7 54
CS 17 95 0 23
AVG .409 .350 .294 .310
OBP .516 .455 .408 .408
SLG .682 .617 .645 .577
McKinley is 35 now, turning 36 in July, 2022 and was resigned by Texas to four more years at $11,173,100. So, that will keep him with the Rangers until he's 39. Its getting close to the time when OOTP puts in the aging curve. It will be interesting to see when this starts to affect Joey. Projecting 2 more productive seasons, Joey would end his career with about 3,250 hits and 670 HR. If he makes it to age 40 being productive, figure 3,800 hits and 725 HR.
Casella is 32, turning 33 in the off season, and at this point figures to have about 625 HR and 2,500 hits if he plays until 37 and 750 HR and 3,000 hits if he plays until 40. His $8,550,000 contract is up after 2022 and it will be interesting to see if the Yankees resign him or let him go in free agency. I know I'd open the pocketbooks if I could afford it.
I was looking back at the original Joey McKinley thread, Triple Crown Winner, where I gave Joey's ratings as of 2014, which were B/F/A/B/B/A and 8/3/4/11/8/4 overall, 7/3/4/10/8/5 vs. LHP and 9/3/4/11/9/3 vs. RHP. His defense was B/.967 at 3B and his offensive ratings were D/C/E/E/Normal. This was back when Joey was 28 years old. Now, at the ripe old age of 35, his ratings are still B/F/A/B/B/A, however numerically they are 9/2/4/11/8/4, with 8/2/4/11/8/5 vs. LHP and 10/3/4/11/9/3 vs. RHP. His defense is now A/.967 and his offensive ratings are C/B/E/E/Normal.
So, he's improved his hitting from 8 to 9 (7 to 8 vs. LHP, 9 to 10 vs. RHP), hits less doubles, dropping from 3 to 2 (although still a 3 vs. RHP) and hits more homeruns vs. lefties (10 to 11). He's an even better defender (B to A), and a better baserunner (D/C to C/B). What an amazing player....and, most importantly, generated by the CPU!