The Westish Harpooners – a F2P Dynasty

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners' season was off to a promising start. Through April 19, they led the division with an 11-6 record. As it stands today, May 2? The team is now in 4th place in the division with a 13-14 record. As it's the first season up in Silver, some growing pains were expected.

There are, however, some bright spots, starting with new additions Harvey Haddix and Jose Alvarado. Haddix is 4-2 with a 2.80 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Alvarado has 5 saves and 1 win in 10 appearances, with a 0.79 ERA in 11.1 innings. With a 44 Control, however, he has given up 7 walks.

Clyde Milan leads the team with a .305 BA, with Michael Brantley just behind at .302.

Underperforming are 2B Joe Gordon, hitting just .223 with 4 HR, and Troy Tulowitzki has gone 0-21 in his last 6 games.

From the mound, Josh Johnson is 0-4 with a 6.04 ERA. In the Pen, Sam Dyson has an 8.18 ERA in 9 appearances.

The Harpooners are sitting on 1,095 PP and continue to evaluate the best path forward. Superstar CF Deion Sanders is now a free agent...and greatly fits the team's eventual vision of a defense-first squad, but there are many improvements that could be made between now and whenever Deion becomes an affordable option.

The club also has a healthy reserve of 131 players, mostly bronze with some iron and a handful of silver, who could be shipped out for PP. Additionally, Jose Quintana is sitting as a Gold, and is having a tough time adjusting to the Silver League competition. Rookie Troy Tulowitzki's superior defense may not be enough to offset his anemic offensive output, while should-be superstar 2B Joe Gordon has been largely disappointing through his 2 full seasons + 1 month. Lifetime — across Iron, Bronze and now Silver, he's hitting just .233/.306/.439, and averaged 33 HR in his 2 full seasons. While it adds up to a healthy 4.3 average WAR, it's been difficult watching the franchise player get on base less than a third of the time, while Bronze CF Clyde Milan is lifetime .305/.366/.367, with 129 Stolen Bases.

For now, the Harpooners are holding pat. They will be selling off every bronze and iron rated player in the reserves at this time, and will hold on for a couple of months before pulling the trigger on selling off Quintana, Tulo or Gordon.

[sethisthegoat]

Good couple of months for Westish! And we have 5,600 PP to spend after selling off all bronze and iron minor leaguers. Headed to the auction house to look for possible upgrades to pitching and Shortstop. Also, could go after some mid-season pack tryouts. Exciting times!

Just picked up RP Dellin Betances (89) for 2,050 PP.

Apparently forgot to post our record earlier, but Westish leads the division by 3 games with a 37-28 record, helped in part by Clyde Milan's 25-game hitting streak, Jose Berrios' 702 record and a Bullpen that already ranks 1st in the conference in ERA, before adding Betances. The club now has 3,718 PP left and is deciding how to spend it.

[sethisthegoat]

We've cooled off just a little bit, but still lead the division by 4 games, and sits 1 game below promotion at this time.

[sethisthegoat]

Westish's slide continues, as the team now sits at 56-51, and is leading over the Cleveland LetsGoTribe.com by just 3 games.

The club's starting pitchers — now 4 gold-rated pitchers and 1 silver — has largely disappointed, ranking 9th in the conference. The team's FIP and Pitching WAR are ranked 14th, while Defensive Efficiency and Zone Rating are 3rd and 2nd. If the playoffs started today, Westish would be in, but would miss out on promotion to Gold without a surprise playoff run.

Offensively, the team ranks 3rd in Runs Scored and 1st in Batting Average and Batting WAR. Center Fielder Clyde Milan has gone into a deep slide since his 25-game hitting streak ended. At that time, in May, he was hitting .338/.405/.414. As of today, he's down to .262/.329/.322. And his fielding at Center Field, while overall efficient, is less than spectacular with a -1.4 Zone Rating. Clyde has been a staple of the team since Day 1, but it may be time to shake things up a little. Catcher Ernie Lombardi, hitting .282, is going to move up to leadoff for a little while.

On the plus side, Troy Tulowitzki is now hitting a respectable (for him) .253/.317/.383. His average has risen from a meager .199 through the first of June, to .253 in early August. The Harpooners' constant search for an upgrade to the SS bat has now slowed down; Tulowitzki's defense is amazing, with a +14.3 Zone Rating and 1.093 Efficiency.

All Star 2nd Baseman Joe Gordon continues to disappoint with his bat, as well, though his defense is a huge positive. With 14 HR into August, he's on pace for the lowest Home Run total in his Westish career.

[sethisthegoat]

Westish takes a 71-62 record and 1.5-game lead into the final month of the season. They sit 2 games back from relegation right now.

Halfway through August, the club added 1951 All Star SS Al Dark to be an improvement over Tulowitzki's bat at the position. Dark is a 79 on Defense at SS, compared to Rookie Tulo's 107. Dark's addition was made possible in-part by Miguel Andujar's "Hot Bat" achievement on Aug. 6, which netted 2,000 PP in a 19-inning game...that game led to 5 losses in 7 games as the team was over-tired.

While the Harpooners are expected to hold pat for the remainder of the season, the club may experiment with moving Dark to 2nd Base moving forward to replace Joe Gordon at that spot. The club may sell Gordon in free agency, or try moving him to another spot, likely DH or 3B. He hasn't hit above a .240 in his 3 years with the club, and strikes out in nearly 20% of at-bats.

But that's speculation for a later date. Westish is in the midst of a playoff push, and will seek to add some pitching if possible later on.

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners made the Playoffs as a wildcard after losing in game 163 against Cleveland. Westish also lost the Wildcard game. The team will stay in Silver next season. Westish is still proud of the first season in Silver, but needs to improve the team. The squad is listing Joe Gordon in the auction house, and will move Al Dark over to 2nd to learn the position, making a Dark-Tulowitzki middle infield.

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners are making another run in the Silver Leagues, s299, and have started the season 5-1.

Late last year, the team added SS Al Dark, to add a decent bat at SS while still providing solid defense. While this worked as intended, club management decided to go a different direction after the team was ousted from the playoffs in the wildcard matchup: They sold 2B Joe Gordon. Al Dark has moved over to second base, while Troy Tulowitzki has again taken up the SS mantle, with 2006 Derek Jeter brought back to the main roster as a backup.

Westish went out to the free agency pool and swiped up 1976 Unsung Hero CF Garry Maddox, who has now replace longtime Harpooner fan favorite, Clyde Milan, on the squad. While Milan played mightily well in his 3 seasons with the club, his production dropped year after year, even as his stolen bases increased. His defense was also not great at Center Field.

Maddox comes to the team sporting a 103 Center Field Defense, 81 Contact, 85 Gap Power and 54 Avoid K's. His speed, stealing and baserunning — while not up to Milan's level — is no slouch at 77/82/67. Through 6 games, Milan is hitting .458/.423/.625 in 26 plate appearances. SMALL SAMPLE SIZE alert, but the squad is very happy with Maddox's early production.

Westish currently sits on 2,144 PP, with the highest need positions to be improvements on the mound. Here is the team as it stands at the beginning of this season:
Starting Pitchers:
Ian Anderson, Future Legend, 85
Harvey Haddix, 1953 Rookie, 85
Lance McCullers Jr., Live, 85
Jose Quintana, Live, 78
Jose Berrios, Live, 74

Relievers:
Tom Seaver, 1967 Rookie, 74
Dellin Betances, Live, 89
Sam Dyson, Live, 75
Greg Holland, Live, 75
Ryan Tepera, Live, 72
Pedro Strop, Live, 72
Jose Alvarado, Live, 89

Position Players:
C Ernie Lombardi, 1938 All-Star, 87
C Mike Lieberthal, 2000 All-Star, 69
1B Cecil Cooper, 1980 All-Star, 76
2B Al Dark, 1951 All-Star, 89
2B Bill Mazeroski, 1958 All-Star, 73
3B Miguel Andujar, Live, 77
3B Kris Bryant, 2015 Rookie, 77
SS Troy Tulowitzki, 2007 Rookie, 80
SS Derek Jeter, 2006 All-Star, 76
LF Michael Brantley, Live, 77
CF Garry Maddox, 1976 Unsung Hero, 87
RF Chuck Klein, 1929 Record-Breaker, 79 (Plays DH)
RF Shane Victorino, 2013 Unsung Hero, 79

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners' hot start cooled off a bit, as the Harpooners now sit at 15-12, 3.5 games up on the second place team in the division. The club's bats are struggling immensely — tied for 13 in runs scored, 8th in Avg., 15th in OBP. They're near the bottom in every category except for stolen bases, where they rank 2nd.

It's a different story in pitching and defense, where they're 6th in runs against an 8th in Starter ERA, but 2nd in Bullpen ERA, FIP and Pitching WAR, and 1st in Errors. Some of the defense should improve as Al Dark continues adjusting to his new role at 2nd Base. (He's currently rated a 39, starting the year at 0).

It all works out to a team that is 15-12, but that should be 12-15.

Team performance:
Starting Pitchers:
Ian Anderson, Future Legend: 2-1, 3.96 ERA
Harvey Haddix, 1953 Rookie, 3-1, 2.63 ERA
Lance McCullers Jr., Live, 2-3, 4.35 ERA
Jose Quintana, Live, 1-2, 8.67 ERA
Jose Berrios, Live, 1-3, 3.60 ERA

Relievers:
Tom Seaver, 1967 Rookie, 1-0, 2.57 ERA
Dellin Betances, Live, 2-0, 0.73 ERA
Sam Dyson, Live, 0-1, 8.10 ERA
Greg Holland, Live, 1.00 ERA
Ryan Tepera, Live, 1.50 ERA
Pedro Strop, Live, 2-0, 0.96 ERA
Jose Alvarado, Live, 9 SV, 4.05 ERA

Position Players:
C Ernie Lombardi, 1938 All-Star, .355/.367/.500
C Mike Lieberthal, 2000 All-Star, .148/.179/.259
1B Cecil Cooper, 1980 All-Star, .310/.310/.522
2B Al Dark, 1951 All-Star, .253/.266/.368
2B Bill Mazeroski, 1958 All-Star, .200/.273/.300
3B Miguel Andujar, Live, .203/.212/.316
3B Kris Bryant, 2015 Rookie, .167/.275/.217
SS Troy Tulowitzki, 2007 Rookie, .189/.229/.236
SS Derek Jeter, 2006 All-Star, .300/.323/.333
LF Michael Brantley, Live, .242/.312/.323
CF Garry Maddox, 1976 Unsung Hero, .361/.377/.546
RF Chuck Klein, 1929 Record-Breaker, .329/.375/.575
RF Shane Victorino, 2013 Unsung Hero, .181/.206/.309

The team sits at 2,600 PP and is evaluating the best ways to move forward.

[sethisthegoat]

Quick update for player acquisition: We have used our 2,600 PP to acquire 1971 All-Star LF Willie Stargell (89), who will slot in as the new DH, with 65/67/95/58/8 offensive ratings (that K rating is worrysome...but we're on board with everything else).

We are dropping Sam Dyson down to the minors, bringing the pitching staff to 11 and position players to 14 for now.

[sethisthegoat]

We have good news and we have bad news.

The good news? The Westish Harpooners are in 2nd place in the division, just 1 game back from the lead. CF Garry Maddox leads the league in batting average at .351, stolen bases at 15, and Batter WAR at 3.0.

The bad news? The Westish Harpooners are 24-30 on the season, and followed a 16-12 March-April with an 8-18 May, while having a positive record in extra-inning and one-run games. The squad ranks in the bottom half of nearly every offensive category, aside from stolen bases where they're 3rd. Pitching and defense aren't much better, ranking in the double digits in most categories, aside from defensive efficiency (4th) and Zone Rating (2nd).

As things were deteriorating in May, the club recalled Sam Dyson to beef the pitching staff back up to 12, while demoting RF/DH Chuck Klein.

And Westish's big-money acquisition, LF/DH Willie Stargell, has been a disaster with the bat, slashing just .146/.272/.281 with only 3 HR in his month with the team. He's struck out 40 times in 114 plate appearances.

We are going to hang on and see what happens for now, but if something doesn't improve quickly, club management will have some tough decisions to make. It's seeming highly likely that Westish will miss out on promotion for the 2nd consecutive season, however there is still a lot of hope that the team can turn things around and start playing to their potential.

PP status: 560

[sethisthegoat]

Current PP: 3,585, thanks to completing a Flyball Triple Play on June 15, plus the normal stuff.

Record: 40-40, 1 game ahead in the division (2nd place team is 40-42).

Willie Stargell's bat is slowly improving. He's now slashing .209/.312/.424 with 9 HR and 10 doubles, and 67 strikeouts in his 199 PAs...

Who's Hot?
Dellin Betances: Last 9 Games: 1 Save, 0.00 ERA, 14 IP and 15 Ks

Who's not?
Mike Lieberthal: 7 games, 2 for 26 - .077 Avg, 0 HR, 1 RBI

Garry Maddox still leads the team with a .337 Average, good for 3rd in the league. 1B Cecil Cooper is slashing .323/.335/.534 with 14 HR.

Westish leads the league in Defensive Efficiency and Zone Rating, and is 2nd in Errors.

With the above PP, we've added 2015 Historical All-Star Manny Machado (86) to replace the struggling Miguel Andujar at 3rd. Andujar has been a fine part of the team these first few years, but is struggling to keep up at Silver. Machado also sports a superior glove at 3rd, compared to Andujar.

The team spent 2,500 to acquire Machado, but now has a #SolidGold 2nd, 3rd and SS with Al Dark, Rookie Tulowitzki and All Star Machado, to go along with Gold Catcher Ernie Lombardi, Gold CF Garry Maddox and Gold LF/DH Willie Stargell.

[sethisthegoat]

Current PP: 1,705
Record: 52-53, 3 GB from the Lincoln Blue Jays, 5 GB Wildcard

Who's hot?
Ian Anderson: 2 G, 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 13.2 IP
Dellin Betances: 19 G, 1 SV, 2.02 ERA, 26.2 IP, 30 K (used as opener with Jose Berrios primarily)
Sam Dyson: 17 G, 1 SV, 2.12 ERA, 17 IP, 11 K

Last month's key acquisition, 2015 Manny Machado, is playing pretty well in his 25 games: .296/.361/.449 with 3 HR and 10 RBI.

The overall offense continues to be anemic, as the club ranks 14th in Runs scored, and has a +/- of -41 on the year.

[sethisthegoat]

Westish faded mega in September, going 8-19 for the month. Time to rest and start anew next year.

We've got 2,545 PP.

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners have joined Silver 279, and will hope for a better season after the abysmal 74-88 record last year, which followed an initial 88-75 campaign the previous year in Silver. The squad way-underperformed.

Looking at the team this year, no one snuck up into diamond overnight. Jose Quintana is back up to a Gold 80, while Michael Brantley is on the cusp of Gold at a 79...

Westish is sitting on 3,645 PP and has decided to hold open tryouts with 18 players. Here goes nothing!

Pack 1:
Sam Freeman, Live LHP Reliever, 59
Brandon Drury, Live 3B, 57
Tony Watson, Live LHP Reliever, 66
Bob Stanley, 1983 All-Star Closer, 67
JB Shuck, Live CF, 52
Roberto Perez, Live C, 58

Pack 2:
Jon Jay, Live CF, 58
Joe Mays, 1999 Rookie RHP Starter, 60
Kirby Yates, Live RHP Closer, 78
Drew Robinson, Live 2B, 58
Framber Valdez, Live LHP Reliever, 61
Harrison Musgrave, Live LHP Reliever, 46

Pack 3:
Cory Gearrin, Live RHP Reliever, 61
Robert Stephenson, Live RHP Reliever, 59
Victor Reyes, Live RF, 48
Alen Johnson, Live LF, 57
Matt Magill, Live RHP Reliever, 50
Jacob Rhame, Live RHP Reliever, 60

A whole lotta nothin', however Kirby Yates will be jointing the team in place of Ryan Tepera. Yates becomes a setup man.

We will roll with the same team everywhere else this year, continuing to evaluate Willie Stargell, who disappointed at DH last season. If his bat doesn't improve, he will be shipped out.

Go Harpooners!

[sethisthegoat]

It's been a tale of two months so far for the Harpooners in 2025. While the season started off great at 18-10 through April, a 10-17 May has left Westish at 28-27, in 2nd place in the division a full 10.5 games back.

And it looks like it could just get worse: The team ranks 1st in the conference in BABIP at .257, 1st in defensive efficiency and 1st in Zone Rating, yet team ERA is just 7th. Westish is dead last in walks allowed.

Offensively, they're hitting a respectable .267 for 3rd in the conference, but just can't convert that into runs.

Garry Maddox — reigning AC MVP from last season — is hitting .345/.365/.480 from leadoff. His defense zone rating is a +6.7, and he's just all-around a great player. Michael Brantley is hitting .300, and Al Dark is hitting .281.

Who's hot?
Lance McCullers Jr.: 5 G, 3-1, 2.28 ERA (overall 5-5, 4.01 ERA)

Who's not?
Dellin Betances: 11 G, 9.00 ERA (he serves largely as an opener for Jose Berrios, who is 4-2 with a 3.17 ERA in 11 games this season.)

The team has 2,935 PP, and is stockpiling for more right now.

Update: The club used 2,200 of the available PP to add Adalberto Mondesi to the bench. Mondesi will become a super sub utility player, as he becomes a primary backup to every position in the field. As his defense improves, he may eventually take over in left or right field full time in future seasons.

[sethisthegoat]

We're at the All-Star Break, and the Harpooners are now sitting at 54-41, having had a pretty good June and July. Unfortunately, they sit 11 games behind division (and league) leading Asgard Warhammers. Westish is currently a game ahead in the Wildcard.

The club had no all stars, but still has plenty to celebrate.

While Westish is 12th in Runs Scored and 11th in OBP, we are top 3 in Average, OPS, Batting WAR and wOBA, 3rd in runs against and 2nd in starter ERA, and lead the conference in Defensive Efficiency and Zone rating, while ranking near the bottom in strikeouts, FIP and Pitching WAR.

CF Garry Maddox has the top average, hitting .314/.346/.461 with 32 doubles and 8 triples, for a 4.2 WAR so far. 1B Cecil Cooper is swatting .289/.314/.472 with a team-leading 16 HR.

Jose Quintana is leading the team from the mound, notching a 9-5 record with 2.66 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP in 19 starts. Closer Jose Alvarado is sitting at 27 saves in 39 appearances, with just 1 Blown Save.

Newcomer Adalberto Mondesi has started 20 games and played in 7 more, putting time in at 2nd, 3rd, SS, LF, CF and RF. He's hitting .321/.364/.432, and has 12 stolen bases to 3 times caught stealing, playing nearly every day since being added to the team. He does had 1 5-for-5 game, and has largely been a boon to a team that was struggling when he was acquired.

The Harpooners' major addition from two seasons ago, Al Dark, is coming into his own this season, swatting .284/.314/.461 and sporting a +4.4 ZR at 2nd base, where he's grown accustomed to quite well.

Last year's supposed big addition Willie Stargell is having a better season, though still underachieving, hitting .269/.348/.480, with 15 HR and 45 HR, while striking out 1/3 of every Plate Appearance.

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners are going to the playoffs, with a 92-70 record, despite sitting 20 games back in the division.

Jose Quintana, 16-7 and a 3.13 ERA, will face off with the Centerville Elks' Justus Sheffield, 14-7 and a 4.21 ERA. Westish was just 2-5 against Centerville on the season.

In the end, Garry Maddox led the team with a .305 average, followed by Brantley's .304. Maddox's WAR was a 6.8 to lead the team and the conference. He had 198 hits and scored 102 runs this season.

Willie Stargell hit .255/.335/.463 with 25 HR in 132 games.

Quintana and Harvey Haddox each notched 16 wins.

Closer Jose Alvarado ended the season with 45 saves, 2.28 ERA and 76 Ks in 59.1 IP.

The club has 5,536 PP to play with right now, and will look to upgrade pitching prior to the start of next season.

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners defeated the mighty Asgard Warhammers in the Division Series 3-1.

Willie Stargell led the way with 5 hits in 14 at-bats, 2 of them doubles and 2 of them home runs. He also had a home run in the team's 5-4 wildcard victory.

In the Sub-League series, they will take on the San Jose Bucks. The Bucks and Harpooners were each 92-70 in the regular season. Westish was 4-3 against San Jose, who is led by Bobby Bonds, Anthony Rizzo, Ozzie Ables and Aaron Hicks.

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners are in the Silver League World Series! Our first World Series berth after beating San Jose 4 games to 1.

Al Dark was named Player of the Series after hitting 6-for-19 with 2 HR and 4 RBI.

Prior to the series, Westish added 1986 Hardware Hero LHP Starting Pitcher Fernando Valenzuela (89) to the starting rotation.

Valenzuela pitched in game 2 — Westish's 1 loss. He pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball, but Kirby Yates blew the save.

Ian Anderson, Lance McCullers Jr., Jose Quintana and Harvey Haddix each took wins the rest of the series, as Westish gave up a total of 6 runs in the 5-game series, which included 2 shutouts.

Westish will face either the Milwaukee Brewers or Lanai Wave in the championship series. The Wave currently lead 3-2.

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners have won the Silver League World Series! It's the squad's first championship, and they are headed up into Gold 333 with 4,911 PP in the bank. (I'd love to provide some more of a recap...but I wasn't able to log in before and now I can't get any of last season's info. We did have 4 Great Glove winners, and a save streak that lasted nearly 40 games by the end).

Now we are onto the Gold leagues!

A couple of player updates:
Jose Alvarado is now a 90...there's a chance we could sell him off, but dude was so good for us last season, with 45 saves.

Adalberto Mondesi dropped back down to an 86.

Michael Brantley is up to an 80 now, as his stats continue to rise.

Jose Quintana is down to a 78, while Jose Berrios rose to a 76.

We are headed into the auction house to try to upgrade at 1B and/or pitching before the season begins.