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Old 04-05-2019, 03:41 PM   #1
Questdog
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The Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League (MLB)

So what happened was this:

In 1899, at the National League Winter Meetings, it was proposed that the League should contract back to 8 teams from the 12 it had currently, dropping Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville and Washington. Syndicate ownership and the fact that 11th and 12th place teams were finding it hard to generate any fan interest were the argued reasons. In real life, this proposal passed. But in our universe, someone had the bright idea to get rid of the syndicate ownership and keep all 12 teams, splitting the League into two divisions East and West. This would allow a natural post-season championship to be played as opposed to the artificial Temple Cup series that had pitted the first place club against the second place club and had proved unpopular. It would also save money on travel expenses as teams would play opponents in their division more often than clubs further away. The motion carried.

Thus, when Ban Johnson and his upstart American League tried to become a major league circuit in 1901, they found fewer places to invade in the East. With Baltimore, Cleveland and Washington still occupied by National League Clubs, they instead tried to put teams in Buffalo, Providence and Rochester. The National League magnates fought the upstarts tooth and nail and Johnson's league only lasted a season and a half before it folded up shop. So the National League had major league baseball all to itself.

The only change in the National League membership from 1892 to the present, was that in 1903, after the American League had evaporated, the Louisville Colonels moved to Detroit and became the Tigers.

Meanwhile, way out west, the Pacific Coast League owners were finding themselves less and less enamored of being considered an inferior league to the easterners and they especially did not like the practice of their players being drafted by the National League at prices far below market value. So in 1926, after a few seasons of unprecedented success, the PCL withdrew from the National Agreement and declared itself a major league. The National League did not react to this development with the same level of antagonism they had shown Ban Johnson's outfit because the PCL was not invading their territory or their rosters. There were 1,800 miles between St. Louis, the NL's westernmost club and San Diego, the PCL's easternmost team. Within a few years, the two leagues signed an agreement recognizing each other's rights and the National League formally acknowledged the PCL as an equal, even if informally they did not.

One thing the Pacific Coast League did when it declared itself a major league was to abolish the color line so that it could acquire as many major league caliber players as it could without raiding National League rosters. This quickly made it the superior league in quality of play, though the perception remained the opposite, especially in the East. In the 1930's there was talk of a championship series between the two leagues, but the NL balked, citing travel costs and the fact that there were only 8 teams in the PCL, which would mean a higher percentage of its owners would profit from the series. Those reasons were valid, but the more valid, unstated reason was that they did not want to play integrated ball clubs.

After World War II, the Pacific Coast League decided to remove the objections the National League had publicly offered and, buoyed by the explosion in attendance they enjoyed, expanded to a 12-team league. The Hollywood Stars moved to Kansas City, the Sacramento Solons moved to Dallas and the league added teams in Denver, Houston, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. When the National League integrated in 1947 and air travel became available and affordable, there was nothing stopping a National Championship Series between the two leagues from being staged.

Except the name of the series.

The Pacific Coast League objected to calling it the "National Championship Series" because it had the National League's name in the title and the "National League-Pacific Coast League Championship Series" did not easily roll off the tongue. Someone (we do not know who) suggested calling it the "World Series", for "surely there are no better baseball clubs in the world than in either of these two leagues!"

What about an All-Star game? Great idea! So the two leagues agreed to play an All-Star game in July and stage a "World Series".

We find ourselves now in Year 0 of the World Series Era in a universe where Baseball is frozen in time and it always plays like it did in the 1980's....
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Old 04-05-2019, 03:42 PM   #2
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It has been a long time since I have played OOTP due to my health and general malaise. Reading tiny letters on a computer screen had become more than just a chore and was sometimes impossible. But recently my eyesight has improved a bit to where I can spend a few hours at the terminal without inducing headaches, so I thought I would start up a fictional league in OOTP 20 and see how it goes.

A few of you may remember me as one who liked to dive off the deep end into elaborate setups that took a lot of work to run. I am not up to that sort of enterprise anymore (yet?) and have decided to just go with a simple league that will scratch my itch of running a team and falling in love with some players. Of course, I cannot just set up a plain old boring standard league and there are some things that I am still going to do manually that I feel are necessary for me to enjoy the game.

Namely, overhauling the defensive ratings of all the players. It irks me to no end when a player is only rated for centerfield, but has poor range or is only rated for left, but has an awesome arm. Ditto with the infielders. Shortstops with poor arms, who I cannot move over to second base, etc. And I hate having to scrounge the lists for utility players.

So I will be setting all players defensive positions based on their fielding ratings. I have a spreadsheet set up for this purpose and I do not personally see any of the ratings, so there is no cheating involved. Basically, if a player can play the outfield, his positions are based on his range and arm. Decent range means he can play center. A decent arm means he can play right. Anyone qualifying for center or right can also play left and if a centerfielder has a good arm, he can play right, too. Infielders are a little more complicated because their DP rating is also considered but the logic is similar. Anyone who fails to qualify for any position based on his ratings is given a rating for first base.

So the Universe has 24 teams, split into two leagues, each split into two divisions, just like the real major leagues from 1969 through 1976. Only instead of the National and American Leagues, we have the National and Pacific Coast Leagues. We are going play my favorite kind of baseball: 1980's style (minus the DH).

The league totals and modifiers are based on an average of the years 1982-1987. I am using ballparks from the 1980's (where possible). The park factors were set based on the average the park showed during 1982-87 for parks that existed in the majors then. Three teams play in parks that were not used in the Majors in 1982-87: Washington plays in RFK Stadium and its modifiers are based on the average it showed when the now Texas Rangers played there in the late 1960's and early 1970's; Denver plays in Mile High Stadium, which was used as a minor league park in 1982-87 and its factors are based on 1993 and 1994 when the Colorado Rockies played there; and Portland plays in The Skydome, which opened in Toronto in 1989 and its factors are based on the average it showed in the 1990's.

Each team has a complete minor league system, but instead of the convoluted AAA, AA, A+, A-, etc. naming scheme, the levels are AAA, AA, A, B, C, D and Rookie. That is 7 levels, technically more than have ever actually been used in real life, but in the 1950's the fewest affiliates any team had was 8. The Dodgers had 24 and the Cardinals had 21. The average was 14. So each of our teams having 7 is exactly half of what they actually had then, but more than they had in the 1980's.

We will be playing with Financials based on the Modern Era, but at only 10% of current values, so that a player making $2 million in our universe is equivalent to a modern player making $20 million. Free Agency is set to the A/B type compensation as it was in the 1980's. Our draft is set to 40 rounds because we need lots of players for the extra levels of minors.

Other Settings that are not default:

Scouting is ON, but Coaches are turned OFF. Scouting is on because otherwise there is no way to judge the International Free Agents. Coaches are OFF because 1) they actually add nothing to the experience as they are randomly hired and fired by the A.I. and their past records have no bearing on anything and 2) I need to utilize the strategy sliders to get the stats to look like the 1980's and we cannot have the managers all changing my settings. Plus, I set the sliders in a much more logical manner than any A.I. managers do.

Ratings scales are set to 1-100 with show higher values enabled. If a player is 125 runner, why should this be hidden from me? I should be able to see that he is clearly faster than the other 100 rated runners. Overall Ratings are set to the 20-80 scale (why no 1-100 here?)

You may ask, "Why 1-100? Isn't there a little more fog of war with a 1-10 scale or any other scale?" My answer is no, there is not any more fog of war with fewer ticks on the scale. With scouting on and set to normal accuracy, the 1-100 ratings are not equal to what the ratings actually are in the engine. The advantage of having a finer rating scale is that my scout can give me his advice on who he thinks is better at each skill more often than if the scale was only 1-10. He may not be right often, but having his opinion on such matters seems more realistic to me than having him say, "Well, these guys are all about the same and I can't tell them apart." If scouting were turned off and ratings were shown, then, of course, there would be more fog of war with a 1-10 scale than a 1-100 scale. But with scouting on, the scale is irrelevant to the fog of war.

Injury ratings are hidden and injury frequency is set to High (Realistic Modern Day).
Delayed Injury Diagnosis is turned off. This also adds nothing to the experience. It could be interesting if at least SOME information was given to you after an injury and the duration was just left unsettled, but as it is, it is difficult to explain in a report of a game what happened to the player.

"What happened to Bubba?"
"He's hurt."
"What's hurt? His head? His toe? His arm? What?"
"I dunno; he's hurt."
"Did you ask Bubba what hurts?"
"Yeah."
"What did he say?"
"He dunno; he's hurt."

Also, even with this turned off, injury durations are not set in stone and players sometimes heal faster or have setbacks and take longer to return than at first reported or sometimes the return date is actually reported as "uncertain".

Storylines are turned off. Another interesting idea, poorly implemented. They happen way too often and after a few seasons of play, they become repetitive. Also, some of them break immersion by not being relevant to the era you are playing. And a LOT of them will just tick you off (when your #1 prospect decides to quit and go be a ballerina or something).

AI Player Evaluation settings: Ratings/Current Year/Previous Year/2 Years ago = 20/45/25/10

Trading Difficulty set to Hard/Neutral

No DH in majors or minors.

No roster expansion in September. Our minor leagues are still playing through September, plus I never understood why this was a thing anyway.

Trading deadline is set to June 15, because that is the way it was before 1986 (85?). No waiver trades after the deadline.

Trading of Injured players is allowed (as long as there is full disclosure of the injury).

Average attendance is set to 22,500 and ticket revenue is adjusted to compensate.

25-man All-Star rosters. No DH in the All-Star Game.

Option years are enabled and the Rule V Draft is enabled.

10/5 rule is enabled.

DL length is set to 15 days as it was in the 1980's.

25 man rosters with 10-man pitching staffs in the majors and 30-man rosters on the AAA and AA minor league affiliates and 35-man rosters for all lower levels.

Player origins are based on actual data from the 1950's to the 2000's, with the 1980's weighted the most and the decades nearer to them weighted more than the ones further away.

Minimum salary is set to $50,000, rather than $55,000, because I like round numbers.

The stat totals and modifiers have been set to give us a near perfect Year I season that looks close to the average of the National League from 1982-87. They will not be changed and the stats output will be allowed to meander a bit as long as it does not get out of hand.

House Rules:
No Waiver Claims allowed, but I can lose players to waivers.
I cannot trade any free agents I sign until a World Series has passed since inking the contract. No flipping.

I simulated 1925-2000 (75 years!) and then erased all stats and history. Normally I sim for 25 seasons before I start a new universe, but changed my mind about starting in 1950 and decided to start in 2001 and call it Year I of the World Series Era. Simming at least 25 years really is necessary when you create a new league, because the players created initially are just not the same as the ones that come through the draft later.

I will be playing as the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League. I set them to a Market Size of 1 during the pre-sim to insure they were a crappy team for Year I. They lost 95 games in the final season. We will not have the first pick in the draft, though, because the Baltimore Orioles lost 98 games.

Here are the alignment of the teams and their park factors and Market Sizes (based on average payroll in 1982-87):

Name:  DAM Park Factors.png
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Giant Stadium is a clone of Yankee Stadium. Angel Stadium is not called Anaheim Stadium because the Los Angeles Angels are not in Anaheim; they are in Los Angeles.

The Boston Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers are the defending champions of their respective leagues. The Cleveland Indians and the Los Angeles Angels were the other division winners in the final pre-sim season.

Here we go!

Last edited by Questdog; 04-07-2019 at 06:01 PM.
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Old 04-05-2019, 03:43 PM   #3
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Old 04-05-2019, 03:43 PM   #4
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Old 04-05-2019, 06:24 PM   #5
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Monday, October 16, Year 0

I started my new job in charge of the Portland Beavers eleven days after the Milwaukee Brewers swept the Los Angeles Angels in the Pacific Coast League Championship. My first order of business was to find a new scouting director as ours was fired with the old management team. There were no sure fire, slam dunk hires available. I settled on Dave Dafoe, 53 years old from Richardson, Texas. He is reported to be good at all areas of scouting, with a particular expertise in International Scouting. Editor's Note: Good ratings everywhere, except Great at International and favors ability.

While I was negotiating with him, I made sure we had contract offers out to all the players that we would like to come back.
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Old 04-05-2019, 06:31 PM   #6
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Tuesday, October 24, Year 0

Dafoe agreed to a 4 year contract at $43,000 per year. I told him to get to work immediately and start earning his money.

My next order of business was to look over all of our player lists and see what we have to work with. As one would expect of a team that lost 95 games, there is not a whole lot to be excited about.

We have 7 minor league affiliates, so there are a lot of players to look at, but very few that are pleasing to the eye.

Here is our minor league system:
AAA: Vancouver Mounties of the Western League
Vancouver, Washington is just across the Columbia River from Portland, but that is not where the Mounties play. They play in the city in Canada about 250 miles to the north.
AA: Jackson Generals of the Texas League
They are in Mississippi.
A: Visalia Oaks of the California League
Visalia is an inland city in south central California, between Bakersfield and Fresno.
B: Kinston Eagles of the Piedmont League
They play in North Carolina.
C: Dubuque Packers of the Midwest League
They play in Iowa.
D: Salem Senators of the Northwest League
They are right here in Oregon, 50 miles south of Portland.
Rookie: Helena Gold Sox of the Pioneer League
They play in Montana.

The Beavers were second to last in scoring in the Pacific Coast League with a paltry 577 runs. Two more than the last place Oakland Oaks, who play in an extreme pitcher's park. Our park is hitter friendly. The League average was more than 100 runs higher than what we scored and the Denver Bears, playing in Mile High Stadium, scored 199 runs more than us. The Beavers only hit .234, worst in the PCL (League Average was .253). In fact, the team was last in EVERY offensive category, except for runs scored and stolen bases, in which they led the League with 213. We only had two players in double figures in home runs and one of those had 10. The other, 2B Jeff Austin (28-R), had 27, but he only hit .263 and he is a crappy fielder. Our starting First Baseman hit .191 and had 33 RBI as a full-time player. He is Joe Harrison (34-R) and he is by far the highest paid player on the team. He will make $1.7 million for each of the next two seasons.... At age 29, the Beavers signed him to a 7 year extension in a season that he hit .257 with 24 HR and 84 RBI. The next season he hit .201 with 42 RBI.... In his best season since signing the big contract, he hit .235 with 14 HR and 62 RBI.... Hopefully, we can find a place to dump that salary this off season. The second highest paid player on the team hit .213 in 493 AB...

The pitching and defense were nothing to brag about, either, but they only finished 10th worst in runs allowed with 712. Most walks allowed with 586 and fewest shutouts with 7. The team leader in wins had 10, but he lost 21 to lead the League in losses for the second straight year. The #2 starter went 5-18 with a 5.17 ERA. He is already gone from the team, having been lost to waivers before I arrived. How sad... The Bullpen had the 3rd worst ERA.

As far as rising prospects go, we have very few. Even though the Beavers have been picking near the top of the first round almost every season for a long time, they have only 1 player ranked in the top 100 prospects by Baseball America: CF Perry Templet (22-L), who they put at #50. He looks like he will be a good player with only 2 weaknesses: 1) impatience at the plate and 2) getting caught stealing a lot. He will begin the season in AA.

None of their other first round picks in the past few seasons are worth a diddly. This past year's #1, 2B Earl Radke (19-R), has a big bat, but no glove at all. At least he may have some trade value, though, which is more than can be said for most of the others. CF Tom Keating (23-R), the #1 overall pick in the draft three seasons ago, hit .195 with a .568 OPS in B Ball this past year. B Ball is a long way from the Major Leagues. Editor's Note: On par with Low A in the modern minor leagues.

As a whole, our Minor League System was ranked dead last... The Baltimore Orioles were the only other team with only one prospect rated in the top 100, but theirs was rated as #1.
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Old 04-05-2019, 08:26 PM   #7
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Monday, November 6, Year 0

The next order of business was the Arbitration Hearings and we only had 1 player to worry about: RP Lou Hertzberg (29-L). The other 5 players arbitration eligible were all non-tendered because they stink. Hertzberg actually did not pitch in the Majors last season, though he had a salary of $156,000. Our head scout, Dave Dafoe, does not think a lot of him, but he has been effective everywhere that he has pitched with a 2.63 career ERA in 6 major league seasons. 1.57 ERA last season split evenly between AAA and AA. We offered a pay cut at $140,000. He was awarded $225,000.
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Old 04-05-2019, 09:42 PM   #8
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Tuesday, November 7, Year 0

Free Agents filed today and we did not have any players leave that we were sad to see go. We were sad that none of them had any compensation attached to them. I scoured the lists for any players that would help us (especially starting pitchers), but there were very few players who I have any desire to sign. The good ones were either too old, too injury prone or had Type A status attached (or all three).

I offered minor league contracts with Major League Options to 3 young starting pitchers who had good seasons in AAA to give us some competition in Spring Training, but that was it for pitchers.

For fielders, we desperately need help up the middle: 2B, SS and CF. I actually like the 2 catchers we have. Both are young and not terrible and, most importantly, can run a little. As anyone who knows me knows, if you cannot outrun my pet three-legged box turtle, I have no use for you. Even if you are a catcher or a first baseman. You do not have to be fast, by any means, and I don't care much about stealing bases, but you have to have SOME mobility. Incumbent second baseman Jeff Austin (28-R) will be moved to first because his glove stinks at second. Incumbent first baseman, Joe Harrison (34-R), will either be traded or paid $1.7 million to man the Gatorade cooler.

We are going to make a ton of trades. This will not be the norm every winter, but I need to get rid of all the players that I do not like who are too good to just cut.

In our first trade, we landed our starting shortstop and a starting pitcher.

Trade #1:
SP Dane Wynne (28-R), RF Steve Thwing (28-L) and 3 minor leaguers: RP Russ Long (19-R), 2B Don Russell (20-R) and RF Mike Griffin (26-R) to Boston for SP Terry Melton (25-R), SS Dave Lesley (25-R) and 3 minor leaguers: SP Will Garcia (23-R), 3B Omar Flores (19-L) and LF Woody Griesbach (23-R).

Wynne has serious stuff, but he only made 2 starts last year because of a tear in his shoulder. In the 15 innings he pitched, he only gave up 8 hits and struck out 13. The year before, however, he was in AAA and gave up 16 HR in 115.1 IP, which is a LOT in AAA, where there are fewer power hitters than in the majors. And Portland signed him as a minor league free agent, so he cannot be all that awesome. At 28, he has only pitched 33.2 innings in the Majors (though they have been a very good 33.2 innings). The fans will miss Steve Thwing. "Thwing! Steve!" I hate trading his name away, and he is a good hitter, except for the fact that Thwing swings at everything. He is a very good right fielder. None of the minor leaguers we dealt will be missed. Long is a non-prospect. Russell projects to have a decent bat for an second baseman, but makes errors by the bushel basket. Griffin has a big bat, hitting .302 with 18 HR in AAA last year, but cannot outrun my tripedal terrapin and is near stationary in the outfield.

Melton was a rookie this past season and as a swingman went 10-6 with a 3.13 ERA in 152.1 IP with 103 SO. He was originally the 2nd overall pick in the draft. His bugaboo is that he seems injury prone, especially in his back. Lesley is the reason for the trade and is a very good fielding shortstop with a decent bat. Those are very hard to find in this league and even harder to get the teams that have them to give them up. He has hit .254 with a .699 OPS in 2 seasons in Boston with 43 doubles in 583 AB. Of course, Fenway Park is the easiest place in the world to get a double, but he did have a .688 OPS last season on the road, his first as an everyday starter. Garcia was the last player extracted from them and the best I could get them to add to the pile. He is a middling prospect with a great curve ball that he can consistently throw for strikes. Flores is rated ridiculously high by Dave Dafoe and his staff of scout Beavers; not so high by the Scouting Combine. But at age 19, he hit .340 in B Ball, which is very impressive. Most 19 year olds are still struggling to hit their weight in the Rookie Leagues. His range at third is not impressive, but his hands are very good and his arm is exceptional. He has also developed a reputation as a very hard worker. Griesbach is that rare player who is solid in every area and has no weaknesses in his game. He is a 5 tool player, though none of the tools are exceptional, merely good. He will begin the season in AAA.

I tried to trade for a second baseman next, but there are very few that I really like and their teams would not give them up. There is a decent one available in the free agent market, however. Gary Long (31-R) hit .266 last season in Minnesota and has a solid, if unspectacular glove. He is a Type B free agent and is asking for a 6 year contract at just over a cool million per season. We cannot go that high or that long, but we will see what his agent has to say about 4 years at $850,000 per annum with the last year a player option.

Some more trades were made to get rid of some of the players I had no use for.

Trade #2:

SP Frank Schindler (24-R) and minor league RF Jim Anderson (24-L) to Baltimore for minor league SS Pete Frey (21-L).

Schindler is another pitcher with serious stuff, but he also has serious control issues and is not shy about giving up long bombs. Anderson was the Beavers' 1st round pick 3 years ago and his only asset is his power. He is slow and not a good fielder and strikes out a ton.

Frey was a 4th round pick in that same draft when Anderson was taken in the first, so this is definitely a net loss for us. But if I had been drafting then, Anderson would not have been our first round pick. Frey projects to be a solid fielder who can play literally anywhere, except behind the plate, and his bat projects to be pretty good except that he has no power. He can run and will hopefully make us a good lead off hitter some day.

Trade #3:
5 minor leaguers: 1B Rod Dixon (34-L), 3B Scott Benford (25-R), LF Jeff Raney (29-R), LF Don Cornacchia (28-L) and LF Bob Olsen (20-R) to New York for SP John Alecci (24-R).

What they want Dixon for, I cannot imagine. Benford is a decent prospect, but getting kind of long in the tooth for a prospect. He had a .728 OPS in AA last season. Raney is a disruptive malcontent who hit .197 in AAA and will be 30 before the season begins; why anyone would even want him working in the concession stand is beyond me. Cornacchia is a decent player with a solid bat, but swings at everything. Olsen is a middling prospect that both the Scouting Combine and our own Dave Dafoe and Company rate equally overall, but as two very different types of players.

Alecci has yet to pitch in the Majors. He is nothing special, but might be better than someone we already have. He will get a chance to show that in Spring Training. He is at least for certain worth more than the bundle of bums we sent to New York.

Trade #4:
RP Jesse Adcock (27-L) to San Francisco for SP Frank Martin (25-R), SP Tom Horn (24-L) and RP Dave Ream (24-R).

Adcock had 30 saves for us this past season and 27 the year before when he had a 1.66 ERA. He is pretty awesome. But our Bullpen has 3 lefties in it and I do not want 3 lefties in it. He is the best, by far, but you have to give up something to get something.

Martin and Horn appear to be ready to pitch in the Big Leagues, though neither has actually started a game in the majors yet. They both pitched cups of coffee in relief this past season for the Seals. Horn looks like he has a chance to be special, but there are concerns about his durability. The Scouting Combine does not think a whole lot of Ream, but Dave Dafoe likes him a lot and he had a 1.41 ERA in AAA last year.
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Old 04-05-2019, 11:45 PM   #9
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Wednesday, November 8, Year 0

Trade #5:
Minor league RP Jon Budney (33-R) to New York for 3 minor leaguers: SP Larry Smith (25-R), RP Bill Clark (25-L) and RP Emanuel Glenn (23-R).

Budney has some skill (2.45 ERA in AAA), but is old and a slacker and coming off surgery.

Smith is not much, but might be useful. He does not strike batters out much, but has been successful in the minors. Dave Dafoe rated this as a non-transaction. Clark and Glenn are just fillers to pitch in the minors and are not prospects.

Trade #6:
2 minor leaguers: SP Rick Hammer (23-L) and SP Ron Fiorini (21-R) to Pittsburgh for RP Barry Chapman (25-R) and minor league SP Joe Fuller (19-L).

Hammer was 2-1 in 3 starts for Portland with only 3 ER allowed after jumping to the majors from A Ball. He has definite skills, but lacks the stamina I require in my starters and the scouts say his control and gopher balls will both be issues, though neither has been so far in his minor league career or in the 3 starts he made for Portland. Fiorini is a middling prospect .

Chapman had a 2.90 ERA as a rookie last season. Fuller has a chance to be something very special if he develops an effective 2nd and 3rd pitch. If he does not, he will most likely still be a useful reliever. Right now, all he can throw well is his cut fastball.

Trade #7:

Minor League SP Bob O'Neal (28-R) to San Francisco for 5 minor leaguers: SP Tony Kelley (24-L), SP Dan Snyder (25-R), RP Phil Keyer (23-R), RP Ed Rambo (24-L) and SS Hector Ruiz (26-S).

O'Neal was decent in AAA (3.39 ERA), but lacks stamina. None of the players we got are prospects and all are just to fill roles in the minors. Our AAA team had no shortstop and Ruiz is a good one, though he cannot hit.

Trade #8:
3 minor leaguers: C Chris Robinson (21-R), 3B Ray Faircloth (23-R) and SS Lenny Bennett (20-L) to Detroit for 5 minor leaguers: RP Bob Kravtsov (25-L), C Ken Oberholtzer (23-R), C Bob Robbins (24-L), 1B Gene Johnson (24-L) and LF Tony Casarez (19-L).

All 3 of the players we are sending to the Tigers are solid prospects who's one weakness is that they are very impatient at the plate.

All of the players the Tigers are sending to us are minor league fillers, except for Casarez. The Scouting Combine has him filed as a decent prospect. He was rated #94 two years ago by Baseball America, but dropped out of the Top 100 this past April. However, our own Scouting Department thinks he is something very special and I have to go with Dave Dafoe on this one. He played in C Ball this past season and hit .291 with 52 extra base hits and 95 RBI. He was 18 years old. That is unheard of! 18 year olds do not hit the ball with authority in C Ball! Or in Rookie Ball for that matter...

Trade #9:
Minor league CF Roger Lowell to San Francisco for 3 minor leaguers: SP Bob Grigg (23-R), SP Dick Petrie (23-R) and RP Wendell Rittweger (23-R).

Lowell is a middling prospect who is unmotivated.

Have I said this before? If not, let me say it again.....As everyone who knows me knows, I can put up with almost any kind of asinine behavior as long as you hustle. But if you do not hustle and practice hard, I have no use for you, no matter how talented you are.

Grigg is the only player we are receiving who has any chance of making the Major Leagues, and his chance is slim, especially since he will need another 6 months to recover from his elbow surgery.

Okay, that is all the trading for a while. I have not traded everyone I want to, but I need a vacation...

Before I head off to Tahiti, I made an offer to Free Agent 3B Glenn Pearce (38-R) of $200,000 for 1 season. He has no power, but he is a career .300 hitter and hit .322 in very limited action last season. If he signs, he'll be a backup and pinch-hitter. I also made offers to about 2,000 minor leaguers....
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Old 04-06-2019, 12:57 AM   #10
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Thursday, December 7, Year 0

The Rule V Draft was today and 4 players were picked: 2 by us and 2 by Minnesota. We took RP Antoine Redd (30-R) from Pittsburgh and RF Gordon Saunderson (25-L) from Seattle. Pittsburgh lost 2 players, Seattle 1 and Denver 1.

Redd is great. In 5 MLB seasons, he has a 2.74 ERA, though only 8 SV. He immediately goes to the top of our Bullpen depth chart. We needed a backup right fielder and all the free agents were either too expensive or too stinky and I could not get a decent one in a trade without giving up too much talent. Saunderson is an Australian with average (or below) range and a very strong arm. He bats from the left side and hit decently in AAA this past season: .288/.389/.414. He stole 14 bases. He has never played in the Majors.

After the draft, I made a trade.

Trade #10:

SP Jorge Ortiz (28-L), LF Jim Bakutis (25-S) and 2 minor leaguers: C Ron Webb (19-R) and CF Chris Hagerty (23-L) to Dallas for 2 minor leaguers: SP Fred Hunt (18-R) and CF Jeff Schottler (24-R).

Ortiz is 39-29 with a 3.47 ERA in 4 Big League seasons, but his season ended in July this year with elbow surgery. Bakutis only hit .248 with a .652 OPS in 125 AB as a rookie this past year, but looks to be a solid hitter with power who is indifferent to playing defense. Webb was our 2nd round pick last June. He cannot outrun my pet three-legged turtle, though, so he has to go. Hagerty was our 2nd round pick 3 drafts ago and looks to be a solid line drive hitter with great speed, but not much home run power and he swings at a lot of bad pitches.

I like Big Prospects; I cannot lie! We got 2 of them in this trade! They were the first players selected by Dallas in each of the last 2 drafts. Hunt was chosen 10th overall this season. He gave up 1 earned run his senior season in high school. His inaugural pro season ended in August with surgery to remove bone chips, so we may have an injury prone fellow on our hands here. Or maybe it has been fixed up and he will be healthy from here on out. Only time will tell. Normally, that surgery would scare me off of trading for a player, but he looks so awesome that I had to have him. Plus, he is not all we are getting in the trade, so even if he turns out to be a bust, we can still come out ahead in the deal. Schottler was the 7th pick in the draft a year ago. He looks to be super solid in all areas of his game, though with no one big flashy skill. He will begin the season in AA. He can even play some second base, but though his range is excellent, his hands are not.

We should have more than one ranked prospect this April in Baseball America's annual list!

I also made one final offer to a free agent: $350,000 for one year to OF/2B Rob Watrous (33-R). He started 97 games for Seattle last year and got 354 AB. He hit .268 with 14 HR and a .765 OPS. If he signs, he will platoon in center, facing left-handers.
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Old 04-06-2019, 02:37 AM   #11
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Friday, December 8, Year 0

2B Gary Long (32-R) signed the offer we made to him today: 4 years at $850,000 per season.
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Old 04-06-2019, 02:37 AM   #12
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Tuesday, December 12, Year 0

3B Glenn Pearce (38-R) signed a 1 year contract with us today for $225,000.
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Old 04-06-2019, 12:09 PM   #13
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Sunday, January 7, Year I

OF/2B Rob Watrous (33-R) signed a 1 year contract with us for $350,000.

And with that, our team is pretty much set for the coming season. The fielders and Bullpen are fairly locked in place, barring injury. We will use Spring Training to decide which 5 starting pitchers will make the roster and which will begin the season in Vancouver (AAA).

I must admit that I have not transformed the worst group of hitters in Baseball into a run scoring machine. The only additions I made to the starting 8 are that we will have a new double play combo and neither of them are big hitters. I added 4 new faces to the bench. The Bullpen will not be any better than last season; newly added ace fireman Antoine Redd is not as good as departed ace fireman Jesse Adcock. Where I did most of my work on the active roster was in the Starting Rotation. Of the 5 pitchers who threw over 100 innings for the Beavers last season, only 1 is still on the team. None of the new arms I have added are proven talents, however, and we will have to wait and see if the work I did was in vain or not. It is hard to imagine that a rotation full of rookies will be exceptional, though.
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Old 04-06-2019, 01:47 PM   #14
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Sunday, January 28, Year I

One of Dave Dafoe's minions signed a 17 year old in Mexico: SP Guillermo Gomez. He's a lefty and this is the last you will probably ever hear about him.
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Old 04-06-2019, 02:11 PM   #15
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Thursday, February 22, Year I

Dave Dafoe's crew signed a 16 year old in the Dominican Republic: SP Roberto Ruvalcaba. Another lefty, but that is his only plus.

Next up: Spring Training!
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Old 04-06-2019, 03:35 PM   #16
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Monday, February 26, Year I

The exhibition schedule began today at our Spring home in Glendale, Arizona, with a 9 to 3 win against the Oakland Oaks. Hopefully, we can make it through the schedule without any serious injuries.
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Old 04-06-2019, 05:51 PM   #17
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Saturday, March 3, Year I

We did not make it very far....CF Buddy French, scheduled to be our starter against right-handed pitching, tore ligaments in his ankle and will be out about 3 months.

We have a crisis in center field, now. We hastily sent out invitations to our 2 elite prospects who were scheduled to begin the season in AA. I am also exploring trade options and there are a couple of old has beens still available on the free agent market.
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Old 04-06-2019, 07:04 PM   #18
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Friday, March 9, Year 1

CF Larry Ford (33-R) inked a minor league contract with us this morning and made his debut in center this afternoon and promptly rapped out a hit and pulled a hamstring... He is expected to miss a month.

Of the candidates for the center field job, Perry Templet (22-L) is by far the best fielder, the only one with elite range, and is projected to be a good hitter eventually, but can we really expect him to make the jump from A ball to the majors in one go? John Scott (25-L) is the second best fielder, but is not much of a hitter at all. He was scheduled to be our starter this season in Vancouver (AAA). Jeff Schottler (24-R) and Ford have decent range, but will they hit? Anyone else we put out there had better hit well, because no one else really has the range to play good defense.
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Old 04-06-2019, 08:24 PM   #19
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Thursday, March 29, Year I

Our exhibition schedule ended today with an 6 to 2 loss to the Dallas Eagles. We ended up 14-16. Much better than our regular season results from last year, but still only better than San Francisco of the teams in our division.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Denver Bears both finished 22-8 to claim the best records. Baltimore, Kansas City and Milwaukee, the defending Champions of the PCL, all went 11-19 to tie for the worst Spring Training records.

Three players were put on waivers and designated for assignment: RP Curt Riley (35-R), who we never expected to make the roster, SP Tony Kelley (24-L), who has options, but we needed his spot on the 40 man roster, and OF Rob Watrous (33-R), who we signed to a 1 year contract at $350,000 to play center against lefties. Watrous was a huge disappointment this Spring, hitting .171 with no walks and 9 SO in 35 AB. We were planning to lead him off against lefties, but he did not score a run this Spring. Hopefully someone will claim him, as that is a lot of money to pay a AAA outfielder.

Next up:
Meet the Beavers!
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Old 04-06-2019, 08:28 PM   #20
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C’mon you Rainiers! Beat the Beavers!
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