Fictional Major League: A Yearly Dynasty Report

[pauwoo]

The Setup:
I’m taking on the Compton Raiders as a dynasty project in OOTP24 and thought I’d share. For a few reasons, the least of which being that I enjoy doing write-ups as I play OOTP. I also enjoy motoring through seasons/saves quickly – so, this will be a combination of those two things. Hopefully, this will be enjoyment will carry through for some of you.

Housekeeping:

• The structure of the FML is as such: 1sl, 2d, 6t with 1 level of minors (set entirely in Seattle)
• Our playoff entrants include the division winners plus 4 wildcard teams – because… chaos.
• We play a 162-game schedule. Why wouldn’t we?
• There will be no DH… there’s no personal, political, or ‘but the past was better’ reason for this… I just didn’t check the box. Maybe I will someday.
• We’ll use the 20 to 80 ratings scale with OVR and POT being values… and we won’t be showing any ratings > Max.
• I adjusted to the trade sliders… ¾ filled to the right for both overall difficulty and prefer prospects.
• I’ve not fiddled with the rules much – usually I open the option to trade draft picks, but not this time.
• There is no ‘bonus trade period’. I’m not even sure what that is.
• We’re doing an 8-round draft, no lottery.

[pauwoo]

Here we go... my first season as GM of the Compton Raiders...

Our Owner, Chris Rosenow, is demanding, charitable, and old (81) – he’s hands-off, and, annoyingly, despite his age & the fact that he can’t take any of his fortune with him, prioritizes extreme profit. The goals he has for me are not too outlandish – reach the playoffs and bring a championship home within the next 4 seasons. So, in capable hands – doable. Mine are likely not capable hands, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it…

The 3057 Lineup:
Our guy here, our main man, the proverbial ‘cock of the walk’ is, without a doubt, 30yo SS Steve McCormick… hits for contact, has a knack for finding the gap, has some pop, possesses an ok eye. The kid is an absolute dynamo at the plate… and he can defend a little bit as well. He’s got the range that his position requires but could do with a stronger arm. Our Catcher, Ricky Garcia, is rock-solid too… when this thing is all said and done, he might be the guy we look to as our team’s MVP. For now, though, that title looks like it is Steve’s to lose.

Our main lineup:

 POS  	Name              	Age  	B  	CON  	GAP  	POW  	EYE  	K's  	SPE  	STE  	DEF  
CF   	Bobby Aranda      	28   	L  	65   	50   	50   	45   	60   	60   	65   	60   
1B   	Francisco Rojas   	38   	R  	45   	60   	60   	75   	50   	30   	40   	60   
SS   	Steve McCormick   	30   	S  	65   	55   	65   	50   	55   	45   	75   	70   
LF   	Koetsu Tada       	29   	L  	50   	60   	50   	55   	50   	60   	75   	55   
3B   	Reynaldo Arias    	31   	R  	45   	55   	65   	45   	45   	35   	55   	55   
2B   	Jordan Batista    	38   	R  	45   	50   	45   	60   	60   	75   	80   	55   
C    	Ricky Garcia      	28   	R  	40   	50   	40   	55   	40   	20   	40   	60   
RF   	Rogelio Mendez    	23   	L  	55   	55   	40   	40   	50   	40   	20   	40

The bench:

 POS  	Name              	Age  	B  	CON  	GAP  	POW  	EYE  	K's  	SPE  	STE  	DEF  
C    	Mike Rhine        	22   	S  	45   	70   	40   	60   	40   	20   	25   	30   
1B   	Danny Martinez    	27   	R  	55   	50   	65   	45   	40   	40   	40   	40   
2B   	Matt Garza        	29   	R  	45   	50   	45   	40   	65   	50   	35   	55   
LF   	Eddy Gusman       	32   	R  	40   	45   	45   	40   	55   	40   	70   	50   
RF   	Jose Corona       	25   	L  	40   	50   	40   	45   	45   	75   	80   	65

The 3057 Rotation & Bullpen:
We have a solid rotation. Scratch that. We have a great rotation backed up by a so-so bullpen. 23yo SP Adam Emerson sits at the top of our rotation, serving as our Ace. He’s got a nasty fastball/slider combo with a curve he likes to pepper in here & there and a changeup he, mostly, saves for special occasions. He’s a bit young for the role – so, that gives me pause – but should be a sturdy enough Ace to lead us into the playoffs. And, you know how that goes… once you get a ticket to the dance, it’s anyone’s ballgame.

Starting Rotation:

 POS  	Name              	Age  	T  	STU  	MOV  	CON  	STM  	HLD  
SP   	Adam Emerson      	24   	R  	55   	65   	50   	60   	50   
SP   	Brian Alexander   	36   	R  	50   	65   	70   	55   	50   
SP   	Arturo Garza      	33   	R  	55   	45   	65   	55   	30   
SP   	Jordan Rivera     	35   	R  	55   	50   	55   	65   	50   
SP   	Ricardo Alvizo    	28   	R  	50   	60   	50   	55   	50

The Bullpen:

 POS  	Name              	Age  	T  	STU  	MOV  	CON  	STM  	HLD  
RP   	Sean Blitzer      	28   	R  	65   	45   	40   	60   	35   
RP   	Jim Chacon        	28   	R  	70   	65   	55   	55   	45   
RP   	Ryan Henson       	30   	L  	60   	45   	45   	65   	80   
RP   	Zack Hoag         	34   	R  	50   	35   	65   	70   	60   
RP   	Kazuhisa Itagaki  	32   	L  	60   	40   	55   	75   	60   
RP   	Ricky Lopez       	31   	R  	55   	50   	55   	60   	35   
RP   	Juan Pareja       	26   	R  	70   	45   	55   	60   	65

A look at the preseason predictions is attached.

Up Next: the 3057 Season Recap

[pauwoo]

Regular Season
First Half:
We kicked off the ’57 campaign with an 10-4 win, in Staten Island, on Opening Day... our opening salvo came on a SS Steve McCormick 2-run DING DONG and the offense wouldn’t let up from there, starting off the campaign with a Rubber Ducky on the road. Starter, Adam Emerson, gave us a solid 8-innings of work where he’d allow 9 hits and 4 earned while fanning 4 – RP Kazuhisa Itagaki took over from there, retiring 3 batters on 10 total pitches to enter this one into the permanent record as a victory… An auspicious start and, hopefully, a harbinger of the good things to come.

As it turns out that win on Opening Day was not a precursor of the greatness to come as we’d lose our next 5 straight, never really get into a groove, and finish off the month with a 10-14 record which had us sitting at 5th in our division. The offense was led by 1B Francisco Rojas – 271/366/543, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 0.7 WAR – who hit a tasty little, walk off GRAND SLAM against the Tacoma Rainiers, in Compton, to improve our record to 10-9, putting us above the .500 mark for the first time since the opener, before we’d, ultimately, lose the last 5 games of the month.

We’d put it down something fierce in May, finishing with a 18-10 mark on the month and outpacing the Tijuana Goats by a game at 2nd place in our division… where the Tacoma Rainiers had a whopping 8-game lead on the rest of us. CF Bobby Aranda turned the corner in May, adding 1.9 WAR to his running total so far and SS Steve McCormick lit it up for us hitting 283/336/528 with SIX TANKS and 18 RBI from the 3-hole.

3058 Draft:
We had the 6th pick of the draft and ended up spending it on RF Marc Lee out of High School… the 18yo looks to hit for power with an above average eye and has a good glove in the field even if his range could use a lot of work. We don’t really see him ever starting for the big club… it was a low-key weak draft, what can I say? Our next pick was a 17yo High School CFer, Bobby Suarez, who also projects to be a bench player in the majors and, with his 60 range, would likely not even be a good candidate for that without a move to say, oh I don’t know, Left Field.

By the time we slogged our way through the 1st half of the season we found ourselves sitting on a respectable 56-49 record, two games ahead of Tijuana, and holding on to the last wildcard slot for dear life… we had the 5th rated offense, paired it with the 7th rated pitching staff, and rounded things out with a slightly better-than-serviceable defense that we were hoping to ride all the way to the playoffs…



SS Steve McCormick continued to lead the offense… 4.2 WAR so far – 19 TANKS, 66 RBI, and a 281/342/503 slash – while SP Brian Alexander had showed himself to be worthy of the top spot in our rotation. At 10-7 with a 3.78 ERA in 21 games started he’d been our most consistent performer by far.

Trading Deadline:
Not a ton to report here… we did manage to shore up second base though, acquiring 28yo Adam Davis for a package that included promising 23yo RFer Rogelio Mendez and the #86 prospect RP Eddy Hinojosa.

Here’s the new lineup:

 POS  	Name              	Age  	B  	CON  	GAP  	POW  	EYE  	K's  	SPE  	STE  	DEF  
CF   	Bobby Aranda      	28   	L  	65   	50   	50   	45   	60   	60   	65   	60   
2B   	Adam Davis        	28   	R  	65   	60   	60   	35   	75   	50   	60   	65   
SS   	Steve McCormick   	30   	S  	65   	55   	65   	50   	55   	45   	75   	70   
1B   	Danny Martinez    	27   	R  	55   	50   	65   	45   	45   	40   	40   	40   
LF   	Koetsu Tada       	30   	L  	50   	60   	50   	55   	50   	60   	75   	55   
3B   	Miguel Galindo    	25   	R  	50   	50   	60   	50   	50   	25   	60   	30   
RF   	Kyle Richards     	27   	R  	50   	50   	55   	50   	45   	55   	75   	50   
C    	Ricky Garcia      	28   	R  	40   	45   	40   	60   	40   	20   	40   	60

Second Half:
We’d spend most of the second half running in place and doing our level best to keep those pesky Tijuana Goats at bay… which, as you can see by the final standings posted below, did not go according to plan as they managed to overtake the highly-regarded Tacoma Rainiers to win our division and we were relegated to earning the very last wildcard spot – by a razor thin 2-games over the Staten Island Killer Bees.



Our Batting Leaders:
Batting AVG: Adam Davis - 299/338/473 - 15 HR - 69 RBI - 54 R - 5 SB - 3 WAR
On-Base %: Steve McCormick - 287/348/502 - 29 HR - 88 RBI - 94 R - 9 SB - 7.3 WAR
Slugging %: Steve McCormick - 287/348/502 - 29 HR - 88 RBI - 94 R - 9 SB - 7.3 WAR
Home Runs: Steve McCormick - 287/348/502 - 29 HR - 88 RBI - 94 R - 9 SB - 7.3 WAR
Runs Batted In: Steve McCormick - 287/348/502 - 29 HR - 88 RBI - 94 R - 9 SB - 7.3 WAR
Runs: Steve McCormick - 287/348/502 - 29 HR - 88 RBI - 94 R - 9 SB - 7.3 WAR
Stolen Bags: Bobby Aranda - 289/344/429 - 9 HR - 51 RBI - 88 R - 19 SB - 4.8 WAR
WAR: Steve McCormick - 287/348/502 - 29 HR - 88 RBI - 94 R - 9 SB - 7.3 WAR

Our Pitching Leaders:
Wins: Brian Alexander - 15
Losses: Arturo Garza - 11
ERA: Brian Alexander - 3.54
Strikeouts: Adam Emerson - 146
WHIP: Brian Alexander - 1.17
WAR: Brian Alexander - 3.6

Playoffs:
We’d start the playoffs with a 3-game series in Cancun… and end up on the losing end of a 11-1 shellacking in Quintana Roo and follow that up with another loss, albeit by a closer margin, by a score of 2-1 marking our exit from the playoffs, the end of our season, and, for some of us, the beginning of a long and listless vacation spent looking at ourselves in the mirror, wondering where it all went wrong.

Season Recap:
The Cancun Palms won the Series – they handled us with ease, went into Tijuana and found a way to dispatch our division winner in 7 games, and then unceremoniously swept the Scranton Electrics in 4.

As for our outlook – we saw our budget increase to $424M (a ~$4M bump), we should do okay in arbitration, will be letting all our pending free agents walk – RP Ryan Henson and LF Koetsu Tada – and will have a nice kitty to work from in free agency. The plan here is to snatch up some good young talent at a good value that I can flip for prospects next season and to bring in some veteran leadership that can help keep our club from becoming an also ran and a cancerous place to work…

The FML & MDL playoff brackets are attached… our development squad, the Ballard Marine Birds, almost took home the trophy.

[pauwoo]

Here are the award winners for the 3057 season...

Silver Sluggers:
SP Vinny Cano (Cancún Palms) - .348/.367/.391, 46 AB, 56 wRC+, -0.1 WAR
C Jonathan Hernandez (Cancún Palms) - .288/.349/.436, 472 AB, 12 HR, 122 wRC+, 2.4 WAR
1B Remilde Bagoim (Tacoma Rainiers) - .299/.353/.545, 468 AB, 31 HR, 151 wRC+, 3.9 WAR
2B Francisco Lara (Tacoma Rainiers) - .343/.384/.487, 616 AB, 6 HR, 54 SB, 103 R, 148 wRC+, 7.4 WAR
3B Jacinto Delvillar (Scranton Electrics) - .306/.380/.579, 553 AB, 40 HR, 173 wRC+, 7.8 WAR
SS Steve McCormick (Compton Raiders) - .287/.348/.502, 613 AB, 29 HR, 9 SB, 139 wRC+, 7.3 WAR
LF Leo Vide (Tacoma Rainiers) - .347/.408/.630, 524 AB, 35 HR, 1 SB, 114 RBI, 7.0 WAR
CF Ben Ames (Orlando Gators) - .336/.409/.591, 553 AB, 31 HR, 21 SB, 181 wRC+, 10.6 WAR
RF Joel Trejo (Tijuana Goats) - .316/.392/.620, 500 AB, 36 HR, 181 wRC+, 6.2 WAR

RoTY:

Making 6 relief appearances and 21 starts, Mark Elder compiled a 2.80 ERA. Elder threw 138 innings, giving up 35 walks and holding other ballclubs to a .232 average on his way to a 11-4 record with 1 save.

Here’s the voting results:
Player - Team - First Place - Total Points
Mark Elder - Orlando Gators - 11 - 58
Kazuhisa Itagaki - Compton Raiders - 0 - 21
Rogelio Mendez - Cheyenne Rattlers - 0 - 16
Jordan Rios - Cancún Palms - 1 - 12
Ignacio Flores - Seventh Ward Reapers - 0 - 1

Top Hurler:

It was as good as money in the bank when Abraham Garcia took the hill for Tacoma. He paid his club back with interest this season with a superb 19-4 mark, collecting the Fictional Major League Pitcher of the Year Award for 3057. He finished the season with a 2.02 ERA and 251 strikeouts in 231.2 innings. Garcia surrendered 170 hits and 32 walks and limited opposing batters to a .202 batting average.

Here's how the voting went:
Player - Team - First Place - Total Points
Abraham Garcia - Tacoma Rainiers - 12 - 84
Chris Burns - Orlando Gators - 0 - 48
Danny Torres - Orlando Gators - 0 - 23
Ramiro Mendoza - Scranton Electrics - 0 - 21
Ismael Alvarez - Cancún Palms - 0 - 16
Gerardo Oliva - Orlando Gators - 0 - 7
Jeremy Abel - Tijuana Goats - 0 - 3
Danny Oria - Staten Island Killer Bees - 0 - 2

MVP:

The top batter in the Fictional Major League in 3057 was Orlando center fielder Ben Ames. Ames starred this season with a .336 batting average, 186 hits, 31 home runs, 91 RBIs, .409 OBP and 98 runs scored. His selection was unanimous.

Voting Results:
Player - Team - First Place - Total Points
Ben Ames - Orlando Gators - 12 - 168
Jesus Martinez - Cancún Palms - 0 - 100
Leo Vide - Tacoma Rainiers - 0 - 84
Jacinto Delvillar - Scranton Electrics - 0 - 83
Francisco Lara - Tacoma Rainiers - 0 - 73
Steve McCormick - Compton Raiders - 0 - 43
Abraham Garcia - Tacoma Rainiers - 0 - 42
Joel Trejo - Tijuana Goats - 0 - 42
Antonio Sepulveda - Staten Island Killer Bees - 0 - 28
Danny Fernandez - Cancún Palms - 0 - 21
Jose Campos - Cancún Palms - 0 - 9
Manny Garcia - Cancún Palms - 0 - 8
Chris Burns - Orlando Gators - 0 - 3
Jacob Colley - Seventh Ward Reapers - 0 - 3
Remilde Bagoim - Tacoma Rainiers - 0 - 1

[pauwoo]

As we draw ever closer to the salary arbitration hearings and the start of the free agency period after that, preparations for our 3058 campaign are well under way in Compton…

Speaking of arbitration… we ended up avoiding it for most of our players, but were unable to for CL Keiji Koike (32yo, 80 OVR, 80-60-70) and ended up getting raked over the coals in the amount of $26.7mm for next season. Ouch.

A look at our pricey closer…


Free Agency:
Signings worth talking about…


2B Adam Davis (29, 65 OVR, 65-60-60-35-70), who you may recognize as the guy we traded for prior to the deadline last season, came to Compton and put it down for us something fierce over the 2nd half of the season, and, despite his asking price of $29.2mm, resigned with us for $175mm over 7 years… your boy will be here for a minute (or, at least until I trade him).


1B Colby Gilliland (37yo, 62 OVR, 60-60-60-55-55) signed a 3yr, $75mm deal with us… there’s nothing I like more than locking up ageing stars until their 40th birthday. Listen, he’s nationally famous, has enough left in the tank, and, given our noticeable increase in fan interest, will put butts in seats. And, putting butts in seats is what this is really all about, amirite?


SP Carlos Cardenas (31yo, 55 OVR, 70-50-45) signed a 4yr, $115mm deal to play in Compton – he’s not some godsend who will completely transform our rotation, but he will solidify it and with that our fortunes in the coming season.

International Amateur Signings…

We picked up this promising 16yo brat during the Intl Ammy signing period… he comes to us out of Santo Domingo, has great work ethic and intelligence, and looks like a kid that, with a touch of luck, may turn into something one day… we shall see – it’s hit or miss with these guys.

Up Next: the 3058 Predictions & a look at the club

[pauwoo]

While I wouldn’t call what we did in the offseason the Lord’s work, we did improve our lot in life with some key acquisitions, a rip-roaring International Signing, and a litany of low-key moves bent on shoring things up around the periphery. And, because of all that, my bootleg wizardry in General Management (see low on manna, lower on skill), and having an enviable, top 3 budget, we were able to all but buy our way back into the playoffs where it looks like, on paper at least, we’ll likely fall short of the ultimate prize once again.

We’ll do it in front of a packed house though… so, we got that going for us.

Here’s a look at the preseason predictions… Cancun, after laying waste to the field during the 3057 postseason, is the preseason pundits’ odds on favorite to repeat. I don’t know, man… they’re a great club, no doubt, and have a cracking offense, but that staff isn’t getting any younger and things are looking a little soft on the backend of it.



The 3058 Lineup:
Securing 2B Adam Davis for an entire season after trading for him mid-way through the 3057 campaign will surely pay dividends for us this season… he’s widely considered a top 3 guy at the position and is seen as the best hitting 2B our league has to offer. 1B Colby Gilliland, despite his ripe old age, was a good get as well – he’s a better-than-serviceable first baseman and is still tip top hitter. Add in our super-duper star SS Steve McCormick and you got all the ingredients necessary to produce a topflight, run-scoring machine.

Our main lineup:

POS  	Name              	Age  	B  	CON  	GAP  	POW  	EYE  	K's  	SPE  	STE  	DEF  
LF   	Koetsu Tada       	30   	L  	50   	55   	50   	55   	50   	55   	75   	55   
2B   	Adam Davis        	29   	R  	65   	60   	60   	35   	70   	50   	60   	60   
1B   	Colby Gilliland   	37   	R  	60   	60   	60   	55   	55   	20   	20   	65   
SS   	Steve McCormick   	31   	S  	60   	55   	65   	50   	55   	45   	75   	70   
3B   	Reynaldo Arias    	32   	R  	45   	55   	65   	45   	45   	35   	55   	55   
CF   	Bobby Aranda      	29   	L  	55   	55   	50   	45   	55   	60   	65   	65   
RF   	Kyle Richards     	28   	R  	50   	55   	55   	50   	50   	55   	80   	50   
C    	Ricky Garcia      	29   	R  	40   	45   	40   	60   	40   	20   	35   	60

Our Bench:

POS  	Name              	Age  	B  	CON  	GAP  	POW  	EYE  	K's  	SPE  	STE  	DEF  
C    	Justin Herrera    	38   	R  	45   	55   	45   	55   	55   	70   	70   	30   
1B   	Francisco Rojas   	39   	R  	45   	50   	60   	75   	50   	30   	40   	55   
2B   	Matt Garza        	30   	R  	45   	50   	45   	45   	65   	55   	35   	55   
LF   	Chris Brown       	31   	L  	45   	40   	45   	40   	50   	70   	65   	60   
CF   	Nick Gale         	29   	L  	40   	50   	40   	45   	55   	75   	75   	55

The 3058 Rotation & Bullpen:
On paper we’ve assembled a Top 4 rotation… with a better defense behind them, they could be Top 3. SP Carlos Cardenas, despite his flaws, arrives in town on lofty expectations – his fastball, slider, forkball combination, coupled with the occasional changeup, should give opposing hitters fits. I’m not sure how I feel about our Skipper, Chris Patton, installing him as our Ace, above SP Adam Emerson… but, that’s a conversation to be had at another time. And, with SP Juan Pareja and SP Justin Guadagnino behind them, does it really matter who gets to be called our “Ace”? Well, it likely matters to Adam, but, again, we’ll deal with that later.

The Starting Rotation:

POS  	Name              	Age  	T  	STU  	MOV  	CON  	STM  	HLD  
SP   	Carlos Cardenas   	31   	R  	70   	50   	45   	60   	70   
SP   	Adam Emerson      	25   	R  	55   	70   	50   	60   	50   
SP   	Juan Pareja       	27   	R  	70   	40   	55   	60   	65   
SP   	Justin Guadagnino 	27   	R  	50   	70   	45   	70   	60   
SP   	Arturo Garza      	34   	R  	55   	45   	65   	55   	30

The Bullpen:

POS  	Name              	Age  	T  	STU  	MOV  	CON  	STM  	HLD  
RP   	Ricardo Alvizo    	29   	R  	55   	65   	50   	60   	50   
RP   	Sean Blitzer      	29   	R  	70   	50   	45   	60   	35   
RP   	Jim Chacon        	29   	R  	70   	70   	60   	60   	45   
RP   	Kazuhisa Itagaki  	33   	L  	60   	40   	55   	80   	60   
RP   	Jose Ramos        	36   	R  	65   	55   	60   	35   	40   
RP   	Jang-lu Rao       	34   	R  	60   	75   	50   	40   	30   
RP   	Byron Ryan        	32   	R  	65   	45   	55   	55   	50   
CL   	Keiji Koike       	32   	R  	75   	60   	75   	55   	45

I’m low-key excited about this club… we should do some real damage over the course of the season, and, should we earn that likely playoff berth, then all bets are off. We could win it all or flounder during 3058 postseason. Or, given the fickle nature of this great game… could end up finishing last in our division. There’s really only one way to find out…

Up Next: The 3058 Season Recap