Dreaming in Washington

[Jeffy25]

I have decided to start a new dynasty using OOTPX, since my last dynasty regarding the Cardinals became too good and unbalanced.

So the differences for this dynasty will be simple. The one main difference, is that I can't make any trades unless I get a 2 out of 3 person approval in this thread

I went ahead and did all of the 2009 team transactions for the Nationals that they made other than the 09 ammy draft.

These are the transactions to this point, if you notice any missing, please PM me.


Here are the copies of the payroll information to begin the season.



and the customized playoffs

[Jeffy25]

We hired a new Major League Scout:

Chris Dempsy to a 3 year deal worth half a million each year.



And we offered Ben Sheets a minor league deal, and he accepted it. He will spend much of the year rehabilitating.



He will be out 4-5 months of course.

Other transactions of the day:

Sunday, April 5th, 2009
Signed scouting director C. Dempsey to a 3-year, $500,000 per year contract.
Placed MR S. Burnett on the active roster.
Placed MR L. Hernandez on the active roster.
Placed MR L. Kensing on the active roster.
Placed CF N. Morgan on the active roster.
Purchased the contract of SP R. Detwiler from Double A Harrisburg.
Demoted MR R. Wagner to Double A Harrisburg.
Purchased the contract of 2B P. Orr from Triple A Syracuse.
MR J. Sosa was designated for assignment and placed on waivers.
Purchased the contract of CL M. Hinckley from Triple A Syracuse.

[Jeffy25]

Our opening day Lineups and Rotation





Our top prospects as of opening day:



Baseball America's top prospects:

Hitters

Pitchers


and by team:


Our MLB Coaches

[Jeffy25]

4-6-09
Nationals go to 0-1


Trade Approved!



Lillibridge is sent to the Majors. Roger Bernadina is called up as well Collin Balester

[sofla97]

I like the "Trade approval thread" idea.

[Jeffy25]

Originally Posted by sofla97

I like the "Trade approval thread" idea.

Ya, i had to make some changes for the trade to work....you will notice in that thread

And it is too easy to take advantage of the A.I. even on the hardest trading difficulty. So to keep things fair, i want other people to approve my trades.

4/07/09
Nationals go to 0-2


Nationals claim Clint Barnes from Colorado



Pete Orr is sent back to Tripe A Syracuse

4/8/09
Nationals continue their losing, go to 0-3


Having a tough time getting the first win, the Nationals are starting off on the struggle, that many thought they would have. This should be quite the overhaul to get this team back on pace.

[Jeffy25]

4-10-09
First win of the season! Comes over the Braves, but the pitching is still struggling



The Nationals are in a tough position, and constantly looking for players to improve the roster.
Jason Hammel claimed off waivers from the Rockies.


Wilfredo Ledezma is designated for assignment and Hammel sent to Washington.

[Jeffy25]

4-11-09
Nationals go to 2-3!


4-12-09
Nationals even the season up at 3-3 following a sweep of the Braves


N. Morgan got hurt in this game. An Oblique strain will make him miss 5 weeks

Monday, April 13th, 2009
LF M. Holliday of the Oakland Athletics honored: Wins the MLB AL Player of the Week Award.
SS J. Reyes of the New York Mets honored: Wins the MLB NL Player of the Week Award.
Sunday, April 12th, 2009
Cleveland Indians: A. Reyes pitches a 5-hit shutout against the Toronto Blue Jays with 7 strikeouts and 3 BB allowed!
Milwaukee Brewers: Y. Gallardo pitches a 4-hit shutout against the Chicago Cubs with 9 strikeouts and 1 BB allowed!
Saturday, April 11th, 2009
Washington Nationals: D. Cabrera pitches a 5-hit shutout against the Atlanta Braves with 7 strikeouts and 6 BB allowed!
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
Tampa Bay Rays: M. Garza pitches a 5-hit shutout against the Boston Red Sox with 4 strikeouts and 2 BB allowed!

Konerko hit his 300th career homer.

[Jeffy25]

4-13-09
Nationals shut out the defending world champion Phillies to go above .500 for the first time on the season. 4-3


Saul Rivera was designated for assignment and Ledezma is brought back to the majors.

Chuck James is signed to a minor league contract, the potential is still slightly strong for this lefty.



Team Leaders
on a day off

[Jeffy25]

4-15-09
5 game win streak!
now 5-3!


Jermaine Dye hit number 300

Trade Made!

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
Traded 31-year-old reliever S. Rivera and 31-year-old reliever J. Sosa to the San Diego Padres, getting 19-year-old minor league starting pitcher C. Wilkes in return.

Rivera had been claimed by the Padres, and Sosa had cleared waivers and refused to be demoted. So we got what we could for both players out of San Diego, a Rookie League pitcher in Chris Wilkes.

4/16/09
God awful pitching, as the Phillies bats came to life in this 19-5 affair.
Nationals are now 5-4, snapping the 5 game winning streak.

[Jeffy25]

4-17-09
Nationals go back to .500 5-5
Lose the Marlins 5-3


The draft pool is revealed, i will be sharing the players in the 2009 draft (manually updated for the first round and putting in real players) in the next post.

[Jeffy25]

4-18-09
Nationals win this one 6-5 remaining 1 game back.
Hernandez took this save over Hinckley basically to give Hinckley a night off.


4-19-09
Nationals go back to .500 losing to the Marlins yet again.

Monday, April 20th, 2009
1B M. Jacobs of the Kansas City Royals honored: Wins the MLB AL Player of the Week Award.
LF N. McLouth of the Pittsburgh Pirates honored: Wins the MLB NL Player of the Week Award.
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
Detroit Tigers: R. Porcello pitches a 4-hit shutout against the Seattle Mariners with 6 strikeouts and 1 BB allowed!
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Cleveland Indians: F. Carmona pitches a 2-hit shutout against the New York Yankees with 1 strikeouts and 3 BB allowed!
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Philadelphia Phillies: C. Ruiz goes 5-5 against the Washington Nationals, with 2 2B, 5 RBI and 0 R.

4-20-09
Terrible pitching yet again, drags the Nationals down to below .500

[Jeffy25]

4-21-09
The Nationals almost staged a comeback in this one, but it wasn't quite enough. Pitching has continued to be a problem as the team ERA is now at 5.41, 15th in the NL.
The Nationals are now 6-8, 3.0 GB

[Jeffy25]

Trade Made!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Traded 31-year-old shortstop C. Guzman and $77,000 in cash to the Baltimore Orioles, getting 31-year-old reliever D. Baez, 33-year-old second baseman R. Freel, 22-year-old minor league second baseman R. Adams and 26-year-old minor league left fielder P. Figueroa in return.

Why did we do this?

We want Lillibridge to be the shortstop and Guzman is making way more than he is worth to us. So instead of carrying his payroll for next year we decided to accept two bad payroll situations that would end at the end of this year in Baez and Freel.

So instead of 16 million over the next two years, we will take on 9.5 million this year and this year alone. As well bringing on a couple of prospects to boot.

Orioles are making a fight to be competitive in the AL East, and Guzman is an improvement over Robert Andino and Guzman will fit in Baltimore.

We lost some fan interest as well, but we think it's worth it to free up the cap and get this rebuilding ship going.

We also had to send $77,000 dollars to make sure the deal fit into their budget.

Freel will fit into managements scheme of super utility player.

[Jeffy25]

4-22-09
Nationals improve to 7-8, but pitching is still terrible.

Danys Baez is kept on waivers, and Ryan Freel is put on the roster to help as a super utility man.
Figerora is sent to Double A Harrisburg
and Adam is sent to Single A Hagerstown

[Jeffy25]

4-24-09
Leaving the bases loaded in the ninth is always tough, but Clint Barnes flied out to end this one.
Another tough loss, even though we had a ton of hits.


We offered Ryan Freel an extension to continue to be the utility player for us for a few more years, but on our contract terms, and not his fairly high dollar amount. We agreed to a 3 year extension to start in 2010 for a total of 2.7 Million

[Jeffy25]

4-25-09
Natiolnals go to 7-10 as the Mets win on a walk off three run homer in the bottom by Jeremy Reed in the ninth with two out off Livan Hernandez

4-26-09
Nationals go to 7-11 as the Mets out hit the Nationals 11-6 and win this one 8-1.
Santana throws a great game, Cabrera continues his struggles.

Monday, April 27th, 2009
LF C. Guillen of the Detroit Tigers honored: Wins the MLB AL Player of the Week Award.
1B J. Votto of the Cincinnati Reds honored: Wins the MLB NL Player of the Week Award.
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Arizona Diamondbacks: B. Webb pitches a 2-hit shutout against the Colorado Rockies with 6 strikeouts and 2 BB allowed!
Monday, April 20th, 2009
1B M. Jacobs of the Kansas City Royals honored: Wins the MLB AL Player of the Week Award.
LF N. McLouth of the Pittsburgh Pirates honored: Wins the MLB NL Player of the Week Award.
Boston Red Sox: D. Pedroia goes 5-5 against the Baltimore Orioles, with 2 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI and 2 R.
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
Detroit Tigers: R. Porcello pitches a 4-hit shutout against the Seattle Mariners with 6 strikeouts and 1 BB allowed!
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Cleveland Indians: F. Carmona pitches a 2-hit shutout against the New York Yankees with 1 strikeouts and 3 BB allowed!

[Jeffy25]

4-26-09
Santana ran all over us, and we still can't pitch, none of our starters are working out right now. if you cancel out our 5 game winning streak, we are really struggling.

4-27-09
A dramatic victory!

[Jeffy25]

4-28-09
Nationals now 8-12, 6.0 GB
Lose to the Phillies 4-3
A real heart-breaker of a loss.
Olsen pitched great, but we lose this one with one out in the ninth on a two run walk off single by Jayson Werth.
Hinckley blew yet another save.
Lillibridge gets major league leading 4th triple of the year, Elijah Dukes is leading the majors in walks with 19 and Lillibridge takes his hitting streak up to 13


4-29-09
Nationals improve to 9-12, 6.0 GB
Beat the Phillies 5-2
Lillibridge keep his hitting streak going, up to 14 and Balester gets his first win, and did great.
Dunn (6) and Bernadina (1) each homered

[Jeffy25]

4-30-09
Nationals go to 9-13, 6.5 GB
Lose to the Cardinals 9-3
Duncan hit a grand slam to put the nail in the coffin for us, and we had again, no pitching, and not enough hitting.

As the month of April comes to a close:
Nationals add Corey Hamman a lefty reliever to a minor league contract, he could get invited up to Washington this year.


RF Jorge Padilla is sent down to Triple A Syracuse and Hamman is called up.

[IMG]http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab311/jefflage960/nationalleagueleader****ting.jpg[/IMG]

Friday, May 1st, 2009
1B P. Konerko of the Chicago White Sox honored: Wins the MLB AL Batter of the Month Award.
SS J. Reyes of the New York Mets honored: Wins the MLB NL Batter of the Month Award.
SP A. Pettitte of the New York Yankees honored: Wins the MLB AL Pitcher of the Month Award.
SP T. Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants honored: Wins the MLB NL Pitcher of the Month Award.
LF T. Snider of the Toronto Blue Jays honored: Wins the MLB AL Rookie of the Month Award.
LF M. Hoffpauir of the Chicago Cubs honored: Wins the MLB NL Rookie of the Month Award.
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
Arizona Diamondbacks: M. Scherzer pitches a 4-hit shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers with 9 strikeouts and 0 BB allowed!
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
New York Yankees: A. Pettitte pitches a 1-hit shutout against the Detroit Tigers with 6 strikeouts and 2 BB allowed!
Monday, April 27th, 2009
LF C. Guillen of the Detroit Tigers honored: Wins the MLB AL Player of the Week Award.
1B J. Votto of the Cincinnati Reds honored: Wins the MLB NL Player of the Week Award.
Atlanta Braves: J. Vazquez pitches a 3-hit shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals with 10 strikeouts and 2 BB allowed!
New York Yankees: C. Wang pitches a 4-hit shutout against the Detroit Tigers with 3 strikeouts and 1 BB allowed!