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Old 01-17-2017, 06:44 AM   #41
TheEquinox
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1876 - World Series Game 3

Following the two leadoff wins in our home games, I felt confident enough to experiment a little with the lineup. Especially letting Hugh Campbell have a go as our starting pitcher proved to be fatal...



In case anybody hadn't yet been convinced Hugh Campbell's time in Boston is going to end soon, that was the only crystal clear lesson learnt from this game. Hugh showed a miserable performance today. We took an early 4-0 lead again in the second inning, when Nick Wehman, Davy Force and Mike Schulze got the hitting machine going with 3 consecutive hits. Hugh Campbell reached on error and Robby Stoltenberg added another single. 4-0 Boston.

But then it all went down the swanny. Cleveland made good use of Hugh's very predictable pitches and made it 4-2 in the second, 4-7 in the third and 4-10 in the fourth inning. Time to take Hugh off and to replace him with Flip Lafferty. However, the young man also had quite a bad day and allowed Cleveland to score another eight runs for an overwhelming 10-18 defeat in the end.

Okay, we'll just have to forget this one and move on. No more experiments from now on, we've got to get a job done here!


Boston Red Caps - 2
Cleveland Blues - 1
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Old 01-18-2017, 05:06 AM   #42
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1876 - World Series Game 4

For this game, we brought our best possible lineup back on the field:



Both teams started off slowly with only one hit by Levi Meyerle in the first three innings. In the bottom of the 4th, Cleveland got on the scoreboard after a single hit by Jim A Devlin, followed by a series of errors. 1-0 Cleveland

Boston tied the game in the 6th with nice single hits by Davy Force and Nick Wehman and an error on steal attempt. 1-1
The draw didn't last long as the Blues scored their second run in the same inning when once again Jim A Devlin was able to bat Carlos Tamayo in. 2-1 Cleveland.

In the 7th, Cleveland produced a series of throwing errors and Orator Shafer was able to score another drawing run. 2-2
However, Cleveland hit much better now and scored two more runs in the bottom of the 7th. Jon Pierson and Mike Brogan hit singles and man-of-the-match Jim A Devlin batted them both in. 4-2 Cleveland

The game looked like it was lost already, but in the top of the 9th, Boston mounted a comeback when Orator Shafer hit a double to open the inning, Davy Force reached on error and Mike Schulze hit a single to load the bases. It was our catcher, Jim H O'Rourke who hit another single and allowed two of his teammates to cross the plate 4-4

The Blues were unable to score another run against subbed-in Flip Lafferty in the 9th and so we went on to extra innings. The decision fell in the 11th, when Matt Bricker and Tommy Bond both hit a single and Mike Brogan batted one in. Cleveland grabs the narrow win here, unlucky day for us.



Boston Red Caps - 2
Cleveland Blues - 2
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Old 01-18-2017, 05:58 AM   #43
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1876 - World Series Game 5

After our early lead in the series was gone, we were up for the last away game of the series. Lineups:



Both teams started off well and scored a run in the 1st inning. For Boston, George Bechtel, who had finally recovered from his injury, started the ballgame with a single and was batted in by George Hall. For Cleveland, it was Juan Ramos who hit a single and batted in Carlos Tamayo who had reached third base after a series of errors. 1-1

Boston jumped out in front in the 3rd, when Ricardo Rosas crossed the plate after Cleveland didn't manage to bring the ball back fast enough from a catched flyball. 2-1 Boston.

The game was tied by Cleveland in the 4th, when Jon Pierson crossed the plate following an error by George Hall. 2-2.

The decision came in the fifth inning, when Cleveland scored 4 runs after a series of errors and two singles by Jim A Devlin and Cap Anson. 6-2 Cleveland.

In the following innings, Boston didn't give away any more runs, but the three more runs were not enough anymore to stop Cleveland today.


Boston Red Caps - 2
Cleveland Blues - 3
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Old 01-18-2017, 07:57 AM   #44
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1876 - World Series Game 6

We won our home games and lost all away games. If this pattern continues, we're up for another title. Still it sucks to have our backs against the wall today after the nice 2-0 lead...

Lineups:



Cleveland was off to a good start in this one. In the 1st inning, Carlos Tamayo and Jim A Devlin hit their singles right away, Cap Anson reached on error and Jeff Brooks batted Tamayo in. 1-0 Cleveland.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Levi Meyerle hit a single and reached 2nd base on error. He further advanced to 3rd base after a passed ball on Jim H O'Rourke's at-bat, before Nick Wehman batted him in for the tie. 1-1.

Cleveland could have taken a giant lead in the 3rd, when Carlos Tamayo started the inning off with a double, followed by a run-scoring triple by Jim A Devlin and no outs. Thankfully, Yin Xù was able to avoid any further hits, or the game might have been over already. 2-1 Cleveland.

Not much happened until the bottom of the 5th, where Yin Xù, George Bechtel and Levi Meyerle produced single hits and brought three teammates home altogether. 4-2 Boston.

But the lead wasn't meant to last for long as the Blues responded in the 6th with three runs on their own, thanks to further hits by Cap Anson and Jim Brooks as well as a series of bad fielding errors. 5-4 Cleveland.

They extended their lead in the 7th, when Cap Anson once again batted Carlos Tamayo in - 6-4 Cleveland.

Boston wasn't yet ready to surrender the title again and managed to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th after singles of Yin Xù, Steve King and Davy Force to make it 6-6.

Most of the home fans dropped their heads, when Jon Pierson batted in pinch-runner Josh English in the top of the 9th and jumped ahead with a 7-6 lead.

But Boston's title dreams weren't meant to end here tonight. In the bottom of the 9th, hits by Steve King, Orator Shafer and Levi Meyerle were good enough for the tie. Nick Wehman decided the game when he reached on error and allowed Orator to cross the plate for the 8-7 final result.


That was close there, but we're still alive and will once again exhaust the full distance in this year's World Series.

Boston Red Caps - 3
Cleveland Blues - 3
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Old 01-18-2017, 12:12 PM   #45
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1876 - World Series Game 7

Here we go again, almost seems like a déjà vu to stand here in game seven of the World Series against the Cleveland Blues again. Hopefully with a better end this time...

Lineups:



Youngster and most likely starter in the next season, Johnny Ryan, was our LF of choice for this most important game of the year. Other than that, we pretty much lined up our best team for the decider.

Cleveland scored immediatly in the top of the 1st. Mike Brogan and Carlos Tamayo hit their singles right at the start before Jim A Devlin and Carlos grounded into a double play but still allowed Mike to cross the plate. 1-0 Cleveland.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Nick Wehman reached on error and advanced to the 2nd base during Davy Force's unsuccessful at-bat. Finally, Jim H. O'Rourke delivered the first hit of the night for Boston and batted him in. 1-1

Boston grabbed the lead in the bottom of the 3rd, when George Bechtel reached 2nd base after a field error by Cleveland's 1st base man and Orator Shafer batted him in with a clean single through the middle. 2-1 Boston.

The Blues came back in the 4th, thanks to a single by Jim A Devlin and a following series of terrible errors which allowed him to cross the plate. 2-2.

The lead was recaptured by the Red Caps in the 6th inning, after a single by Levi Meyerle and another one by Davy Force which was enough to bring Levi home. 3-2 Boston.

The championship decision came in the bottom of the 7th, when the Boston hitters were able to show their best performance of the night. George Hall reached 1st base on error, a sacrifice bunt by Yin Xù advanced him to 2nd base, and a groundball single by subbed-in Steve King brought him home. George Bechtel followed up by the deciding double base hit, batting in Steve and moving to 2nd base with just one out. Levi Meyerle reached 1st base on error which allowed George to push on another run, Davy Force completed the scoring spree with another hit to bat in Levi. With a 7-2 for Boston, the Red Caps fans began to celebrate on the ranks already.

Intimidated by the ongoing party around them, the Cleveland players weren't able to deliver another hit and the final two innings turned into an exhibition for Boston.

Boston Red Caps - 4
Cleveland Blues - 3

Yay, we did it this time! With the second title after 1873 (as Red Stockings), Boston is now the 2nd club with two titles under their belt. Ane we also fulfilled our owner's goal in time! Yin Xù was elected World Series MVP, I think that's well deserved with his performances.

Time to wipe off the dust from our trophy shelf and find a nice place for the new piece of silverware!

A tough season comes to an end with a well-deserved victory. I'll return with an extra-post for the awards, before I move on to 1877!
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Old 01-19-2017, 06:45 AM   #46
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1876 - Awards

The award selection is complete, here are this year's honorees:

Golden Glove Award (best defenders):


American League:



National League:



It's nice to see Yin and Nick here, but I wonder if it is a good sign if Brookly, who played a terrible season, have as many defender awards as we do...

Platinum Stick Awards (best hitters):

American League:



National League:



Seems like the best hitters currently play in Chicago. This is a little bit scary, because I usually focus on hitting skills when looking for new players. I think with this picture, we've been really lucky to take the NL title this season!

Rookies of the year:

American League:



Well, if John was the best rookie in the AL, I guess they've got a recruitment problem there. He wasn't terrible, but not great either.

National League:



I think Yin is a good choice, he did well for his rookie season and he's only just going to get better!


Cy Young Awards (best pitchers):

American League:



This is quite a surprise in my opinion. Yes, Tommy didn't do bad in the World Series, but handing a Cy Young Award to a pitcher who just had 11 games in the season feels like a tough decision.

National League:



George's first Cy Young award is well deserved. The usual holder, Al Pratt, has just been injured most of the season. George's pitching skill kept Cincinnati's title dreams alive until the end of the season this year, but their overall roster quality just isn't good enough.


Most Valuable Player Awards:

American League:



It's a little surprising not to see one of Cleveland's star players like Cap Anson or Jim A Devlin here, but Ross is an acceptable choice as well.

National League:



Levi's third MVP award after 1875 and 1873 is absolutely deserved. He was the best player in both leagues by a wide margin.

MLB Champions: The Boston Red Caps



Last edited by TheEquinox; 01-19-2017 at 06:49 AM.
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Old 01-19-2017, 05:08 PM   #47
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1877 - Draft, Trades, Opening Day Rosters and Financial Report

Here we are, ready for a new season. After winning our second title last year, we're generally expected to do well again this time around. However, I saw no real opportunities for trades which would have improved our starting lineup this time, so I decided to try and being a little more depth into some positions of the roster.



With our abundance of left fielders, I thought this was an acceptable trade. Fred Waterman is quite old already, so this is probably not a good trade in terms of long-term squad building, but Fred has a fielding skill of 70 and should be a good, defensive backup for Levi.



Carlos Guzman wasn't really useful as a 2B backup and hurt us quite a bit because he had to play more often during Davy Force's absence last year. I thought I needed a better backup for Nick Wehman on the 2nd base and found John P Peters who has a fielding skill of 80 on the 2B position, is an average contact hitter(55/100) and can also use his speed to steal a few bases. No star potential here, but a solid backup, who can also play shortstop (62/100) which means he can fill two problem areas.



Both Vince Ice and Hugh Campbell were on my trading block after their less than mediocre recent performances and given their somwhat advanced age. Lew Brown is a backup catcher with 2.5 / 4.5 stars and a current (potential) contact rating of 53(64). I think if he can live up to that potential, he'll be a solid backup on the C position and could probably even replace Jim H O'Rourke some time in the future.

That's all in terms of noteworthy trades. Teams are protecting their best players with ridiculous demands, so there wasn't much room for any bigger trades.

As a nice addition, we got this guy in the first-year player draft:



It kind of sucks he's limited to 1st base, because we already have so many good 1Bs in the roster, but with his potential contact skill, this guy could turn into another hitting machine one day and he certainly fits my personal predator-prey system. I sent him to my AAA team, but he did so well during spring training, I decided to add him to the MLB roster right away.

Opening day pitching staff:



I decided to return to a 1-man rotation again which is still standard for all teams in the MLB. Yin Xù will lead the bullpen again, John Cassidy, who just recovered from his 9-month injury will be acquainted with the game again slowly.

Batters:



The starting lineup will be mostly the same as in last season. I will try to give Johnny Ryan more games this year to see if he has what it takes to become a regular starter on our LF position. With David Quintero, Chub Sullivan and Lew Brown we have three very young and talented kids in the roster this year, and it will be interesting to follow their development. They will all get a few appearances for sure. I further realized there aren't that many shortstops around in the MLB at the moment. Teams file crazy demands even for lousy SS players, so it seems impossible to find a regular backup for Davy Force at the moment. That's why I think our new acquiry John P Peters is a really good addition to the roster because he can play both SS and 2B with above average positional ratings.

Before I'll start the new season and play some ball, I thought it would be interesting to have a look at the finanical development of the league. I was rather surprised to see the Red Caps leading in almost all financial aspects:



While we are seem to attract the largest crowds here in Boston, Baltimore still beats us in gate revenues. I guess I'll have to review our ticket costs for the next season there. We have the highest budget in the league, the largest total revenue but also the most expensive payroll. Maybe it's time to review some high earning backup players and their future in the team in order to cement our financial position even further.

Do we really need five 1Bs who are all among the 50 most expensive players of the league for example? It's not like we couldn't afford it, but it seems kind of wasteful if you look at these statistics.

No idea why the press doesn't seem to like us. One of the most successful and highest crowd attracting teams gets the lowest media contract? Thankfully it doesn't make much difference at this point in time, but it's still kind of disturbing.



We actually had a slightly lower revenue last season than the season before which is quite surprising. I haven't yet analyzed that in more detail to find out what caused this, but I guess that would be an interesting info there. Our attendance further increased last season, so it can't be gate revenues. Our expenses also dropped slightly, so in the end the total turnaround was about the same, but we want to grow, right?

It's also interesting to see that our owner seems to put most of the profit into his own bags instead of reinvesting it into the team. While we are making healthy profits every year, our budget has stagnated for the last four seasons. One more reason to hope this guy is going to take a rest and sell the team soon.

That concludes the new season opening post, I'll be back with the mid-season overview.
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Old 03-19-2017, 06:14 AM   #48
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1877 - MidSeason update

Okay, it's been a while, but let's continue this.

I'm not sure why my team always crashes right after they won a title, but this year isn't an exception, unfortunately. Once again, the title seems to have caused some kind of complacency in my top-stars, and so it's no surprise to be where we are:



The Cincinnati Reds seem to be able to continue their upswing from last season, and for the first time, they top the NL in the mid-season. In the AL, the Cleveland Blues keep dominating.

As far as my Boston team goes, the only one in good shape is my pitcher, Yin Xú, who's topping the league in strikeouts (71) and is 2nd in ERA (3.21).



Basically everyone else is far behind expectation and last year's performance. It's always been a good indicator for the overall performance throughout a season to look at Levi Meyerle's performance, which is really disappointing compare to last season:


He's doing okay at most, at the very beginning of the season, his AVG dropped below .25, but he's stabilized a little by now. I hope he can improve again in the second half of the season. Basically everybody needs to improve and return to last season's performance if we don't want to make this year a forgettable one for Boston.

A look at the batting stats reveals the whole misery:



Just look at last season key players Orator Shafer or George Bechtel. Their avg says it all, really. Worst season in their careers so far. Even Nick Wehman who's been a staple in our championship season, is far behind expectations this year.

I'm really clueless, because this is basically the same team which won it all last year, but it seems they are happy with what they achieved and just want to take a year off.

Hopefully they will change their minds and start hitting a ball again, or my owner might come to the conclusion, that this should be my last year in Boston...
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Old 03-20-2017, 04:43 AM   #49
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1877 - Season end

The season is over and, against all odds, it turned out to be close in the end. In the second half of the season, some of our key players found back their normal form and we managed to close up to the Cincinnati Reds in the table.

After game 50, everything seemed possible:



We had a great run there, sitting 2nd in the power ranking behind Cleveland for almost the entire 2nd half of the regular season. Cincinnati once again couldn't keep up their initial pace and we came closer and closer.

We finally were only 1 game behind them when we faced them directly in games 55-57, but then it all went against us. Former Boston pitcher Hugh Campbell showed some great performances and they managed to win 2 of 3 games. In the end, they crossed the finish line one game ahead of Boston to win their first NL division title ever:



Hugh Campbell was the key for their success, with an incredible ERA of 2.33 over the whole season. Nobody else, not even our front man Yin Xú could keep up with that. Was it a smart decision to let him go? Probably we ruled him out too early...

In the AL, the Cleveland Blues seem to be absolutely unstoppable. They took their fourth division title in a row, once again by large lead of 6 games. Who is going to break this reign?

Luckily, my owner was still quite happy with the result. He wanted us to end the season with a positive W/L ratio and we delivered that:



I'm a bit worried about that 'Build a team that can truly be considered a dynasty in the next 6 years' part, though. Does that mean he expects me to win the division for six years in a row? Is he serious?

Lets have a look at the final team stats, starting with the pitchers:



As you can see, Yin Xú also improved during the 2nd half of the season and pushed his ERA down to 2.77 in the end.The occasional games I gave new signing John Cassidy however, made me wonder whether he's ready for the MLB yet or not. Maybe he should spend some time in AAA to sharpen his skills?

Batters:



The same question is valid in terms of Lew Brown. The 19 y.o. seems like a nice talent, and his contact skill is already about 50, but in the games he got this season, he failed to convince me. Thankfully Jim H O'Rourke found back to his old strength and finished the season with a conciliating 1.9 WAR.

On the 1B position, the biggest disappointment of the season was last year's key player Orator Shafer. With an AVG of .218 he played his worst ever season and ended it with a negative WAR. On the other hand, Jack Manning, who has a below 50 contact rating, ended the season with his best ever AVG of .317 which compensated Shafer's lack of performance a bit, but I have serious doubts about both of them. I'd love to get somebody else in here, but Orator is the team captain so I'm not sure if it's worth the risk there...

Nick Wehman kind of recovered in the 2nd half, still ending the season far behind last year's stats, but at least he was a safe bet during those final 30 games. J P Peters did quite okay as a backup for Nick and Davy Force on the SS position. No changes needed here I guess.

On the third base, Levy Meyerle finished his season with a WAR of 1.7 in the end. For any other player, that would be a decent season, for Levi it's one of his worst ever. He got better towards the end of the season, but compared to our championship run, he couldn't give the team that little bit extra this time. He's still the player with the highest career WAR in the MLB, so we'll keep him of course. Things can only get better for him. New signing Fred Waterman hit quite well which is good enough for a backup I guess.

Davy Force played a solid season on the SS position once again. Didn't give me much headaches this year and remains a constant part of the team.

On the overcrowded LF position, player performances were quite inconclusive to be honest. In the first half of the season, 35 y.o. Steve King put in the best performances, but he disappointed in the second half of the season. Young talent Johnny Ryan batted in a homerun, but other than that, he still doesn't seem to be able to take the regular seat on the LF position. Charlie Pabor, who I had almost ruled out already, put up some great performances in the 2nd half of the season and even was on 2nd place in AVG throughout the NL for a while. Not sure what to do here in the next season, but I really want to get rid of at least 2 players on this position.

The best player of the 2nd half was George Hall on the CF position. He finished 3rd in AVG and kept our title ambitions alive until the end with 3-4 hits per game on average. His backup, 18 y.o. David Quintero, got a lot of games when George picked up an injury, but he's obviously not yet ready for the MLB. However, according to my scout's development reports, he benefitted greatly from the experience and improved his stats with every update. I might just keep him in the active roster and try to give him some more game time.

The right field was a disaster this season. George Bechtel had a pretty forgettable season, his backup Mike Schulze was even more terrible and his time in Boston is definately over. I'm not surprised my owner wants me to improve this position in the next season, because that's my number one priority as well.

Before we conclude the season by taking a look at the playoff results, let's first take a moment to look at an impressive achievement:



This guy is just 21 years old and got to play his first full season in Cleveland. An overwhelming ERA of 2.01 and 35 wins in 60 games is more than just impressive. The Blues are doing a great job there in finding new talent and I wonder how much longer they're going to dominate the AL.

Let's look at the playoff coverage:



I would've bet my money on Cleveland here, but I guess the pressure of a playoff series was too much for that triple-crown youngster on their pitching spot in the end. Taking the title is really something for Cincinnati there, as they've been a walkover team in the NL for many seasons. Congratulations for their first title, they really developed nicely throughout the last two seasons. NL is getting tougher, I guess.

This concludes the regular season review. I'll return with the player awards.
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Old 03-20-2017, 06:42 AM   #50
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1877 - Awards

Here are the awards for the 1877 season:

Golden Glove Awards:

American League:



It's a little surprising to see 5 Baltimore players here, given the dominance of Cleveland in the last few years. Maybe a contender is rising here?

National League:



Only one of our players grabbed an award here. Red alert, I guess...


Platinum Sticks:

American League:



Cleveland still has a slight advantage here, but Baltimore is close. Interesting to see several players picking up both the Golden Glove and the Platinum Stick awards. Looks like a small elite of players are headlining this league. With Joe Start and Carlos Tamayo, there are also two ex-Boston players involved, which makes me question my trading policy even more. Why do these players shine elsewhere but not here in Boston?

National League:



Levi Meyerle and George Hall are no surprises here. Even with average seasons, they're always certain contenders for the batting award. It's scary though, that none of our other key players like Nick Wehman, Davy Force or George Bechtel could get a single award this year. This will have to improve if we want to stay competitive in the National League.


Rookies of the Year:

American League:



23 games and a WAR of 1.0 were enough for Bill Harbridge to grab the award in the American League. Interesting player with 4/4.5 stars at the age of 22 already, especially in the right field, were we are a little shorthanded. Will probably try to make a deal here, but I guess he'll be expensive.

National League:



Oscar moved up through Brooklyn's minor system and started his MLB career at the age of 23, starting in 35 games with an AVG of .347 (4th in the NL). Impressive debut season by this 5/5 star first baseman.

Cy Young Awards:

American League:



While his award in the last season came as a surprise, this time it's well deserved. I'm pretty sure this guy has a bright future ahead of him, and Cleveland will certainly try to keep him as long as possible.

National League:



I had expected Cincinnati's Hugh Campbell here to be honest, but he ended up second in the voting behind Yin Xú, who picks up his first award. I guess the giant amount of strikeouts, Yin produced this year, were the deciding factor here, but in my opinion, Hugh would have deserved it more.


Most Valuable Player Awards:

American League:



Ross Barnes is the absolute super star in the American League. He's now picked up his 5th MVP award in seven career seasons and his 5/5 stars rating as SS is by far the best you can find on that position. He's only 27 years old, so there's a lot more to come from him, but I really wonder why Baltimore isn't doing better in the AL, given all those star players they have...

National League:



With an impressive overall performance, 28 y.o. Chicago Catcher Cal McVey picks up his 2nd MVP award after 1874. He's certainly a very good player, but he wasn't able to push Chicago into a serious contender spot on his own this time.


MLB champions: The Cincinnati Reds



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Old 03-20-2017, 10:59 PM   #51
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1878 - Trades and Opening Day Roster

Welcome back to a new season. The year is 1878 and everybody in Boston is ready for a new title! Especially my owner, who wants me to build a dynasty - whatever that means - but I guess some more titles would be a step in the right direction.

Let's have a look at our key trades this season:



This looked like a no-brainer to me. Right fielder Kevin Hodges seems to be just what I'm missing in my roster, he's got great contact skill and should be a hitting machine (s. below). However, what makes me a bit suspicious here are his stats. He hasn't ever had a good hitting season in the MLB so far, which seems weird if his skill ratings are true. But whatever, Henry Luff was just a backup player and I don't mind him leaving, so why not take a chance here?

And here's the new guy:



The next trade was made to get more options on the RF position which was the worst position in last season's roster:



Bill Harbridge, the rookie of the year in the American League last season. He's the complete opposite to Kevin Hodges: His skill ratings don't look that great, but his stats have been very nice last year. Interesting experiment there, we'll see who of the two is doing better.
Steve King is about to turn 36 now and despite his okay season last year, I decided we need to make the team younger.

Welcome Bill:



The last trade worth mentioning was made to get the Shortstop position sorted. We've been a little short on alternatives there for years now, so I was willing to negotiate this deal over several weeks:



Our former hero Mike McGeary returns to Boston. He's been our shortstop when we won our first championship in 1873 and he didn't feel quite happy in Philadelphia anymore. He'll be a nice addition to the squad and finally we have a rotation option on this underrepresented position. Willie Fuentes is the next generation of shortstops. He's got a contact potential of 78, which means he could become another hitting machine after a few seasons in the minors. About the players leaving: Good riddance. We managed to free some salary budget with this deal and won't really miss anyone of them. Parker Zimmer never really made it in Boston, he's been a reliever in 1871-1872 but most of the time he spent in the minors without any significant development. Ricardo Rosas was a backup option on the right/left field, but didn't ever make it here. The others are players who wouldn't ever have had a chance to make it to my MLB roster. I hope Philadelphia will get happy with them.

Welcome back home, Mike McGeary:




Aside from the trades, I also picked up some nice free signings. I found this guy on the free agent list and thought he'd be worth a try:



His contact and avoid K's look above average. I'm curious to see what he can do for us.

There was also a nice player in the first year draft this time, but have a look yourself:


He could really become a great player for us, but I'll let him start at AAA first so he can get some experience. And by the way, I LOVE that name :-)

To sum this up, here's the opening day roster for the 1878 season:



Levi picked up an injury in the last spring training game
That clearly won't help us to get a good start I guess. Preseason prediction says we'll end up 2nd behind Cincinnati with a margin of 4 games. Let's hope they've got no clue what they're talking about!
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Old 03-23-2017, 08:39 PM   #52
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1878 - MidSeason Update

Half the season is over and we're doing well so far. But first of all, there is a trade I have to mention first:



Our ex-shortstop Mike McGeary, who had returned to Boston at the start of the season, just didn't work out at all. He hit an AVG of .188 and produced loads of field errors, so I decided to look for a different solution. I found it in Lou Say, one of the best shortstops of the last few seasons. I struggled a bit to accept the trade because despite his lousy performance in this and the previous season, Orator Shafer was the team captain and one of few players in the roster with leadership ability. However, I just couldn't keep lining him up any longer. His performances were just to bad to justify his position in Boston. We will have to keep an eye out for another leader now soon.

Here's the new guy:



A solid, average hitter and great defensive skills. I'm pretty sure we will have a lot of fun with Lou here in Boston!

I further promoted Jake Goodman, a minor league free agent I signed at the start of the season, from triple-A to the active roster. He's been doing okay in triple-A so far, and none of our first baseman was performing well up to this point, so I decided to give it a shot. In his first the games in the MLB, he's hit an AVG of .545 and already collected 0.4 WAR, so it might work out.

But now to the standings:



With a record of 19-11 so far, we've been doing much better than last season. I guess this comes down to the fact that our icons, Levi Meyerle, Nick Wehman and George Hall are doing much better again this season. I'm pretty sure their performance drops after a title win have something to do with complacency.

Also worth mentioning here is our draft pick, 19 year old left fielder Buttercup Dickerson. I started him in triple-A and was shocked to see he hit .583 there over several games. So I promoted him and he's now developed into the main starter on the LF position, hitting an AVG of .351. That's fantastic for the 19 y.o. kid!

Another positive factor is our starter. Yin Xú, has improved his stats a lot compared to last season. He has a few less K's, but his ERA of 2.26 is the best he's ever delivered so far. I guess he'll be a hot candidate for another Cy Young if he can keep it up.

Lastly, here's an overview of how our batters are doing so far:



Some pretty nice hitting stats there, but you can also see we have a 1B problem. I'm not sure Jake will keep his current performance up, according to his ratings, he shouldn't be the greatest hitter in the world. But oh well, I'll stick with him as long as it lasts.

I'll be back with the regular season end update.
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Old 09-06-2017, 08:01 AM   #53
TheEquinox
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Join Date: Oct 2016
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Blog Entries: 54
End of 1881 - 11 seasons completed

Hey there,

I've skipped a few seasons here, mainly because I didn't have enough time to regularly post smaller updates, but I've continued this save and just wanted to give a quick update about what happened.

By now, the 1881 season is over, and the last few seasons have really been great for the Red Caps:



Four NL titles in a row since 1878 and 3 MLB titles between 1879-1881 are certainly a statement.

However, before the 1882 season, a huge expansion draft happened, both leagues grew from 4 to 8 teams, making it 16 teams altogether now. This created a huge problem in my save, because I was only allowed to protect 12 players and just about my whole minor league rosters are empty now.

After the expansion draft, I had 14 players left in my main roster, 12 in my AAA and a couple of hopeless players in my R squad. AA, A and S A are completely empty now.

I just moved all remaining players in my minor league system to AAA so I had 20 players there, and was able to trade away some of them for players I could use to stack my main roster back up to 25 players again.

However, I'm now left with a 25 player main roster and only 12 more players left in triple A, the rest of my minor league system is empty. I had hoped the first year draft would just come up with many more players to draft so I could refill my minors, but that didn't happen either. On the free agent market are 4 lousy players. No idea how I could ever get my minor system filled up again at this point.

If anyone has an idea, please let me know.

Finally, here's the new league structure for the upcoming season 1882 (the current standings are spring training standings):



The new teams in the AL are: Detroit Wolverines, Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox and Boston Americans.

The former St. Louis Brown Stockings have been moved and renamed into Louisville Eclipse, while a new team named St. Louis Brown Stockings has been founded in the NL, which I thought was pretty weird. Whatever, the other three new teams in the NL are the Philadelphia Quakers, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and the New York Gothams.

With the league expansion, the schedule has become much more crowded as well, and there'll be a ballgame almost every day now. I wonder what effect this will have on the previously rather small pitching staff across the teams. I expanded my pitchers from four to six this season, but I'm not sure that will be enough to adapt to the new situation:



Yin-xiang Xú has just won another Cy Young Award last season and seems to be the best pitcher in the game at the moment. He started in about 60 of 84 games last year, but with the new league system, the other pitchers will surely get more play time now.

The rest of the squad had been more or less the same between 1878 and 1881, not many changes to the roster were made. However, with the expansion draft, we lost quite some good players and it was a hassle to set up a new roster for the coming season. Here's what I came up with:



The best player in this team besides Yin-xiang Xú certainly is 3B Levi Meyerle. He's been in the team since 1871 and has shown top performances all the time:



The other two stars in this team are 1B John O'Rourke and C King Kelly which I both acquired from the Philadelphia Athletics before the 1880 season:



John wasn't drafted to the MLB before the age of 29, but he has the highest Home Run Power rating in the game right now, and his 7 HR's last season nd his AVG of .317 justified his place in the team despite his advanced age.


With now 5 seasons under his belt, King Kelly has already developed into one of the best catchers in the game. His AVG is constantly around 0.3 and his 56 RBIs last season were good enough for 3rd rank in that category in the NL.

This concludes the brief update on my save. If anyone has an idea what I could do to handle the lack of players in the minor leagues, that would be great. I don't know if I'll be able to update this thread as regularly as before, but I'll try to post an update about every 1 or 2 seasons as I progress.
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Old 11-02-2017, 09:49 AM   #54
TheEquinox
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 81
Blog Entries: 54
1882 Recap / 1883 Roster Update

Hey there,

another season is in the books, the first one after the league reform. Seems like the good times for Boston are over for now, the expansion draft together with good captions for the opposing teams in the rookie draft hurt us more than I had expected.

First of all, the 1882 NL results:



The new NL was extremely dominated by the St. Louis Brown Stockings who had moved from the AL during the league expansion. Their win percentage of .714 is shocking and mainly the result of their excellent rookie draft picks and the excellent performance of 2B Fred 'Sure Shot' Dunlap, following his move from Baltmore before the season.


With more players of Levi's format coming through the rookie drafts and Levi's age, my guess is we are going to struggle in this leage for quite a while to come.

Let's have a look at the AL results:



The race was closer here, but the Philadelphia Athletics grabbed the title narrowly in front of the newly formed Detroit Wolverines. However, in the World Series - which still only consists out of a best of 7 between the two league winners -, the Athletics took the trophy home with a 4-2 against the St. Louis Brown Stockings.

There have been a few name changes for the new season, including our own team. Our owner, Chris Peck, passed away at the age of 72, moving the club into the hands of his son, Chris Peck Jr.

Junior's first decision was to rename the club into Boston Beaneaters. Not sure what the idea behind this is, but I wonder how anyone could name anything "Beaneaters". I don't care much, but "Red Caps" sounded more reputable to me.

Whatever, as I said, I expect more struggling in the new league organization as we are no longer the team with the best players overall. We have by far the largest budget of both leagues, but it turns out, there's not much you can buy for money. At least the AI managers of the other teams refuse to trade even the worst players for money, so rebuilding this team will take quite a while I guess.

Anyways, I started by making loads of deals to hopefully stabilize the team a bit for the upcoming 1883 season, so lets have a look at the new roster:



Nothing new on the catcher position. King Kelly is our star performer, together with Levi Meyerle and is the unquestioned #1 on this position. Doc Kennedy is a good enough backup as he is a reliable contact hitter and won't make many games anyway if nothing goes wrong.

The 1B position is a child of sorrow in comparison. On the paper, John O'Rourke should be an outstanding performer, but his last season was terrible. He hit .256 in 75 games and ended up with a WAR of 0.8 which is his worst season ever by a large margin. I hope he bounces back this season or else his time in Boston might be over. Martin Powell was his backup last year and got more game time than I had intended. He wasn't great but quite okay I guess, but that's not something I'm going to settle for. Newly signed Nelson Rodriguez is a joker and might cheer up the dugout if nothing else. He'll be another option here in case John starts messing it up again.

Bill McClellan was our regular starter on the 2nd base last year, but he couldn't keep up with the high hopes I had for him. So the Boston fans see a return of former star player Nick Wehman this season. His 1-year trip to Chicago was a mess as his team finished on the 7th place in the league with a record of 29-55 which made it easy to convince him to come back home. Sam Barkley was our only good fielder capture in the rookie draft this year. The 24 year old starts his career in the MLB with a promising contact rating of 74. We'll see what he will be able to do.

Thankfully, we were able to convince Levi Meyerle, who's contract ran out last year, to continue his career for a little longer. He signed another two year expansion and will be available throughout the 1883 and 1884 season. Losing him would have been a blow which would have been hard to compensate as his season record proves:



Is AVG of .35 is invaluable for the team and losing him to retirement would realy leave a gap behind. He's spent his entire career in Boston which makes him an icon for years to come. His backup remains the same as last year, but Mike Muldoon can only expect to get match time if Levi picks up an injury.

Another returnee is Lou Say. The shortstop had left boston at the end of 1881 and played a great season with the Philadelphia Quakers. With Willie Fuentes' departure, he will have the opportunity to show us he can do the same in Boston. His backup is Mike Moynahan, a player with a contact rating of 68. He didn't convince me last year, but the SS market is wiped, so he'll get a second chance.

Nothing new on the LF position. Both Isoruko Kumasaka and George Wood played below average in the last season, but there are no better alternatives available. At least none, any sane AI manager would be willing to trade away.

Jack Rowe decided to leave the club to the newly formed local rivals, the Boston Americans. As his replacement on the CF position, we got Guy Hecker from the Philadelphia Quakers into the team. I don't expect too much from him, but his contact rating of 65 was enough for me to give him a chance. Ned Hanlon played a good season last year and will be the #1 on this position once again.

Another capture from the Quakers is right fielder Alberto Lujan. He is a promising 21 year old from Venezuela who did quite okay in his first MLB season in Philadelphia. With his contact rating of 62, he shouldn't be terrible in hitting the ball and hopefully, he'll be a good backup for last year's #1 Arlie Latham who will headline this position once again. Charlie Eden is nothing special. He came into the roster in a deal for a 1-star potential rookie which must have caught the attention of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. He'll probably end up in AAA or be traded away sooner or later, but for now he'll complete our 25 men roster.



Quite a lot has changed in our pitcher setup. All the pitchers from last year except Yin-Xiang Xú delivered sub-par performances, so I decided to complete overhaul our bullpen. Yin will retain the #1 spot in our now 4-men rotation. George Derby played a very good season for our city rivals, the Boston Americans and will be our new #2 here. With Larry Corcoran, I managed to capture on of the St. Louis Brown Stockings' top performers last year who led them to the NL title win. Hopefully he'll also be able to show his quality as our new #3. Henry Porter was my second great capture at the rookie draft. The 24 year old has impressive ratings, for example a STUFF rating of 100 (!!). I'm going to invent him slowly and give him some games here and there as our new #4, but if the others don't perform as expected, he's likely to move up the ranks pretty soon.

With Pat McManus, I was able to capture the MLB's only Closer so far. He didn't get many innings at the Cincinnati Red Stockings which is likely going to change here in Boston. Finally, Alexis Gonzales will stay at the team for another year. The reliever is nothing special really, but he adds some depth to the pitching department and doesn't hurt us either.

Alright, I'm going to finalize this update with a look at this season's competitors, including all name changes:

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