OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - Worst to First

NYY #23 · 05-07-2012, 08:46 PM

October was the month where I finally decided to take some action with the Browns. All of our coaches contracts were up, which gave me the opportunity to start fresh with a new coaching staff. A good manager is hard to find, and I didn't really like my choices. I decided to hire former Tiger's hitting coach John Mitchell as my manager as he appeared to be the best choice. A rookie manager can be interesting, so I hedged my bets and brought aboard recently fired Highlander manager John McGraw as my bench coach. As a former Manager of the Year I'm sure Mitchell will always be looking over his shoulder, and probably with good reason as McGraw makes three times as much as Mitchell.

Tomas Castillo was brought aboard as hitting coach, fresh off a three year stint with the Senators, who had the second and fourth best offense in the league during his tenure. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of choices for good pitching coaches, so we went with Carlos Solis on a one year deal since he is a first time pitching coach.

I also made not one, not two, but three trades to shake things up. The first deal was with the Highlanders in an exchange of outfielders as we shipped off 22 year old David Delucci and 26 year old Gene Larkin to the Highlanders and got back 25 year old Rick Peters along with 25 year old third baseman Denny Walling. We gave up a little more offensively, but I think we got back solid defenders.

I really hate trading pitching, but I shipped off 33 year old starter Roger Wolff and 28 year old first baseman David Segui to the New York Giants in exchange for 32 year old third baseman Minnie Minoso and 28 year old shortstop Steve Yerkes. Despite his gold glove Jim Ray Hart isn't cutting it at third base, so we will give Minoso a try and send away one of my best trading chips in Segui.

And finally a minor deal, sending reserve outfielder Mike Aldrete to the Superbas for backup catcher Mike Lieberthal.

Nothing like putting together and executing two thirds of a plan, so we ended up not getting the new starting catcher we wanted leading into the draft. So that ended up changing my draft strategy and we ended up taking a catcher, Joe Mauer in the first round, but the big starting pitchers were already off the draft board.

We selected Carlos Beltran in the second round, just drafting the best available player, then took a flier on starting pitcher Bob Shirley.

The fourth round I couldn't resist selecting palindrome - Mark Salas to add to our catching depth, then shortstop Ben Dyer in the fifth round. Now the tough part comes in making sure we sign Mauer, who I hope doesn't recognize how desperately we want him. Interesting that a team with Yogi Berra behind the plate would be trying to upgrade their weakest position.

05-07-2012, 08:46 PM	#25
NYY #23 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 13,112 Blog Entries: 17	11/1/1903 - Draft Results and other activities October was the month where I finally decided to take some action with the Browns. All of our coaches contracts were up, which gave me the opportunity to start fresh with a new coaching staff. A good manager is hard to find, and I didn't really like my choices. I decided to hire former Tiger's hitting coach John Mitchell as my manager as he appeared to be the best choice. A rookie manager can be interesting, so I hedged my bets and brought aboard recently fired Highlander manager John McGraw as my bench coach. As a former Manager of the Year I'm sure Mitchell will always be looking over his shoulder, and probably with good reason as McGraw makes three times as much as Mitchell. Tomas Castillo was brought aboard as hitting coach, fresh off a three year stint with the Senators, who had the second and fourth best offense in the league during his tenure. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of choices for good pitching coaches, so we went with Carlos Solis on a one year deal since he is a first time pitching coach. I also made not one, not two, but three trades to shake things up. The first deal was with the Highlanders in an exchange of outfielders as we shipped off 22 year old David Delucci and 26 year old Gene Larkin to the Highlanders and got back 25 year old Rick Peters along with 25 year old third baseman Denny Walling. We gave up a little more offensively, but I think we got back solid defenders. I really hate trading pitching, but I shipped off 33 year old starter Roger Wolff and 28 year old first baseman David Segui to the New York Giants in exchange for 32 year old third baseman Minnie Minoso and 28 year old shortstop Steve Yerkes. Despite his gold glove Jim Ray Hart isn't cutting it at third base, so we will give Minoso a try and send away one of my best trading chips in Segui. And finally a minor deal, sending reserve outfielder Mike Aldrete to the Superbas for backup catcher Mike Lieberthal. Nothing like putting together and executing two thirds of a plan, so we ended up not getting the new starting catcher we wanted leading into the draft. So that ended up changing my draft strategy and we ended up taking a catcher, Joe Mauer in the first round, but the big starting pitchers were already off the draft board. We selected Carlos Beltran in the second round, just drafting the best available player, then took a flier on starting pitcher Bob Shirley. The fourth round I couldn't resist selecting palindrome - Mark Salas to add to our catching depth, then shortstop Ben Dyer in the fifth round. Now the tough part comes in making sure we sign Mauer, who I hope doesn't recognize how desperately we want him. Interesting that a team with Yogi Berra behind the plate would be trying to upgrade their weakest position.