|
||||
|
|
OOTP Dynasty Reports Tell us about the OOTP dynasties you have built! |
|
Thread Tools |
10-18-2019, 03:44 PM | #1 |
Minors (Rookie Ball)
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: VA
Posts: 25
|
The Flappy Boys: The Rays (1998-
The Flappy Boys
Currently: March 1998 Table of Contents: Chapter 1 - The Beginning A. Introduction 1. The Year Before the Rays: 1997 2. The Inaugural Draft 3. The Calm Before the Storm 4. The Inaugural Season - 1998 *** On the horizon comes a franchise from the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Finally, after getting the "ok" in 1995, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are looking ahead to getting professional ballplayers to don the newest uniforms of the American League. (The Arizona Diamondbacks will be the newest expansion team of the National League, entering the MLB as well in 1998) At the helm of this new franchise that enters arguably the most daunting division in baseball is me, the first hire of team-owner Vince Naimoli. I will be managing the life of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise from their inception until the MLB takes my license as a GM/Manager away. I have the task of starting from scratch with only the help of an inaugural draft, initial budget of practically nothing, and beneficial draft picks. Housekeeping:
__________________
F2P out of necessity, not by choice. Last edited by tallywood; 10-19-2019 at 01:41 PM. |
10-18-2019, 04:48 PM | #2 |
Minors (Rookie Ball)
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: VA
Posts: 25
|
The Final Season Without the Devil Rays: 1997
I sat on the sidelines, interviewing potential managers, coaches, trainers, and scouts all year. It was an exciting year of baseball as the Mariners finally got their World Series. (With a roster that stacked, no wonder it would happen this decade.) Today, October 28th, 1997, I move into my office at Tropicana Field and get ready to start putting together the big board for the first roster in Devil Rays history! As for 1997, here it is summed up: Accomplishments:
AL All Stars: NL All Stars: End of Regular Season Standings & Leaders: Playoffs:
__________________
F2P out of necessity, not by choice. Last edited by tallywood; 10-19-2019 at 01:39 PM. |
10-18-2019, 05:31 PM | #3 |
Minors (Rookie Ball)
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: VA
Posts: 25
|
The Inaugural Draft:
November 15th, 1997: The draft pool information was released and, I have to say, the prospects look good. I think we got really lucky coming into the league in 1998 with just how juicy the draft pool looks. As for strategy, I have to think a little bigger than just winning. I have to build a fan-base. I need to find some guys that people want to invest their time, energy, and umm... money into. Personally, I love contact + defense guys, so I really think we will work on building something around a scrappy team that doesn't strike out too often. I strongly believe that an elite defense can make up for an average rotation. So, to put it simply, I am valuing defense, contact, eye, and bullpen arms highly. There's a kid named JD Drew from Florida State that I really like. Our owner says I have $6.5 Million to work with for free agents, but Drew wants $6 million a year... do I really want to invest all that into a 21 year old? I mean... he looks like a kid this franchise could build around though... As for the draft pool: My first thoughts are we have to look more into:
I can't stop thinking about that JD Drew kid... my owner just came back and said we have $7.8 million to sign some free agents. Man... I'm going to have to sleep on this, but I'll throw out a feeler to make sure he knows we are looking at him. November 29th, 1997 We got in touch with JD Drew's agent and he's definitely interested in becoming the first Devil Ray. We managed to get him interested in a 6 year deal where his first few years are around $5 million to help the team build up something competitive early. The money jumps up to around $7 million his last few years to let him know we want him. I also threw in some hefty awards if he makes all-star teams or, jesus, gets an MVP award. I really think he could be our dude. As for the league, I'd love to be going after Randy Johnson, Bernie Williams, Mike Piazza, or Craig Biggio, but that's just not our game at the moment. I know it's going to be tough, and throwing the money at those guys probably isn't smart. Hell, I'm even second guessing the $5 million I just offered JD. December 1st, 1997 JD Drew's agent got back to me and said he wants more money. Something tells me other teams are going after him which is going to drive the price up. I'm really trying to sell the fact that he could make even more money by being the face of the new franchise. I mean, he'd CLEARLY be the guy considering he'd be the only guy on our roster for like three weeks until the drafts. We worked on a new 5 year deal where we start at $5 million and go up to $9 million. I threw in some player options, which I really didn't want to do. If he doesn't like this one, I think we move on... OH! In other news, Craig Counsell just got traded to the Angels for Troy Percival and Jarrod Washburn... so at least we don't have to face Percival this year. December 15th, 1997 Well, it looks like the JD Drew talks will have to pause. We have the first-year player draft to take part in! We drew the #2 pick behind the other new team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. My scout and I both really like Troy Glaus right now. He has everything we are looking for: A strong arm from 3B, great hands, great eyes, and he has a college education (which, right now, is important for our team) The D-Backs took CC Sabathia with the first pick in the 1998 Draft. Which, thankfully, leaves us to taking Troy Glaus with the second pick... however he just told us he is going to want around $2 million as a signing bonus... ugh. Notes from the first round: Matt Holliday to the Padres, Orlando Hernandez to the Reds, Pat Burrell to the A's, Adam Dunn to the Royals, Aubrey Huff to the Cubs, Juan Pierre to the Pirates, Carlos Pena to the Phillies, Michael Cuddyer to the White Sox, Ryan Vogelsong to the Rockies, Jeff Weaver to the Twins, Carlos Zambrano to the Mets, Eric Hinske to the Red Sox. As for the rest of the draft, the highlights are:
I can't complain about the draft as we are taking guys that will be our future... starting in 3 years. But hey, our minor league teams need some people in the seats too. The inaugural draft is where we are going to see what we are going to put on the field at Tropicana this year. December 16th, 1997 We're at the Expansion draft and the protection lists have just come out. No shockers really, but it is crazy to see guys like Mark Clark and Sandy Alomar Jr. available. Both of those guys will be either DBacks or Devil Rays this evening. December 17th, 1997 With the first pick, we took a starting pitcher from the Yankees, Mark Clark. This was a decision made for a couple reasons: The dude had a 2.9 ERA in 97, and a 3.4 ERA in 96. He plays for the Yankees, so that's a guy they don't have anymore (remember we are both in the AL East so this was a nice little steal). AND his personality test came back as "adaptable," and that's what you need when starting a whole new franchise. The DBacks took a SP as well in Darryl Kile from the Astros, and Roberto Petagine from the Mets (who I didn't really like because our scout says he's lazy). With our second pick, we decided on Todd Pratt, the Mets' catcher. I know he doesn't have the best stats from last year with a .197 average, but I think that's an anomaly. He hit almost .400 in AAA the year before last. Let's hope I'm right. Our third pick goes to Jose Hernandez, a 3B from the Royals that is going to transition to CF for us. He's a young guy with strong hands, but just needs to see the ball in the air and not the ground. Here is the aftermath of the Inaugural Draft, and... THE FIRST ROSTER OF THE TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS!!!
__________________
F2P out of necessity, not by choice. Last edited by tallywood; 10-18-2019 at 06:59 PM. |
10-18-2019, 07:13 PM | #4 |
Minors (Rookie Ball)
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: VA
Posts: 25
|
The Calm Before the Storm of 1998:
December 21st, 1997 Just got word that Matt Riley will not sign with us. Not a terrible loss as we took a gamble on him late in the draft. He wanted over $1 million, but $1.5 was not enough I guess. Other than that, we got everyone else from the draft. News broke early this morning that Barry Larkin has signed with the Florida Marlins.... I'm not too happy about that since we are fighting for Florida fans at the moment.. Other than that, here are some Free Agency signings that are surprising:
December 31st, 1997 IT HAPPENED!! We got our own Florida boy! This helps combat that Barry Larkin signing the Marlins pulled off. I'm hoping the Tallahassee native and FSU LEGEND, JD Drew, is our dude for a long time... and brings in as many Florida fans as possible! January 4th, 1998 News just broke that Mike Mussina heads out to Colorado, and Randy Johnson heads to Philadelphia. They are chasing the money, but who can blame them? Randy brought the World Series to Seattle and is now getting rewarded by the Phillies. I will say that I am pretty happy both of those guys are headed to the NL... BUT, 36-year-old Andres Galarraga just signed with the Yankees for his final contract. Let's hope he stops hitting .300 every year January 21st, 1998 Three new Hall of Famers have been voted in: Don Sutton, Bert Blyleven, and Phil Niekro. (I'm sad that Ken Griffey Sr. got dropped from the ballot in his first year, but I'm not shocked) February 1st, 1998 Looks like the Phillies are making a push. They just signed Fred McGriff as their 1B and three-hole-hitter. Their rotation consists of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling (For some reason I feel some sort of deja-vu...) As for the updates from Mr. McNicholas, our President of operations. His goals for us are to :
February 20th, 1998 More free agents are being signed for crazy deals. I'm a little envious of their cash, but I know we just have to sit and watch for now. Bernie Williams signed a 7 year, $77 million deal with the Reds (good, get out of the AL East). March 30th, 1998 TOMORROW IS OPENING DAY and the first day of REAL Tampa Bay Devil Rays history. I can't believe it is finally here. This great feeling comes with some terrible news. We got word from our medical staff that our #2 pitcher, Sterling Hitchcock, tore a muscle in his back... just terrible luck. This might mean we see Rick Ankiel a little sooner than we thought, but for now, I'm excited to get started. I have a press conference in the morning that will announce the first 25 man roster in Tampa Bay Devil Rays history! See you then.
__________________
F2P out of necessity, not by choice. Last edited by tallywood; 10-19-2019 at 01:04 PM. |
10-19-2019, 01:38 PM | #5 |
Minors (Rookie Ball)
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: VA
Posts: 25
|
The Inaugural Season - 1998
March 31st, 1998 This morning I announced at the press conference that our rotations and lineups will be as follows. (And I added ESPN's top Devil Rays prospects for fun)
__________________
F2P out of necessity, not by choice. Last edited by tallywood; 10-19-2019 at 01:41 PM. |
Bookmarks |
|
|