Newport Narwhals Expansion Team

jshutta81 · 08-14-2016, 10:09 PM

I am trying something new with OOTP 2017 and starting my own franchise. After much consideration we will be named the Newport Narwhals. With the expansion draft we will be going off of these rules.

23 protected players per team
Auto protected players with less than 3 years of service
limit of picks from single team: No limit

With these rules it will allow the expansion draft to have a couple decent players with the pool slowly dying pick after pick. This will test myself as a manager to make the best moves for the future.

Here are the draft results:

SP:
Hector Santiago
Jacob Barnes
Paul Blackburn
Zach Davies
Robbie Elrin
Josh Hader
Zach Lee
Keyvius Sampson
Ross Stripling
Chase Whitley

RP:
Dan Jennings
Neil Ramirez
Chasen Shreve
Steven Okert
Sammy Solis
Daniel Winkler
Matt Purke

C:
Jorge Alfaro
Blake Swihart
Tony Wolters

1B:
Ji-man Choi

2B:
Jose Peraza
Scooter Gennett
Alen Hanson

3B:
Richie Shaffer
Brandon Drury

SS:
Jonathan Villar
Jorge Polanco

OF:
Ben Gamel
Tyrone Taylor
Oswaldo Arcia
Tyler Goeddel
Andrew Aplin
Brandon Nimmo
Lonnie Chisenhall

As you can see the roster has a little bit of everything. Tried to mix it up between players who can contribute right away on the MLB roster and also tried to build a minor league team.

Next step - Free Agents

Also... If you have any players you want to see the Narwhals go after, or have any suggestions about who to play where, where to bat certain players, etc... Please let me know. I want as much participation as possible!

jshutta81 · 08-14-2016, 10:40 PM

Here is the starting lineup going into the season:

SS: Villar
CF: Aplin
LF: Arcia
2B: Gennett
1B: Choi
DH: Shaffer
3B: Drury
RF: Nimmo
C: Swihart

Rotation:
Santiago
Sampson
Winkler
Solis
Stripling

We currently have many minor league/major league offers out in the free agent market to add some depth to the organization. Again let me know anything you want to see happen! Player you want added or any other crazy madness!

Go Narwhals!

BigRed75 · 08-14-2016, 10:42 PM

That's an interesting lineup. You might have a chance to not finish last (and I mean that in a good way).

Who is your expansion partner? I'm guessing you don't have a 31-team MLB now...

jshutta81 · 08-14-2016, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRed75

That's an interesting lineup. You might have a chance to not finish last (and I mean that in a good way).

Who is your expansion partner? I'm guessing you don't have a 31-team MLB now...

Yeah, our roster is pretty interesting. I think we were able to get some decent young guys (Villar, Gennett, Arcia) who will be able to make things interesting.

Our expansion partner is the Mexico City Stars. They are located in the NL, They have a couple of solid players in Yonder Alonso and Ketel Marte.

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 12:49 PM

The season is off and runnings with the newly built Newport Narwhals. Thus far things have been just as one might predict. We are currently sitting at 4-6 and have struggled against some tough competition. We have played the monster powers in Boston and New York and also have played Baltimore. With this being said, our pitching is a huge down fall.

Hector Santiago and Daniel Winker are the only pitchers who have an ERA under 4. Sampson, Solis and Stripling all have over a 5.40 ERA and have struggled to find anything.

On the offensive side, there are a couple hot spots. Scooter Gennett is batting .342, while Brandon Drury is batting a team high of .364.

Within the first 10 games we have been constantly on the free agent market trying to add much needed depth to the organization. We were able to fill out our AAA, AA, A+ and A- rosters. Our AAA roster is built with a mixture of veterans such as Carlos Marmol and Chad Billingsley, and also youth such as Josh Hader.

Some of the big hits we got in the free agent market are the following:

SP: Yoel Mecias, Mecias is a 22 year old arm who is going to start in AAA. He will be in the rotation as the #3 SP and will hopefully find a place in the MLB before the years end.

3B: Tyler Humpries, He is a 22 year old who has the potential to be a 4 1/2 star player. This was a low risk/high reward situation and hopefully he can pan out to be a future MLB player. He will be starting in AA.

3B: Taylor Green, Green was supposed to pan out to be the Brewers future 3B a few years back and never panned out to be much. Green has the ability to play multiple positions and brings a huge utility gain. He is currently starting for the MLB roster.

SP: Tim Lincecum, he is currently on the DL after having off season problems, but in about 6 weeks should start his rehab assignment and hopefully come and be a veteran starting pitcher in our rotation.

Below are the current stats with 10 games in. Andrew Aplin was demoted to AAA after getting off to a horrendous start. That is why Ben Gamel is batting 2nd and was promoted from AAA. Along with this we also signed Corey Hart who is playing a mixture of 1B/DH. Those are the only offensive changes.

Current Stats (10 games in):
SS: Jonathan Villar (.200, 0 HR, 3 RBI)
CF: Ben Gamel (.231, 0 HR, 1 RBI)
RF: Oswaldo Arcia (.275, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
2B: Scooter Gennett (.342, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
LF: Ji-man Choi (.200, 0 HR, 3 RBI)
1B: Corey Hart (.083, 0 HR, 0 RBI) - only has played 3 games
DH: Taylor Green (.250, 0 HR, 4 RBI)
C: Blake Swihart (.275, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
3B: Brandon Drury (.364, 1 HR, 3 RBI)

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions feel free to please let me know. If you have any players you would like to see become Narwhals I will try my best and make that happen! Any questions feel free to ask!

Go Narwhals!

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 01:21 PM

Next update will come at 50 games. Please leave comments with what you would like to see happen within the next 50 games!

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 02:22 PM

TRADE:

Newport receives:
LF: Pedro Luis Martinez (A)
SP: Braden Shipley (AA)

Arizona receives:
CF: Jim Adduci (AAA)
RF: Nick Buckner (A-)

Little analysis around this trade... Adduci is a 30 year old OF who was in AAA and was ready to play in the majors. With a road block for him to play for the Narwhals we decided to shop him around. We were able to come to a deal with Arizona that allowed us to get a younger OF who has a promising future. Along with him we got Shipley who is the #69 overall prospect in baseball. He will hopefully be ready to play in the majors next year.

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 02:39 PM

After 53 games we are sitting at 16-37. The struggles are continuing throughout the MLB roster as we are very limited. We just recently lost our #2 SP Sammy Solis to a torn UCL and he will be out for 12 months. With this being said, all of our starters currently have over a 5.13 ERA.

We are unable to keep up with the pitching miscues offensively. Scooter Gennett continues to stay hot hitting .327 with 4 home runs and 22 RBI's. Other than that, our offense has been rough.

Arcia: .275 average, 9 HR, 19 RBI
Drury: .267 average, 3 HR, 20 RBI
Green: .278 average, 5 HR, 21 RBI

With the team struggling as poorly as they are we are going to be very active on the trade market in the upcoming weeks. The likes of Lonnie Chisenhall, Corey Hart, and Oswaldo Arcia could all see their jerseys changing.

With the deadline approaching quickly... I would love to hear some suggestions on players to acquire. We have only made one trade thus far and would like to not only build this team by myself, but with your help as well!

On a positive note: The future is looking bright as some of our top prospects are playing very well!
Alen Hanson: .295 average with 3 HR in AAA
Jorge Polanco: .322 average with 2 HR in AAA

Go Narwhals!

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 03:21 PM

TRADES:

Newport Receives:
C: Wilson Contreras (MLB)
RF: Billy McKinney (AAA)

Chicago Receives:
3B: Richie Shaffer (MLB)
CF: DonAndre Clark (A)

Get a solid young C to go along with the young core we have built. Then also get a young OF in McKinney to add some young OF depth to the minors. We don't lose much in Shaffer as we have Drury and Green at 3B.

Newport Receives:
SP: Daniel Norris (AAA)
SP: Beau Burrows (A)

Detroit Receives:
RF: Lonnie Chisenhall (MLB)
RP: Jacob Barnes (AAA)

Tough to see Chisenhall go, but we needed all the SP depth that we can. Here we get Norris who should pitch in the majors next year and also Burrows who is a projected 5 star player with a high ceiling.

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 06:11 PM

TRADES

Newport Receives:
RP: Kyle Crockett (AAA)

Cleveland Receives:
2B: Dan Uggla (MLB)

Uggla was not playing much of a role on the MLB roster and we turned him into a 24 year old RP who could have a possibility of closing for us next year.

--------------------------------------------

Newport Receives:
RF: Dylan Cozens (AA)
C: Andrew Knapp (AA)
SP: Mark Appel (AAA)

Phillies Receives:
1B: Corey Hart (MLB)
LF: Hersin Martinez (R)
C: Jake Bowey (R)

Corey Hart is the big part going to the Phillies. While he was a solid piece on our roster he didn't have much to provide for this current season. We turn Hart and two lower level prospects into three guys who all are above average prospects. The big get here is Appel who should potentially be in our rotation next year.

---------------------------------------

Newport Receives:
RF: Bradley Zimmer (AAA)
SP: Mike Clevinger (AAA)
SP: Brady Aiken (A-)

Cleveland Receives:
LF: Oswaldo Arcia (MLB)

Tough to deal Arica, but the right deal came along. Another deal with the playoff hopeful Indians helps use greatly. Once again getting a solid load of prospects led by Zimmer. Clevinger is 25 and will be a #3/4 SP. Aiken has a high ceiling as well.

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 06:37 PM

TRADES:

Newport Receives:
2B: Jamie Westbrook (A)
1B: Kevin Cron (AA)

Arizona Receives:
SP: Ross Stripling (MLB)

Stripling has struggled for us the whole year and at the age 26 was not looking to be a promising role for our future. We got two younger players who could one day be a role player on the MLB roster. Both are a couple years away, but gain assets.
-------------------------------------------

Newport Receives:
3B: Erisbel Arruebarrena (AA)
P: Jose De Leon (AA)
1B: Cole Billingsley (A)

Los Angelas Recieves:
SP: Tim Lincecum (MLB)
SP: Brady Aiken (A)

Tim Lincecum requested a trade and with that we will stay true to being the organization we are. He signed a two year extension during the year so this is getting some money off our books also. Losing Aiken hurts a tad, but we get a much better pitcher in De Leon and also gain a couple other pieces.

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 06:56 PM

We unfortunately have finished a terrible 62-100 this season. With the expansion and the talent that we have received we are hoping that next season is a year to really compete. We have upcoming talent and prospects that are going to be ready after the offseason.

Not to forget, we have a TON of cap room to hopefully hit the FA market and get some high end talent!

Couple notes from the season:
- Scooter Gennett finished batting .307 with 13 HR
- We were able to call up some of our top prospects in Jorge Polanco, Billy Mckinney and Daniel Norris. All of who provided for a solid spark to end the year.
- We will be dealing most of our current pitchers and moving on from that sub 5 ERA.

BigRed75 · 08-15-2016, 08:53 PM

Nice job getting Clevenger, he did well in my save game coming up after Cody Anderson got hurt.

62-100 isn't too bad for an expansion team, you finished well ahead of the 1962 Mets. If some of the pieces you're stockpiling come good you should be looking at a Wild Card in five years or so. Good luck!

jshutta81 · 08-15-2016, 09:45 PM

With the offseason come and gone we have a lot of new changes happening around the Newport Narwhals...

Off Season Signings:
SP: Stephen Strasburg

3B: Kiyoshi Yoshida

We also traded the likes of Hector Santiago and Keyvius Sampson for a couple of minor leaguers (this was mostly to get rid of salary)

Selected two players in the rule 5 draft...
RP: Akeel Morris (Middle Relief)
SP: Jordan Jankowski (#3 SP)

After Spring Training we were able to promote/demote/release different players are were left with the following lineup going into 2017.

LINEUP:
DH: Jonathan Villar
LF: Bradley Zimmer
3B: Kiyoshi Yoshida
2B: Scooter Gennett
1B: Ji man Choi
C: Blake Swihart
RF: Ben Gamel
SS: Jorge Polanco
CF: Brandon Nimmo

BENCH:
C: Wilson Contreras
1B: Taylor Green
2B: Alen Hanson
LF: Tyler Goeddel

ROTATION:
1. Stephen Strasburg
2. Chase Whitley
3. Jordan Jankowski
4. Jose E. De Leon
5. Mike Clevinger

BULLPEN:
David Carpenter
Akeel Morris
Neil Ramirez
Hansel Robles
Chasen Shreve
Josh Hader - Closer

Our minor league system is also getting filled with depth from trades and free agency this past year. There will be a couple of different names coming throughout the season and find the likes of Braden Shipley, Mark Appel, Tyron Taylor, and Dylan Cozens to find their way to the majors at some point.

08-14-2016, 10:09 PM	#1
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	Newport Narwhals Expansion Team I am trying something new with OOTP 2017 and starting my own franchise. After much consideration we will be named the Newport Narwhals. With the expansion draft we will be going off of these rules. 23 protected players per team Auto protected players with less than 3 years of service limit of picks from single team: No limit With these rules it will allow the expansion draft to have a couple decent players with the pool slowly dying pick after pick. This will test myself as a manager to make the best moves for the future. Here are the draft results: SP: Hector Santiago Jacob Barnes Paul Blackburn Zach Davies Robbie Elrin Josh Hader Zach Lee Keyvius Sampson Ross Stripling Chase Whitley RP: Dan Jennings Neil Ramirez Chasen Shreve Steven Okert Sammy Solis Daniel Winkler Matt Purke C: Jorge Alfaro Blake Swihart Tony Wolters 1B: Ji-man Choi 2B: Jose Peraza Scooter Gennett Alen Hanson 3B: Richie Shaffer Brandon Drury SS: Jonathan Villar Jorge Polanco OF: Ben Gamel Tyrone Taylor Oswaldo Arcia Tyler Goeddel Andrew Aplin Brandon Nimmo Lonnie Chisenhall As you can see the roster has a little bit of everything. Tried to mix it up between players who can contribute right away on the MLB roster and also tried to build a minor league team. Next step - Free Agents Also... If you have any players you want to see the Narwhals go after, or have any suggestions about who to play where, where to bat certain players, etc... Please let me know. I want as much participation as possible!

08-15-2016, 08:53 PM	#13
BigRed75 Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 2,430	Nice job getting Clevenger, he did well in my save game coming up after Cody Anderson got hurt. 62-100 isn't too bad for an expansion team, you finished well ahead of the 1962 Mets. If some of the pieces you're stockpiling come good you should be looking at a Wild Card in five years or so. Good luck! __________________ Mainline team SPTT team Was not a Snag fan...until I saw the fallout once he was gone and realized what a good job he was actually doing. - Ty Cobb

08-14-2016, 10:40 PM	#2
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	Here is the starting lineup going into the season: SS: Villar CF: Aplin LF: Arcia 2B: Gennett 1B: Choi DH: Shaffer 3B: Drury RF: Nimmo C: Swihart Rotation: Santiago Sampson Winkler Solis Stripling We currently have many minor league/major league offers out in the free agent market to add some depth to the organization. Again let me know anything you want to see happen! Player you want added or any other crazy madness! Go Narwhals!

08-14-2016, 10:42 PM	#3
BigRed75 Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 2,430	That's an interesting lineup. You might have a chance to not finish last (and I mean that in a good way). Who is your expansion partner? I'm guessing you don't have a 31-team MLB now... __________________ Mainline team SPTT team Was not a Snag fan...until I saw the fallout once he was gone and realized what a good job he was actually doing. - Ty Cobb

08-15-2016, 12:49 PM	#5
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	The season is off and runnings with the newly built Newport Narwhals. Thus far things have been just as one might predict. We are currently sitting at 4-6 and have struggled against some tough competition. We have played the monster powers in Boston and New York and also have played Baltimore. With this being said, our pitching is a huge down fall. Hector Santiago and Daniel Winker are the only pitchers who have an ERA under 4. Sampson, Solis and Stripling all have over a 5.40 ERA and have struggled to find anything. On the offensive side, there are a couple hot spots. Scooter Gennett is batting .342, while Brandon Drury is batting a team high of .364. Within the first 10 games we have been constantly on the free agent market trying to add much needed depth to the organization. We were able to fill out our AAA, AA, A+ and A- rosters. Our AAA roster is built with a mixture of veterans such as Carlos Marmol and Chad Billingsley, and also youth such as Josh Hader. Some of the big hits we got in the free agent market are the following: SP: Yoel Mecias, Mecias is a 22 year old arm who is going to start in AAA. He will be in the rotation as the #3 SP and will hopefully find a place in the MLB before the years end. 3B: Tyler Humpries, He is a 22 year old who has the potential to be a 4 1/2 star player. This was a low risk/high reward situation and hopefully he can pan out to be a future MLB player. He will be starting in AA. 3B: Taylor Green, Green was supposed to pan out to be the Brewers future 3B a few years back and never panned out to be much. Green has the ability to play multiple positions and brings a huge utility gain. He is currently starting for the MLB roster. SP: Tim Lincecum, he is currently on the DL after having off season problems, but in about 6 weeks should start his rehab assignment and hopefully come and be a veteran starting pitcher in our rotation. Below are the current stats with 10 games in. Andrew Aplin was demoted to AAA after getting off to a horrendous start. That is why Ben Gamel is batting 2nd and was promoted from AAA. Along with this we also signed Corey Hart who is playing a mixture of 1B/DH. Those are the only offensive changes. Current Stats (10 games in): SS: Jonathan Villar (.200, 0 HR, 3 RBI) CF: Ben Gamel (.231, 0 HR, 1 RBI) RF: Oswaldo Arcia (.275, 1 HR, 4 RBI) 2B: Scooter Gennett (.342, 1 HR, 4 RBI) LF: Ji-man Choi (.200, 0 HR, 3 RBI) 1B: Corey Hart (.083, 0 HR, 0 RBI) - only has played 3 games DH: Taylor Green (.250, 0 HR, 4 RBI) C: Blake Swihart (.275, 2 HR, 8 RBI) 3B: Brandon Drury (.364, 1 HR, 3 RBI) As always, if you have any comments or suggestions feel free to please let me know. If you have any players you would like to see become Narwhals I will try my best and make that happen! Any questions feel free to ask! Go Narwhals!

08-15-2016, 01:21 PM	#6
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	Next update will come at 50 games. Please leave comments with what you would like to see happen within the next 50 games!

08-15-2016, 02:22 PM	#7
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	TRADE: Newport receives: LF: Pedro Luis Martinez (A) SP: Braden Shipley (AA) Arizona receives: CF: Jim Adduci (AAA) RF: Nick Buckner (A-) Little analysis around this trade... Adduci is a 30 year old OF who was in AAA and was ready to play in the majors. With a road block for him to play for the Narwhals we decided to shop him around. We were able to come to a deal with Arizona that allowed us to get a younger OF who has a promising future. Along with him we got Shipley who is the #69 overall prospect in baseball. He will hopefully be ready to play in the majors next year.

08-15-2016, 02:39 PM	#8
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	After 53 games we are sitting at 16-37. The struggles are continuing throughout the MLB roster as we are very limited. We just recently lost our #2 SP Sammy Solis to a torn UCL and he will be out for 12 months. With this being said, all of our starters currently have over a 5.13 ERA. We are unable to keep up with the pitching miscues offensively. Scooter Gennett continues to stay hot hitting .327 with 4 home runs and 22 RBI's. Other than that, our offense has been rough. Arcia: .275 average, 9 HR, 19 RBI Drury: .267 average, 3 HR, 20 RBI Green: .278 average, 5 HR, 21 RBI With the team struggling as poorly as they are we are going to be very active on the trade market in the upcoming weeks. The likes of Lonnie Chisenhall, Corey Hart, and Oswaldo Arcia could all see their jerseys changing. With the deadline approaching quickly... I would love to hear some suggestions on players to acquire. We have only made one trade thus far and would like to not only build this team by myself, but with your help as well! On a positive note: The future is looking bright as some of our top prospects are playing very well! Alen Hanson: .295 average with 3 HR in AAA Jorge Polanco: .322 average with 2 HR in AAA Go Narwhals!

08-15-2016, 03:21 PM	#9
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	TRADES: Newport Receives: C: Wilson Contreras (MLB) RF: Billy McKinney (AAA) Chicago Receives: 3B: Richie Shaffer (MLB) CF: DonAndre Clark (A) Get a solid young C to go along with the young core we have built. Then also get a young OF in McKinney to add some young OF depth to the minors. We don't lose much in Shaffer as we have Drury and Green at 3B. Newport Receives: SP: Daniel Norris (AAA) SP: Beau Burrows (A) Detroit Receives: RF: Lonnie Chisenhall (MLB) RP: Jacob Barnes (AAA) Tough to see Chisenhall go, but we needed all the SP depth that we can. Here we get Norris who should pitch in the majors next year and also Burrows who is a projected 5 star player with a high ceiling.

08-15-2016, 06:11 PM	#10
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	TRADES Newport Receives: RP: Kyle Crockett (AAA) Cleveland Receives: 2B: Dan Uggla (MLB) Uggla was not playing much of a role on the MLB roster and we turned him into a 24 year old RP who could have a possibility of closing for us next year. -------------------------------------------- Newport Receives: RF: Dylan Cozens (AA) C: Andrew Knapp (AA) SP: Mark Appel (AAA) Phillies Receives: 1B: Corey Hart (MLB) LF: Hersin Martinez (R) C: Jake Bowey (R) Corey Hart is the big part going to the Phillies. While he was a solid piece on our roster he didn't have much to provide for this current season. We turn Hart and two lower level prospects into three guys who all are above average prospects. The big get here is Appel who should potentially be in our rotation next year. --------------------------------------- Newport Receives: RF: Bradley Zimmer (AAA) SP: Mike Clevinger (AAA) SP: Brady Aiken (A-) Cleveland Receives: LF: Oswaldo Arcia (MLB) Tough to deal Arica, but the right deal came along. Another deal with the playoff hopeful Indians helps use greatly. Once again getting a solid load of prospects led by Zimmer. Clevinger is 25 and will be a #3/4 SP. Aiken has a high ceiling as well.

08-15-2016, 06:37 PM	#11
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	TRADES: Newport Receives: 2B: Jamie Westbrook (A) 1B: Kevin Cron (AA) Arizona Receives: SP: Ross Stripling (MLB) Stripling has struggled for us the whole year and at the age 26 was not looking to be a promising role for our future. We got two younger players who could one day be a role player on the MLB roster. Both are a couple years away, but gain assets. ------------------------------------------- Newport Receives: 3B: Erisbel Arruebarrena (AA) P: Jose De Leon (AA) 1B: Cole Billingsley (A) Los Angelas Recieves: SP: Tim Lincecum (MLB) SP: Brady Aiken (A) Tim Lincecum requested a trade and with that we will stay true to being the organization we are. He signed a two year extension during the year so this is getting some money off our books also. Losing Aiken hurts a tad, but we get a much better pitcher in De Leon and also gain a couple other pieces.

08-15-2016, 06:56 PM	#12
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	We unfortunately have finished a terrible 62-100 this season. With the expansion and the talent that we have received we are hoping that next season is a year to really compete. We have upcoming talent and prospects that are going to be ready after the offseason. Not to forget, we have a TON of cap room to hopefully hit the FA market and get some high end talent! Couple notes from the season: - Scooter Gennett finished batting .307 with 13 HR - We were able to call up some of our top prospects in Jorge Polanco, Billy Mckinney and Daniel Norris. All of who provided for a solid spark to end the year. - We will be dealing most of our current pitchers and moving on from that sub 5 ERA.

08-15-2016, 09:45 PM	#14
jshutta81 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 32	With the offseason come and gone we have a lot of new changes happening around the Newport Narwhals... Off Season Signings: SP: Stephen Strasburg 3B: Kiyoshi Yoshida We also traded the likes of Hector Santiago and Keyvius Sampson for a couple of minor leaguers (this was mostly to get rid of salary) Selected two players in the rule 5 draft... RP: Akeel Morris (Middle Relief) SP: Jordan Jankowski (#3 SP) After Spring Training we were able to promote/demote/release different players are were left with the following lineup going into 2017. LINEUP: DH: Jonathan Villar LF: Bradley Zimmer 3B: Kiyoshi Yoshida 2B: Scooter Gennett 1B: Ji man Choi C: Blake Swihart RF: Ben Gamel SS: Jorge Polanco CF: Brandon Nimmo BENCH: C: Wilson Contreras 1B: Taylor Green 2B: Alen Hanson LF: Tyler Goeddel ROTATION: 1. Stephen Strasburg 2. Chase Whitley 3. Jordan Jankowski 4. Jose E. De Leon 5. Mike Clevinger BULLPEN: David Carpenter Akeel Morris Neil Ramirez Hansel Robles Chasen Shreve Josh Hader - Closer Our minor league system is also getting filled with depth from trades and free agency this past year. There will be a couple of different names coming throughout the season and find the likes of Braden Shipley, Mark Appel, Tyron Taylor, and Dylan Cozens to find their way to the majors at some point.