Up and Down and Up Again - Page 3

jduteau · 04-09-2013, 04:16 AM

Well, my foray in St. Louis has been fun. The team really gelled and it just took one good draft - the first one - to turn the team around. I think that I'm going to turn advanced draft signing off because I don't think that is really the point of this replay. In St. Louis, I just gave every one what they wanted. Meanwhile other teams obviously didn't as some good players got drafted twice.

Here is my record with St. Louis:

1902 -- 55-85 8th (Pre-Takeover)
1903 40 70-70 5th
1904 70 86-68 2nd
1905 90 93-61 1st World Series Champs

I think I leave the team in great shape. Three star pitchers aged 21, 27, and 28. A core group of hitters all under 30 except for Clemente and Crawford is 23 and coming back from injury. The cupboard isn't bare on prospects, so this team shouldn't fall from grace for awhile.

That makes me glad that I'm heading over to the other league as the Boston Beaneaters finished 66-88 behind the White Sox's 68-86 and Detroit's 69-85. The Beaneaters just don't have any pitching. They have one pitcher who is rated as a starter and the rest are relievers. However, their offense is pretty decent and they have the #1 Power game in the majors. That would be because of the Mick! Mickey Mantle is the Beaneaters CF and he was tops in the NL with 12 HRs. He's the Career leader in HRs with 55 and he combines that with the career leader in Walks. And he's not alone on the Boston offence. Goose Goslin is in LF, Bob Bailey is at 3B, and a 22-year-old George Sisler is at 1B, along with Eddie Murray and High Pockets Kelly. Johnny Bench is on the team, but he's 34 and past his prime. Still, I'm blessed with an offense and just have to turn the pitching around. And that is one thing that I know how to do in OOTP-land!

Till tomorrow and the Beaneaters...

jduteau · 04-09-2013, 12:54 PM

I decided to wait until the draft to see what holes I could fill before heading out and trading away my glut of first basemen. In the draft, we were able to pick up SP Dave Davenport who will jump right into the majors (which doesn't say much as any warm pitcher who can last more than 5 innings would make the jump!). By the time the second round came around, we were stuck without any decent starting pitchers, so it was time to fill another hole and we drafted SS Yunel Escobar. He too will start with the team. The remaining four picks were 2B Ken Aspromonte who might platoon with Don Zimmer, RF Al Libke, MR Ossie Orwoll, and MR Roy Bruner.

That gave me two pitchers so I went looking to trade away my 1B for help. First was High Pockets Kelly. I couldn't get any love for him in the pitching department, but the Tigers were willing to trade OF Otto Velez for him. Since that filled a hole in RF, I pulled the deal.

Next up was Jim Gentile. Again no love for pitchers, but C Smoky Burgess was offered from Cincinnati. Finally Eddie Murray was available and I went to Cleveland to get Mike Moore. I had to throw in Ty Cline to get him, but at least now I have three starters!

The team now looks as follows:
Starting Rotation
Dave Davenport
Mike Moore
Al Gerheauser
Ossie Orwoll

Orwoll shouldn't be pitching, but he is who the manager decided would be the 4th starter.

LINEUP
Goose Goslin LF
Yunel Escobar SS
George Sisler 1B
Mickey Mantle CF
Bob Bailey 3B
Otto Velez RF
Smoky Burgess C
Don Zimmer/Ken Aspromonte 2B

That is a decent offensive lineup, but we are one or two injuries away from disaster. It will certainly be interesting how the team develops! Our owner expects us to have a .500 season. If we stay away from disastrous injury, that might be doable. The OOTP Preseason Predictions actually have us winning the league with a record of 90-64. That would be nice but is a stretch and I doubt it will happen.

jduteau · 04-09-2013, 03:28 PM

My first season with a new team and I have to manage my expectations. I got used to expecting every game would be a win. The Beaneaters finished April with a 7-8 record. The offense is on par and the pitching was also good for 4th. Unfortunately, Gerheauser was lost for the season to have surgery to remove bone chips. We're down to two valid pitchers so it will be tough to stay in games. I'm hoping to stay around 0.500 this season.

jduteau · 04-09-2013, 04:08 PM

We started the month off on a tear, going 8-3. But a 1-10 slump after brought us down in size. We ended the month of May with a 13-14 record and we are 20-22 for the season. We're hovering around the 0.500 mark which is good and we're in 4th, 7-1/2 games back.

I'm very happy with the pitching, even though we're limping through with two real starters. When we lose it is because the offense struggles, so this team strangely enough is totally dependent on its offense.

jduteau · 04-09-2013, 05:38 PM

I'm losing fake starting pitchers left and right. Our defence is still ranked 3rd/4th overall which is an improvement over last year. But it's just not enough to play with Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Chicago. We're in a dogfight with Brooklyn and Cincinnati over 4th place and a spot in the first division.

jduteau · 04-10-2013, 03:10 AM

July was a disastrous month for us as we went 6-22 and just fell to the bottom of the league. In August, we did a little better at 11-16. In September, we showed a little life and went 14-11, but ended the season in last place in the league with a record of 66-88. Our pitching was 7th and so was our offence. I'm not quite sure what went wrong. I don't think the three position players I moved who could only play 1B would have helped us. We did have the 4th best OBP and led the league in HRs. In any case, it was a disappointing year as I expected better things for this team. But we just have to get back up off the floor and continue to rebuild.

jduteau · 04-10-2013, 03:52 AM

Strangely enough, I didn't realize that my bad performance last season ended up being par for the course for Boston. By that I mean that I ended up with the same record of 66-88 in 1906 as they accomplished without me in 1905. The AVG and BABIP were the same and I shaved 0.5 off the ERA. So it wasn't as disastrous as I thought it was.

Here are the award winners for 1906:
AL Gold Glove
P Pete Falcone WAS
C Roy Campanella NY
1B High Pockets Kelly DET (we traded him away)
2B Gil McDougald BOS
3B Spider Jorgensen CLE
SS Joe Tinker WAS
LF Max Venable PHA
CF Fred Snodgrass PHA
RF Mel Ott CLE

NL Gold Glove
P Charlie Smith PIT
C Bob Boone NYG
1B Ray Sanders CIN
2B Benji Gil CIN
3B Jim Finigan PHI
SS Yunel Escobar BBR
LF Ed Delahanty CHI
CF Lenny Dykstra STL
RF Ross Youngs CIN

AL Rookie - Mark Baldwin NY
NL Rookie - Dave Davenport BBR
AL Manager - Bill Shettsline DET
NL Manager - Joe Bacon PIT
AL Pitcher - General Crowder CLE
NL Pitcher - Charlie Smith PIT
AL Batter - Sam Crawford SLB
NL Batter - Levi Meyerle PIT

Armed with that ray of sunshine, I went into the draft needing a SP and a starting 2B. With the 3rd pick in the draft, we took Sadie McMahon as our SP. In the 2nd round, I went with Mariano Duncan who isn't quite ready yet to start, but should develop into a good middle infielder. I also picked up two other middle infielders in Blake DeWitt and Harry Arndt who might end up starting for us. The other draft picks were MR Joe Blong and MR Herb McQuaid. Even though MRs get rated with 4 or 5 stars, I think their worth is recognized by the AI when you shop them in trades - any other player you get back for them will be 1-2 stars at best.

To open the season, our starting rotation will see Moore, Davenport and Gerheauser back but Sadie McMahon will fill in the rotation and give us 4 quality pitchers. The Lineup will be mostly the same:
3B Bob Bailey
SS Yunel Escobar
1B George Sisler
CF Mickey Mantle
RF Otto Velez
LF Goose Goslin
C Smokey Burgess
2B Blake DeWitt/Harry Arndt

I expect that Del Ennis will see some time at LF as well.

Our owner expects us to be around 0.500 and that is what I'm aiming for again this season. The preseason predictions again have us winning the league with a record of 83-71. If that does happen, we'll be battling it out with perennial NL champion Pittsburgh.

jduteau · 04-11-2013, 02:08 AM

We started the 1907 season with a respectable 9-8 record. Our offense is clicking and there is a mild improvement with the pitching. Strangely enough, we went 6-2 on the road and 3-6 at home. Have to improve at home for our fans! Otto Velez was injured again. It wasn't long enough to put him on the disabled list but he is really bothering me as he keeps getting injured. I went and looked at my old team and Sam Crawford is keeping Roberto Clemente from hitting the field so I may have to see about prying him away from the Browns.

jduteau · 04-11-2013, 05:08 PM

Well, no go on prying Roberto away from the Browns, even after he publicly announced that he wanted to be traded. I just don't have a lot of depth to offer to get him. I looked for other RFs and couldn't get any of them either.

We finished the month of May at 22-23 and are 3-1/2 games back of Chicago. Our offense is good and I'm actually fine with the pitching, but for some reason our Runs Allowed are 7th in the league. I went and looked and I believe that our problem is actually defence. It's ranked 6th in the league and if you look at Zone Rating, only C Burgess, SS Escobar, RF Velez, and 3B Bailey are positive. Mickey Mantle is killing us in CF.

I'm not sure exactly how to turn over almost an entire team to get good defence, but that might end up being our problem.

jduteau · 04-11-2013, 05:18 PM

We had a good month of June as we went 13-10 which was mostly spurred by a 10-3 run to end the month. We're hovering around 0.500 at 35-33 which is where I thought we'd be and we're actually in 2nd, only 4 games back of Chicago. Strangely enough, after complaining about my defence, it is now 2nd in the league and our runs against is up to 3rd. That just confirms in my mind that our staff of groundball pitchers is very dependent on the defence and I'll need to look at upgrading that in the off-season if I can.

jduteau · 04-11-2013, 05:38 PM

We've managed to continue to hover around 0.500 for the months of July and August. Until the end of August, we've also been within 5 games of Chicago, but the Cubs have managed to put some distance between the rest of the pack recently and now we're 9 games back with a record of 62-61.

RF Otto Velez has to go. Although he's one of our positive defensive players, his bat is killing us. He's batting .183 and has a -11.4 VORP. I can't find anyone willing to trade us a RF though, so I think I'm stuck with him until the off-season.

jduteau · 04-11-2013, 05:44 PM

A bad month of September where we went 6-20 killed the season for us. We did manage to make it to 70 wins, but I was hoping for close to 0.500. I'll be looking to upgrade defence and RF in the offseason. And even though I don't like trading huge stars away, Mickey Mantle might have to go because he's getting old at 34 and his defence in CF is one of our problems. We'll see after the re-rate and the draft what we need to fix.

jduteau · 04-12-2013, 08:23 PM

AL Gold Glove
P PHA Bullet Joe Bush
C NY Roy Campanella
1B NY Dave Hansen
2B SLB Bob Glenalvin
3B CLE Spider Jorgensen
SS WAS Joe Tinker
LF NY Wally Moon
CF CLE Barney McCosky
RF DET Ron Fairly

NL Gold Glove
P BRO Mike Boddicker
C BSN Smoky Burgess
1B STL Dick Hoblitzell
2B CIN Benji Gil
3B PIT Leo Gomez
SS CHI Starlin Castro
LF CHI Ed Delahanty
CF STL Lenny Dykstra
RF CHI Roger Maris

AL Rookie WAS Don Robinson
NL Rookie BSN Sadie McMahon
AL Manager DET Bill Shettsline
NL Manager PHI Joe Johnson
AL Pitcher DET Scott Stratton
NL Pitcher PHI Lefty Grove
AL Batter CWS Todd Helton
NL Batter CIN Ross Youngs

Lefty Grove has been simply sensational for the Phillies but it's a shame that they haven't been able to surround him with talent.

In the draft, I went with mostly position players due to a glitch in OOTP where it was only showing me Batters and I didn't realize that until the 5th round.

In Round 1, I draft CF Amos Strunk. Strunk is a 5-star prospect who I hope develops quickly as Mickey Mantle is getting old. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, I drafted RF Terry Puhl and RF Jeff Francoeur. These should help me not have to play Otto Velez. 2B Lou Chiozza and Whitey Alperman were next to help shore up 2B and MR Randy Keisler was the last pick who should never see the majors.

Going into 1908, our pitching lineup will be the same, but the hope is that, with a better defensive lineup behind them, the team's runs against will improve. On offence, our lineup looks as follows:
SS Mariano Duncan/Yunel Escobar
C Smoky Burgess
1B George Sisler
CF Mickey Mantle
3B Bob Bailey
LF Goose Goslin/Otto Velez
2B Harry Arndt
RF Terry Puhl/Terry Francoeur

We finally have some depth on offence and the only concern I have is Mantle. His defence at CF is going down and, at age 35, he's starting to get old. I did put out some trade feelers and no one was really interested. I do want to move Velez as his defiency on offence hurt us last season and I just think Goslin doesn't need to be platooned.

jduteau · 04-12-2013, 09:43 PM

Well, a 12-3 record is a pleasant surprise. Our pitching and defence has been great which is good to see. We only played Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and New York, but it is still a good start to the season.

I'm worried about Mickey Mantle since he's currently batting 0.170. As well, Harry Arndt is getting in the way of Mariano Duncan batting full-time which blocks Yunel Escobar. And Arndt is only batting 0.182. I'm going to actively trade him away and see if I can find a replacement at CF.

jduteau · 04-12-2013, 09:53 PM

We were doing so well! On May 21, we were 23-10 and had first place all to ourself! The Preseason Predictions had us in 3rd with a record of 81-73 and that seemed doable. Mickey Mantle had obviously heard the rumblings about him and turned his game around. And we had made a trade to move both Arndt and Velez and clear up room in the lineup for the players I wanted.

And then we hit a slump. We went 1-8 in the last 9 games and are now 24-18. That is still great and we're in the thick of the run with the Cubs, Reds, and Phillies all within 2 games of each other. But it would have been so nice to end the month on top.

We approached the Senators since they had no 2B to speak of and had some interesting CF options. Offering 2B Arndt for CF Jake Stenzel was close and when I added OF Otto Velez it was a done deal. But I felt I was giving up too much, so I inquired as to whether I could pry one of their starters away since I really only had four and wanted some injury backup. Adding SP Ray Keating made it close and when I threw in Ken Aspromonte, the deal was sealed.

That gives me five viable starters with three star pitchers - a huge turnaround from when we took over and had one average starter! Moving Arndt didn't accomplish exactly what I had hoped as our manager is still effectively platooning Escobar and now Blake DeWitt, but since DeWitt is hitting much better than Arndt was, I'm sorta okay with that. And Mantle is now platooning with newcomer Stenzel and that obviously worked out since Mantle's numbers rose.

I still think I'm one or two pieces away, but we have depth and we have a couple of pieces on the reserve roster that might help in future years, so I'm thinking better of this team than before.

jduteau · 04-13-2013, 12:39 AM

An 18-10 record in June (+1 game in July to finish the series against the Phillies) means I'm estatic with how this team is doing. We're 42-28 and sitting 1-1/2 games up on Cincinnati. The NL is very competitive this season and only New York and Brooklyn are really lagging behind right now, so it will be a dogfight to the end.
Terry Puhl was injured and so Amos Strunk got the call up and didn't do too badly for himself. I expect that he'll be playing for real next season and since he can play any outfield position, that will be helpful.

jduteau · 04-13-2013, 03:26 PM

Cincinnati, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago - those four teams have been battling all season long for the pennant. At the beginning of August, Boston sits 1-1/2 games back of the Reds. We lost Smoky Burgess for 2 months at the beginning of July and that stopped the team in its tracks. He was obviously a key on the defence because our DEff started dropping and our pitchers ERA went up a bit. After a week or two, I went out to find a catcher who could help us out. I had a glut of 2B, so I looked at the strengths and called on the Highlanders. We eventually settled on Lou Chiozza for Bill Sarni. Sarni stepped in and helped right the ship, so it was a good deal on our end.

jduteau · 04-13-2013, 03:31 PM

Still the main four teams, but we managed to stay in 1st or 2nd for the whole month. The gap between the four teams has just gotten smaller as we either beat up on each other or all four beat up on the other four teams. Due to the blue laws (no baseball on Sundays in Boston), Cincinnati and Chicago have played 3-4 games more than us, so that gives us a slight advantage.
We're leading the league in power as every regular hitter has at least 1 home run and Mantle leads the majors with 8. I've also convinced our manager to use our speed to advantage and it shows in stolen bases and runs scored.

jduteau · 04-13-2013, 03:36 PM

Wow! What a pennant race to the end! That had to be the closest and most tense race I've ever been in. Unfortunately, (sorry for the spoiler!), we came up a bit short which hurts a bit since we had our destiny in our hands, but it was still a great end to the season.
Here is the summary of the race entering the start of October:

After September 30th:
Boston 83-65 - (3 at BRO, 3 at NYG)
Cincinnati 84-67 1/2 (2 vs CHI, 1 vs STL)
Chicago 81-70 3-1/2 (2 at CIN, 1 vs PIT)

After October 1st: (CIN win, CHI loss, BBR loss)
Cincinnati 85-67 - (1 vs CHI, 1 vs STL)
Boston 83-66 1/2 (2 at BRO, 3 at NYG)

After October 2nd: (BBR loss)
Cincinnati 85-67 - (1 vs CHI, 1 vs STL)
Boston 83-67 1 (1 at BRO, 3 at NYG)

After October 3rd: (CIN loss, BBR loss)
Cincinnati 85-68 - (1 vs STL)
Boston 83-68 1 (3 at NYG)

After October 4th: (CIN loss)
Cincinnati 85-69 -
Boston 83-68 1/2 (3 at NYG)

At this point, a sweep gives us the pennant and taking 2-of-3 gives us a tie.

After October 5th: (BBR loss)
Cincinnati 85-69 -
Boston 83-69 1 (2 at NYG)

After October 6th: (BBR loss)
Cincinnati 85-69 -
Boston 83-70 1-1/2 (1 at NYG)

And Cincinnati clinches as a Boston slump comes at the worst time!

After October 6th: (BBR win)
Cincinnati 85-69 -
Boston 84-70

Even though we faltered down the stretch, going 1-5, it was still exciting. I hope that we haven't peaked at this point, because I was expecting this team to improve and challenge next season.

jduteau · 04-15-2013, 07:36 PM

Going into the draft, we didn't have a lot of holes, but I wanted to shore up our starting pitching, see if I could find a decent alternative at 2B, and try to figure out how to handle Mickey Mantle's declining skills at CF.

But none of that was going to happen in the draft. Picking 15th overall meant there was really nothing to speak of. We took the following:

2B Sam Barkley
C Roger Bresnahan
MR Andy Rincon
MR Bob Hall
MR Jim Bivin
1B Fred Tenney

Barkley might work out for us at 2B, Bresnahan is an anomaly as he can play C, OF, and Pitch. Rincon is a great MR in an era when MRs are not very valuable. The remaining three picks won't see ML time.

Terry Puhl has developed into a great RF, making Francoeur expendable, so I went looking and traded him and Barkley to the Red Sox for SP Fred Mitchell. I also traded Bresnahan away for LF Manny Mota.

My owner felt, after these trades, that we had no weaknesses which is a first. Preseason predictions had us finishing third with 81-73 behind Chicago. I was hoping for more as we have the same team as last season and I just see improvements all around.

The aforementioned Terry Puhl along with Mariano Duncan and Amos Strunk have made some great strides and will be important parts of the starting lineup. Mickey Mantle's defence has dropped - he's now rated as a 5 out of 20 in CF and I think he's close to not being to play the field.

04-09-2013, 04:16 AM	#41
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	Moving on to Beantown Well, my foray in St. Louis has been fun. The team really gelled and it just took one good draft - the first one - to turn the team around. I think that I'm going to turn advanced draft signing off because I don't think that is really the point of this replay. In St. Louis, I just gave every one what they wanted. Meanwhile other teams obviously didn't as some good players got drafted twice. Here is my record with St. Louis: 1902 -- 55-85 8th (Pre-Takeover) 1903 40 70-70 5th 1904 70 86-68 2nd 1905 90 93-61 1st World Series Champs I think I leave the team in great shape. Three star pitchers aged 21, 27, and 28. A core group of hitters all under 30 except for Clemente and Crawford is 23 and coming back from injury. The cupboard isn't bare on prospects, so this team shouldn't fall from grace for awhile. That makes me glad that I'm heading over to the other league as the Boston Beaneaters finished 66-88 behind the White Sox's 68-86 and Detroit's 69-85. The Beaneaters just don't have any pitching. They have one pitcher who is rated as a starter and the rest are relievers. However, their offense is pretty decent and they have the #1 Power game in the majors. That would be because of the Mick! Mickey Mantle is the Beaneaters CF and he was tops in the NL with 12 HRs. He's the Career leader in HRs with 55 and he combines that with the career leader in Walks. And he's not alone on the Boston offence. Goose Goslin is in LF, Bob Bailey is at 3B, and a 22-year-old George Sisler is at 1B, along with Eddie Murray and High Pockets Kelly. Johnny Bench is on the team, but he's 34 and past his prime. Still, I'm blessed with an offense and just have to turn the pitching around. And that is one thing that I know how to do in OOTP-land! Till tomorrow and the Beaneaters... Last edited by jduteau; 04-14-2013 at 04:25 PM.

04-09-2013, 12:54 PM	#42
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	Spring Cleaning in Boston! I decided to wait until the draft to see what holes I could fill before heading out and trading away my glut of first basemen. In the draft, we were able to pick up SP Dave Davenport who will jump right into the majors (which doesn't say much as any warm pitcher who can last more than 5 innings would make the jump!). By the time the second round came around, we were stuck without any decent starting pitchers, so it was time to fill another hole and we drafted SS Yunel Escobar. He too will start with the team. The remaining four picks were 2B Ken Aspromonte who might platoon with Don Zimmer, RF Al Libke, MR Ossie Orwoll, and MR Roy Bruner. That gave me two pitchers so I went looking to trade away my 1B for help. First was High Pockets Kelly. I couldn't get any love for him in the pitching department, but the Tigers were willing to trade OF Otto Velez for him. Since that filled a hole in RF, I pulled the deal. Next up was Jim Gentile. Again no love for pitchers, but C Smoky Burgess was offered from Cincinnati. Finally Eddie Murray was available and I went to Cleveland to get Mike Moore. I had to throw in Ty Cline to get him, but at least now I have three starters! The team now looks as follows: Starting Rotation Dave Davenport Mike Moore Al Gerheauser Ossie Orwoll Orwoll shouldn't be pitching, but he is who the manager decided would be the 4th starter. LINEUP Goose Goslin LF Yunel Escobar SS George Sisler 1B Mickey Mantle CF Bob Bailey 3B Otto Velez RF Smoky Burgess C Don Zimmer/Ken Aspromonte 2B That is a decent offensive lineup, but we are one or two injuries away from disaster. It will certainly be interesting how the team develops! Our owner expects us to have a .500 season. If we stay away from disastrous injury, that might be doable. The OOTP Preseason Predictions actually have us winning the league with a record of 90-64. That would be nice but is a stretch and I doubt it will happen. Last edited by jduteau; 04-09-2013 at 12:59 PM.

04-09-2013, 03:28 PM	#43
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	April 1906 My first season with a new team and I have to manage my expectations. I got used to expecting every game would be a win. The Beaneaters finished April with a 7-8 record. The offense is on par and the pitching was also good for 4th. Unfortunately, Gerheauser was lost for the season to have surgery to remove bone chips. We're down to two valid pitchers so it will be tough to stay in games. I'm hoping to stay around 0.500 this season. Attached Images

04-09-2013, 04:08 PM	#44
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	May 1905 We started the month off on a tear, going 8-3. But a 1-10 slump after brought us down in size. We ended the month of May with a 13-14 record and we are 20-22 for the season. We're hovering around the 0.500 mark which is good and we're in 4th, 7-1/2 games back. I'm very happy with the pitching, even though we're limping through with two real starters. When we lose it is because the offense struggles, so this team strangely enough is totally dependent on its offense. Attached Images

04-09-2013, 05:38 PM	#45
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	June 1905 I'm losing fake starting pitchers left and right. Our defence is still ranked 3rd/4th overall which is an improvement over last year. But it's just not enough to play with Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Chicago. We're in a dogfight with Brooklyn and Cincinnati over 4th place and a spot in the first division. Attached Images

04-10-2013, 03:10 AM	#46
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	The Rest of 1906 July was a disastrous month for us as we went 6-22 and just fell to the bottom of the league. In August, we did a little better at 11-16. In September, we showed a little life and went 14-11, but ended the season in last place in the league with a record of 66-88. Our pitching was 7th and so was our offence. I'm not quite sure what went wrong. I don't think the three position players I moved who could only play 1B would have helped us. We did have the 4th best OBP and led the league in HRs. In any case, it was a disappointing year as I expected better things for this team. But we just have to get back up off the floor and continue to rebuild. Attached Images

04-10-2013, 03:52 AM	#47
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	Hope Springs Eternal in 1907 Strangely enough, I didn't realize that my bad performance last season ended up being par for the course for Boston. By that I mean that I ended up with the same record of 66-88 in 1906 as they accomplished without me in 1905. The AVG and BABIP were the same and I shaved 0.5 off the ERA. So it wasn't as disastrous as I thought it was. Here are the award winners for 1906: AL Gold Glove P Pete Falcone WAS C Roy Campanella NY 1B High Pockets Kelly DET (we traded him away) 2B Gil McDougald BOS 3B Spider Jorgensen CLE SS Joe Tinker WAS LF Max Venable PHA CF Fred Snodgrass PHA RF Mel Ott CLE NL Gold Glove P Charlie Smith PIT C Bob Boone NYG 1B Ray Sanders CIN 2B Benji Gil CIN 3B Jim Finigan PHI SS Yunel Escobar BBR LF Ed Delahanty CHI CF Lenny Dykstra STL RF Ross Youngs CIN AL Rookie - Mark Baldwin NY NL Rookie - Dave Davenport BBR AL Manager - Bill Shettsline DET NL Manager - Joe Bacon PIT AL Pitcher - General Crowder CLE NL Pitcher - Charlie Smith PIT AL Batter - Sam Crawford SLB NL Batter - Levi Meyerle PIT Armed with that ray of sunshine, I went into the draft needing a SP and a starting 2B. With the 3rd pick in the draft, we took Sadie McMahon as our SP. In the 2nd round, I went with Mariano Duncan who isn't quite ready yet to start, but should develop into a good middle infielder. I also picked up two other middle infielders in Blake DeWitt and Harry Arndt who might end up starting for us. The other draft picks were MR Joe Blong and MR Herb McQuaid. Even though MRs get rated with 4 or 5 stars, I think their worth is recognized by the AI when you shop them in trades - any other player you get back for them will be 1-2 stars at best. To open the season, our starting rotation will see Moore, Davenport and Gerheauser back but Sadie McMahon will fill in the rotation and give us 4 quality pitchers. The Lineup will be mostly the same: 3B Bob Bailey SS Yunel Escobar 1B George Sisler CF Mickey Mantle RF Otto Velez LF Goose Goslin C Smokey Burgess 2B Blake DeWitt/Harry Arndt I expect that Del Ennis will see some time at LF as well. Our owner expects us to be around 0.500 and that is what I'm aiming for again this season. The preseason predictions again have us winning the league with a record of 83-71. If that does happen, we'll be battling it out with perennial NL champion Pittsburgh.

04-11-2013, 02:08 AM	#48
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	April 1907 We started the 1907 season with a respectable 9-8 record. Our offense is clicking and there is a mild improvement with the pitching. Strangely enough, we went 6-2 on the road and 3-6 at home. Have to improve at home for our fans! Otto Velez was injured again. It wasn't long enough to put him on the disabled list but he is really bothering me as he keeps getting injured. I went and looked at my old team and Sam Crawford is keeping Roberto Clemente from hitting the field so I may have to see about prying him away from the Browns. Attached Images

04-11-2013, 05:08 PM	#49
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	May 1907 Well, no go on prying Roberto away from the Browns, even after he publicly announced that he wanted to be traded. I just don't have a lot of depth to offer to get him. I looked for other RFs and couldn't get any of them either. We finished the month of May at 22-23 and are 3-1/2 games back of Chicago. Our offense is good and I'm actually fine with the pitching, but for some reason our Runs Allowed are 7th in the league. I went and looked and I believe that our problem is actually defence. It's ranked 6th in the league and if you look at Zone Rating, only C Burgess, SS Escobar, RF Velez, and 3B Bailey are positive. Mickey Mantle is killing us in CF. I'm not sure exactly how to turn over almost an entire team to get good defence, but that might end up being our problem. Attached Images

04-11-2013, 05:18 PM	#50
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	June 1907 We had a good month of June as we went 13-10 which was mostly spurred by a 10-3 run to end the month. We're hovering around 0.500 at 35-33 which is where I thought we'd be and we're actually in 2nd, only 4 games back of Chicago. Strangely enough, after complaining about my defence, it is now 2nd in the league and our runs against is up to 3rd. That just confirms in my mind that our staff of groundball pitchers is very dependent on the defence and I'll need to look at upgrading that in the off-season if I can. Attached Images

04-11-2013, 05:38 PM	#51
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	July/August 1907 We've managed to continue to hover around 0.500 for the months of July and August. Until the end of August, we've also been within 5 games of Chicago, but the Cubs have managed to put some distance between the rest of the pack recently and now we're 9 games back with a record of 62-61. RF Otto Velez has to go. Although he's one of our positive defensive players, his bat is killing us. He's batting .183 and has a -11.4 VORP. I can't find anyone willing to trade us a RF though, so I think I'm stuck with him until the off-season. Attached Images

04-11-2013, 05:44 PM	#52
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	End of 1907 A bad month of September where we went 6-20 killed the season for us. We did manage to make it to 70 wins, but I was hoping for close to 0.500. I'll be looking to upgrade defence and RF in the offseason. And even though I don't like trading huge stars away, Mickey Mantle might have to go because he's getting old at 34 and his defence in CF is one of our problems. We'll see after the re-rate and the draft what we need to fix. Attached Images

04-12-2013, 08:23 PM	#53
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	Awards and Draft AL Gold Glove P PHA Bullet Joe Bush C NY Roy Campanella 1B NY Dave Hansen 2B SLB Bob Glenalvin 3B CLE Spider Jorgensen SS WAS Joe Tinker LF NY Wally Moon CF CLE Barney McCosky RF DET Ron Fairly NL Gold Glove P BRO Mike Boddicker C BSN Smoky Burgess 1B STL Dick Hoblitzell 2B CIN Benji Gil 3B PIT Leo Gomez SS CHI Starlin Castro LF CHI Ed Delahanty CF STL Lenny Dykstra RF CHI Roger Maris AL Rookie WAS Don Robinson NL Rookie BSN Sadie McMahon AL Manager DET Bill Shettsline NL Manager PHI Joe Johnson AL Pitcher DET Scott Stratton NL Pitcher PHI Lefty Grove AL Batter CWS Todd Helton NL Batter CIN Ross Youngs Lefty Grove has been simply sensational for the Phillies but it's a shame that they haven't been able to surround him with talent. In the draft, I went with mostly position players due to a glitch in OOTP where it was only showing me Batters and I didn't realize that until the 5th round. In Round 1, I draft CF Amos Strunk. Strunk is a 5-star prospect who I hope develops quickly as Mickey Mantle is getting old. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, I drafted RF Terry Puhl and RF Jeff Francoeur. These should help me not have to play Otto Velez. 2B Lou Chiozza and Whitey Alperman were next to help shore up 2B and MR Randy Keisler was the last pick who should never see the majors. Going into 1908, our pitching lineup will be the same, but the hope is that, with a better defensive lineup behind them, the team's runs against will improve. On offence, our lineup looks as follows: SS Mariano Duncan/Yunel Escobar C Smoky Burgess 1B George Sisler CF Mickey Mantle 3B Bob Bailey LF Goose Goslin/Otto Velez 2B Harry Arndt RF Terry Puhl/Terry Francoeur We finally have some depth on offence and the only concern I have is Mantle. His defence at CF is going down and, at age 35, he's starting to get old. I did put out some trade feelers and no one was really interested. I do want to move Velez as his defiency on offence hurt us last season and I just think Goslin doesn't need to be platooned.

04-12-2013, 09:43 PM	#54
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	April 1908 Well, a 12-3 record is a pleasant surprise. Our pitching and defence has been great which is good to see. We only played Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and New York, but it is still a good start to the season. I'm worried about Mickey Mantle since he's currently batting 0.170. As well, Harry Arndt is getting in the way of Mariano Duncan batting full-time which blocks Yunel Escobar. And Arndt is only batting 0.182. I'm going to actively trade him away and see if I can find a replacement at CF. Attached Images

04-12-2013, 09:53 PM	#55
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	June 1908 We were doing so well! On May 21, we were 23-10 and had first place all to ourself! The Preseason Predictions had us in 3rd with a record of 81-73 and that seemed doable. Mickey Mantle had obviously heard the rumblings about him and turned his game around. And we had made a trade to move both Arndt and Velez and clear up room in the lineup for the players I wanted. And then we hit a slump. We went 1-8 in the last 9 games and are now 24-18. That is still great and we're in the thick of the run with the Cubs, Reds, and Phillies all within 2 games of each other. But it would have been so nice to end the month on top. We approached the Senators since they had no 2B to speak of and had some interesting CF options. Offering 2B Arndt for CF Jake Stenzel was close and when I added OF Otto Velez it was a done deal. But I felt I was giving up too much, so I inquired as to whether I could pry one of their starters away since I really only had four and wanted some injury backup. Adding SP Ray Keating made it close and when I threw in Ken Aspromonte, the deal was sealed. That gives me five viable starters with three star pitchers - a huge turnaround from when we took over and had one average starter! Moving Arndt didn't accomplish exactly what I had hoped as our manager is still effectively platooning Escobar and now Blake DeWitt, but since DeWitt is hitting much better than Arndt was, I'm sorta okay with that. And Mantle is now platooning with newcomer Stenzel and that obviously worked out since Mantle's numbers rose. I still think I'm one or two pieces away, but we have depth and we have a couple of pieces on the reserve roster that might help in future years, so I'm thinking better of this team than before. Attached Images

04-13-2013, 12:39 AM	#56
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	June 1908 An 18-10 record in June (+1 game in July to finish the series against the Phillies) means I'm estatic with how this team is doing. We're 42-28 and sitting 1-1/2 games up on Cincinnati. The NL is very competitive this season and only New York and Brooklyn are really lagging behind right now, so it will be a dogfight to the end. Terry Puhl was injured and so Amos Strunk got the call up and didn't do too badly for himself. I expect that he'll be playing for real next season and since he can play any outfield position, that will be helpful. Attached Images

04-13-2013, 03:26 PM	#57
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	July 1908 Cincinnati, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago - those four teams have been battling all season long for the pennant. At the beginning of August, Boston sits 1-1/2 games back of the Reds. We lost Smoky Burgess for 2 months at the beginning of July and that stopped the team in its tracks. He was obviously a key on the defence because our DEff started dropping and our pitchers ERA went up a bit. After a week or two, I went out to find a catcher who could help us out. I had a glut of 2B, so I looked at the strengths and called on the Highlanders. We eventually settled on Lou Chiozza for Bill Sarni. Sarni stepped in and helped right the ship, so it was a good deal on our end. Attached Images

04-13-2013, 03:31 PM	#58
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	August 1908 Still the main four teams, but we managed to stay in 1st or 2nd for the whole month. The gap between the four teams has just gotten smaller as we either beat up on each other or all four beat up on the other four teams. Due to the blue laws (no baseball on Sundays in Boston), Cincinnati and Chicago have played 3-4 games more than us, so that gives us a slight advantage. We're leading the league in power as every regular hitter has at least 1 home run and Mantle leads the majors with 8. I've also convinced our manager to use our speed to advantage and it shows in stolen bases and runs scored. Attached Images

04-13-2013, 03:36 PM	#59
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	October 1908 Wow! What a pennant race to the end! That had to be the closest and most tense race I've ever been in. Unfortunately, (sorry for the spoiler!), we came up a bit short which hurts a bit since we had our destiny in our hands, but it was still a great end to the season. Here is the summary of the race entering the start of October: After September 30th: Boston 83-65 - (3 at BRO, 3 at NYG) Cincinnati 84-67 1/2 (2 vs CHI, 1 vs STL) Chicago 81-70 3-1/2 (2 at CIN, 1 vs PIT) After October 1st: (CIN win, CHI loss, BBR loss) Cincinnati 85-67 - (1 vs CHI, 1 vs STL) Boston 83-66 1/2 (2 at BRO, 3 at NYG) After October 2nd: (BBR loss) Cincinnati 85-67 - (1 vs CHI, 1 vs STL) Boston 83-67 1 (1 at BRO, 3 at NYG) After October 3rd: (CIN loss, BBR loss) Cincinnati 85-68 - (1 vs STL) Boston 83-68 1 (3 at NYG) After October 4th: (CIN loss) Cincinnati 85-69 - Boston 83-68 1/2 (3 at NYG) At this point, a sweep gives us the pennant and taking 2-of-3 gives us a tie. After October 5th: (BBR loss) Cincinnati 85-69 - Boston 83-69 1 (2 at NYG) After October 6th: (BBR loss) Cincinnati 85-69 - Boston 83-70 1-1/2 (1 at NYG) And Cincinnati clinches as a Boston slump comes at the worst time! After October 6th: (BBR win) Cincinnati 85-69 - Boston 84-70 Even though we faltered down the stretch, going 1-5, it was still exciting. I hope that we haven't peaked at this point, because I was expecting this team to improve and challenge next season. Attached Images

04-15-2013, 07:36 PM	#60
jduteau Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 166	Pre-Season 1909 Going into the draft, we didn't have a lot of holes, but I wanted to shore up our starting pitching, see if I could find a decent alternative at 2B, and try to figure out how to handle Mickey Mantle's declining skills at CF. But none of that was going to happen in the draft. Picking 15th overall meant there was really nothing to speak of. We took the following: 2B Sam Barkley C Roger Bresnahan MR Andy Rincon MR Bob Hall MR Jim Bivin 1B Fred Tenney Barkley might work out for us at 2B, Bresnahan is an anomaly as he can play C, OF, and Pitch. Rincon is a great MR in an era when MRs are not very valuable. The remaining three picks won't see ML time. Terry Puhl has developed into a great RF, making Francoeur expendable, so I went looking and traded him and Barkley to the Red Sox for SP Fred Mitchell. I also traded Bresnahan away for LF Manny Mota. My owner felt, after these trades, that we had no weaknesses which is a first. Preseason predictions had us finishing third with 81-73 behind Chicago. I was hoping for more as we have the same team as last season and I just see improvements all around. The aforementioned Terry Puhl along with Mariano Duncan and Amos Strunk have made some great strides and will be important parts of the starting lineup. Mickey Mantle's defence has dropped - he's now rated as a 5 out of 20 in CF and I think he's close to not being to play the field.