CigarCity's GM Career

[Cigar_City_Rays]

I've been a "lurker" or "ghost" on this forum for years, but, have never really been active on the forums. I decided to share my OOTP 16 GM career a few days ago.

This franchise will be based on my career as a GM in Major League Baseball. I am starting out with my favorite/hometown team - the Rays. I may get fired or pursue another opportunity in this career diary. I will be playing as GM ONLY. I will not have control over the lineup/rotation. I will leave that up to the Manager.

I have set the game up with stats ONLY. The only ratings I am allowed to see are the "other" ratings which include speed - since there is no way to judge that, other than maybe looking at SB%.

I also setup the financials to allow for unlimited cash reserves for all teams. No more of the owner taking all but $10 million. I did this because in all my test runs, teams seemed to be in the red most of the time which limited the ability to cut payroll or take it on.

A little background about myself. I live in the Tampa area and I am a Rays fan. I am 32 years old and have been around baseball for all of my life - my grandfather and father both played professionally. In fact, my grandfather played in the first All-Star game in 1933. Here is a link to his baseball reference page: Tony Cuccinello Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com and I have always had fun running franchises from his playing days to see if I can get him the AL batting title or just replay his entire career.

I am not really setting up a "format" for this, but, I plan on the updates being monthly (game time - NOT real time), and I am just excited to see where this goes!

[Cigar_City_Rays]

I finished my first month as GM of the Rays with quite a bit of aggravation over the amount of injuries we have had to deal with. If this has shown me anything, it is how quickly you can realize the lack of depth that might exist on your organizational roster.

[Cigar_City_Rays]

Aside from the injuries we are dealing with, we were able to "tread water" and stay on top of the AL East, finishing April with a 14-8 record (see attachment) and having swept division rivals Baltimore and New York during the month.

We also saw Chris Archer take home "Pitcher of the Month Honors." (see attachment)

Finally, we were approached by the Giants about a swap of outfielders. DeJesus for Aoki was the focal point, but, the Sabean was a little too demanding in asking for catching prospect Justin O'Connor and $1 million cash. I would have loved to have moved DeJesus' salary, but, not for another middle-aged outfielder and the added expense of cash and one of our better prospects. The deal just didn't make much sense so we moved on from the offer.

[Cigar_City_Rays]

Date: June 1, 2015
Record: 29-21, 1st place 0 GB
Top Hitter for May: Logan Forsythe - 90 PAs, 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 12 R, 19BB
Top Pitcher for May: Drew Smyly - 4-0, 45.1 IP, 38K, 0.97 WHIP

The month of May saw us go 15-13 and continue to just stay in a bit of a holding pattern until we could get guys healthy. Our best stretch during the month was when we took 3 of 4 against the Yankees and swept the Twins.

Chris Archer had a nightmare of a month going 0-5 with a 2.22 WHIP!

Thankfully it is June and we get a number of guys back from the DL including starter Alex Colome and closer Jake McGee.

We also continued to look for a trade partner regarding David DeJesus, however, we were unsuccessful in finding a dance partner and gain some salary relief. He has since been DFA'd and has refused an assignment to Durham. Looks like he will get his unconditional release and a nice golden parachute to go with it.

I'm glad we are getting health because June looks to be a tough month as we start with a tough west coast trip to see the Angels and Mariners and also have two series with the Cleveland Indians who currently have the best record in all of baseball.

[Cigar_City_Rays]

Date: July 6, 2015
Record: 51-32, 1st place AL East
Rays Hitter of the Month: Evan Longoria, .999 OPS, 9 HR, 29 RBI, 15 BB
Rays Pitcher of the Month: Chris Archer, 3-1, 34.1 IP, 36 K

What a busy month! We had the draft and we had several roster changes due to guys coming off the DL. We had a great month going 19-9 including a 6-game win streak in the middle of the month. We played great out in LA with a sweep of the Angels and swept the Indians on our stop in Northeastern Ohio.

In the draft we went pitching heavy with Kyle Cody, Phil Bickford and Trey Wingenter as our top 3 picks. All of them have been signed and were assigned to Princeton and Hudson Valley respectively.

We had some brief conversations with SS Asdrubal Cabrera regarding a contract extension, but, we haven't made much progress. Asdrubal is looking for $9-10 million annually. That's not something I am interested in doing. We also released OF David DeJesus after we DFA'd him and he refused an assignment to AAA Durham.

We are currently looking at a long-term extension with Drew Smyly. Smyly has been tremendous so far this season with a 9-3 record and a 0.95 WHIP and 111 Ks through 109.1 IP this season.

We may be in the market for a late inning reliever as we lost Steve Geltz to a torn flexor tendon for 9 months. Geltz was a key late inning guy for us and I may need to seek out another arm rather than going in-house for the long-term. Right now, 24-year old Jose Dominguez has been called up for duty due to the injury.

We can finally welcome back Matt Moore into the fold! He came off the DL and was sent to Durham for a rehab assignment after coming off such a long stint on the DL. Once he rejoins the staff and Alex Colome comes off the 15-day DL, we are looking at a starting staff of: Smyly, Cobb, Moore, Colome & Archer.

[Cigar_City_Rays]

Date: August 3, 2015
Record: 64-41, 1st place, 0 GB
Rays Hitter of the Month: Kevin Kiermaier, .812 OPS, 4 HR, 4 2B, 21 R
Rays Pitcher of the Month: Jake McGee, 8 SV, 12.2 IP, 18 Ks, 0.63 WHIP, 619 ERA+

We went 14-11 in the month of July. Not a great month, but we finished strong and finished the month over .500. We also, made some very difficult moves regarding our roster.

The first trade we made saw us swap reliever Kirby Yates to the Reds for JJ Hoover. Yates was not someone we thought to offer. Instead, Reds GM Walk Jockettey asked for him immediately when we inquired about Hoover. To make room for Hoover, we placed P Erasmo Ramirez on waivers and designated him for assignment.

The very next day, we received notice that Matt Moore's time in Durham on a rehab stint was up. Thus, we needed to make a roster move to put him on the 40-man roster and then the active roster. To complete this move, we had to make a very tough decision and placed RP Kevin Jepsen on waivers and designated him for assignment. Jepsen was having a very solid season for us, but, it was a numbers game and - I guess you could say he was the worst of the best. He has not indicated if he will accept an assignment to the minors or not.

SP Drew Smyly had a "rough" month by "only" going 3-3, but, that isn't going to deter us from a possible long-term deal. As of now, we did approach him and Drew wanted to wait till the end of the season to discuss an extension. So that will be one of the first things we visit once the season wraps up.

Finally, our big news is the trade that went down and was initiated by our division rival - the Boston Red Sox. I received a notice on July 31st that we had a trade proposal and it turns out the Sox were trying to dump Mike Napoli. I immediately looked at Boston's roster to determine why, they were trying to unload him. I can't speak for the AI GM, but, my guess is a combination of the Red Sox current place in the standings and their preference of Allen Craig at 1B over Napoli.

So, I initially decided to turn down the offer. The request was for SS Jake Elmore and SS Willy Adames. I wasn't going to do that. Napoli's contract didn't bother me as it was expiring at the end of the season, if I did this deal it was strictly as a rental and to acquire a run producing bat for a possible play-off run.

I tinkered with the deal and refused to let Adames become part of the package, but, I did include Elmore and asked "Make this Work Now" to see who else the AI GM would want - shockingly, they wanted James Loney. So Loney and Elmore for Napoli was the swap.

I like the idea of a middle order of Longoria, Souza and Napoli. I think it will pay dividends down the road and may help us capture the AL Championship.